NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Approche bayésienne de la construction d'intervalles de crédibilité simultanés à partir de courbes simulées

This master's thesis addresses the problem of the simulation of simultaneous credible intervals in a Bayesian context. First, we will study precipation data and two functions based on these data : the empirical distribution function and the return period, a non-linear function of the empirical distribution. We will review different methods already known to obtain simultaneous confidence intervals of these functions with a polynomial basis and we will present a method to simulate simultaneous credible intervals. Second, we will explore some models of prior distributions and in the more complex one, we will need the Monte-Carlo method to simulate simultaneous posterior credible intervals. Finally, we will use a non-linear basis based on the angular transformation and on monotone splines to obtain valid simultaneous credible intervals for the return period.

Keyphrases: Monte-Carlo, Simultaneous confidence interval, Simultaneous credible interval, Return period, Bayesian statistics, Monotone splines
La programmation informatique dans la recherche et la formation en mathématiques au niveau universitaire

A recent survey of 302 Canadian mathematicians points to an intriguing gap: while 43% of the participants use computer programming in their research, only 18% indicate that they use such technology in their teaching (Buteau et al., 2014). The first statistic reflects the enormous potential that programming has for doing and learning mathematics. The second served as the inspiration for our research: why would such a gap exist? In response to this question, we put forth an exploratory study aimed at better understanding the place of programming in mathematical research and university mathematics education. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with 14 mathematicians working within various mathematical subfields at different universities across Canada. Our qualitative analysis allows us to describe the ways in which these mathematicians construct computer programs in order to accomplish several tasks (e.g., simulating real-world phenomena, doing "experimental" mathematics, developing new powerful tools). It also allows us to identify some moments where the mathematicians expose their students to certain elements of these research practices. We notice, however, that the students are rarely invited to conceptualize and write their own programs. In the end, our participants highlight several institutional constraints: the curriculum,  departmental culture, human resources, the traditions in mathematics, etc. Some of these constraints, which seem to be limiting the mathematical experience of some undergraduate students, could warrant re-examination.

Keyphrases: Mathematical practices, University teaching, Computer programming, Mathematics curriculum, Institutional constraints
Le choix du tout-à-l'automobile à Montréal (1953-1967) : 
un contexte propice à l’aménagement de l'échangeur Turcot

Within a decade, Montréal was permanently transformed. From the mid-1950s, where it represented a developed city but was devoid of highways, to 1967, the year of the World Expo, Québec confirmed that its priority was the automobile. The motorway development realized at that time had to meet the short and long term needs of its society. This network still exists today. It is necessary to analyze this time period to understand how Montréal adopted such a policy so rapidly. This thesis addresses the postwar elements central to Montréal’s policies which focused and brought to the forefront the theme of traffic circulation in the metropolis. The authorities' response to traffic, and their will to plan the city according to long-term needs, provoked a major metropolitan highway development that reached its pinnacle in 1967 with the accomplishment of the Turcot Interchange. Built in the 1960s, the Turcot Interchange was the result of a particular economic situation, a manifestation of the era’s needs and expectations. The analysis conducted in this thesis provides a thorough examination of the history of this major highway project, which was a strong symbol of Montréal and Québec’s modernization scheme. In recent years, this infrastructure project has been back in the limelight as projects for a new Turcot Interchange commenced in 2007, marking the second act of this space's revitalization and modernization. However, does this renewed Turcot Interchange correspond adequately to the needs of a modern twenty-first century metropolis?

Keyphrases: Montréal, Turcot, Automobile, Circulation, Transports, Highways, Montreal, Turcot, Traffic, Mobility, Transports, Urban planning, Advanced modernity, Urban history, Automobile
Consumption of Bias and Reptition as a Revisionary Strategies in Palace of the Peacock and in the Thought of Wilson Harris

Wilson Harris has created in his novel Palace of the Peacock a space of intellectual transformation that differs radically from everything that preceded it. In this work, I focus on the narrative matrix of Palace, which enables the genesis of an evolving Guyanese identity. This identity derives neither from pre-colonial vestiges nor from the narratives of traditional historiography. In order to shape this dynamic identity, Wilson Harris uses philosophical as well as literary ingredients whose transformative power affects the way our imagination is structured. He uses repetition as a narrative strategy whose subversive force puts in question among other familiar narrative frames, the linear flow of time destroying in the process not only ingrained reading habits but most importantly oppressive, conventional mental frameworks. This work is also an exploration of how the voice of Wilson Harris meets other voices from other continents and other backgrounds that all call for an unconditional hospitality towards the Other in and outside of oneself.

Keyphrases: postcolonialism, repetition, hauntology, archive, virtual archive, archon, imagination, archive-fever, spectrology, revisioniary strategies, British Guyana, imperialism, hybridity, West India, empire, narrative experimentation, postcolonialisme
Les débats politiques entourant l’adoption de la Loi sur la sécurité des rues et des communautés : une analyse des représentations

In Canada, the rhetoric surrounding penal policy has sometimes been favorable to a more punitive approach, sometimes to a more rehabilitative approach and the literature shows that we have always mitigated our approach with a dichotomous penal philosophy that promotes the balance between retributive punishment and rehabilitation. Since the arrival of a minority conservative government in 2006, and despite a drop in reported criminal activity and in the severity of crime, the legislative activity in criminal and penal matters has intensified. In 2011, the government proposed Bill C-10, an omnibus retributive crime bill comprised of 5 distinct parts, each implementing important changes to various sections of the criminal and penal processes.  The purpose of our study is to understand the social representations of crime, the criminal and the criminal sanction, that led to the adoption of Bill C-10 using a document analysis of the political debates on C-10 that took place in the House of Commons from September 20th 2011 to December 6th 2011. We used a thematic analysis. Our findings reveal that dualistic speeches have disappeared to the detriment of a penal perspective centered on the notion of protection by means of retribution, denunciation and neutralization. Our analysis also reveals the importance of emotion and sensationalism in the debates, as well as the arrival of a politicized penal realm.

Keyphrases: Bill C-10, Social representations, Penal philosophy, Punitive turn, Penal populism, Penal policies
Les simulations militaires pratiquées au sein d’organisations civiles au Québec : une analyse des apprentissages stratégiques, tactiques et opérationnels

Civilian military simulations are gaining more and more popularity within the Province of Quebec, and we know very little about what constitutes this marginal activity and the risk that can account from this type of training. Considering different learning processes, we suggest to look at military simulations to see how the learning of detrimental capital can explain how an individual or a group are achieving acts of extreme violence. We propose and empirically support a socio-criminological approach for a better understanding of extreme violence radicalization, and we think that delinquent behavior must be learned, as any other behavior, which inevitably suggests some competency to achieve it. Thus, we ask the following research question: through exploring the acquisition of detrimental capital in civilian military simulations, how can we better understand the process leading to the commission of an act of extreme violence? Using a mixed method of ethnographic observations, surveys and interviews, we highlight how the study of the processes of radicalization in a single ideological perspective is insufficient for having a complete picture of the phenomenon. Even if we are demonstrating that within the observed communities, lots of positive affect are influencing participants toward unfavorable definitions for delinquent behaviors, we are also showing that they acquire detrimental capital. These positive affects come in different forms of informal social control from dominant social norms, plurality of actors and internal influential personalities. Regarding detrimental capital, it originates from the learning of advanced combat techniques that are often used for the commission of extreme violence. Among them, participants learn particular tactical handling of firearms and other improvised explosive devices. In addition, we figure that these activities may have an impact on their moral judgment, since they offer several forms of banalization of practices related to the commission of such acts. Of these, we emphasize that the activity consists in aiming and shooting at someone repeatedly with a gun, whereas participants rationalize these actions using terms that do not directly describe their violent actions.

Keyphrases: Criminologie, Radicalization, Military simulation, Learning, Terrorism, Criminology
Les trois mondes des régimes fiscaux : l’économie politique du financement des États-providence

This thesis is about a paradox: the most generous welfare states, built by social-democratic parties, are financed by more regressive taxes than residual welfare states, which are funded by progressive taxes, despite the fact that they are governed by right parties more often. To understand this paradox, this thesis starts by analysing the pressures that globalisation puts on taxation. Then, the thesis reviews the literature of political science research on taxation to understand the institutional origins of distinct tax regimes. Three ideal types of tax regimes are defined by the study of institutional and functional constraints on political actors’ preferences and behaviour. These ideal types fit with Esping-Andersen’s typology of welfare states regimes. By regrouping typologies on tax and welfare regimes, this thesis explores the link between revenues and expenses while showing that the funding of public policies is a crucial feature of the political economy of welfare states.

Keyphrases: Taxation, Welfare State, Tax regimes, Power resource theory, Varieties of capitalism, Ideal types, Majoritarian systems, Consensual systems
Diversité des organismes endophytes dans les racines de plantes poussant en milieu contaminé en hydrocarbures

Endophytic fungi are organisms that live inside plant tissues without any apparent disease symptoms. They are found in virtually all plant species and their interactions can vary widely from mutualism to parasitism depending chiefly on environmental conditions and stresses. The diversity and community structure of fungal endophytes in extremely polluted sites and their role in phytoremediation remain largely unexplored. In this study we investigated the community structure of endophytic fungi in roots of two plant species (Eleocharis eryhtropoda and Populus sp.) growing spontaneously in three petroleum-contaminated sedimentation basins of a former petro-chemical plant with different contamination levels. We used both a culture-dependent method of strain isolation as well as a culture-independent method of pyrosequencing of ITS ribosomal DNA. Our results indicate that levels of contamination shape the taxonomic composition of endophytic fungi in E. erythropoda roots. A majority of the reads belonged to the Dothydeomycetes class in smaples from high petroleum-hydrocarbon levels, with the Alternaria genus accounting for the majority of these reads. In addition comparison between culture-dependent and -independent methods showed that strain isolation does not promote the most abundant species found in pyrosequencing. This could help to develop strategies for improving phytoremediation using fungal endophytes.

Keyphrases: Endophytes, Populus, Fungi, Endophytes, Petroleum-hydrocarbon contamination, Pyrosequencing, Community structures, Populus
Expérience hétérotopique du cinéma : approches théoriques et historiographiques du cinéma en salle

This thesis explores how theories of moving image reception that have or have had a significant impact on the development of film studies as a discipline are centered around the movie theater and on “movie-going” practices. The analysis of a representative set of theoretical and historiographical approaches to the cinematic experience allows for the definition of key principles that unearth various forms of mediation at play in the movie-going experience. Jean-Louis Baudry’s “apparatus theory” and Christian Metz’s notion of the “imaginary signifier” both suggest a theory of movie-going experience stressing the transparency effects on spectators of the mediation of certain architectural and technological aspects of movie theaters and focusing on the symbolic and institutional nature of this form of mediation. In contrast, Roger Odin’s semio-pragmatic approach and New Cinema History’s critical historiography (as theorized by Robert C. Allen and Richard Maltby) conceptualize the opacity of a complex set of sensory, relational, social, and economic mediations occurring in movie theaters, which last during the entire experience of the audience in these exhibition sites. By unspooling the complexity of the theoretical stances above mentioned, this thesis moves towards the definition of a heterotopic cinema experience formulated from within the context of film studies.

Keyphrases: movie theaters, spectatorship, cinematic experience, film reception, apparatus theory, imaginary signifier, semio-pragmatic approach, sociality of cinema, film exhibition, intermediality
Les brevets conjoints : panacée pour l’innovation ou boîte de Pandore juridique?

Globalization has encouraged the development of collaborative innovation, leading to an increased number of partnerships between various actors. Because of their multiple benefits, joint projects play a key role in the economic and industrial development of high value-added sectors. In this context, the creation or quantification of value by collaborative innovation depends largely on the ability to market innovations having an adequate intellectual property protection. Thus, the global trend shows a significant increase in joint filings of patent applications between various entities. These co-filings raise a variety of legal issues, since the statutory schemes are not necessarily adapted to the reality of partnerships. First, the incomplete schemes provided by laws do not anticipate the legal consequences of the interaction between different actors. The variety of stakeholder configurations and types of partnerships leads to confusion between the inventors and the owners when filing a patent application. This situation can also lead to de facto co-ownership of a patent, which may result in disputes and undermine the tremendous value of joint patents. In addition, the statutory schemes are also deficient at the stage of the exploitation of a joint patent. By comparing the Canadian and American legal schemes, it becomes possible to better identify the legal issues associated with the questions presented during the development of a partnership. To achieve successful outcomes from joint patents, a contractual framework is proposed to overcome these statutory gaps. Through the use of contractual tools and pre-contract planning, joint owners can realize the enormous potential of this institution.

Keyphrases: collaboration(s), Intellectual property, joint property, patent(s), co-owner(s), co-inventor(s), collaboration(s), open innovation
Azabicycloalkanone synthesis by transannular cyclization

An efficient strategy has been developed for the synthesis of different functionalized azabicyclo[X.Y.0]alkanone amino acids. The synthetic sequence features preparation of dipeptides by coupling respectively vinyl-, allyl-, homoallyl- and homohomoallylglycine building blocks, followed by ring closing metathesis to produced 8-, 9-, and 10-member unsaturated macrocyclic lactams, and transannular iodolactamization to make the bicyclic dipeptide surrogates bearing iodine on the lactam ring. Transition metal cross-coupling methods were developed to make enantiomerically pure ω-unsaturated amino acid building blocks from iodoalanine. Mechanistic considerations suggest that attack of iodine from the least hindered face of the unsaturated macrocyclic lactam provides an iodonium intermediate and cyclization occurs by a route that minimizes allylic strain and diaxial interactions.  Iodolactamization of the unsaturated macrocyclic lactams gave regio- and diastereoselectively fused 5,5- and 6,6-iodo-bicylic amino acids. Moreover, an anti-Bredt bridgehead imidate azabicyclo[4.3.1]alkane was synthesized from a 9-membered unsaturated macrocyclic lactam precursor.  X-ray crystallographic and spectroscopic analyses of the 8-, 9-, and 10-member macrocycles, as well as the 5,5-bicycle and bridgehead imidate demonstrate the potential of these constrained dipeptides to mimic the central residues of ideal type I, II’, II and VI β-turn geometry.

Keyphrases: Acide aminé Azabicyclo[X.Y.0]alkanone, Quinolozidinone, Pyrrolizidinone, Indolizidinone, Transannular cyclizations, Azabicyclo[X.Y.Z]alkanone amino acid, Iodolactamization, Quinolozidinone, Pyrrolizidinone, Indolizidinone
La lutte pour la reconnaissance des Québécoises de 2e génération portant le voile

This Masters aims to understand the life experience of young Québécoises from second generation of Muslims immigrants wearing Islamic headscarves, and who experienced the debate over the political project la charte des valeurs in 2012. One of the articles of this charte aimed to forbid employees of the public sector to wear ‘ostentatious’ religious signs. The province of Quebec has witnessed a wave of protests and many rallies of members of religious minorities who felt targeted by this bill. I have noticed the emergence of the second generation of these religious minorities who displayed their religious signs in the public space and protested against La Charte. To understand this phenomenon I used the concept of struggle for recognition theorized by Honneth and the concept of stigma elaborated by Goffman and later by Göle. I tried to comprehend the struggle for recognition of the young Quebeckers wearing the veil as a stigmatized religious sign. The concept of hybridity allowed me to consider the multiplicity of identifications of these young women and how it could be articulated through their struggle for recognition. I conducted 13 semi structured interviews with young Muslim women between 19 and 27 years old, born in Quebec and wearing the Islamic headscarf.

Keyphrases: struggle for recognition, stigma, identity, visibility, hybridity
FPGA-based object detection using classification circuits

In the machine learning area, classification is a process of mapping a new observation to a certain category. Classifiers which implement classification algorithms have been studied widely over the past decades. Traditional classifiers are based on algorithms such as SVM and neural nets, and are usually run by software on CPUs which cause the system to suffer low performance and high power consumption. Although GPUs can be used to accelerate the computation of some classifiers, its high power consumption prevents the technology from being implemented on portable devices such as embedded systems or wearable hardware. To make a lightweight classification system, classifiers should be able to run on a more compact hardware system instead of a group of CPUs/GPUs, and classifiers themselves should be optimized to fit that hardware. In this thesis, we explore the implementation of a novel classifier on a FPGA-based hardware platform. The classifier, devised by Alain Tapp (Université de Montréal), is based on a large amount of look-up tables that form tree-structured circuits to do classification tasks. The FPGA appears to be a tailor-made component to implement this classifier with its rich resources of look-up tables and the highly parallel architecture. Our work shows that a single FPGA can implement multiple classifiers to do classification on high definition images at a very high speed.

Keyphrases: FPGA, Machine learning, Classifier, Look-up tables
Génération automatique de configurations et de scénarios d'utilisation d'outils de visualisation à partir de spécifications de tâches d'analyse de logiciels

We propose an approach that derives interactive visualization scenarios from descriptions of code analysis tasks. The scenario derivation is treated as an optimization process. In this context, we evaluate different possibilities of using a given visualization tool to perform the analysis task, and select the scenario that requires the least effort from the analyst. Our approach was applied successfully to various analysis tasks such as design defect detection and feature location.

Keyphrases: Reverse engineering, Source code visualization, Software visualization, Analysis task
Réponse de la communauté de mollusques aux perturbations physiques et chimiques dans un grand lac fluvial (Lac Saint-Pierre, Fleuve Saint-Laurent, QC)

Molluscs are indicators of anthropogenic and environmental disturbances and constitute an important food source for littoral fish and aquatic birds. The main hypotheses put forward for our study are that the mollusc community is impacted by the agricultural tributaries and/or by physical variables (desiccation, exposure to waves) through changes in food and habitat. The indicators used were mollusc species composition, diversity, density, and biomass. Over the course of two weeks in September 2013, we sampled physical/chemical water variables, collected aquatic vegetation and molluscs at 14 sites on both shores of Lake Saint-Pierre (St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada). Sites located at higher elevations, subjected to recent water level fluctuations, and exposed to wind fetch along the north shore, had lower gastropod and unionid mussel richness, density, and biomass than less-exposed sites located at lower elevations along the south shore. These physically disturbed sites were characterized by low biomasses of submerged macrophytes. Sphaerid clams appeared to be notable exceptions to these patterns, showing their highest abundances at sites almost devoid of macrophytes. In spite of the fact that physical and habitat variables exerted a strong effect on mollusc communities, gastropod and unionid mussels were additionally affected by degraded water quality originating from agricultural tributaries. Gastropod richness, density, and biomass were negatively influenced by high levels of total suspended matter and dissolved iron. Our results show that the mollusc community in Lake Saint-Pierre was primarily affected by the direct influence of periodic emersion, wind exposure, and indirectly through the effect of these physical variables on macrophyte habitat.

Keyphrases: Macrophytes, Gastropods, Mussels, Lake Saint-Pierre, Water level fluctuations, Wind exposure, Macrophytes, Water quality