NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Préhistoire de la Moyenne-Côte-Nord :
le chert de la Minganie et l’utilisation des ressources lithiques

This thesis deals with lithic raw material use as evidenced on prehistoric sites from the middle North Shore of the Saint Lawrence River, Quebec. This regional study is based on the reanalysis of a large number of archaeological collections and places central importance on the identification and description of the varieties of lithics that were used. A specific material of local origin, Mingan chert, occupies a special place in this study. The importance of this material for regional prehistory has remained, until now, poorly understood.    As a result of our analyses, a full inventory of the lithic varieties used on these sites is presented and permits us to illustrate certain prehistoric behaviours. Principally, we identify two sets of sites which correspond to the presence of subregional aboriginal groups (bands). Finally, raw material use demonstrates social and exchange ties that link the groups of our study area to those of the broader region of the Quebec-Labrador peninsula.

Keyphrases: Prehistory, Lithic raw materials, Lithic technology, Petrographic analysis, Territories, Mingan Chert, Middle North Shore of the Saint Lawrence
Synthèse énantiosélective du [7]hélicène à l’aide de la réaction de fermeture de cycle par métathèse d’oléfine asymétrique et synthèse de binaphtols via une réaction de couplage oxydatif

The interest in helicenes has increased as new potential applications have been proposed for these twisted conjugated aromatics. However, further research is limited by the lack of methods for the enantioselective synthesis of helicenes.  The current traditional syntheses often conclude with a resolution, most often via separation on a chiral stationary phase.   This thesis describes the development of new catalytic method for the synthesis of helicenes using ring closing metathesis (RCM) employing highly reactive Ru-based catalysts or commercially available catalysts and microwave heating.  Furthermore, an enantioselective variant of the asymmetric ring closing metathesis (ARCM) reactions was developed for the synthesis of enantioenriched [7]helicene via a kinetic resolution protocol.  The development of the kinetic resolution involved the preparation and screening of a number of novel chiral Ru-based olefin metathesis catalysts.  During these studies, the beneficial effect of simple olefins additives on the selectivity of the reaction was observed and a hypothesis to explain these effects has been proposed. In addition, intriguing solvent effects were also observed.   Lastly, this thesis describes the investigation of a new method for the preparation of binaphthol via an oxidative coupling with a novel copper catalyst bearing two N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands. It was demonstrated that the cationic catalyst allowed for the formation of mixed oxidative couplings between electron rich and electron poor 2-naphthols to form C1-symmetric binaphthol derivatives.

Keyphrases: ARCM, NHC, Helicene, Kinetic resolution, Olefin metathesis, RCM, ARCM, Oxidative coupling, Copper, Binaphthols, NHC
Imputation en présence de données contenant des zéros

Single imputation is often used in surveys to compensate for item nonresponse. In some cases, the variable requiring imputation contains a large amount of zeroes. This is especially frequent in business surveys that collect economic variables. In this thesis, we study the properties of two imputation procedures frequently used in practice and show that they lead to biased estimators, in general. Motivated by a mixture regression model, we then propose three imputation procedures and study their properties in terms of bias. For the proposed imputation procedures, we consider a jackknife variance estimator that is consistent for the true variance, provided the overall sampling fraction is negligible. Finally, we perform a simulation study to evaluate the performance of point and variance estimators in terms of relative bias and mean square error.

Keyphrases: Jackknife, Regression imputation, Random imputation, Deterministic imputation, Balanced random imputation, Item nonresponse, Jackknife, Variance estimation
Identification des mécanismes périphériques impliqués dans la douleur chronique expérimentale des muscles de la mastication

The first objective of this project was to establish an animal model of chronic orofacial pain, which could mimic symptoms of patients suffering from orofacial myalgia. We used acidic saline injections (2 injections, 2 days apart at pH 4.0) in masseteric muscles to induce mechanical hypersensitivity. Nocifensive behavior was measured before and after the injections using von Frey filaments in male Sprague Dawley rats. Later, the potential analgesic effect of glutamate receptors antagonists was measured by intramuscular administration of these antagonists at different times.    Our results suggest that two injections of acidic saline produce a mechanical hypersensitivity as reflected by the increased number of responses to applications of von Frey filaments. This effect lasts several weeks and is bilateral, even when the injections are unilateral, indicating that a central component must be involved. However, the initial stage of induction of this hypersensitivity involves peripheral glutamate receptors since injection of their antagonists before the second acidic saline injection prevents development of the nocifensive response, whereas their injection at later times is ineffective in blocking development of the response.  This model based on a double injection of acidic saline seems appropriate to reproduce low intensity, long-lasting muscle pain. Our data suggests that peripheral glutamate receptors are involved in the induction of this long-term hypersensitivity.   We believe that this model may contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms behind persistent orofacial muscle pain.

Keyphrases: Nociception, Glutamate receptors, Muscle spindle, Acidic saline, APV, DNQX, MCPG, MPEP, Large caliber afferents, Nociception, Pain
Régulation transcriptionelle du développement de l'hypothalamus chez l'amphibien

The paraventricular nucleus PVN of the hypothalamus regulates a series of physiological phenomena including the maintenance of energetic balance and arterial blood pressure. We have previously identified a cascade of transcription factors that control the development of the PVN. Sim1 and OTP act in concert to mediate the terminal differentiation of at least five types of neurons identifiable by their production of OT, AVP, CRH, SS and TRH. These transcription factors control the development of the OT, AVP and CRH producing neurons by maintaining the expression of Brn2, which is in turn required for the terminal differentiation of these cell lines. The transcriptome analysis of the PVN allowed us to identify a handful of genes that are potentially implicated in the development of this brain structure. Our goal is to develop a loss of function paradigm that would allow a high troughput study of these candidate genes. The main goal of this project is to characterize the developing PVN in the amphibian in order to use this model in our functional studies of these genes. We have cloned fragments of cDNA of Sim1, OTP, Brn2, Sim2, CRH, TRH, AVP and OT using Xenopus laevis total RNA. We have also adapted our in situ hybridization technique to characterize the expression of these genes in stage 33-39, 44, 51, 54, 60 and adult amphibian brain. Sim1, OTP and Brn2 are expressed in the prospective PVN as soon as stage 33. The expression of the terminal differentiation markers become detectable between stages 37-39. Interestingly, the PVN is initially restricted to a more globular domain and begins to extend along the dorso-ventral axis at around stage 44. This vertical extension translates into a column organization that we do not observe in rodents.  The development of the PVN is well conserved in the amphibian in the sense that the relation between the expression of the different transcription factors and the terminal differentiation markers is conserved. We can also observe some topographical differences between the mammalian and amphibian PVN. The column organization the different PVN cell types might correspond to the tangential migration that is observed in the mouse. We are now well equipped to test the function in the PVN of the known transcripton factors as well as the candidate genes previously identified in our lab using a morpholino-mediated gene knock down.

Keyphrases: Xenopus laevis, Hypothalamus, Trh, Crh, Avp, Sim1, Otp, Brn2, Transcription factors, Terminal differentiation
Le processus de sécularisation : l'implication des élites catholiques laïques

Based on recent studies acknowledging the importance of Catholic elites in the changes leading to the modernization of Quebec society between 1930 and 1970, this master thesis try to provide a better understanding of these elites, their motives and their destiny. Stemming from the young generations of lay protesters of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the lay Catholic elites were influenced by philosophical tendencies within the Christian renewal and their formation in the “Action catholique”. Questioning the clericalism and the social and political conservatism prevalent in Quebec between 1930 and 1960, they put forward a reformist thought tuned with the “spirit” of the Vatican II council and of the Quiet Revolution. One characteristic of these elite: even if they were critical of the Catholic Church, they retained a loyalty towards the Catholicism. I propose to “reappropriate” the sociology of Max Weber in order to better understand the involvement of lay Catholic elites to the modernization of Quebec society and, thus, grasp the particular kind of secularization that take place between 1950 and 1970 in Quebec. In order to do so, I study the life trajectories and discourses of three actors from these elites: Guy Rocher, Jacques Grand’Maison and Claude Ryan. With these actors in mind, I describe three distinct “ways” taken by the lay Catholic elites to get involved in their society. Those three “ways” certainly relate three different types of involvement, but they also refer to a common Catholic feeling of belonging. Considering the point of view of these elites together with the transformations of Quebec’s religious landscape, I can question the use of the concepts of secularization, laicization, and deconfessionalization and, thus, describe the way religious issues are dealt with.

Keyphrases: clergé, Max Weber, catholic elites, secularization, laicization, Quiet Revolution, specialized catholic Action, laity, clergy, personalism, Max Weber, motives
Rôle des cellules dendritiques SIRPα+ dans l’asthme expérimental

Asthma is a heterogeneous multifactorial disease resulting in airway inflammation associated with a variety of clinical manifestations, which include severe breathing difficulties. Asthma affects approximately one out of six people and is currently a serious public health problem. As of now, many treatments are available to relieve the symptoms of the disease, but no definitive cure is available. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate the inflammatory condition during the disease is essential to the discovery of effective new therapeutic targets.  Dendritic cells capture allergens in the lungs, migrate to the draining lymph nodes where they activate cognate T cells, which cause the pathogenic inflammatory response. My work help defined and deepened the mechanistic understanding of asthma by identifying the subpopulation of dendritic cells responsible for the initiation and maintenance of local and systemic inflammatory response. We demonstrated that SIRPα is selectively expressed on the surface of immunogenic dendritic cells. Indeed, the interruption of the ligation between SIRPα and its ligand, CD47, interferes with the migration of SIRPα+ dendritic cells and reverses the allergic inflammatory response. This mechanism is a promising new therapeutic avenue. Moreover, we showed that the soluble fusion molecules CD47-Fc and SIRPα-Fc are potent inhibitors of the allergic asthma in a mouse model.  In addition, we demonstrated the involvement of SIRPα+ dendritic cells in a model of severe airway inflammation induced upon local and systemic repeated administration of those cells. Either treatment led to the development of a mixed Th2-Th17 inflammation, a phenotype recently described in patients with severe asthma. This model allowed us to show the presence of T cells expressing at once IL-17, IL-4, IL-13 and GATA3 in vitro and in vivo in the lungs and in the mediastinal lymph nodes. Our results suggest that these Th2-Th17 cells are generated from the conversion of Th17 cells acquiring a Th2 phenotype, and not the other way around, a hallmark of Th17 cells plasticity.  These results deepen the understanding of the mechanisms involved in the initiation and maintenance of allergic and non-allergic asthma. Besides, we open a way to the development of a specific treatment for asthmatic patients, particularly those for whom no effective treatment is currently available.

Keyphrases: CD47, Sirp, Th2, Th17, Migration, Asthma, Airway Inflammation, Dendritic Cell, CD47, Sirp, Th2, Th17, Migration
La politique allemande de la France telle que perçue par la presse française
(1919-1926)

There is a common perception of France as being the guarantor of the Treaty of Versailles. French revisionism towards the established order by that treaty, unlike its German counterpart, is a subject which has yet to receive much attention. It was first addressed by authors such as George-Henri Soutou and Stanislas Jeannesson, but the issue requires further inquiry. Grounded in an analysis of the French press, this memoir confirms the existence of a will to make the peace treaty more favourable to France.  Machtpolitik and French revisionism are noticeable traits from 1919 until 1923 with, at its pinnacle, the occupation of the Ruhr. The following years witnessed a worsening of the French situation at the political, economic and diplomatic levels. Its degrading position hauled France into a conciliation which stemmed from the spirit of the Treaty of Versailles. The international news coverage in three French newspapers (Le Temps, L’Action française and L’Humanité) before and after the Ruhr invasion is the object of analysis. The study confirms the existence of a French revisionism which, after its downfall in 1924, led to a refocusing of France’s German policy. By linking the different newspapers’ perception to their ideology, it explained variations that occurred in their analyses of the same events. The newspaper study coupled with the secondary sources reveals a discourse marked by a revisionist will. It also suggests that the Treaty of Versailles was not supported in France until after the demise of power politics as well as French revisionism.

Keyphrases: Raymond Poincaré, Occupation of the Ruhr, Treaty of Versailles, French revisionism, France’s newspapers, franco-german diplomacy, collective security
Etudes ab initio des effets de la température sur le spectre optique des semi-conducteurs

The thermal corrections to the optical spectra of semiconductors are discussed interms of the variation of the single electron eigenenergies and the electron-phonon coupling. A formal derivation of the leading Allen-Heine-Cardona theory is presented. This theory is based on standard perturbation theory within the adiabatic, the harmonic and rigid-ion approximations. A full review of the successful application of this theory in the semi-empirical literature is also included. A new ab initio formalism based on DFPT is developed and implemented in the ABINIT package. In this new formulation of the theory of the electron-phonon coupling, the first-order wave functions are determined by a variational principle and are thus not constructed using the unperturbed wave functions. This is in contrast to the Allen- Heine-Cardona theory in which a slow convergence on the number of included states his observed : one must include 2000 states for the correct treatment of H2 and 400 states for silicon. Using the DFPT formalism with only 10 bands yields a decrease in calculation times by a factor of 20. This new implementation of the DFPT formalism was tested using the cases studies of diatomic molecules, silicon and diamond. The results obtained for the diatomic molecules reproduce finite difference calculations up to the numerical error present in the finite difference approach. The procedure reproduces the result of previous semi-empirical studies for silicon but underestimates drastically the electron-phonon coupling in diamond. This is shown to originate from the LDA. Finally, the finite difference method used in the diatomic molecules permitted the direct evaluation of the validity of the rigid-ion approximation by evaluating the non-site-diagonal Debye-Waller term. It was found that this term partially cancels the sum of the site-diagonal Debye-Waller and Fan term. It contributes from 11 % of this sum for CO to 60 % for LiF and is by no means negligible in any system considered. The mismatch between experimental observations and theoretical simulations in crystalline semiconductors is thus believed to originate from this approximation.

Keyphrases: Optical spectra, Semiconductors, Temperature, Density functional perturbation theory, Band gap
Scolarité et séropositivité des femmes au Cameroun : analyse d’un apparent paradoxe

Considered the biggest crisis known to our generation, the propagation of the AIDS virus is an unprecedented worldwide emergency, notably in sub-Saharan Africa where the majority of HIV-positive individuals live. In a context where no vaccine exists and where treatments are expensive and difficult to access, information campaigns about the virus and the acquisition of knowledge on prevention, notably through school programs, are essential.  Schooling is often seen as the solution to eradicate the propagation of the virus, and studies held in sub-Saharan Africa have actually shown that highest educated individuals are more informed about HIV/AIDS and about its transmission. However, in Cameroon, the most affected part of the population is also the most educated one. This study investigates this apparent paradox. Using the 2004 data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), this research explores the multiple factors explaining the positive relation between the education level and seropositivity in Cameroon.  Result from the bivariate analysis show that the level of knowledge about HIV and its transmission increases with the education level of men and women. In spite of this knowledge advantage, the analysis show a strong, positive and statistically significant link between the education level and seropositivity of women, but this link is not significant with men. The results of the hierarchical logistical analysis suggest that a combination of factor explains why the most educated women are more affected by HIV/AIDS. The fact that those women have a different sociodemographic profile (they are younger and wealthier), and that they live in more urban areas than their less educated counterparts, and especially the fact that they have a longer exposition time to HIV before engaging in a union, as well as an a higher number of sexual partners, increases their exposure to the virus.

Keyphrases: HIV/AIDS, Demographic and Health Surveys, Education, Cameroon
Littératie et autogestion du diabète : impact à court terme d’un programme de formation de 4 jours versus un programme de 2 jours sur le développement des compétences chez les patients diabétiques de type 2

OBJECTIVES : The objective of this longitudinal study is to evaluate the short term impact of diabetes self-management programs given by the multidisciplinary team of the CHUM Hôtel-Dieu Diabetes Day-Care Unit over 2-days (T2) or 4-days (T4) training sessions.  METHODS : A total of 43 patients were recruited; 13 in the 2-day program, providing only group intervention and 30 in the 4-day program, providing both group and individual interventions. Besides measures of metabolic control (glycated haemoglobin, body-mass index), validated tools were used to evaluate literacy, as well as knowledge, self-care behaviours, and attitudes towards diabetes (at 0, 1 and 6 months).   RESULTS : The average age of patients participating in the training sessions is 59 years old, and 77% have reached collegial or higher educational levels. This gives them sufficient literacy skills in terms of capacity to understand and use written information in everyday life. However, 64 % of the patients that did not show up or complete the training (N=11) had educational levels equal or lower to secondary 5.   Outcome data, analyzed with nonparametric tests, show that diabetes self-management education programs of the Hôtel-Dieu CHUM lead to significant short-term improvement of metabolic control in patients (p=0,042, N=33) and result in a average weight loss of 2.4 kg (p=0,004, N=27). Both types of training increase patients knowledge of the disease (p=0,000 F2/F4), and the 4-days training session significantly contribute to positive attitudes towards the disease (p=0,000). The 2-days training program is particularly effective in improving self-care behaviours such as blood glucose monitoring and foot care, but it had very little effect on behaviours related to lifestyle.  CONCLUSION : These results show that the 4-day program has proven more effective in improving self-management competency suggesting that the duration of interaction time between educators and patient seems to be a good predictor of the impact of the training. Although interventions are found to be effective, outcomes ultimately suggest that it is mostly patients with higher education that tend to participate in this formal training.

Keyphrases: Diabetes Education, Self-management, Health literacy, Adult learning, Assessment