Psychosocial work factors and social inequalities in psychological distress: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems (MHP) are the leading cause of disability worldwide. The inverse association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and MHP has been well documented. There is prospective evidence that factors from the work environment, including adverse psychosocial work factors, could contribute to the development of MHP including psychological distress. However, the contribution of psychosocial work factors to social inequalities in MHP remains unclear. This study evaluates the contribution of psychosocial work factors from two highly supported models, the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) and the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) models to SEP inequalities of psychological distress in men and women from a population-based sample of Quebec workers. METHODS: Data were collected during a survey on working conditions, health and safety at work. SEP was evaluated using education, occupation and household income. Psychosocial work factors and psychological distress were assessed using validated instruments. Mean differences (MD) in the score of psychological distress were estimated separately for men and women. RESULTS: Low education level and low household income were associated with psychological distress among men (MD, 0.56 (95% CI 0.06; 1.05) and 1.26 (95% CI 0.79; 1.73) respectively). In men, the contribution of psychosocial work factors from the DCS and the ERI models to the association between household income and psychological distress ranged from 9% to 24%. No clear inequalities were observed among women. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that psychosocial work factors from the DCS and the ERI models contribute to explain a part of social inequalities in psychological distress among men. Psychosocial factors at work are frequent and modifiable. The present study supports the relevance of targeting these factors for the primary prevention of MHP and for health policies aiming to reduce social inequalities in mental health

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

La dimension «régionale» de la consommation des mass media et de la connaissance de l'information

Levesque Benoît. La dimension «régionale» de la consommation des mass media et de la connaissance de l'information. In: Communication. Information Médias Théories, volume 6 n°1,1983. pp. 143-165

L'Ordre religieux comme projet rêvé/ Utopie et/ou secte ? Etude comparative d'un cas / The Religious Order as a Dreamed Project: Utopia and/or Sect? A Comparative Study of one Case.

Confining our research to the written scheme, does the religions order correspond to the Utopian and Sectarian model? This paper attempts to answer this question through a comparative study of one case, that of the Clerics of Saint Viator, founded at Vourles (near Lyon) around 1812. The analysis of those documents dealing explicitly with this congregation found them to oe of little signifiance. Attention was therefore turned to the dream of Louis Querbes as researched through his sermons and through the biography (written some time before the drafting of the just rules of the Clerics of Saint Viator) of Augustin de Lestrange, a Trappist reformer.Levesque Benoît. L'Ordre religieux comme projet rêvé/ Utopie et/ou secte ? Etude comparative d'un cas / The Religious Order as a Dreamed Project: Utopia and/or Sect? A Comparative Study of one Case.. In: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, n°41, 1976. pp. 77-108

Harvey (Fernand) éd. Aspects historiques du mouvement ouvrier au Québec

Levesque Benoît. Harvey (Fernand) éd. Aspects historiques du mouvement ouvrier au Québec. In: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, n°38, 1974. pp. 198-200

Québec, une brèche pour l'alternative ?

Levesque Benoît. Québec, une brèche pour l'alternative ?. In: Autogestions, NS N°22, 1985. Les coopératives dans la crise. pp. 69-75

Las formas de cooperación del trabajo en Quebec

Este artículo presenta las dos formas de cooperación de trabajo que existen en Quebec: las cooperativas de trabajo y las cooperativas de trabajadores accionistas (CTA). Poco conocidas, las CTA son totalmente originales, puesto que agrupan a trabajadores que poseen colectivamente un cierto número de acciones en la empresa donde trabajan. Las CTA se encuentran, sobre todo, entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas del sector manufacturero que esperan así hacerse más competitivas. Al igual que las cooperativas de trabajo, las CTA han proliferado gracias a la intervención del Estado y de los "grupos-asesores". Sin embargo, comportan reglas que ofrecen a los socios menos poder que las cooperativas de trabajo