NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Impacts de l'urbanisation sur la diversité spécifique et fonctionnelle dans les forêts riveraines

Urbanization is a major threat to biodiversity worldwide. This thesis aims at understanding its effects on plant functional composition and biotic homogenization in riparian forests. Floristic inventories were carried out in 57 riparian forests of the Montreal area. To investigate changes in functional composition with urbanization, community weighted means were computed for trees, shrubs and herbs using eight functional traits. Each forest was characterized by variables related to the surrounding urban landscape, local forest conditions and spatial processes. The relative importance of these three subsets on the functional composition was quantified by variation partitioning using redundancy analyses. Local conditions, especially flood intensity, exerted an overriding selection pressure on riparian functional communities. The effect of the landscape was suspected to be indirect, acting on trait patterns likely through alteration of hydrological disturbances in riparian forests. In addition to environmental filtering, dispersal along rivers was also an important process structuring riparian forests.  Changes in taxonomic and functional β-diversity for herb species were studied between three urbanization and flood levels. While urbanization led to taxonomic differentiation, flood intensity fostered taxonomic homogenization, both without influence on functional β-diversity. Urbanization was the main trigger for all β-diversity changes, as it directly caused a gain in exotic species and a net species loss in highly urban forests, and indirectly fostered an important species turnover through alteration of the hydrological regime. Overall, these results suggest that the alteration and interruption of natural landscape-scale processes by human activities are major mechanisms underlying changes in urban riparian communities.

Keyphrases: Alpha and beta diversity, Biotic homogenization, Community weighted means of traits (CWM), Dispersal, Exotic species, Flood, Functional traits, Riparian plant communities, Spatial eigenvector analysis (AEM and MEM), Urbanization
La sécurité culturelle en tant que moteur de réussite postsecondaire : 
enquête auprès d'étudiants autochtones de l'Institution Kiuna 
et des espaces adaptés au sein des établissements allochtones

Can cultural adaptation of postsecondary programs and services contribute to the cultural empowerment of First Nations students? Can cultural identity act as an academic anchor for aboriginal students within the postsecondary system? Through cultural security and identity rooting concepts, I will demonstrate that the consecration of physical and ideological spaces within the postsecondary education system can contribute to the retention and success of First Nations students. This study draws on the findings of a field study conducted between 2013 and 2015 to which have participated more than 100 Aboriginal students and 15 professionals of various educational bodies, including Projet SEUR’s volet Jeunes autochtones (Université de Montréal), Kiuna Institution, the First Nations Education Council (FNEC), the Aboriginal Resource Center (John Abbott College), the First Peoples' House and the Indigenous Student Alliance (McGill University), the Aboriginal Student Resource Center (Concordia University) and the Wendake’s Centre de développement de la formation et de la main-d'oeuvre (CDFM) huron-wendat.  Two distinct formulas will be therefore analyzed: 1. Cultural adaptation of academic services within the post-secondary institution and 2. Cultural adaption of academic programs and services within First Nations' postsecondary institution. This second strategy will be examined through a case study of the collegial Kiuna Institute, conducted among the French cohort of the First Nations Social Program. Results will be presented under the light of those collected in regard to La Macaza’s Manitou College (1973-1976) and American Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU).

Keyphrases: Cultural identity, First Nations of Quebec, Postsecondary education, Cultural security, Kiuna College
Effects of diverse plant species on the bioavailability of contaminants in soil

Phytoremediation is considered an alternative technology for treating metalcontaminated soil, however, its efficiency is usually limited by bioavailability of metals in soil. We hypothesized that diverse plant species have different root system types that can affect bioavailability of trace elements (TE) in soil differently. The experiment was conducted during summer, from June 6th to September 3rd, 2014, at the Montreal Botanical Garden. The effect of eight herbaceous and woody species on the labile pool of six metals (Ag, Cu, Pd, Zn, Ni and Se) in their rhizosphere was studied using a completely randomized block design with five replicates. After three months of cultivation, the above- and below-ground biomass of each species was measured and the concentrations of TE in the plant tissues were determined. The labile and presumably bioavailable fraction of these TE in the rhizosphere as well as key soil parameters (e.g. pH, electrical conductivity (EC), percent of organic matter and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) were also measured and compared as a function of plant species. The results showed that in most tested plants, the highest concentrations of TE were found in the roots and the lowest levels were in the above-ground tissues, except for Ni in Salix nigra. This suggests that Ni can be removed from soil through the regular harvest of the shoots and leaves of this species. The labile pool of Ag, Ni, and Cu in the rhizosphere was significantly and differently affected by the presence of the plants. However, the presence of the tested plant species did not affect some key factors of the rhizosphere (e.g. pH, EC, percent of organic matter). In contrast, DOC levels in the rhizosphere of all tested plants were higher than those measured for the control pots without plants. In addition, a positive relationship was found between Ni availability concentration and DOC concentration, as well as Cu availability level and DOC level. This suggests that some types of root systems appear to modify soil DOC and indirectly impact the labile pool of TE in soil

Keyphrases: Accumulation, Bioavailability, Metals, Rhizosphere, Accumulation, Dissolved organic carbon
Le personnage-figurant : absence de monde et corps spectral dans l’œuvre de Béla Tarr

This master’s thesis examines the relation between the visible and the invisible in Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr’s work in order to shed light on the exploration of nothingness and death—mostly appearing as an absence-presence—in Tarr’s cinema. Through a tripartite study focusing on the visual and thematic treatment, as well as the function of the world, of time and of the cinematic character, I will demonstrate how Tarr’s “subtractive” films interrogate the relation of the self to a missing world. The notion of the “promise”, as conceptualized by Peter Sloterdijk, will provide insight into the Tarrian character’s tragic fate: a tremendous effort to escape death that can only end in an extreme fatigue. The notion of “personnage-figurant” proposed here aims to bind together the figurative and thematic values shared by the various characters in order to better understand the continuity of the work beyond its stylistic and narrative ruptures. Finally, the dialogue initiated here between Tarr’s work and various philosophical key concepts (world, self, time) intends to demonstrate how the Hungarian director’s work opens up interesting avenues for a discussion of subjectivity in our own times.

Keyphrases: Sátántangó, Invisible, Ruines, Absence, Figure, Promise, Death, Ruins, Nothingness
Ruptures et disjonctions dans le cinéma de Djibril Diop Mambety : le film-griot ou l'invention d'une oralité moderne

This study examines how the mediatory action of the griot in West African oral traditions is at work in the films of Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambety. This force of orality, of mise-en-présence, emerges in Mambety’s films from narrative disruptions and sound-image disjunctions. Instead of relying on narrative or speech as a discourse, this force of orality challenges the story’s consistency, inviting the viewer to frequently revise his or her interpretation of what is being seen and heard. The film itself becomes griot, a griot which links the world borne by the film and the spectator in a dynamic and ever-changing interplay. By fostering, through these disruptions, a critical stance toward the world on which depends the narrative, Mambety’s cinema makes room for marginality and exclusion, which inhabit all his films.  Oral tradition and griot are first defined, followed by an analysis of how the films Parlons Grand-mère and Le franc are mediator films, functioning as griots. This opens the way for a broader reflection on the ethical significance of film-as-mediator, as well as the possible ties between mediation and narrative. Finally, an analysis of the film Hyènes, on account of its more linear narrative exposition, provides an opportunity to deepen our understanding of Mambety’s filmmaking, and to explore the greater implications of mediation in cinema.

Keyphrases: Mambety, Griot, Parlons Grand-mère, Le franc, Hyènes, African cinema, Orality, Oral tradition, West Africa, Audio-visual mediation, Nonlinearity, Image-sound disjunctions
La détention provisoire au Québec : portrait de l’évolution d’une mesure sur une décennie et de la population qui en est l’objet en 2011-2012

The objective of this thesis is to trace a portrait of the evolution of recourse to pretrial detention in Québec from 2002 to 2012, then to specify the characteristics of the defendants in comparison to defendants who are detained as they emerge in 2012, for the general population incarcerated in Québec penal institutions under provincial jurisdiction, for specific populations comprised of women and native peoples in regard to their proportion in the general population.  To achieve this, the present tendencies of recourse for pretrial detention are established and compared to those of 2002. Also, a portrayal of detainees awaiting trial in Québec in 2011-2012 is prepared according to certain socio-demographic and criminal characteristics in relation to pretrial detention according to previous written works on the subject. This portrayal is compared to persons incarcerated in the same institutions following a conviction of a prison sentence of two years minus one day or less.  Next, bivariate analyses are carried out to further understand the connection between pretrial detention and the outcome of the penal process, which consists, in the present study, of a conviction to a sentence of incarceration or other sentence of persons in pretrial detention at the onset. Analyses of logistic regression help pinpoint which variables allow us to most clearly predict the imposition of a sentence of incarceration to persons detained in provincial penal institutions in Québec for 2012.  The results of our analyses indicate that there is an over-representation of men and native peoples in pretrial detention. We also note that certain socio-demographic and criminal characteristics reveal significant connections to a conviction of incarceration, such as being a defendant of native origin, having previous criminal history, having committed one or many systemic offenses, as well as belonging to a criminal group. This is also a good predicative of imposition of a prison sentence following pretrial detention. When an individual accrues these characteristics, he will face a sentence of incarceration in at least three-quarters of cases.  Finally, it appears that despite long-standing will expressed and resumption of discussions when Law C-25 came into force to make pretrial detention a last resort measure, recourse to this measure keeps rising, whereas incarcerations resulting from convictions seem to be diminishing.  This translates to a report that is more and more disproportionate between persons who are convicted within Québec prisons, the ratio being to the disadvantage of the person being detained in pretrial detention.

Keyphrases: Prison, Custody, Penal population, Pretrial detention, Defendants
Le rôle de l'intersubjectivité dans les Méditations cartésiennes de Husserl

Husserl’s Cartesian Meditations shows the role of phenomenology in the project of refoundation of sciences. Husserl exposed, starting from the Cartesian’s doubt, a solution to skepticism through an absolute foundation of knowledge. To do that, two things must be achieved: first, the main component of subjectivity, otherwise known as the “transcendental ego,” must be clarified to expose the essence of the subjectivity. Second, the intersubjective community, if properly constituted, should guarantee apodictic knowledge to phenomenology. This master’s thesis follows the development from the first reduction, which appears to refocus the phenomenologist’s gaze onto his own subjectivity, to the constitution of an intersubjective community. By showing methodically Husserl’s procedure, we will demonstrate how he develops a bona fide intersubjectivity, but also its epistemological limits. This examination will lead us to two things: first, the re-contextualization of what is a complex argument that is often reduced to a simple, classical idealism; second, the central role of the body, understood in a specific sense, in the Husserlian project, which should help to bridge the gap between what he called the different monads (subjects).

Keyphrases: Husserl, Phenomenology, Intersubjectivity, Philosophy, Cartesian Meditations
Le sacrifice d'Iphigénie : l'interartialité spectaculaire dans la peinture française au 18e siècle

During the 18th century, the story of Iphigenia and her sacrifice was an important subject and a source of creativity for both painting and theater. While Iphigénie (1674) by Jean Racine was still regularly played at the Comédie-Française, and Christoph Willibald Gluck was presenting his opera Iphigénie en Aulide (1774), many painters were also representing this story in their works. This master's thesis studies this spectacular mediation of the theme of the sacrifice of Iphigenia in the medium of painting during the 18th century. This study first looks into the antique origins of Iphigenia's myth, and then analyses the dramaturgical texts of Racine and Gluck and notes the images of the sacrifice found in the text. Secondly, a survey of the situation of theater in the 18th century makes possible to look into many aspects that come into play in the spectacular mediation of the theme: the costumes, the decor, the public, the special effects and the acting. Lastly, a case study is done to pick up the interartial character and the complex connections between painting, dramaturgical text and theatrical stage setting, and to demonstrate that their mutual influence forms a loop and not a one-sided theater-painting way of influence, as perceived by Michael Fried in Absorption and Theatricality. Painting & beholder in the age of Diderot (1980). The interartiality, as defined by Walter Moser in his article « L'interartialité: pour une archéologie de l'intermédialité » (2007), of those two domains of art is investigated with drawings and theatrical models, taken in great part from the archives of the Comédie-Française, and also with four Sacrifice d'Iphigénie, from artists of this time : François Le Moyne (1728), Carle Van Loo (1757), Jean-Bernard Restout (1760) and Jean-Baptiste François Désoria (1798).

Keyphrases: Sacrifice d'Iphigénie, XVIIIe, interartialité, Sacrifice of Iphigenia, XVIIIth, painting, theater, interartiality
Systematic construction of models for the exchange hole of density functional theory

In this work, we extend the number of currently known physical conditions of the exact exchange hole with the derivation of the fourth-order expansion of the exact spher- ically averaged exchange hole. We compare the second- and fourth-order expansions with the exact exchange hole for atomic and molecular systems. We found that, in gen- eral, the fourth-order expansion reproduces more accurately the exact exchange hole for small values of the interelectronic distance. We demonstrate that Gaussian-type basis sets have a significant influence on the terms of this new condition, by studying how oscillations originated in these basis sets affects its leading term. Also, we propose four analytical exchange hole models to which we impose all currently known condi- tions of the exact exchange hole and the new one presented in this work. We assess the performance of the models by computing exchange energies and its contributions to atomization energies. It is found that oscillations originated in Gaussian-type basis sets can compromise the accuracy and solution of the models.

Keyphrases: Exchange energy functional
Contribution de modèle demande-contrôle-soutien à la variation des concentrations de cortisol salivaire

The main objective of this master thesis is to increase the knowledge about the impact of organisational factors on salivary cortisol concentrations. Especially, the models demand-control (Karasek, 1979) and demand-control-support (Karasek and Theorell, 1990) will be studied in relationship to the salivary cortisol. The objectives of this study are to investigate the associations between the main components of each model (psychological demands, decision latitude and social support), but also patterns of interaction effects, i.e. the effect moderator of decision latitude and social support. It has been shown that the HPA axis would be linked to symptoms of mental health (Abelson et al., 2007; Havermans et al. 2011; Vreeburg et al. 2009b, 2010, 2013; Staufenbiel, 2013) as well as stressors in the workplace (Chida and Steptoe, 2009). Currently, salivary cortisol, an indicator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) or the axis of stress management, would be the most promising for measuring the physiological response to a stressful event or chronic stress (Maïna et al. 2009). The data results come from the SALVEO surveys led by the research team on work and mental health of University of Montreal (ERTSM). Results of multilevel analyses do not support the involvement of the demand - control - support model to changes in cortisol concentration. Indeed, they do not suggest that the main effects as much as the interaction effects of the demand-control-support model, explain the variation in cortisol levels. Tobacco consumption is significantly related to salivary cortisol concentration and must be taken into account in previous studies. Therefore, these results suggest that further research is needed to understand how the occupational stressors are incorporated into the individual at the physiological level. Depth knowledge of these associations would help to understand the associations between long-term stress and health effects or how job strain affects long-term mental health (Karhula et al. 2015).

Keyphrases: Stress, Salivary cortisol, Psychological demands, Decision latitude, Social support, Demand-control-support model
Une application mobile pour les victimes d'intimidation par les pairs : examen des récits d'expérience et perceptions d'utilité

In Canada, the prevalence of bullying victimization at school is estimated at approximately 20%. Bullying victimization is associated with a wide range of emotional and psychological difficulties as well as underachievement at school. Since June 2012, Quebec is engaged to reduce bullying occuring in schools, through it's Law to fight against bullying and violences at school. Although schools are required to have plans to reduce bullying, services offered to the victims are often limited. The mobile application “+Fort” was developed in the light of these limits. +Fort aims to support victims of bullying to reduce their experiences and to prevent related difficulties. Our research aims to: (1) describe the experiences of bullying victims  using +Fort as a source of support, (2) anticipate the utility of +Fort based on the youth's narratives and, (3) describe how +Fort assists youth in their efforts to reduce bullying victimization. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with 12 victims (12 to 16 years) from the greater Montreal's area, of which a thematic analysis was conducted. The results suggest that +Fort promotes a process of change favorable to the reduction of their bullying experiences. +Fort's main functions gives the impression of being supportive, which appears, in turn, to induce the desir and motivation to undertake actions aimed to reduce bullying experiences. New mobiles technologies likely represent an attractive plateform for youth confronted to bullying victimization to sustain this well-being.

Keyphrases: Interventions scolaires, Mobile Application, Bullying, Peers, E-Health, Motivation to change, Self-determination
La Cinéologie de l'entre-deux-guerres : les écrivains français et le cinéma

This PhD dissertation is about critical and theoretical discourses on cinema that French writers have contributed to elaborate during the interwar period. At the beginning of the 20th century, cinema had acquired more importance in society. Therefore, some writers have tried to create new ways to write about it – what we called a cinéologie.  They have expressed and discussed their ideas and views about what will soon become a new art in numerous and varied texts (articles, columns, essays, manifestos, prefaces, biographies).  These texts come from diverse types of publications (film magazines, literary journals, art magazines, newspapers, publishing) and largely testify to the popularity of cinema. In the form of the essay, these texts are representative of the issues discussed at the time and need to be considered as a constituent part of an extensive network of diffusion. Thus, they present arguments about the acceptance of cinema as art, the talkies, the relations with drama and the place of cinema in modernity. These texts alos give several definitions about the possibilities of cinema in terms of esthetic, practice and technique. Besides, they can be considered as a cinematographic memory filled with artist names (Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks or Erich von Stroheim) and film titles (The Cheat, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Hallelujah). Those references, which need to be considered as quotes supporting the argumentation, are an important part of that cinéologie developed in the interwar period. In addition to the ideas and the thoughts presented in those texts, the study of the position of the writer, the intertextual references and the lexical inventions show that writers such as Louis Aragon, Blaise Cendrars, Pierre Mac Orlan, Jean Prévost and Marcel Pagnol have contributed to a part of the cinematographic knowledge putting both the experience of cinema and the one of the audience at the center of concerns about cinephilia.

Keyphrases: Charlie Chaplin, French literature, Cinema, Interwar period, Writers and cinema, Cinephilia, Essay, Press and publishing, Discourse studies, Cultural history