NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Syndrome de tremblements épisodiques de la tête chez le bouledogue anglais : prévalence, sémiologie et investigation diagnostique

Many English bulldogs (EB) were presenting head tremors. The 3 objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of Episodic Head Tremor Syndrome (EHTS) in Quebec’s EB, to characterize the semiology of the syndrome and to determine if there is an underlying cause to this syndrome. The prevalence study was completed by contacting all the owners of EB presented to the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vétérinaire between 2005 and 2012. Twenty-two of 116 owners confirmed the presence of EHTS episodes, resulting in a prevalence of 19% (CI 95% 12.3-27.3%) of EHTS in Quebec’s EB. A male sex predisposition was identified (p=0.017). The retrospective study was conducted using an online detailed survey submitted to affected EB’s owners that voluntarily enrolled in the study. The 71 retained surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics. EHTS is characterized by rapid head tremors that start at approximately 1.7 years of age (median), are less than 30 minutes in duration, of variable frequency, occasionally triggered by stress, and can sometimes be interrupted. The tremors cause anxiety but are otherwise benign and have a spontaneous resolution rate of 40%. Amongst the 5 affected EB that underwent diagnostic testing (neurological examination, bloodwork, urinalysis, endocrine function testing, brain magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography, electromyography and cerebrospinal fluid analysis), no underlying anatomical or metabolic abnormality was identified. In conclusion, EHTS is a common but benign condition in EB. The pathophysiology is still undetermined. This syndrome needs recognition to avoid useless and potentially harmful treatment.

Keyphrases: dog, English Bulldog, tremors, dyskinesia, epilepsy
TELEQ : développement et validation d’un test de lecture de mots québécois

Dyslexia is a learning disability that involves important consequences, and thus needs to be identified at an early age. Yet, most of the available instruments are European and do not allow a valid assessment of word-reading abilities in children from Quebec, due to cultural and linguistic differences. This lack of appropriate instruments for the French-speaking Quebec population stresses the need to elaborate a new word-reading assessment tool. Hence, we developed the « Test d’évaluation du langage écrit québécois (TELEQ) ». This essay presents the construction process of the word-reading subtest of TELEQ, describes the performances of elementary school students, and measures its psychometric properties in terms of validity and fidelity. Fifty typical French-speaking children from second to sixth grade were administrated the TELEQ and a test battery assessing their reading abilities. The TELEQ was then readministrated two to six weeks later. Results show that the TELEQ performances correlate significantly with those of the other tests measuring word-reading skills, which indicates a strong convergent validity. Furthermore, the relation between both administrations of the TELEQ reflect a very good test-retest reliability. Finally, the internal consistency of the word lists is excellent. These preliminary results suggest that the word-reading subtest of the TELEQ is a valid and reliable instrument that appears relevant for assessing Quebecois elementary school children. Additional studies involving a greater number of participants and a group of dyslexic children are on-going in order to reproduce the present results, establish normative data, and measure the diagnosis sensitivity of the test.

Keyphrases: reading assessment, dyslexia, learning disability, dual pathway model, word-reading skill, psychometric validation
Art + Bioéthique : expériences interdisciplinaires dans une galerie émergente

This review retraces the exhibition and the principle events of the collaborative project Art + Bioéthique. These were held at the Montreal gallery Espace Projet from February 25 to March 21, 2016.

Keyphrases: art, bioéthique, collaboration, bioethics, events, conferences, cultural and scientific mediation, interdisciplinary project
Pulvinar modulates contrast response function of neurons in the primary visual cortex

The pulvinar, which is located in the posterior thalamus, establishes reciprocal connections with nearly all of the visual cortical areas and is consequently in a strategic position to influence their stimulus decoding processes. Projections from the pulvinar to the primary visual cortex (V1) are thought to be modulatory, altering the response of neurons without changing their basic receptive field properties.  Here, we investigate this issue by studying V1 single unit responses to sine wave gratings during the reversible inactivation of the lateral posterior nucleus (LP) - pulvinar complex in the cat. We also studied the contrast response function of V1 neurons, before and during the inactivation of the LP-pulvinar complex.  No change in the preferred orientation or direction selectivity of V1 neurons was observed during pulvinar inactivation. However, for the majority of the cells tested the response amplitude to the optimal stimulus was reduced.  The contrast response function of neurons was fitted with the Naka-Rushton function and analysis of the effects of pulvinar deactivation revealed a diverse set of modulations: 35% of cells had a decrease in their peak response, 11% had an increase in their C50, 6% showed modulations of the slope factor and 22% exhibited changes in more than one parameter.  Our results suggest that the pulvinar modulates activity of V1 neurons in a contrast dependent manner and provides gain control at lower levels of the visual cortical hierarchy.

Keyphrases: V1, Pulvinar, Modulation, CRF, Electrophysiology, Contrast
Les Botmasters et leurs rôles dans le marché des botnets

Botnets still represent one of the biggest threats in cyberspace. These corrupted computer networks are used to facilitate the propagation of cybercrime and to reach simultaneously an important number of victims. Previous studies have covered subjects such as the bot infection mechanisms, botnets’ behaviour and also the consequences of their usage. While botnets are well documented, there is a gap in literature regarding botmasters, the hackers responsible for creating and controlling these networks. To understand better those individuals, a content analysis of the underground forum Dark0de helped identify a pool of 88 botmasters that were categorised according to their roles in the botnet market. This preliminary study aims to measure the status, reputation, activity and expertise of botmasters according to their groups: coding, business, distribution, operation, monetization, interest and experience. Preliminary results indicate that distributors and operators have a better reputation in their community, while traders and experienced botmasters have higher statuses in the forum. Operators and traders are the most active botmasters in this forum. Also, most of the botmasters in this study have been found in another forum or none. Finally, except for half of the coders and a third of experienced botmasters, most of these individuals possess many expertise in different fields than botnets.

Keyphrases: Botnets, Botmasters, Forum, Reputation, Status, Activity, Publications, Competence, Expertise
Redefining personal information in the context of the Internet

In the late sixties, with the growing use of computers by organizations, a very broad definition of personal information as “information about an identifiable individual” was elaborated and has been incorporated in data protection laws (“DPLs”). In more recent days, with the Internet and the circulation of new types of information (IP addresses, location information, etc), the efficiency of this definition may be challenged. This thesis aims at proposing a new way of interpreting personal information. Instead of using a literal interpretation, an interpretation which takes into account the purpose behind DPLs will be proposed, in order to ensure that DPLs do what they are supposed to do: address or avoid the risk of harm to individuals triggered by organizations handling their personal information. While the collection or disclosure of information may trigger a more subjective kind of harm (the collection, a feeling of being observed and the disclosure, embarrassment and humiliation), the use of information will trigger a more objective kind of harm (financial, physical, discrimination, etc.). Various criteria useful in order to evaluate this risk of harm will be proposed. The thesis aims at providing a guide that may be used in order to determine whether certain information should qualify as personal information. It will provide for a useful framework under which DPLs remain efficient in light of modern technologies and the Internet.

Keyphrases: Protection, Definition, Personal information, Personal Data, Data protection, Privacy, Internet, Risk of harm, Interpretation, Purpose of data protection laws
Processus de composition et inspiration scientifique

The use of science theories during the compositionnal process, especially in a purpose of esthetical properties abstraction is questionned. First, a criticist point-of-vue is adressed, on the basis of several historical examples. A personnal method dedicated to the development of original compositionnal process were deduced. In particular, the specific mecanisms related to nonlinear vibrations and deterministic sociological model could be inserted into the creative processes. Five electroacoustic and contemporay music pieces are presented. Themes and constraints provoked by the model insertion are detailed. They gather form-contraints, control limitations, improvisation, real-time processing and real-time spatialization implemented in Max/MSP and Python. Moreover, a refined sound-field rendering tool dedicated to computer-assisted composition is introduced.

Keyphrases: improvisation, Performance, Python, Max/MSP, Compositional process, Scientific theories, Electroacoustic, Contemporary music with electronic, Real-time processing, Physical modelling, Sociological modelling, Computer-assisted Composition, Spatialization software, Python Max/MSP, Ableton Live
Association between asthma during pregnancy and postpartum depression

There is evidence from several epidemiological studies on the increased risk of depression among women with asthma outside of pregnancy. However, we found no studies designed to investigate the association between asthma during pregnancy and postpartum depression. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the association between asthma during pregnancy and postpartum depression.          Based on Quebec administrative databases, we constructed a cohort of 35,520 pregnancies from asthmatic women and 197,057 pregnancies from non-asthmatic women who delivered between 1998 and 2009. Asthmatic women were identified using a validated operational definition. Postpartum depression was defined and specified with diagnostic codes for depression from the definition of Statistics Canada recorded in the RAMQ or MED-ECHO databases and assessed 1 year postpartum. A generalized estimating equation model was used to estimate the crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of postpartum depression and 95% confidence intervals (CI) comparing women with and without asthma during pregnancy.          The proportion of postpartum depression 1 year after delivery was higher among asthmatic compared to non-asthmatic pregnant women (6.1% vs. 2.9%). After adjusting for potential confounders, we observed that women with asthma were 58% more likely to have postpartum depression (adjusted OR: 1.58; 95%CI, 1.50-1.67) than women without asthma during pregnancy.         The findings of our study suggest an increased risk of postpartum depression among asthmatic women. Attention should be given to depressive symptoms in asthmatic women in the year postpartum to detect postpartum depression more rapidly and intervene more efficiently.

Keyphrases: Asthma, Pregnancy, Postpartum depression, Databases
De ícono político a ícono cultural : la figura de Ernesto "Che" Guevara en "Diarios de motocicleta", de Walter Salles

This thesis studies how the movie "Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), directed by Walter Salles, is symptomatic of the transformation of Ernesto "Che" Guevara from a political icon into a cultural icon. Accounting for the dilution of the revolutionary’s political weight in a growing number of consumer items and advertisements, this study focuses on the participation of Salles’s film in the cultural resemanticization of Ernesto Guevara’s mythical figure and on the corresponding depoliticization of the icon.  This research shows that the film’s cultural reprocessing and depoliticization of the Che Guevara icon is the small-scale expression of a wider historical shift that globalization has generated in the West since the 80s: culture’s expansion –to the detriment of politics– and its instrumentalization as a resource. In the film, Che’s cultural transition is evident in 1) the depiction of the protagonist as a romantic hero; 2) the attenuation or even suppression in the plot of the most political biographical events; 3) the transnational reading of both Che and the film as consumer goods and economical resources on a global scale. The analysis is complemented by cultural and semiological theoretical perspectives that confirm the connection between the icon and its sociohistorical context.

Keyphrases: Latin american cinema, Culture, Cultura, Culture as resource, Depoliticization, Globalization, Cultural resemanticization, Iconography
Situated Information and Communication Moralities : An Investigation into the Personal Use of the Internet in the Office Workplace

This case-study investigation challenges the negative perception by organizations and researchers towards the personal use of the Internet in the workplace. While confirming that office employees in the field site were breaking explicit rules governing the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), this thesis provides evidence of informal relations between managers and their staff built on a tacit toleration of rule-violation. Their daily practices and interactions revealed a relationship that was shown to satisfy the conditions of a situated morality in promoting desired occupational identities and relaxing organizational constraints. Survey results, interview responses and observations of about 80 office workers and supervisors in a Canadian government department uncovered a desire to appear professional in spite of the non-work-related activity; Internet use as an informal compensation for time and effort; and a shared sense of trust to foster job satisfaction and productivity. Through these findings, answers are offered to explain how office workers negotiate what is acceptable in terms of non-work-related Internet use, and how supervisors justify their subjective enforcement of rules. Lastly, the research showed that personal Internet use in the workplace can yield positive outcomes and should not always be seen as “cyber-loafing” or “time banditry” as the literature has predominantly portrayed it since the Internet age entered the workplace. Lastly, this thesis raises questions as to the value of employee monitoring and organizational restrictions amid the increasing blurring of work and personal lives of 21st Century office workers.

Keyphrases: Internet, Cyber-loafing, Time banditry, Situated morality, Moral gray zone, Professional identity, Organizational constraint, Trust, Productivity, Work-life blurring, ICT appropriation, Organizational communication, Zone grise morale
Développement de méthodes de préparations d’échantillons pour l’imagerie par spectrométrie de masse de tissus autres que mammaliens

Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is a technique in full expansion that has been used in a large range of studies to assess the spatial distribution of a wide range of biomolecules. Most of the applications ensuing from IMS studies correlate the molecular expression and the health status of a tissue in the medical biology field, using mammalian models such as mice or rats. Optimization of different sample preparation methods for these models has permitted high quality and reproducible information in numerous biological applications. However, it is important to be able to reproduce this level of sample preparation and the quality of resultant data on a wider range of samples. This will open the technology to several scientific fields. The research work presented in this thesis proposes sample preparation methods to image the distribution of proteins and lipids across a thin tissue section of a non-mammalian model. This model is a moth, the Spodoptera exigua, one of the best-know agricultural pest insects in it’s caterpillar form. Firstly, optimization of sample handling prior to cutting thin tissue sections will be presented. Then, optimization of a matrix deposition method using sublimation/recrystallization in order to image the proteins across the sample will be described. Also, a sublimation method for the detection and imaging of lipids is described. The imaging results showed the distribution of four different classes of phospholipids across thin sections of the caterpillar. Lastly, the quality of imaging data for proteins and phospholipids across caterpillar sections can be compared directly to the expected data quality obtained from mammalian tissue sections.

Keyphrases: MALDi, Mass spectrometry, Caterpillars, proteins, Lipids, Imaging
Application des liquides ioniques polymériques à empreinte moléculaire pour la résonance de plasmons de surface

Energetic material residues from military training munition are potentially harmful and need to be constantly surveyed in order to never exceed the environmental criterion. Yet, current methods are tedious and fail to provide real-time concentration of these contaminants. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensors have gained high interest in the past decade due to their great sensitivity and the possibility of rapidly assessing samples. Molecularly imprinted polymeric ionic liquids are a promising new class of polymer that could bring a novel and adaptable approach for selective extraction of organics in water. They combine the ionic liquid’s extraction properties to molecularly imprinted polymer’s (MIP) tunable selectivity. The ionic liquid monomer is designed for optimal interaction with the energetic material, as its anion greatly affects he monomer’s solubility and interaction. Chemically, MIPs have the great advantage of being very versatile. In other words, changing the template is enough to modify the MIP’s selectivity. Hence, the potential of the method presented here is highly promising.   Various molecularly imprinted polymeric ionic liquids grafted on gold thin films have been tested via SPR for the quantification of energetic materials. The results show that the molecularly imprinted polymers film displayed good imprinting effect. Yet there still are issues concerning the reproducibility of the gold’s surface functionalization. The results in the following experiments suggested that a combination of SPR sensing with molecularly imprinted polymeric ionic liquids is a promising alternative method for subnanomolar detection of energetic materials in aqueous media.

Keyphrases: Ionic liquids, Molecularly imprinted polymer, Surface plasmon resonance, Contaminant detection
Les manuels scolaires comme instruments d’autoformation en culture religieuse chez les enseignants du secondaire

Implementing the program of ethics and religious culture (ECR) in September 2008 in Quebec has generated important needs of training among teachers, and particularly concerning the religious culture element. Regional training plans developed at the time of the implementation of the program will be insufficient to meet the different needs. Continuing training activities are pursued in some regions at the request of academic advisors but still not widespread. Given the limited training offered by the school boards towards the religious culture, teachers have to initiate more individual self-study approaches to meet their needs. Some textbooks are accessible and efficient. To what extent textbooks can contribute to meeting teachers training needs in secondary schools concerning the religious culture of ECR? This essay intends to explore on what and how textbooks are self-training tools for teachers with respect to the aspect of religious culture in the ECR program in secondary school, and this, according to three main orientations: teachers relationship with the knowledge of religious culture discipline, images they have about textbooks as professional development tools and the experience they have acquired in continuous training. Finally, we are exploring some contributions and barriers related to the use of textbooks to meet potential training needs among surveyed teachers. The data to be fed will be collected among four teachers via an electronic survey and personal interviews during which manuals will be reviewed according to the needs identified by the teachers. Our results show that textbooks, intended for students, are very often used by teachers interviewed in their preparatory stage, mainly in terms of programs and training content for the upper secondary level.

Keyphrases: Textbook, Ethics and religious culture, Teachers, Disciplinary knowledge, Professional development
Inégalités socioéconomiques et effets cardiovasculaires des expositions aux émissions industrielles au Québec, Canada

On a daily basis, populations are exposed to a complex mixture of air pollutants such as fine particulate matters, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide that have been associated with a range of health effects namely respiratory and cardiovascular effects. Emitting sources’ distribution, landscape characteristics (i.e. infrastructure, topography) and thus the complex mixture of air pollutants and populations’ exposure vary greatly in space and time. This thesis aimed to document social inequalities in exposure to industrial air emissions of pollutants and associations between daily exposure to these pollutants and cardiovascular mortality in vulnerable populations living near these sources. Thus, using an ecological design, we analyzed Pearson’s correlations between deprivation level (using four indicators) of 2,189 primary and secondary Quebec schools and their exposure to industrial emissions in a radius of 2.5 to 7.5 km. Our results suggest inequalities in exposure to industrial air emissions at school in children. These associations were not consistent among all four indicators of deprivation. Besides, using a case-crossover design, we evaluated the associations between exposure to industrial air pollutants using both emission exposure estimates and sensor levels and deaths from cardiovascular diseases in the elderly living near industrial sources (<7.5 km). We found no convincing evidence of association. Our results varied greatly which could be caused by the limits of our study related to estimating exposure. Further studies using improved exposure estimates are necessary to support our findings.

Keyphrases: Quebec, Air pollution, Epidemiology, Children, Elderly, Cardiovascular diseases, Social status, Industrial emissions, School, Myocardial infarction