NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Les causes des violences ethniques de 2010 au Kirghizistan

Following the ethnic violence which happened in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010, several authors and media sources have stated that the confrontation between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz was due to manipulations of ethnicity by the region’s elites. This master’s dissertation analyzes the influence of elites within Kyrgyz society, it thus analyzes they’re capacity to mobilize people for something as radical as ethnic violence. The political and economic leverage which these elites have in society is thus confronted to more emotional factors of mobilisation. Scott Radnitz’s theory on clientelism and on elite’s ability to gather large crowds for public gatherings will be examined and opposed to other theories which attribute more emotional causes to confrontation. The results of this analysis indicate that Radnitz offers and excellent guide to studying any type of mobilisation in Kyrgyzstan. However, in the case of ethnic violence, the emotional aspect to mobilisation must be taken into account to fully understand the situation.

Keyphrases: Radnitz, Mobilisation, Manipulation, Kyrgyzstan, Ethnic violence, Clientelism, Mobilization, Emotional, Elites, Manipulations, Ethnicity
L'arbitrage impliquant les personnes publiques : tendances et perspectives

This study investigates the difficulties that arise when legal disputes between public bodies and foreign private entities are resolved through arbitration. For economic expediency, some Western states and developing countries are quite open to the idea of resolving legal disputes by submitting to arbitration proceedings. Other countries, such as Latin America and the Arab world, have a clearly hostile approach to state participation in arbitration proceedings, ranging from total prohibition to conditional submission.   There is a clash between two schools of thought: the privatist approach that considers international arbitration to be the business community’s natural forum, as opposed to the statist approach according to which only state courts are qualified to consider legal disputes between public bodies and private entities.   The underlying reasons for the increased flexibility of certain governments in favor of a liberal move towards public law arbitration are a result of the globalizing effect of the economy, which tends to decimate domestic state laws within the framework of the new global economic order. On the other hand, the social, financial and legal consequences of arbitration awards render some governments resistant to arbitration involving public entities. They brandish the right to self-determination of peoples to guard against the depletion of their resources to the detriment of the economic, social and cultural rights of their populations. This is despite the fact that foreign direct investment plays a considerable role in the development of emerging countries.  The ultimate aim of this study is to explore different avenues for striking a fair balance between public interests and the protection of private investments. This requires a paradigmatic change so as to take into account the multiple dimensions of legal disputes between the state and investors.

Keyphrases: Arbitrage international, International arbitration, Subjective arbitrability, Arbitration and investment treaties, International responsability of States, Investor-state legal disputes
Tests pour la dépendance entre les sections dans un modèle de Poisson

For panel data, repeated measures over time can challenge the hypothesis of dependence between subjects. Tests were developped in order to assess if some dependence remains among residuals. The three tests we present in this master thesis are from Pesaran (2004), Friedman (1937) and Frees (1995). These three tests, constructed specifically for linear models, are based on the residuals generated from models (and their correlations). We wish to study in this master thesis the performances of these three tests in the case of generalized linear Poisson models. For that goal, we compare them between each other (level, power, etc.) using two linear models, one with an autoregressive term and the other without. Next, inspired by Hsiao, Pesaran and Pick (2007) who adapt the test from Pesaran (2004), we will study their performances in a generalized Poisson model. All of our comparisons are done with simulations by modifying some variables (number of observations, strength of the dependence). We will observe that when the correlation is always of the same sign, Pesaran’s test is the best in most cases, for the linear models and the generalized linear model. Frees’ test will show good performances when the sign of the correlations alternates.

Keyphrases: Poisson, Test, Residuals, Regression, Linear model, Generalized linear model, Panel data, Dependence
Au-delà et à côté de la Quality TV : une alternative esthétique brésilienne

This research seeks to analyse the rise and the evolution of the concept of quality within the Brazilian context, to include Brazilian television fiction amongst quality television products. Covering the history of Brazilian television dramas from tele-theatres to the microseries directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho, and in particular the serie Capitu (2008), we suggest that the fictional production in Brazil has reached a very sophisticated and forward-thinking quality level, illustrating an alternative to the aesthetics of American TV series, also known as Quality TV. Furthermore, the sophistication of this microseries contributes to legitimize the artistic value of television by taking into consideration its own formal characteristics, which are different from American fictional production whose cinematographic style ends up discrediting the qualities of the small screen. At last, we would like to demonstrate the importance of Capitu’s aesthetic innovations within a media-sphere which seems to evolve gradually and quickly towards a standardisation of the televisual language and its content.

Keyphrases: Capitu, telenovela, Quality TV, quality television, Capitu, telenovela, television aesthetics, Quality TV, Capitu, telenovela, Quality TV
Le proxénétisme au féminin : étude sur le rôle des femmes dans le recrutement de prostituées à Montréal

Although the role of women in the recruitment of prostitutes is not a new phenomenon, few  studies have focused on it. The interest in this research relies on the lack of knowledge of this problem, although seemingly present in contemporary Quebec society. Using interviews with 15 stakeholders from police services, community organizations or youth centres, we recorded information on 26 cases of women who recruit for prostitution. The analysis of different criteria allowed us to classify them into three categories: partners, go-betweens and madams.  Unlike go-betweens and madams, partners are in a relationship with a male accomplice. Like madams, all partners have a past in prostitution, while some go-betweens have never participated in the sex industry before. The partners play a role in the management and control of the victims, which is generally not the case with the go-betweens. The madams have several responsibilities for the management of at least one erotic establishment. Most partners also use violence and threats to control their victims, while the madams use more subtle techniques.  Although there are several incentives that motivate recruiters to find new recruits, monetary benefits or material gains are the only expressed for the three profiles. With few exceptions, each profile runs in a predetermined recruiting process. For the partner, it is targeting a vulnerable girl, to offer her a safe environment to stay and then, glamorize the positive aspects to initiate a relationship with her. The crucial step is when the partner asks for a monetary contribution from the victim and then introduced her into prostitution. The recruitment process of the go-betweens is similar to that of the partners, except for the crucial step that will put the recruit in contact with a male pimp or gang members. The role of the go-betweens usually ends at this point. For her part, the madams will usually find her recruits in ads in the newspaper or on the Web and through her contacts with organized crime.

Keyphrases: Prostitution, Female procuring, Recruitment
Aspirations de la relève et nécessité de convaincre dans le culte du Teyyam

Teyyam is a Hindu possession ritual from Kerala (South India), the practice of which is unforgiving: it requires fasting, physical feats, heat resistance. Dressed in a spectacular costume, the performers dance, swords in hand, to the frenzied beat of drums, they are the vessels of the gods’ words. An untouchable embodies the god in front of the assembled community; he will even have the right, during this ritual inversion of roles, to critique the caste system. Whereas this performance used to be a caste obligation associated with poverty, it has, today, become a job that one can choose, or not, to do. Even though some people lament the fact that there is a lack of young men to ensure the continuity of this practice due to the difficult conditions of this ritual, there, nonetheless, remain educated young men ready to pursue this ancestral tradition. In Kerala, a lot of people count on education to have a good job, the young are more and more educated and a good number of them aspire to attain the middle class; there are opportunities, but not for everyone and there is a lot of competition. Educated young men want to pursue a tradition that they admire and that they are proud of, but without having to sacrifice their chances of social mobility. What are their aspirations? What meaning are they giving to what they want to accomplish? Traditionally the patronage relations in Teyyam have been very hard, under the shade of the caste system. What is the situation today? How do the performers manage to negotiate the achievement of their aspirations in the context of Teyyam?

Keyphrases: Teyyam, Kerala, Possession, Transmission, Youth, Hinduism, India, Ritual, Middle class, Social mobility
La presse française et l’adhésion de la Grande-Bretagne à la CEE : des refus à l’acceptation (1961-1973)

Following the Second World War, Europe was divided and weak. The horrors of war forced Europeans to rethink how to co-exist and the idea of a united Europe with strong economical and political ties grew among them. The ECSC was created in 1951 and then, seven years later, the European Economic Community. When the latter succeeded, some European countries, like Great Britain, asked to join. France, and its president Charles de Gaulle, objected to the British application on two occasions, in 1963 and in 1967. London had to wait for the arrival of a new French president, Georges Pompidou, to be officially accepted in the EEC. The enlargement of the Community was an important event because it had an impact on France’s role in Europe and in the world. It also influenced Europe’s role in the then bipolar world and on its relations with the United States. The national press of the countries involved covered the events surrounding the enlargement with interest. The French daily press commented on them at length. Using both historical studies and primary sources, this thesis thematically analyzes the views of French newspaper of different political horizons on French policy surrounding the three British applications.

Keyphrases: European Economic Community (EEC), widening, Great Britain, Fifth Republic, press
L'art du récit chez Apulée

The Metamorphoses of Apuleius is notable for its numerous inserted tales often interrupting the novel’s main plot. These stories were probably already present, at least partly, in the Greek novel that was used as a source by Apuleius, the Μεταμορφώσεις. However this work is lost and only reached us through an epitomized version (Ὄνος), making it difficult to establish just how much the structure of the Latin Metamorphoses retains from its Greek source. Still some elements can be easily attributed to Apuleius, like Cupid and Psyche’s tale or the novel's 11th (and last) book. Besides having an entertaining purpose, these inserted tales share common themes with the main plot, creating a unity within the novel. Furthermore, multiple narrators are required in order to tell all these stories implying that, in addition to Lucius (the novel’s main character and narrator), many characters play an active part in storytelling. Finally, Apuleius pays great attention to his characters’ perception of events they witness or of stories they hear. And at several occasions the characters’ subjectivity influences the storyline. Thus the Metamorphoses’ inserted tales, even though they may at first give a false impression of confusion, should be considered as the most original and most well developed feature of Apuleius’ novel.

Keyphrases: Onos, roman latin, Apuleius, the Metamorphoses, the Golden Ass, Lucius of Patrae, Latin novel, inserted tales, narratology
Environnement local des défauts structurels et ordre à moyenne portée dans le silicium amorphe

Based on a detailed study of the radial distribution function (RDF) of a model for amorphous sili- con (a-Si), we address the relation between short-range rearrangements and an increase in medium- range order induced by thermal relaxation. Recent experimental measurements have shown that a small peak appears in the RDF around 4.7 Å upon annealing, along with other subtle changes, and this is attributed to ordering among the dihedral angles. We show that, although this is a possible explanation, an increase in short-range order (up to second neighbors) is not only necessary for these changes to occur, but could also be their sole cause. To clarify the nature of disorder in the amorphous system, correlations among dihedral and tetrahedral angles are examined. The bivariate probability distribution of these two variables reveals small correlations between dihedral and te- trahedral angles, associated with the staggered and eclipsed conformations. In the first case, bond angles around 112.5◦ are favored vs. 120◦ in the second case. Bond angles between 95◦ and 100◦ are less probable in both conformations. On another issue, the nature of disorder in amorphous silicon (a-Si) is explored by investigating the spatial ar- rangement and energies of coordination defects in a numerical model. Spatial correlations between structural defects are examined on the basis of a parameter that quantifies the probability for two sites to share a bond. Pentacoordinated atoms are found to be the dominant coordination defects. They show a tendency to cluster, and about 17% of them are linked through three-membered rings. As for tricoordinated sites, they are less numerous, and tend to be distant by at least two bond lengths. Typical local geometries associated to under and overcoordinated atoms are extracted from the model and described using partial bond angle distributions. An estimate of the formation energies of structural defects is provided. Using molecular-dynamics calculations, we simulate the implantation of high-energy atoms in the initial structure in order to study the effect of relaxation on the coordination defects and their environments.

Keyphrases: Amorphous silicon, Medium range order, Structural defects
Carnaval : le discours populaire et l'art du bonimenteur chez Bonaventure Des Périers ; suivi de Propos et contes avinés

This master’s thesis in research/creation explores the popular scope as well as the theatrical aspect associated with the narrative figures that are the pitchmen.            Following a critical reading of the Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis (1558) from Bonaventure Des Périers, the essay portion of the thesis attempts to identify the particular posture presented by the pitchman narrator from the French Renaissance. We have attempted to illustrate how this discourse used by Des Périers, through his particular stylistic and discursive structure, partakes in the pitchman figure who addresses the readers directly as he would do in the public square and uses this posture to play with them, using paradoxical effects of proximity and detachment.         This playful manner through which the pitchmen distinguish themselves will fin echoes in the creation portion of this thesis. Propos et contes avinés is a collection of short stories inspired by the boccaccian tradition in which the protagonists tell stories in order to convince their listeners of the validity of their opinions. Their dialogue (the discourse) is juxtaposed with narrative (the tale) in a carnivalesque atmosphere.

Keyphrases: Des Périers, Pitchman, French Renaissance, Short stories collection, Carnivalesque
Hugo Loetscher et l’impureté linguistique : äs tischört und plutschins : traduction et analyse des procédés d’adaptation

Hugo Loetscher (1929-2009) has played an important role in Swiss-German literature of the 20th century. He is often described as a “Swiss cosmopolitan” because of the way he managed to stay interested in what was happening in the whole wide world without ever disowning his social background and his country of origin. This thesis examines an essay, äs tischört und plutschins. Über das Unreine in der Sprache, eine helvetische Situierung, which adopts a Swiss perspective to deal with the relationship between language, literature and nation – the place of minority languages in the globalized world and on the ideal of linguistic “purity” deemed questionable by Loetscher Besides proposing a translation of Loetscher’s essay still unpublished in French, this thesis explores the pertinence of the aforementioned text in the current context in Québec and the translation process of a Swiss German author’s text for a diverse francophone public based on the theories of Alfred Malblanc (comparative stylistics), Katharina Reiß and Hans J. Vermeer (skopos theory). The study addresses on the one hand the role of peritextual elements, such as footnotes, for the adaptation process, allowing the translatum, the target text as a result of the translation act, to meet its initial goal; its skopos. On the other hand, the study reflects on the use of (québécois or Swiss) regionalisms in a translatum that is in standard French, how they relate to the source text’s focus on linguistic diversity, and regional and dialectal variations.

Keyphrases: adaptation, German-French translation, adaptation, Swiss literature, minority languages, regionalisms, skopos theory, comparative stylistics, Adaptation
Optical imaging and two-photon microscopy study of hemodynamic changes contralateral to ictal focus during epileptiform discharges

It has been well demonstrated that focal seizures are associated with a significant increase in regional cerebral blood flow to actively supply discharging neurons with oxygenated hemoglobin. There is also some evidence to suggest that focal seizures elicit early hemodynamic changes in the contralateral homotopic area, although this has been less well documented. In this study, we aim to better characterize the nature of early hemodynamic responses contralateral to the epileptic focus during seizures. We used intrinsic optical imaging (IOI) and two-photon laser microscopy to measure the hemodynamic changes in the homotopic contralateral area following focal seizures induced by an injection of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) in the mouse somatosensory neocortex. In the study using IOI, oxyhemoglobin (HbO), deoxyhemoglobin (HbR) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes were observed in the homotopic area contralateral to the focus during all seizures. However, these changes were rather heterogenous, lacking any consistent or reproducible pattern. Our two-photon study showed no significant hemodynamic changes at the capillary level in the homotopic area contralateral to the ictal focus during epileptic spike trains. However, these findings must be interpreted cautiously in light of several limitations we encountered during the experiments. Specifically, we were unable to simultaneously record electrophysiology in the contralateral homotopic area. Furthermore, during our two-photon experiments, we failed to induce long ictal discharges (inducing only spike trains) had a limited sampling of the contralateral homotopic area and reduced power as a result of low mice survival rate. We conclude by providing alternatives to possibly improve future experiments.

Keyphrases: Hemodynamic, Two-photon, Intrinsic optical imaging, Epileptiform discharges, Homotopic contralateral area
Variabilité individuelle de l'allocation fonctionnelle des régions cérébrales perceptives dans l'autisme

Background: An enhanced plasticity is suspected to play a role in various microstructural alterations, as well as in regional cortical reallocations observed in autism. Combined with multiple indications of enhanced perceptual functioning in autism, and indications of atypical motor functioning, enhanced plasticity predicts a superior variability in functional cortical allocation, predominant in perceptual and motor regions.  Method: To test this prediction, we scanned 23 high-functioning autistic and 22 typical participants matched on age, FSIQ, Raven scores and handedness during a visuo-motor imitation task. For each participant, the coordinates of the strongest activation peak were extracted in the primary (Brodmann Area 4) and supplementary (BA6) motor cortex, the visuomotor superior parietal cortex (BA7), and the primary (BA17) and associative (BA18+19) visual areas. Mean signal changes for each ROI in both hemispheres, and the number of voxels composing the strongest activation peak were individually extracted to compare intensity and size of the signal between groups. For each ROI, in each hemisphere, and for every participant, the distance from their respective group average was used as a variable of interest to determine group differences in localization variability using repeated measure ANOVAs. Between-group comparison of whole-brain activation was also performed. Results: Both groups displayed a higher mean variability in the localization of activations in the associative compared to the primary visual or motor areas. However, despite this shared increased variability in associative cortices, a direct between-group comparison of the individual variability in localization of the activation revealed a significantly greater variability in the autistic than in the typical group in the left visuo-motor superior parietal cortex (BA7) and in the left associative visual areas (BA18+19).  Conclusion: Different and possibly unique strategies are used by each autistic individual. That enhanced variability in localization of activations in the autistic group is found in regions typically more variable in non-autistics raises the possibility that autism involves an enhancement and/or an alteration of typical plasticity mechanisms.

Keyphrases: Autism, fMRI, Cerebral Plasticity, Primary Areas, Associatives Areas