NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Développement d’un algorithme de branch-and-price-and-cut pour le problème de conception de réseau avec coûts fixes et capacités

Many problems in transportation and logistics can be formulated as network design models. They usually require to transport commodities, passengers or data in a network to satisfy a certain demand while minimizing the costs. In this work, we focus on the multicommodity capacited fixed-charge network design problem which consists of opening a subset of the links in the network to satisfy the demand. Each link has a capacity and a fixed cost that is paid if it is opened. The objective is to minimize the fixed costs of the opened links and the transportation costs of the commodities.  We present an exact method to solve this problem based on mixed integer programming techniques. Our method is a specialization of the branch-and-bound algorithm, called branch-and-price-and-cut, in which we use column generation and cutting-plane method to solve large-scale instances.  We compare our method with CPLEX, currently one of the best solver. Numerical results show that our method is competitive on medium-scale instances and better on large-scale instances.

Keyphrases: Multicommodity network design problem, Branch-and-bound, Column generation, Cutting-plane method
Le Quatrième siècle d'Édouard Glissant : écrire l'enracinement. Figures, parcours et enjeux

The novel Le Quatrième siècle, considered as a pillar of the work of the Martinique writer Édouard Glissant, is a reinvention of the past and history of the Antilles, while presenting a less studied dimension : that of taking root in the new country, the creation of a singular and mixed-race community.  Glissant suggests that, in spite of abolition, a long road still lies ahead and that the construction of an identity passes by solid and multiple anchoring in the country.  In order to explore this topic, this study analyzes the construction of the figurative course of enrooting in Le Quatrième siècle.  The study of various characters and certain elements of the landscape, in particular the sea, the mountains and the plain, make it possible to better determine the process of taking root in this novel.  Indeed, through onomastic means, the emblematic figures of colonization, the deconstruction of the relations of power and the symbolism of space, Glissant sets the limits of marronnage, creating a universe centered on the definition of community through a slow process of enrooting and the appropriation of space.

Keyphrases: Francophone literature, Antillean novel, Creolization, Enrooting
Intégration économique des migrants intraprovinciaux au Canada entre 1996 et 2007

Studies on the economic integration of migrants in Canada have so far been oriented on international migrants. This paper is focusing on the results and characteristics of migrants who migrated within their own province between 1996 and 2007. In contrast to the difficulties of economic integration of international migrants, our research shows that intraprovincial migrants integrate into their new environment at an economic level slightly higher than the host population.  The results obtained using the longitudinal component of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) reveal that intraprovincial migrants have a median annual income of 38 017$, an income slightly higher than that of non-migrants. Our study demonstrates that personal characteristics of migrants are much more important determinants of income. Men earn on average just over 10 000$ more per year than women, and this, among both migrants and non-migrants. The level of education is also a significant variable of income. The difference between the median income of migrants who have completed high school and those who have completed university is nearly 12 000$. Finally, we note that the age group 46-55 is the one that has the highest income while the age group 16-25 is the one with the lowest income.   This research shows that the experience of migration can be very different depending on the point of origin and destination. However, personal characteristics such as gender, age and education level have a significant impact on income.

Keyphrases: Canada, Internal migration, Economy, Canada, SLID
Environnement dissuasif, risques et stratégies délinquantes

Deterrence theory has been rightfully challenged when changes in punishment probability or severity had no impact on crime rates, recidivism or risks' perception. We suggest that these unconclusive results are, in large part, caused by theoretical and conceptual flaws. First, changes in objective properties of punishment are assumed to be equally perceived across multiple spatial units or police jurisdictions. We have reason to believe that this is rarely the case. Second, the objective risks of being arrested are generally measured with a ratio between the number of arrests and the number of crimes reported. This conceptualization is problematic because numerous researchers found that people have little knowledge of these objective properties. Third, deterrence research have limited interest for adaptative strategies used by offenders to counteract the perceived increase in punishment severity or certainty. We believe that offenders' actively seek and adopt these avoidance tactics. Four propositions are developed to adress thoses limits: 1) to detect the potential local or micro effects of punishment on crime, different police jurisdictions are analysed separatly; 2) to detect the potential effects of punishment on crime, studies should be made only in jurisdictions where enforcement levels are objectively increasing; 3) observed deterrent stimuli should be regarded as vicarious experiences; 4) impunity must be viewed as an actively seeked experience. Two studies were conducted as part of this thesis. Using reports of crashes and statements of offense reports from the Montreal police traffic unit, the first study found that a sharp increase in the level of police activities had significant impact on the number of collisions. Over the same period, data from the second largest city in the province of Québec (the control area), showed no noticeable increase in punishment probility and consequently, no significant impact on collisions. The second study was based on the perception of risks and patterns of road delinquency for a sample of university students with a driver license. Results show distinctive effects of deterrence stimuli for drivers with different delinquency habits. For conformists drivers, the iv deterrent stimuli increase the perception of risk but had no impact on their (already low) levels of road delinquency. For the most motivated traffic offenders however, deterrence stimuli seem to motivate the use and diversity of arrest avoidance techniques that circumvent any increase in their perception of risks. These avoidance tactics do not provide total impunity but efficiently decrease punishment probabilities for those willing to maintain the same offending patterns.

Keyphrases: Deterrence, Environmental criminology, Situational criminology, Punishment, Punishment avoidance, Arrest risk perception, Vicarious experiences, Environmental stimuli
Les processus additifs markoviens et leurs applications en finance mathématique

This thesis focuses on the pricing and hedging problems of  financial derivatives in a Markov-modulated exponential-Lévy model. Such model is built on a Markov additive process as much as the Black-Scholes model is based on Brownian motion. Since there exist many sources of randomness, we are dealing with an incomplete market and this makes inoperative techniques initiated by Black, Scholes and Merton in the context of a complete market. We show that, by using some results of the theory of Markov additive processes it is possible to provide solutions to the previous problems. In particular, we characterize the martingale measure which minimizes the relative entropy with respect to the physical probability measure. Also under some conditions, we derive explicitly the optimal portfolio which allows an agent to minimize the local quadratic risk associated. Furthermore, in a more practical perspective we characterize the price of a European type option as the unique viscosity solution of a system of nonlinear integro-di erential equations. This is a  rst step towards the construction of e ective numerical schemes to approximate options price.

Keyphrases: Markov additive process, Incompleteness of the market, local-risk minimization, martingale measure, viscosity solution, model calibration
Cinéma militant et pensée nomade : une expérience cinématographique nomade dans le nord-ouest de l'Argentine

Throughout history, humans have gone from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle. Is it possible to forge links between current forms of nomadism and political involvement? Using a critical approach of the powers of dominating institutions, the author answers this question through a nomadic cinematic experience in Northwestern Argentina. The film studies the relationships that exist between nomadic thought, activism and film. After the social revolutions of the 1930's through the 1970's, nomads who had once challenged conventional lifestyles are IV today turning towards existentialism. Meanwhile, the practice of militant cinema in Argentina has changed from a revolutionary confrontation against hegemony, towards the construction of subjective identities. The link between militant cinema and the nomadic experience brings to light the importance of "nomadic communication" between social protest and individual autonomy.

Keyphrases: Cinema, Nomadism, Nomadic thought, Activism, Argentine, Argentina, Territory, Rooting, Identity, Movement
Understanding the past to imagine the future : the history of industrial design practice in Alberta

Industrial design practice is a growing field in Alberta, Canada. Activity is mainly centered in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta’s largest cities. Both cities have strong industrial design practices, complex industrial design communities, and well-established industrial design education institutions. However, industrial design practice in Alberta is underdeveloped compared to elsewhere in Canada and there is little recorded information about the field. In this master’s thesis, industrial design practice in Alberta was explored using a historical approach. The study employed qualitative historical research, oral history interviews, and quantitative statistical research to address this lack of research and documentation. A base of historical information about industrial design practice in Alberta was established and situated in relation to industrial design practice elsewhere in Canada. Factors, events, and trends in the history of industrial design practice in Alberta were identified. Further, the development of industrial design practice in Alberta was compared with developments in industrial design practice in Québec and Ontario. Results show that Alberta’s industrial design industry has four distinct areas of specialization, which have established starting in the 1980s. Findings further indicate that although industrial design practice in Alberta remains underdeveloped compared to Québec and Ontario, with increased government support, stronger relationships with manufacturing industries and education institutions, a more unified design community, and a focus on the areas of strength and promise of the industry, the field has potential to become more competitive within Canada. This study provides important insight into industrial design practice in Alberta with relevance for industrial design practitioners, educators, and policy makers in the province. Finally, it sets the groundwork for research into potential changes to Alberta’s industrial design industry and study of Canadian design and regional design industries.

Keyphrases: Industrial design, Alberta, Design history, Histoire comparative, Comparative history
Does Acculturation Equal Identification? Two Studies with Latin-American Immigrants

At present, millions of immigrants are learning to participate (acculturation) and identify to a new culture (identification). In acculturation research, there is considerable debate about the relationship between acculturation and identification. While some researchers consider them as identical concepts, other researchers argue that they are distinct. In addition, it is unclear which variable is at the origin of the other one. The aim of our research is to clarify the distinction and relationship of the variables. To this end, three theoretical models will be tested; they will differ on how acculturation and identification relate to two important immigration variables (coerciveness to immigrate and value incongruence). The first model states that the immigration variables simultaneously predict acculturation and identification. The second model affirms that the immigration variables predict identification, which then predicts acculturation. The third model is similar but instead acculturation predicts identification. Thus, if acculturation and identification have the same relationship to the two immigration variables (first model), they represent a single construct. However, if identification leads to acculturation (second model), they must be different concepts, identification prompting acculturation. Nonetheless, if acculturation leads to identification (third model), then these variables are not only different but acculturation influences identification. In the first study, 146 Latin American immigrants responded to a questionnaire. Path analyses support the third model, suggesting that acculturation leads to identification. The results were confirmed in a second study, where the semi-structured interviews of 15 Latin American immigrants were analyzed. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keyphrases: Acculturation, Identification, Immigration
Psychiatric symptoms in idiopathic rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder

Idiopathic rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour (iRBD) disorder can be a premotor feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Depressive and anxiety symptoms are frequent nonmotor features in PD or DLB. We assessed the frequency and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with iRBD compared to healthy control subjects. Fifty-five iRBD patients and 63 age and sexmatched healthy subjects were studied. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory – Second Edition (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). We assessed the depressive and anxiety symptoms and compared the proportion of participants with clinically significant depressive or anxiety symptoms. We also used the BDI for Primary Care (BDI-PC) to minimize confounding factors that could overestimate depressive symptoms. iRBD patients scored higher than controls on the BDI-II (9.63 ± 6.61 vs. 4.32 ± 4.58; P < 0.001)), BDI-PC (2.20 ± 2.29 vs. 0.98 ± 1.53; P = 0.001) and BAI (8.37 ± 7.30 vs. 3.92 ± 5.26; P < 0.001). Compared to controls, we found a higher proportion of patients with iRBD with either clinically significant depressive (4/63 or 6% vs. 12/55 or 22% P = 0.03) or anxiety symptoms (9/50 or 18% vs. 21/43 or 49%; P = 0.003). The proportion of iRBD patients with clinically significant depressive symptoms remains unchanged using the BDI-PC (11/55 or 20%). Depressive and anxiety symptoms are frequent features in iRBD. Routine examination of patients with iRBD disorder should include an assessment of depressive and anxiety symptoms in order to prevent or treat them.

Keyphrases: Depression, Anxiety, REM sleep behaviour disorder, Parkinson's disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies
Étude fonctionnelle du cotransporteur Na+/glucose (hSGLT1) : courant de fuite, vitesse de cotransport et modélisation cinétique

The results presented in this thesis clarify certain functional aspects of the Na+/glucose cotransporter (SGLT1), a membrane protein which uses the downhill electrochemical gradient of Na+ ions to drive the accumulation of glucose in epithelial cells of the small intestine and the kidney. We first used two microelectrodes electrophysiology on Xenopus oocytes to indentify the ionic species mediating the leak current of SGLT1, a current measured in the absence of glucose that is uncoupled from the strict 2 Na+/1 glucose stoichiometry characterising cotransport. Our results showed that cations such as Li+, K+ and Cs+, which interact weakly with SGLT1 binding sites and are unable to generate the conformational changes that are triggered by Na+ binding, were however able to generate leak currents similar in amplitude to the one measured in the presence of Na+. This suggests that the leak current permeating through SGLT1 does so using a pathway that differs from the conformational changes associated with Na+/glucose cotransport. Moreover, it was found that the cationic leak and the passive water permeability could share a common pathway. We then sought to estimate the turnover rate of SGLT1 using the ion-trap technique, where a large tip ion-selective electrode (~100 μm) is pushed against the oocyte plasma membrane, thus enclosing a small volume of extracellular solution referred to as the trap. The variations in ionic concentration occurring in the trap as a consequence of SGLT1 activity made it possible to assess that the turnover rate of Na+/glucose cotransport was 13 s-1 when the membrane potential was clamped to -155 mV. As a last project, we focused our interest on the development of a kinetic model for SGLT1. Taking advantage of the simulated annealing algorithm, we constructed a 7-state kinetic scheme whose predictions accurately reproduced the currents of the cotransporter as a function of extracellular Na+ and glucose. According to our model, the rate limiting step of cotransport under a saturating glucose concentration is the reorientation of the empty carrier that follows the intracellular release of substrates.

Keyphrases: Na+/glucose cotransporter (SGLT1), Electrophysiology, Ion-selective electrode, Volumetry, Kinetic modelling, Simulated annealing, Xenopus laevis oocyte
L'En-Amour, dialogue avec l'oeuvre de Colette

This essay was written in the manner of a stroll, a stroll in the company of voices. Among them: Colette’s, certain of her characters’ and my very own inner voices. The writing process was a free-form one, tried to be so at least, separating itself from the idea of a precise goal or final destination to be reached. It was to be guided by the roaming of the words themselves instead, by the rhythm animating the pen when it is thinking. Of Colette, I say nothing, or barely. My objective being to hear her, it’s as a reader that I positioned myself thinking, as a loving reader guided by l’En-Amour, conceived as a conceptual character. The texts have thus been addressed from such a particular point of view, to let life, movement and all that sprouts in the colettian oeuvre its space to bloom. In such manner, it appeared possible to truly relate to both the characters and my own representation of the author. I had to keep alive the poetry of Colette’s writing, intertwining mine along with it, in an attempt to word a kind of unspoken oral form. And the path continued further along, up to a relative truth, the truth of l’En-Amour, given and shaped by the colettian narratives and their understated meanings. This way, I saw the possibility of valuing and renewing faith in a (the) discourse(s) of love as potential truth.

Keyphrases: Colette [Sidonie-Gabrielle], En-Amour, dialogue, discourses on love, Two, conceptual character, fiction
Développement de peptidomimétiques antagonistes du récepteur de l’interleukine-1β

In this thesis, I present my studies toward the synthesis, characterisation and biological evaluation of different series of analogues of the D-heptapeptide called 101.10, a negative allosteric modulator of the interleukin-1β (IL-1β) receptor. Considering that peptides generally exhibit poor pharmacological properties, the objective of this project consisted in: the examination of the peptidic structures essential to elicit bioactivity; the investigation of the three-dimensional arrangement of these moieties; and the improvement of the “drug-like” properties of the parent peptide. The optimisation strategies that were used include: N- and C-terminal truncation; positional scanning using monocycles such as proline, α-amino-γ-lactam (Agl), β-amino-γ-lactam (Bgl) and α-amino-β-hydroxy-γ-lactam (Hgl); and backbone rigidification with indolizidin-2-one (I2aa). Moreover, in order to validate certain structure-activity relationships, further modifications were performed on the peptide: substitution of threonine for valine, exchange of stereochemistry, and substitution of certain side-chain for a methyl group. Lastly, due to divergent behaviour between peptide samples obtained from different sources, studies on the identity of the counter-anion and on the sample purity were conducted. In order to evaluate the influence of these modifications on the aqueous conformation and on the biological activity of the peptide, circular dichroism analyses and in vitro tests measuring the inhibition of certain IL-1β-mediated effects were performed. These cellular assays comprised the inhibition of IL-1β-stimulated proliferation of immune cells, as well as activation of the inflammatory pathways of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Compiling these data revealed certain trends existing between the structure, conformation and anti-IL-1β activity of the peptidomimetics.

Keyphrases: Inflammation, Inflammation, Interleukine-1 bêta, Interleukin-1 beta, Peptide mimic, Amino-gamma-lactame, Indolizidinone, Indolizidinone, Peptide secondary structure, Beta turn, Thymocyte proliferation, Counter-anion
Stabilité instrumentale en neuro imagerie fonctionnelle et structurelle

In this thesis, we describe work we carried out to extend our knowledge on instrumental sources of MRI variability, in both anatomical and functional imaging. The anatomical study involved five adults scanned four times in the same platform MRI twice before and twice after a major update of a 3T Siemens scanner. The volumes of left and right hippocampus of each subject were measured with a manual segmentation. We then analyzed the test-retest reliability before and after updating the MRI system. In the functional study, five adults were scanned four times on the same MRI system twice before and twice after a major hardware update. Blood oxygenation level- dependent (BOLD) acquisitions were made at two different spatial resolutions (2x2x2mm and 4x4x4mm) to assess the reproducibility of BOLD measurements under conditions of high and low SNR. A final functional study using a gel phantom was used to study the stability of the machine for functional images and isolate the sources of noise arising from hardware. Two-dimensional gradient-echo EPI (Echo Planar Imaging) signals were analyzed to assess the percentage variability and Fourier analysis of residual error performed. Our results indicate that the differences in hardware from a major upgrade do not significantly affect the reliability of structural and functional studies spanning a major hardware upgrade. Daily quality assurance acquisitions on phantoms can be used to monitor the stability of the machine, which may aid in the early detection of hardware faults.

Keyphrases: Stabilite, Functional MRI, Structural MRI, Reliability, Stability