NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Impact des TIC sur le sentiment d’auto-efficacité des enseignants du secondaire au Niger et leur processus d’adoption d’une innovation

This study examines the development among high school teachers of feelings of professional competence and self-efficacy toward technical skills through ICT training. It follows a project to pedagogically integrate ICT into a lycée initiated by the Campus numérique de Niamey (Niamey digital campus). After lycée teachers participating in a computer literacy project were trained in ICT, we undertook a follow-up study to appraise the impact of this ICT training, via the Niamey digital campus, on teacher adoption of the technologies. The research objectives were the following:  1) assess the impact of ICT training provided to high school teachers on the adoption process for these technologies; 2) describe and analyze the learning paths of the teachers who experienced a positive ICT adoption process ; 3) better understand the impact of ICT training on feelings of professional competence in teachers (self-confidence and overall confidence); 4) validate the Computer Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE) in French; 5) understand the impact of ICT training on teachers’ feelings of self-efficacy in computer use. To achieve these objectives, a survey questionnaire was administered to 69 teachers from three lycées in Niamey and semi-directed interviews were conducted with six teachers. The thesis is presented in the form of a series of articles, each one addressing one or two of the research objectives in the above-presented order. The results reveal no relationship between the teachers’ ICT training via the digital campus and their level of technological innovation at school, according to the typology proposed by Hall and Hord (1987). ICT usage disparities among the teachers testify to this lack of association. Moreover, it appears that the ICT adoption process in education is barely nascent in Niger. Indeed, only a few participants attained the levels of awareness and professional use, the first two of the four stages in Raby’s (2005) typology of professional use. The results show that feelings of personal competence differ between the two groups (trained and untrained teachers), although their feelings of overall competence were similar.  The results also show a significant difference in technical skill levels in terms of computer use between teachers who did and did not receive ICT training via the Niamey digital campus. The research strengths and limitations are analyzed and some recommendations are proposed to educational authorities.

Keyphrases: Niger, teacher training in ICT, ICT adoption, feeling of professional competence, feeling of self-efficacy, computer use, high school teaching, Niger
Between the spheres : male characters and the performance of femininity in four victorian novels, 1849-1886

“Between the Spheres: Male Characters and the Performance of Femininity in Four Victorian Novels, 1849-1886” defines the domesticated bachelor, examines the effects of the blurring of the boundaries between the public and private spheres, and traces the evolution of the public discourse on masculinity in Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley, Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret, George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  By identifying the domestic man as a recurrent figure in the second half of the nineteenth century, this dissertation proves how he comes to represent the uncertainty surrounding issues of gender, not only concerning women’s roles, but also men’s positions in society and the re-defining of masculinity.  Just as there were women seeking freedom by moving beyond the domestic sphere, there were men seeking a similar liberty by moving from the public into the private sphere by performing femininity.  This bachelor is equally significant to the New Woman of this period based on his tendency to open up for discussion new definitions of Victorian masculinity and gender boundaries.  The domesticated man moves from the “masculinized” public sphere into the “feminized” private sphere, by engaging in feminine discourse including issues of domesticity, chastity, morality, marriage, and love. Drawing upon Jürgen Habermas’s analysis of public and private spheres, this dissertation re-examines the roles of the spheres, their fluidity in the four works under consideration, and the fate of the domesticated male characters.  The gendering of the spheres resulted in the search for new forms of masculinity; this new definition of maleness was extremely dependent on the status of women in the private sphere.  The bachelor moves between the spheres without necessarily suffering consequences such as effeminacy and social estrangement, as opposed to “masculine” female characters that did suffer from social stigma resulting from their uncharacteristic behavior.  Each chapter considers changes in the discourse of sexuality to account for a re-positioning of the domesticated man from a feminine sphere of activity into a new sphere which, by the end of the century, blurs the rigid distinction thought to be in place throughout the Victorian period.

Keyphrases: performance, New Woman, Public and private spheres, gender, performance, bachelor, domesticity, masculinity, New Woman, Nineteenth century, novels
Électrofilage de fibres à partir de mélanges polystyrène/poly(vinyl méthyl éther)

Electrospinning is a simple method for the preparation of polymer fibers with diameters of hundreds of nanometers to a few micrometers. Although it is a versatile method, some issues remain in the control of the structure and properties of electrospun fibers. In this study, fibers electrospun from polystyrene (PS)/poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) blends were characterized. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that fibers electrospun from benzene are miscible while a phase separation occurs when the fibers are electrospun from chloroform. While films cast from chloroform show poor mechanical properties, immiscible fibers are ductile. The effects of the blend composition and the solvent on the fiber diameter and morphology were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Afterwards, contact angle measurements were made to evaluate the hydrophobicity of the fibers which decreases as hydrophilic PVME is added to the blend; the values for the fibers were found to be 60° higher than their equivalent in films. PVME was selectively removed from the immiscible fibers by complete immersion into water. Infrared spectroscopy revealed that this process increases the PS content from 70 to 95% for immiscible fibers but only to 75% for miscible fibers. These results show that the PVME-rich phase is almost completely distributed on the fiber surface, which was confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and SEM. Finally, the electrospinning of PS/PVME blends from chloroform/benzene solutions was studied. The presence of chloroform, even as a residual amount, causes a phase separation just as it does in fibers electrospun from pure chloroform.

Keyphrases: Electrospinning, Polymer fibers, Polystyrene/poly(vinyl methyl ether) blends, Miscibility, Phase separation
Pédérastie, pédophilie : filiation, rupture, déviance

This research proposes a reflection on the stakes of pedophilia in contemporary western society. In the first chapter, we will raise the question of authority: in order to understand the relation with authority and the importance of a hierarchic system in the contemporary western society, we will compare it with the Greek society which accepted and valued intergenerational relationships. It is especially through a reading of various texts from Michel Foucault and Kenneth James Dover that this study will be conducted. This first part is necessary to understand how the bases of contemporary western society were established, the importance of genders’ categorization and the reason behind the rejection of pedophilia today.  In the second chapter, we will more specifically analyze two novels, Thomas Mann’s La Mort à Venise and Tony Duvert’s Quand mourut Jonathan. It is mainly through a study of social figures and education that we will be able to understand the place given to pedophilia.   This study will close in a reflection about photography and cinema in order to emphasize the impact of these arts’ realism. We will therefore approach non-pornographic works of art that present existing but never recognized sexualities. These different aspects will enable us to fully understand the embarrassment provoked by pedophilia today, but also to recognize the place it is given, or not, within contemporary society.

Keyphrases: pedophilia, society, sexuality, desire, forbidden
Perceptions d’élèves québécois présentant une déficience auditive de l’utilisation du langage parlé complété en contexte d’intégration scolaire

Since the adoption of the policy on special education in 1999, the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport created an action plan to allow the integration of the students with special needs. The integration of pupils with handicaps had been the subject of several studies, however, little of them were interested in integration of hearing impairment students using Cued Speech at school. The objective of this study is to throw a light onto perceptions of pupils presenting hearing impairment regarding the use of Cued Speech in a context of school integration.  The concepts exploited in this memory are related to students with hearing impairment, deafness, modes of communication used with these pupils, and more particularly the Cued Speech, just as the context of Québec school integration.  This research is of the exploratory kind, and the method used is qualitative. Five students with hearing impairment and between 12 and 17 years old took part in semi-directed interview. The results of these research sessions show that these pupils have positive and negative perceptions vis-a-vis the use of Cued Speech in an integration context. Though, in a general way, it does not seem to hinder their school integration, negative perceptions more refer to social integration than school integration.

Keyphrases: perceptions, deafness, students with hearing impairment, school integration, cued speech, perceptions
Étude de l’efficacité des classes de langage dans la région de Montréal sur la réussite éducative des élèves dysphasiques sévères

This research focuses on the situation of dysphasic students in Quebec. Indeed, the identification of their disorder, the accessibility to appropriate services and the education of these students had, over the years, some problems. Currently, 66,40 % of dysphasic students in Quebec are not in a regular class (MELS, 2008a). Some of them are in language classroom also called communication classroom. This education environment is part of the services for students with handicaps or learning or adjustment difficulties proposed in COPEX report (MEQ, 1976). However, their effectiveness in educational success of these students is not evaluated.    The literature review allowed the deepening of key elements of this research: dysphasia, language classroom and effectiveness. This same literature review allowed the researcher position relative to the methodological framework used.  Thus, this qualitative study of exploratory type aims to get in schools information about the effectiveness of language classroom. These were collected using mainly individual interview, questionnaire rather used to gather factual information about participants. The people interviewed are the principal actors around the dysphasic children: parents, teachers and speech therapists.    The results allow a step forward in the research for effects of language classroom on the educational success of dysphasic children.

Keyphrases: dysphasic children, language classroom, effectiveness, educational success
The in vivo characterization of the DNA repair gene apn-1 in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans

Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites are a form of highly mutagenic DNA damage that arise either spontaneously or by a variety of DNA damaging agents. To preserve genomic stability two AP endonuclease families, endo-IV and exo-III, evolved to counteract the mutagenic effect of AP sites. While members of both families were identified in multiple unicellular organisms, notably E. coli and S. cerevisiae, no members of the endo-IV family were identified in multicellular ones, with the exception of C. elegans and its close relatives, particularly C. briggsae.  We set out to investigate the biological importance of APN-1 in C. elegans using gene knockdown approach. In our study, we showed that the knockdown of C. elegans apn-1 gene, using RNAi causes the accumulation of spontaneous and drug induced mutations, resulting in a delay in egg hatching, decreased survival and longevity. Furthermore, we have showed that the accumulated mutations lead to delays in cell cycle progression during early embryogenesis, thus providing a possible explanation for the observed delay in hatching. Although we showed increased mutations in the gut of the worm, we were unable to confirm APN-1 distribution tagged with GFP.  The transgenic APN-1-GFP animal did not express enough of this fusion protein to be visualized by fluorescent microscopy, although it was detected by Western blot analysis.   The transgenic animals over-expressing APN-1-GFP were unstable and showed phenotypes consistent with genetic defects.  In conclusion, it would seem that C. elegans has evolved to retain a balanced level of APN-1, which plays a versatile role in maintaining genetic integrity, since this organism lacks a full complement of the enzymes in the base-excision repair pathway.

Keyphrases: C. elegans, Endo IV, Site AP, C. elegans, Endo IV, Base excision repair, AP site, AP endonuclease, Oxidative stress, DNA damaging agents, DNA repair
La lutte contre les changements climatiques comme problème de justice distributive internationale

This dissertation is organized into two related parts : the first attempts to establish the foundations of distributive justice in the context of climate change; the second analyses six distributive principles that can enlighten international mitigation policies : the principles of equality, priority, contraction & convergence, “polluter pays”, historical accountability and capacity. As regards the foundations of distributive justice, paradigms of global public goods and basic human rights seem to provide a solid basis for understanding the binding nature of climate justice. On the adoption of distributive principles, a plural perspective can provide unique insights into different aspects of the distribution of emissions quotas and reflect more strongly the reasons why nations designated as accountable for the greenhouse effect have a moral duty to take action.

Keyphrases: Public goods, Human rights, Natural resources, Accountability, Emission quotas, Mitigation
Une approche interculturelle des relations entre les nations autochtones et non-autochtones au Canada : une porte ouverte sur le postcolonialisme?

The social, political and economic situation of the aboriginal nations in Canada and their relations with non-aboriginal Canadians exhibits parallels with the European colonies of the past. Are there enough of these to identify the contemporary Canadian case as "colonial"? The question is a fundamental one, given the illegal, not to mention immoral, features of colonialism. In order to answer it, this memoire explores the writing of liberal, nationalist aboriginal, and "intercultural" thinkers, and concludes in favour of the latter. Then, using the intercultural approach, the concept of "internal colonialisation" is developed and applied to the case of Canadian aboriginals. This is followed by arguments in favour of their decolonialisation as well as a hypothetical account of a postcolonial Canada. Finally, a number of strategies for bringing the latter about are evaluated: the legal justice route; negotiation over governmental autonomy; mass mobilisation; and the "word warriors" approach.

Keyphrases: Colonialism, Self-determination, Liberalism, Governmental autonomy, Word warriors, Word warriors
Impact d’une infection intra-mammaire causée par Staphylococcus aureus ou un staphylocoque coagulase-négative présente en début de lactation chez les taures laitières

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a subclinical intramammary infection (IMI) caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) or Staphylococcus aureus diagnosed during the first month of lactation in heifers on somatic cell count (SCC), milk production and culling risk during the entire first lactation. Bacteriological analysis data of composite milk samples taken from 2,273 Hostein heifers among 50 dairy herds were interpreted according to the National Mastitis Council guidelines. Among the 1,691 heifers meeting the selection criteria, 90 (5%) were diagnosed with S. aureus, 168 (10%) with CNS, and 153 (9%) were negative (no pathogen isolated). Test-day SCC transformed in natural logarithm (lnCCS) was fit in a linear regression model with herd as random effect. The lnSCC in S. aureus and CNS groups were significantly higher than in negative group from 40 to 300 days in milk (DIM) (P < 0.0001 for all contrasts). At test-day level, lnSCC in S. aureus and CNS groups was on average 1.2 and 0.6 higher than the negative group respectively. A similar model was used for milk yield with age at calving, parent average genetic value for milk yield and natural logarithm of tested DIM included. Milk yield was not statistically different between culture groups from 40 to 300 DIM (P ≥ 0.12). Compared with negative heifers, the culling hazard ratio estimated using Cox survival analysis in S. aureus and CNS infected heifers was not significant (P ≥ 0.16). Prevention of CNS or S. aureus IMI in early lactation remains important for its association with SCC during the ensuing lactation.

Keyphrases: Heifer, Intramammary infection, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus, Somatic cell counts, Milk production, Culling
Mécanisme de leucémogénèse par les oncogènes SCL et LMO1

Lymphoid leukemia represents 30% of all cancers in children. SCL (Stem cell leukemia) and LMO1/2 (LIM only protein) are the most frequently activated oncogenes in children T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Ectopic expression of the SCL and LMO1 oncogenes in the thymus of transgenic mice causes T cell differentiation arrest during the preleukemic stage followed by development of aggressive leukemia that reproduce human disease. We therefore took several approaches to decipher the genetic pathway collaborating with these oncogenes in T-ALL induction. Using a candidate approach, we first identified the pTalpha, a gene crucial for T cell differentiation, as a direct target of E2A and HEB heterodimers in immature thymocytes. Moreover, we showed that during normal thymocyte differentiation, SCL inhibits E2A and HEB function and that a dosage between E2A, HEB and SCL normally determines pTalpha gene expression. Second, using both global and functional approaches, we identified novel target genes of E2A and HEB transcription factors and showed that SCL and LMO1 impairs thymocyte differentiation at the preleukemic stage by globally inhibiting E proteins transcriptional activity through a DNA binding mechanism. Moreover, we found that SCL and LMO1 oncogenes are either not totally able to inhibit E protein tumor suppressor activity or act in a different leukemic inducing pathway than E protein loss of function. Third, we found that Notch1, a gene found activated in almost all cases of pediatric T-ALL, operate in the same genetic pathway as the pre-TCR to collaborate with the SCL and LMO1 oncogenes in leukemogenesis. Moreover, this collaboration between oncogenic transcription factors and normal signalling pathways important for cell fate determination might explain cell-type specific transformation. Fourth, we found that the SCL and LMO1 oncogenes are inducers of senescence at the preleukemic stage. Moreover, deletion of INK4A/ARF, an event found in almost all cases of SCL associated pediatric T-ALL, collaborate with SCL and LMO1 oncogenes in leukemogenesis. This collaboration with loss of senescence regulators suggests that a bypass of senescence response would be necessary for transformation. Finally, we also showed that SCL and LMO1 direct interaction is critical for leukemia induction. These studies permitted the identification of collaborating events and cellular properties affected by oncogenes associated with leukemia and more generally in cancer development.

Keyphrases: Leukemia, thymocytes, thymocytes, differentiation, senescence, pre-TCR, NOTCH1, NOTCH1, HEB, HEB, E2A, E2A, SCL, SCL, LMO1, LMO1
Argentina’s Worker-Recovered Factories : strategies and survival

The worker-recovered factories of Argentina became an emblematic social movement symbolizing one of the aspects of the social upheaval surrounding the economic crisis of 2001-2002. The recovered factories are enterprises abandoned by their original owners or declared bankrupt, leaving behind unpaid wages and trailing debts. In response, workers began recuperating their factories; resuming production without their former bosses, under, and for the benefit of, a collective worker management. The movement is remarkable for its egalitarian remuneration and its horizontal management. This paper examines the continuity of the recovered factories through the evolving social, political and economic landscape of Argentina. It also assesses the impact of the movement as a challenge to the hegemonic, market-oriented, economic modes of production. Assuming that the future of the movement depends on two sets of factors, the paper analyses internal factors through the prism of resource mobilization theory and external factors from the perspective of political opportunity structure theory. The work concludes that the current situation is one of stalemate, in which the movement gained institutional acceptance, but failed to effect structural change favouring its practices and guaranteeing long-term security. It argues that the movement needs to consolidate certain combative aspects. It must consolidate its new identity as a social movement and forge strategic and tactical alliances while preserving its autonomy.

Keyphrases: Social movements, Argentine politics, Worker-recovered factories/enterprises, Autogestion, Workers’ self-management, «Horizontalism», “Horizontalism”, Argentine crisis of 2001-2002