NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Étude du contrôle postural quasi-statique et dynamique en position debout des personnes ayant une lésion médullaire incomplète

Sensorimotor impairments resulting from a traumatic spinal cord injury affect the ability to stand safely. Individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury commonly experience falls while performing locomotor tasks after rehabilitation, resulting in injuries that affect social participation and quality of life. A better understanding of postural control in the clinical setting would help to identify effective interventions in this regard. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate standing postural control during various tasks among individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury using biomechanical assessments. The specific objectives were to explore the various aspects of postural control associated with each task and to identify explanatory factors of postural control. Twenty-five (25) people with incomplete traumatic spinal cord injury were recruited and underwent biomechanical assessments in a pathokinesiology laboratory. These assessments examined quasi-static stance with eyes open and closed, comfortable multidirectional limits of stability, natural gait, and gait initiation and termination. Biomechanical measures characterizing the displacement of the center of pressure (COP) as well as the stabilizing/destabilizing force model were used to compare the postural control of individuals with spinal cord injury with 33 able-bodied individuals. The results showed a decrease in quasi-static and dynamic postural control in people with spinal cord injury compared to their healthy counterparts. This decrease was accompanied by excessive reliance on visual information during quasi-static standing and correlated with the scores achieved on the Mini-BESTest. Displacement of the COP during the comfortable multidirectional limits of stability test was characterized by difficulty in following the indicated direction. This lack of precision increased the distance required to reach the maximal position in each direction. Measures of quasi-static stance did not correlate with those of the comfortable multidirectional limits of stability test. The single-support phase of gait among individuals with spinal cord injury was found to have a lower maximal stabilizing force and a greater destabilizing force compared to able-bodied individuals, whereas gait termination was more challenging than gait initiation for individuals with spinal cord injury. For all gait tasks, the COM velocity and the distance between the COP and the base of support were the main explanatory factors of stabilizing and destabilizing forces. To summarize, the results confirm the clinical impression of standing postural control impairment among individuals with spinal cord injury and identify the characteristics and parameters to consider for rehabilitation.

Keyphrases: Ambulation, Spinal cord injury, Standing postural control, Gait, Biomechanics, Rehabilitation
Conception et développement d'un environnement informatisé d'expérimentations contrôlées et assistées à distance par ordinateur (Ex@O)

In the school environment, the scientific (or experimental) approach requires experimental «savoir-faire» which is usually acquired in presential, that is to say in an institutional laboratory where the teacher or technician are present and may, at any time, fully assist the learner in his inquiry-based scientific and technological approach. The teacher or technician can direct, guide and stimulate the learner’s thinking, to do live demonstrations and control experiment by showing the learner how to configures the computer assisted experimentation (expérimentation assistée par ordinateur or ExAO) tools.  To meet the needs of distance learning, the R&D in science and technology education, provides learners and teachers with a computer laboratory environment, controlled and attended to from a distance. In order to distinguish between the remote computer lab environment and the ExAO microlaboratory, we named our environment Ex@O. It was first tested in order to werify its functionality and it was then evaluated in classroom situations by student teachers and students of adult education who practiced and experienced the scientific approach. This was done with a computer laboratory environment, but from a distance.  To achieve this, we combine the MicrolabExAO software with a grip remote, and audio and video tools (Teamviewer). In addition, we have create and included in the MicrolabExAO software, online help in order to facilitate the download and the grip remote laboratory. Because of Ex@O, the learner benefits from increased contacts with concrete experiments. In doing so, the Ex@O prototype meets the objectives of the « Programme de formation de l’école québécoise » (PFEQ), which is to increase the learner’s active participation in his learnings. With the first version of Ex@O prototype, where the learner can perform activities in remote laboratory, we were able to verify that it also focuses not only on knowledge, but also the experimental science and technology « savoir-faire », traditionally developed in institutional laboratories. Note here that the experimental approach is acquired almost exclusively in the laboratory practicing, often and on a regular basis, both inductive and deductive processes which are specific to this approach. The practice of the experimental approach from a distance with the Ex@O technology, has enabled us to verify that it was possible, even comparable to a real, step-by-step, experimental protocol traditionally conducted in an institutional laboratory.

Keyphrases: assistance, Ex@O, actography, distance education, model of action, remote control, Scientific investigation, Ex@O, assistance
Consommation de cannabis et symptômes dépressifs à l'adolescence : le rôle modérateur de la qualité de la relation parent-adolescent

Depression is a prevailing psychopathology which often begins during adolescence. Multiple repercussions on personal, economic and social levels have been associated with this disorder. Many factors including cannabis have been identified as likely to influence the onset and development of depressive symptoms. However, there is a lack of consensus concerning the link between cannabis use and depressive symptoms in adolescence, which could result from methodological differences as the control of potential confounding variables. Among these variables, parent-adolescent relationship has been identified as a potential moderator in the relationship between cannabis use and depressive symptoms. The present research project firstly aims to examine the relationship between cannabis use and the manifestation of depressive symptoms in adolescence and, secondly to verify the potential moderating effect of parent-adolescent relationship on that link. The sample includes 1 740 Quebec teenagers followed longitudinally in high school. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results indicate a weak positive relationship between cannabis use and depressive symptoms assessed two years later. Moreover, only one dimension of the parent-adolescent relationship, defined as low parental support, has been identified as having predictive power on depressive symptoms. However, the variance explained by this interaction is insufficient to be considered on a clinical level. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Keyphrases: adolescence, cannabis, parent-adolescent relationship, parental support, parental control, moderator effect
The intangible aspects of architectural spaces that influence human well-being

This research uses qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to demonstrate how intangible aspects of architectural spaces influence human well-being. The goal is to increase awareness that interior spaces do impact human well-being and that architecture can be regarded as a solution to satisfy space users’ needs. In the first study a qualitative approach is explored through narrative inquiry in order to identify intangible aspects of residential and office spaces that affect human well-being. A discussion is built around the Model of Human Experiential Responses to Space and its purpose as a tool to unearth environmental characteristics that enhance well-being and can be of value to design professionals. Results show that 43 categories are interpreted as being intangible aspects of architectural spaces that influence human well-being. These categories are then used for three other studies to find out if there are any underlying regularities in environmental characteristics that affect user moods and feelings. Results show that similar environmental characteristics heighten sense of satisfaction and well-being for both residential and office space users. In the second study, a quantitative approach is applied to neurosciences and architecture in order to measure how architectural spaces influence human well-being. Neuroscience and environment / behaviour concepts are used where eight brain-based neuroscientific correlates (Zeisel 2006) are investigated in order to measure brain effects on architectural spaces. Neuroscientific outcomes reveal that the environment can affect human moods, ability to focus attention and stress levels and may also heighten task performance. Both studies contribute to knowing how space users feel environmental characteristics affect their mood and satisfaction. They reveal that people’s moods may be affected similarly in residential or office space settings and that a good environment that energizes employees will affect their work performance in a positive way (Vischer 2005).

Keyphrases: Architectural spaces, Intangible aspects, Human well-being, Neuroscientific correlates, Environmental psychology
Usage de la force policière au Québec : une analyse des facteurs individuels, situationnels et contextuels

In Quebec, the officer has the authority to enforce various laws and to maintain order. Since the police officer may be faced with a multiplicity of problems, he is, in certain circumstances, forced to use physical force to protect himself or to protect any person against death or serious injury. However, although the phenomenon of police force raises a good number of criticism and it is widely publicized, only a few studies have connected individual, situationnal and contextual factor to police use of force practices. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and to understand the phenomenon of police use of force in Quebec by identifying individual, situational and contextual factors on levels of police force. The data for the current study are derived from three primary sources : the incident reports of use of force of a Canadian police force for a period covering the years 2007 to 2011, 2006 Canadian Census and Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR). The use of multilevel models reveals that several factors have an impact on the level of police use of force. Individual and situationnal findings suggest that police are more likely to use higher level of force when they encounter males, citizens who physically resist and citizens who possess or display a weapon. Contextual findings indicate that the proportion of racial heterogeneity and concentrated disadvantage have an impact on levels of police force. Findings lead us to conclude that the nature of the immediate situation (individual and situational factors) is one of the most prominent explanations for police decision making, but police behavior can also be accounted for by variation in demographic and institutional characteristic of communities. However, further studies are needed to verify the consistency of our results.

Keyphrases: Individual factors, Situational factors, Neighborhood context, Multilevel analysis, Police use of force
Les polynômes orthogonaux matriciels et la méthode de factorisation

The factorization methode is applied to the initial data of an already solved quantum mechanics problem. The solutions (eigenfunctions and eigenvalues) are almost all rederived.

Keyphrases: Polynomials, Orthogonal, Matrix, Factorization
Évaluation des distorsions cognitives et biais de désirabilité sociale chez les agresseurs sexuels d'enfants

At first glance, the assessment tools for cognitive distortions in child molesters seem valid and reliable. These tools are however critiqued for being associated with a social desirability bias as child molesters seemingly tend to modulate their answers to show the best of themselves. Despite this, it seems that the assessment tools can achieve a significative discrimination of child molesters’ cognitions. How is this possible?    For the purpose of this research paper, we conducted a literature review to determine whether the cognitive distortions assessment tools can allow for an effective discrimination of child molesters’ cognitions despite the social desirability issues they are attributed. We also aimed to achieve a better theoretical understanding of the assessment of child molesters’ cognitions as well as of the usefulness and clinical relevance of the assessment tools.   Our results indicate that, despite the criticism formulated about a presumed social desirability bias, the assessment tools do allow for an effective discrimination of child molesters’ cognitions. However, upon closer inspection, it is possible to note that child molesters mostly disagree with the assessment tools items. Although these results were once attributed to the presence of a social desirability bias, we could find little support of this conclusion in the literature as social desirability only seemed to play a minimal role in the analysis of the assessment tools results without rendering them invalid. Lastly, it seems that child molesters honestly answer the assessment tools questions without trying to dissimulate the beliefs they really hold.

Keyphrases: Child molesters, Cognitive distortions, Social desirability, Assessment instruments
La collaboration interprofessionnelle

The goal was to analyze the interprofessional collaboration between a team in a hospital of Montreal and a home care service, to propose recommandations and to apply somme recommandations that were accept by both teams. This study helped to understand the issues of the problematic relation of collaboration. The reference frame used to understand the relation of collaboration is from D'Amour and collaborators (2008). The ten indicators were used to have a better understanding of the relation of collaboration. The managers were interested to apply recommandations to improve the collaboration and the care continuum for patients.

Keyphrases: Collaboration, Interprofessional, Common goal, Interdisciplinarity
Characterization of two sorting nexins : sorting nexin-11 and sorting nexin-30

The intracellular milieu is housed by countless numbers of intracellular molecules travelling by diffusion or along transient paths, which are regulated by specific trafficking proteins.  Among these traffic regulators are the sorting nexins that determine the fate of internalized proteins by directing toward a defined path, which can lead to either degradation or recycling.  To date, 33 sorting nexins (Snx1-33) have been identified, which all share a common characteristic, the presence of a PX (PHOX-homology) domain.  The PX domain is a phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP)-binding domain, which helps bring sorting nexins to PIP-enriched areas of lipid membranes.  For example, during receptor endocytosis, the surrounding membrane becomes transiently occupied by PI(4,5)P2.  PI(4,5)P2 is then recognized by Snx9, which contributes to the progression of endocytosis by linking the receptor complex to the actin cytoskeleton. The research presented in this thesis is the first to investigate the functions for two sorting nexins, Snx11 and Snx30, during embryogenesis and endosomal protein trafficking.  Results obtained from knockdown experiments in the frog (Xenopus laevis) were combined with data from cell culture and biomolecular experiments to propose a function for these two proteins.  The data presented here suggest that Snx11 is involved in somitogenesis, and regulates actin-dependent and -independent processes.  Snx11 could serve as a scaffolding protein, linking the extra-cellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton and could also function in actin-independent receptor recycling.  On the other hand, Snx30 is implicated in early cardiogenesis and promotes the commitment of a population of mesoderm cells to the cardiac lineage.  It does so through the inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling but the underlying mechanism is still unclear.  Expression of Snx30 in Xenopus coincides with this critical period of cardiac specification and knockdown of Snx30 results in cardiac malformations as well as other defects in mesoderm- and endoderm-derived tissue.  In addition, data from both Xenopus and HEK293T cell culture show that knockdown of Snx30 increases Wnt/β-catenin signaling. This work provides the basis for future studies on Snx11 and Snx30.  Interestingly, Snx11 and Snx30 seem to act as fine-tuners of signaling pathways.  These proteins could potentially become interesting therapeutic targets due to their specificity and relatively subtle impact when knocked-down.  As such, interference with their function could be useful to re-balance a cellular disequilibrium while minimizing side effects.

Keyphrases: Sorting nexin, Wnt/β-catenin, Actin, Sorting nexin, Protein trafficking, Embryogenesis, Cardiogenesis, Somitogenesis, Wnt/β-catenin
L’adhésion pharmacologique et les difficultés cognitives

Adherence refers to the extent to which a patient respects the dosage and frequency of medication taken as prescribed for the recommended time. Despite the availability of many effective treatments, the problem of non-adherence is ubiquitous in medicine and in the psychiatric population. Patients with mood disorder or ADHD often have cognitive deficits. A research project conducted with 52 patients is presented. Results show that cognitive difficulties as perceived by patients reduce adherence. Areas such as inhibition, shift, working memory, planning and organization and the ability to initiate an action are particularly important. Ability to initiate tasks shows a trend to predict poorer adherence and correlates with adherence. Quick and simple tools permitting the assessment of cognition and adherence in clinical practice could help identify these problems. Targeted adherence enhancing interventions could then be offered to patients with such difficulties. Choosing interventions adapted to the individual on the basis of the specific profile of adherence influencing factors is an avenue which requires further exploration.

Keyphrases: Cognition, Adherence, Executive function, ADHD, Mood disorder, Depression
Éducation alimentaire, nutritionnelle et sensorielle combinée au jardinage chez les
jeunes : rôle des animateurs non professionnels de la nutrition

Food garden curricula for children provide opportunities to work on their nutritional knowledge, vegetables preferences, self-efficacy to consume fruits and vegetables, willingness to taste them and their consumption. In such programs, certain obstacles can restrain the implementation or use of a food and nutrition curriculum by summer camp monitor/animator who are not nutrition or health professionals. This project consisted in developing and adding a food and nutrition educational component to "Jardins-jeunes", a gardening summer camp offered by Jardin Botanique de Montréal. A brief nutrition training was given to the camp’s monitors. Their level of interest and self-efficacy to implement this component trough the 2013 edition were evaluated. Evaluating methods included group interviews, questionnaires and a field observation. Qualitative analysis was conducted due to the small sample size. The nutrition training appears to have maintained or enhanced monitors' interests and knowledge on food and nutrition related subjects. They reported that the thirty minute food and nutrition activities integrated in the 2013 program presented opportunities to offer nutrition education, although limited by a lack of time. They report perceiving positive effects on children's knowledge, attitudes and behaviors on their food after their participation to the program. Our results suggest that a food and nutrition curriculum can be implemented in a garden program by summer camp monitor/animator who are not specialists in those fields, but who are provided with the adequate tools and support to be confident and interested in this task.

Keyphrases: Jeunes, Nutrition, Gardening, Food, Children, Summer camp monitor, Training
Disability is in the Eye of the Beholder

I have dwarfism and blog mainly about disability related issues. This story expresses my feelings about the label “disabled”.

Keyphrases: incapacité, dwarfism, health care policy, disability
Obligation de flâner : fugues narratives sur les sentiers littéraires

This mémoire proposes to dwell on the symbolism of the flânerie by associating the physical act of walking to the mental operation that accompanies it, while also seeking to draw a comparison with the evolution of reading practices over the last two centuries. If in the past the reader was expected to follow the path set by the author religiously, what followed, from the Nouveau Roman to the hypertext, was a whole new reader claiming the right to wander textually. The concept of narrative path emerges here as an alternative to traditional narratological studies; it constitutes a new hermeneutic approach where the reader makes his reading practices more dynamic by charting his own narrative paths inside the work itself. Using as examples the irruption of hypertext as well as the tortuous literatures of Kafka and Camus, this mémoire will examine how the wander-reading concept helps to renegotiate, both in print and digital forms, the relationship between the author and the reader in order to offer a literature that’s in movement, finally free to be acted upon, to be crisscrossed.

Keyphrases: Flânerie, Kafka, Camus, Wandering, Hypertext, Reading practices, Narratology, Kafka, Camus