Parle-t-on de territoire en aménagement du territoire? : la construction des enjeux en contexte de planification collaborative

Le débat public en aménagement du territoire constitue un exercice paradoxal. Bien qu’il fasse nominalement référence au territoire, ce débat public aborde cet objet de façon superficielle. Ce mémoire aborde cette problématique en explorant les utilisations de la notion de territoire formulées dans le cadre d’un exercice de consultation publique sur un projet de revitalisation à Montréal, soit le Programme particulier d’urbanisme du Quartier des spectacles – Pôle du Quartier latin, est étudié. L’analyse se décline en deux étapes. Le sens accordé à la position géographique du Quartier latin et ses répercussions sur les dynamiques d’aménagement à long terme (structurales) sont s’abord explorées. Ensuite, les discours des intervenants au débat public sont analysés à l’aide d’une loupe poststructuraliste. Nos résultats démontrent qu’une majorité de participants ne considèrent pas le territoire comme construction sociale. Toutefois, les intervenants qui adoptent le point de vue contraire ont tendance à adopter une position plus critique face au projet. Ce constat remet en question les fondements de l’intervention proposée par les autorités municipales et, plus largement, interroge la prise en compte du concept de territoire en contexte de planification collaborative et post-collaborative.

3D registration of MR and X-ray spine images using an articulated model.

Présentation: Cet article a été publié dans le journal : Computerised medical imaging and graphics (CMIG). Le but de cet article est de recaler les vertèbres extraites à partir d’images RM avec des vertèbres extraites à partir d’images RX pour des patients scoliotiques, en tenant compte des déformations non-rigides due au changement de posture entre ces deux modalités. À ces fins, une méthode de recalage à l’aide d’un modèle articulé est proposée. Cette méthode a été comparée avec un recalage rigide en calculant l’erreur sur des points de repère, ainsi qu’en calculant la différence entre l’angle de Cobb avant et après recalage. Une validation additionelle de la méthode de recalage présentée ici se trouve dans l’annexe A. Ce travail servira de première étape dans la fusion des images RM, RX et TP du tronc complet. Donc, cet article vérifie l’hypothèse 1 décrite dans la section 3.2.1.

STUDIES ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TROPOSPHERE AND LOWER STRATOSPHERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PASSAGE OF TROPICAL CYCLONES

In the present thesis, an attempt has been made to study the characteristics of troposphere and lower stratosphere during the passage of tropical cyclones from a tropical station in India using MST radar. MST radar is an excellent tool for studying various features of the atmosphere from ground to mesospheric heights, as it can be operated continuously with good time and altitude resolution. The major objectives are to identify the multiple layers of reflectivity observed in the atmosphere during cyclones, to study the troposphere characteristics during these cyclones and its dependence on cyclone position and intensity, to detect the waves present in the atmosphere, to study the transport of momentum fluxes and to understand stratosphere. The winds in the troposphere and lower stratosphere are greatly affected by the passage of cyclones; the presence of high reflectivity layers below the tropopause suggests the passage of severe weather systems etc. are some of the major findings of the study. The study can be extended further to understand the circulation and dynamics of the atmosphere associated with the passage of tropical cyclones. The gravity wave generation and its characteristics during the passage of storms is another important aspect to be studied in detail.

A STUDY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT RISK, RISK MANAGEMENT, PROJECT OUTCOMES AND THEIR INTER-RELATIONSHIP

This research was undertaken with an objective of studying software development project risk, risk management, project outcomes and their inter-relationship in the Indian context. Validated instruments were used to measure risk, risk management and project outcome in software development projects undertaken in India. A second order factor model was developed for risk with five first order factors. Risk management was also identified as a second order construct with four first order factors. These structures were validated using confirmatory factor analysis. Variation in risk across categories of select organization / project characteristics was studied through a series of one way ANOVA tests. Regression model was developed for each of the risk factors by linking it to risk management factors and project /organization characteristics. Similarly regression models were developed for the project outcome measures linking them to risk factors. Integrated models linking risk factors, risk management factors and project outcome measures were tested through structural equation modeling. Quality of the software developed was seen to have a positive relationship with risk management and negative relationship with risk. The other outcome variables, namely time overrun and cost over run, had strong positive relationship with risk. Risk management did not have direct effect on overrun variables. Risk was seen to be acting as an intervening variable between risk management and overrun variables.

Studies on the dynamics and rheology of dilute suspensions of Brownian particles in simple shear flow under the action of an external force

We present a novel approach to computing the orientation moments and rheological properties of a dilute suspension of spheroids in a simple shear flow at arbitrary Peclct number based on a generalised Langevin equation method. This method differs from the diffusion equation method which is commonly used to model similar systems in that the actual equations of motion for the orientations of the individual particles are used in the computations, instead of a solution of the diffusion equation of the system. It also differs from the method of 'Brownian dynamics simulations' in that the equations used for the simulations are deterministic differential equations even in the presence of noise, and not stochastic differential equations as in Brownian dynamics simulations. One advantage of the present approach over the Fokker-Planck equation formalism is that it employs a common strategy that can be applied across a wide range of shear and diffusion parameters. Also, since deterministic differential equations are easier to simulate than stochastic differential equations, the Langevin equation method presented in this work is more efficient and less computationally intensive than Brownian dynamics simulations.We derive the Langevin equations governing the orientations of the particles in the suspension and evolve a procedure for obtaining the equation of motion for any orientation moment. A computational technique is described for simulating the orientation moments dynamically from a set of time-averaged Langevin equations, which can be used to obtain the moments when the governing equations are harder to solve analytically. The results obtained using this method are in good agreement with those available in the literature.The above computational method is also used to investigate the effect of rotational Brownian motion on the rheology of the suspension under the action of an external force field. The force field is assumed to be either constant or periodic. In the case of con- I stant external fields earlier results in the literature are reproduced, while for the case of periodic forcing certain parametric regimes corresponding to weak Brownian diffusion are identified where the rheological parameters evolve chaotically and settle onto a low dimensional attractor. The response of the system to variations in the magnitude and orientation of the force field and strength of diffusion is also analyzed through numerical experiments. It is also demonstrated that the aperiodic behaviour exhibited by the system could not have been picked up by the diffusion equation approach as presently used in the literature.The main contributions of this work include the preparation of the basic framework for applying the Langevin method to standard flow problems, quantification of rotary Brownian effects by using the new method, the paired-moment scheme for computing the moments and its use in solving an otherwise intractable problem especially in the limit of small Brownian motion where the problem becomes singular, and a demonstration of how systems governed by a Fokker-Planck equation can be explored for possible chaotic behaviour.

A new corner reflector antenna with periodic strip subreflectors

This paper presents the design of a new type of corner reflector (CR) antenna and the experimental investigation of its radiation characteristics. The design involves the addition of planar parallel periodic strips to the two sides of a CR antenna. The position, angular orientation, and number of strips have a notable effect on the H-plane radiation characteristics of the antenna. Certain configurations of the new antenna are capable of producing very sharp axial beams with gain on the order of 5 dB over the square corner reflector antenna. A configuration that can provide symmetric twin beams with enhanced gain and reduced half-power beam width (HPBW) is also presented.

Gender discrimination in the law of divorce and succession among christians

The present work deals with the Gender discrimination in the law of divorce and succession among christians.Inquiries Into the personal laws bereft of the historical develcpment of the concerned communities will be extremely inadequate as they may not help the researcher to Identify the laws' real source.In this view, the origin and development of Christian law In india has not so far been adequately gone into. Keeping In view the Importance of such a study calling for an exploration of the origin and development of the Christian community and its branching out In india as a prelude to the inqury into the Christian laws, the history of the conmunity in india was examined and the present study IndIcates that christianity In india has a diverse origin in dIfferent parts of India.And this diversity has resulted in the development of different systems of personal law for different sects among them. At present Christians in India constitute a minority but their numerical strength is not negligible. Yet they have not been able to act as an Influential group either socially or politically.The social changes and developments that swept away the community of its feet have overturned the position and the liberals in the community inspired by the changes elsewhere could bring in some statute law to govern the arena traditionally held by the customs.The history of reception of canon law concepts In different parts of India throws some light on the differences In the personal laws applicable to Christians In India.

Service quality and reliability assessment of mobile communication infrastructure

The service quality of any sector has two major aspects namely technical and functional. Technical quality can be attained by maintaining technical specification as decided by the organization. Functional quality refers to the manner which service is delivered to customer which can be assessed by the customer feed backs. A field survey was conducted based on the management tool SERVQUAL, by designing 28 constructs under 7 dimensions of service quality. Stratified sampling techniques were used to get 336 valid responses and the gap scores of expectations and perceptions are analyzed using statistical techniques to identify the weakest dimension. To assess the technical aspects of availability six months live outage data of base transceiver were collected. The statistical and exploratory techniques were used to model the network performance. The failure patterns have been modeled in competing risk models and probability distribution of service outage and restorations were parameterized. Since the availability of network is a function of the reliability and maintainability of the network elements, any service provider who wishes to keep up their service level agreements on availability should be aware of the variability of these elements and its effects on interactions. The availability variations were studied by designing a discrete time event simulation model with probabilistic input parameters. The probabilistic distribution parameters arrived from live data analysis was used to design experiments to define the availability domain of the network under consideration. The availability domain can be used as a reference for planning and implementing maintenance activities. A new metric is proposed which incorporates a consistency index along with key service parameters that can be used to compare the performance of different service providers. The developed tool can be used for reliability analysis of mobile communication systems and assumes greater significance in the wake of mobile portability facility. It is also possible to have a relative measure of the effectiveness of different service providers.

Infrared and polarized Raman spectra of Cu(HSeO3)2 • H20 single crystal

Infrared and polarized Raman spectra of Cu(HSeO3) 2 - H20 single crystal have been recorded and analysed. The appearance of non-degenerate Se-OH stretching vibrations in the ~x: and ~y: polarizations of Raman spectra indicate distortion of the HSeO~- ion in the Cu(HSeO3)2 - H20 crystal. The low wavenumber values obtained for the symmetric and asymmetric stretching vibrations of the HSeO 3 ion are consistent with the strong hydrogen bonding and the influence of Jahn-Teller distortion as predicted in X-ray diffraction data. The shifting of the stretching and bending vibrations of the hydroxyl groups and water molecules from the free state values also confirms the strong hydrogen bonding in this crystal. Broad bands observed for both stretching and bending regions become sharp in the Raman spectrum recorded at 77 K. A doublet appears for the Se-OH stretching mode at this temperature indicating the settling of protons in an ordered position and the absence of intrabond proton tunnelling

Synthesis and Photoluminescence Properties of Novel Red Phosphors for White Light Emitting Diode Applications

Several series of Eu3+ based red emitting phosphor materials were synthesized using solid state reaction route and their properties were characterized. The present studies primarily investigated the photoluminescence properties of Eu3+ in a family of closely related host structure with a general formula Ln3MO7. The results presented in the previous chapters throws light to a basic understanding of the structure, phase formation and the photoluminescence properties of these compounds and their co-relations. The variation in the Eu3+ luminescence properties with different M cations was studied in Gd3-xMO7 (M = Nb, Sb, Ta) system.More ordering in the host lattice and more uniform distribution of Eu3+ ions resulting in the increased emission properties were observed in tantalate system.Influence of various lanthanide ion (Lu, Y, Gd, La) substitutions on the Eu3+ photoluminescence properties in Ln3MO7 host structures was also studied. The difference in emission profiles with different Ln ions demonstrated the influence of long range ordering, coordination of cations and ligand polarizability in the emission probabilities, intensity and quantum efficiency of these phosphor materials. Better luminescence of almost equally competing intensities from all the 4f transitions of Eu3+ was noticed for La3TaO7 system. Photoluminescence properties were further improved in La3TaO7 : Eu3+ phosphors by the incorporation of Ba2+ ions in La3+ site. New red phosphor materials Gd2-xGaTaO7 : xEu3+ exhibiting intense red emissions under UV excitation were prepared. Optimum doping level of Eu3+ in these different host lattices were experimentally determined. Some of the prepared samples exhibited higher emission intensities than the standard Y2O3 : Eu3+ red phosphors. In the present studies, Eu3+ acts as a structural probe determining the coordination and symmetry of the atoms in the host lattice. Results from the photoluminescence studies combined with the powder XRD and Raman spectroscopy investigations helped in the determination of the correct crystal structures and phase formation of the prepared compounds. Thus the controversy regarding the space groups of these compounds could be solved to a great extent. The variation in the space groups with different cation substitutions were discussed. There was only limited understanding regarding the various influential parameters of the photoluminescence properties of phosphor materials. From the given studies, the dependence of photoluminescence properties on the crystal structure and ordering of the host lattice, site symmetries, polarizability of the ions, distortions around the activator ion, uniformity in the activator distribution, concentration of the activator ion etc. were explained. Although the presented work does not directly evidence any application, the materials developed in the studies can be used for lighting applications together with other components for LED lighting. All the prepared samples were well excitable under near UV radiation. La3TaO7 : 0.15Eu3+ phosphor with high efficiency and intense orange red emissions can be used as a potential red component for the realization of white light with better color rendering properties. Gd2GaTaO7 : Eu3+, Bi2+ red phosphors give good color purity matching to NTSC standards of red. Some of these compounds exhibited higher emission intensities than the standard Y2O3 : Eu3+ red phosphors. However thermal stability and electrical output using these compounds should be studied further before applications. Based on the studies in the closely related Ln3MO7 structures, some ideas on selecting better host lattice for improved luminescence properties could be drawn. Analyzing the CTB position and the number of emission splits, a general understanding on the doping sites can be obtained. These results could be helpful for phosphor designs in other host systems also, for enhanced emission intensity and efficiency.

Mobiles Lernen

In ihrer Arbeit "Mobiles Lernen. Analyse des Wissenschaftsprozesses der britischen und deutschsprachigen medienpädagogischen und erziehungswissenschaftlichen Mobile-Learning-Diskussion." zeichnet Judith Seipold die Phasen und Entwicklungslinien der bisherigen und naturwüchsigen Diskussion um das Mobile Lernen nach. Dabei eröffnet sie mit ihrer Analyse des vornehmlich britischen Wissenschaftsprozesses des Mobilen Lernens ab Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts den Blick auf die Struktur der medienpädagogischen und erziehungswissenschaftlichen Mobile-Learning-Diskussion, auf deren Kontexte, Bezugspunkte, Perspektiven und theoretische Schwerpunkte, aber auch Erfolge und Problembereiche in der praktischen Umsetzung des Lernens mit Mobiltechnologien in formalisierten Lernkontexten wie dem des Schulunterrichts. Auf diese Weise liefert die Autorin eine Systematik, die nicht nur die britische Diskussion für die deutschsprachige Medienpädagogik verfügbar macht, sondern auch eine neue und systematisch begründete Reflexionsebene für eine aktuelle medienpädagogische Entwicklung – das Mobile Lernen – bildet. Zunächst widmet sich die Autorin der Analyse des Wissenschaftsprozesses der bisherigen britischen und teils auch der deutschsprachigen Mobile-Learning-Diskussion. Um diesen Prozess in seiner Struktur greifbar zu machen, skizziert sie die Bezugsdisziplinen, aus denen die medienpädagogische und erziehungswissenschaftliche Mobile-Learning-Forschung schöpft, arbeitet die Legitimationsbasis auf, auf die sich Mobiles Lernen stützt, zeichnet die historische Entwicklung der Diskussion nach, die sowohl Alltagsnutzung von Mobiltechnologien als auch den Fachdiskurs einschließt, und erläutert innerhalb ihres Modells der Phasen und Entwicklungslinien Mobilen Lernens Theorien, Konzepte und Modelle, die in der Mobile-Learning-Community als zentral für Analyse und Planung Mobilen Lernens erachtet werden. Konzepte und Modelle, die in der Mobile-Learning-Diskussion die Rolle der Lernenden in das Zentrum der Betrachtungen rücken und eine explizite Handlungsorientierung unterstützen, sind Kernbereich des theoriebasierten Teils der Arbeit. Überlegungen zu einer „Sozio-kulturellen Ökologie Mobilen Lernens“, zu „user-generated contexts“ und zu einer „kulturökologisch informierten Didaktik des Mobilen Lernens“ sind dabei sowohl reflektierende Einordnung aktueller Konzepte und Modelle als auch theoretische und konzeptionelle Basis für die praktische Umsetzung Mobilen Lernens. Um die Rolle der Handlungskompetenzen, kulturellen Praktiken und Strukturen der Lerner bei der Nutzung von Mobiltechnologien für Lernen analytisch zu fassen, finden im Praxis-Kapitel Planungs- und Analyseschemata unter Rückgriff auf Beispiele aus der Praxisforschung und der Implementierung mobilen Lernens in den Schulunterricht Anwendung. Ihre Erörterungen rahmt die Autorin abschließend kritisch und weist zum einen auf bildungspolitische, strukturelle und handlungspraktische Implikationen hin, die sich aus der Mobile-Learning-Diskussion ergeben; zum anderen lenkt sie das Augenmerk auf Gegensätze und Dialektiken des Mobilen Lernens, die sich im Spannungsfeld zwischen alltäglicher mobiler Mediennutzung und der teils theoretisch informierten schulischen Verwendung von Mobiltechnologien zum Lernen entfalten. Sie gilt es, im weiteren Verlauf der Diskussion zu hinterfragen und aufzulösen.

2D-3D Rigid-Body Registration of X-Ray Fluoroscopy and CT Images

The registration of pre-operative volumetric datasets to intra- operative two-dimensional images provides an improved way of verifying patient position and medical instrument loca- tion. In applications from orthopedics to neurosurgery, it has a great value in maintaining up-to-date information about changes due to intervention. We propose a mutual information- based registration algorithm to establish the proper align- ment. For optimization purposes, we compare the perfor- mance of the non-gradient Powell method and two slightly di erent versions of a stochastic gradient ascent strategy: one using a sparsely sampled histogramming approach and the other Parzen windowing to carry out probability density approximation. Our main contribution lies in adopting the stochastic ap- proximation scheme successfully applied in 3D-3D registra- tion problems to the 2D-3D scenario, which obviates the need for the generation of full DRRs at each iteration of pose op- timization. This facilitates a considerable savings in compu- tation expense. We also introduce a new probability density estimator for image intensities via sparse histogramming, de- rive gradient estimates for the density measures required by the maximization procedure and introduce the framework for a multiresolution strategy to the problem. Registration results are presented on uoroscopy and CT datasets of a plastic pelvis and a real skull, and on a high-resolution CT- derived simulated dataset of a real skull, a plastic skull, a plastic pelvis and a plastic lumbar spine segment.

A Detailed Look at Scale and Translation Invariance in a Hierarchical Neural Model of Visual Object Recognition

The HMAX model has recently been proposed by Riesenhuber & Poggio as a hierarchical model of position- and size-invariant object recognition in visual cortex. It has also turned out to model successfully a number of other properties of the ventral visual stream (the visual pathway thought to be crucial for object recognition in cortex), and particularly of (view-tuned) neurons in macaque inferotemporal cortex, the brain area at the top of the ventral stream. The original modeling study only used ``paperclip'' stimuli, as in the corresponding physiology experiment, and did not explore systematically how model units' invariance properties depended on model parameters. In this study, we aimed at a deeper understanding of the inner workings of HMAX and its performance for various parameter settings and ``natural'' stimulus classes. We examined HMAX responses for different stimulus sizes and positions systematically and found a dependence of model units' responses on stimulus position for which a quantitative description is offered. Interestingly, we find that scale invariance properties of hierarchical neural models are not independent of stimulus class, as opposed to translation invariance, even though both are affine transformations within the image plane.

El plan de lengua y cohesión social en Catañunya: primeros datos de una investigación = Language and Social Cohesion Plan in Catalonia: Initial research data

Los programas de inmersión lingüística han constituido y constituyen dentro del Sistema Educativo catalán la principal forma para que el alumnado de lengua familiar no-catalana aprenda una nueva lengua, el catalán, sin que, en su proceso de aprendizaje, vea mermado ni el desarrollo de su propia lengua ni su rendimiento académico. El éxito de la inmersión lingüística en las décadas anteriores ha sido frecuentemente utilizado como uno de los argumentos orientativos para justificar la política lingüística que se sigue en la escolarización de la infancia extranjera. Sin embargo, los resultados obtenidos por investigaciones recientes parece que no avalan empíricamente dicho argumento. Este artículo analiza dichos resultados y expone, a partir del Plan para la Lengua y Cohesión Social puesto en marcha por el Departamento de Educación de la Generalitat de Cataluña, cuáles son los retos que se presentan a su Sistema Educativo dentro del nuevo marco que supone el aumento de la diversidad cultural y lingüística en la actual sociedad catalana

Evaluación de alternativas para la internacionalización del caracol al mercado ibérico

Dentro de la economía Colombiana, la agricultura es considerada uno de los sectores económicos más sólidos y rentables; y se encuentra en este la oportunidad de desarrollar nuevos cam pos de explotación. La práctica de la helicicultura se desarrolla bajo este sector económico, actividad que se define como la cría de caracoles con fines productivos. El constante crecimiento de la demanda por parte de países europeos es uno de los motivos por los cuales se encuentra atractivo desarrollar esta actividad en Colombia, sumado a esto las ventajas competitivas del país dadas por su posición geográfica y clima. A partir de la Ley 1011 de 2006, el gobierno colombiano decide apoyar la explotación de esta actividad, por medio de la cual se autoriza y reglamenta, generando así la oportunidad de formalizar el sector e incentivar a los productores a realizar inversiones en productos no tradicionales. Actualmente la producción se encuentra en niveles bajos debido a los inconvenientes presentados durante la aprobación del decreto que autoriza la exportación. En este proceso juegan un papel fundamental el Ministerio de Agricultura, el Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo social y el Ministerio de Protección Social, quienes deben trabajar con base en sus políticas y objetivos y son los encargados de autorizar la aprobación del respectivo decreto. Como consecuencia a esta situación, en el país no existen registros de exportaciones, ni experiencias comerciales de la práctica de la helicicultura con el mercado europeo por parte de los productores. Sin embargo, la experiencia en América Latina principalmente en Argentina y Chile muestra los sobresalientes resultados de las exportacion es de caracoles con destino a Europa, generando grandes expectativas para los productores Colombianos. Dentro de la Unión Europea, España ha tenido un crecimiento importante en sus importaciones del caracol y sus derivados en los últimos años, razón por la cual se ha decidido enfocar esta investigación a este país. Colombia cuenta con acuerdos comerciales con la comunidad Europea que le permiten mayor facilidad en el acceso de mercancías y preferencias arancelarias. Con relación a la partida arancelaria que hace referencia al caracol vivo, Colombia cuenta con la ventaja de ingresar al mercado Español con 0% de arancel, lo cual es un incentivo más para llevar a cabo planes exportadores.