NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Accaparement des terres en Afrique subsaharienne : une opportunité manquée de développement : la stratégie «gagnant-gagnant» sous le prisme du contrôle étatique

While the massive trade in agricultural land is criticized by NGOs and businesses who see it as land grabbing, international organizations such as the World Bank view it as an opportunity for development for countries selling or leasing their land, illustrating the " win- win" principle. Yet, land marketing seems to have a major impact on local populations and development gains are difficult to see. Is the massive trade in agricultural land really an opportunity for development? The aim of this thesis is to make the connection between massive land trade and the possibility of development in difficulty, to know if after ten years of the offer of magnitude of the phenomenon the trade of agricultural land. It really succeeded in driving the development of the areas where the land was marketed. Our approach, which consists of an analysis of secondary quantitative and qualitative data, leads us to question the link between the massive trade in agricultural land and development. Notably due to a legal framework that serves the local populations. Finally the elite’s state take advantage of the price as a result of a lack of transparency and development to defend their interests. Keywords : Massive trade in agricultural land, land grabbing, development, sub-Saharan Africa, legal framework, win-win principle, state interest.

Keyphrases: Massive trade in agricultural land, Land grabbing, Development, Sub-Saharan Africa, Legal framework, Win-win principle, State interest
Délibérer en régime de démocratie représentative : la forme de vie politique à l'aune de la raison pratique

Contemporary representative regimes confront social changes that led to new ideas about democratic government, in theory as well as in practice. One of the most influential of these is « deliberative democracy », which promotes public conversation and political participation as a mode of producing legitimate social norms. The present work seeks to investigate this idea in an Aristotelian framework and to draw criterions for the evaluation of an appropriate deliberative reasoning. It will especially put forth a conception of pratical reason which insists on the needed consistency between deliberation and the action it is supposed to produce, in order to demonstrate the epistemic potential of action itself. It will thereafter be shown that the study of political deliberation must include a reflexion on the common form of life that frames the deliberative practice. In addition to the works of Aristotle, this research leans upon those of the philosophers Alasdair MacIntyre and Pierre Manent.

Keyphrases: Aristote, Alasdair MacIntyre, Pierre Manent, Deliberation, Deliberative democracy, Practical rationality, Rhetoric, Aristotle
L’induction implicite de l’utilisation de l’oeil droit produit une meilleure discrimination faciale du sexe

Variation in face recognition ability is still largely unexplained in the neurologically typical population. We first derived classification images (CI) from the Bubbles sampling technique —regression planes which reveal idiosyncratic visual information usage— for 140 healthy individuals while they conducted a face-sex discrimination task. We found that qualitative differences in the visual information used by participants predicted (i.e. was correlated to) variations of performance between healthy individuals; participants in the best performance quartile relied mostly on the right-eye of the presented face whereas individuals from the worst performance quartile used the left-eye region while performing the same task.  Then, with the aim of going beyond the correlational techniques that have attempted to resolve the issue of recognition ability, we experimentally induced the two visual strategies used by the best and worst individuals to one hundred naive participants and observed the effects of these treatments on individual recognition ability. Data from CIs indicate that we successfully induced right eye usage in fifty individuals. We found that this induction significantly improved the group’s performance on post-induction task sessions, compared to pre-induction, and that this right-eye induction group also improved significantly more than the left-eye induction group. Given that both eye regions have the same informational content, this is the first evidence that the use of a specific facial representation causes better facial processing in the normal population.

Keyphrases: Cognitive ability, Visual strategies, Causality, Induction, Representations, Learning, Face-sex recognition, Induction, Face recognition, Individual differences
Développement et étude de la fidélité inter-juges d'un outil évaluant la communication hypnotique des soignants en oncologie pédiatrique : échelle d'évaluation de la communication hypnotique du CHU Sainte-Justine

Introduction: Several Studies in pediatric oncology have shown that hypnotic communication decreases pain and distress during medical procedures. Although the successful effects of hypnotic techniques have been observed, there is no guarantee that the observed relationships involve specifically hypnotic communication as no precise assessment tool was used to evaluate communication techniques. Objectives: (1) To develop a scale assessing healthcare providers’ behaviour when using hypnotic techniques and (2) to evaluate its inter-rater reliability (IRR). Methods: As part of a interventional study, the Sainte-Justine Hypnotic Communication Assessment Scale (SJ-HCAS) was developed in three rounds using an iterative process aiming to maximize specificity and clarity. Five experts and four lay raters participated in the development process. IRR was assessed by four raters in a randomly selected sample of collected video recorded nurse-patient interactions (n=42). Results: Composed of 11 items, the SJ-HCAS is divided into two categories: Relationship and Technique. Excellent IRR was found for the total score and the subscores in two independent inter-rater comparisons (median ICC = 0.879), with most items showing high to perfect IRR (median Kappa = 0.847). Conclusion: The results support further work with the SJ-HCAS. The scale has a good potential for future use in pediatrics to assess integrity of hypnotic communication training. The SJ-HCAS could ultimately promote the dissemination of hypnotic communication in clinical practice.

Keyphrases: Hypnotic communication, Healthcare professionals, Assessment tool, Pediatrics, Medical procedures, Procedural pain and distress
Activités parascolaires et décrochage scolaire au secondaire : liens en fonction des dimensions de la participation

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities (ECA) and high school dropout among at-risk youths. Multiple dimensions of participation were considered, such as continuity and intensity, to verify if they modified this link. Based on the few studies conducted in the United-States, a lower risk of dropping out was expected among students who were involved in ECA, especially when the participation was of better quality according to a set of dimensions, like greater intensity and longer duration of participation. Theses hypothesis were tested among a sample (N = 545) of adolescents between 14 and 18 years of age (M = 16.5 SD = 0.9) recruited from 12 schools in and around Montreal, Canada. Controls variables (e.g., parental education, academic achievement) were integrated in multiple logistic regressions in addition to considering the nested structure of the data (student within schools) and the individual likelihood of being involved in ECA. Results showed that participation in ECA was associated with a lower risk of dropping out (OR = 0.32; 95% CI = 0.17-0.61), but only when the participation was maintained throughout the year. The continuity of participation has thus proved to be an important dimension of participation, unlike other dimensions which did not demonstrated any significant additional contribution to better predict high school dropout.

Keyphrases: Extracurricular activities, High school dropout, At-risk students, Dimensions of participation
Apprentissage et productivité lors de la saisie de données chez des adultes présentant une déficience intellectuelle

Due to stigmatisation and limitations associated with their diagnosis, most adults with intellectual disability (ID) do not have access to competitive employment. Notably, individuals with ID often experience difficulties in learning new tasks as well as with achieving high productivity, which create barriers to their social participation. Considering these difficulties discussed in the research literature, we assessed the effects of different interventions on learning and productivity. First, we identified the essential components of video instruction for two participants with ID while teaching them to enter data on a computer. For both participants, video modeling (VM) and self-instruction (SI) alone did not result in learning data entry. In both cases, it was necessary to add a prompting procedure in order for them to master the skill. The results indicate that the addition of a prompting procedure to VM and SI is necessary for some individuals. Second, we assessed the effects of differential reinforcement of high rates of behavior (DRH) on the productivity of four participants with mild or moderate ID. For all participants, DRH increased productivity. However, none of the participants achieved a level of productivity comparable to the standard norm for this task. The results indicate that using DRH to increase productivity is an interesting solution, but that it may be necessary to add another intervention to maximize productivity. In general, the results show that individuals with ID can learn data entry and increase their pace of data entry when provided with adequate support.

Keyphrases: Differential reinforcement of high rates of behavior, Intellectual disability, Prompt, Self-instruction, Video modeling
Nouvelles étoiles candidates membres d’associations jeunes locales

The search for young objects is crucial for several fields of astrophysics. Searching for and directly imaging exoplanets is simplified for young systems as the luminosity ratio between the young host star and its orbiting planets, that still emit thermal radiation when young, is inferior less than for older systems. Moreover, constraining and refining stellar evolutionary models require a large number of known young stars. Finally, a large population of young objects is critical for constraining the initial mass function, especially in the low-mass regime. This thesis presents a search for young stars from a subset sample of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution comprising nearly 2 million objects, included in the first data release of the GAIA mission (Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics). With the BANYAN-  (Bayesian Analysis for Nearby Young AssociatioNs) and a colour magnitude diagram, we searched for young stars from 250,000 targets with known radial velocity. The result is a list of 42 potentially young late stars, all with association probability greater than 90% for groups younger than 60 Myr and with a luminosity significantly higher than old stars of the same colour on the main sequence. Finally, from their new Bayesian association probabilities and their lithium absorption equivalent width, available for 25 candidates, their status within their respective associations was revised. This study presents 10 new stars, never before associated, belonging to the comoving groups forming the region known as Scorpius-Centaurus. We also find 13 new bona fides members.

Keyphrases: BANYAN-SIGMA, Young stars, Local co-moving groups
Perspectives critiques sur la laideur : possibilités esthétiques et artistiques

This research is an attempt at redefining the aesthetical and artistical issues related to the progressive « liberation » of ugliness from the classical paradigms of modern aesthetics. The emancipation of ugliness is foremost one from traditional art philosophy, in which ugliness is usually reduced to the mere absence of beauty. Even nowadays their remains some difficulties to consider ugliness in art from an aesthetical point of view. However, it must be made clear that the present paper is not suggesting that ugliness cannot be « unaesthetic »  – it surely can be. Therefore, this paper is to be understood as an exploration of the various possibilities related to the concept of ugliness, one of which is its participation in a full-fledged aesthetic experience. This discussion should lead us to describe and better understand the modalities of this concept and how they interact with each other. Inspired by Adorno’s aesthetics and Jérôme Stolnitz’ emotionalist account of ugliness in art, ugliness will be redefined dialectically, as describing a properly human relationship with alterity, as well as a subjective satisfaction which can be defined within the traditional account of « negative pleasures », similar to what can be said regarding the use of horror and the sublime in arts.

Keyphrases: Ugliness, Aesthetic, Beauty, Philosophy, Dialectic, Emotionalism
L’ontologie de la causalité adoptée par David Hume : un new Hume debate de peu de conséquence pour le monde

Some scholars argue that David Hume believes that there exists a real connexion between causes and effects beyond our perceptions. This way, they are opposed to another interpretation arguing that he would deny such a connexion. In this master thesis, I will show that he rather is an agnostic of some kind about the subject. However, I will also show that this is a false debate, because the commentators agree on all key elements. The work has four parts. First, I will summarize aspects of Hume’s philosophy that are essential to the debate: his theory of ideas, his analysis of causality, and his definition of belief. Second, I will examine the realist interpretation in order to show, despite first appearances, that it is perfectly coherent with the Humean epistemology. Third, I will evaluate its main arguments and maintain that they are all weak. Fourth, I will show that this debate is fundamentally about semantics.

Keyphrases: David Hume, Philosophy, Causality, Epistemology, Ontology, Realism, Anti-realism, Scepticism
Penser la traduction dans une perspective herméneutique : la contribution de Gadamer à la traductologie

It is well known that the phenomenon of translation plays an important role in Gadamer's philosophy as a hermeneutical model that emphasizes the universality of the linguistic element, but less obvious is whether his philosophy could be of any help for translation studies. This dissertation is an attempt to show that Gadamers's conciliating thinking – as exemplarily presented in his ideas of fusion of horizons, dialogical understanding and participation – could not only enable the translatology to think the success of translation outside of the binary theoretical framework in which it evolves, but could also contribute to justify the participation of the translator in the process of rendering the meaning of a text in a new language, a role that certainly goes beyond the sole linguistic transfer, without being, per se, subjective.

Keyphrases: Gadamer, Hermeneutics, Translation, Language, Understanding
Héritage non génétique, construction de niche et théorie de la pensée étendue : analyse et compatibilité épistémologique

This master’s thesis consists of an analysis of the epistemological compatibility of two theories that are originating from two autonomous approaches. The niche construction theory relies on an evolutionary approach by Odling-Smee, Laland and Feldman. We compare it to the extended mind theory, introduced by Clark and Chalmers and normally understood as a part of the philosophy of mind. We will show that, despite their different level of analysis, these two theories are compatible. First, we will present the niche construction and its possibility for a non-genetic system of inheritance, that is based on the actions of organisms which modify their environment to make evolutionary interactions reciprocal. This chapter presents ecological inheritance as a system that transmits modified selection pressures to the next generation and what this means for humans. Secondly, we will present the extended cognition theory, by putting emphasis on the difference between process and substance. This chapter evaluates the arguments of the opponents of extended cognition theory, in light of functionalism and externalism in the philosophy of mind. Lastly, this text evaluates the compatibility of the two theories, by drawing inspiration from Sterelny. We will show similarities in the causal structures of the two theories, both accept more elements in the explanation of causes, thereby interacting in a reciprocal way in the process. The different links between the theories will bring us to discuss the roles and the materiality of language when it is interpreted according to the two theories.

Keyphrases: philosophie cognitive, Niche construction, Extended mind, Extended cognition, Evolution, Philosophy of Biology, Cognitive Philosophy, Epistemology, Ecological inheritance, Active externalism
La régulation et la fonction des protéines Argonaute dans les dendrites des neurones hippocampiques

The processes controlling the translation of messenger RNAs into proteins play a critical role in the morphogenesis of neurons and in the plasticity of their synapses. The localization of certain messenger RNAs and their translation in dendrites are orchestrated by a particularly sophisticated regulation which is adapted to the compartmentalized morphology and excitable nature of neurons. MicroRNAs appear to be key players in the regulation of mRNA translation and protein expression at synapses. MicroRNAs are short, non-coding RNAs that specifically target messenger RNAs and regulate their translation into proteins. The microRNA pathway is controlled by a molecular machinery at the center of which are Argonaute proteins (AGO). However, the mechanisms regulating AGO proteins in neurons remain largely unknown. Ago2, the best characterized AGO protein in mammalian organisms, undergoes various modifications regulating, among other things, its localization, its stability, and its interaction with RNA. Such regulation and its physiological impact have not yet been described in neurons of the central nervous system. Thus, in my first study, we analyzed the regulation of Ago2 phosphorylation and stability by NMDA receptors, which play a central role in synaptic transmission and plasticity in neurons from the hippocampus, an important brain region for memory formation. We found that upon activation of NMDA receptors, Ago2 is dephosphorylated and degraded. Moreover, we observed that this regulation modulates the growth and maturation of spines found on dendrites and that represent synaptic sites. Apart from Ago2, the other predominant form of AGO protein in the brain is Ago1. However, the regulation and function of Ago1 in neurons remains obscure. Therefore, in my second study, we focused on comparing the regulation and function of Ago1 and Ago2 proteins on neuronal development. We found that expression of Ago1 protein decreases during neuronal development, whereas Ago2 protein levels appear to be more stable. Moreover, by manipulating the expression rate for each of these two proteins, we demonstrated a repressive influence of Ago1 and a permissive influence of Ago2 on the development of dendrites. By shedding light on how Ago1 and Ago2 function in hippocampal neurons, the results presented in this thesis define novel mechanisms regulating cellular adaptations necessary for neuronal homeostasis and structural plasticity of dendrites. In a wider scope, the work accomplished in the context of this research project contributes to elucidate the molecular processes underlying the development of cognitive functions.

Keyphrases: dendrite, phosphorylation, Argonaute (AGO) protein;, degradation, messenger  RNA  (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), neuron, NMDA receptor, phosphorylation, spine, translation
Effets et implantation d’un programme communautaire de marche avec bâtons destiné aux aînés

Older adults are the least physically active portion of the population. Health benefits of physical activity for them have been widely demonstrated. Efforts to encourage older adults to engage in more physical activity are therefore critical. Recently, pole walking has positioned itself as an activity of interest to promote older adults’ health. Several studies conducted in controlled research-based environments have demonstrated both physical and psychological benefits in older adults after group-based pole walking programs. However, it is not enough to document the results of interventions under controlled conditions. Research must also produce knowledge about the factors that influence the impact of these interventions when they are implemented in natural environments. Hence, the main objective of this doctoral thesis was to analyze the effects and implementation of a 12-week pole walking program offered by 13 community organizations in the Greater Montreal area to 123 independent seniors. Performed twice a week for one hour, the program consists mainly of pole walking, but also included complementary exercises and activities aimed to promote a physically active lifestyle. The first study of this thesis showed that the program reached the typical population of this type of initiative. Moreover, the program was partially in concordance with the original protocol and the overall response to the program was positive. The second and third studies demonstrated that the program was able, in the short term, to increase the physical activity levels of the participants sufficiently to generate benefits which focused mainly on improvements in muscular strength. Further studies are needed to explore the effects of pole walking programs offered in free-living conditions, most-importantly on cognitive function and the long-term physical activity levels of participants.

Keyphrases: Pole walking, Older adults, Physical activity, Program evaluation, Community setting, Implementation, Physical capacity, Psychological well-being, Cognitive function, Health promotion