NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
A computational docking and molecular dynamics simulations study to identify the putative phosphoinositide binding site(s) of HCN channels

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels are a type of voltage gated ion channels that control rhythmic activity and synaptic plasticity in the heart and brain. These channels allow K+ and Na+ ions to pass, thereby creating an inward current upon hyperpolarization of the membrane. Due to its unusual biophysical properties, this current is called funny « If» or hyperpolarization « Ih » current. Abnormalities in Ih current are associated with arrythmia and neurological disorders including epilepsy. Different molecules are found to modulate this current. Experimental results have shown that lipids play a role in shifting the voltage dependence of HCN channels to more positive, or depolarized voltages. Both endogenous and exogenous phospholipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, or PI(4,5)P2, regulates HCN channels by shifting the opening of the channel to a more depolarized voltage. This modulation is postulated to be through direct interaction of PI(4,5)P2 with the HCN channel. Here, we use molecular dynamics and docking to explore and identify the binding site through analysis of the contacts and stability of the hydrogen bonds involved in phosphoinositide molecules and HCN channel interaction. We propose LYS and ARG residues of the HCN domain and S3 to be key residues in the binding site through which phosphoinositide molecules can potentially activate the channel.

Keyphrases: HCN Channel, Ih current, Phosphoinositide, Molecular Dynamics, Docking
La juste rémunération des créateurs de la musique à l’ère du numérique : regard croisé France-Canada : quelle régulation pour assurer l’équitable répartition des redevances musicales à l’ère du numérique?

The remuneration of music creators is essential for the development and sustainability of artistic innovation. This remuneration must be fair and equitable among the various participants in the creation of music. To ensure a fair distribution of music royalties, intellectual property law sets up various rules and mechanisms of copyright management. Yet, in this digital age, these mechanisms no longer seem appropriate for the developments of such technologies. In addition to legislative rules, other rules have developed in the private sector. Among them, technical and IT rules provide interesting and efficient characteristics to reinforce and/or replace the collective management rules found in mainstream copyright law. Starting with the assumption that we are today in a postmodern legal era where legal rules of different origins and natures are juxtaposed, this dissertation is a reflection on the relevant type of regulation that is needed to ensure a fair and equitable remuneration for music creators in the digital age.

Keyphrases: Gestion collective, Lex electronica, Blockchain, Copyright, Music royalties, Equity, Collective management, Private copy, Digital age, Postmodernity, Lex electronica, Blockchain, Regulation
L’application de la loi à l’encontre des personnes morales comme vecteur de modification des comportements et pratiques et de redistribution de la responsabilité

It is essential to impose sanctions on individuals responsible for corporate misconduct to ensure deterrence and personal accountability, but also to maintain public confidence in our justice system and the financial services industry. However, legal, organizational and operational challenges make it particularly difficult for law enforcement agencies to find said individuals responsible for corporate misconduct. Scandals and financial crisis emphasized these difficulties and left the impression that only corporations were subject to sanctions and not their responsible directors, officers or employees. It is mainly because they have sometimes served as alternatives to the search for individual accountability that legal proceedings against corporations do not have a good press.  Enforcement actions against individuals and enforcement actions against corporations play different roles. They are complementary and not alternatives or substitutes. It is through the angle of change in behaviours and practices (rather than the only retrospective sanction) that the prism of law enforcement against corporations should be considered. In addition to deterring, such measures foster a change (voluntary or not) in behaviours and practices and could contribute to redistributing responsibility to the individuals actually responsible for corporate misconduct, notably through internal disciplinary mechanisms and sound compensation practices.

Keyphrases: Sanctions, Culture, Enforcement, Financial services, Responsibility, Accountability, Deterrence, Misconduct, Behaviours, Disciplinary mechanisms, Compensation
La coopération réglementaire dans l’Accord Canada-Europe : vers une éventuelle convergence des normes?

Regulatory divergence between States represents one of the major barriers to the exchange of goods and services across the world and undermines competitiveness in the international market.  The goal of this research is to examine emerging developments in the field of free trade treaties (FTAs) and to study the principle of regulatory cooperation, as set out in a number of modern economic regulatory instruments. We will focus on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) given its novelty and gradual coming into effect.  The first section will consider the regulatory framework established by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).  The second section will examine the concept of regulatory cooperation and the legal mechanisms that are commonly used to achieve normative convergence.  The third section will take a closer look at CETA, including an analysis of the history surrounding its implementation, as well as a thorough review of the chapters and provisions most relevant to our study.  In the fourth and final section, we will aim to explain the contribution of third generation free trade agreements, particularly in regard to their contribution in terms of regulatory integration.

Keyphrases: Droit commercial international, International trade law, Free trade, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Regulatory cooperation
Fratrie adulte non autiste de personnes autistes : expériences et défis

Having a sibling with autism can have a major influence on the life course and experiences of people without autism, as well as creating challenges, including in adulthood. Despite the increasing visibility of people with autism and their families, the experiences of their non-autistic brothers and sisters in adulthood are currently poorly documented. This thesis reports on the various challenges and experiences that characterize the journey of non-autistic adult siblings of people with autism. The objective is to better understand these people to offer them support more suited to their needs. Semi-structured individual interviews were carried out with 10 people aged 25 to 34 with an autistic sibling and living in Quebec. The results highlight the systemic impacts of responses to autism and its manifestations within the families of those interviewed. The needs of siblings in relation to their own well-being as well as access to services and information are also explored. Our research shows that overall, the responses to the needs of the autistic person and their family members have an impact on the experience of non-autistic siblings and influences the development of their resilience. Social work professionals can play a key role in this regard. This thesis intends to contribute to a better understanding of the experiences and needs of non-autistic siblings. It also aims to enable social workers to better support these people and their families.

Keyphrases: Autism, Siblinghood, Brother, Sister, Adulthood, Neurodiversity, Autism spectrum disorders
Politiques migratoires restrictives et sécurité des réfugiés et des migrants : le cas de l’Italie

The significant media coverage of the “Mediterranean crisis” of 2015 has drawn the attention of the international community to the tragic consequences of migration crises and to the inertia of European states. Nonetheless, in 2018, the Italian government introduced the Salvini Decree, a restrictive migration policy aimed, among other things, at reducing the entry and presence of irregular migrants and refugees on its territory. The effects of restrictive migration policies on migratory flows are widely documented. However, the literature on the effects of these policies on irregular migration and on the safety of migrants and refugees remains embryonic. This literature argues that these policies favour the use of illegal entry channels, lead to the deepening of migrants and refugees into irregularity, increase their precariousness and make them more vulnerable to various forms of exploitation. In this regard, this research is based on a human security approach and examines the effects of the Salvini Decree on the vulnerability of refugees and migrants to human trafficking in Italy. Quantitative and qualitative data is here analyzed to better assess the migratory situation in Italy since 2013 as well as the impacts of the Decree-Law. The analysis establishes that the implementation of the Salvini Decree led to an increase of the vulnerability of migrants and refugees to Human trafficking in Italy. This is mainly due to the conversion of the Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (SPRAR) into the Protection System for International Protection Holders and Foreign Unaccompanied Minors (SIPROIMI).

Keyphrases: Migrants, SPRAR/SIPROIMI, Refugees, Migrants, Restrictive migration policies, Vulnerability, Human trafficking, Salvini Decree, Italy, Irregularity, Human security
Développement d’une méthode PCR-SSCP pour caractériser le régime alimentaire des gastéropodes

The diet of terrestrial gastropods is difficult to assess in nature because of their often-nocturnal activity and their small size. Moreover, visual analyzes of digestive contents are problematic because gastropods grind food into small particles, making visual identification unexploitable. Determining the gastropods ‘diet is nevertheless highly relevant because gastropods may have strong ecological and economic impacts. On the one hand, several species are listed endangered or critically endangered. On the opposite, numerous species are considered agricultural pests. The objective is to produce an accurate and inexpensive method to determine the diet of gastropods. More specifically, by using an approach based on PCR-amplified DNA followed by SSCP gels, it was possible to determine taxa diversity before Sanger sequencing, and thus reduce costs. We used Arion fuscus from four old maple forests sites in southern Quebec (Canada) as model to test the method. The 52 individuals’ digestive contents analyzed resulted in a successful PCR amplification and independent DNA extractions from a given individual gave the same SSCP pattern. This method produced reliable results in a few weeks and at a low cost, making it possible to sequence only a few samples to know the plant species consumed by all individuals in the study. Results revealed a low diversity of plants consumed (6 haplotypes). 78.8% of the slugs harvested in spring consumed one and the same species of plant. This method enables the monitoring of plant species consumed by gastropods in conservation and agricultural pest control.

Keyphrases: Arion fuscus, Sanger, SSCP, Diet, molecular analyzes, maple forest
La relation entre le conflit de rôles et la performance au travail

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between role conflict and the performance of employees. The scientific literature presents inconsistent results regarding this relationship. In this study, the first hypothesis suggests that there is a negative relationship between role conflict and performance. This hypothesis is based on the interference theory that considers role conflict an obstacle to performance. Our sample includes 3621 people working in 45 Canadian organizations. The data we used is hierarchical, which is why we conducted regressions in a linear mixed model. The second hypothesis tests the effect of a moderating variable on the relationship between role conflict and performance. This variable is the job type, which is classified according to whether performance depends on the interaction with other individuals or not. The results of our study validate the first hypothesis but show no support for the second one.

Keyphrases: Performance, Role conflict, Performance, Job type
L’inadaptation socio-affective des élèves hyperactifs-impulsifs-inattentifs lors de la transition primaire-secondaire : effet modérateur de l’agressivité-opposition

The transition from elementary to secondary school is an event that causes a lot of stress for students who simultaneously experience a multitude of biopsychosocial and environmental changes. For students with externalizing problems, including hyperactive, impulsive and inattentive (HII) behaviors, this transition can increase the risk of socio-emotional adjustment difficulties (i.e., anxiety, depression, social isolation, victimization). This study aims to examine the link between the presence of HII in grade 4 and 6, and student socio-emotional maladjustment in secondary 1, including the moderating role of aggressiveness-opposition. The sample comprises 1,490 youth aged 10 (grade 4), 12 (grade 6), and 13 years old (grade 7), including 47,8 % boys, who participated to the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD). The results of the hierarchical linear regressions suggest that youth with HII exhibit a significant increase in social problems, including social isolation and victimization during the transition to high school as compared to their low-HII peers. Aggressive-oppositional behaviors were also associated with higher levels of emotional (i.e., anxiety and depression) and social (i.e., victimization) problems. Although we did not identify the expected moderation effect, we found an additive role of HII and aggressiveness-opposition such that youths presenting both problems experienced more victimization. The results of this study highlight the importance of adapting interventions to youth’s unique adjustment characteristics in order to ensure a positive transition to secondary school more suited to the needs of young HII.

Keyphrases: opposition, adaptation sociale, adaptation affective, Hyperactivity, Impulsivity, Aggressiveness, Social adjustment, Emotional adjustment, Anxiety, Victimization, Social isolation
La différence de tempérament entre les catégories d’attachement et les sous-catégories d’attachement mère-enfant et père-enfant à partir de la situation étrangère chez les trottineurs

Parent-child attachment and temperament are two fundamental concepts in child development, because they are involved in the development of both socialization and emotional regulation capacity. However, the connection between those two concepts is still misunderstood. The foregoing research assesses whether there is a connection between mother-child and fatherchild attachment (A, B, C, D), mother-child sub-categories (A, B1, B2, B3, B4, C and D) and father-child sub-categories (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, B4, C and D) with the temperament (negative affect, surgency and effortful control) of 12-18 month-old toddlers. Data come from the first measurement time in the Complémentarité des relations d’attachement père-enfant et mèreenfant : une approche systémique de la famille pour mieux comprendre le développement des enfants d’âge préscolaire (CRA) research project. The sample is made of families with the mother (n=174) the father (n=173) and their child. The attachment was measured with the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 12-18 month and the temperament was measured by the mothers’ and the fathers’ answers to the Rothbart questionnaire « Early Child Behavior Questionnaire - Short Form » when the child was 24-30 month old. The two MANCOVAS models are not significant. Results indicate that there is no difference between children of either attachment category and sub-category as to toddlers’ negative affect, surgency and effortful control.

Keyphrases: attachement père-enfant, mother-child attachment, father-child attachment, toddler, attachment sub-categories, negative affect, surgency, effortful control, Strange Situation
Mobilité scolaire au secondaire et décrochage scolaire : rôle du cycle scolaire et de la période annuelle

Theoretical considerations suggest that school mobility in high school can disrupt adolescent adjustment and lead to dropping out of school, especially when it occurs at particularly challenging times academically or developmentally. Namely, disruptions could be amplified when mobility occurs during the school year, while teaching routines are set, and when it occurs towards the end of the secondary school years, when social circles are well established. The goal of this thesis was to verify, based on a sample of adolescents (N = 545) aged between 14 and 18 years old (M = 16.5), whether a possible link between mobility and dropout would indeed be moderated by its timing, by considering: (1) the time of the year, i.e., whether school mobility occurs during a school year or the summer break, and (2) the school level, i.e., whether it occurs at the beginning or at the end secondary school (1st or 2nd cycle). Beyond potentially confounding factors, the results show that high school changes are associated with a greater risk of dropping out, with particularly strong links for school mobility occurring during a school year compared to mobility occurring during the summer months, and for school mobility occurring during the second cycle of secondary school, compared to that occurring in the first cycle. The discussion underscores the importance of temporality for understanding the impacts of school mobility, both in practical and research terms.

Keyphrases: Timing, School mobility in high school, High school dropout, At-risk students, Teenagers, Temporality
Impact des raies d'absorption telluriques sur la vélocimétrie de haute précision

In the search for an exoplanet like Earth in the habitable zone of its star, radial velocimetry has proved itself an important tool. The most promising candidates for this type of measurements are red dwarfs. Since their habitable zone is very close to the star with relatively small orbital periods (a few weeks), and because of their small masses, the presence of an Earth-like planet in their habitable zone would produce a signal of ∼ 1 ms−1. Such a small Doppler effect resulting from this reflex motion is within the capabilities of precision radial velocity instruments. But, since red dwarfs emit mostly in the infrared and Earth’s atmosphere has strong absorption lines in that domain, the removal of telluric absorption lines is crucial to minimize the velocity bias induced by the atmosphere. The goal of this work was the development of an algorithm capable of performing high precision radial velocimetry measurements, to quantify the impact of telluric lines on the measurements and to determine the level of telluric line masking and attenuation needed to minimize their impact on velocity measurements. A data processing method based on the analysis of an adequately weighted segmented spectrum was also developed to optimally extract radial velocities in the presence of residual telluric lines. We note the existence of a correlation between the time of the measurements and the radial velocity uncertainty associated with the residual telluric lines, which underlines the importance of the choice of the observation window to achieve an accuracy of 1 meter per second. From this analysis, it is concluded that a mask of 80% transmission coupled with an attenuation leaving a maximum of 10% of the telluric lines is required to achieve performance better than 1 meter per second.

Keyphrases: Instrumentation, SPIRou, High-precision velocimetry, Exoplanets, Radial velocity, Error measurement, Telluric lines, Data reduction and analysis
Dialectique, science et induction : la recherche aristotélicienne de la vérité

The attention this master’s thesis gives to the aristotelian method towards truth confines it to a precise examination of the preliminary steps of this method, in order to distance itself from an over-simplified opposition between science and opinion in Aristotle. Starting from a presentation of the functions of dialectic, as described by the philosopher in the Topics, this inquiry intends to provide a close comparison between the methods of dialectic and demonstration. More precisely, it aims to deconstruct the presuppositions underlining a traditional reading of the Posterior analytics, according to which (1) demonstrative method should provide a guide for scientific research and (2) Aristotle’s epistemology is radically foundationalist. The alternative reading this study suggests to adopt allows it to ease the conditions imposed by Aristotle on the premises of apodictic syllogism, as ways to exploit the distinction he makes between what is better known by nature and what is better known for us. In doing so, the frontier between dialectic, which starts from accredited ideas, and demonstration, which starts from true premises, appears to be less opaque and the concept of epistēmē, less “scientific” in the modern sense. Finally, this alternative reading of the Posterior analytics is put to contribution in examining the hypothesis, inspired by an essay from Owen (1961), regarding the possibility for the last chapter (II, 19) of this treatise to help us elucidate, both at the same time, the role of induction and that of dialectic in the path towards truth.

Keyphrases: Aristote, Aristotle, Endoxa, Epistēmē, Phainomena, Dialectic, Demonstration, Apodictic, Knowledge, Topics, Posterior analytics
Self-supervision for data interpretability in image classification and sample efficiency in reinforcement learning

Self-Supervised Learning (SSL), or learning representations of data by exploiting inherent structure present in it without labels, has driven significant progress in machine learning over the past decade, and in computer vision in particular over the past two years. In this work, we explore applications of SSL towards two separate goals - first, as a tool for efficiently interpreting datasets and model decisions, and second, as a tool for pretraining in reinforcement learning (RL) to greatly advance sample efficiency in that setting.  Chapter 1 introduces background material necessary to understand the remainder of this thesis. In particular, it provides an overview of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Self-Supervised Representation Learning, and (Deep) Reinforcement Learning.  Chapter 2 briefly detours away from this thesis' focus on self-supervision, to examine how the phenomena of memorization manifests in deep neural networks. These results are then used to partially justify work presented in Chapter 3, which examines how self-supervision can be used to efficiently uncover structural regularity in training datasets, and to estimate training memorization and the influence of training samples on test samples. Recent experimental work on understanding the importance of memorizing the long-tail of data is also revisited.  Chapter 4 demonstrates how a combination of SSL pretraining objectives designed for the structure of data in RL can greatly improve sample efficiency to nearly human-level performance. Furthermore, it is shown that SSL enables the use of larger models, which has historically been a challenge in deep RL.  Chapter 5 concludes by reviewing the contributions of this work, and discusses future directions.

Keyphrases: machine learning, deep learning, representation learning, self-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, generalization