NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Development of nanostructured hydrogel for spatial and temporal controlled release of active compounds

Controlled delivery of active compounds using nanoscale carriers is nowadays a common concept, but there are still limitations in current delivery systems related to active compound release rate and nanocarriers stability. To address these limitations, delivery systems can be made to incorporate both nanocarriers (liposomes, microgels and nanogels) and hydrogels. In this study, we have developed controlled delivery systems by combining different carriers in order to overcome deficiencies observed in systems using only one type of carrier. Such a combination could lead to an enhanced controlled release delivery system through synergistic stabilization. More specifically, we created a structured hydrogel embedded with either liposomes, microgels, or nanogels, each loaded with model active compounds that would be released in a controlled fashion by manipulating the temperature of release medium and nanocarriers composition and concentration. We compared drug loading and release kinetics of sulforhodamine B from liposomes (composed of DOPC and DPPC at different ratios) and nanogels (chitosan/hyaluronic acid) embedded in acrylamide hydrogels. We also compared drug loading and release kinetics of rhodamine 6G from microgels of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) with different ratios of methacrylic acid embedded in acrylamide hydrogel. Liposomes demonstrated a moderate drug loading capacity with sustained release for over ten days, while nanogels showed high drug loading but faster release kinetics, exhausting their contents within two days. Comparatively, microgels completely released their content within a day. Despite their faster release kinetics, microgels have shown the capacity to be finely tuned for efficient drug loading. The Langmuir isotherms indicated that it can be achieved by altering their structural properties or by changing their incubation medium. Each developed system has demonstrated a potential in controlling the release rate, which makes them candidates for further investigations in the future.

Keyphrases: Controlled delivery, Hydrogel, Liposome, Microgel, Nanogel
Conseiller les mères sur l’éducation de leurs enfants pendant l’entre-deux-guerres : les chroniques d’Odette Oligny

This study analysis the column by Odette Oligny, written in Le Canada between 1931 and 1936, pertains to children’s education. This journalist writes in a period when the ascension of experts influences the development in children’s education who, as Oligny, advise mothers on which behaviors and habits to adopt in order to train the future citizens. In the first chapter, we will discuss of the responsibilities, according to Oligny, assigned to mothers towards their children. Mothers have the full responsibility when it comes to the education of their children and those who can’t or won’t abide by the experts’ norms are severely criticized. In the second chapter, we will analyse the family discipline that mother must put into practice in their own families. In Oligny’s opinion, some mothers excessively use corporal punishment while others are definitely too lenient with their offspring. In the last chapter, we will look at the discourse on boys’ and girls’ education since mothers have the obligation to develop qualities in order for their children to fulfill their roles in society. Through this analysis of Odette Oligny’s column, we see that she acts as a bridge between the experts and the public who do not have access to scientific work done by the experts.

Keyphrases: Odette Oligny, Experts, Genre, Children's education, Odette Oligny, Experts, Gender, Mothers, Feminine journalist, Advise to mothers
Expertise sportive et entraînement perceptivo-cognitif de l’athlète

To perform at the top, athletes must possess a special perceptual-cognitive ability. This talent is the capacity to extract key information from a visual scene and is reflected by sportsmen’s vision and intelligence of play. For a long time, sport science has reported perceptual-cognitive expertise inside the domain-specific sport environment of athletes. But more recently, evidence has shown that expertise could also been reflected outside of this context, in daily activities for instance. Moreover, recent theories surrounding brain plasticity have driven researchers to develop new tools to train perceptual-cognitive skills of athletes in order to increase performance on the field. Those methods are mostly contextual to the athlete’s discipline. However, a new perceptual-cognitive training methodology, called 3-Dimensional Multiple Object Tracking (3D-MOT), which is deprived of sport context, has recently been developed and took a center part in our researches. One of the main objectives was to observe athletes’ specific and non-specific expertise during the same study. We evaluated biological motion perception in soccer players and non-athletes in a virtual reality environment. Sportsmen were systematically more efficient and faster compared to novices when discriminating the direction of the biological motion during a soccer specific exercise (shot) but also during a daily action (walk). The results suggest that athletes are better capable in perceiving human biological motions performed by others. Soccer activity seems to confer a fundamental advantage that goes beyond sport specific functions. Concurrent with those discoveries, we observed the amazing ability of an athlete’s performance to process dynamic and neutral visual scenes. Soccer players outperformed novices throughout the 3D-MOT test which consists in tracking moving targets and simulates perceptual-cognitive skills. Their visual tracking speed and their learning ability were superior. The results confirm previous data obtained by sport experts. The 3D-MOT is an attentional tracking paradigm that stimulates active processing of dynamic visual information. In particular, it targets selective, dynamic and sustained attention, as well as working memory. This tool can be used to train perceptual-cognitive functions of athletes. Soccer players trained with the 3D-MOT throughout 30 sessions have shown an increase in passing decision making (15%) on the field compared to control groups. For the first time, the results demonstrate a perceptual-cognitive transfer from the laboratory to the field following a non-contextual perceptual-cognitive training program. Our research helps to understand athletes’ expertise by using both specific and non-specific approaches and also present perceptual-cognitive training tools, in particular the 3D-MOT technique, to improve performance in sport.

Keyphrases: Expertise, 3D-MOT, Perceptual-cognitive skills, Athlete, Biological motion, Brain training, Decision-making, Virtual reality
Climat motivationnel en éducation physique et besoins psychologiques : impact sur les buts d’accomplissement, les attitudes et les habitudes des élèves

To better understand the issue of teenagers’ lack of motivation in physical education and towards physical activity in general, this study proposes to verify the relationships between, on one hand, the motivational climate (mastery and performance) and the basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy and relatedness) of students of both gender and, on the other hand, the achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach and performance-avoidance) they pursue in physical education. This research project also investigates the influence of achievement goals on the teenagers’ attitudes and habits towards physical activity in general. To meet these objectives, 909 students (age mean = 13,87[0,94]) filled self-reported questionnaires on three occasions during the school year. Structural equation models (AMOS 22), invariance analyses and the unconstrained approach were used to analyse the data. Results show that students’ achievement goals vary in accordance to the perception of the motivational climate and that the perceived competence has a positive relationship with the three types of achievement goals. Those relationships were invariant across groups (boys and girls). Furthermore, only one climate/need interaction was significant: the interaction between mastery motivational climate and perceived autonomy negatively predicts the adoption of performance-avoidance goals. This means that perceiving a mastery motivational climate reduces the adoption of performance-avoidance goals but only for students with high feelings of autonomy. Finally, pursuing mastery and performance-approach goals in physical education has a positive impact on students’ attitudes which, in turn, affect their habits in physical activity. Only the adoption of performance-approach goals has a direct positive relation with students’ habits in physical activity in general. In conclusion, physical education teachers can have a positive influence on students’ motivation and engagement during physical education classes—¬but also outside that environment—by promoting a mastery motivational climate and by satisfying their students’ competence need.

Keyphrases: Interactions, Motivational climate, Achievement goal, Competence, Autonomy, Relatedness, Physical education, Physical activity, Interactions, Structural equation modeling
Le rôle des réponses cardiovasculaires et respiratoires sur la cognition chez les jeunes et les ainés sains

It is well established that increasing cardiovascular fitness through an appropriate physical exercise program is an effective way to limit ageing-induced cognitive decline. Precise mechanisms of this positive interaction are not clearly understood, but cerebral oxygenation is thought to play a major role. Notwithstanding its numerous theoretical and practical implications, acute response of cerebral oxygenation to physical exercise and its relationship with cognitive function is underemphasized and under-researched. This thesis is dedicated to this question. Recent NIRS studies in young adults have shown that the relationship between cerebral oxygenation and exercise intensity was an inverted U-shape. There exists a threshold beyond which cerebral oxygenation decreases proportionally to exercise intensity. Assuming that cognitive function is mainly determined by cerebral oxygen availability, this typical response should affect cognitive performance. Moreover, the oxygenation threshold should occur at higher exercise intensity in older adults possessing a high fitness level. Prior to clarifying the exact role of cerebral oxygenation in cognitive and physical performance, we first examined how cerebral oxygenation pattern changes during stable continuous exercise. Our findings underscore the existence of a decrease of cerebral oxygenation during steady state exercise in normal conditions and confirm the existence of an inverse relationship between the duration of the steady state cerebral oxygenation and exercise intensity.  After checking these methodological points, it was interesting to test the possible relationship between cognitive function and cerebral oxygenation during exercise in healthy young and old adults. The results show that the decrease in cerebral oxygenation observed during high intensity exercise is linked to a decrease in cognitive performance. Clarifying the effect of exercise intensity on cerebral oxygenation and its relationship to executive performance in this exercise intensity domain might help further understand the basic mechanisms of the effect of aerobic exercise on cognition. This thesis does address the gap in the literature and does investigate the relationship between executive performance and cerebral oxygenation during the whole intensity spectrum. This thesis is also the first to report correlations between cerebral oxygenation and cognition during exercise.

Keyphrases: Cognition, Cerebral Oxygenation, Aging, Exercise, Stable state
L’accès aux ressources alimentaires : facteurs prédicteurs de l’insécurité alimentaire sévère parmi les ménages bénéficiers des programmes communautaires en sécurité alimentaire à Montréal

Objectives: To explore the association between access to food resources and household food insecurity level among new participants in food security interventions in Montreal.  Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 785 new participants with less than 6 months involvement in community organizations delivering food security interventions. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and geographic measures. The dependent variable was household food insecurity.  While the independent variable was access to food resources, assessed through: location of the most used grocery store, distance between participant’s residence and the community organization used, mode of transportation, walking time to the grocery store most used, satisfaction regarding the acceptability and affordability of food available at the grocery store most used, and self-reported difficulties in access to food. Using the severe food insecurity as reference, multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between household food insecurity level and each explanatory variable.   Results: Our data suggest that the severity of household food insecurity is associated with difficulty accessing food due to food affordability (OR=0.13, CI: 0.07-0.25 for food security and OR=0.42, CI: 0.28-0.63 for moderate food insecurity), doing groceries outside the neighborhoods or not shopping food frequently (OR=0.50, CI: 0.30-0.84 for moderate food insecurity), having access to public transportation (OR=1.73, CI: 1.09-2.73 for moderate food insecurity), residing between 1000 and to less than 2000 meters from the community organization (OR=1.83, CI: 1.14-2.92 for moderate food insecurity), and difficulty accessing food due transportation constraints (food security; OR=0.18, CI 95 % 0.06-0.52).   Conclusion: Access to food resources is associated with household food insecurity level among new participants in food security interventions in Montreal.

Keyphrases: Food supply, Food access, Food insecurity, Food resources
Accumulation de dose à partir de champs de déformation 4D appliqués aux traitements au CyberKnife et à l'IMRT

Pulmonary cancer is the main cause of death amongst all cancers in Canada with a prognosis of about 15% survival rate in 5 years. The efficiency of radiotherapy treatments is lower when high displacements of the tumors are observed, mostly caused by intrafraction respiratory motion. Advanced techniques such as radiosurgery and intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatments (IMRT) are expected to provide better clinical results by delivering higher radiation doses to the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy lung tissues. The goal of this project is to perform 4D Monte Carlo dose recalculations to assess the dosimetric impact of moving tumors in CyberKnife and IMRT treatments using dose accumulation in deforming anatomies. Scripts developed in-house were used to model both situations and to compare the Monte Carlo dose distributions with those obtained with standard clinical plans. Displacement vectors fields are obtained from a 4D CT data set and a deformable image registration (DIR) algorithm which allows a voxel-to-voxel correspondence between each respiratory phase. The DIR is computed by the Advanced Normalization Tools (ANTs) software and is mostly based on diffeormophisms. A modified version of DOSXYZnrc from EGSnrc software, defDOSXYZnrc, is used to transport radiation through non-linear geometries. These results are then compared to a typical 3D plan to determine whether or not the current planification is a good approximation of the true 4D dose calculation.

Keyphrases: 4D, IMRT, CyberKnife, Monte Carlo, defDOSXYZnrc, Dose accumulation, Deformable image registration, Motion management
Causalité et explication causale chez James Woodward

Some philosophers claim that causal relations are based on the laws of nature.  This view is not consistent with the actual causal relations found in the biomedical and social sciences.  In order  to better reflect the actual practice in the various sciences, James Woodward puts forward a view of causation and causal explanation based on a much less demanding relation than that of law of nature, which he calls ‘invariance’.  This essay presents the concept of invariance and other related causal concepts, and identifies certain problems, in order to outline the proper use of this group of concepts.  Woodward’s conception assumes that the goal of causal inquiry is practical rather than merely epistemic :  agents use causal relationships to modify outcomes.  The conception is also non reductive ;  it uses counterfactuals and is a reflection of the experimental methods of the various sciences.  The fact that this conception is consistent with the actual causal generalizations found in the various sciences implies that the goal of universal truth associated with the notion of law of nature is set aside and is replaced by an objective of temporary reliability.  In addition, since the invariance criterion is not very demanding, other criteria must be added to identify, among causal (i.e. invariant) relations, those relations that can be relied upon to reliably modify outcomes.

Keyphrases: intervention, invariance, Woodward, science, philosophy, epistemology, causation, explanation, law of nature, intervention, invariance, Woodward, science
La déconstruction de l'onto-théologie par Jacques Derrida : détour littéraire et mise en relief de la matrice langagière comme "différance"

The play of traces described in Derrida's "différance" highlights the fact that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary. Deconstruction thus undermines the guaranteed certainty of presence, which is at the very core of Western metaphysical tradition or "logocentrism". Ontology appears to be forever tainted by the "hauntological" presence of the trace. The equivocal and infinite logic of the supplement forbids access to any uncontaminated origin. As nothing exists outside the differential mechanism of the text, we are caught up in a maze of signs, unable to bypass the complex process of language. The main purpose of our study is to provide an accurate understanding of Derrida's deconstruction of onto-theology by drawing attention to the importance of language. Just like general discourse, philosophy is affected by the play of difference, as philosophemes are themselves embedded in the metaphorical roots of language. Derrida's work on literature is well-known but we will show that his literary analyses are part of a strategy to emphasize the "undecidability" of all texts. In the regard, Mallarmé's attention to syntax, vocabulary, his purposeful use of spacing and the disruption of conventional textual linearity, will have a significant impact on deconstruction. The permanent displacement of any reference in Mallarmé's "mimique" will indeed provide Derrida with a useful tool to deconstruct the traditional Platonic schema of "mimesis" and consequently, "luxate" the philosophical ear. Philosophy is however not destructed, yet renewed. As the ambivalence of language is stressed, philosophy has no choice but to jettison its transcendental claims and be open to "destinerrance" and aporiae. The "colonial" structure of all language reminds us that language always comes from the "other" or "wholly other". The absolute welcoming of the "other", this unconditional hospitality, will lead us towards the analysis of "religion" -or should we say "traces of religion"- in Derrida's deconstruction. Derrida's "turns" to religion but, at the same time, knows how to "turn religion around", as he cleverly dismantles any faith in essentialism.

Keyphrases: Derrida, deconstruction, litterature, differance, ecriture, onto-theologie, supplement, ecriture, philosophy, literature, language, writing, text, onto-theology, religion, sign, signifier
La conception néolibérale de la justice: les cas comparés de Friedrich A. von Hayek et de Walter Lippmann

Neoliberalism, a term commonly used to describe the current paradigm of the state, is largely related to a disengagement of the state from issues of social welfare and is associated with the legitimization of socio-economic inequalities. For many critics, it also represents an ideology that does not consider justice as a collective ideal that should be pursued. This stands in contradiction with the fact that justice was a central theme in the works of many thinkers to whom we attribute the formulation of neoliberal thought. Considering this paradox, the main purpose of this Master’s thesis is to expose the conception of justice as expressed by two key neoliberal thinkers: the American journalist Walter Lippmann and the Austrian economist Friedrich A. von Hayek. This comparative perspective will allow me to single out what I call the "neoliberal conception" of justice, a conception that builds on a particular understanding of the market. In the first chapter, I present the central challenge of the neoliberal conception of justice by broaching the epistemological stance common to Hayek and Lippmann. In the second chapter, I present specific properties of this conception and discuss its principal blind spots. I also show that Hayek and Lippmann disagree when it comes to the notion of "responsibility". Finally, I compare the neoliberal conception of justice with that of libertarians, as presented by Robert Nozick in his work Anarchy, State and Utopia. In this third section, I argue that Hayek and Nozick’s respective criteria of justice drive a wedge between two otherwise rather similar conceptions. In contrast to a standard analysis that treats neoliberalism as an amoral project, I contend that recognition of the moral dimension of neoliberal discourse opens up a perspective from which it becomes possible to challenge the project on ethical grounds. Understanding the idea of justice underpinning contemporary neoliberalism, as rooted in the moral tradition presented in this essay, is necessary if we are to criticize this ideology on moral grounds.

Keyphrases: Friedrich A. Hayek, Walter Lippmann, Robert Nozick, neoliberalism, liberalism, economic liberalism, history of liberalism, theories of justice, libertarianism, market ethics