Documents found
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7771.More information
The Act to improve the legal situation of animals, unanimously adopted in 2015, is the last major legislative evolution in Quebec animal law. This law changes the legal status of animals, from property to sentient beings, and introduces a stricter legal framework for the welfare and safety of domestic animals. Despite these legal changes, many animals are still denied their sensibilities and their biological needs, especially on farms, creating situations that are more than absurd: a pet pig must be protected from excessive heat under penalty provided by law while on the farm, pigs die of heat, literally, during heat waves. How to explain such a shift? Why are sentient animals not all protected in the same way? The interest-convergence theory provides that a social change in favour of a minority group can only take place when the interests of the majority and those of the minority “converge” similarly toward that change. Interest-convergence is a plausible explanation for this legal gap. This article focuses on the context that led to the adoption of the Act to improve the legal situation of animals. The content analysis carried out on parliamentary proceedings shows that besides a concern for the animal, economic and social reasons are also at the source of the new legislation, and that economic interests explain its limits, thus confirming the presence of the phenomenon of interest's convergence during its creation.
Keywords: Situation juridique, animal, convergence des intérêts, droit animalier, analyse de contenu, travaux parlementaires, Legal status, animal, interest convergence, animal law, content analysis, parliamentary proceedings
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7773.More information
The accumulation and (acute) toxicity of dissolved metals in many aquatic organisms are normally well predicted with the biotic ligand model (BLM), although some exceptions have been reported. In long-term chronic metal exposures, complex physiological interactions with essential and non-essential metals may modulate metal uptake rates and toxicity. The present literature review discusses recent advances in environmental chemistry, molecular biology, and physiology related to the regulatory mechanisms of membrane transport of essential metals in eukaryotic phytoplankton and to their impacts on the accumulation and toxicity of cadmium, a usually non-essential metal. This literature review finally evaluates the possibility of including elements of algal physiology in the current version of the BLM in order to enhance the potential of this model to predict metal uptake and toxicity in chronic exposures. The available results in the literature suggest that the inclusion of negative and positive feedback interactions of metals on the kinetic parameters (Vmax: maximal uptake rate; KM: metal affinity of the transport sites) of multiple metal transport systems shows promise for better predicting the long-term accumulation and toxicity of metals in phytoplankton. The development of a BLM able to predict the chronic toxicity of metals under various physicochemical conditions representative of those found in the environment will benefit from recent and future advances in toxicology, biology and environmental chemistry. The knowledge gained will aid in achieving the ambitious goal of developing an extended BLM that reliably predicts metal toxicity in complex natural aquatic environments.
Keywords: Modèle du ligand biotique, toxicité des métaux, phytoplancton, physiologie algale, transport membranaire des métaux, Biotic ligand model, metal toxicity, phytoplankton, algal physiology, metal transport systems
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7774.More information
The author examines the major recorded oil spills into international and nationalseas, some of them occurring in Canada, caused by supertankers: the TorreyCanyon, the Arrow, the Amoco Cadiz, the Gino, the Aegean Captain and theAtlantic Express, the Odyssey, the Exxon Valdez, the Braer, the Maersk Navigator,the Erika, the Prestige and the Ixtoc 1 (oil well).But, there are a lot more accidents, since those black tides began, in 1960. Eachyear, since the seventies, we could count around half-dozen of such oil spills disasters.Annex A provides a table listing all oil spill accidents from tankers since1975 involving more than 20 000 tonnes of oil. Annex B provides the chronologicallist of all accidents since 1960.Following the recent verdict in the Total SA affair (the Erika charterer), announcedby the Paris Criminal Court on January 16, 2008, after several years of trial, theauthor takes this opportunity of studying oil spill accidents and causes, someresearch programs, ecological and economical impacts, legal aspects, insuranceand indemnification, all in order to learn some lessons from such perils of sea.
Keywords: Hydrocarbures, pollution par les pétroliers, pollution maritime, OMI, conventions internationales, FIPOL (fonds d'indemnisation), Petroleum, oil pollution from tankers, marine pollution, IMO, internationalconventions, FIPOL (compensation funds)
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7775.More information
This article contributes to the study of Christian mysticism in the sixteenth century by providing translations of mystical terms from Johannes Altenstaig’s Vocabularius theologiae (1517), including extasis, devotio, contemplatio, meditatio, mysticum, orare/oratio, raptus, theologia mystica, and unio. The introduction offers an overview of Altenstaig’s biography and the theological dictionary and highlights the significance of compilations, particularly those intended for student use, in reconstructing the fundamental characteristics of mystical theology on the eve of the Reformation. The notes to the translations provide a detailed analysis of the sources used by Altenstaig, suggesting the frequent use of recent compilations rather than the original classical texts.
Keywords: Johannes Altenstaig, Contemplation, Ecstasy, Devotion, Prayer, Rapture, Mystical Theology, Union
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7778.
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