L’essor du travail technique en milieu scolaire et son incidence sur l’organisation du travail

Dans les écoles primaires et secondaires du Québec, certaines catégories d’emploi du « personnel de soutien technique et paratechnique » (PSTP) ont connu au cours des années 1990 une croissance tout à fait spectaculaire. Le présent article vise à déterminer les grandes finalités que poursuivent les techniciens et paratechniciens, la façon dont ils interviennent avec les élèves et les enseignants, les tâches qu’ils doivent assumer auprès d’eux et, par conséquent, la façon dont leur travail d’ordre technique, en périphérie de celui des enseignants, se coordonne avec celui-ci. Nous formulons l’hypothèse que l’émergence du PSTP, surtout depuis le début des années 1990, a contribué à modifier l’organisation du travail en milieu scolaire, et de ce fait, à transformer le jeu d’équilibre entre les missions d’instruction et de socialisation poursuivies par l’institution scolaire québécoise.In Québec’s primary and secondary schools, certain job categories of “technical and paratechnical support staff” (TPSS) underwent spectacular growth during the 1990s. This paper aims to identify the broader aims of the technicians and paratechnicans, their ways of interacting with students and teachers, the duties that they are called on to fulfill in relation to them, and as a result, how their technical work, peripheral to teachers’ work, is coordinated with the latter. We put forward the hypothesis that the emergence of TPSS, especially since the early 1990s, has contributed to changing the organization of work in the school system, and as a result has transformed the balance between the missions of instruction and of socialization pursued by Québec’s educational system

Impacts potentiels cumulés des facteurs de stress liés aux activités humaines sur l’écosystème marin du Saint-Laurent

Les activités humaines modifient l’environnement naturel, perturbant par le fait même les organismes qui y habitent. Dans l’écosystème marin du golfe du Saint-Laurent, les diverses perturbations affectent les écosystèmes à différents degrés. Pour certains d’entre eux, les effets sont mal connus ou simplement inconnus. De plus, plusieurs perturbations peuvent affecter simultanément une composante de l’écosystème ou un système en entier. Les effets cumulés sont encore moins connus. Dans ce chapitre, nous synthétisons les connaissances actuelles sur les facteurs de stress liés aux activités humaines, puis essayons de déterminer leurs interactions et leurs effets cumulés sur l’écosystème du Saint-Laurent

A global database of sea surface dimethylsulfide (DMS) measurements and a procedure to predict sea surface DMS as a function of latitude, longitude, and month

47 pages, 13 figures, 7 tablesA database of 15,617 point measurements of dimethylsulfide (DMS) in surface waters along with lesser amounts of data for aqueous and particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate concentration, chlorophyll concentration, sea surface salinity and temperature, and wind speed has been assembled. The database was processed to create a series of climatological annual and monthly 1°x1°latitude-longitude squares of data. The results were compared to published fields of geophysical and biological parameters. No significant correlation was found between DMS and these parameters, and no simple algorithm could be found to create monthly fields of sea surface DMS concentration based on these parameters. Instead, an annual map of sea surface DMS was produced using an algorithm similar to that employed by Conkright et al. [1994]. In this approach, a first-guess field of DMS sea surface concentration measurements is created and then a correction to this field is generated based on actual measurements. Monthly sea surface grids of DMS were obtained using a similar scheme, but the sparsity of DMS measurements made the method difficult to implement. A scheme was used which projected actual data into months of the year where no data were otherwise presen

Green Edge ice camp campaigns : understanding the processes controlling the under-ice Arctic phytoplankton spring bloom

The Green Edge initiative was developed to investigate the processes controlling the primary productivity and fate of organic matter produced during the Arctic phytoplankton spring bloom (PSB) and to determine its role in the ecosystem. Two field campaigns were conducted in 2015 and 2016 at an ice camp located on landfast sea ice southeast of Qikiqtarjuaq Island in Baffin Bay (67.4797∘ N, 63.7895∘ W). During both expeditions, a large suite of physical, chemical and biological variables was measured beneath a consolidated sea-ice cover from the surface to the bottom (at 360 m depth) to better understand the factors driving the PSB. Key variables, such as conservative temperature, absolute salinity, radiance, irradiance, nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll a concentration, bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance and taxonomy, and carbon stocks and fluxes were routinely measured at the ice camp. Meteorological and snow-relevant variables were also monitored. Here, we present the results of a joint effort to tidy and standardize the collected datasets, which will facilitate their reuse in other Arctic studies

Phytoplankton dynamics and the distribution of fish larvae and their nutritional resources across an estuarine plume front

In the marine environment, export production leading to the traditional food chain is a relatively rare event taking place primarily in hydrographic features such as frontal areas. When export production persists, massive reproduction of herbivores is expected to occur. Since copepod eggs and nauplii are the main prey of a majority of fish postlarvae, the spawning of dominant fish species is expected to be associated with fronts. The aims of this study were to determine the influence of an estuarine plume front upon the phytoplankton dynamics (distribution and physiological status) and to assess the role of the cross-frontal circulation upon the distribution of fish larvae and their prey. The frontal area under study is located in the northwestern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at the interface between a coastal jet (Gaspe Current) flowing along the Gaspe Peninsula and the Anticosti Gyre. In early June, maximum phytoplankton concentrations (up to 35 μg chl a L⁻¹) were found in the Gaspe Current. In the salinity gradient, a significant correlation was found between salinity and phytoplankton concentrations (and seston in general), indicating that physical processes (vertical and horizontal mixing) were more important in controlling the seston distribution than biological processes. The dominance of physical processes is probably due to the high current velocities and shear stress in the Gaspe Current in early June. Later during the season, the cross-frontal mixing was less vigorous due to the lower freshwater runoff, and the front acted as a retention zone for estuarine plankton. Maximum diatom concentrations (up to 50 μg chl a L⁻¹) were measured in the front per se. Measurements of nitrogen and silicate concentrations (ambient and intracellular) and uptake rates suggested that silicate generally limited diatom growth across the front. In June, estuarine larvae (capelin, Mallotus villosus and sand lance, Ammodytes hexapterus) were concentrated in the diatom-rich Gaspe Current and front where immature copepod stages were abundant. The five-fold increase in immature copepod concentrations between the gyre and the current/front resulted probably from a food-induced increase in copepod reproduction. Thus it appears that the dispersion strategy of the estuarine species in relation with local hydrography favours the exploitation of the resource-rich Gaspe current and front by the first-feeding postlarvae. The extrusion of redfish (Sebastes spp.) larvae appears to be synchronized with the copepod reproduction that followed the gyre April/May bloom. Later, redfish larvae were also found in abundance in the resource-rich front.Science, Faculty ofEarth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department ofGraduat

Influence of copepod grazing on concentrations of dissolved dimethylsulfoxide and related sulfur compounds in the North Water, northern Baffin Bay

The impact of copepod grazing on the biogeochemical cycling of dimethylated-sulfur compounds was investigated in the North Water polynya, northern Baffin Bay, during the period 21 April to 24 June 1998. The results show that zooplankton grazing can influence DMSOd concentrations in addition to those of DMS and DMSPd. This study is the first to demonstrate this effect for DMSOd. Weight-specific production rates for DMSOd due to the presence of copepods in incubation experiments were 0.14 to 23 nmol mg-1 dry wt (DW) d-1 (median = 1.02 nmol mg-1 DW d-1) and were occasionally higher than rates for the production of DMSPd. Weight-specific production rates for dimethylsulfide were 0.011 to 2 nmol mg-1 DW d-1 (median = 0.23 nmol mg-1 DW d-1) and for DMSPd 0.005 to 6.86 nmol mg-1 DW d-1 (median = 0.71 nmol mg-1 DW d-1). In comparison, the volumetric and individual-normalized production rates for DMS and DMSPd, which were used to derive weight-specific production rates for these compounds, were similar to published results. The influence of copepod grazing on the production rates of DMS and DMSPd was statistically significant in more than 85% of the incubation experiments conducted, but in fewer than 50% of the incubations for DMSOd. These results suggest that the impact of copepod grazing might be less important for the biogeochemical cycling of DMSO than that of DMS and DMSP. Analysis of the data indicates that grazing may influence the release of DMSO and DMSP in different ways. A secondary objective of the study was to assess the potential role of copepod grazing on in situ level of DMS, DMSPd and DMSOd in the North Water. Weight-specific production rates were used to calculate in situ production rates, which ranged from 0.002 to 21.7 nmol m-3 d-1 for DMS, from 0.001 to 85.8 nmol m-3 d-1 for DMSPd, and from 0.003 to 184 nmol m-3 d-1 for DMSOd. Comparison of these results with the average concentrations of DMS, DMSPd and DMSOd in the water column of the polynya indicates that copepod grazing was a minor mechanism in the release of these compounds in the North Water

Le pluralisme institutionnel et la différenciation des agents scolaires de l’école québécoise

De plus en plus de personnels non enseignants de l’école québécoise encadrent le comportement des élèves qui peinent à intérioriser la norme scolaire. Face à la nécessité d’intégrer ces élèves dans l’établissement et plus largement dans la société, l’ensemble des agents scolaires parvient-il à se coordonner ? Nous disposons de données d’entrevues menées dans 4 établissements auprès de représentants de plusieurs métiers de l’éducation (techniciens en éducation spécialisée, en loisirs, en toxicomanie, surveillants d’élèves, enseignants, directions d’école, policiers, etc.) qui comprennent et exercent différemment la mission de socialisation de l’école québécoise. Les tensions qui en résultent donnent à voir une institution désarticulée dans la prise en charge commune des élèves.Increasingly, non-teaching staff at Quebec schools are supervising students who are struggling to internalize the school’s standards for behaviour. Given the need to integrate such students into the school and into society as a whole, are the efforts of all school officers being coordinated successfully? We have data from interviews at 4 institutions with people representing a variety of occupations in education (special education, recreation and substance abuse technicians, school monitors, teachers, school administration, police officers, etc.) with different understandings and practices of Quebec schools’ mission to socialize. The resulting strains yield a picture of an institution afflicted with a disconnect in the joint management of students

Pautas de intoxicación paralítica de moluscos en la región canadiense del rio San Lorenzo. Relación con abundancia y distribución de Alexandrium tamarense

[EN] Shellfish toxin data from 11 years and Alexandrium tamarense abundance during 6 of those years are analysed. Comparison of PSP toxicity in Mytilus edulis with PSP toxicity in Mya arenaria shows a significant correlation (r2=0.61), with M. edulis being five times more toxic. The results support using M. edulis as a sentinel species for shellfish toxicity in the St. Lawrence region. High interannual variability was found in the PSP and A. tamarense data, but no trends were manifest. Correlation analysis revealed clearly defined geographical station groups. These groups were characterised by seasonal distributions and outbreak times, and were associated with the surface seawater circulation. The results indicate blooms spreading from the open Gulf, upstream toward the Estuary. Since the spring bloom also spreads upstream, we hypothesise that the A. tamarense bloom is just one of the steps in the traditional phytoplankton succession diatoms-dinoflagellates-small flagellates, which is controlled by the classic oceanographic processes of nutrient depletion and water column stratification. A. tamarense distribution over the entire sampled area was similar to the PSP toxicity in M. edulis. In 1993, 59% of PSP variability was explained by A. tamarense. Furthermore, mussel toxin rises with increasing A. tamarense concentration. Shellfish contamination starts as soon as A. tamarense is present in the water. In addition, detoxification starts when A. tamarense decreases below the level of detection. However, the most important finding of this study is that only 1000 A. tamarense cells per litre are sufficient to raise the toxin in the mussels to the level (80 µg STX eq/100 g tissue) at which the closure of shellfish harvesting activities is obligatory[ES] Se han analizado once años de datos de toxinas de moluscos y seis años de abundancia de Alexandrium tamarense. Se ha comparado la toxicidad pos PSO entre Mytilus edulis y Mya arenaria. El mejillón es cinco veces más tóxicoPeer reviewe

Changes in sea-ice phagotrophic microprotists (20-200 µm) during the spring algal bloom, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

International audienceHeterotrophic microflagellates and ciliates (i.e., 20–200 μm size fraction) were examined for evidence of their response to the spring accumulation of algal biomass in the bottom of the annual sea ice in Resolute Passage (Canadian High Arctic, 74°N, 95°W). The most abundant heterotrophic microflagellates were dinoflagellates in the water column and cryothe-comonad-type cells in the ice. Ciliates were exclusively represented by typical planktonic species in the water column while the ice community was characterized by the occurrence of benthic-type species. This contrasts with observations in the Antarctic and at the southern limit of sea ice in the northern hemisphere, where annual sea ice seems to serve as a temporary habitat for planktonic communities. Protist biomasses in Resolute Passage were one to two orders of magnitude higher in the ice than in the plankton. In the ice, a seasonal increase in the biomass of phagotrophic microprotists as well as in the number of micrometazoa (from our microprotist samples) followed the spring algal bloom. These observations (1) support previous suggestions of the existence of a functional microbial food web within sea-ice communities and (2) indicate that micrograzers may represent one of the basic levels of the ice food web that responds to the seasonal accumulation of algal biomass. Heterotrophic microprotists growing in the ice accumulated about 4 mg C m−2 d−1, a net production rate that is two to four times higher than those reported for sea-ice bacteria (both Arctic and Antarctic), and represented 1–9% of the net production of ice algea in the early season at resolute. A carbon budget exercise indicated that the required energy for microprotozoan growth in the later season, when algal biomass was declining, corresponded to 1–8% of the net biomass loss from the ice algal populations. The specific growth rates of microprotozoan populations within the ice (0.04–0.18 d−1) appeared to increase significantly with decreasing algal productivity. This may be critical for the protracted heterotrophic food web in multi-year ice and to many consumers during the long polar winter