Université de Sherbrooke

About: Université de Sherbrooke is a education organization based out in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Receptor. The organization has 14922 authors who have published 28783 publications receiving 792511 citations. The organization is also known as: Universite de Sherbrooke & Sherbrooke University.

Circular economy and the construction industry: Existing trends, challenges and prospective framework for sustainable construction

Abstract: The circular economy (CE) concept has received increasing attention among different parties on various levels recently. Due to the concern on significant resources consumption in the construction industry without concerning the physical limit resources, a paradigm shift of linear economy to CE model is inevitable for conserving the resources and promoting the efficient use of resources. Adopting CE into the construction industry can promote the successful transition to sustainable construction. Although early stage of development in the construction industry, the scientific contribution of CE agenda in the construction industry is significantly increasing. Therefore, this review aimed to identity the implications, considerations, contributions and challenges of CE in the construction industry by systematically analyzing the recent literature. In addition to existing trends and considerations, this study highlighted the numerous challenges under design, materials selection, supply chain, business model, uncertainty and risk, collaborations among actions, knowledge of understanding, relevant policy, integration of urban metabolism, and methodology for CE evaluation. The study found that CE implementation into the case-specific building with full scale evaluation is yet to be conducted, and a comprehensive CE integration and methodology framework is yet to be developed. A prospective integrated framework for CE adoption and evaluation method is proposed by analyzing the contemporary issues. It is believed that the analyzed critical issues for CE adoption, identified future research direction, and proposed frameworks and methodology should help further development of CE research and contribution to effective implementation of CE into the industry for promoting sustainable construction.

Preparation of polymer single chain nanoparticles using intramolecular photodimerization of coumarin

Abstract: We present a new and easy method for preparing polymer single chain nanoparticles (SCNPs). It uses the photodimerization of coumarin groups located on the same chain to obtain the intrachain cross-linking required for chain collapse in solution. To demonstrate the approach, samples of a random copolymer composed of N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and 4-methyl-[7-(methacryloyl)oxy-ethyl-oxy]coumarin (CMA), with 7 or 13 mol% of CMA, were synthesized via the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. We show that well-defined SCNPs could be obtained by the intrachain photodimerization of coumarin groups upon λ > 310 nm UV irradiation in a dilute copolymer solution. The coil-to-globule transition induced by intrachain photo-cross-linking was investigated by means of 1H NMR spin–spin relaxation time (T2). The result indicates that the photoinduced chain collapse is accompanied by a sharp increase of the fraction of chain segments having reduced mobility. SCNPs were further used as a nanoreactor to synthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in situ. In tetrahydrofuran, the rate of AuNP formation was found to be dependent on the polymer chain conformation and mobility determined by the dimerization degree of coumarin. This provides a means to optically control the kinetics of AuNP formation.

Long-term efficacy and safety of sacral nerve stimulation for fecal incontinence.

Abstract: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Sacral nerve stimulation is effective in the treatment of urinary incontinence and is currently under Food and Drug Administration review in the United States for fecal incontinence. Previous reports have focused primarily on short-term results of sacral nerve stimulation for fecal incontinence. The present study reports the long-term effectiveness and safety of sacral nerve stimulation for fecal incontinence in a large prospective multicenter study.

A common framework for identifying linkage rules across different types of interactions

Abstract: Summary Species interactions, ranging from antagonisms to mutualisms, form the architecture of biodiversity and determine ecosystem functioning. Understanding the rules responsible for who interacts with whom, as well as the functional consequences of these interspecific interactions, is central to predict community dynamics and stability. Species traits sensu lato may affect different ecological processes by determining species interactions through a two-step process. First, ecological and life-history traits govern species distributions and abundance, and hence determine species co-occurrence and the potential for species to interact. Secondly, morphological or physiological traits between co-occurring potential interaction partners should match for the realization of an interaction. Here, we review recent advances on predicting interactions from species co-occurrence and develop a probabilistic model for inferring trait matching. The models proposed here integrate both neutral and trait-matching constraints, while using only information about known interactions, thereby overcoming problems originating from undersampling of rare interactions (i.e. missing links). They can easily accommodate qualitative or quantitative data and can incorporate trait variation within species, such as values that vary along developmental stages or environmental gradients. We use three case studies to show that the proposed models can detect strong trait matching (e.g. predator–prey system), relaxed trait matching (e.g. herbivore–plant system) and barrier trait matching (e.g. plant–pollinator systems). Only by elucidating which species traits are important in each process (i.e. in determining interaction establishment and frequency), we can advance in explaining how species interact and the consequences of these interactions for ecosystem functioning. A lay summary is available for this article.