NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
L'épuisement professionnel des enseignants et les comportements extériorisés d'élèves du 2e et 3e cycle du primaire : le rôle de la relation maître-élèves

Students with externalized behavioral problems in elementary school represent an important issue for Québec schools and society. Indeed, they are more at risk to encounter psychosocial difficulties throughout their school career and at the start of their adulthood. Consequently, to find new possible interventions, it is necessary to study factors of school context that allow development, maintenance, and exacerbation of these behaviors. This study therefore focuses on teacher burnout, a factor that may influence student behavior in the classroom, but on which little research has been done. With a longitudinal design, the aim of this study was first to assess whether teacher burnout is associated with increase in externalized behavioral problems among students in 2nd and 3rd cycle of elementary school. Secondly, we aimed to determine if this association is moderated by the quality of the teacher-student relationship. Hierarchical regression analyzes were performed on two samples differing by their multiethnic composition. Data from the first sample were collected of 735 students and their 43 teachers, in seven francophone elementary schools of Montérégie. Data from the second sample were collected of 616 students and their 64 teachers, in five francophone elementary schools of Montréal. Results suggest that teacher burnout is associated with an increase in externalized behaviors among students. However, results do not allow to conclude a generalized moderating role of the teacher-student relationship. Implications of the results for research and psychoeducational practice are discussed. We suggest that psychoeducators can prevent and reduce the signs of professional burnout among teachers by practicing an advisory role with teachers and management, by leading professional development workshops and by setting up intervention programs.

Keyphrases: Teacher burnout, Externalizing behaviours, Teacher-student relationships, Primary school, Students, Teacher self-efficacy, Emotional exhaustion
Étude rétrospective céphalométrique comparant les changements dento-alvéolaires à la suite d’un traitement avec Twin Block, Carrière® Motion 3D™ Appliance et Xbow

Introduction: The objective of this retrospective study is to compare the skeletal and dento-alveolar changes caused by three functional appliances, the Twin Block (TB), the Xbow (Xb), and the Carrière® Motion 3D™ Appliance (CMA), during the first phase of treatment for class II correction. Methods: The pre-treatment (T0) and post-functional treatment (T1) lateral cephalometric radiographs of 43 adolescent patients treated with a TB (15), an Xb (7) or a CMA (21) were recovered and traced, and 12 skeletal and 10 dental measurements were analyzed. The differences (T1-T0) between the appliances will be compared using the ANOVA analysis, independent samples t-tests, or Mann-Whitney U-tests. Results: On average, the treatments lasted 10.1 ± 3.2 months with the TB and 7.4 ± 2.7 months with the CMA. The TB group experienced greater mandibular length and sagittal position changes by increasing Cd-Pg (3.4 mm), Pg-Go (1.3 mm), N-B (//FH) (1.3 mm), and S-N-B (1.2°) more than the CMA. The TB improved the Wits appraisal 2.2 mm more than the CMA. The TB also had a superior retroclining effect on the maxillary incisor inclination and position by reducing U1–FH (4.2°) more than the CMA. The CMA restrained the antero-posterior movement of the maxillary first molar while the TB had no significant effect on this variable. The only clinically significant change that the CMA displayed was in relation to mandibular incisor proclination, L1–MP (4.1°). The results related to the Xb group were excluded due to its very small sample size. Conclusion: Class II correction is achieved by a combination of skeletal and dento-alveolar changes with the TB, but primarily through dento-alveolar effects with the CMA. A bigger sample size is required in order to properly compare the effects of the Xb.

Keyphrases: Twin Block, Carrière® Motion 3D™ Appliance, Xbow, Dento-alveolar effects
Les phénomènes d'hypermnésie amnésiante dans le solo 887 de Robert Lepage

With the advent of digital technology, we were in a position to think that these unprecedented technological advances would ensure archival sustainability and make the triumph of knowledge a reality. However, it is clear that nothing has ever been so lost and forgotten. The migration of archives - from one medium to another ever more powerful - leads to their deletion, their loss. The obsession for excessive preservation is part of the current phenomena of “amnesing hypermagnesia,” which inexorably leads societies towards the disappearance of their historicity.  Robert Lepage’s solo show 887 (premiered in Quebec City in 2015) is based on the traces of the past - a memory that is both intimate and collective, rooted in the 1960s and 1970s. The title refers to the address where the artist spent his childhood : 887 Murray Avenue, in the Montcalm district of Quebec City. The piece brings to light a paradoxical aspect of forgetting, namely that one must, through the various modalities of memory, make the effort not to forget and at the same time, one must forget in order to remember. Indeed, recent studies in neuroscience show that forgetting is not only inseparable from memory - being its corollary and not an adversary - but that it is vital. Solo 887 fights tirelessly against amnesic surges. In this sense we argue that it is a work of resistance against forgetting, finding its regulation by remembering as much as it forgets.  It is on this paradox that this research will focus. It questions the Lepagian autobiography revealing that the authenticity of the memorial discourse requires the adhesion of the audience and demands its copresence to reconstruct the fragments of the past. In 887, the mnemonic traces spring up, through the architecture of the scene by the images, the screens - surfaces of inscription if any - the objects and the characters. The characters shaped by the artist stand as places of memory, and the interactions that take place between the different components of the stage - including the actor - are mediations of the past.  This memory is based on opposed considerations. On the one hand, on Henri Bergson and Paul Ricœur’s, for whom forgetting is the destruction of all life, and on the other hand, on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, who sees it as one of the essential conditions of all action. At the end of this study, it is a renewed vision of oblivion that we are trying to bring about.

Keyphrases: Robert Lepage, Spectacle-solo, Quebec Theater, Contemporary dramaturgy, Memory, Oblivion, Characters, Solo performance, Robert Lepage
A study of virtual reality-mediated affective state and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible disease which causes progressive memory loss and cognitive decline, eventually leading to severe inability to perform basic day-to-day tasks. The urgency to find an effective cure to the disease is crucial, as the medical and economical spin-offs could be disastrous. The present thesis explores a novel approach to help attenuate the psychological and cognitive effects of the disease. The research carried out for this thesis explored cognitive effects and impacts on overall well-being of a virtual reality intervention on people suffering from subjective cognitive decline. Two virtual environments were tested: the first being an environment in which the participant travels through different climates by train, and the second being a music therapy environment modified as a function of emotional response. To measure the effects on affective state, electroencephalography readings were taken and analyzed to infer the emotion felt by the participant before, during the experiment. Results show a general improvement in emotional state. To measure the effects of the environments on cognitive functions, attention and memory tasks were carried out by the participants before and after the immersion.  Results show a small improvement in attention skills and a more substantial improvement in memory skills. We appropriate this discrepancy in the music therapy experiment to the musical activation of a network of brain structures involved in rewarding and pleasurable experiences. We propose that music could facilitate memory retention in people sufferance for dementia. Importantly, the results of the previous experiments rely heavily on the accuracy of the cognitive measurement tool used to evaluate attention and memory performances before and after the intervention. To provide this accuracy, this thesis presents a cognitive performance measurement tool based on cognitive tasks which have repeatedly shown to output reliable results. This tool is created to serve for people with pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease and diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, this tool is designed in such a way as to minimize the effects of repetition as well as varying levels of education and language.    This thesis presents a novel and promising research in the realms of computer sciences and health care.

Keyphrases: Attention, Cognition, Alzheimer’s disease, Virtual reality, Memory, Emotion, Music therapy, Travel therapy, EEG recordings
Système intelligent pour le suivi et l’optimisation de l’état cognitif

The human’s emotions change regularly and sometimes suddenly leading to changes in their mental state which is the brain’s ability to function normally. This mental state’s changes affect the users’ cognitive ability (or cognitive state) to reason, access memory, or make inferences, which varies depending on the mental state. Consequently, this affects the users’ performances which varies according to their cognitive states. This thesis aims to optimize the users’ cognitive state during their interactions with a virtual environment. Since this state depends on emotions, optimization of cognitive state can be achieved through the optimization of emotions and in particular the reduction of negative emotions. In a first part, we present the means of measuring in real time (using a Measuring module) the users’ emotional and mental state during their interactions with a virtual environment. We performed four experimental studies with four different environments. We have shown that these measurements can be performed using different physiological sensors. We have also shown that it is possible to predict the tendency of excitement (a mental state) using an eye tracker. In a second part, we present the Neural Agent which modifies virtual environments to provoke a modification on the users’ emotional state in order to improve their cognitive state. We performed four experimental studies with four virtual environments, in which the Neural Agent intervenes in these environments to change the users’ emotional state. We have shown that the agent is able to intervene in several types of environments and able to modify the users’ emotions. In a third part, we present the Limbic Agent, which personalizes and improves the adaptations performed by the Neural Agent through the observation and the learning from the virtual environments changes’ impacts and the users’ emotional reactions. We have shown that this agent is able to analyze the Neural Agent’s interventions and able to modify them. We have also shown that the Limbic Agent is able to generate a new intervention rule and predict its impact on the user. The combination of the Measuring Module, the Neural Agent, and the Limbic Agent, allowed us to create an intelligent cognitive control system that we called the Digital Limbic System.

Keyphrases: Agent Intelligent, Neurofeedback, Intelligent Agent, Limbic System, Electroencephalogram, Eye Tracker, Virtual Reality, Machine Learning
Le rôle de LATS1 et de LATS2 dans le développement du cortex surrénalien

The Hippo signaling pathway is a highly conserved kinase cascade that controls fundamental cellular processes such as proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. In this cascade, the Large tumor suppressor kinase 1 and 2 (LATS1/2) phosphorylate and inactivate the main downstream effectors, Yes-associated protein (YAP) and Transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ), to finely regulate the development, size and homeostasis of several organs. It was recently demonstrated that YAP and TAZ were essential for the maintenance of the adrenal cortex during adult life, but the role of the upstream kinases has never been studied. The objective of the present project was therefore to elucidate the role of LATS1 and LATS2 in adrenocortical development. We generated a Lats1flox/flox;Lats2flox/flox;Nr5a1-cre mouse model in which Lats1/2 were conditionally inactivated in steroidogenic cells. The characterization of this model revealed that Lats1/2 were required to maintain proper adrenocortical cell identity during embryonic development. In the absence of Lats1/2, adrenocortical cells acquire myofibroblastic properties and lose their steroidogenic capacity, leading to adrenal deficiency and death at 2 to 3 weeks of age. This transdifferentiation is probably caused, at least in part, by an increased transcriptional activity of YAP/TAZ since a stronger nuclear expression of YAP/YAZ and higher expression levels of Hippo target genes were observed in the myofibroblastic population. These results suggest an important novel role of Hippo signaling in adrenal cortex development.

Keyphrases: LATS1, LATS2, YAP, TAZ, Hippo pathway, Adrenal gland, Adrenocortical cells, Development, Transgenic mice
Law in the present future : approaching the legal imaginary of smart cities with science (and) fiction

This doctoral research concerns smart cities, describing digital solutions and social issues related to their innovative technologies, adopted models, and major projects around the world. The many perspectives mentioned in it were identified by online tools used for the textual analysis of two databases that were built from relevant publications on the main subject by authors coming from media and academia. Expected legal elements emerged from the applied process, such as privacy, security, transparency, participation, accountability, and governance. A general review was produced on the information available about the public policies of Big Data in the two municipal cases of Rio de Janeiro and Montréal, and their regulation in the Brazilian and Canadian contexts. The combined approaches from science and literature were explored to reflect on the normative concerns represented by the global challenges and local risks brought by urban surveillance, climate change, and other neoliberal conditions. Cyberpunk Science Fiction reveals itself useful for engaging with the shared problems that need to be faced in the present time, all involving democracy. The results achieved reveal that this work was, in fact, about the complex network of practices and senses between (post)modern law and the imaginary of the future.

Keyphrases: Montréal, Rio de Janeiro, Big Data, Cyberpunk literature, modern science, postmodern law, public policy, science fiction, smart city, text analytics
«Partout où il y a des gens qui parlent, il y a des fausses nouvelles» : perceptions des fausses nouvelles chez des Québécois.es d’opinions diversifiées sur la question

Particularly popularized during the 2016 American election campaign, the concept of fake news is not new, but has evolved over the last decade, in line with the digitization of media and the arrival of social networking platforms. The notion of fake news can be considered as polysemous, while there is no real consensus as to its definition, both among researchers and the general public. For some, it can be a question of false content taking on the appearance of “real” news, and for others, it is more a question of “bad” journalism. In Quebec, the phenomenon is well and truly present and worries experts and journalists, but we still know very little about Quebecers’ perceptions of the issue.  Using folk theories, this paper explored the perceptions of twelve Quebecers with diverse opinions on the issue of fake news and the media ecosystem. Through three focus groups, the participants demonstrated that they do not have a definition of the concept, but rather identify fake news through various cues or specific characteristics. They also shared some of their criticisms of the news media in Quebec, demonstrating a growing skepticism about the quality and veracity of news content. Some also said they have difficulty making a clear distinction between “real” and “fake” news. Finally, a majority felt that fake news was circulating not only on social networks, but also in the news media.

Keyphrases: Fake news, Folk theories, Mass media in Quebec, Social media, Disinformation, Trust in the media
Caractérisation d'une nouvelle voie de signalisation PTEN/PLCXD régulant le PtdIns(4,5)P2 endolysosomal

Phosphatidylinositol(4,5)P2 (PtdIns(4,5)P2) is essential for various cellular processes, including cell signaling, intracellular traffic and cytokinesis. Therefore, strict control of its homeostasis is crucial. Indeed, the deregulation of the kinases, phosphatases and phospholipases which controls PtdIns(4,5)P2 leads to multiple pathologies. Among them, the Lowe syndrome is a rare and incurable disease caused by mutations in the OCRL gene which codes for PtdIns(4,5)P2 phosphatase OCRL1. Depletion of dOCRL, the orthologue of OCRL1 in drosophila, alters the homeostasis of PtdIns(4,5)P2 with (i) an abnormal accumulation of PtdIns(4,5)P2 on the endomembranes leading (ii) to cytokinesis defects and multinucleation. The objective of this thesis was to understand how PtdIns(4,5)P2 is regulated on endomembranes. In drosophila cells, we have discovered a new and unexpected function for the tumor suppressor PTEN independent of its phosphatase activity. Indeed, we have found that PTEN reduces the levels of PtdIns(4,5)P2 on endolysosomes thanks to the enzymatic action of dPLCXD, an atypical phospholipase C (PLC). Thus, the PTEN/dPLCXD signaling pathway can compensate for cytokinesis defects due to the loss of dOCRL. Finally, we identified a chemical activator of PLC that restores the functional loss of OCRL in three distinct Lowe syndrome models. Next, we studied the role of this newly identified PTEN/PLCXD pathway during autophagy, a self-digestion mechanism. Indeed, the homeostasis of lysosomal PtdIns(4,5)P2 is essential for the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes during autophagy. We have observed that depletion of PLCXD and overexpression of a catalytically inactive mutant of PTEN both alter autophagy in Drosophila and mammalian cells. These data suggest that this newly identified PTEN/PLCXD pathway regulates the autophagic flux. In this thesis, we have highlighted a new PTEN/dPLCXD signaling pathway which controls the levels of PtdIns(4,5)P2 on endolysosomes. This new PTEN function is independent of its phosphatase activity and the first biological function for PLCXD can regulate autophagy and compensate for the loss of dOCRL. This discovery led to the identification of a potential therapeutic strategy for treating patients with Lowe’s syndrome.

Keyphrases: Phosphoinositides, PtdIns(4,5)P2, PTEN, PLC, PLCXD, OCRL, Autophagy, Cytokinesis, Lowe syndrome
Caractérisation phénotypique et fonctionnelle des cellules NK en contexte physiologique et néoplasique

NK cells are part of the innate immune system and participate in anti-tumor immunosurveillance. Understanding the factors affecting their biology, such as genetics, is therefore crucial. First, we evaluated the role of the integrin subunit CD11d on the phenotype and expression of other subunits (CD11a, CD11b, CD11c, CD18) of various immune cells between a CD11d-KO mouse model and a C57BL/6 (B6) mouse. We noted that the effect of CD11d deletion on the expression of other integrin subunits is specific to each immune cell type. The most notable difference in CD11b and CD11c expression was observed in NK cells. Loss of CD11d in NK cells resulted in decreased CD107a expression after their activation, suggesting impaired NK cell degranulation. Second, despite similar melanoma growth, a greater proportion of CD11d-KO-derived NK cells accumulated in tumor beds compared to their B6 counterpart. We then exploited the NOD mouse model, known to have significant immune defects. The acquisition of cytotoxic functions of NK cells occurs through a process called functional maturation where an NK cell is first CD27-CD11b-, followed by the CD27+CD11b- stage, then CD27+CD11b+ and finally CD27-CD11b+, the most mature and cytotoxic stage. We demonstrated that NK cells from NOD mice produce significantly less IFN-γ, TNFα, and Granzyme B and fail to regulate the expression of the activation receptor NKG2D for each stage of functional maturation. Finally, we treated immunodeficient tumor-bearing mice with NOD and B6 NK cells. We demonstrated that, as with B6 NK cells, NOD CD27+ NK cells predominantly accumulated in tumors. However, mice injected with NOD NK cells showed significantly greater tumor growth.  Overall, these studies are the first to elucidate the impact of the absence of CD11d on the phenotype and function of NK cells as well as their functional defects in NOD mice during their functional maturation.

Keyphrases: cellule Natural Killer, NK, CD11d, souris Non-Obese Diabetic, Natural Killer cell, integrin, CD11d, Non-Obese Diabetic mouse, functional maturation
Pathological implications of the interaction between neurexins and alpha-synuclein in synucleinopathies

Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are the second and the third most common neurodegenerative disorders and are part of a class of diseases called synucleinopathies. Synucleinopathies are associated with an α-synuclein (α-syn) pathology which shows an accumulation of α-syn in neurons, forming Lewy bodies. This pathological α-syn can form oligomers and fibrils, which are toxic for neurons and their synapses. One of the first changes to occur in patients’ brain with synucleinopathies is synaptic dysfunction often combined with synapse loss. Synaptic α-syn oligomers were revealed to precede the formation of Lewy bodies, and their transmission to other neurons to correlate with the progression of the symptoms. Yet, the molecular mechanisms underlying how α-syn leads to synaptic dysfunction are unknown. Synaptic function is highly regulated by a protein family called synaptic organizers. Synaptic organizers are cell adhesion molecules that regulate synaptogenesis, plasticity, neurotransmitter release, synaptic plasticity and cognitive functions. Of this family, we have found that α-syn interacts with the β-isoforms of the neurexins (NRXs) family members (β-NRXs). My project aimed to characterize α-syn/β-NRX interaction and to evaluate how this interaction contributes to α-syn pathology. We hypothesized that this interaction affects NRX trafficking and its synaptic function. Firstly, to test our hypothesis, the α-syn/β-NRX interaction was characterized by performing cell surface binding assays. I found that α-syn oligomers strongly bind to NRX1,2β in a histidine rich domain (HRD)-dependent manner, without disrupting NRX binding to its postsynaptic binding partners, neuroligin 1 (NLG1) and leucine rich repeat transmembrane neuronal 2 (LRRTM2). Moreover, using internalization assays, we discovered that α-syn oligomers impair NRX trafficking by increasing NRX1β internalization in an HRD-dependent manner and impair NRX-dependent inhibitory presynaptic differentiation. Thereby, we suggest that this increased internalization affects the inhibitory synaptogenic function of NRX-based synaptic organizing complexes. This work contributes to a better understanding of how α-syn causes synaptic dysfunction, providing promising new molecular mechanisms and pharmacological insights into synucleinopathies.

Keyphrases: Alpha-synuclein, Neurexins, Synucleinopathies, Parkinson's disease, Synaptic organizers, Synaptic dysfunction, Synaptic toxicity