NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Impact différencié des avantages sociaux novateurs et des avantages sociaux traditionnels sur l'intention de rester des travailleurs via l'effet médiateur de l'engagement organisationnel

The objective of this thesis is to understand the impact of innovative and traditional perks on workers’ intent to stay through the mediating effect of organizational commitment.  Three hypotheses were proposed to study this question based on Blau’s Social Exchange Theory (1964) and Balkin and Bannister’s Resources Dependence Theory (1993). Our first hypothesis states that innovative perks have a positive and indirect effect on workers’ intent to stay through the mediating effect of organizational commitment. Our second hypothesis indicates that traditional perks have a positive and indirect effect on workers’ intent to stay through the mediating effect of organizational commitment. Our third and last hypothesis suggests that innovative perks have a greater effect on workers’ intent to stay through the mediating effect of organizational commitment than traditional perks.  The longitudinal data used in this thesis comes from a broader investigation called « The Links Between Compensation, Training and Development  Skills with the Attraction and Retention of Key Employees ». The sample consists of newly hired employees from a global Information Technology and Communication (ITC) company based in Montreal. Data from this organization was collected from 235 employees hired between April 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010.  Our findings confirm our first two hypotheses. Our results indicate that both innovative and traditional perks have a positive and indirect impact on workers’ intent to stay through the mediating effect of organizational commitment. Our results also indicate that traditional perks have a greater effect than innovative perks on workers’ intent to stay through the mediating effect of organizational commitment. Perceived organizational support and working under supervision also have an impact on workers’ intent to stay. We conclude this thesis with practical implications for managers with regards to employee retention in the ITC sector. We also present the limitations of our study and the implications for future research.

Keyphrases: innovative perks, traditional perks, organizational commitment, intent to stay, turnover
The typic in Kant’s critique of practical reason : moral judgment and symbolic representation

How can we represent a universal moral principle in such a way as to render it applicable to concrete cases? This problem takes on an acute form in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), particularly in his theory of moral judgment, since he holds that one must apply the ‘supersensible’ moral law to actions in the sensible world in order to determine them as morally good or evil. Kant deals with this problem in a remarkable chapter of the Critique of Practical Reason (1788) entitled “On the Typic of the Pure Practical Power of Judgment” (KpV 5: 67-71). Part One of the thesis aims to provide a comprehensive, coherent, and detailed commentary of this important yet neglected text. Given that the moral law, as a supersensible Idea of reason, cannot be applied directly to actions in sensible intuition, Kant resorts to a particular form of indirect, symbolic representation. His ingenious solution is to provide the power of judgment with a “type [Typus],” or formal analogue, of the moral law. This type is the law of natural causality: qua law, it serves as a formal standard for assessing the universalizability of maxims; qua law of nature, it can also be applied to any and every action in sensible experience. Moral appraisal is performed by asking oneself if one could voluntarily belong to a counterfactual nature in which one’s maxim were a universal law. This thought experiment functions as a “test [Probe]” of the form of maxims and thereby of the moral status of actions. Kant maintains that everyone, “even the most common understanding,” employs this procedure for moral appraisal. In addition, the typic guards against two threats to Kant’s rationalist ethics, namely empiricism (i.e., consequentialism) and mysticism. Part Two investigates Kant’s comment that the typic “serves only as a symbol.” Many commentators have assimilated the typic to the notion of “symbolic hypotyposis” presented in § 59 of the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790). They hold that the typic is an aesthetic process of symbolization that indirectly presents the abstract representation of the moral law as a concrete, intuitive symbol. Chapter 1 presents this interpretation, subjects it to a critical examination, and contends that it is both mistaken and misguided. Chapter 2 pursues a hitherto unexplored avenue of interpretation by showing that the typic has much greater continuities with the earlier notion of symbolic anthropomorphism, a strictly analogical procedure, introduced in the Prolegomena (1783). It is concluded that the typic represents a decisive moment in the evolution of Kant’s theory of symbolic representation, and that it also marks the attainment of a properly critical conception of nature and morality as two distinct realms mediated only by the concepts of law and lawfulness (Gesetzmässigkeit). In a word, the typic is the instrument par excellence of “the rationalism of the power of judgment.”

Keyphrases: type, analogie, Critique of Practical Reason, Typic, type, moral judgment, moral law, ethics, symbol, analogy, aesthetics, Kant
Knowledge transfer intervention theory : a model grounded in the strategies used by intermediate agents in the context of education

The present thesis was based on Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) principles in order to address the lack of documented strategies implemented by “intermediate agents” to promote school practitioners’ use of research-based evidence. The term “intermediate agent” refers to the individuals who are positioned at the interface between scientific knowledge producers and users, and who encourage and support users’ uptake of research-based evidence in their practice. The study is part of the Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports’ project aimed at improving success rates of secondary school students in underprivileged areas. Those solicited to participate in the study were intermediate agents from different levels of the educational system who had obtained the mandate to transfer research-based evidence to practitioners in schools targeted by the project. Snowball sampling (Biernacki & Waldorf, 1981; Patton, 1990) was used to identify individuals who were recognized by their peers for the quality of the support they offered to school practitioners in applying research. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted. Analysis of the data yielded an intervention model coined Knowledge Transfer Intervention Theory, composed of 32 strategies of influence that were categorized into 6 intervention components: Relational, Cognitive, Political, Facilitative, Evaluative, as well as Continuous Support and Follow-up. The findings suggest that strategies embedded in the Relational, Cognitive, and Political components are interdependent and aim to establish a favourable climate, allowing agents to exercise a greater influence towards potential users’ ownership of the knowledge utilization process. Moreover, the Continuous Support and Follow-up component is key to sustaining changes in school practitioners’ use of research. Theoretical implications linked to the model, along with underlying explanations of the mechanisms involved in the different components are compared with the literature in knowledge transfer in the sectors of both health and education. Reports from related disciplines (notably in psychology) are also exposed. Finally, recommendations for practice are proposed.

Keyphrases: intervention, commissions scolaires, intermediate agents, strategies of influence, knowledge transfer, education field, grounded theory, model, intervention, knowledge utilization, underprivileged areas, school boards
Monáitaga úai – Palabra que se hace amanecer : el cambio en las formas de “gobierno propio” entre la Gente de Centro del medio río Caquetá, Amazonia colombiana

The inhabitants of the Middle Caquetá river, called People of the Center, have experienced a series of varying impacts since the late nineteenth century –rubber holocaust, Penal Colony, catholic missions, presence of governmental and non-governmental institutions. These reshaped their forms of social organization. In this particular case, their forms of “self-government”. With the recognition of the indigenous people as ethnic minorities in the 1980s and 1990s, a dichotomy arose between what is “traditional” in relation to the indigenous as opposed to the “modern”, given the processes of acculturation and inclusion of these groups into mainstream society.  In this sense, this work compares the figures of “traditional authority” and “leader”, as differentiated in the context of the inhabitants of the Middle Caquetá River. The first part is a theoretical revision of the figure of the chief in the lowlands of South America and its validity and relevance in the context of the Middle Caquetá River. Next, the context of formation of a traditional authority and its contexts of action are presented. Likewise, the different processes leading to the emergence of the figure of leader and the spaces in which it operates are shown. The relationship between these two figures is at once contradictory and complementary.  Finally, some contexts that illustrate the relationship between the People of the Center and governmental institutions are considered.  This leads to a questioning of the autonomy of minority groups recognized in the Colombian Political Constitution of 1991.

Keyphrases: leader, Political Anthropology, traditional authority, Amazonia, Colombia, social change, Middle Caquetá River, People of the Center
Développement du chant et profil d'amusie congénitale chez l'enfant

Music is universal and singing is its most accessible means of expression. Children start singing spontaneously between one and one and a half year of age (Ostwald, 1973). Nevertheless, the development of this ability has barely been studied in neuropsychology, even if it represents a tremendous source of information about the way the brain analyses music. The goal of the following studies was to better understand the normal and pathological development of the perception and production of singing. The first study presented concerns the normal development of singing abilities in 6 to 11 year old children. Singing was analysed in a systematic and objective fashion in 79 school-age children. The study is first and foremost interested in the effect of age on the quality of singing productions. The effect of gender, music perception abilities, lyrics and presence of models are also examined. The young participants had to sing a familiar song in different conditions, that is, with and without lyrics, as well as following a model’s production and in unison. Acoustical analyses were run on the children’s productions and different melodic and rhythmic variables were compiled: number of interval errors, number of contour errors, size of interval deviations, number of rhythmic errors, size of rhythmic deviations and tempo. The results show that some of the basic singing abilities are still developing after 6 years of age. However, rhythm seems to be mastered earlier and school-age children sometimes perform better than adults on rhythmic variables. Furthermore, it is more difficult for children to sing with lyrics, versus a single syllable, and in unison, versus after a model’s production. Moreover, the number of contour, interval and rhythmic errors, as well as the size of rhythmic deviations, correlate with musical perception abilities. iv The second study describes the first documented case of congenital amusia in children. The subject is a ten year old girl, who was brought forth by her choir director. Her musical perception and singing abilities were evaluated and severe deficits were uncovered. Congenital amusia was therefore diagnosed. Indeed, her results on musical perception tasks were significantly lower than expected for her age, both in terms of melodic and rhythmic difference identification and of melody recall. Deficits were obvious in fine-grain pitch difference perception. ERP analyses suggest that brain responses are altered at a very early stage of auditory processing, as is supported by the absence of a mismatch negativity. Deficits are also found in the young girls’s singing productions, particularly concerning the number and size of interval errors. In conclusion, our studies show that singing abilities are still developing during the first school years. This development can be impeded by deficits specific to musical perception. For the first time, congenital amusia is described among children.

Keyphrases: Singing, Musical perception, Development, Congenital amusia, Children
Séparation, détection et caractérisation de nanoparticules manufacturées dans des eaux naturelles et usées avec la chromatographie hydrodynamique et de multiples détecteurs

Due to the widespread use of engineered nanoparticles (ENP), regulatory agencies are very concerned about their fate and their impacts on the environment and on human health. The development of analytical techniques, which will allow the detection, characterization and quantification of ENP in environmental matrices, is therefore critical in order to properly evaluate the exposure associated with these emerging pollutants.  One promising approach to detect and quantify the nanoparticles is to couple a chromatographic technique to a sensitive detector in order to: (i) reduce matrix effects; (ii) identify nanoparticles from their retention times and (iii) quantify the ENP at environmentally relevant concentrations. Consequently, the coupling of hydrodynamic chromatography (HDC) was performed with both on-line and off-line detectors (light scattering detectors, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer in its single particle mode (SP-ICPMS) and an analytical ultracentrifuge).  HDC was first used for the characterization of ENP standards. Separation conditions were optimized for standard nanoparticle suspensions of polystyrene, gold and silver, which allowed us to confirm that the separation was occurring, based on hydrodynamic size, as predicted by theory. By coupling the HDC column to the ICPMS detector in its ‘‘single particle’’ mode, it was possible to separate an ENP mixture and to detect the nanoparticles at environmental concentrations, i.e., in the μg L-1 to ng L-1 range. For example, in a wastewater sample (effluent wastewater), a mixture of two silver nanoparticles (nAg) of 40 and 80 nm were separated and the nAg were detected by SP-ICPMS at retention times of 25.2 and 25.6 minutes. Diameters of 71.4 nm and 52.0 nm were found. HDC-SP-ICPMS analysis carried out on different non-spiked wastewater samples allowed us to conclude that nAg was below the detection limit of 0.1 µg L-1.

Keyphrases: Nanoparticles, Silver, Hydrodynamic chromatography, Wastewaters, Light scattering, Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in its single particle mode
Asymétries fonctionnelles du cortex visuel observées par spectroscopie proche de l’infrarouge fonctionnelle

The present study aimed to further investigate retinotopic mapping and functional asymmetries within the human visual cortex using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), as well as the reliability of this technique. As expected, results showed a  stronger visual cortical activation in the controlateral hemisphere and in the inverse upper/lower quadrant to the stimulation. We also measured significant stronger activations in the upper visual cortex (when lower hemifield stimuli were presented) compared to activations in the lower visual cortex (when upper hemifield stimuli were showed), especially when the visual stimulation was presented in the right visual field. This is the first study to confirm the vertical and horizontal asymmetries of the visual cortex with fNIRS technique. The present work also settles the reliability of this technique for functional mapping of the human brain.

Keyphrases: retinotopic mapping, primary visual cortex, functional asymmetries, vertical asymmetry, horizontal asymmetry, fnirs, optical imaging
Création sonore et cinéma contemporain : la pensée et la pratique du mixage

This thesis describes and analyzes the esthetic, material and conceptual conditions that make the acoustic structures of contemporary cinema possible. The refinement of tools used for manipulating sound, the growing importance the sound designer and the emergence of a new space for sounds to coexist in (brought on by Dolby and multichannel sound systems) are factors that, over the past 30 years, have transformed the way we work with and listen to sound in film. These transformations reveal a new paradigm: mixing gradually imposed itself as the creative and perceptual act capable of accounting for our contemporary sensibility. This thesis explores the effects of the “thought process of mixing” (which functions by resonance, simultaneity, dosage and modulation) on the way we hear and understand the cinematographic experience. Working from the accounts of sound designers (Murch, Beaugrand, Thom Allard…), theoretical texts on film sound (Cardinal, Chion, Campam), documentaries on improvisational musicians (Lussier, Glennie, Frith), fiction films with a acute acoustic sensibility (Denis, Van Sant), philosophical texts on perception (Leibniz, James, Straus, Szendy…) and analyses of the cinematographic sound apparatus, this thesis renders audible the tensions, the recurrences, the structural connections and the problems, old and new, that forge and direct the theoretician, the artist and the auditor’s way of listening. By questioning the auditory dimension of perception, action, space and thought, this thesis aims to change the way we hear, create and think cinema.

Keyphrases: Son, Perception, Continuum sonore, Mixing, Sound, Listening, Philosophy, Perception, Acoustic space, Sound continuum, Pragmatism
Paysages de guerre : l'expérience de guerre de A.Y. Jackson au front, 1914-1918

A.Y. Jackson is known as one of the founding members of the Group of Seven and as a cultural hero in the Canadian narrative. Our research focuses on reasserting a period of his career intentionally excluded from the art history canon: the 70 pieces of art he realized on the Western Front during the First World War. We are presenting the complete corpus of Jackson’s military art. In addition, we included a selection of the British painter Paul Nash’s war art to prove his influence on Jackson’s style and iconography. Also, through the exhibition of Jackson’s war corpus over a century, we are analyzing the exclusion and then, the inclusion of the First World War narrative inside the Canadian identity discourse. We demonstrate how political circumstances prevail over aesthetic quality of the work.

Keyphrases: A.Y. Jackson, Group of Seven, War art, no man's land, Canadian identity, Canadian Nationalism, Canadian Canon, Canadian War Memorial Fund, CWMF, WW1
Finalité de l'art écologique : étude de ses lieux, de ses acteurs, de ses usages

Between the 20th and the 21st century we assist to a multiplication of colloquia and international, national, and local summits about the environment. This growing awareness of preserving, restoring and highlighting the importance of Earth and its ecosystems is reflected in the artistic world. The present study aims to show that the inclusion of the ecology in the Arts changes their configuration regarding the space (the location of the artistic work), the actors (the artist and the public), its function and its goals. The second objective is to illustrate the concordance between the pragmatist theory and the ecological art. The analysis of the proximity between the two, allows us to make use of John Dewey’s theory in order to understand better the functioning of the artistic ecologist objectives. The corpus of the art works contains three main artists: Francine Larivée from Montreal, Noel Harding from Toronto, and the American artist Agnes Denes.

Keyphrases: Art and society, Ecological art, Pragmatism
L'art contemporain à l'ère des glissements du privé vers le public : pour une relecture de la vie privée

This Master’s thesis deals with the works of artists Sophie Calle, Sylvie Cotton, Donigan Cumming, Martin Dufrasne, and Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf. The objective of this research is to observe the back and forth explored by the artists in their practices between the private and the public sphere and how these problematize our relationship with intimacy.  In the first chapter, I will determine the elements that respectively characterize the public and the private space, and then find the places and forms that define intimacy. In the second chapter, I will examine the private sphere's appropriation gestures and methods employed by the artists through a study of collecting, ethnographic, and surveillance practices. I will underline the impact of such practices on the artists' investment in time and their implication in contextual art. Finally, I will deliberate on my very own practices, considering how they differentiate or resemble the practices of the artists studied in this memoir.

Keyphrases: art contemporain, surveillance, Sophie Calle, Sylvie Cotton, Martin Dufrasne, Donigan Cumming, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf, contemporary art, privacy, ethnography, filature
Le style dans le sang : étude de la scène de meurtre du giallo

This study aims to explore giallo, a specific type of Italian cinema. Very popular with a vernacular audience at the turn of the 1970s, these horrific thrillers remain notorious for their bloody and spectacular murder scenes showcasing a gloved killer. With this thesis, we seek to review these murder sequences with a focus on explaining the particular way in which they are staged, shot and edited. To fully achieve this, we provide examples from these scenes and submit them to a detailed analysis. Our analytical approach is essentially formalist. We wish to deconstruct these violent scenes and reveal some of their inner workings. At first, we recall some basic notions of gore cinema and look at the problems that the depiction of death on the silver screen invariably raises. This allows us to see how giallo filmmakers treat these murder scenes in an excessive and poetic mode. Lastly, the erotic aspect of violence presented in these scenes is considered. This gives us the opportunity to focus on the figure of the model/mannequin (living and non-living) and see how filmmakers can use it to transmit an uncanny feeling.

Keyphrases: Giallo, Gore, Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Italian cinema, Erotism, Murder, Horror, Poetic, Uncanny, Vernacular, Psychoanalysis, Fetishism