631 research outputs found

    L’entrepreneuriat féminin : du démarrage de l’entreprise à l’opération effective, quels facteurs expliquent l’aboutissement des démarches entrepreneuriales chez les femmes au Québec?

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    L’entrepreneuriat constitue une source de création d’emplois ainsi qu’un moteur de développement économique majeur de notre société. En ce sens, la présence des femmes en affaires est devenue une préoccupation des politiques publiques du Québec et du Canada. Plusieurs leviers ont été mis en place pour stimuler l’entrepreneuriat dans l’optique de contribuer à faire croitre le nombre de femmes en affaires. Toutefois, en dépit de ces mesures, le constat selon lequel les femmes sont moins nombreuses que les hommes à entreprendre persiste dans le temps. Cela étant, si les femmes sont sous-représentées dans l’écosystème entrepreneurial, elles manifestent pourtant des intentions entrepreneuriales dans des proportions encourageantes qui se rapprochent des statistiques observées chez les hommes. De ce fait, il est permis de croire qu’un ralentissement de leur élan entrepreneurial se produit une fois les actions de démarrage de l’entreprise enclenchées. Par cette recherche, nous cherchons à comprendre les facteurs qui agissent sur le cheminement entrepreneurial des femmes jusqu’à l’aboutissement du projet. Notre étude s’inscrit dans la théorie de l’Approche globale entrepreneuriale de Schmitt (théorie des 3M) (2017). La question que nous nous posons est la suivante : quels facteurs expliquent l’aboutissement des démarches entrepreneuriales chez les femmes au Québec? Grâce à l’analyse qualitative de 19 entrevues réalisées auprès de deux échantillons de femmes entrepreneures, soit un groupe ayant connu un succès entrepreneurial et un groupe ayant arrêté leur projet, l’étude a permis de mettre en lumière l’influence de différents facteurs sur l’aboutissement des démarches entrepreneuriales. Notre recherche révèle notamment l’incidence majeure que le projet en soi est susceptible d’avoir dans le choix d’arrêter les démarches entrepreneuriales. En parallèle, l’important rôle de l’entrepreneure et de son écosystème dans le succès entrepreneurial a également été constaté. Une typologie des différentes possibilités d’arrêt des parcours entrepreneuriaux a été développée et l’effet primordial des interactions entre les facteurs d’incidence a été montré. En somme, le projet aura permis de mieux comprendre les différentes réalités vécues par les femmes dans toute leur complexité, en plus de proposer des pistes de solutions pour accroitre la présence des femmes en entrepreneuriat au Québec.Entrepreneurship is a source of job creation and a major driver of economic development in our society. In this sense, the presence of women in business has become a concern of public policies in Quebec and Canada. Several levers have been adopted to stimulate entrepreneurship with the aim of increasing the number of women in business. However, despite these measures, women remain less likely than men to undertake such activities. Nevertheless, while women are under-represented in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, they show entrepreneurial intentions in encouraging proportions, which are close to the statistics observed for men. As a result, this suggests that a slowdown in their entrepreneurial momentum occurs once the start-up actions have been initiated. Through this research, we seek to understand factors influencing the entrepreneurial journey of women, from the first steps to the completion of their business project. Our study is part of the Schmitt’s Global Entrepreneurial Approach (3M Theory) (2017). The question we ask ourselves is: What factors explain the success of women’s entrepreneurship in Quebec? Through the qualitative analysis of 19 interviews conducted with two samples of women entrepreneurs, one group having experienced entrepreneurial success and one group having stopped their project, the study highlighted the influence of multiple factors on the entrepreneurial process and outcome. Our research highlights the major impact that the nature of project is likely to have in the choice to stop entrepreneurial approaches. Furthermore, the important role of the entrepreneur and her ecosystem in entrepreneurial success has also been observed. A typology of the different reasons for stopping entrepreneurial journeys has been developed and correlated with factors motivating that decision. In sum, the project will have made it possible to better understand the different realities experienced by women in all their complexity and suggest possible solutions to increase the presence of women in entrepreneurship in Quebec

    Effet du chlore sur la colonisation bactérienne d'un réseau expérimental de distribution d'eau

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    La contamination bactérienne de la phase eau d'un réseau de distribution résulte d'une multiplication des bactéries sur les parois des canalisations d'eau (biofilms) suivie de leur arrachage et de leur transport dans le flux circulant. Ce travail met en évidence l'effet du chlore, d'une part, sur la formation des biofilms et, d'autre part, sur des biofilms déjà constitués. Des éprouvettes de matériaux neufs introduites dans des eaux présentant des concentrations en chlore total variant de 2,4 à 0,02 mg/l et véhiculant entre 0,5 x 106 et 5 x 105 cellules bactériennes/mi (dont 1 à 10 % de bactéries cultivables) sont rapidement colonisées (106 à 108 cellules/cm2). L'effet du chlore est sensible sur les cellules totales pour des concentrations de l'ordre de 1 à 2,4 mg/l. Sur les bactéries cultivables, un ralentissement de la croissance du biofilm est observé dès 0,3 mg/1 de chlore total. Par contre, des résiduels de 0,02 ou 0,05 mg/l sont sans effet sur la cinétique de formation des biofilms. Des résiduels moyens de chlore total compris entre 2,3 et 3,4 mg/l appliqués en continu pendant 14 jours sur un biofilm constitué d'environ 8,7 x 106 cellules par cm2 (1,7 % de bactéries cultivables), entraînent l'élimination d'environ 90 % des bactéries fixées (abattement d'1 logarithme) durant les premiers jours d'exposition. L'altération du biofilm exposé à un résiduel de chlore total de l'ordre de 1,3 mg/l est identique, mais toutefois plus étalée dans le temps. Ces essais réalisés sur des éprouvettes de PVC, PE et mortier de ciment n'ont pas permis la mise en évidence de comportements différents de ces 3 supports..Bacterial accumulation in drinking water systems results both of cell deposition on the pipe walls and attached bacteria growth. The presence of a complex biofilm (cells embedded in a matrix of exopolymers) leads to a continuous contamination of the water phase resulting from the erosion of the attached growing biomass. Then, many tentatives to lmit the formation of such a biofilm have been suggested as the removal of biodegradable organic matter fram water or as the application of disinfectant. However, the efficiency of chlorination of the distribution system is debatable. Indeed, adhesion is often described as a factor of protection of attached bacteria which counterbalances the expected effect of disinfectant. Then, the aim of this experimental work is using a model distribution system to evaluate (i) the kinetics of biofilm accumulation on coupons of new materials (Polyvinyl chlorure : PVC, polyethylene : PE, cement) disposed in a constantly chlorinated system (residual total chlorine from 0.021o 2.4 mg. l-1), (ii) the effect of chlorination on previously accumulated biofilms.The industrial pilot plant used in this study is comprised of five loops serially disposed (fig. 1). From previous study of simulation, one may assume that each loop works like a perfectly mixed reactor when the whole pilot plant is equivalent to an infinite tubular reactor with high axial dispersion coefficient. During the experiment, the pilot was continuously fed with finished drinking water front the surface water treatment plant of city of Nancy (i.e. natural finished water with its own chlorine demand, organic nutrients and heterotrophic bacteria).Total number of cells (epifluorescence counts) and heterotrophic plate count bacteria (15 days of incubation at 20 °C) were enumerated both in the water and, after sonication, on the surface of the coupons of tested materials.The first experimentations show that chlorine slows clown the kinetic of deposition of bacteria onto the pipe wall but never prohibits biofilm formation. When the drinking waters carried from 2.4 to 0.02 mg.1-1 of chlorine and from 0.5 to 5 x 105 ml-1 bacterial cells, biofilm is observed after 24 hours of immersion of the coupons with at least 101 to 106 bacteria/cm2. Respectively, the deposition or/and growth rates of total cells are drastically affected only for chlorine residual as high as 1 to 2.4 mg. 1-1. The number of heterotrophic plate count of the biofilm is affected with lower chlorine residual (around 0.3 mg.1-1) but residual concentration as low as 0.05 mg.1-1 are ineffective.The tentatives carried out in the second experience on preformed biofilms (2 months old biofilms, 8.7 x 106 cells/cm2) show that the continuous application of 2.3 to 3.4 mg. 1-1 of residual chlorine for 14 days, leads to the removal of only 90 % of attached total cells without modifications of the proportion of attached alive bacteria (around 1.7 %) into the biofitm. In other wards, a highly chlorinated networks shows at minima 106 attached cells/cm2. Its generally takes several days to reply to the chlorine demand of the system and to have a quasi steady state reactor in terms of residual chlorine.These assays carried out with three types of coupons (PVC, PE, cement lined cast iron) did not show any difference between the tested materials.The limited efficiency of chlorine against the biofilm can be explained by transfert limitations within the visquous layer, high consumption of chlorine by the biopolymers of the attached matrix (proteins...) or low sensitivity to the disinfectant of the slow growing attached bacteria. Then chlorination is really not a panacea in biofilm war but has to be applied in combination with other methods as biodegradable organic matter removal, hydraulic regime improvement..

    ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH Influence of Resident Salmonella on Contamination of Broiler Flocks

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    ABSTRACT An epidemiological survey was made of 5329 samples from 10 poultry operations to determine the relationship between total poultry farm environment and incidences of Salmonella contamination of broiler flocks. Samples were analyzed from walls, drinkers, feeders, litter, insects, water, chicks, broilers, and feed to determine the effect of common sanitary practices on Salmonella contamination of flocks

    Spatial heterogeneity promotes coexistence of rock-paper-scissor metacommunities

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    The rock-paper-scissor game -- which is characterized by three strategies R,P,S, satisfying the non-transitive relations S excludes P, P excludes R, and R excludes S -- serves as a simple prototype for studying more complex non-transitive systems. For well-mixed systems where interactions result in fitness reductions of the losers exceeding fitness gains of the winners, classical theory predicts that two strategies go extinct. The effects of spatial heterogeneity and dispersal rates on this outcome are analyzed using a general framework for evolutionary games in patchy landscapes. The analysis reveals that coexistence is determined by the rates at which dominant strategies invade a landscape occupied by the subordinate strategy (e.g. rock invades a landscape occupied by scissors) and the rates at which subordinate strategies get excluded in a landscape occupied by the dominant strategy (e.g. scissor gets excluded in a landscape occupied by rock). These invasion and exclusion rates correspond to eigenvalues of the linearized dynamics near single strategy equilibria. Coexistence occurs when the product of the invasion rates exceeds the product of the exclusion rates. Provided there is sufficient spatial variation in payoffs, the analysis identifies a critical dispersal rate dd^* required for regional persistence. For dispersal rates below dd^*, the product of the invasion rates exceed the product of the exclusion rates and the rock-paper-scissor metacommunities persist regionally despite being extinction prone locally. For dispersal rates above dd^*, the product of the exclusion rates exceed the product of the invasion rates and the strategies are extinction prone. These results highlight the delicate interplay between spatial heterogeneity and dispersal in mediating long-term outcomes for evolutionary games.Comment: 31pages, 5 figure

    In Situ mechanical effects of a specific neurodynamic mobilization of the superficial fibular nerve: A cadaveric study

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    Context: A specific neurodynamic mobilization for the superficial fibular nerve (SFN) has been suggested in the reference literature for manual therapists to evaluate nerve mechanosensitivity in patients. However, no biomechanical studies examined the ability of this technique to produce nerve strain. Therefore, mechanical specificity of this technique is not yet established. Objective: The aim of our study was to test whether this examination and treatment technique was producing nerve strain in the fresh frozen cadaver and the contribution of each motion to total longitudinal strain. Design: Quantitative original research, controlled laboratory study Methods: A differential variable reluctance transducer was inserted in ten SFN from six fresh cadavers to measure strain during the mobilization. A specific sequence of plantar flexion (PF), ankle inversion (INV), straight leg raise (SLR) position and 30{degree sign} of hip adduction (ADD) was applied to the lower limb. The mobilization was repeated at 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° of Straight Leg Raise (SLR) position to measure the impact of hip flexion position. Findings: Compared to a resting position, this neurodynamic mobilization produced a significant amount of strain in the SFN (7.93% ± 0.51 P < 0.001). PF (59.34% ± 25.82) and INV (32.80% ± 21.41) accounted for the biggest proportion of total strain during the mobilization. No significant difference was reported between different hip flexion positions. Hip ADD did not significantly contribute to final strain (0.39% ± 10.42 P> 0,05) although high subject variability exists. Conclusion: Ankle motions should be considered the most important during neurodynamic assessment of the SFN for distal entrapment. These results suggest that this technique produces sufficient strain in the SFN and could therefore be evaluated In Vivo for correlation with mechanosensitivit
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