NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Fichte and the universality of the moral law

In his lectures of 1806 On the Way to the Blessed Life, Fichte draws a distinction between lower and higher morality. According to him, the paradigm of the lower morality is to be found in Kant’s ethics insofar as it promotes the uniformity of human conduct on the basis of a universal law. Even though Fichte recognizes that his own System of Ethics of 1798 contained some elements of this lower ethics, it is possible to show that the specific role each individual has to play in the moral world was already introduced in this work, which therefore anticipates the theme of the higher morality.

Keyphrases: Fichte, Moral law, Lower/higher morality, Uniformity
La relation du plan mandibulaire avec l’écaille de l’occipital : mythe ou réalité en orthodontie ?

Orthodontists use the empirical method of observing the relationship between the posterior prolongation of the mandibular plane and the occipital bone (Occ-MP) to evaluate the facial divergence. This method has never been scientifically proven. Aim: To validate the use of Occ-MP to determine facial divergences. Method: 300 initial cephalograms were used in this study. Cephalometric analyses were performed by using standard landmarks, such as FMA, Y-axis and the gonial angle. Subjects were classified into 3 groups of 100 patients : hypo- (hD), hyper-(HD), normodivergent (ND) facial types. The shortest distance between Occ-MP was compared with the standard landmarks in order to establish threshold values to classify skeletal divergence. Results: There was a significant correlation (p<0.001) between Occ-MP and standard landmarks for every group. Occ-MP threshold value between hD and ND group was -8mm and +1mm between ND and HD. Conclusion: Occ-MP is a reliable reference to determine facial divergences.

Keyphrases: Posterior prolongation of mandibular plane, facial divergence, cephalometry, orthodontics
Estimation of Noisy Cost Functions by Conventional and  Adjusted Simulated Annealing Techniques

The Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm is extensively used in the optimization community for solving various kinds of problems, discrete and continuous.  This thesis aims to analyze SA in both deterministic and stochastic environments for discrete problems.  Precise objectives are to classify key problems, offer suggestions and recommendations to be undertaken by using SA and Simulated Annealing Under Noise (SAUN).     More specifically, problems appear in optimization due to the existence of noise when evaluating the objective function, and how to control this noise. We propose a method, called Noisy Simulated Annealing (NSA), based on the Metropolis-Hasting algorithm modification presented by  Ceperlay and Dewing, that outperforms analogous SA techniques, delivering similar numerical solutions, at a reduced cost.  We consider the main approaches in the SA setting that handle noise in order to extract their distinctive attributes and make the comparison more relevant.  We next assess the numerical performance of the approach on traveling salesman problem instances.  The outcomes of our tests show a clear advantage for NSA when solving different problems to get high-quality solutions in presence of noise.

Keyphrases: Optimization, Simulated annealing, Noisy simulated annealing, Random noise, Convergence speed, Acceptance functions, Discrete optimization
La conscience morale en matière de foi chez Kant

In this article I examine the meaning of Kant’s concept of “conscience” (Gewissen). This theme has a religious origin and it is precisely in this context that Kant treats it, for example in his writings of the 1790s on Theodicy and on Religion, but also in the Metaphysics of Morals. Yet it is striking to notice that Kant dissociates conscience from its theological background in order see in it an exclusively ethical tribunal. In fact, conscience is not called upon to judge the morality of an action but rather to assess the responsibility of the moral agent, who is expected to take all necessary precautions in order to make sure of the relevance and of the impact of his/her concrete action, being ready to take responsibility for its consequences.

Keyphrases: Kant, Wolff, Reinhold, Conscience, Responsibility
L’association entre la sarcopénie et le pronostic des patients cirrhotiques dans le contexte de la transplantation hépatique

Introduction: Liver cirrhosis is ranked as the fifth leading cause of mortality in Canada. Sarcopenia affects up to 70% of cirrhotic patients. The presence of sarcopenia may be associated with a worst prognosis in cirrhotic patients awaiting and after liver transplantation (LT). To this day, few studies have evaluated and followed sarcopenia after LT. The goals of this study were to assess the association between sarcopenia and the prognosis of cirrhotic patients as well as to determine the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) before and after LT. Method: In total, 94 cirrhotic patients who underwent LT at the CHUM – Liver Unit were included. Sarcopenia was assessed at the third lumbar level vertebrae using a computed tomography scan (CT-scan). The diagnostic of sarcopenia was based on previously established sex-specific cut-off values of skeletal muscle index. Patients were classified into two groups: (1) persistent or newly developed sarcopenia after LT (Sarc+); (2) resolved sarcopenia or absence of sarcopenia before and after LT (Sarc-). The prognostic factors were collected 6 months before and the year following LT through medical records and included the number of complications, the infection episodes, the length of stay, and the frequency of readmissions. MS was diagnosed based on the criteria put forth by the NCEP ATP III. Obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥ 30 or as diagnosed by a healthcare professional. Results: The group Sarc+ (n=58) experienced more complications pre-LT (p=0.012) and post-LT (p<0.001), infections post-LT (p=0.006) and readmissions (p=0.048) compared to the group Sarc- (n=35). The length of stay was longer for the group Sarc+ as opposed to the group Sarc- (p<0.001). Sarcopenic obesity affected less than 10% of patients before and after LT. The prevalence of MS before and after LT were 64% (29/45) and 75% (30/40), respectively. Conclusion: Persistent and newly developed sarcopenia after LT appear to have negative outcomes on the prognosis of patients. Sarcopenic obesity affected a small proportion of the cohort while MS was prevalent before and after LT. Interventional strategies to optimize, increase or preserve muscle mass as well as managing MS factors could help to improve post-operative recovery as well as the quality of life in patients who have undergone LT.

Keyphrases: Foie, Cirrhosis, Liver transplantation, Sarcopenic obesity, Metabolic syndrome, Sarcopenia, Liver
Les trajectoires de vie de femmes judiciarisées ayant eu des comportements violents et résidant en maison de transition

Seeing as women commit fewer offenses than man, they were invisible for a long period of time in criminological studies. In particular, there is only a small literature about violent women because they were originally only seen as victims. However, this population presents a profile with sexospecific needs. In order to help them better, it is important to get back to the theoretical basis of the women's violent behavior. In other words, it means to identify, empirically, the characteristics, the behaviors and the needs of these women. During an internship at a halfway house, it has been possible to interact with some of these women. Consequently, the main objective of this project has become to document and analyze the life paths of women who use or have used violence and that have lived in a halfway house. Thereby, biographical semi-directed interviews have been made with three residents of the Maison Thérèse Casgrain in Montréal. The three main subjects are the living conditions, the socialization and the violence.Three factors have been identified by the participants that could explain the origin of violent behavior: social learning, traumas and drugs or alcohol addiction. Different kinds of thoughts overrun the participants mind when they committed violent behavior. These could be divided in five categories : (a) violence can get me what I want, (b) it is the victim's fault, (c) it isn't that bad, (d) I have to be scary to get people esteem or respect and (e) violence helps me defend or protect others. Positive or negative emotions were mentioned after the use of violence like feeling great and strong, stress, fear and feeling miserable. In conclusion, recommendations are made about future intervention practices to recommend and about possible future researches with women expressing violent behavior.

Keyphrases: Attentes normatives, Traumas, Female offenders, Judiciarized women, Violent behavior, Halfway house, Normative expectations, Living conditions, Victimization, Socialization, Life course pathways, Life histories, Case studies, Biographical approach, Gender-based approach, Intersectional feminism
BioéthiqueOnline ; 5

How should one engage the public in a reflection on the ethical issues of our time? Guided by this question, we developed a platform for exchange with the community on bioethical issues via an art exhibition and a series of cultural and scientific mediation activities for adults and children. This thematic dossier presents the report of the project. Art + Bioethics is based on an interdisciplinary and collaborative strategy that paired six young bioethics researchers with six emerging artists to share and shed new light on a variety of ethical issues related to health. These artist-researcher duos each developed a work and an essay on a common theme. Our goal was to break down barriers between art and academic research in bioethics and to create hybrids and new forms of dissemination, education, experimentation and meeting. The expression of bioethics through art represents an innovative way to transmit the sensitive aspect of so many ethical issues of health and well-being. Through its various components, Art + Bioethics was able to join several hundred people and engage in ethical reflection on issues that are at the heart of our society.

Keyphrases: bioethics, art, knowledge transfer, interdisciplinarité, interdisciplinarity
Comment évaluer la théorie de l’esprit? Revue systématique des outils d’évaluation destinés aux enfants d’âge préscolaire

Theory of mind (TOM), the ability to infer mental states to self and others, has been a pervasive research theme across many disciplines including developmental, neuro-, and social psychology, social neuroscience and speech therapy. TOM abilities have been consistently linked to markers of social adaptation, such as better communication skills and quality social relationships, and are affected in a broad range of clinical conditions. Despite the wealth and breadth of research dedicated to TOM, identifying appropriate assessment tools for the preschool population remains challenging. This work aims to facilitate the choice and use of adequate measures for children aged 0 to 5 years by generating a comprehensive inventory of TOM measures and listing their characteristics. The introduction highlights the importance of TOM as a social-cognitive ability, defines TOM and distinguishes it from related yet distinct sociocognitive constructs, provides information on its developmental trajectory and raises challenges associated with TOM assessment. A systematic review of the literature is then presented in the form of an article and provides details on the methods used and the inventory of TOM measures generated. The remarkable variety of measures that have been created to assess TOM is highlighted, but also the numerous methodological and psychometric challenges associated with developing and choosing appropriate measures, including issues related to the limited range of sub-abilities targeted, lack of standardisation across studies and paucity of psychometric information provided. Finally, a general conclusion provides the opportunity to discuss the theoretical, methodological and clinical contributions of this project.

Keyphrases: Test
Simmel et le problème de la causalité individuelle en histoire

Georg Simmel’s Problems of the Philosophy of History subscribe to the neoKantian ‘epistemological’ approach in the sense that it raises the question of the conditions of the possibility of the historical discourse. In order to stress the gap that prevails between this discourse and the natural sciences, Simmel coins for the historical sciences the expression “individual causality”. To be sure, he maintains thereby the scientific requirement of a causal explanation based on a law, but by making this law an “individual law,” he transforms the usual meaning of the “necessity” and the “universality” usually attached to this concept, so much so that in the end his conception of the historical discourse becomes aesthetic. This means that the Kantian “exemplary universality” of the work of art becomes here, implicitly, the new paradigm.

Keyphrases: Simmel, History, Causality, Individual law, Aesthetics
La causalité singulière en histoire : Rickert, Simmel et Weber

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the neo-Kantian School of Baden has undertaken to extend the Kantian “theory of knowledge” to the realm of the historical sciences by exposing the categories proper to these disciplines. Yet because the purpose of the historical sciences is not find regularities as the natural sciences do with their laws, but rather to describe what happened only once, Rickert has developed an “individualizing” theory of the construction of concepts. According to Simmel however, besides the category of causality, the concept of “law” can also be maintained in the historical sciences, as long as it is an “individual” law. Reacting implicitly to such a blunt proposal, Weber has shown that the “nomological knowledge” is indispensable in history, since it is the only warrant of intelligibility, and even more: of objectivity in this discipline.

Keyphrases: Rickert, Simmel, Weber, Max, Individual law, Nomological knowledge
L’utilisation de la trace forensique par les enquêteurs dans l’élucidation des crimes

When a crime is committed and reported, detectives have the responsibility of solving the crime by arresting one or more suspects. Scientific research shows that forensic traces are not always useful in crime-solving. The utility of forensics is therefore questioned in investigations. Through semi-directed interviews with detectives from two different police forces in Quebec, this research explores the perceived usefulness and utility of the trace in solving three different types of crimes: homicides, sexual assaults and robberies. The results show that the trace’s utility primarily depends on the case investigated and the type of crime. In homicide cases, the trace is often at the center of investigations and is perceived as very useful in crime-solving. In cases of sexual assault, a conviction can take place without any physical trace used or/and presented as evidence. The simple presence of forensic evidence can be useful in court. In the case of robberies, its usefulness is demonstrated when it helps in linking a series of crimes. By comparing the perception of investigators with the results found in forensic science research, this research suggests what improvements can be made in the police community to improve the use of forensics in crimesolving.

Keyphrases: Homicides
Effet médiateur de la satisfaction des besoins psychologiques sur la relation entre le climat organisationnel et l’émission de comportements inadaptés dans le milieu scolaire

Many counterproductive work behaviors can be in observed in schools, particularly from principals, and cause negative outcomes for the organization. Such behaviors are usually predicted by organizational climate, but the psychological mechanism behind this relationship remains unknown. It could very well be explained by the satisfaction of psychological needs, which is known as an outcome of the organizational climate and an antecedent of counterproductive work behaviors. To test this mediating effect, data was collected online for 232 school principals and vice-principals. The obtained results confirm that psychological needs satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between organizational climate and counterproductive work behaviors for school principals and vice-principals. When these employees perceive a more positive organizational climate, their psychological needs are more satisfied, thus prompting less counterproductive behaviors at work.

Keyphrases: Organizational climate, Need satisfaction, Counterproductive behaviors, School principals
La prosodie : un support à la création musicale dans l'œuvre In the Key of K

Prosody as a tool helper for the generation of imitative melody fragments played by traditional wind instruments constitutes the basis of the acousmatic project In the Key of K. The close relationship in between the voice of speech and a dramatic context is at the root of the composition. This context is freely recreated by different means such as harmonic canvas deduced from the speech melodies to their contrasting staging against computer noises. The five movements of the musical piece rely on a few questions taken from an interview with philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti conducted by physicist David Bohm where a spiritual reflection on the human nature is initiated. These questions for the most part presented as a whole are sometimes broken down and rebuilt in such a way to deviate from the original meaning, in a manner of semantic play. The main goal amidst the composition is to recreate some microcosmos or pools where speech and imitative melodies on the instruments as well as sound objects are shaping their trajectories in the same time as they become sound entities aside one another. A quest for similarities inside a mosaic form defines the process in general. In large part, a survey of prosody is lead inside this work through the different perspectives of linguistic, psychology and music in order to clarify its complexity. A few composers and their work in relation to the topic are also presented as to take into account their contribution.

Keyphrases: Prosody, Electroacoustics, Acousmatic composition, Musical imitation of speech, Dramatic context
La décision d’inscrire un médicament anticancéreux onéreux sur les listes des produits pharmaceutiques assurés au Québec : critères, principes éthiques et contexte

In a context of limited resources, insurers and hospitals must make the difficult decision whether or not to register expensive new drugs on the lists of insured products. Our thesis addresses this problem by studying the case of expensive anticancer drugs in Quebec. It looks at the scientific criteria and ethical principles to be considered and at the context in which decisions are made. First, we identify, analyze and evaluate the pharmaco-economic and ethical criteria and principles that are or should be considered when registering an expensive drug. Second, we seek to identify organizational factors (the structure of assessment agencies and public insurance plans) that promote accessible, efficient and equitable coverage. Third, we analyze how the pharmaceutical industry is trying to influence registration decisions. Fourth, we examine the influence of patient groups and the conflicts of interest that may arise from industry funding. Fifth, we analyze newspaper articles that raise the issue of access to expensive cancer drugs. Our study demonstrates that limiting access to expensive cancer drugs is economically and ethically justified. It also concludes that in Quebec, in general, the organization of the drug evaluation agency and the structure of the insurance plans promote efficient and equitable access to expensive cancer drugs. However, our study reveals that many economic and political forces are pushing in the opposite direction. Indeed, the pharmaceutical industry, influential patient groups and media content advocate the idea of unlimited access to medicines regardless of price, which threatens the efficiency, fairness and sustainability of drug funding.

Keyphrases: Cancer, Prescription drugs, Prescription drugs insurance, Ethics, Bioethics, Healthcare access, Fairness, Technology assessment, Resource allocation, Priority setting
Les rôles et les responsabilités du secteur de la santé dans une concertation intersectorielle locale pour une communauté plus en santé : une étude de cas de la table de Concertation Enfance Famille de Saint-Michel

Intersectoral action is a recognized strategy for promoting health because it steers concerted action on multifactorial complex problems. In this context, the collaboration of the health sector with other sectors is essential to act on the social determinants of health. Despite this favorable trend towards intersectoral action, the results of empirical studies do not clearly demonstrate how such action works. This study aims to understand the perception of stakeholders in other sectors on the roles and responsibilities of the health sector in local intersectoral action. Our qualitative and exploratory case study consists of an analysis of the intersectoral practices of the actors of the Enfance Famille round table of Saint-Michel, a disadvantaged neighborhood of Montreal. The material consists of a review of the round table documents (i.e. minutes and executive summaries) between 2007 and 2017, and semi-structured interviews with six round table members for more than a decade. The results reveal three main roles for health actors in local intersectoral action: 1) technical and financial support, 2) internal evaluation, 3) liaison and ambassador for other regional bodies. As a result of these roles, other sectors attribute a sense of leadership to the health sector. Such leadership requires adaptation and collaboration in order to enhance the contributions of all sectors involved. To this end, intersectoral collaboration approaches its goal of optimal health and well-being of the population.

Keyphrases: Collaboration intersectorielle, Recherche qualitative, Intersectoral action, Intersectoral collaboration, Local development, Health promotion, Qualitative research