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HEALING COMMUNITIES. What if we collectively had the capacity to overcome any crisis in a matter of days? A method for teams of teams to: listen to each other, agree on priorities, put in commons resources, create few but essential and freely adaptable solutions.
Get PDFEver since I was young, I have sought to find how to contribute meaningfully to the community, while being fully myself. Called to different interests than my peers, I began to explore the mysteries of group dynamics. Many cycles of study and practice led me to an awareness: suffering, misery (physical and spiritual), violence, are often generated by stories we learn as children, and pass on through generations.
I became convinced that, within months, we could ensure that all people could live decently and in harmony, if we dared to listen – literally and symbolically – to our Heart, to the Other’s. We would commit ourselves to a path that celebrates our Humanity, connects us to Nature within and beyond, and nourishes our Souls.
Indeed, tackling complex, wicked challenges requires abandoning the logic of a machine-body, the illusion of technical solutions built without personal commitment, so that we can raise our collective, human consciousness. This means providing ways for the whole population to listen to their different realities, and to quickly reach a popular consensus on how to overcome these challenges in ways that strengthen solidarity.
According to the creator of Captcha tests, a million people could translate Wikipedia into a new language in 80 hours. Let us imagine what such a group could achieve if they had the capacity to sincerely agree on essential common projects, and implement them in a matter of days – free/libre and open source knowledge and infrastructures that could easily be adopted, reproduced and enriched across territories?
This five-part thesis documents six years of intense creation and research that enabled me to design how such a process could unfold.
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First, I present my journey to the PhD, and how my research took shape through cycles of prototyping. I introduce the idea of the commons, which is to understand that people – not corporations or the state – have all the resources needed to overcome the challenges we face. This builds on the oeuvre of Elinor Ostrom, who showed that ordinary people can self-organise efficiently to preserve resources, and Stefano Rodotà, who pledged that any resource that meets basic needs must be managed in a participatory way, regardless of who owns it.
Secondly, I talk about Breathing Games, a commons I co-founded to make respiratory health fun. I show how this initiative, which initially objectified the children concerned – by thinking their health in their place –, then opened up a space for young people to share their subjective experience in a playful way that was beneficial to their comrades. I share how an ethic and aesthetic of commoning enabled us to engage over 450 volunteers, and mutualise resources from Canada, Switzerland, France, Italy, and South Korea.
Thirdly, I propose four levers to build solidarity-driven ecosystems. We need to:
— bring diverse people together for ludic events to overcome loneliness. For example, the online hackathons that mobilised 150,000 people at the start of the crown-crisis.
— generate collective value to overcome material limitations. For example, the autonomous networks of makers, who shared designs and manufactured over 48 million medical supplies while industry was at a standstill.
— facilitate agreements across teams of teams to overcome power games. For example, the Emerging Change, developed in Quebec schools and a Swiss multinational, enables teams to thrive and excel by establishing a ritual dialogue between the whole team and its leader, thus avoiding competition between individuals.
— revisit collective narratives to break free from self-servitude. For example, challenging the belief that an authority – parent, teacher, employer, politician, caregiver – can take care of our needs better than we can.
Fourthly, I present the Geneva festival ’taking care together’, a nine-day event created in 122 days thanks to 115 co-hosts. I quantify the collective value created by the Breathing Games and the festival at 2.2 million Swiss francs, 4/5 of which was generated by volunteer contributions.
Next, I provide a step-by-step facilitation method that could help thousands of people coordinate their efforts around a limited number of modular projects. I then outline how this model could re-create education, eradicate systemic corruption, resurrect democracy, and heal our dis-ease when we over-invest in the mind.
Finally, I summarise what I have learnt, and list about 600 references that inspired me. This creation-as-research can be freely reproduced and enriched (Creative Commons BY-SA licence, editable LaTeX format).
Concordia Salus
Social Risk and Protective Factors of Psychosocial Adjustment Difficulties among Youth with Intellectual Disabilities
Get PDFThe overarching aim of this thesis was to examine how the characteristics of the social environment of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) could contribute to their risk of psychopathology. The first study investigated the nature of the social interaction profiles observed among youth with ID, defined while considering their relationships with their parents, peers, and teachers, as well as the implication of these profiles for their self-esteem, aggressive behaviors, and prosocial behaviors. A sample of 393 youth with mild (48.2%) to moderate (51.8%) levels of ID, aged between 11 and 22 (M=15.70), was recruited in Canada (n=141) and Australia (n=253). Our results revealed four profiles, corresponding to Socially Isolated (23.24%), Socially Integrated (39.83%), Socially Rejected (28.37%) and Socially Connected (8.57%) youth with ID. The socially integrated and connected profiles both presented higher self-esteem, more prosocial behaviors, and less aggressive behaviors than the socially isolated and rejected profiles. The second study investigated associations between initial levels and changes in the quality of the relationships youth with ID share with their parents and teachers and changes in their levels of depression over time. A sample of 395 youth with mild (48.3%) and moderate (51.7%) ID, aged between 11 and 22 (M=15.69), were recruited in Canada (n=142) and Australia (n=253). Youth completed self-report measures of relationship quality and depression twice over a one-year period. Initial levels of warmth (β=-.109) and conflict (β=-.302) predicted decreases in depression. Increases in warmth predicted decreases in depression (β=-.179), while increases in conflict predicted increases in depression (β=.268). Discrepancies between youth relationships with their parents and teachers predicted decreases in depression (βwarmth=-.732; βconflict=-.608). The third and final study investigated how school experiences and personal characteristics of youth with ID contributed to their longitudinal trajectories of anxiety. To this end, we relied on a sample of 390 youth with mild (48.2%) to moderate (51.8%) levels of ID, aged from 11 to 22 (M=15.70), and recruited in Canada (n=140) and Australia (n=250). Across three yearly time points, all participants completed self-report measures of anxiety, school climate, and victimization. Our results revealed a slight normative decrease in anxiety over time and showed that experiences of school victimization were associated with higher levels of anxiety (initially and momentarily) and increases in victimization were accompanied by increases in anxiety over time. Perceptions of attending a school that fosters security and promotes learning also tended to be accompanied by lower levels of anxiety (initially and momentarily). Momentary increases in perceptions of attending a school that fosters positive peer interactions were associated with momentary decreases in anxiety, whereas momentary increases in perceptions of attending a school characterized by positive teacher-student relationships and an equitable treatment of all students both led to small momentary increases in anxiety once all other components of student school experiences were considered. All together, our results highlight important targets for intervention in ensuring better psychological adjustment and future avenues for research on youth with ID
Logistic Postponement as a Risk Management Tool: A Real Options Valuation (ROV) Approach to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Logistic Postponement Strategy in Mitigating the Demand Variability Risk in Global Supply Chains
Get PDFRecent world events such as the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine have caused increases in supply chain disruptions along global supply chains. The resulting supply chain challenges necessitate an increased effort in improving supply chain risk management for companies around the world. One source of uncertainty that is increasingly difficult to deal with is demand variability. With both supply and demand becoming increasingly difficult to predict, companies need tools to manage demand variability. Our work evaluates a logistic postponement solution to demand variability where safety stock is shipped from an overseas supplier to a distribution center instead of being shipped directly to retailers. By taking advantage of risk pooling, the proposed strategy aims at reducing stockouts at retailers well also reducing the present value of total costs incurring along the supply chain. A real options valuation (ROV) approach is used in this thesis to present both a theoretical model and a computational model. The theoretical model aims to provide an approach for supply chain practitioners to compare the logistic postponement strategy to their current strategy using historical data. On the other hand, the computational model incorporates some simplifications in the theoretical model to avail it for simulation. Sensitivity analyses conducted aim to provide an analysis on the potential cost savings and stockout reductions a logistic postponement strategy can provide
Development of Titanium Diboride Wettable Cathodes for Aluminium Electrolysis by Suspension Plasma Spray
Get PDFAluminium is one of the most widely used materials across the world. Its elaboration process, based on the Hall-Héroult electrolysis process, has an energetic efficiency too low for such an important industry. In this research work, we worked upon the elaboration of wettable cathodes, meaning cathodes with a high molten aluminium wettability, in order to decrease the energetic cost of the process, as well as its environmental impact. These cathodes are based on a titanium diboride coating. In our studies, and for the very first time in history, these coatings were elaborated by suspension plasma spray.
High quality coatings with a very low degree of oxidation were produced by suspension plasma spraying coupled with a gas shroud to protect the in-flight particles from oxidation. Such an approach made it possible to significantly improve the deposited coatings as compared to the coatings from the literature deposited with atmospheric plasma spraying. Then, parametric studies led progressively to an increase in the percentage of molten particles, and, consecutively, an increase in the coatings’ density. This increased density came along with augmented thermomechanical strains, leading to fracture and delamination. A multilayer approach, as well as a refined control of the cooling of the samples after deposition, allowed for the mitigation of the stresses and led to dense un-oxidized coatings. These coatings have shown a very high aluminium wettability, better than the one of the cathodes currently in use today
Psychophysical properties of midbrain dopamine neurons and implications for the antidepressant effect of deep brain stimulation
Get PDFThe discovery that animals engage in intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) provided a direct way to study the neural networks that direct motivation. In ICSS experiments, animals are implanted with electrodes terminating in reward-implicated substrates. The development of optogenetics advanced the study of the brain reward system by confirming a causal role of midbrain dopamine firing in reward seeking. Since then, the correspondence of optical stimulation parameters to the neural signal of dopamine neurons causing operant behavior has been studied. In parallel, attention was paid to the application of deep brain stimulation on refractory mental illness, including depression. This thesis describes two psychophysical experiments that use optogenetic ICSS of midbrain dopamine neurons. The first experiment shows that, for a substantial range of powers (~12.6 mW - 31.6 mW), the trade-off between power and pulse duration undergoes temporal summation, aligning with Bloch’s Law. Pulse duration can be used to control the volume of activated opsin-expressing dopamine neurons. The second experiment provides a psychophysical measurement of firing fidelity of midbrain dopamine neurons. This study supports that pulse frequencies higher than 40 Hz are ineffective or counter-productive at improving the vigor of operant behavior. Together these experiments highlight the benefit of using measurable outcomes (e.g., operant response) as the basis for making inferences about the effectiveness of optical stimulation. These experiments contribute to the hypothesis that, similarly to electrical ICSS, the variable determining the intensity of reward seeking is the induced aggregate firing rate. Such insights can aid the understanding of how deep brain stimulation functions to alleviate depression. It is suggested here that the antidepressant effects of deep brain stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) may involve activation of non-dopaminergic neural pathways. The reward platform hypothesis is presented, which suggests that MFB stimulation may cause antidepressant effects by facilitating reward seeking. This hypothesis is developed in relation to motivation parameters that promote involvement with response-contingent rewarding activities. Ways to test this hypothesis in both pre-clinical and clinical models are proposed. This thesis provides practical guidelines for optogenetic experiment designs, and it outlines original, theory-driven hypotheses about the structural and functional underpinnings of antidepressant deep brain stimulation
In-plane Cyclic Response of Slender Rectangular and Flanged Partially Grouted Reinforced Masonry Shear Walls Failing in Flexure
Get PDFPartially grouted reinforced masonry shear walls (PG-RMSWs) have emerged as an efficient and economic seismic force-resisting system (SFRS) in North America. In PG-RMSWs, grout is only placed in cells with vertical reinforcement and horizontally reinforced bond beams. Despite the economic benefits of PG-RMSW systems in low-rise buildings, using such a system in mid- and high-rise buildings is still questionable. This research aims to evaluate and quantify the in-plane cyclic response of slender rectangular and flanged PG-RMSWs failing in flexure. This includes re-evaluating the TMS 402/602-22 and CSA S304-14 seismic design provisions for such types of walls and recommending changes to relevant standards’ clauses. In addition, methods to enhance the behaviour of PG-RMSWs failing in flexure are recommended.
Accordingly, this research is divided into two main phases. Phase I, titled “Enhancement of the behaviour of slender PG-RMSWs failing in flexure,” involves conducting a detailed numerical sensitivity analysis for a group of rectangular PG-RMSWs failing in flexure and subjected to quasi-static lateral cyclic displacement and constant axial load. This sensitivity analysis was conducted employing a validated simplified micro-model using VecTor2 software. This sensitivity analysis acts as a step towards acknowledging the most influential parameters that can be enhanced to obtain a better seismic response of PG-RMSWs. Afterward, experimental characterization of the compression and shear behaviour of masonry constructed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibre-reinforced mortar and grout was conducted. This aims at improving the mechanical properties of masonry, which shall result in improving the PG-RMSWs' seismic behaviour. Phase II, titled “Experimental and numerical investigation of North American Standards for the design of slender rectangular and flanged PG-RMSWs failing in flexure,” involves experimental investigation of the in-plane cyclic response of flanged PG-RMSWs failing in flexure by testing two walls with different shear span-to-depth ratios under constant axial stress and quasi-static cyclic loading. In addition, a new simplified micro-model was developed to simulate the quasi-static cyclic behaviour of PG-RMSWs, using Extreme Loading for Structures (ELS) software. This model was then employed to conduct a comprehensive numerical assessment of the seismic design provisions of TMS 402/602-22 and CSA S304-14 for slender rectangular and flanged PG-RMSWs failing in flexure.
According to the work done in Phase I, the numerical sensitivity analysis revealed that ungrouted masonry properties are the most influential parameters on the behaviour of the investigated PG-RMSWs. This effect is more evident for short walls and walls with large reinforcement spacings. This also concludes that the seismic behaviour of PG-RMSWs can be enhanced by improving the grouted and ungrouted masonry properties. Afterward, the experimental investigation of PVA-reinforced masonry revealed that using PVA fibres in mortar and grout can be a promising approach to enhance masonry properties. Accordingly, PVA-reinforced masonry can be utilized to enhance the seismic behaviour of PG-RMSWs.
The experimental work performed in Phase II reveals that increasing the shear span-to-depth ratio enhances the behaviour of slender flanged PG-RMSWs failing in flexure. This shall participate in the supporting evidence that PG-RMSWs can perform well in mid- and high-rise masonry buildings. In addition, the numerical work performed in Phase II shows that CSA S304-14 and TMS 402/602-22 can be safely used to design slender PG-RMSWs only when using the proposed provisions for each standard. For CSA S304-14, the possibility of updating clause 16.8.5.2 is concluded, allowing the use of PG-RMSWs without limitations. New R values were proposed for TMS 402/602-22 to design slender rectangular and flanged PG-RMSWs.
This research acts as a step forward to prove the applicability of using PG-RMSWs in mid- and high-rise reinforced masonry buildings. In addition, the research proposes modifying some seismic design provisions to allow for more economical and safe usage of such a system
Adolescents’ Reasoning about Unambiguous Peer Harm: Variations Across Relationship Contexts and Types of Harm
Get PDFThis thesis examined variations across relationship contexts and types of transgressions in adolescents’ reasoning about unambiguous peer harm at school. A total of 141 Canadian and American adolescents (73 girls, 67 boys, 1 other) ranging from ages 14 to 17 years (M = 15.74 SD = 1.06) responded to four online vignettes depicting psychological or material unambiguous harms committed by a good friend or a peer they did not know. Overall, when the perpetrator was a good friend, youths evaluated the harm as more bad and reported feeling more hurt and sad, but also made more benign attributions and endorsed more restorative responses, as well as more learning and relationship-oriented goals. These findings suggest that even in the face of unambiguous transgressions, youth still found ways to mitigate their friends’ culpability by interpreting their behavior through a more generous lens. Conversely, when the perpetrator was a neutral peer, youths interpreted their behavior as more hostile and endorsed more punitive strategies and justice goals. Regarding situational features of harm, youths judged material harms to have more serious consequences than psychological harms and reported stronger emotional responses to them; youth also interpreted material harms as more hostile and less benign and endorsed more punitive responses. Finally, youth also endorsed more revenge, justice, and learning goals in response to material harms, and more relationship-oriented goals following psychological harms. Overall, this study adds to the literature by examining how youths’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral judgments are informed by socio-contextual features of harm. Ultimately, the more forgiving pattern observed with good friends can inform processes to address peer harm in schools in more peaceful and restorative ways
Design and Implementation of an IoT Platform for Flood Prediction
Get PDFFlooding, a major natural calamity, severely threatens communities and infrastructures in areas susceptible to floods. Consequently, implementing an Internet of Things (IoT)-based flood monitoring system becomes crucial. Existing flood monitoring systems lack a comprehensive and scalable IoT platform to collect real-time data from diverse sensors efficiently, visualize flood information, and provide accurate water level forecasts. This thesis proposes a complete system designed to address the challenges associated with efficient data collection and flood monitoring from diverse IoT sensors.
Our proposition involves creating and deploying a centralized system known as HYDROSIGHT, which facilitates the real-time gathering, monitoring, and visualization of flooding-related sensor data. HYDROSIGHT system also provides a log monitoring feature for effective debugging and troubleshooting.
The IoT environment for flood monitoring and prediction system was designed to promote sustainability and autonomy by preferring sensors with minimal footprints and compatibility with solar panels. The system architecture leverages a 4G network for seamless data transmission.
To validate the practical applicability of the proposed design,HYDROSIGHT system was tested at two municipalities of Quebec, namely Terrebonne, and Lac-Supérieur. In addition, the platform was also deployed at the Ericsson facility in Montreal to test the 5G capabilities. The deployment in these locations allowed us to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the HYDROSIGHT system in a real flood monitoring environment.
In addition to implementing the IoT testbed, a preliminary machine learning tool was developed on water level forecasting. In this experiment, we opted for an online machine-learning approach, recognizing the significance of real-time updates and low computational resources of IoT devices. Leveraging the constantly updating data from HYDROSIGHT, we trained and tested our online machine-learning model, enhancing its forecasting capabilities.
We conducted a comparative analysis to understand the advantages of online machine learning over traditional batch learning. This analysis involved examining the water level forecasting results obtained from both methods using time series data from the HYDROSIGHT system deployed at Lac-Supérieur in Quebec
Infiltration of Spilled Oil in Soil under Various Environmental Conditions
Get PDFInland oil spills are environmental accidents that have significant impacts on environmental and ecological health. Inland spill pollution in the soil may pose a particular challenge. To achieve a fast response, the oil transport mode such as infiltration should be well understood. Herein, in this thesis, the comprehensive literature review was firstly conducted to study the cause, transport, and impact of spilled oil, as well as the response techniques for spill incidents. Secondly, the new features of oil penetration were revealed in thawing frozen soil under various weather conditions. The results showed the penetration behavior of spilled oil in the thawing frozen soil and the influence of salinity level. The modified Green-Ampt model could simulate the penetration process well especially with high water content, relatively cold temperature, and slow thawing rate. Thirdly, the infiltration behavior of water-in-oil emulsions and the influencing factors were investigated by assessing the characteristics of different emulsions. The experiment results showed that an increase of water and fine particle content and decrease in temperature would improve the viscosity of emulsions and reduce the infiltration rate, whereas salinity levels had a negligible impact on infiltration if the pour point of emulsion systems was far higher than the freezing point of water droplets. Fourthly, this study indicate that the presence of nettings and plant roots has a considerable impact on the oil infiltration process in various soils. The findings of this study can help improve the emergent response of inland oil spills
Tuning Thiol-Functionalized Nanosized Metal–Organic Frameworks for Applications in Ophthalmic Drug Delivery
Get PDFThe work described herein explores the synthesis and characterization of porous, crystalline materials known as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) – comprised of metal nodes bridged by multitopic organic linkers. Owing to their high modularity, tunable pore shapes and sizes, and high surface areas, they are promising drug vectors for applications in drug delivery. Chapters 2 and 3 delve into the different approaches for applying MOFs in ophthalmic drug delivery applications.
Chapter 2 explores the design and synthesis of nanosized MOFs including MOF-808, UiO-66, and UiO-67. The synthesis and characterization of the nanoMOFs is described and the nanoMOFs are subject to post-synthetic modification with thiolated ligands to study the potential for mucoadhesive properties in these materials towards drug delivery applications. A series of characterization techniques, including probing the mucoadhesion, are presented with the goal of understanding how the nanoscale size and thiol-functionalization can affect the mucoadhesive properties of MOFs.
Chapter 3 looks into the synthesis and characterization of a series of nanosized thiol-functionalized MOFs with mixed linkers. A series of UiO-66 analogues comprised of increasing concentrations of 2,5-dimercaptoterepthalic acid (BDC-(SH)2) is synthesized mixed with the standard UiO-66 linker, 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC). The mixed-linker MOFs are characterized with the goal of understanding how increasing incorporation of BDC-(SH)2 affects the surface area, mucoadhesive properties and potential drug delivery capacity of these materials