NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
L’aspect spatial et temporel des usages naissants lors de l’interrelation entre l’usager et l’espace-transitoire de la gare du Midi à Bruxelles

Users are frequently facing transitory spaces, such as station corridors, that are often constrained temporally and spatially, while they could be better adapted to their use. To check this hypothesis, we observe the adequacy between the offer (the space arrangement) and the demand (the real uses) in the context of the Belgian Brussels South Station. We have collected spatial, temporal and behavioral clues that conducted us to characterise conditions of use. Moreover, by the mean of direct observations, we understood the uses as they are really practised. Aiming to illustrate the relation between users and space-time, we have developed a typology of the usages that exhibits possible interaction patterns between these two variables. As a conclusion of our results, we draw up a model named “interrelations triangle” that allow professionals to better understand the incidence of their space arrangements.

Keyphrases: Usage, User, Space, Time, Temporality, Use, Transitional, Provisional, Space arrangement, Appropriateness
Effets des variations œstrogéniques féminines sur les potentiels évoqués cognitifs durant une tâche de rotation mentale

After many behavioral and some neuroimaging studies, it appears that the gonadic hormones can modulate the neuronal function of women's brain. In particular, the functional cerebral asymmetries can be affected by the level of progesterone and estrogens. It has been observed that when the level of estrogen is low, the performance at task that engages more the right hemisphere is enhanced. However, there is a lack of evidence for the physiological actions of these two hormones on the brain. The few event-related potential studies taking into account the menstrual cycle effects, had noticed that the component P300 can be affected. No electrophysiological study has used a mental rotation task or spatial ability tests which are known for their right hemisphere dominance. The aim of the present research is to document the effect of hormonal variations on the electrocortical activity, using a mental rotation task. Our hypothesis is that estrogen levels affect electrocortical activity and lateralization. The ERPs were compared in the same women (n = 12) during a mental rotation task, repeated over two periods of the menstrual cycle. Our results show a lateralization of the left parietal activity when estrogen levels are low and during the rotation. Whereas when the estrogen level is high, there is no lateralization. In addition, we observed an increase in the amplitude of P300 for this same high level. In conclusion, estrogens fluctuations associated with the menstrual cycle have an impact on the lateralization of electrocortical activity, when a mental rotation is needed.

Keyphrases: Hemispheric lateralization, Cognition, Mental rotation, Event-related potential, Menstrual cycle, Estrogens
Réduction du ruissellement par l’augmentation de surfaces perméables : évaluation de 2 scénarios d’aménagement d’un ensemble résidentiel à Laval

The widespread introduction of new residential developments in the urban periphery is partly responsible for declining vegetation cover and a large scale increase in impervious surfaces. Cities are now grappling with a constant increase in runoff, which they have to manage through a vast network of sewers and drains.   Data on the impacts of current residential models reveal that this form of development causes the degradation of natural and aquatic environments.   The present study aims to test Open space design strategy by comparing the effect of three development situations on the weighted runoff coefficient (Cw). The three situations are 1: the actual development as conceived by the project’s promoter; 2: development aimed at preserving existing streams, reducing lot sizes and impervious surfaces; and 3: a higher-density cluster development plan.  The weighted coefficients obtained are 0.50 for scenario 1, 0.40 for scenario 2 and 0.34 for scenario 3. As a result, it appears that the density of the structures, the nature of the surfaces and the spatial organization can all contribute to reducing the runoff in a given area. This study underlines the importance of runoff management in planning and land use.

Keyphrases: Best management practices of stormwater management, Conservation of green spaces in urban areas, Green neighborhood, Integrated management of runoff, Low-impact residential planning, Open space residential design (OSRD), Sustainable neighbourhood, Urban planning
Mutations impliquées dans la progression du cancer épithélial de l'ovaire

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecological cancer. Over 70% of the patients diagnosed with advanced stage of cancer relapse following first-line chemotherapy treatments; consequently the five-year survival is very low. To better understand the evolution of the disease, our aim was to identify new genes responsible for the initiation and progression of EOC. Previously, cell lines derived from solid tumors or ascites were developed from the primary and recurrent tumor or ascites of three patients. RNA sequencing of these cell lines by next-generation sequencing technology (NGST) allowed us to identify mutations that might point to genes whose deregulation is important in EOC. Mutations were detected in PLEC1, SCRIB, NCOR2, SEMA6C, IKBKB, GLCE and ITGAE. We selected these genes for further studies as they have previously been identified as being associated with cancer. First, we validated these mutations by Sanger sequencing in order to determine the concordance with NGST data. Secondly, we studied the impact of the validated mutations on protein structure and gene expression. Only certain mutations in PLEC1, SCRIB and SEMA6C were confirmed. Of interest, PLEC1 and SCRIB are two scaffold proteins, where mutations have been reported in several cancers and, possibly leading to changes in their conformation and thereby affecting their interactions and functions. The consequences of these mutations on ovarian tumorigenesis remain to be determined.

Keyphrases: Mutations, Epithelial ovarian cancer progression, Cell lines, Mutations, Sanger sequencing, Next-generation sequencing
Inhibition du pathogène des salmonidés Saprolegnia parasitica par des bactéries aquatiques

Disease is the single largest cause of economic losses in aquaculture, and fungal infections are second only to bacterial diseases in economic importance. Fifty percent per year losses due to fungal infections have been reported in a number of species including salmonids, (Oncorhynchus sp., Salmo sp.) which are particularly susceptible to Saprolegnia sp. The ubiquitous saprophyte commonly infects dead fish eggs and spreads to healthy eggs and fry resulting in a deadly, usually secondary, infection. The ability to effectively treat fungal infections has become increasingly difficult with the accrual of restrictions on the use of the most effective fungicide available, namely malachite green due to concerns regarding its carcinogenicity. Hitherto, no new treatment as effective as malachite green has been available to fish farmers. Recently, we have isolated three Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterial strains, from a Saprolegnia parasitica-infected fish farm, adept at the inhibition of the growth of this oomycete in vitro. The inhibitory activity was found to be present in the culture supernatant of the three strains. Further characterization by high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry has been performed to identify the nature of the inhibition. Phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), produced by two of the three isolates, was found to be able of inhibiting the growth of Saprolegnia. The causal factor producing inhibition for the third isolate remains a mystery.

Keyphrases: Saprolegnia, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Saprolegniasis, Phenazine, Phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, Aquaculture
L’environnement de naissance : saisir l’expérience d’accouchement en maison de naissance

This paper presents a study about women and the birthing experiences within birthing houses and how the experience is a determinant factor in the visual and sensory aspects of birth environment design. This research study explores the impact of the birthing house environment on women’s experiences, by understanding these experiences and by identifying the needs of the birthing environment, specifically in birthing houses. The phenomenon of birthing houses is a relatively new social and cultural phenomenon in Quebec and the potential for understanding visual and sensory issues are interesting for the design of these houses, even greater when we think that more than a dozen new facilities are expected to be built in the next ten years. While the development of birthing houses is increasing, issues include responding to the high demand of women for midwifery services and their desire to give birth in an environment alternative to the hospital or their home. This research had as goals documenting both the physical conditions of the two only Birth Houses on Montreal’s territory while understanding and exploring the phenomenon of giving birth in these environments from the perspective of the mother. The study was conducted on a theoretical backdrop inspired by users‐centered theories. The methods include Van Manen’s phenomenological approach to glean the ways that corporality, temporality, relationality and spatiality underscore women’s experiences of birth within the birthing home environment (Van Manen, 1997). The study proceed with a two part data collection. First, an environment analysis and comparison of the birthing houses in Montreal; second, in depth interviews with women and midwife. The narrative of the participants were analyzed using Van Manen’s criteria, helping make sense of the diverse dimensions of the experience. The interpretative analysis of the in‐depth interviews was then compared with the visual analysis of the homes observed. Results show that most design elements do not play a major role during the active phase of labor unless these elements are in direct conflict with the needs of the women giving birth. For example, while women might be barely conscious of the environment, it will affect labour if women’s needs are not being met. Emergent issues include comfort, sense of self and how experiences are shaped by the surrounding environment. The study will be presented with examples of the birthing homes, issues as these emerged in the data analysis, and conclude with suggestions for best practices as these are revealed in the final analysis.

Keyphrases: Birth, People-environment studies, Birthing houses, Experience
Le théâtre de la mémoire olfactive : le pouvoir des odeurs à modeler notre perception spatiotemporelle de l'environnement

The smellscape participates in the definition of the environment in different ways. First, determined by the geographic environment, climate conditions, economic activities, and human activity, the reality of olfactory ambiances are also shaped by our memory. This is because odours are associated with precise spatiotemporal markers that refer to events that someone has personally experienced. Therefore, the multiple fluxes of odorants creating a mobile topography of smells in the city may become a strategic intervention tool in planning. And, with the goal of arriving at a representation of the temporal patterns provoked by odours, we have examined the influence of olfactory memory in urban space.

Keyphrases: ambiances, smells, environment, memory, chronesthesia, space-time, timescape, smellscape, city
Aménagement intérieur des milieux de santé : exploration de trois approches théoriques

The present study considers the role of interior design in health centers in a therapeutic way. It is a theoretical exploratory research. The framework within which it is performed comprises the Biopolitics of Michel Foucault, the Sense of Coherence of Aaron Antonovsky, and the Restorative Environments from Kaplan & Kaplan.  Each of these approaches is to provide a better understanding of the therapeutic question in its relation to health, and to identify elements to further enrich and to give another view on the thematic issue – that is, Healing Environments. We suggest six concepts: exclusion/isolation, power, social interactions, social support, pleasure and reflection. A case study aimed at examining their validity is carried out in the Centre de réadaptation Estrie. This facility, part of the Réseau de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec, is also a designated member of Planetree, whose mission is devoted to the development of management practices respectful of the human dimension in the health care environment. The quality of the physical environment being one of the ten key components of the model promoted by this organisation, the analysis, in view of the validation or the rejection of the concepts drawn from the theoretical framework, concerns the concrete forms given to these concepts. Hence, we retain: social interactions, social support, pleasure and reflection, and reject exclusion/isolation and power. Alternative proposals for these last two concepts are submitted: limits/privacy and empowerment. The principal suggestion for future research is the development of the notion of “welcome”, where interior design plays, as such, a role in health care environments.

Keyphrases: Interior design, Healing environments, Social interactions, Social support, Pleasure, Reflection
Étude taphonomique des assemblages fauniques de la formation géologique Mursi et du membre A de la Formation Shungura, Éthiopie

The Mursi Formation has an age estimated at more than 4 million years, which corresponds to the emergence of the australopithecines, the first indisputably bipedal hominins. The Mursi faunal collection (N=201) is compared taphonomically to that of the Member A of the Shungura Formation (N=300). Taphonomy is the study of the processes that intervene between the death of an animal and its discovery as a fossil. This thesis aims to describe the main differences and similarities of these two collections and to make paleoenvironmental inferences. For each taphonomical agent (weathering, trampling, etc.), fossils are graded using stages established by other researchers.  In spite of a few significant differences (carnivore action, weathering), it seems that the two collections are taphonomically similar and their link with water, as predicted by paleoenvironmental reconstructions, is supported (Voorhies groups, abrasion).

Keyphrases: Formation Mursi, Taphonomy, Pliocene, Shungura Formation, Mursi Formation, Omo valley, Paleoecology
La collaboration chez Pierre Perrault : étude comparative de Pour la suite du monde et La bête lumineuse

This research presents an analysis of collaboration in Pierre Perrault’s film projects. Since collaboration between filmmaker and participants raises ethical issues, this research examines two pivotal films in Perrault’s career: Pour la suite du monde and La bête lumineuse. Contrasting the filmmaker’s discourse with that of Stéphane-Albert Boulais, a protagonist in one of the movies, this study details the power dynamics linked to representation and analyzes the filmmaker’s ethics.  This research presents a full description of Pierre Perrault’s approach to filmmaking, as well as his practice in both shooting and editing the movies. It focuses on two film locations to highlight Perrault’s practices before, during and after the shooting of these movies. It then looks at Stéphane-Albert Boulais, whose many writings documenting his filmmaking experiences, provides multiple views on collaboration. Following a comparative study of both film locations, this research concludes with a detailed analysis of Perrault’s ethics within the framework of collaborative projects.

Keyphrases: Pierre Perrault, Stéphane-Albert Boulais, Pour la suite du monde, La bête lumineuse, Collaboration, Direct Cinema, Cinematographic relationship, Ethics
Mourir en paix : ethnographie d'une maison de soins palliatifs québécoise

This thesis was conducted amidst a growing debate in Quebec and elsewhere about end-of-life options, namely euthanasia and palliative care. Apparently, the public is not well informed about the philosophy and goals of palliative care. This research first aimed to document the norms, values and practices of a team of carers in an independant institution of the province of Quebec. Then, it tried to understand what the representations of a peaceful, harmonious and comfortable death refer to empirically. Finally, this thesis addresses a fundamental anthropological problematic, mainly the transition between life and death : is palliative care, then, a rite of passage ? My data shows that the peaceful death, a version of the good death, is a normative death trajectory, more of a status passage than a ritual per se. It consists for the dying person of showing the very essence of themselves, through the exchange of narrative speech acts. In inviting the dying to do so, palliative care institutions are on the forefront of massive changes in the way of thinking and experiencing spirituality, which is currently shifting from a transcendantal scale to individual immanent experiences.

Keyphrases: palliative care, rites of passage, spirituality, good death, death trajectories
L’éthos reconstructionniste ou comment donner du sens à l’expérience rituelle contemporaine de Juifs Montréalais

My thesis offers an ethnographic portrait of the Jewish Reconstructionist congregation Dorshei Emet through a combined analysis of rituals and members discourses. Dorshei Emet rituals transmit the reconstructionist philosophy and a certain ethos to its attendees, who assimilate them in various ways. For some members who do not believe in God or who are agnostics, ritual becomes the expression of a connexion to Jewish tradition through community life. Accordingly, I will analyze the religious community’s role in its members' everyday lives and the role of the members in it. Above all, the aim is to apprehend the value that members attribute to their participation to rituals. Special attention will also be given to the meaning that religion has had in members' life trajectories. This thesis contributes to efforts to give account of diversity among Jews in Quebec, and more generally, to advance our knowledge of religious diversity in Quebec.

Keyphrases: tradition, Reconstructionism, ritual, tradition, Jewish identity, religious community
Le kawaii : répercussion d’un idéal culturel et médiatique sur l’identité féminine japonaise

The overall objective of this thesis is to update the impact of a given visual culture in the formation and construction of a female identity in Japan. This ideal, known as kawaii, advocates cuteness and childish behaviour. The female representations related to this ideal differ according to the different groups and locations analyzed. As a result, these variances have an important influence on the vision, perception and social acceptance of Japanese women, particularly when they are linked to their identity. The aesthetics of kawaii has been strongly criticized by the anthropological community. Cuteness has often been looked in a negative way as having harmful consequences for Japanese women. However, these judgments stem from a misunderstanding related to epistemological errors, as well as the misuse of the connotations of Japanese words. The hegemony attached to the ideal of kawaii mainly comes from an economic policy promoted by the government and known as Cool Japan. The female representations found in this policy are linked to the inferior state of Japanese women. Despite that, these images are not representative of identities and roles associated with Japanese women. They mainly reinforce cultural stereotypes. Through the kawaii phenomenon, intellectuals, be they Japanese or not, have often endorsed fixed identity and stereotyped gender roles for Japanese women, which are far from the reality of the younger generation.

Keyphrases: Kawaii, Cute, Japan, Japanese women, Identity, Genre, Gender, Media
Les grelots mésoaméricains : sons et couleurs du pouvoir?

This thesis takes the form of a critical reflection on the model proposed by Hosler to explain the levels of tin and arsenic in metallic Mesoamerican status objects coming mainly from the western part of Mesoamerica and covering both phases of the development of Mesoamerican metallurgy. These objects are part of the collection of Museo Regional de Guadalajara. In particular, this thesis focuses on Mesoamerican bells since they represent an important element of the development of pre-Hispanic metallurgy.This critical reflection raises several technical, methodological, etymological iconographic, ethnohistorical and logical concerns regarding Hosler’s model relating to the colour of the alloys making up Mesoamerican bells. The desire to obtain certain colours can not be proven based solely on the results of composition analysis. Furthermore, the parameters on which Hosler bases her model are questionable on several levels. For example, the fact that the levels of arsenic or tin observed in copper based alloys used for the fabrication of utilitarian goods are generally lower than those measured in copper alloys used for status goods from Period 2 could be explained by the differing technical constraints of two distinct fabrication methods or by the contrasting parameters and functions of the two types of artifact. The limits of the association between sun-gold and moon-silver are also exposed. A chapter is also dedicated to the sonority of the bells.

Keyphrases: Hosler, son, Mesoamerica, metallurgy, bell, colour, sound, alloys
New insights into the substrate specificities of microbial transglutaminase: a biocatalytic perspective

Microbial transglutaminase (MTG) is used extensively in the food and textile industry to alter the appearance and texture of products. MTG catalyses the formation of isopeptide linkages between proteins by an acyl transfer reaction between the γ-carboxamide group of a glutamine ‘acyl-donor’ substrate, and the ε-amino group of a lysine ‘acyl-acceptor’ substrate. MTG is tolerant to a broad range of reaction conditions and is therefore suitable for further development as a biocatalyst. Toward developing MTG as a “green” alternative for amide synthesis, we have investigated a range of non-native donor and acceptor substrates to probe the scope of MTG reactivity. Small, chemically varied compounds were tested as alternative acyl-acceptor substrates. We observed a broad acceptor specificity. We show, for the first time, that very short-chain alkyl-based amino acids such as glycine can serve as acceptor substrates. The esterified α-amino acids Thr, Ser, Cys and Trp – but not Ile – also show reactivity. Extending the search to non-natural compounds, an aromatic ring was observed to be beneficial for reactivity, although ring substituents reduced reactivity. Overall, bonding of the amine to a less hindered carbon increases reactivity. Importantly, very small amines carrying either the electron-rich azide or the alkyne groups required for click chemistry were highly reactive as acceptor substrates, providing a ready route to minimally modified, ‘clickable’ peptides. These results demonstrate that MTG is tolerant to a variety of chemically varied natural and non-natural acceptor substrates, which broadens the scope for modification of glutamine-containing peptides. To further probe the biocatalytic potential of MTG in terms of the donor substrate, smaller analogues of the model substrate Z-Gln-Gly were tested. We did not find product formation with substrates smaller than the model substrate. We observed, for the first time, trace esterase activity with MTG. Future improvement of this activity would render MTG a more attractive, general biocatalyst for amide bond formation.

Keyphrases: Amide bond, biocatalysis, biotransformations, microbial transglutaminase, docking, substrate screening, substrate engineering, transglutaminase