NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Les pratiques des usagers dans les friches urbaines végétalisées et leurs facteurs d’influence : analyse de deux cas montréalais

In a postindustrial context, where densification appears as a solution to urban sprawl, the problematic of wasteland’s future is inescapable. In fact, their real estate potential, attributed to their status of empty spaces primed for development, is highly valued. Considering those pressures, this study examines the complexity of wastelands, as there exists numerous potentials uses other then real estate development.   Among those potentials, wastelands can be used as green urban spaces. Users can visit those sites to undertake a variety of activities.  The study attempts to identify and understand these activities in two case studies in Montreal: the Boisé Jean-Milot and the Champ des possibles. The aim is not only to characterize those activities but also to underline the underlying factors that influence them.   The research subscribes to human- environment  approaches. For the users to explain their wasteland experience, in situ interviews have been conducted. Users discourses highlighted activities factors of influence.  The cases have shown that wastelands are exceptional city spaces : they are the setting of exclusives activities and offer a diversity of ambiance for users to experience. The results revealed wasteland as complementary green space to urban parks. As currently used, wastelands belong to a portfolio of available spaces.  Understanding how green urban wastelands are used both illuminates the characteristics of the spaces and articulates a vision for the future of urban wastelands.

Keyphrases: usages, Urban wastelands, activities, users, uses, urban green space, urban wilderness, brownfields, greenfields
Quantitative ultrasound imaging during shear wave propagation for application
related to breast cancer diagnosis

In the context of breast tissue characterization, one may wonder what the consideration of a quantitative ultrasound (QUS) feature of a scattering medium (such as a soft biological tissue) under propagation of a shear wave adds to its discriminant power. This work presents a study of the time varying behavior of three statistical parameters (the mean intensity, the structure parameter and the clustering parameter of scatterers) of a general model for the ultrasound backscattering echo envelope (i.e., the homodyned K-distribution) under shear wave propagation. Transient shear waves were generated using the supersonic shear imaging (SSI) method in three in-vitro macroscopically homogenous breast mimicking phantoms with different mechanical properties, and two ex-vivo heterogeneous phantoms with mice tumors included in an agar gelatin surrounding medium. A comparison of the range of the three homodyned K-distribution parameters with and without shear wave propagation showed that the parameters were significantly (p < 0.001) affected by shear wave propagation in the in-vitro and ex-vivo experiments. The results also demonstrated that the dynamic range of the statistical parameters during shear wave propagation may help discriminate (with p < 0.001) the three in-vitro homogenous phantoms from each other, and also the mice tumors from their surrounding medium in the ex-vivo heterogeneous phantoms. Furthermore, a linear regression model was applied to relate the range of the mean intensity under shear wave propagation with the maximum displacement amplitude of speckle. The linear regression was found to be significant : in-vitro phantoms : R2 = 0.98, p < 0.001 ; ex-vivo tumors : R2 = 0.56, p = 0.013 ; ex-vivo surrounding medium : R2 = 0.59, p = 0.009. In contrast, the linear regression was not as significant between the mean intensity without shear wave propagation and mechanical properties of the medium : in-vitro phantoms : R2 = 0.07, p = 0.328, ex-vivo tumors : R2 =0.55, p = 0.022 ; ex-vivo surrounding medium : R2 = 0.45, p = 0.047. This novel approach may provide additional information to statistical QUS traditionally performed in a static framework (i.e., without shear wave propagation), for instance, in the context of ultrasound imaging for breast cancer classification.

Keyphrases: Quantitative ultrasound, homodyned K-distribution, shear wave propagation
Adaptation de la phase de planification et d’initiation du mouvement d’atteinte visuellement guidé à différentes dissociations visuomotrices

The general hypothesis of this memoire is that the motor system must perform sensorimotor transformation to convert sensory input about a reach target location into motor commands to move the arm and hand to the target, both prior to the initiation of the reach and also to correct for movement errors or unexpected changes in the environment.    Our research question is whether there is only one neural circuit that performs the sensorimotor transformation between target input and motor output, for the initiation and online correction of the movement or are they at least partially and functionally different.   The research hypothesis suggest that If there is only one sensorimotor transformation circuit, then subjects should show identical changes in motor performances during reach planning and real-time error correction after adaptation to arbitrary visuomotor dissociation.    Our research approach was to recruit subjects and ask them to learn to make reaching movement to visual targets under one of two different visuomotor dissociations. A mirror-image dissociation in the X — Y plan across the mid-sagittal line, and a complete inversion in the X — Y plan. While they were learning to adapt to their planning process to initiate the movement, some unexpected target jumps were added as probe trials to assess the adaptation of the correction response.     The results of the analysis included in this memoire focused on the ability of subject to learn the two visuomotor dissociations equally. Our results suggest that even if some measures of adaptation are different in the beginning of the adaptation of the planning process, the 2 groups showed significant adaptation, since both groups learned to make appropriate reaching movements before the end of the first practice session.  The conclusions of the analysis presented in this mémoire suggest that the mechanism implied in the plan and initiation phase of movement adapt relatively well to the visuomotor dissociation, mirror or inverse. Results have shown some distinction between the two studied groups, considering the adaptation delays, they also illustrated that the final adaptation was relatively similar. The analysis of the adaptation of the mechanisms that correct the movement when the target jumped will be compared to the results presented in this mémoire in order to accept or reject the working hypothesis of the present study.

Keyphrases: Visuomotor dissociation, Motor control, Initiation mechanism, Rapid online correction mechanism
La gestion du cadre bâti dans l'Arrondissement historique et naturel du Mont-Royal

When a site or a good is protected whit a conservation status, either national or local, the municipal regulations are one of the main tools to manage the built environment modifications. How do the regulation participate in values conservation? To explore this question, we chose to study the case of the arrondissement historique et naturel du Mont-Royal (AHNMR), a major site in the Montreal identity. We listed the heritage values recognized to the site and analyzed the project management process in the four boroughs who share the Montreal part of the AHNMR territory; we analyzed a few permit requests as well. The process is complex, the evaluation being mostly discretionary, including functionary analysis and advisory comities as well as public consultation exercises. The research highlights that urban regulation tend to concentrate on values know for their materiality (architectural values, landscape values for instance) and to neglect immaterial values (custom values, identity and iconic values). The values juxtaposition can mitigate this disproportion by protecting an immaterial value through a material value. The documentation on heritage values and their embodiment in the arrangement of a site has a major importance for the application of the evaluation criteria. The discretionary evaluation brings multiple views on a project, actor’s opinions, heritage experts or non-experts, generally not participating in project’s evaluation process, which contributes to their evolution. Public consultations give rise to reevaluating heritage values as well as knowledge deepening.

Keyphrases: conservation, municipal regulations, urban heritage, heritage values
La diffamation sur Internet : actualiser la responsabilité en droit civil et en common law au Canada

In this era often called « Web 2.0 », users have jumped with enthousiasm on the functions of communications and sharing on the Internet, this medium becoming a new platform for issues relating to privacy and reputation. Defamation is one of the main concerns about electronic content, more specificially regarding user generated content (UGC). Dealing with this tool which enables an unprecedented dissemination and interactivity in communications, how should we treat Internet with regards to the legal rules applicable in matters of defamation in Canada? Does the traditionnal legal analysis fit the new reality introduced by this medium?   Because of Canada’s bijuralism, we will study separately the civil law and common law regimes with a comparative method in order to understand the concepts and the functionning specific to each of the legal approaches cohabiting in Canada. It will allow us to identify the special features of the electronic media which stand out when confronted with matters of defamation and which caracterize the specificity of the online context and users, therefore distinguishing it from the traditionnal means of communication known by the law.  This comparative analysis aims to take a citical look at each of the law regimes in effect in Canada, considering the reality of Internet and its user generated content. Mainly, this study aims to foster the development of analytical methods truly entrenched in the functionning of the medium concerned and likely to evolve therewith.

Keyphrases: Internet, Common law, Defamation, Online defamation, Libel, Slander, Liability, Internet, Civil law, Common law, Freedom of expression
A Pain in my Neck

I have dwarfism and blog mainly about disability related issues. This work illustrates a real physical pain, often invisible to others.

Keyphrases: dwarfism, pain, watercolour
Moral Responsibility in the Context of Prenatal Testing: What can be Expected?

Authors have suggested that considering the ethical and social aspects of prenatal testing could be seen as an individual responsibility for patients, but no conceptual grounds have been provided for this thesis. I argue that Candace Cummins Gauthier’s account of “moral responsibility as a virtue”, developed as an attempt to reconcile notions of autonomy and community, provides such basis.

Keyphrases: prenatal testing, moral responsibility, society, autonomy, decision-making
Histone H2B-R95A mutant identifies the pheromone pathway that signals cell cycle arrest during rapamycin response

Rapamycin is an immunosuppressant used for treating many types of diseases such as kidney carcinomas.  It works by inhibiting the Tor signaling pathway leading to changes in physiological processes, including cell cycle arrest. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, rapamycin leads to a rapid and global alteration in gene expression, prompting chromatin remodeling. We propose that histone modification(s) might play a crucial role in remodeling of the chromatin in response to rapamycin.  Our main objective is to identify from a histone mutant collection variants that fail to respond to rapamycin in an attempt to characterize histone modifications critical for this drug response. As such, we conducted a screen of the histone mutant collection and identified several hits that showed resistance to rapamycin. We characterized one of the histone variants, namely H2B, carrying alanine substitution at arginine 95 (H2B-R95A) and show that it is extremely resistant to rapamycin, but not to other drugs. Pull downs demonstrated that H2B-R95A was defective in forming a complex with Spt16, an essential factor that is required to disassociate H2A and H2B from the chromatin in order to allow replication and transcription by DNA and RNA polymerases, respectively. ChIP-Chip and microarray  experiments showed that arginine 95 of H2B is required to recruit Spt16 to allow expression of several genes, a subset of which are involved in the pheromone signaling pathway. Evidence will be presented to show for the first time that rapamycin can activate the pheromone pathway and that defects in this pathway cause resistance to the drug.

Keyphrases: Rapamycin, Histone modifications, Chromatin remodeling, Spt16, Pheromone pathway
Dissection du processus d’export des ARNm nucléaires par des approches de molécules uniques chez Saccharomyces cerevisae

In eukaryotic cells, the processes of RNA and protein synthesis are spatially separated into two distinct compartments. With this division, a complex pathway of nucleocytoplasmic RNA export has evolved, which to date remains poorly understood. Recent advances in single-molecule microscopy have enabled direct studies focused on investigating the dynamics and kinetics of RNA export.  In this Master thesis, we present the first real time visualization of mRNA export in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We first generated a GLT1 reporter under the control of the inducible GAL1 promoter, in which the GLT1 mRNA was tagged with an array of PP7 repeats and detected by exogenous PP7-GFP binding protein. Using a single-molecule live cell imaging approach, we were able to visualize and track the behavior of individual mRNAs from the site of transcription to the point of export. Interestingly, we found that once released from the transcription site, single mRNAs diffuse freely in the nucleoplasm, but once they reach the nuclear periphery, they scan the periphery before being exported to the cytoplasm. This scanning behavior was dependent on Myosin Like Proteins (Mlp1p and Mlp2p), which form the basket of the Nuclear Pore Complex (NPC), as mRNAs were not retained at the periphery and were rapidly released into the nucleoplasm in mlp1p/mlp2p double mutant cells. Specifically, we found that the C-terminal part of Mlp1p was important for scanning. Furthermore, mRNAs from cells depleted of the E3 ubiquitin ligase TOM1 had a similar phenotype to mRNAs in mlp1p/mlp2p double mutant cells, suggesting a role for scanning in the Tom1p-mediated release of Yra1p from the RNA. Lastly, we confirmed that endogenous MDN1 and CBL2 mRNAs also exhibit scanning behaviour. Taken together, our results suggest that mRNAs scanning the nuclear periphery is a general behaviour for all mRNAs to initiate the mRNA export process, allowing mRNP arrangement required for export to occur at the nuclear periphery.  In addition, we investigated the role of YHR127, a newly identified RNA binding protein, in RNA biogenesis. Notably, we show that GFP-tagged YHR127p formed distinct foci in the nucleus, which were lost upon transcription arrest. Deletion of YHR127 led to an increase in transcript levels of specific genes, but not to a global accumulation of mRNAs in the nucleus, suggesting a role for this protein in regulating transcription and/or mRNA stability.

Keyphrases: Single molecule resolution microscopy, Live Cell Imaging, YHR127, mRNA export, gene expression regulation, single molecule resolution microscopy, live cell imaging, nuclear organization
A robust algorithm for segmenting fluorescence images and its application to
single-molecule counting

Live-cell fluorescence microscopy produces high amounts of data with a high variability in shapes at low signal-to-noise ratio. An efficient design of image analysis pipelines requires a reliable and robust initial segmentation step that needs little parameter fine-tuning. Here, I present a segmentation algorithm called MinSeg for fluorescence image data that relies on minimal assumptions about the image, and uses statistical considerations to distinguish signal from background. More importantly, the algorithm does not make assumptions about feature size or shape, and is thus universally applicable. I also present a pipeline for the quantification of small complexes with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy using this segmentation algorithm as the first step of the workflow. This pipeline was used for the quantification of a small histone H3 variant protein called CENP-A. We found that the CENP-A nucleosomes are dimers.

Keyphrases: Segmentation, Image processing, Fluorescence microscopy, Centromere
Dynamic epigenetic changes in immune responses to infection in human dendritic cells

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mark in mammals. Although methylation at the 5’ position of cytosine (5mC) is recognized as a stable epigenetic modification, it is becoming increasingly viewed as a more dynamic process that involves both active methylation and demethylation pathways. While the dynamics of DNA methylation has been well characterized in mammalian development and normal cellular function, little is known about its regulatory implications in immune responses. To that end, we performed comprehensive transcriptional and epigenetic profiling of primary dendritic cell (DC) samples from humans, before and after infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Our results provide the first complete genomic portrait of the extensive epigenetic remodeling occurring in primary DCs in response to a bacterial infection. We found that active changes in DNA methylation are pervasive, identifying 3,926 MTB-induced differentially methylated regions (MTB-DMRs). MTB-DMRs show a striking overlap with genomic regions marked by histones associated with enhancer activity. ATAC-seq footprinting analysis revealed that regions that change methylation were actively bound by immune-related TFs prior to MTB-infection suggesting that these domains are likely to represent enhancer elements in a poised state. Our data suggests that active changes in DNA methylation play an essential and previously unappreciated role at controlling of the regulatory programs engaged by DCs in response to a bacterial infection.

Keyphrases: Epigenetics, DNA methylation, Chromatin dynamics, Enhancers, Bacterial infection, Inflammation, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Inflammation
La réforme du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies

The adoption of the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco on June 26, 1945 and its entry into force on October 24 of the same year have materialized the will of the winners of World War II to avoid a third catastrophe to humankind. The Charter had the blessing of the great powers and sealed the birth of an organization that would replace the defunct League of Nations and be authentically universal. The birth of the UN was also seen as the completion of the development of international law in relation to the use of force by States.  The jurisdiction on such an issue was granted to the Security Council, the most powerful organ  of the UN. It is the only jurisdiction competent to decide on a breach by a State of its obligations in respect to peace and international security. However, in its current structure, the Security Council is not in line with the geopolitical and economic realities of the new international community and seems thus obsolete. For several decades, reform proposals have been put forward by States or groups of States. Yet no consensus has been reached, and particularly among the permanent members of the Council. This thesis carries out an analysis of the different proposals  for the reform of the Security Council. With the exception of the team " Uniting for Consensus " initiative, several proposals recommend changing the permanent membership category. Our analysis shows that the privileges granted to the permanent members, namely the right of veto and the permanent status at the Security Council, are the sticking points of the reform as any change would be to undermine the prerogatives of the Famous Five. After an analysis of these proposals, a solution promoting the "regionalization of peace and security" and the granting of jurisdiction of peacekeeping and security operations to regional organizations is brought forward. To achieve this, it is essential to strengthen the powers of these organizations and grant them with the autonomy necessary to allow them to prevent and manage regional conflicts.

Keyphrases: United Nations, Security council, Reform
L’impact de l’unité centrale sur les propriétés optoélectroniques d’imino-thiophènes électrochromes : s
ynthèse et caractérisation

New thiophene-based electrochromic molecules containing azomethine linkages were synthesized and characterized in order to study their structure-property relationships. The first and foremost goal was to gain information allowing for the improved design of new, efficient electrochromic molecules thanks to a better understanding of what influences their characteristics. Synthesis was carried out while avoiding the use of stringent reaction conditions and minimizing the amounts of transition elements consumed. The new structures allowed the examination of the effects of varying the central unit on the molecules’ final properties. The modifications focused on increasing the effective conjugation length by the addition of thiophene moieties, as well as the insertion of vinylene linkages. These changes also included the effects caused by the presence of alkyl chains in positions C3 and C4 of the thiophenes in the heart of each molecule. Properties such as oxidation potential, number of electrons exchanged, reversibility of redox phenomena, absorbance, as well as chemical and electrochemical electrochromism were studied, primarily by cyclic voltammetry and UVvisible spectroscopy in solution. Furthermore, theoretical calculations were performed to support the experimental results. The addition of directly adjoining thiophenes to the heart of the molecule.did not cause a large bathochromic λAbs shift, and the use of dialkylated thiophenes caused a hypsochromic shift of at least 66 nm due to twisting of the backbone. The solid-state studies even revealed the acquisition of a new compound with pronounced vapochromic properties. The new electrochromic compounds have λAbs values ranging from 431 to 513 nm, and oxidation potentials of 0.8 to 1.2 V.

Keyphrases: B3LYP/6-31G*, Spectroelectrochemistry, Electrochromism, Thiophene, Azomethine, Electrochemistry, UV-visible spectroscopy, DFT calculations, B3LYP/6-31G*, Vapochromism
Effect of osteogenesis imperfecta on orthodontic tooth movement in a mouse model

INTRODUCTION - Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a heritable bone disorder that affects collagen type I production and bone remodeling. Orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) involves the underlying process of alveolar bone remodeling. The objective of this study is to evaluate OTM in a mouse model of OI. METHODS - Twenty four, 10 week-old female mice were divided into 4 groups: 1- OI treated with zoledronate, 2- OI untreated, 3- Wild-type (WT) treated with zoledronate and 4- WT untreated. A nickel-titanium closed coil spring (10 g) was attached between the incisors and the right maxillary 1st molar. The contralateral side was used as control. Zoledronate (0.05mg/kg) was administered sub-cutaneously 1 day prior to surgery. Seven days after the procedure, the distance between 1st – 2nd molars was measured by micro-CT.  RESULTS - OI mice presented significantly more OTM than WT mice when comparing within untreated groups (p<0.05). Zoledronate treatment had no significant effect on OTM within OI and WT groups. CONCLUSIONS - These results suggest increased OTM in mice with OI. The dose of zoledronate administrated 1 day prior to surgery had no significant effect on OTM.

Keyphrases: Micro-CT, Osteogenesis imperfecta, Orthodontic tooth movement, Mice, Bisphosphonates