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Au cours des dernières années, l’automatisation des services et le développement des technologies de l’information ont mené à une multiplication des écrans tactiles dans les espaces urbains. Cette multiplication a contribué à l’émergence de nouveaux usages et pratiques situées. Par exemple, dans plusieurs villes, pour acheter un titre de transport ou encore emprunter un document à la bibliothèque de façon autonome, il faut passer par l’écran tactile. Par contre, pour les personnes avec un handicap, les bornes en libre-service avec écran tactile peuvent être un obstacle à l’accessibilité en rendant plus difficile l’utilisation de certains services. Ce projet de recherche se penche sur cette problématique afin d’explorer comment les personnes avec handicap arrivent à utiliser les écrans tactiles malgré les différents obstacles qu’ils rencontrent dans la ville de Montréal. Pour y arriver, ce mémoire a été construit en trois temps. Il comporte d’abord une revue de littérature afin de comprendre les différents enjeux liés aux thématiques du handicap et de l’accessibilité en mobilisant notamment le concept d’affordance. Ensuite, il présente, d’une part, le bricolage méthodologique ayant permis d’en savoir plus sur l’expérience vécue des participantes et participants à l’aide de données mixtes et d’autre part, les considérations éthiques ayant guidé l’élaboration du projet. Finalement, ce mémoire présente les données récoltées sur le terrain et discute des thématiques ayant émergé de l’analyse de ces données : le rapport qu’entretiennent les participantes et participants au temps, les diverses tactiques utilisées pour négocier l’usage des écrans tactiles, l’interdépendance de toutes les parties impliquées dans le fonctionnement d’un dispositif numérique et la façon dont les participantes et participants du projet sont apparus dans l’horizon des écrans tactiles qu’ils ont utilisés. / In recent years, the automation of services and the development of information technologies have led to a proliferation of touch screens in urban spaces. This proliferation has contributed to the emergence of new situated uses and practices. For example, in several cities, to buy a transport ticket or even borrow a document from the library independently, you have to go through the touch screen. On the other hand, for people with disabilities, self-service kiosks with touch screens can be an obstacle to accessibility by making it more difficult to use certain services. This research project focuses on this issue in order to explore how people with disabilities manage to use touch screens despite the various obstacles they encounter. To achieve this, this research paper was constructed in three stages. It first includes a literature review in order to understand the various issues related to the themes of disability and accessibility by mobilizing the concept of affordance. Then, it presents, on the one hand, the methodological bricolage that made it possible to learn more about the lived experience of the participants using mixed data and, on the other hand, the ethical considerations that guided the development. of the project. Finally, this thesis presents the data collected in the field and discusses the themes that emerged from the analysis of this data: the relationship that the participants have to time, the various tactics used to negotiate the use of touch screens, the interdependence of all the parties involved in the operation of a digital device and the way in which the participants of the project appeared in the horizon of the touch screens they used.

This master’s thesis deals with a new design of bar screens. The goal was to come up with an alternative design to already existing device by INKOS a. s. In the first part, there is a summary of various machines working in similiar conditions. The insights gained by this research influenced the design of the new device. It utilizes well proven solutions from previous projects, but some of these were reworked and a few new functions were added. Second part of the thesis describes the analytical solutions, which were used to determine the forces in the assembly during the operation of the device. Based on the results of these calculations, a strength analysis of important components was performed using the finite element method. The result of this thesis is the design and optimization of new bar screens, including engineering drawings and tools for its further development.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious and fatal disease that ranks as the second leading killer worldwide. It is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) which is an obligate intracellular parasite that colonizes the alveolar macrophages of the immune system. The major health concern associated with TB is its co-infection with HIV and the development of strains with multi-drug resistance. The elimination of TB has been hindered due to the lack of understanding of the survival strategies used by this pathogen. Thus, research towards discovering new effective antibacterial drugs is necessary and a group of Mtb kinase enzymes were targeted in this study because these enzymes are crucial for metabolism, pathogenesis and, hence, the survival of Mtb. Kinases are a group of structurally distinct and diverse proteins that catalyze the transfer of the phosphate group from high energy donor molecules such as ATP (or GTP) to a substrate. The phosphorylation of proteins modifies the activity of specific proteins which is subsequently used to control complex cellular processes within Mtb. The starting point of this research targeted eight specific Mtb kinases namely; Nucleoside diphosphokinase, Homoserine kinase, Acetate kinase, Glycerol kinase, Thiamine monophosphate kinase, Ribokinase, Aspartokinase and Shikimate kinase. The aim of this project was to subclone the gene sequences for these eight recombinant Mtb kinases and express them in Escherichia coli, to purify the proteins and determine their activity. In the effort to find new lead compounds, the final stage of this study focused on the basic screening of the TB kinases against an extract prepared from Pelargonium sidoides, a medicinal plant, to identify any inhibitory effects. Although this traditional medicinal plant has been broadly researched and extensively used to treat TB, there is still a lack of understanding of this plant’s scientific curative effect. Various molecular and biochemical methods were used to achieve the aims of this project. The putative gene sequence was obtained from the annotated genome of H37Rv, deposited at NCBI as NC_000962.2. The genes encoding the kinases were successfully PCR-amplified from genomic DNA, cloned into an expression vector in-frame with a C- or N-terminal 6-histidine-tag and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The purification of the protein was complex, but various different methods and techniques were explored to obtain sufficient amounts of protein. The functional characterization of the kinases involved an HPLC enzyme assay that showed that the recombinant kinases were active. These enzymes were then screened against the potential inhibitory compounds in P. sidoides using enzyme assays to generate dose-response curves. This allowed an effective comparison not only of the Mtb kinases’ activity under normal conditions but also the kinases’ activity in the presence of a potential inhibitor. Overall, the inhibition of the enzymes required the presence of higher concentrations of the P. sidoides extract. However, the SK enzyme results presented a significantly higher inhibition and the lowest IC50 value, in comparison to the other kinases, which makes this kinase an attractive potential drug target against TB. In summation, cloning and purification of SK was successful, resulting in a concentration of 2030 μg/ml of purified enzyme and its activity analysis demonstrated enzyme functionality. This activity was reduced to zero in the presence of 1 x 102 mg/ml dilution of P. sidoides plant extract. This research conducted has extended the quality of information available in this field of study. These interesting results, proposing and identifying SK as a suitable potential target can be a starting point to significantly contribute and progress in this field of research, with the eventual goal of developing a drug to combat this fatal disease. / Life Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences)

Ce mémoire s'intéresse à la vision par ordinateur appliquée à des projets d'art technologique. Le sujet traité est la calibration de systèmes de caméras et de projecteurs dans des applications de suivi et de reconstruction 3D en arts visuels et en art performatif. Le mémoire s'articule autour de deux collaborations avec les artistes québécois Daniel Danis et Nicolas Reeves. La géométrie projective et les méthodes de calibration classiques telles que la calibration planaire et la calibration par géométrie épipolaire sont présentées pour introduire les techniques utilisées dans ces deux projets. La collaboration avec Nicolas Reeves consiste à calibrer un système caméra-projecteur sur tête robotisée pour projeter des vidéos en temps réel sur des écrans cubiques mobiles. En plus d'appliquer des méthodes de calibration classiques, nous proposons une nouvelle technique de calibration de la pose d'une caméra sur tête robotisée. Cette technique utilise des plans elliptiques générés par l'observation d'un seul point dans le monde pour déterminer la pose de la caméra par rapport au centre de rotation de la tête robotisée. Le projet avec le metteur en scène Daniel Danis aborde les techniques de calibration de systèmes multi-caméras. Pour son projet de théâtre, nous avons développé un algorithme de calibration d'un réseau de caméras wiimotes. Cette technique basée sur la géométrie épipolaire permet de faire de la reconstruction 3D d'une trajectoire dans un grand volume à un coût minime. Les résultats des techniques de calibration développées sont présentés, de même que leur utilisation dans des contextes réels de performance devant public. / This thesis focuses on computer vision applications for technological art projects. Camera and projector calibration is discussed in the context of tracking applications and 3D reconstruction in visual arts and performance art. The thesis is based on two collaborations with québécois artists Daniel Danis and Nicolas Reeves. Projective geometry and classical camera calibration techniques, such as planar calibration and calibration from epipolar geometry, are detailed to introduce the techniques implemented in both artistic projects. The project realized in collaboration with Nicolas Reeves consists of calibrating a pan-tilt camera-projector system in order to adapt videos to be projected in real time on mobile cubic screens. To fulfil the project, we used classical camera calibration techniques combined with our proposed camera pose calibration technique for pan-tilt systems. This technique uses elliptic planes, generated by the observation of a point in the scene while the camera is panning, to compute the camera pose in relation to the rotation centre of the pan-tilt system. The project developed in collaboration with Daniel Danis is based on multi-camera calibration. For this studio theatre project, we developed a multi-camera calibration algorithm to be used with a wiimote network. The technique based on epipolar geometry allows 3D reconstruction of a trajectory in a large environment at a low cost. The results obtained from the camera calibration techniques implemented are presented alongside their application in real public performance contexts.

The screen, as recent studies in a number of fields indicate, is a cultural object due for critical reappraisal. Work on the theoretical status of screen objects tends to focus upon the materialisation of surface; in other words, it attempts to rethink the relationship between the supposedly 'superficial' facade and the 'functional' object itself. I suggest that this work, while usefully chipping away at the dichotomy between the 'superficial' and the 'functional', can lead us to a more radical conclusion when read in the context of subjectivity. By rethinking the relationship between the surface and the obverse face of the screen as the terms of a dialectic, we can ‘read’ the screen as the vital component in a process which constitutes the Subject. In order to demonstrate this, I analyse productions of subjectivity in literary texts of the twenty-first century — in doing so, I assume the novel as nonpareil arena of the dramatisation of subjectivity — and I propose a reading of the work of Jacques Lacan as hitherto unacknowledged theorist par excellence of the form and function of the screen. Lacan describes, with the function of desire and the formation of the screen of fantasy, the primary position this ‘screen-form' inhabits in the constitution of the Subject. Lacan’s work forms a critical juncture through which we must proceed if we are to properly read and understand the chosen texts: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber; The Tain by China Miéville; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; and Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. In each text, I analyse the particular materialisations of the screen and interrogate the constitution of the subject and the locus of desire. By analysing the vicissitudes of subjectivity in these texts, I make a claim for the study of the screen as constituting a central question in the field of contemporary literature.

Para atenuar o impacto visual, que acomete o motorista ao ingressar em túneis rodoviários durante o período diurno, utiliza-se a luz artificial, com alto nível inicial e gradual diminuição para o interior do túnel. Tal solução apresenta dois inconvenientes imediatos, relacionados ao consumo de energia e à segurança. Devido à radiação solar direta, as imediações da entrada do túnel tornam-se fontes de ofuscamento de elevada intensidade e a iluminação deve estar dimensionada para permitir, ao motorista que se aproxima da entrada do túnel, a visualização de seu interior, implicando em elevado consumo de energia para uma tarefa com pouco requisito visual. Quanto à segurança, na hipótese de falta de energia aumenta-se a probabilidade de acidentes, pois o reflexo do motorista pode ser frear. As soluções arquitetônicas, objeto da pesquisa, correspondem a um Sistema para Adaptação Visual (SAV), implantado no trecho de rodovia aberta anterior à entrada do túnel, que, por um lado, atua nos elementos causadores do problema e, por outro, fornece a iluminação necessária no interior do túnel através das fontes de luz natural (Sol e céu). Para sua concepção, são propostas cinco estratégias. O desempenho do SAV, assim constituído, foi testado em uma aplicação prática nos túneis do trecho Oeste do Rodoanel Mário Covas, sem apresentar os inconvenientes identificados na solução convencional (iluminação artificial). A segurança no ponto crítico ficou garantida por característica intrínseca do sistema. Além de reduzir o consumo, a energia para o período noturno pôde ser gerada pelo próprio SAV, se incorporados módulos fotovoltaicos, e a sazonalidade característica da luz natural é acompanhada pelo sistema, favorecendo o conforto visual por diminuir a faixa em que ocorre o processo de adaptação visual. / The usual adopted solution to defuse the drivers visual impact at the highway tunnel entrance during the daytime, has been the use of electric lighting, with high initial level and gradual reduction towards the internal side of the tunnel. This brings two immediate problems, concerning energy consumption and security. Direct sunlight causes high intensity glare sources around the tunnel entrance, and the lighting level should be enough to allow the interior visibility, when the driver approaches the tunnel, entailing high energy consumption to a low accurate task. Security-wise, in case of power supply failure, collisions possibility increases, due to the drivers instinctive reaction to brake suddenly. Architectural solutions, this research object, are related to a Visual Adaptation System (VAS) positioned on the open road before the tunnel entrance, which, on the one hand, acts into the problem causes, and, on the other, provides the necessary lighting inside the tunnel by natural light sources (Sun and sky). Five strategies are proposed designing the VAS. A practical application on Metropolitan Area Ring Road Mario Covas West segment tunnels checked the so-built VAS performance, not presenting the identified deficiencies in the conventional solution (artificial lighting). The intrinsic system feature assured the critical point security. Besides the consumption reduction, the energy supply for nighttime could be generated by the VAS, if photovoltaic modules are added, and the natural light seasonal feature is followed by the system, favoring the visual comfort by decreasing the visual adaptation process range.

Para atenuar o impacto visual, que acomete o motorista ao ingressar em túneis rodoviários durante o período diurno, utiliza-se a luz artificial, com alto nível inicial e gradual diminuição para o interior do túnel. Tal solução apresenta dois inconvenientes imediatos, relacionados ao consumo de energia e à segurança. Devido à radiação solar direta, as imediações da entrada do túnel tornam-se fontes de ofuscamento de elevada intensidade e a iluminação deve estar dimensionada para permitir, ao motorista que se aproxima da entrada do túnel, a visualização de seu interior, implicando em elevado consumo de energia para uma tarefa com pouco requisito visual. Quanto à segurança, na hipótese de falta de energia aumenta-se a probabilidade de acidentes, pois o reflexo do motorista pode ser frear. As soluções arquitetônicas, objeto da pesquisa, correspondem a um Sistema para Adaptação Visual (SAV), implantado no trecho de rodovia aberta anterior à entrada do túnel, que, por um lado, atua nos elementos causadores do problema e, por outro, fornece a iluminação necessária no interior do túnel através das fontes de luz natural (Sol e céu). Para sua concepção, são propostas cinco estratégias. O desempenho do SAV, assim constituído, foi testado em uma aplicação prática nos túneis do trecho Oeste do Rodoanel Mário Covas, sem apresentar os inconvenientes identificados na solução convencional (iluminação artificial). A segurança no ponto crítico ficou garantida por característica intrínseca do sistema. Além de reduzir o consumo, a energia para o período noturno pôde ser gerada pelo próprio SAV, se incorporados módulos fotovoltaicos, e a sazonalidade característica da luz natural é acompanhada pelo sistema, favorecendo o conforto visual por diminuir a faixa em que ocorre o processo de adaptação visual. / The usual adopted solution to defuse the drivers visual impact at the highway tunnel entrance during the daytime, has been the use of electric lighting, with high initial level and gradual reduction towards the internal side of the tunnel. This brings two immediate problems, concerning energy consumption and security. Direct sunlight causes high intensity glare sources around the tunnel entrance, and the lighting level should be enough to allow the interior visibility, when the driver approaches the tunnel, entailing high energy consumption to a low accurate task. Security-wise, in case of power supply failure, collisions possibility increases, due to the drivers instinctive reaction to brake suddenly. Architectural solutions, this research object, are related to a Visual Adaptation System (VAS) positioned on the open road before the tunnel entrance, which, on the one hand, acts into the problem causes, and, on the other, provides the necessary lighting inside the tunnel by natural light sources (Sun and sky). Five strategies are proposed designing the VAS. A practical application on Metropolitan Area Ring Road Mario Covas West segment tunnels checked the so-built VAS performance, not presenting the identified deficiencies in the conventional solution (artificial lighting). The intrinsic system feature assured the critical point security. Besides the consumption reduction, the energy supply for nighttime could be generated by the VAS, if photovoltaic modules are added, and the natural light seasonal feature is followed by the system, favoring the visual comfort by decreasing the visual adaptation process range.

This dissertation investigates meaning-making in children's joint-reading transactions with literary apps. The analysis of meaning-making focuses on embodiment as a central aspect of literary app's texts and their reading and on children's negotiation of agency in the act of joint-reading. Meaning-making is understood through a multimodal social semiotics perspective, which considers that meaning is realised in the dynamic transaction between reader, text and social context. Therefore, the dissertation integrates the analysis of the apps and of the children's responses to capture the dynamics of meaning-making in such transactions. Case studies were conducted with six families, who read the apps The Monster at the End of This Book (Stone & Smollin, 2011) and Little Red Riding Hood (Nosy Crow, 2013) in an English public library. The central method of data collection involved video-recorded observations of parent-child joint-reading events, complemented by graphic elicitation, informal interviews and a questionnaire. The video data was analysed through multimodal methods. The findings indicate that the participant readers used their bodies not only as a material point of contact and activation of the interactive features but also as a resource for meaning-making in their transactions with the apps. The reader's body was essential in their engagement with the material and interactive affordances of the apps, in reader's expressions of their responses, and in the sharing of the reading experience with the parents. The body of the reader, through spontaneous and interactive gestures, is a mode of communication in the multimodal ecologies of both the text and the reader's responses. Furthermore, the child readers constantly negotiated their agency within the constraints posed by the text, which include the narrative itself and its interactive features, and those posed by the joint-reading situation. The bodies of the readers played an essential role in this dual negotiation of agency. Children's agency was scripted, that is, the readers exerted their agency within the limitations of a script. The script, however, allowed readers to improvise, and their performances also involved resistance to the script through playful subversion. In the joint-reading event, children's agency was foregrounded, positioning the children as protagonist readers, who performed most of the interactions and lived the aesthetic experience of the text fully, to the expense of their parents, who mostly participated as supporting readers, transferring their agency to the children through scaffolding.

Ce mémoire s'intéresse à la vision par ordinateur appliquée à des projets d'art technologique. Le sujet traité est la calibration de systèmes de caméras et de projecteurs dans des applications de suivi et de reconstruction 3D en arts visuels et en art performatif. Le mémoire s'articule autour de deux collaborations avec les artistes québécois Daniel Danis et Nicolas Reeves. La géométrie projective et les méthodes de calibration classiques telles que la calibration planaire et la calibration par géométrie épipolaire sont présentées pour introduire les techniques utilisées dans ces deux projets. La collaboration avec Nicolas Reeves consiste à calibrer un système caméra-projecteur sur tête robotisée pour projeter des vidéos en temps réel sur des écrans cubiques mobiles. En plus d'appliquer des méthodes de calibration classiques, nous proposons une nouvelle technique de calibration de la pose d'une caméra sur tête robotisée. Cette technique utilise des plans elliptiques générés par l'observation d'un seul point dans le monde pour déterminer la pose de la caméra par rapport au centre de rotation de la tête robotisée. Le projet avec le metteur en scène Daniel Danis aborde les techniques de calibration de systèmes multi-caméras. Pour son projet de théâtre, nous avons développé un algorithme de calibration d'un réseau de caméras wiimotes. Cette technique basée sur la géométrie épipolaire permet de faire de la reconstruction 3D d'une trajectoire dans un grand volume à un coût minime. Les résultats des techniques de calibration développées sont présentés, de même que leur utilisation dans des contextes réels de performance devant public. / This thesis focuses on computer vision applications for technological art projects. Camera and projector calibration is discussed in the context of tracking applications and 3D reconstruction in visual arts and performance art. The thesis is based on two collaborations with québécois artists Daniel Danis and Nicolas Reeves. Projective geometry and classical camera calibration techniques, such as planar calibration and calibration from epipolar geometry, are detailed to introduce the techniques implemented in both artistic projects. The project realized in collaboration with Nicolas Reeves consists of calibrating a pan-tilt camera-projector system in order to adapt videos to be projected in real time on mobile cubic screens. To fulfil the project, we used classical camera calibration techniques combined with our proposed camera pose calibration technique for pan-tilt systems. This technique uses elliptic planes, generated by the observation of a point in the scene while the camera is panning, to compute the camera pose in relation to the rotation centre of the pan-tilt system. The project developed in collaboration with Daniel Danis is based on multi-camera calibration. For this studio theatre project, we developed a multi-camera calibration algorithm to be used with a wiimote network. The technique based on epipolar geometry allows 3D reconstruction of a trajectory in a large environment at a low cost. The results obtained from the camera calibration techniques implemented are presented alongside their application in real public performance contexts.