Étude de la distribution, de la clonalité et caractérisation des campylobacters isolés de poulets à griller et d'humains

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Framing risky choices: how the Leave campaign convinced Britain to take a leap into the unknown

Prior to the Brexit referendum in 2016, many observers expected that floating voters would swing toward Remain due to the perceived risks and uncertainty associated with leaving the European Union. Drawing on a new book, Ece Özlem Atikcan, Richard Nadeau and Éric Bélanger explain how the Leave campaign managed to reframe the risks associated with Brexit and win the referendum

Une station météorologique beaucoup moins dispendieuse, performante et plus flexible?

Affiche présentée dans le cadre du Colloque de l'ARC, «Des racines et des ailes pour la recherche collégiale», dans le cadre du 85e Congrès de l’Acfas, Université McGill, Montréal, les 8 et 9 mai 2017.Il existe sur le marché plusieurs systèmes standards d’acquisition de données météorologiques. Ces systèmes sont coûteux, leur mode de fonctionnement offre peu d'options, et les utilisateurs sont dépendants des fabricants quant au service et aux pièces de rechange spécifiques. La chaire de recherche TERRE a développé une station météorologique alternative réduisant ces contraintes. Nous avons d’abord conçu la station expérimentale à partir de la technologie Arduino (petits automates programmables). Les dessins techniques ont été réalisés à l’aide du logiciel VISIO. La station a été fabriquée par nos techniciens et sa programmation réalisée par des étudiants stagiaires en génie électrique. Elle a été testée dans le but de comparer ses performances avec celles d'une station standard et commerciale. Les deux équipements ont été montés en parallèle et branchés sur huit instruments de mesures installés sur un mât météorologique. Les données sur la vitesse et l’orientation des vents, la température, la pression, l’humidité relative et l’ensoleillement étaient enregistrées en simultané par les deux modules. L’analyse comparative des résultats révèle une excellente corrélation des mesures faites par les deux stations. Notre station expérimentale, qui coûte 5 à 10 fois moins cher qu’un équipement commercial, comporte plusieurs fonctions au choix pour les utilisateurs, peut être jumelée à une application cellulaire et offre des fonctions de contrôle supplémentaires

Is the unequal COVID–19 burden in Canada due to unequal levels of citizen discipline across provinces?

The unequal burden of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis (e.g., in terms of infection and death rates) across Canadian provinces is important and puzzling. Some have speculated that differences in levels of citizen compliance with public health preventive measures are central to understanding cross-provincial differences in pandemic-related health outcomes. However, no systematic empirical test of this hypothesis has been conducted. In this research, we make use of an exceptionally large dataset that includes 23 survey waves (N = 22,610) fielded in Canada across 12 months (April 2020–April 2021) to answer the question “Is there evidence of substantial cross-provincial differences in citizen compliance with basic public health measures designed to prevent the spread of infection?” We find that regional differences in self-reported behaviour are few and very modest, suggesting that interprovincial differences in COVID-19–related health outcomes have little to do with differences in citizen compliance, at least in the first year of the pandemic. These results have important implications. Although it is crucial that we continue to study regional variations related to the COVID-19 burden, public health agency officials, pundits, and politicians should be cautious when musing about the role of citizen compliance as the primary explanation of interprovincial pandemic health outcomes

Genotyping of Campylobacter isolates from swine, poultry and humans in Canada.

Direct epidemiological evidence indicating that pork meat can be a source of campylobacteriosis in human are missing, while it is widely accepted for poultry products. A total of I 01 Campylobacter strains isolated from slaughtered swines, 195 strains isolated from broilers as well as 24 human Campylobacter strains from ill patients were included in this study. The genetic characterization of isolates was performed by pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Macrorestrictions profiles were obtained with by digestion of DNA withKpni. The combination of the 72 PFGE swine patterns with the PFGE human patterns gave no genetic link between strains while 20 % of human isolates were genetically related to poultry isolates. Since C. jejuni was mainly recovered from human and poultry while swine harbored C. coli, the role of swine in the transmission of Campylobacter to human population by meat consumption remain uncertain

A guilt-free strategy increases self-reported non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures:Experimental evidence from 12 countries

Studies of citizens’ compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures routinely rely on survey data. While such data are essential, public health restrictions provide clear signals of what is socially desirable in this context, creating a potential source of response bias in self-reported measures of compliance. In this research, we examine whether the results of a guilt-free strategy recently proposed to lessen this constraint are generalizable across twelve countries, and whether the treatment effect varies across subgroups. Our findings show that the guilt-free strategy is a useful tool in every country included, increasing respondents’ proclivity to report non-compliance by 9 to 16 percentage points. This effect holds for different subgroups based on gender, age and education. We conclude that the inclusion of this strategy should be the new standard for survey research that aims to provide crucial data on the current pandemic

Administration of probiotics influences F4 (K88)-positive enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli attachment and intestinal cytokine expression in weaned pigs

This study evaluated the effect of the probiotics Pediococcus acidilactici and Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii on the intestinal colonization of O149 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli harbouring the F4 (K88) fimbriae (ETEC F4) and on the expression of ileal cytokines in weaned pigs. At birth, different litters of pigs were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: 1) control without antibiotics or probiotics (CTRL); 2) reference group in which chlortetracycline and tiamulin were added to weanling feed (ATB); 3) P. acidilactici; 4) S. cerevisiae boulardii; or 5) P. acidilactici + S. cerevisiae boulardii. Probiotics were administered daily (1 × 109 CFU per pig) during the lactation period and after weaning (day 21). At 28 days of age, all pigs were orally challenged with an ETEC F4 strain, and a necropsy was performed 24 h later. Intestinal segments were collected to evaluate bacterial colonization in the small intestine and ileal cytokine expressions. Attachment of ETEC F4 to the intestinal mucosa was significantly reduced in pigs treated with P. acidilactici or S. cerevisiae boulardii in comparison with the ATB group (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively). In addition, proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, were upregulated in ETEC F4 challenged pigs treated with P. acidilactici alone or in combination with S. cerevisiae boulardii compared with the CTRL group. In conclusion, the administration of P. acidilactici or S. cerevisiae boulardii was effective in reducing ETEC F4 attachment to the ileal mucosa, whereas the presence of P. acidilactici was required to modulate the expression of intestinal inflammatory cytokines in pigs challenged with ETEC F4

L’apprentissage connecté des jeunes en contexte d’éducation formelle francophone

L’apprentissage connecté est une pratique éducative croissante qui a été repérée par les délégué·e·s d’EDUsummIT2019 et qui en ont fait un thème de travail lors de leur examen des relations curriculum/pratiques pédagogiques/évaluation des apprentissages. Le présent article porte sur la manière avec laquelle le concept connected learning a été interprété et mis en oeuvre dans le contexte culturel français et francophone, et il suggère que les « passages » de frontières, qui en reflètent le dynamisme, améliorent l’éducation formelle, notamment dans des cas d’élèves ou de classes défavorisées (classes rurales isolées). Cette interprétation repose sur des repères historiques ainsi que sur les notions d’agentivité, d’interaction et de connexion. L’étendue et la mise en oeuvre de ce concept sont illustrées par le cas de l’école (éloignée) en réseau, une innovation qui s’adapte selon les contextes, dont celui de la COVID-19, par des allers-retours entre le local et le délocalisé. Deux interrogations en ressortent, l’une concernant la reconnaissance des apprentissages réalisés en dehors du contexte de l’éducation formelle et l’autre, la gestion de la désinformation

Emotions, cognitions and moderation : understanding losers’ consent in the 2016 Brexit referendum

Why do some voters accept their defeat and agree to a democratic verdict while some do not? This distinction between “graceful” and “sore” losers is essential for the stability of democratic regimes. This paper focuses on the phenomenon of losers’ consent in the 2016 Brexit referendum using original public opinion data. Extant studies suggest that post-electoral reactions are mainly outcome-driven, consider winners and losers as homogeneous groups, and neglect the individual-level profile and motivations of graceful losers. Using an innovative and direct question to measure losers’ consent, this research finds that voters’ reaction to the outcome is also process-driven. Graceful losers are politically involved and principled citizens who are more inclined to judge the merits of democracy in procedural terms. They are also more politically sophisticated, less emotionally engaged in the electoral decision, hold more moderate views on the object of the vote, and are torn between the options until the end of the campaign. These findings have important implications for democratic theory. The stability of democracies depends not only on sophisticated voters capable of prioritizing the benefits of the democratic process over disappointing outcomes but also on voters who are indecisive, hesitant, and above all, moderate