L'administration seigneuriale derrière la clôture : les Ursulines de Québec et la seigneurie de Sainte-Croix (1639-1801)

Bien que l’on connaisse les pratiques de gestion seigneuriale des communautés masculines de la Nouvelle-France, les communautés religieuses féminines sont surtout connues pour leurs contributions en matière d’éducation, de soins et d’entraide. Pourtant, elles ont détenu, au même titre que ces communautés masculines, des propriétés seigneuriales. Afin de combler le silence historique qui entoure l’administration seigneuriale des religieuses, ce mémoire présente le cas des Ursulines de Québec et de leur seigneurie de Sainte-Croix dont elles prennent possession en 1646. Cet événement marque l’union de deux mondes totalement différents. D’un côté, une communauté de femmes cloîtrées, de l’autre, un fief qui devra être colonisé, mis en valeur et administré, afin de permettre aux colons d’occuper le territoire. L’étude qui suit propose un regard nouveau sur cette situation unique, où des moniales sont appelées à jouer le rôle de seigneuresses. Prenant appui sur le concept d’agentivité, cette étude a pour objectif de comprendre en quoi le cloître et le genre ont influencé l’administration de la seigneurie de Sainte-Croix. S’inscrivant dans un cadre géographique particulier, le fief et sa gestion représentent un défi de taille pour les religieuses. Malgré les différents obstacles, comme la distance, elles entreprennent de concéder des terres qu’elles ne verront jamais. Cette absence finit par les rattraper et la population grandissante amène les religieuses à se départir de certaines responsabilités seigneuriales. Dès lors, on remarque une influence masculine grandissante et la gestion seigneuriale se modifie sous l’impulsion de Mère François-Xavier Taschereau

The Extracytoplasmic Domain of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ser/Thr Kinase PknB Binds Specific Muropeptides and Is Required for PknB Localization

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ser/Thr kinase PknB has been implicated in the regulation of cell growth and morphology in this organism. The extracytoplasmic domain of this membrane protein comprises four penicillin binding protein and Ser/Thr kinase associated (PASTA) domains, which are predicted to bind stem peptides of peptidoglycan. Using a comprehensive library of synthetic muropeptides, we demonstrate that the extracytoplasmic domain of PknB binds muropeptides in a manner dependent on the presence of specific amino acids at the second and third positions of the stem peptide, and on the presence of the sugar moiety N-acetylmuramic acid linked to the peptide. We further show that PknB localizes strongly to the mid-cell and also to the cell poles, and that the extracytoplasmic domain is required for PknB localization. In contrast to strong growth stimulation by conditioned medium, we observe no growth stimulation of M. tuberculosis by a synthetic muropeptide with high affinity for the PknB PASTAs. We do find a moderate effect of a high affinity peptide on resuscitation of dormant cells. While the PASTA domains of PknB may play a role in stimulating growth by binding exogenous peptidoglycan fragments, our data indicate that a major function of these domains is for proper PknB localization, likely through binding of peptidoglycan fragments produced locally at the mid-cell and the cell poles. These data suggest a model in which PknB is targeted to the sites of peptidoglycan turnover to regulate cell growth and cell division

The seeds of divergence: the economy of French North America, 1688 to 1760

Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies. This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies. The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component. The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better. The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer. At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional

L'administration seigneuriale derrière la clôture : les Ursulines de Québec et la seigneurie de Sainte-Croix (1639-1801)

Bien que l’on connaisse les pratiques de gestion seigneuriale des communautés masculines de la Nouvelle-France, les communautés religieuses féminines sont surtout connues pour leurs contributions en matière d’éducation, de soins et d’entraide. Pourtant, elles ont détenu, au même titre que ces communautés masculines, des propriétés seigneuriales. Afin de combler le silence historique qui entoure l’administration seigneuriale des religieuses, ce mémoire présente le cas des Ursulines de Québec et de leur seigneurie de Sainte-Croix dont elles prennent possession en 1646. Cet événement marque l’union de deux mondes totalement différents. D’un côté, une communauté de femmes cloîtrées, de l’autre, un fief qui devra être colonisé, mis en valeur et administré, afin de permettre aux colons d’occuper le territoire. L’étude qui suit propose un regard nouveau sur cette situation unique, où des moniales sont appelées à jouer le rôle de seigneuresses. Prenant appui sur le concept d’agentivité, cette étude a pour objectif de comprendre en quoi le cloître et le genre ont influencé l’administration de la seigneurie de Sainte-Croix. S’inscrivant dans un cadre géographique particulier, le fief et sa gestion représentent un défi de taille pour les religieuses. Malgré les différents obstacles, comme la distance, elles entreprennent de concéder des terres qu’elles ne verront jamais. Cette absence finit par les rattraper et la population grandissante amène les religieuses à se départir de certaines responsabilités seigneuriales. Dès lors, on remarque une influence masculine grandissante et la gestion seigneuriale se modifie sous l’impulsion de Mère François-Xavier Taschereau

Policy implications of the papers in the special issue of WORK concerning Work and family, produced by the IEA Gender and Work Technical Committee

International audienc

The external PASTA domain of the essential serine/threonine protein kinase PknB regulates mycobacterial growth

PknB is an essential serine/threonine protein kinase required for mycobacterial cell division and cell-wall biosynthesis. Here we demonstrate that overexpression of the external PknB_PASTA domain in mycobacteria results in delayed regrowth, accumulation of elongated bacteria and increased sensitivity to β-lactam antibiotics. These changes are accompanied by altered production of certain enzymes involved in cell-wall biosynthesis as revealed by proteomics studies. The growth inhibition caused by overexpression of the PknB_PASTA domain is completely abolished by enhanced concentration of magnesium ions, but not muropeptides. Finally, we show that the addition of recombinant PASTA domain could prevent regrowth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and therefore offers an alternative opportunity to control replication of this pathogen. These results suggest that the PknB_PASTA domain is involved in regulation of peptidoglycan biosynthesis and maintenance of cell-wall architecture

NDUFB7 and NDUFA8 are located at the intermembrane surface of complex I

Contains fulltext : 98132.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) is the first and largest protein complex of the oxidative phosphorylation. Crystal structures have elucidated the positions of most subunits of bacterial evolutionary origin in the complex, but the positions of the eukaryotic subunits are unknown. Based on the analysis of sequence conservation we propose intra-molecular disulfide bridges and the inter-membrane space localization of three Cx(9)C-containing subunits in human: NDUFS5, NDUFB7 and NDUFA8. We experimentally confirm the localization of the latter two, while our data are consistent with disulfide bridges in NDUFA8. We propose these subunits stabilize the membrane domain of complex I