Conception d’un dispositif de formation en ligne, selon une approche par compétences au collégial, dans le cadre du cours crédité Éclairages et rendus 2 du programme Techniques d’animation 3D et synthèse d’images

Nous avons dirigé cet essai sur la conception et le développement d’un dispositif de formation en ligne, selon une approche par compétences au collégial, dans le cadre du cours crédité Éclairages et rendus 2 du programme Techniques d’animation 3D et synthèse d’images. Nous avons commencé en présentant le programme Techniques d’animation 3D et synthèse d’images du Cégep Limoilou, le cours Éclairages et rendus 2 et l’épreuve synthèse de programme (ESP) qui se rattache au programme. Nous avons également défini l’utilisation actuelle des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) et des environnements numériques d’apprentissage (ENA) dans le programme et nous avons déterminé les modalités de cours au collégial. Ensuite, en l’absence de formation en ligne au Cégep Limoilou, nous avons exposé les raisons qui nous ont mené à concevoir et à développer un dispositif de formation en ligne pour le cours Éclairages et rendus 2. Nous avons identifié les problèmes, entre autres reliés aux politiques institutionnelles, à la convention collective et au manque de disponibilité des locaux. Ce manque de disponibilité des locaux limite le temps de pratique des étudiantes et étudiants, limite l’accessibilité aux logiciels et nuit à l’implantation de l’alternance travail-études (ATE) dans le programme Techniques d’animation 3D et synthèse d’images. La conception d’un dispositif de formation en ligne pour le cours Éclairages et rendus 2 permettrait de libérer des heures de laboratoire et faciliterait le processus d’adhésion à l’ATE. À partir de l’objectif général, nous avons construit le cadre de référence permettant de positionner les fondements de cet essai. Nous avons débuté en démystifiant la formation à distance et en définissant le concept d’ingénierie pédagogique, particulièrement le modèle ADDIE. Ensuite, nous avons clarifié la nature et les caractéristiques des ENA et défini l’approche par compétences. Nous avons terminé en définissant les objectifs spécifiques. L’approche méthodologique retenue dans le cadre de cet essai est une approche qualitative. Nous avons choisi une posture interprétative en accordant de l’importance à la compréhension et l’interprétation des résultats (Fortin, 2010). Cet essai est basé sur une recherche développement qui s’inscrit dans le pôle de l’innovation visant à développer du matériel technopédagogique. Les résultats démontrent que les étudiantes et les étudiants ont apprécié le dispositif d’apprentissage. L’ENA s’est avéré un outil familier pour les étudiantes et les étudiants, car ils utilisent quotidiennement l’ordinateur dans leurs fonctions de travail. L’expérimentation du dispositif a permis de recueillir des résultats qui ont été compilés, analysés et comparés dans le but d’améliorer le dispositif de formation en ligne. Nous avons corroboré les données à l’aide de deux méthodes de collecte de données, soit le journal du chercheur et le questionnaire à questions ouvertes et fermées. Pour les pistes futures, il serait intéressant de valider le dispositif de formation en ligne auprès d’un plus grand échantillon en ne se limitant pas uniquement à des étudiantes ou étudiants du programme de Techniques d’animation 3D et synthèse d’images. Il serait également intéressant de mettre en place un dispositif couvrant l’ensemble des 15 semaines de la session et de faire une mise à l’essai à plus d’une reprise. Enfin, une avenue intéressante serait de concevoir un dispositif plus universel et adapté à d’autres cours du programme et à d’autres programmes de formation collégiale et universitaire pouvant servir de guide plus général à la création d’une formation en ligne adaptée à une approche par compétences.

New particle formation and growth at a remote, sub-tropical coastal location

A month-long intensive measurement campaign was conducted in March/April 2007 at Agnes Water, a remote coastal site just south of the Great Barrier Reef on the east coast of Australia. Particle and ion size distributions were continuously measured during the campaign. Coastal nucleation events were observed in clean, marine air masses coming from the south-east on 65% of the days. The events usually began at ~10:00 local time and lasted for 1-4 hrs. They were characterised by the appearance of a nucleation mode with a peak diameter of ~10 nm. The freshly nucleated particles grew within 1-4 hrs up to sizes of 20-50 nm. The events occurred when solar intensity was high (~1000 W m-2) and RH was low (~60%). Interestingly, the events were not related to tide height. The volatile and hygroscopic properties of freshly nucleated particles (17-22.5 nm), simultaneously measured with a volatility-hygroscopicity-tandem differential mobility analyser (VH-TDMA), were used to infer chemical composition. The majority of the volume of these particles was attributed to internally mixed sulphate and organic components. After ruling out coagulation as a source of significant particle growth, we conclude that the condensation of sulphate and/or organic vapours was most likely responsible for driving particle growth during the nucleation events. We cannot make any direct conclusions regarding the chemical species that participated in the initial particle nucleation. However, we suggest that nucleation may have resulted from the photo-oxidation products of unknown sulphur or organic vapours emitted from the waters of Hervey Bay, or from the formation of DMS-derived sulphate clusters over the open ocean that were activated to observable particles by condensable vapours emitted from the nutrient rich waters around Fraser Island or Hervey Bay. Furthermore, a unique and particularly strong nucleation event was observed during northerly wind. The event began early one morning (08:00) and lasted almost the entire day resulting in the production of a large number of ~80 nm particles (average modal concentration during the event was 3200 cm-3). The Great Barrier Reef was the most likely source of precursor vapours responsible for this event.

Long-term trends in fine particle number concentrations in the urban atmosphere of Brisbane : the relevance of traffic emissions and new particle formation

The measurement of submicrometre (< 1.0 m) and ultrafine particles (diameter < 0.1 m) number concentration have attracted attention since the last decade because the potential health impacts associated with exposure to these particles can be more significant than those due to exposure to larger particles. At present, ultrafine particles are not regularly monitored and they are yet to be incorporated into air quality monitoring programs. As a result, very few studies have analysed their long-term and spatial variations in ultrafine particle concentration, and none have been in Australia. To address this gap in scientific knowledge, the aim of this research was to investigate the long-term trends and seasonal variations in particle number concentrations in Brisbane, Australia. Data collected over a five-year period were analysed using weighted regression models. Monthly mean concentrations in the morning (6:00-10:00) and the afternoon (16:00-19:00) were plotted against time in months, using the monthly variance as the weights. During the five-year period, submicrometre and ultrafine particle concentrations increased in the morning by 105.7% and 81.5% respectively whereas in the afternoon there was no significant trend. The morning concentrations were associated with fresh traffic emissions and the afternoon concentrations with the background. The statistical tests applied to the seasonal models, on the other hand, indicated that there was no seasonal component. The spatial variation in size distribution in a large urban area was investigated using particle number size distribution data collected at nine different locations during different campaigns. The size distributions were represented by the modal structures and cumulative size distributions. Particle number peaked at around 30 nm, except at an isolated site dominated by diesel trucks, where the particle number peaked at around 60 nm. It was found that ultrafine particles contributed to 82%-90% of the total particle number. At the sites dominated by petrol vehicles, nanoparticles (< 50 nm) contributed 60%-70% of the total particle number, and at the site dominated by diesel trucks they contributed 50%. Although the sampling campaigns took place during different seasons and were of varying duration these variations did not have an effect on the particle size distributions. The results suggested that the distributions were rather affected by differences in traffic composition and distance to the road. To investigate the occurrence of nucleation events, that is, secondary particle formation from gaseous precursors, particle size distribution data collected over a 13 month period during 5 different campaigns were analysed. The study area was a complex urban environment influenced by anthropogenic and natural sources. The study introduced a new application of time series differencing for the identification of nucleation events. To evaluate the conditions favourable to nucleation, the meteorological conditions and gaseous concentrations prior to and during nucleation events were recorded. Gaseous concentrations did not exhibit a clear pattern of change in concentration. It was also found that nucleation was associated with sea breeze and long-range transport. The implications of this finding are that whilst vehicles are the most important source of ultrafine particles, sea breeze and aged gaseous emissions play a more important role in secondary particle formation in the study area.

The mechanism of breath aerosol formation

Background: Aerosol production during normal breathing is often attributed to turbulence in the respiratory tract. That mechanism is not consistent with a high degree of asymmetry between aerosol production during inhalation and exhalation. The objective was to investigate production symmetry during breathing. Methods: The aerosol size distribution in exhaled breath was examined for different breathing patterns including normal breathing, varied breath holding periods and contrasting inhalation and exhalation rates. The aerosol droplet size distribution measured in the exhaled breath was examined in real time using an aerodynamic particle sizer. Results and Conclusions: The dependence of the particle concentration decay rate on diameter during breath holding was consistent with gravitational settling in the alveolar spaces. Also, deep exhalation resulted in a 4 to 6 fold increase in concentration and rapid inhalation produced a further 2 to 3 fold increase in concentration. In contrast rapid exhalation had little effect on the measured concentration. A positive correlation of the breath aerosol concentration with subject age was observed. The results were consistent with the breath aerosol being produced through fluid film rupture in the respiratory bronchioles in the early stages of inhalation and the resulting aerosol being drawn into the alveoli and held before exhalation. The observed asymmetry of production in the breathing cycle with very little aerosol being produced during exhalation, is inconsistent with the widely assumed turbulence induced aerosolization mechanism.

Expression of Potato virus Y cytoplasmic inclusion protein in tobacco results in disorganization of parenchyma cells, distortion of epidermal cells, and induces mitochondrial and chloroplast abnormalities, formation of membrane whorls and atypical lipid accumulation

Infection of plant cells by potyviruses induces the formation of cytoplasmic inclusions ranging in size from 200 to 1000 nm. To determine if the ability to form these ordered, insoluble structures is intrinsic to the potyviral cytoplasmic inclusion protein, we have expressed the cytoplasmic inclusion protein from Potato virus Y in tobacco under the control of the chrysanthemum ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit promoter, a highly active, green tissue promoter. No cytoplasmic inclusions were observed in the leaves of transgenic tobacco using transmission electron microscopy, despite being able to clearly visualize these inclusions in Potato virus Y infected tobacco leaves under the same conditions. However, we did observe a wide range of tissue and sub-cellular abnormalities associated with the expression of the Potato virus Y cytoplasmic inclusion protein. These changes included the disruption of normal cell morphology and organization in leaves, mitochondrial and chloroplast internal reorganization, and the formation of atypical lipid accumulations. Despite these significant structural changes, however, transgenic tobacco plants were viable and the results are discussed in the context of potyviral cytoplasmic inclusion protein function.

Cyclic strain disrupts endothelial network formation on Matrigel

Most forms of tissue healing depend critically on revascularisation. In soft tissues and in vitro, mechanical stimuli have been shown to promote vessel-forming activity. However, in bone defects, increased interfragmentary motion impairs vascular regeneration. Because these effects seem contradictory, we aimed to determine whether a range of mechanical stimuli exists in which angiogenesis is favoured. A series of cyclic strain magnitudes were applied to a Matrigel-based “tube formation” assay and the total lengths of networks formed by human microvascular endothelial cells measured at 24 h. Network lengths were reduced at all strain levels, compared to unstretched controls. However, the levels of pro-angiogenic matrix metalloproteases-2 and -9 in the corresponding conditioned media were unchanged by strain, and vascular endothelial growth factor was uniformly elevated in stretched conditions. By repeating the assay with the addition of conditioned media from mesenchymal stem cells cultivated in similar conditions, paracrine stimuli were shown to increase network lengths, but not to alter the negative effect of cyclic stretching. Together, these results demonstrate that directly applied periodic strains can inhibit endothelial organisation in vitro, and suggest that this may be due to physical disruption rather than biochemical modulation. Most importantly, the results indicate that the straining of endothelial cells and their assembly into vascular-like structures must be studied simultaneously to adequately characterise the mechanical influence on vessel formation.

Enhancement of DNA repair using topical T4 endonuclease V does not inhibit melanoma formation in Cdk4R24C/R24C/Tyr-NrasQ61K mice following neonatal UVR

To further investigate the use of DNA repair-enhancing agents for skin cancer prevention, we treated Cdk4R24C/R24C/NrasQ61K mice topically with the T4 endonuclease V DNA repair enzyme (known as Dimericine) immediately prior to neonatal ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure, which has a powerful effect in exacerbating melanoma development in the mouse model. Dimericine has been shown to reduce the incidence of basal-cell and squamous cell carcinoma. Unexpectedly, we saw no difference in penetrance or age of onset of melanoma after neonatal UVR between Dimericine-treated and control animals, although the drug reduced DNA damage and cellular proliferation in the skin. Interestingly, epidermal melanocytes removed cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) more efficiently than surrounding keratinocytes. Our study indicates that neonatal UVR-initiated melanomas may be driven by mechanisms other than solely that of a large CPD load and/or their inefficient repair. This is further suggestive of different mechanisms by which UVR may enhance the transformation of keratinocytes and melanocytes.