NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
La santé mentale des femmes et des hommes de 65 ans et plus : rôle du stress quotidien et du soutien social

The "Étude sur la santé des aînés" shows that elderly women, aged 65 years old or older, have a risk of depression and anxiety disorders twice higher than elderly men. Scientific literature from the last 40 years suggests that chronic stress and social support are associated with the presence of these mental disorders in the community. The aim of this study was to verify the mediator effect of chronic stress and social support on the association between gender and depression or anxiety disorders. The sample was composed of participants of 65 years old or older living in the community in Quebec. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the mediator effect of chronic stress and social support while controlling for potentially confounding demographic, socioeconomic and health variables. Findings are inconclusive regarding the mediation effect of the chronic stress and social support on the association between gender and depression or between gender and anxiety disorders in the elderly population. Since those variables do not explain the observed gender differences in the prevalence of the studied psychiatric disorders, other investigation paths should be studied.

Keyphrases: Aînés, Depression, Anxiety disorders, Gender, Elderly, Chronic stress, Social support
Hypoglycémie nocturne et habitudes alimentaires en soirée chez l'adulte atteint de diabète de type 1

Hypoglycemia remains a limiting factor of type 1 diabetes (T1D) treatment. Bedtime snack is often suggested to reduce nocturnal hypoglycemia (NH), but its effectiveness is not supported by evidence-based data. Objective: To determine the association between post-dinner dietary intake and NH occurrence. This is an observational study during which 100 T1D wore a blinded continuous glucose monitoring system and completed a food diary for 72 hours. NH occurred on 28 % of the 282 nights studied. Post-dinner dietary intake was not associated with NH. However, in multivariate models, carbohydrate intake was positively associated with NH (when rapid insulin was injected) and protein intake was inversely associated with NH (without rapid insulin injected). Post-dinner dietary intake does not seem to be associated with a reduce occurrence of NH. Further studies are needed to better understand the impact of bedtime snack on glycemic control and the role of the injection of rapid insulin in the evening.

Keyphrases: Type 1 diabetes, Hypoglycemia, Medical nutrition therapy, Insulin therapy, Eating habits, Observational study, Continuous glucose monitoring system, Food diary, Physical activity, Alcohol
Le déni et la minimisation en tant que distorsions cognitives chez les agresseurs sexuels

Objective: Until now, a handful of authors have examined the relationship between denial, minimization and cognitive distortions, all using different methods and definitions to describe these concepts, resulting in a significant variability in the results. The primary aim of the current research is therefore to clarify the assessment of denial, minimization, and cognitive distortions. Method: Participants were 313 male inmates who completed the national sex offenders treatment program of the Correctional Service of Canada between 2000 and 2004. These individuals completed a series of psychometric tests before and after their participation in the program, including the SOARS and the Bumby scales. Data analysis followed the principles of construct validation established by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994). Results: The results of statistical analyses indicate that the Sex Offender Acceptance of Responsibility Scales (SOARS, Peacock, 2000) does not effectively measure the construct of denial and minimization. Its psychometric properties are questionable. However, the reduction of the scale to ten items improve the instrument. The resulting scale is composed of two factors, "Acceptance of sexual harm" and "Acceptance of sexual intent." These two factors were then examined in relation with the Bumby scales to explore the similarities between the concepts of denial, minimization and cognitive distortion. Despite low to moderate correlations, the various items failed to converge in a factor analysis and the SOARS variables correlate very little to the total score of the scale, suggesting that they are distinct concepts. These results indicate that denial and minimization and cognitive distortions of sexual offenders are two distinct constructs.

Keyphrases: Denial, Minimization, Cognitive Distortions, Sexual Offenders
Les coulisses de la Toile : étude sur les demarches de conception de sites web

Web 2.0 multiplies the uses of websites and generates new challenges. Users occupy a central role in this expansion: their satisfaction, in dictating the websites’ efficiency, determines the popularity and also therefore the visibility of those sites’ on the Internet. Consequently, the users should actively participate in the design process. Although designers, in theory like in practice, seem to take users into account in their approach, they do not include them in the process. First of all, this research aims to understand, through a literature review and field observations, the main uses, categories and morphologies of websites. Based on these findings, an analysis of design processes and the users’ perceptions and expectations is conducted. To reach our goals, this analysis targets two types of websites, made by professionals or by amateurs. It shows that the results of each design process, expressed through the interface design, differ in termes of perceived quality. This study also underlines the importance of efficient visual communication through the websites’ components, in order to structure the users’ reading path and ultimately send them clear and comprehensible information. To ensure our propostions we refer to two visual communication theories, the Gestalt theory, interested in visual perception, and semiotics, which studies the interpretation of signs. These were proved relevant in analyzing the quality and efficiency of the websites’ contents. Our study reveals that users, after testing the two targeted websites, are unsatisfied. The professional site’s complexity affects its usability, while the amateur site’s interface design, is lacking professionalism and coherence, influence the user’s interpretation. These results assert the relevance of applying a user-centered design approach to the websites’ design, as it allows to identify and resolve these design issues. Our results also show that there is a difference between professionals and amateurs with regards to their technical and theoretical knowledge, on the levels of actors, tools and limits. Potential solutions, through user-centered design criteria, are finally proposed by this research to optimize the quality and efficiency of user interface designs.

Keyphrases: perception, Websites, design, usability, user-centered design, perception, visual communication, interface design
Modulation de l'activité de structures cérébrales sous-corticales par optogénétique

Optogentics is a promising technic for neuronal activity modulation. By inserting a microbial opsin in the plasma membrane and by its photonic activation, it is possible to regulate neuronal activity with high temporal and spatial resolution. A lot of work has been done to characterize and synthetize new opsins. Thus, a wide variety of opsins are now available, presenting different kinetics and sensibility to specific wavelengths. Indeed, different opsins can either increase or decrease neuronal activity such as channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) or halorhodopsin (NpHR), respectively. This technology has the potential to stimulate a specific region within the brain in a highly reversible manner. However, little work was accomplished in this way, because to limitations due to absorption and scattering of light in biological tissue. This master’s thesis presents the conception of a side-firing optical fiber, capable of guiding light to specific structures within the brain. We conducted in vivo experiments in the visual system of transgenic mice expressing ChR2 in the entire central nervous system. In the visual system, retinal inputs are relayed to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) before reaching the primary visual cortex (V1). To validate the capacity of the designed optogenetic assembly to stimulate specific sub-populations of neurons, we took advantage of the retinotopic organization existing in the visual system. By optogenetically stimulating the LGN and rotating the optical fiber around its axis with a motor, it is possible to sequentially stimulate different portions of this thalamic structure and consequently, different portions of the visual field. Activation of thalamic projections will be recorded in area V1 using intrinsic optical imaging, a technic allowing to image variations of blood oxygenation and blood volume in neuronal tissue over large cortical areas. Activation at the level of the cortex will reveal the spatial extent of the optogenetic stimulation in the LGN as retinotopic organization is maintained in V1 cortical area. In vivo experiments showed that displacing the optical fiber in the LGN allowed stimulation of different neuronal populations within this thalamic structure. In conclusion, this study demonstrates our capacity to develop a fiber-based system capable of optogenetically stimulating neuronal tissue with high spatial precision.

Keyphrases: Optogenetics, Intrinsic optical imaging, Visual system, Optical fiber
Role of corticospinal influences in post-stroke spasticity

In post-stroke patients, spasticity, weakness and abnormal coactivation result from limitations in the range of regulation of stretch reflex thresholds. We investigated whether the deficits in residual corticospinal influences contribute to the limitation in the regulation of those thresholds and as a result to spasticity in post-stroke subjects. A single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the site of the motor cortex projecting to motoneurons of elbow flexors and extensors. Responses to TMS (motor evoked potentials or MEPs) were recorded at a flexion and an extension position of the elbow joint. To exclude the influence of background motoneuronal excitability on the evaluation of corticospinal influences, MEPs were elicited during the electromyographic (EMG) silent period produced by brief muscle shortening prior to TMS. In control subjects, corticospinal facilitation of flexor motoneurons was usually larger whereas that of extensor motoneurons was smaller during actively maintained flexion than when the extension position was maintained (reciprocal pattern of position-related changes in flexor and extensor MEPs). In most post-stroke subjects with high clinical spasticity scores, corticospinal facilitation of both flexor and extensor motoneurons was greater at the actively established flexion position (co-facilitation pattern). Results show that spasticity is associated with substantial changes in the corticospinal influences on flexor and extensor motoneurons. Corticospinal co-facilitation of the two groups of motoneurons may be related to the necessity to overcome resistance of spastic muscles during active changes in the elbow joint angle.

Keyphrases: corticospinal influences, spasticity, stroke, TMS
Residence and Autonomy in Postcolonial Maharashtra

This M.Sc. thesis offers a reappraisal of the century-old issue of the ‘fission’ or ‘nuclearization’ of the hindu joint household (HJH). Using Michel Verdon’s ‘atomistic perspective’ (1998), we provide a new modelling of household formation and composition in postcolonial Maharashtra. The thesis is divided into four major sections. In the first section, we introduce the main lineaments of the ‘atomistic’ perspective and we oppose it, in the second section, to the ‘collectivistic’ set of axioms and the ‘culturalist’ explanations generally used in ethnographic analyses of household formation and composition in Western India. In the third section, we apply Verdon’s atomistic framework by presenting a brief qualitative portrait of the household in Maharashtra for the first three decades after India’s independence. The fourth section offers a statistical application of the atomistic perspective using socioeconomic and demographic data available in five separate samples of India’s National Sample Surveys; combining atomistic hypotheses with Ermisch and Overton’s (1985) ‘loneship ratios’, we quantify the effects of several determinants of residential autonomy and household composition in Maharahstra for the years 1983-2004. Our results show no sign of a nuclearization of the HJH in Maharashtra, and indicate that there was even a rise in the residential and domestic subordination of young Maharashtrian couples from 1993 to 2004.

Keyphrases: Inde, India, Maharashtra, Household, Household formation, Household Typologies, Intra-household relationships, Family, Hindu joint family, Social Change, Social demography
Modélisation radiobiologique pour la planification des traitements en radiothérapie à partir de données d’imagerie spécifiques aux patients

We have developed and implemented a model of growth and response to radiotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) based on the proliferation-invasion (PI) formalism and linear-quadratic model. We take into account patient-specific geometry to model the possible invasion pathways of GBM with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the barriers to dispersal from anatomical images available. The actual dose distribution received by a given patient is applied as such in the simulation, respecting the treatment schedule. The free parameters in the model (proliferation rate, diffusion coefficient, radiobiological parameters) are randomly chosen from a distribution of plausible values. A total of 400 sets of values for the free parameters are thus chosen for all patients, and a simulation of the growth and the response to treatment is performed for each patient and each set of parameters. A failure criterion is applied to the results of each simulation to identify a site of potential recurrence (SPR). The superposition of all SPR obtained for a given patient defines the occurrence probability (OP). We show that high OP values exist for all patients and conclude that the PI model results are not very sensitive to the values of the parameters used. Finally, we show how the formalism developed in this work could help to define a custom target volume for radiation treatment of GBM.

Keyphrases: DTI, glioblastoma multiforme, numerical model, radiotherapy, tumour recurrence, target volume, personalized therapy, Monte Carlo, linear-quadratic model, proliferation-invasion model
Augmenter la vitesse d'administration de la cocaïne facilite le développement d'une motivation exacerbée pour la drogue ne pouvant pas être expliquée uniquement par la quantité de drogue consommée ou l'étendue de l'entraînement opérant

Routes of administration that result in the rapid delivery of cocaine to the brain are thought to increase the probability of becoming addicted. Animal studies modelling this effect show that rats given extended access to rapid intravenous cocaine injections (delivered over 5 versus 90 seconds) self-­‐administer more drug, acquire more extensive operant training histories and are subsequently more motivated to obtain cocaine. The question now regards how the self-­‐ administration of rapidly delivered cocaine increases the motivation to take the drug. This effect could result from extended exposure to large amounts of cocaine and/or the persistent effects of extensive operant training. In addition, increasing the speed of cocaine delivery modifies brain reward and motivation circuits, and this could promote excessive motivation for the drug. Here we sought to determine the contributions of drug exposure and operant training to the ability of rapidly delivered cocaine to increase motivation for the drug. Rats self-­‐administered cocaine delivered over 5 or 90 seconds during limited (1h/session) or extended (6h/session) sessions, under fixed ratio. The motivation for cocaine was then assessed under progressive ratio (PR). Rats in the 5-­‐second extended access group (versus 90-­‐second group) took more drug, acquired more operant training and self-­‐administered more cocaine under PR. Regardless of access conditions, animal receiving drug rapidly were more motivated to work for cocaine. The amount of cocaine intake or operant training prior to PR testing was positively correlated with drug intake under PR in some of the groups. However, the group given extended access to rapid cocaine injections showed increased motivation to self-­‐administer the drug that was not predicted by cocaine exposure or operant training. These findings suggest that rapidly delivered cocaine might facilitate addiction in part by promoting forms of neural plasticity that lead to pathological motivation for drug.

Keyphrases: Addiction, Cocaine, Progressive ratio, Intravenous self-administration, Speed of drug delivery
Étude sur les déterminants sociaux de la détresse psychologique des étudiants universitaires canadiens

In this study we investigate the social mechanics leading to psychological distress in students in canadien universities. We used the stress process model (Pearlin et al. 1981) which shows that the position, the role and the status in the social structure are related to the mental health of  individuals.The exposure to stress and resources mobilize resistance. The aim of this study is first, to examine whether the experience of university life (in terms of stressor and resource) has an influence on the prevalence of psychological distress, taking into account gender differences . Second, we examine whether the transition to university increases the risk of the rate of psychiatric morbidity and if students from Quebec who attended Cegep before University are less vulnerable to this transition. The methodology used to perform this study is based on multiple regression model. The data are drawn from the Canadien Campus (2004) Survey conducted on a representative sample of students from 40 canadien universities. The use of secondary data imposes significant limitations especially regarding measures of stressors and resources. Stressors related to the experience of life in university (workload, academic performance, integration into the para-academic, residential modality) contribute marginally to the explanation of the variation in symptoms of psychological distress. Protectives resources (sense of mastery and social support) explain a significant portion of these variations. The transition to university has no effect on mental health except on Quebec women who are more vulnerable than those more advanced in their academic curriculum. Finally, the results also highlight some of the stress proliferation process which are gender specific.

Keyphrases: Stress, Transition, Student, Stress, University
Les biens communs sans tragédie : effets de la pression sociale et des convictions

The commons need not be a tragedy: impact of peer-pressure and opinions Why do people help the community without getting anything in return? Usually, they either hold the firm belief they should do so or they want to follow a social norm. The behavioural model of this paper takes those two factors into account and applies them to recycling issues. It shows under which condition people act selflessly and how this behaviour spreads across the population. This paper then determines how governments must balance advertising and packaging refunding in order to increase recycling rate at minimal cost. It also proves that under certain circumstances it is preferable not to start transition toward cooperation. Indeed, as people progressively start cooperating, the population becomes divided between followers and opponents to this new attitude. As long as this heterogeneity remains, peer-pressure causes a cost that may outweigh the expected benefits of cooperation.

Keyphrases: contagion, coordination, tragedy of the commons, population game, best-response dynamics, peer-pressure, opinion, public good, network, common pool resource
Diplômés du collège et de l’université : une comparaison des immigrants et natifs au Québec en 2006

Data from the 2006 Canadian census provided by Statistics Canada are used to study immigrants graduating from postsecondary studies in the Quebec educational system, comparing them to people born in Quebec or in the rest of Canada to Canadian parents. More precisely, we explain the likelihood of having a postsecondary school diploma or certificate for the population of Quebec and for different generations of immigrants, distinguishing individual’s birth region and country of origin.  In addition, we assess the effects of age at immigration, of the usual language spoken at home, and of the arrival period on the likelihood of having a postsecondary diploma or certificate in the Quebec educational system. In our empirical analysis, we use bivariate and multivariate methods that take into account a number of socio-economic, demographic, ethnocultural and contextual control variables.     The results indicate that people born in Quebec from Canadian parents are more likely to have a college (CEGEP – pre-university) degree than immigrants or even people born elsewhere in Canada. In contrast,  immigrants, especially those from Africa and from East and Southeast Asia, display higher probabilities of holding a university degree than people born in Quebec. Focusing on the first generation of immigrants, we found that those who were born in the United States or in Africa are more likely to be university graduates than those who were born in East and Southeast Asia. In addition, those born in Latin America are much more likely to have a college degree, compared to other immigrants. Among second generation immigrants, those whose mothers are from the Caribbean or Quebec have an higher probability to hold a college degree than those whose mothers are from East and Southeast Asia.  Moreover, children who migrated to Quebec at a very young age, especially before age 10, are more likely to have a college degree than other immigrants. An immigrant who has neither English nor French as usual language at home does not appear to be disadvantaged in terms of attaining a college degree, but less often has a university degree. Finally, the cohort of immigrants who migrated between 2000 and 2006 are much more prone to have a university degree than others.

Keyphrases: Immigrants, Graduate, University, Natives
L’internationalisme cubain face à la norme d’intervention humanitaire (néo)libérale

Since the end of the Cold War, humanitarian aid has mainly been a Western practice, contributing to the emergence of a neo-liberal norm of intervention. In order to determine if there is an alternative practice, this research aims at analyzing the Cuban’s humanitarian aid. Based on a literature review and a fieldwork led in Cuba with those “internationalist missions” volunteers, this study follows three main steps. The first part, relying on studies carried out by post-foucaldiens authors such as Duffield, Pupavac, McFalls and Pandolfi, will determine the new trend of the humanitarian aid which appeared at the end of the Cold War. Laurence McFalls has presented it as an ideal-type as he identified the exercise of a (therapeutic) neo-liberal governementality on the humanitarian intervention’s field. Second, the logic of the Cuban international aid action, which has not yet been investigated by the researchers, will be characterized. Third, the previously presented ideal-types will be critically compared in order to determine if the Cuban humanitarian aid corresponds to the neo-liberal norm or if it, in fact, represents an alternative. This will allow us to think about key concepts such as hegemony, therapeutic domination and the place of humanitarian aid in international relations.

Keyphrases: Cuba, Mission internationaliste, Humanitarian Aid, Biopolitic, Cuba, Therapeutic domination, neo-liberal governmentality, Internationalist missions