NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Simulation de radiographies à partir d'images tomodensitométriques pour l'enseignement de l'anatomie radiographique en médecine vétérinaire

Understanding radiographic anatomy, which is intimately linked to the comprehension of tridimensional anatomy and the impact of patient, radiographic tube and x-ray detector positioning, represents a challenge for students. Traditionally, radiographs obtained under specific angles of projection have been used for teaching radiographic anatomy. Computed tomography (CT) shares several features with radiography with regard to image production. A plug-in was developed for a DICOM viewer (ORS visual  ©) simulating radiographs using CT datasets. This plug-in distorts the CT image matrix to reproduce the magnification and distortion effects that take place in radiographs due to the variations in radiographic tube, patient and detector positioning and angulation. In order to test this model, specific body parts of two dogs, one cat and one horse were radiographed and CT-scanned. The CT datasets were used to generate a total of nine series of radiographic simulations that could be compared to corresponding standard radiographic projections.  Ten board-certified veterinary radiologists blindly scored several parameters in these image series, including the visualization of specific anatomical landmarks, image realism and quality, patient positioning, and the educational potential for students and veterinarians of variable degree of veterinary training Overall results indicate that simulated radiographs are representative enough to be used to teach several concepts of image formation and radiographic anatomy in veterinary radiology.

Keyphrases: Radiographic anatomy, Radiographic simulation, Computed tomography, Radiography, Simulator, Teaching
Expression du facteur de transcription SRF chez les chevaux atteints de souffle

Previous studies have shown that heaves-affected horses, when compared to age-matched control horses, have an increased smooth muscle mass surrounding their airways (Herszberg, Ramos-Barbon et al. 2006, Leclere, Lavoie-Lamoureux et al. 2011). Also, it is shown that hyperplasia, and possibly hypertrophy, contribute to this finding. Current therapies are only partially effective at reversing this finding. The goal of this study was to explore the molecular pathways involved in airway smooth muscle remodelling during heaves. We studied the Serum Response Factor (SRF), a nuclear transcriptional factor that controls gene expression in the smooth muscle cell and favour either a proliferative or a contractile phenotype. The results show that before antigenic exposition, the percentage of cells expressing SRF is low. A significant increase in the percentage of SRF-expressing myocytes occurs after antigenic stimulation in heaves-affected horses whereas no increase is observed in control subjects. These results suggest that the transcription factor SRF may contribute to airway smooth muscle remodeling in heaves-affected horses.

Keyphrases: SRF, smooth muscle, heaves, airway remodeling, transcription factor
Le cannabis, le tabac et le changement d’adiposité chez les jeunes hommes et femmes : une étude longitudinale 2005-2012

Background: Animal studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system is a regulator of energy homeostasis, whose effects are modified by sex and nicotine. Two studies in humans have examined the association between cannabis use and change in adiposity, and obtained conflicting results. This thesis aimed to determine if the association between cannabis use and change in adiposity is modified by cigarette smoking in young adults. Methods: Data were available for 271 males and 319 females participating in the Nicotine Dependence In Teens study, a prospective cohort investigation (1999-2013). Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were measured at ages 17 and 25 years. Self-report data on past-year cannabis use and past three-month cigarette smoking were collected at age 21 years. Modification of the association between cannabis use and change in adiposity by cigarette smoking was tested separately in each sex, in polynomial linear regression models controlling for physical activity and sedentary behavior in both sexes, and alcohol use in males only. Results: In males only, the interaction between cannabis use and cigarette smoking was statistically significant in both the model for change in BMI (p=0.004) and the model for change in WC (p=0.043). Cannabis use was associated with change in adiposity in a U-shaped form in females and in non smoking males, and in an inverted U-shaped association in males who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day. Conclusion: Smoking cigarettes appears to attenuate the association between cannabis use and change in adiposity in young men, but not in young women.

Keyphrases: Cannabis, Cigarette, Endocannabinoid system, Cannabis, Cigarette, Obesity, Effect modification
Tempêtes. Composition audiovisuelle

This research delineates the field of audiovisual composition (A/V). It aims to elucidate the practical features of this field through analysis of its historical roots, various trends, modes of diffusion, and compositional strategies. Starting from this framework, the description and analysis of the compositional methodology for the project Tempêtes are constructed. This audiovisual composition is based on a free interpretation of the late works of the painter, Joseph Mallord William Turner. It unfolds as a journey to the interior of multiple, chaotic landscapes in constant flux. Organized in the form of a sequence of tableaux, Tempêtes brings together synthetic visual representations of cloud particles with an electroacoustic composition derived from the sounds of the violoncellist, Soizic Lebrat.

Keyphrases: Audiovisual performance, Audiovisual composition, Visual music, Spatialization, Immersive video, Multi-screens, Digital art, Synchronization, Audiovisual analysis
Applications du processus ancestral avec recombinaison et conversion en génétique statistique

The ancestral process is applied to investigate the amount of DNA variation and the amount of linkage disequilibrium ; it is also applied to make statistical inference about the multiple factors responsible for this variation. Considering genetic drift, mutation, and recombination events, the exact solutions for linkage disequilibrium between two loci are obtained. Furthermore, the association measure between two loci is obtained by using an approximation of the exact process, SMC (sequentially Markov chain), and correcting a covariance formula. After introducing intrachromosomal gene conversion under the Moran model, the expected amounts of variation within and between two loci are obtained using expected times spent in the ancestral states. Furthermore, the expectation of linkage disequilibrium is obtained and it is shown to decrease as the recombination rate is increased. Using these theoretical results, a method for estimating the mutation, recombination and gene conversion parameters is presented.

Keyphrases: coalescent, conversion, Ancestral process, coalescent, conversion, genetic variability, linkage disequilibrium, Moran model, recombination
Inférence topologique

Data coming from a fine sampling of a continuous process (random field) can be represented as images. A statistical test aiming at detecting a difference between two images can be seen as a group of tests in which each pixel is compared to the corresponding pixel in the other image. We then use a method to  control the type I error over all the tests, such as the Bonferroni correction or the control of the false discovery rate (FDR). Methods of data analysis have been developped in the field of medical imaging, mainly by Keith Worsley, using the geometry of random fields in order to build a global statistical test over the whole image. The expected Euler characteristic of the excursion set of the random field underlying the sample over a given threshold  is used in order to determine the probability that the random field exceeds this same threshold under the null hypothesis (topological inference).  We present some notions relevant to random fields, in particular isotropy (the covariance function between two given points of a field depends only on the distance between them). We discuss two methods for the analysis of non\-isotropic random fields. The first one consists in deforming the field and then using the intrinsic volumes and the Euler characteristic densities. The second one uses the Lipschitz-Killing curvatures. We then perform a study of sensitivity and power of the topological inference technique comparing it to the Bonferonni correction. Finally, we use topological inference in order to describe the evolution of climate change over Quebec territory between 1991 and 2100 using temperature data simulated and published by the Climate Simulation Team at Ouranos, with the Canadian Regional Climate Model CRCM4.2.

Keyphrases: Multiple comparisons, Euler characteristic, Random fields, Isotropy, Lipschitz-Killing curvatures, Climate change
Cabiakman et la suspension pour fins d’enquête en rapports collectifs

A suspension for investigation purposes is an administrative measure which allows the employer to suspend an employee for alleged acts that may damage the reputation or the image of the company. The principles which apply to this administrative suspension were established by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004 in Cabiakman v. Industrial Alliance Life Insurance Co., which deals with an individual contract of employment.   Our research focuses on the circumstances justifying a suspension for investigation purposes in collective labour relations. In order to study the treatment of this administrative measure, we conducted a qualitative analysis of the decisions of arbitration tribunals from Quebec regarding the suspension for investigation purposes before and after Cabiakman. We initially verified the compatibility of the principles established in Cabiakman and the principles of the arbitration decisions from Quebec rendered prior to this judgment. Subsequently, we analyzed the influence of this judgment in collective labor relations by examining if the arbitration tribunals from Quebec referred to Cabiakman and implemented its principles. Finally, we attempted to correlate the influence or lack of influence of Cabiakman on the arbitration decisions to the adhesion of the arbitrators to the coexistence thesis or to the autonomy thesis.  Our results indicated that Cabiakman is not entirely consistent with the previous arbitration decisions because their principles are different from those expressed by the Supreme Court. In addition, we noticed that the posterior arbitral decisions often referred to Cabiakman and implemented some of its principles. However, we do not consider that the influence of this judgment on the arbitration decisions is entirely correlated to the linking of the arbitral decisions to one of the theses. Indeed, other hypotheses could explain the results of our research.

Keyphrases: Suspension administrative, Cabiakman, Administrative suspension, Suspension for investigation purposes, Cabiakman, Labor law, Arbitration decisions, Individual labor relations, Collective labor relations
Impact d’une sieste sur plasticité cérébrale induite par stimulation magnétique transcrânienne

In humans, various repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocols can be used to modulate motor cortical plasticity. These techniques have shed light on the role of sleep in neural plasticity regulation. Recent work has demonstrated that when a night of sleep follows one session of rTMS over the hand motor cortex (M1), the capacity to induce subsequent plasticity by another rTMS session in M1 is enhanced. The present study investigated whether such metaplasticity could also benefit from a day nap. Fourteen healthy participants received two sessions of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) known for its excitatory effects on cortical excitability over M1 spaced by either a 90-minute nap or an equivalent amount of wake. Motor cortical excitability was measured in terms of amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEP), which were assessed before iTBS and after the stimulation. Results show that the first iTBS session did not induce significant change in MEP amplitude. The second iTBS session induced variable plastic changes regardless of whether participants slept or stayed awake. The effects of iTBS on motor cortical excitability were highly variable within and between individuals. The possible causes of such variability are discussed.

Keyphrases: Theta burst stimulation (TBS), Plasticity, Sleep, Nap, Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), Metaplasticity, Variability, Human
L’examen médical à la suite d’une agression sexuelle : qui sont les enfants qui en bénéficient

Following the disclosure of sexual assault, the medical examination is one of the most important steps recommended for child victims, but only some of them undergo the examination. The objective of this study was to determine whether children who undergo an anogenital examination following a disclosure of sexual assault are different than those who do not, as well as to document the variables, particularly, the characteristics of the child, the family, the aggressor and the assault, that could predict whether or not an anogenital examination is conducted. The study group was composed of 211 children within between the ages of 6 to 13 years old receiving services at the Centre d’expertise Marie-Vincent. A binary logistic regression reveals that when the mother is unemployed (RC = 6.15), being a victim of a very violent sexual assault (RC = 6.02), being a victim of an adult aggressor (RC = 3.43) and coming from a single-parent family (RC = 2.89) contribute to predicting if the anogenital exam is given or not following the disclosure. Results confirm that the primary goal of the anogenital examination is to find elements of proof and that many children who could benefit from this test for their wellbeing are not being examined.

Keyphrases: Preuves médicales, Anogenital exam, Medical findings, Bodily integrity, Sexual abuse, Child, Child Advocacy Center
Dispersion de la couleur J-K des naines brunes de type L2

Brown dwarfs are objects with a mass intermediate between that required to form a star and that of a planet. Brown dwarfs are classified, from higher to lower temperature, under spectral types L, T and Y, caracterized by a J-K average color that varies from 1.2 to 1.8 for types L0 to L8, and from 1.8 to -0.5 for types L8 to T8. Furthermore, the J-K color of some spectral types presents more than a magnitude of dispersion. This study attempts to explain the large dispersion of the J-K color of the type L2 brown dwarfs. Observations were made with the infrared camera CPAPIR at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic. We targeted a total of 22 brown dwarfs that were observed in the K band, and 12 among them were also observed in the J band. Each brown dwarf was calibrated with a standard star, which makes our data independent from those of 2MASS. We observe a correlation between the J-K colors obtained from our data and those from 2MASS. This shows that the large J-K dispersion in the data is due to brown dwarf physical properties and not to observational errors. Consideration of the factors that could be responsible for this large dispersion, namely the spectral classification, the metallicity, the surface gravity, an unresolved binarity, the presence of clouds and rotation, shows that surface gravity is the factor most likely to explain the large J-K color dispersion.

Keyphrases: Infrared, Stars, Brown, Dwarfs, Low, Mass
Étude de la phase isolant topologique chez le composé demi-Heusler GdBiPt

In this thesis will be discussed the study of a new way of characterizing state of matter called a topological insulator. We have mainly investigated whether the ternary compound GdBiPt, from the family of half-Heusler compounds, is an antiferromagnetic topological insulator. An analysis of the magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat of the material shows the presence of an antiferromagnetic transition at 8.85(3) K. A measurement of the anisotropy of the susceptibility shows that plan of spins are ordered according to the crystalline direction (1,1,1) and finally, measurements of electronic re- sistivity and Hall effect indicate that we have a semimetallic material when we are in the presence of antiferromagnetism. At the present, these experiments do not allow us to as- sociate this metallic state with the surface states associated with the topological insulator state of matter.

Keyphrases: GdBiPt, Topological insulator, Half-Heusler, antiferromagnetism
Le sens de la croyance à l’âge séculier chez Charles Taylor : une herméneutique de l’expérience religieuse

This paper aims to describe how Charles Taylor articulates his philosophy of religion in his major work, A Secular Age. We argue that belief and unbelief share the same phenomenological fundamentals, which can be found in the constituents of identity. In order to do that, we shall first analyse his redefinition of secularity in order to see how the secular age is not irreligious in itself. What will emerge of this preliminary investigation is the Taylorian idea that all Westerners share the same spiritual and moral “background”, the “immanent frame”, which must be understood as the context in which we form our beliefs. Then we develop an analysis of the historical elements of the immanent frame and of its “transcendental” function, which makes it possible to explain why Taylor conceives belief and unbelief as questions of moral identity. We follow Taylor in arguing that they are both lived experiences of equal rational value. At the heart of our paper, there is an important concept that Taylor has developed from William James’s work, which is the “Jamesian open space”. This openness illustrates a state of lucidity that is characterised by the ability to feel the force of both options, belief and unbelief.

Keyphrases: belief, atheism, secularity, secular age, hermeneutic, identity, ethics, religious experience
Un tragique de l'ébranlement : usages et enjeux de la catharsis dans Le Sang des promesses (Littoral, Incendies, Forêts, Ciels) de Wajdi Mouawad

This master's dissertation addresses Wajdi Mouawad's Blood Promises tetralogy, composed of the plays Tideline, Scorched, Forests, and Skies. As it focuses on the return of the concept of catharsis in discourses on contemporary theater, it aims to question theater's capacity to develop a thought of the living-together (vivre-ensemble). The first chapter focuses on the status of tragedy and the tragic as well as on the revisiting of several mythological Greek characters in Mouawad's tetralogy, whereas the second chapter takes an interest in contemporary manifestations of catharsis, as they involve the emotions of fear and compassion, and, in the case of Mouawad's work, particularly depend on the importance of acts of language. Finally, the third chapter attempts to link the cathartic to Jan Patočka's concept of the solidarity of the shaken, before it proceeds to analyze the critical reception of Mouawad's plays in order to underline their specific cathartic effect.

Keyphrases: Catharsis, Wajdi Mouawad, Solidarity of the shaken, Tragic, Contemporary Quebec theatre, Tideline, Scorched, Forests, Skies, Blood Promises
Au théâtre on meurt pour rien : essai ; suivi de Le plancher sous la moquette : théâtre

The essay Au théâtre on meurt pour rien. Raconter la mort sans coupable, entre Maeterlinck et Chaurette (On stage death is useless. Recounting of death without culprit, between Maeterlinck and Chaurette) compare different dramatic uses of death testimony under the perspective of Nietzsche’s genealogy of memory recording. To illustrate the assumption of a classic function given to the death witness – making sense out of death by locking it in a scenic quest for justice −, the essay summons typical characters in Eschyle, Shakespeare and Racine. Then, plays by the modern playwright Maeterlinck (Intérieur) and the contemporary playwright Normand Chaurette (Fragments d’une lettre d’adieu lus par des géologues, Stabat Mater II) are interpreted as inscribing their whole plot in a death term where no definite culprit is needed; on the other hand, further reading reveals different values given in both proposition to triviality and strangeness, as to the singularity of characters.  Le plancher sous la moquette (The floor under the carpet) is a play in three acts and three levels of speech for two actresses. Three couples of sisters come back into the living room of an apartment, once a detective agency that remained printed in their child memories. Thematically, the play moves the classic bind in "film-noir" between investigation and the city, by introducing the time interferences associated with ghosts. Each one of the three acts cast a shadow over the two others by re-enacting the same elements on a different but strangely similar tone, thus bringing the audience to doubt the existence of what is not on stage: the past, the other rooms, Montreal. The logical longing the audience has for the truth will lead it to discover that the scenes don’t enlighten the dark, but reveal that death never escapes the coarseness of memory.

Keyphrases: Théâtre, Maeterlinck, Chaurette, Theater, Time, Ghosts, Death testimony, Guilt
Le mythe de la fin du monde dans Les chaises de Ionesco et Fin de partie de Beckett

Within the theoretical and methodological framework of the figurative structuralism devised by Gilbert Durand, this work sets out to explore the Myth of the End of the World based on two corpora: five novels and two plays. Three main postulates underlie our research: a) the literary work is always based on a mythical substratum; b) myth is an aggregation of mythemes, whose defining characteristic consists in their redundancy; c) myth is a constant of the human spirit and therefore none of its versions takes precedence over another. As far as the applications of the theory are concerned, our work is articulated in two distinct phases, repeated form one section to another. Based on the body of novels, where the myth manifests itself in its most complete and abundant form, phase 1 is devoted to the identification of redundancies, both internal to each work and generic, that are categorized as mythemes. Phase 2 verifies their presence in the body of plays.

Keyphrases: Mythe, Imaginaire, Gilbert Durand, Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Myth, Mytheme, Imaginary, Figurative structuralism, End of the world in literature, Theatre of the Absurd