NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Zebrafish model of Glycine Encephalopathy

Glycine encephalopathy (GE) is a rare recessive genetic disease caused by defective glycine cleavage and characterized by increased accumulation of glycine in all tissues. In severe GE, patients have a high lethality in the first week of life, hypotonia, lethargy, and survive with variable developmental delay and intractable seizures. The treatments available are often inefficient on the severe form of the disease and little translational research has focused on the pathogenic mechanisms involved in GE. Here, we generated a zebrafish model of severe GE by knocking out the ortholog of the ‘GLycine DeCarboxylase’ gene GLDC, commonly mutated in the disease. We show that the gldc -/- zebrafish larvae recapitulate GE on a molecular level, with reduced gldc expression and increased glycine levels in the body. Gldc - /- also shows a phenotype reminiscent of severe GE symptoms, such as early lethality, hypotonia, and lethargy. A broad molecular characterization of gldc -/- mutants showed that there is a large metabolic disturbance affecting other amino acids and neurotransmitters than glycine, with lactic acidosis at stages preceding death. A transient imbalance was found in cell proliferation in the brain of gldc -/- but that does not have obvious consequences on major brain networks. Importantly, we confirmed that the gldc -/- hypotonic phenotype is due to NMDA and glycine receptor overactivation and demonstrated that there is an exacerbated hyperglycinemia at these synapses, which can be rescued pharmacologically using NMDA and/or glycine receptor antagonists, as well as genetically by overexpressing the glycine transporter GlyT1.

Keyphrases: glycinergic encephalopathy, glycine, metabolism, gldc, zebrafish, genetic, translational
Rôle des modulateurs de la protéine kinase D dans la propagation du virus herpès simplex de type 1

Herpes simplex virus type 1 affects the world's population by causing benign lesions such as cold sores, but also severe complications such as blindness. However, current treatments do not eradicate this virus, because the latter has a fast and complex life cycle. The molecular actors involved in the various stages of the viral cycle are still little known, but the laboratory has previously demonstrated the involvement of the host protein kinase D and diacylglycerol, its main anchoring molecule, in the release of the virus from the trans-Golgi network to the plasma membrane. This project goes further by studying the role of different modulators of protein kinase D in viral propagation. Following RNA interference, overexpression and drug experiments, the results demonstrate that, unlike protein kinase D, several of its modulators such as CERT, GGA1 and Nir2 negatively regulate the extracellular release of the virus. These effects are, moreover, independent of the total intracellular levels of diacylglycerol. Finally, electron microscopy suggests that protein kinase D and Nir2 do not only play a role in the trans-Golgi network, but also affect other steps of viral propagation such as nuclear release. These results contribute to a better understanding of the transport of herpes simplex virus type 1 and its interactions with the host cell. These new data could eventually lead to the development of new treatments, since they can be applied to other viruses or large cellular cargos.

Keyphrases: CERT, GGA, Nir2, Transport intracellulaire, Herpes simplex virus type 1, Trans-Golgi network, Protein kinase D, Intracellular transport
Sécurité informationnelle des systèmes cyberphysiques et risques à la santé et sécurité : quelle responsabilité pour le fabricant ?

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are computerised objects with network capabilities that act on the physical world. Examples of such systems include autonomous vehicles, intelligent pacemakers and some devices in the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to their nature, they may cause important injury in the physical domain as a result of a cybersecurity breach. This master’s thesis aims at uncovering, from the principles of liability law in Quebec, an extra-contractual liability framework applicable to the manufacturer of cyber-physical systems and capable of approaching the specificities of a problem set at the border between the virtual and physical realms.

Keyphrases: robots, civil liability, extra-contractual liability, liability from the act of a thing, manufacturer liability, safety defect, cyber-security, cybersecurity, cyber security, cyber-physical system, internet of things, connected thing
La grammaire d’Outremont : ethnographie de trois controverses autour des hassidim

This work analyses three subjects of controversy around the Hassidic Jewish community of the neighbourhood of Outremont - Montreal, between 2014 and 2016: the dispute around the celebration of Purim; the installation of cabins for the Soukkot celebration and the proposed law to ban places of worship on Outremont’s commercial streets.  Through ethnographic research in the neighbourhood, it examines the way these controversies, considered as conversations and practical accomplishments, took place. By closely considering the borough question period and public consultations, the informal encounters between Hassidim and non-Hassidim and the more intimate conversations between the neighbourhood’s inhabitants, it investigates how the controversies manifest themselves in the every-day life of Outremont. Whilst the discourse surrounding the controversies in the public space tends to crystallise around municipal regulations, the individuals’ discourse change, when they switch from the public to the intimate sphere. This produces what we have called the ‘grammar’ of Outremont. In this grammar, public speech about religion and the issues of cohabitation between Hassidim and non-Hassidim is avoided because it is considered taboo in the Outremont public space.

Keyphrases: Hassidim, Non-hassidim, Outremont, Controversies, Public space, Publicity, Neighbourhood, Ethnography, Front stage and back stage
Influence de la température sur les mouvements précoces chez l’opossum Monodelphis domestica

Changes in external temperature are detected by nerve fibres located in the skin and mucosae that express thermosensitive receptors. In mammals, thermosensation is mostly studied in mature animals and little is known about its development. We use the newborn opossum as a model of study to asses if thermosensation is functional at early stages of development, using in vitro preparations of brainstem and spinal cord where both facial skin and forelimbs (FL) were kept. Like other marsupials, newborn opossums are very immature at birth, but must climb on the mother’s belly to find a teat where they attach. Stimulations consisted of puff ejections of liquids at cold, neutral and hot temperatures directed towards the face, and FL responses were observed visually under a microscope or triceps activity was recorded in electromyography. Cold temperatures always induced FL or muscular responses, but neutral and hot temperatures were less potent to do so. Sections of the trigeminal nerve and spinal cord showed that thermal responses are at least partially mediated through the trigeminal nerve. Facial skin removal abolished FL responses to hot and neutral stimulation, but only decreased those to cold temperature. Immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR suggest that TRPM8, the main receptor involved in cold sensation in adult mammals, is not expressed in opossum at birth. Overall the present study demonstrates that the newborn opossum is sensitive to temperature, but mostly to cold and that this sensation is not mediated by TRPM8.

Keyphrases: Thermosensation, TRPM8, Trigeminal system, Development, Motor behaviors
Étude longitudinale du lien prédictif entre les événements de vie négatifs et les symptômes somatiques à l’adolescence : le rôle modérateur des traits de personnalité

Although previous studies showed that negative life events predict somatic symptoms, the nature of the relationship needs to be better understood, especially for adolescents.  Consequently, the goal of this longitudinal study was to evaluate if negative life events in middle adolescence predict somatic symptoms two years later, after controlling for initial somatic symptoms and other known risk factors of somatic symptoms.  The study also tested whether personality traits moderated this predictive relationship.  The sample consisted of 1036 adolescents from seven high schools from the metropolitan areas of Montreal and Quebec City.  Data were collected at two times points using self-reported questionnaires; the first in the third year of high school (age 14 and 15) and the second in the fifth year (age 16 and 17).  Multiple regression analyses did not confirm that negative life events during adolescence predict somatic symptoms two years later.  A significant negative relation was observed only when initial somatic symptoms and other variables known as risk factors of somatic symptoms were controlled for.  The relationship was not in the expected direction; the higher an adolescent is exposed to negative life events in third year of high school, the least he tends to report somatic symptoms two years later.  Furthermore, certain personality traits such as Emotional stability and Openness predict somatic symptoms two years later. In fact, Emotional stability predicts less somatic symptoms, while Openness predicts more somatic symptoms two years later.  As expected, somatic symptoms show high stability across two years and girls tend to report more such symptoms.  Adolescents with living in family with low socioeconomic status are also more at risk of reporting subsequent somatic symptoms.  Finally, none of the tested interactions were significant.  Thus, personality traits do not seem to act as either protection factors or vulnerability factors of the relationship between negative life events and somatic symptoms.

Keyphrases: Adolescence, Somatic symptoms, Negative life events, Personality traits, Risk factors, Adolescence, Longitudinal study
Étude spectroscopique des phénomènes de résonance dans les plasmas micro-ondes

In plasmas produced by high-frequency electromagnetic fields, electron heating can result from ohmic heating (collisional) or from collisionless processes. In this regime, the production of suprathermal electrons can result from the conversion at the resonant point (when the plasma permittivity εp→0) of the propagating electromagnetic wave into electrostatic waves and their absorption by Landau damping. The objective of this Master's thesis is to experimentally characterize the effect of collisionless processes associated with the presence of resonance phenomena on the electron energy distribution function (EEDF). The study was carried out by trace-rare-gases optical emission spectroscopy (TRG-OES) in various plasmas capable of exhibiting resonance phenomena. For low-pressure tubular plasmas (< 50 mTorr) produced by an electromagnetic surface wave at 600 MHz, EEDF is characterized by two temperatures: TeAldescribes the mean energy and TeTail represents the high-energy tail of the distribution. A parametrical study of these temperatures as a function of the axial distance and the gas pressure revealed that the ratio TeTail / TeAlincreases with the characteristic length of the electron density gradient L. Similar measurements and analyses were also performed in a magnetized microwave plasma source sustained at the electron cyclotron resonance. In such conditions, the production of suprathermal electrons results not only from the resonance phenomena and wave-particle interactions mentioned above but also from the electron cyclotron resonance

Keyphrases: Plasma produced by microwave fields, optical emission spectroscopy, wave-particle interactions, resonance phenomenon
Modélisation d'observations spectroscopiques, résolues en phase, d'exoplanètes de type Jupiter chaudes avec NIRISS à bord du télescope spatial JWST

We present simulations of infrared spectroscopic observations of the phase curve of exoplanets in transit with the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) in the Single-Object Slitless Spectroscopy mode (SOSS) in order to determine which systems can provide positive detections of phase modulation and which planetary parameters can and cannot be constrained by the observations. We combine emission spectra, based on a model for brown dwarf, BT-Settl, modulated by the phase of a planet around its host star, as well as reflection spectra of the star light. Given our knowledge of NIRISS, photon noise and read noise are added to the simulated observations.  We assume that the planet is a hot Jupiter that can be modeled in two ways.  A first model uses two temperatures, each characterizing one of the hemispheres of the exoplanet, which values are of the order of 10^3 K. These simulated observations are then compared to theoretical models to constrain the temperature of the planet. A simulation for WASP-43b (a exoplanet found by the Wide-Angle Search for Planets program) shows that the temperatures of its hemispheres can be constrained to better than 50 K.  A second model uses several temperatures according to a distribution in ``orange slices". The algorithms developed may also adjust the hot hemisphere phase shift on the exoplanet, the albedo of the exoplanet and the variability of the star. Simulations show that these temperatures can be constrained, for WASP-43b and HD-189733b, with an uncertainty of 200 K and, for WASP-19b, with one of 350 K.

Keyphrases: James Webb, simulations, infrared, phase curve, short period Hot Jupiter
Simulation du transport de neige

Whether it is for synthetic scenes in movies or video games, the realism of environments passes by the addition of visual effects common to our experiences. Snow is part of complex natural phenomena that make their physical and visual simulation all the more difficult to treat. In fact, snow falls in scenes under the action of wind. It piles up and is compressed in some areas, breaks and falls, is repelled by wind once deposited, liquefies or evaporates, freezes, accumulates impurities, etc. The goal of this research is to develop a simulator of snow transport in synthetic spaces. This simulator is designed as an automatic tool to integrate snow in scenes by adding its precipitation, transport by wind, simulation of melting and evaporation, but also to offer some control to artists in order to produce the desired results with easy and understandable settings such as the snow precipitation rate or the wind direction and speed in the scene. We propose a method for the simulation of snow transport that consists of : 1. A precomputation phase to estimate wind and precipitations in a scene. 2. A physical model of snow transport to capture its evolution through time. 3. A method of implementation on GPU. Our results demonstrate the need to simulate the various phenomena on the realism of snow distribution.

Keyphrases: Computer Graphics, Snow, Snow transport, Fluid simulation
Modélisation spatiale des changements dans les milieux humides ouverts par automate cellulaire : étude de cas sur la région administrative de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, au Québec, Canada

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems that exist throughout the planet. Thirty five per cent of the world’s wetlands can be found in Canada, with an approximately eighty five percent located in the boreal forest However, these ecosystems are among the most threatened ecosystems due human disturbances. Regrettably, once a wetland has been disturbed it is difficult to restore it to its natural state. The study of the complexities around dynamic changes in wetlands can be approached by the use of modeling and spatiotemporal simulations as tools for assisting environmental conservation. Complex systems modeling approaches such as cellular automata coupled with statistical models allow us to simplify these complexities and understanding emerging patterns of complex systems, such as wetlands. This study proposes the simulation of open wetlands based on a hybrid model by logistic regression, Markov chain and cellular automata, in order to project future scenarios of open wetlands distribution in the administrative region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec. This thesis consists of two parts: 1) wetland diagnosis and characterization of the study area; and 2) an article on the modeling of spatiotemporal changes in open wetlands using a hybrid model, to simulate spatial distribution of open wetlands for the years 2015, 2025, 2035, 2045 and 2055 in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue administrative region. Model simulation results showed an average increment, by decade, of over five percent between simulations from 2015 to 2055. The results agreed with the observed spatiotemporal patterns from Landsat imagery from 1985, 1995, and 2005. The observed and projected spatial distribution of open wetlands in the study region offer some insight of the dynamics of this fragile ecosystem. With an increase in open wetlands, habitat availability for waterfowl will as well augment, in addition to the services associated with them. The outcomes of this research bring new information and perspectives in terms of future open wetlands conservation policies.

Keyphrases: Spatiotemporal Modeling, Complex Systems, Cellular Automata, Logistic Regression, Open Wetlands
Bien se souvenir : représentation de la violence politique et de la mort dans La Constellation du Lynx, de Louis Hamelin, suivi de La vingt-troisième nuit, roman

The October crisis has built itself, in the popular imagination, out of discourses, reappropriations, rewritings and reactions coming from a variety of perspectives on what happened. Louis Hamelin's novel La Constellation du Lynx takes part in the reappropriation process by using historical fiction. It refutes the official version and uses fiction to point out its incoherences. Our essay interrogates the novel's representations of political violence. And, by examining the historical reasoning deployed in the novel, and by pointing out usages of narrative shiftings and world duplications, as well as the elaboration of a non-narrative form of story, we analyse how the novel treats Pierre Laporte's death (Paul Lavoie, in the novel) as an insoluble enigma. The objective is to show how the novel states the impossibility to know the truth. La vingt-troisième nuit tells the story of a student that barely makes it through the police trap that resulted in 512 arrests in Montréal, 2012, May 23th. The action of Twenty-third night asks itself what would've happened if someone died during a demonstration. Readers follow Laurent, who has reasons to believe that his friend Maxime, who accompagnied him during the demonstration, died while running from the police. He searches for his friend all night. Retrospective episodes intersperses the novel, episodes when Laurent questions how he pertains with the student movement, how he shares his friends' point of view on the events, and what to believe on the social medias. Strongly aware that he stands in a critic position in the historical events, until the end, he measures his role in the crisis, as well as the forces that could influence the movement and the legitimacy of the student revolt, if his friend's death is confirmed.

Keyphrases: 1970, Louis Hamelin, manifestations, October crisis, political violence, death, non-narrative story, conspiracy theory, truth, historical fiction, novel, 2012 student strike, demonstrations
L'intergénéricité dans « L'énigme du retour » de Dany Laferrière

The aim of this master thesis is to show that Dany Laferrière's « L'énigme du retour » (translated into english as « The return ») has the characteristics of several literary genres, mainly travel writing, autobiographical fiction as well as poetry and the combinaison of these forms produces an innovative work, this thesis also postulates that Laferrière's novel, through questions related to exile, return and the origins of literature, maintains an intertextual dialogue with several literary works, particularly, V.S. Naipaul's  « The Enigma of arrival », Aimé Césaire's « Notebook of a Return to the Native Land », and Virgil's « Aeneid ». In addition to the question of returning to the native country, the present study will focus on a few recurring themes in « L'énigme du retour », in particular the narrator's bereavement and the homage paid to two figures who are important to him, that is, his biological father and Aimé Césaire, who is implicitly identified as a « spiritual father ». This analysis will also try to show that « L'énigme du retour » is an attempt at the reworking of conventional forms of literature, reminding us of the « pre-conventional » early seminal texts.

Keyphrases: roman francophone contemporain, genre, énigme, contemporary francophone novel, haitian literature, travel writing, autobiographical fiction, poetry, genre, intertextuality
Stratégies pour encourager et soutenir l’exploitation des archives par des artistes dans les centres et les services d’archives au Québec

The subject of this master’s thesis relates to projects exploiting archives that are realized by contemporary artists. It deals with the potential integration of these projects in the management of dissemination activities at archival centers and services in Quebec, and with the archivist’s role in this new context. This research is approached in the perspective of the enrichment of the archival discipline by proposing strategies that introduce management practices leading to a greater consideration for the artists and their needs, as well as the development of new dissemination approaches that result from them. These strategies are developed according to the characteristics and the economic constraints of the environment, and the sources of financing that may be considered for such projects. This study revealed that the projects produced by the artistic exploitation of archives are not only compatible with the mission and the management of many archival centers and services, but they are also profitable by their potential to increase the use of archives, and to raise awareness and to attract new clienteles.

Keyphrases: Archives, Art contemporain, Exploitation, Artists, Contemporary Art, Dissemination, Exhibition, Artist residencies, Archive Center, Public Programs, Funding sources, Funding Programs