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We present awireless electro-optic headstage that uses a 0.13-μm CMOS custom integrated circuit (IC) implementing a digital neural decoder (ND-IC) for enabling real-time closed-loop (CL) optogenetics. The ND-IC processes the neural activity data using three digital cores: 1) the detector core detects and extracts the action potential (AP) of individual neurons by using an adaptive threshold; 2) the data compression core compresses the detected AP by using an efficient Symmlet-2 discrete wavelet transform (DWT) processor for decreasing the amount of data to be transmitted by the low-power wireless link; and 3) the classification core sorts the compressed AP into separated clusters on the fly according to their wave shapes. The ND-IC encompasses several innovations: 1) the compression core decreases the complexity from O(n2) to O(n· log(n)) compared to the previous solutions, while using two times less memory, thanks to the use of a new coefficient sorting tree; and 2) the AP classification core reuses both the compressed DWT coefficients to perform implicit dimensionality reduction, which allows for performing intensive signal processing on-chip, while increasing power and hardware efficiency. This core also reuses the signal standard deviation already computed by theAPdetector core as threshold for performing automatic AP sorting. The headstage also introduces innovations by enabling a new wireless CL scheme between the neural data acquisition module and the optical stimulator. Our CL scheme uses the AP sorting and timing information produced by the ND-IC for detecting complex firing patternswithin the brain. The headstage is also smaller (1.13 cm3), lighter (3.0 g with a 40mAhbattery) and less invasive than the previous solutions, while providing a measured autonomy of 2h40, with the ND-IC. The whole system and the ND-IC are first validated in vivo in the LD thalamus of a Long-Evans rat, and then in freely-moving CL experiments involving a mouse virally expressing ChR2-mCherry in inhibitory neurons of the prelimbic cortex, and the results show that our system works well within an in vivo experimental setting with a freely moving mouse.

Bien qu’il soit admis qu’Internet a des effets importants sur la façon dont les régions se développent économiquement, les études restent partagées son impact réel. À l’aube d’un élargissement des politiques de connectivité, quels impacts la mise en place de l’Internet haute vitesse dans les territoires du Québec a-t-elle eu sur la création et la fermeture d’établissements entre 2005 et 2019? En nous basant sur un modèle de doubles différences avec appariement par score de propension, nous isolons l’effet de l’implantation de l’Internet haute vitesse (Câble/DSL et Fibre) sur la création et les fermetures d’établissements. Les estimations sont réalisées pour tous les secteurs industriels confondus, ainsi que pour sept secteurs spécifiques. Les résultats montrent que l’accès aux technologies haut débit comme le Câble et la DSL a significativement augmenté la création et réduit le nombre de fermetures d’établissements dans l’ensemble des industries. L’accès à la Fibre, en revanche, a significativement réduit la création d’établissements et augmenté les fermetures, de façon globale pour l’ensemble des industries, avec des effets variés selon les secteurs. Ces résultats confirment que l’accès au haut débit est un enjeu clé pour le développement économique territorial, mais mettent en évidence une hétérogénéité des effets selon le type d’activité, le territoire et la technologie implantée.

Mycosphaerella graminicola (anamorph: Septoria tritici), the causal agent of septoria leaf blotch of wheat, has increased in prevalence in the prairie region of Canada in recent years. It is important to know if variation in virulence occurs in the local population as was reported in other countries. Seventy-four pathogen isolates were collected from hexaploid wheat fields in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and tested for virulence on a set of differential genotypes, including four hexaploid and two tetraploid wheat genotypes. Seedlings were inoculated with a conidial suspension and assessed 14 and 21 days later for the presence of necrosis, chlorosis, and pycnidia to identify virulence patterns. Reactions of the differential host genotypes to different isolates ranged from susceptible to near-immune. Adult-plant reactions were similar to seedling reactions for all genotypes used in this study. A difference in virulence patterns on one genotype suggested that physiological specialization occurs and that two virulence groups are present in the pathogen population from western Canada, based on the set of wheat genotypes used in this study.

Solid food disintegration in the stomach has recently been linked to food texture, which changes during digestion. This phenomenon is likely to affect the kinetics of protein digestion and therefore associated postprandial metabolic responses. Depending upon the variety, the cheese protein and lipid content as well as the texture can be modulated, illustrating complexity. Five commercial cheeses, covering a range of textural properties, were selected and characterised. Cheese particles were submitted to an in vitro digestion model to study cheese disintegration and protein/peptide release. Cheese disintegration was affected by cheese texture and composition. At the end of gastric digestion, elastic cheeses (mozzarella) were less disintegrated when compared with ripened and soft cheeses with high fat content (Camembert, aged Cheddar). The protein digestion was different amongst cheeses according to different disintegration rates. Cheese structural and textural properties, attributed to processing parameters, can be used to modulate gastro-intestinal digestion of cheese proteins.

Detecting individuals of amphibian and reptile species can be a daunting task. Detection can be hindered by various factors such as cryptic behavior, color patterns, or observer experience. These factors complicate the estimation of state variables of interest (e.g., abundance, occupancy, species richness) as well as the vital rates that induce changes in these state variables (e.g., survival probabilities for abundance; extinction probabilities for occupancy). Although ad hoc methods (e.g., counts uncorrected for detection, return rates) typically perform poorly in the face of no detection, they continue to be used extensively in various fields, including herpetology. However, formal approaches that estimate and account for the probability of detection, such as capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods and distance sampling, are available. In this paper, we present classical approaches and recent advances in methods accounting for detectability that are particularly pertinent for herpetological data sets. Through examples, we illustrate the use of several methods, discuss their performance compared to that of ad hoc methods, and we suggest available software to perform these analyses. The methods we discuss control for imperfect detection and reduce bias in estimates of demographic parameters such as population size, survival, or, at other levels of biological organization, species occurrence. Among these methods, recently developed approaches that no longer require marked or resighted individuals should be particularly of interest to field herpetologists. We hope that our effort will encourage practitioners to implement some of the estimation methods presented herein instead of relying on ad hoc methods that make more limiting assumptions.

The Monk and the Butterfly is a set of six fictional stories ranging in length, experimenting with different narrative structures and techniques, which examine and explore the idea of the human self as a fictional story. This creative work seeks to deliberately transgress the boundaries of genre within literature and evoke the sense of non-empirical, ecstatic, or poetic truth in the mind of the reader. In doing so it mingles and remixes ideas of dystopian and utopian, cyberpunk and zombies, fairy tales and scientific inquiry, multiphrenia and recursion, mythology and ontology, copyright and copyleft, media theory and queer theory, feminism and transhumanism, genderfuck and genrefuck, rejection of binaries and absence of identity. The stories range in subject matter including the larvae of the deathwatch beetle, a suicidal artificial intelligence, a woman made of bread, the eating of names, a global pandemic of sleep deprivation, and the end of the world.

This contribution proposes an introduction to the concept of territorial value used by French-speaking researchers to analyse the benefits of circular economy (CE)'s projects. For several years, French-speaking researchers have been highlighting the emergence of a new form of value in the CE's implementation. This so-called territorial value is associated with the mobilisation of heterogeneous actors (industrial, institutional, associative, etc.) in the CE's implementation in the territories. It is essentially based on the capture, realisation, and redistribution of positive social externalities. However, this concept of territorial value covers many issues. This contribution addresses the theoretical and empirical issues of territorial value. It discusses its relationship with other concepts and/or forms of value (extended customer value, partnership value, shared value, etc.) which nevertheless remain values oriented towards the company. Then, it shows a relationship between territorial value, the issue of territorial development and, more broadly the ecological transition. The critical analysis reveals that the territorial value is defined around an overcoming of the genealogical approach of the value centred on the company. It refers to the valorisation of territorial resources. Then, it supposes the existence of a collective process relying particularly on the relations of proximity between the territorial actors. Finally, this contribution explores the difficulties in measuring this territorial value, which constitute research opportunities for the international scientific community.

In the eastern Canadian boreal forest, long fire return intervals lead to over 60% of stands having an irregular, uneven-aged structure, which is associated with slower growth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of stand structure on the dimensional stability of black spruce wood [Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.]. Sixty trees were sampled from stands with regular and irregular structures from the North Shore region of Quebec, Canada. Nonlinear mixed-effect models were developed for each stand structure to describe the variation in two indicators of dimensional stability, the differential volumetric shrinkage ratio (GV) and the dimensional hygroexpansion coefficient (R-ratio), in small defect-free wood samples as functions of cambial age and annual ring width. GV and R-ratio were strongly related to cambial age, but there was a limited effect of ring width. After accounting for these variables, samples from stands of irregular structure had greater dimensional stability than those from stands with a regular structure, although GV and R-ratio differences were more pronounced in the upper stem compared with breast height. The fixed effects of the models explained between 44 and 60% of the variation in GV, and between 7 and 44% of the variation in R-ratio. A higher presence of mild reaction wood or lower within-ring variation in wood density in trees of layer origin from irregular stands may explain the observed differences between stand structures.

The contribution of an addictive process to anorexia nervosa (AN) is an area of growing interest. Yet, little is known about how the food addiction concept (FA) may be of interest in understanding AN. This study investigates prevalence of FA diagnostic and its association with markers of severity in individuals with AN. We conducted a retrospective study in a sample of 73 patients with AN. We assessed FA with the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0, depressive and anxiety disorders, impulsivity (Beck Depression Inventory, STAI, BIS-11) and eating behavior (BITE, EDE-Q). Prevalence of FA in our sample was 47%. FA was significantly associated and positively correlated with the binge-eating/purging subtype of AN, higher levels of depression, anxiety and greater eating psychopathology. FA was not associated with level of impulsivity nor leptin and IGF-1 blood levels. The relationship between FA severity and AN severity was mediated by the severity of binge eating behaviors. Our results suggest that the presence of FA may represent a more severe variant of AN. Longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the etiologic process between FA and AN.