NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Étude comparative des paramètres atmosphériques d'étoiles naines blanches déterminés par les techniques photométrique et spectroscopique

We present a comparative analysis of atmospheric parameters obtained with the so-called photometric and spectroscopic techniques. Photometric and spectroscopic data for 1375 DA white dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky survey (SDSS) are used, as well as spectroscopic data from the Villanova White Dwarf Catalog. We first test the calibration of the ugriz photometric system by using model atmosphere fits to observed data. Our photometric analysis indicates that the ugriz photometry appears well calibrated when the SDSS standard photometric corrections are applied.  We also show that the reported red leak of the u filter does not affect the results of the photometric analysis.  The spectroscopic analysis of the same data set reveals that the so-called high log g problem can be solved by applying published correction functions that take into account 3D hydrodynamical effects.  However, a comparison between the SDSS and the White Dwarf Catalog spectroscopic data also suggests that the SDSS spectra still suffer from a small calibration problem. We then compare the atmospheric parameters obtained from both fitting techniques and show that the photometric temperatures are systematically lower than those obtained from spectroscopic data. This systematic offset may be linked to the hydrogen line profiles used in the model atmospheres. We finally explore the results of a technique aimed at measuring surface gravities using photometric data only.

Keyphrases: Stars: atmospheric parameters, Stars: white dwarfs, Techniques: photometric and spectroscopic
Les effets politiques des spectacles médiatiques d’immigration : une analyse critique des discours de la presse écrite canadienne sur l’arrivée du MV Sun Sea

This master’s thesis addresses the political effects of media discourses on the governance and regulation of asylum seekers in Canada. Through a critical analysis of the Canadian press discourses around the arrival on august 2010 of 492 asylum seekers on the ship MV Sun Sea in British Columbia, the author identify the main interpretations of this event, along with their relations with the subsequent establishment of restrictive measures designed to prevent the possibilities of unauthorised arrivals to Canada, especially through the creation of a new discriminatory categorisation for asylum seekers.  Analysis reveals the articulation of these discourses around two distinctive but interconnected themes. While security discourses associate the unauthorised arrival of the asylum seekers as a threat to national security, humanitarian discourses interpret this event as a request for help from a group of persons threatened by their own country. This thesis proposes a multidimensional analysis of these framings and of their political effects that considers their discursive, contextual and affective dimensions. The analysis reveals that these two apparently opposed discourses actually share the same racial subtext making this kind of media spectacle a key device of the “racialised governementality of immigration” (Bilge, 2012, 2013).

Keyphrases: MV Sun Sea, Racialized governmentality of immigration, Critical Discourse Analysis, Moral Panic, News medias, Asylum seekers, Canadian immigration policies
Gouverner le monde désenchanté : le parlement du Reich et l’émergence d’hommes d’État dans la pensée politique de Max Weber

Initiated by Wolfgang J. Mommsen (1930-2004), the dominant understanding of Max Weber’s (1864-1920) political thought concludes that it ultimately led to German fascism. This master’s thesis reflects upon Weber’s political texts, written between 1895 and 1919, in order to grasp the meaning their author intended to give them, notwithstanding the historical role these texts may have played after his passing. We will therefore reconstitute the Weberian political thought in the social context that witnessed its coming and understand the political origin of Weberian theory on social actions. To that end, we must review history. Only by establishing a relationship, as described as early as Chapter I, between political writings and Wilhelmine Germany’s specific historical configuration is it possible to reconcile two dimensions, as either is often disregarded in Weberian studies: the study of specific historical characters (Max Weber, the man and his contemporaries) et Weberian thought itself (Weber’s writings). We will see that Weber fears that the bureaucratization process inherent to the modern political sphere as it may well petrify human existence. Chapter II reviews Weber’s opposition to such an objective possibility in order to preserve the basis to a true individual liberty. According to Weber, it is through the political direction of a charismatic leader, a figure initially developed his scientific works and presented in Chapter III, that the direst consequences of the bureaucratization process can be averted. An environment favorable to such political men will then have to be institutionalized. The last chapter (IV) of this master’s thesis will demonstrate how Weber tries to use caesarization, the second constitutive process of the modern political sphere, as a means against such a bureaucratization. Under the monarchy, he intends to succeed by strengthening the parliamentary powers. However, the Weimar Republic forces him to adapt his constitutional project: hence his suggestion of a plebiscitary leader democracy. Because of the focus on the leader one might be surprised by Weber’s conception of democracy. What Weber proposes is a democratic political system nonetheless. Far from abandoning his political project, as some critics may conclude, Weber remained true to his ideals, despite the major social changes that occurred at the end of his life.

Keyphrases: Max Weber, plebiscitary democracy, charisma, caesarism, bureaucratization
Analyse de sensibilité de l’effet d’un programme de prévention avec randomisation : application de trois techniques d’appariement pour balancer les groupes contrôle et expérimental : distance de Mahanalobis, score de propension et algorithme génétique

The unbiased estimate of the causal effect of an intervention requires the comparison of two homogeneous groups. It is rare that an observational study has comparable groups and even an experiment may end up with non-comparable groups. The researchers then used correction techniques to make the two groups as similar as possible. The problem then is to choose the appropriate correction method. In our case, we will restrict our research to a family of so-called matching methods. It is recognized that what matters in a match is the balance between the two groups on selected characteristics. In other words, it is necessary that the variables are distributed similarly in both groups. Even before considering the distribution of variables between the two groups, it is necessary to know whether the data in question allow for causal inference. To present the problem rigorously, the counterfactual causal model will be exposed. Thereafter, the formal properties of three matching methods will be presented. Those methods are the Mahalanobis matching, the propensity score matching and genetic matching. The choice of the appropriate matching technique is based on four empirical criteria which the most important is the standardized mean difference. Results obtained using data from the Montréal Longitudinal and Experimental Study indicate that of the three matching techniques, genetic matching is the one that better balance the variables between groups on all criteria. The estimate of the effect of intervention varies substantially from one technique to another, although in all cases this effect is non significant. Thus, the selection of a matching technique influences the estimation of the effect of an intervention. Therefore, it is imperative to choose the technique that provides an optimal balance of the variables based on data available to the researcher.

Keyphrases: analyse causale, causal analysis, causal effect, counterfactual causal model, matching, Mahalanobis distance, propensity score, genetic algorithm, multilevel, effect of an intervention
Maurice Duplessis : mises en récit d'un personnage historique

As the title indicates, the purpose of this thesis is to reflect on the narrativization of an historical figure. In order to analyse the evolution of the way we perceive an historical figure (Maurice Duplessis) and the time period to which he is commonly associated (the Great Darkness), this thesis will draw upon François Dosse’s theory on biography (Le pari biographique) and the narratives of three different authors. First, we will take a close look at Maurice Duplessis et son temps, the story of a king-like figure recounted in an admiring fashion, written by royalist historian and Charles Maurras disciple Robert Rumilly. Secondly, we will examine Duplessis, the great epic tale of an illustrious conservative’s battles, written by conservative businessman and historian Conrad Black. Lastly, we will analyse Duplessis, the TV drama written by Denys Arcand, a disciple of Quebec nationalist historian Maurice Séguin, presenting Maurice Duplessis as the tragic incarnation of the French-Canadian nation, cynical yet conscious of his people’s impossible historical and political destiny. To complete the analysis, this thesis will also rely on Paul Ricoeur’s theory on narrative identity, notably discussed in Oneself as Another, Time and Narrative and Memory, History, Forgetting, as well as Michel de Certeau’s theory on writing and narrativization of history in The Writing of History. Through the analysis of these biographies, this thesis will aim to show the evolution of the relationship to the collective memory as well as what distinguishes History from Fiction.

Keyphrases: biographie, Maurice Duplessis, Speech analysis, Biography, Collective memory, Politics, History, Quebec history, Historiography, Great Darkness, Relationship to the past
Les contre-exemples de Frankfurt ratent leur cible : un nouveau heaume pour le principe des possibilités alternatives

Frankfurt-type examples are inoffensive against the Consequence argument, which purports to show that from both the principle of alternative possibilities and determinism, we can deduce that we are not morally responsible for our actions. Indeed, they require either a deterministic context or an indeterministic one. If they require indeterminism, they are harmless because they violate a methodological principle that we defend: the no-premise-negation principle (PNNP). In fact, we show that for each given argument, we cannot legitimately suppose the negation of a premise in order to refute another, unless the attack succeeds to refute both premises. Yet, on the one hand, indeterministic Frankfurt-type examples explicitly suppose that a premise of the Consequence argument – determinism holds – is false; and on the other hand, Frankfurt-type examples do not give us reasons to reject determinism, which we show with considerations on the transmission of justification. To build indeterministic Frankfurt scenarios is therefore incorrect for methodological and logical reasons. If they require determinism, Frankfurt-type examples are facing a different, yet very serious, argumentative accusation (presented in the Kane-Ginet-Widerker famous Dilemma defence): begging the question. We inspect and qualify this accusation. However, we ultimately claim that it still holds because a deterministic Frankfurt-type example supposes an analysis of the role of counterfactual agents and of the relation “render inevitable” in deterministic worlds that is acceptable neither for a leeway incompatibilist, a source incompatibilist or a semicompatibilist. Thus, Frankfurt-type examples no longer successfully support the form of compatibilism they contributed to give birth to. Also, source incompatibilism may not be preferred to leeway incompatibilism, nor reject all use of alternative possibilities in the explanation of moral responsibility on the sole basis of Frankfurt scenarios.

Keyphrases: PAP, Frankfurt-type examples, Principle of alternative possibilities, No-premise-negation principle, Incompatibilism, Compatibilism, Thought experiments, Begging the question, Moral responsibility, Free will, PNNP
Recollecting Work : Labour and Class in Contemporary North American Historical Fiction

My dissertation project examines post-1960s novels that draw on the genre of proletarian fiction of the early twentieth century. Building upon current research focused on working-class literature, as well as pertinent literary theory, I argue that Pynchon, Doctorow, Ondaatje, and Sweatman bring to light often neglected working-class themes while remaining aesthetically progressive and relevant. In order to explore these novels in their political and formal aspects I employ Allen Wilde’s concept midfiction. This concept refers to texts that use postmodern techniques and accept the primacy of surface, but nonetheless try to be referential and establish truths. The first chapter of my dissertation argues that the contemporary proletarian novels that I have selected employ narrative strategies commonly associated with postmodernism, such as metafiction, irony, and an “incoherent” narrative voice, to challenge the authority of dominant discourses, including the official histories that tend to downplay labour movements. The second chapter examines how the novelists employ mimetic strategies in tandem with more experimental techniques in order to achieve a believability factor that helps to connect the narratives to concrete historical realities. Referring to my argument in chapter one, I explain that the novelists ultimately use these two modes, referentiality and “unreliable”, “incoherent” narrative voices, in order to both re-politicize the class struggle of the late nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century as well as to undermine a strict sense of empirical history. The third chapter draws on evolutionist theories of sympathy to argue that the depictions of wealthy ruling class characters illustrate that social structures at the time fostered a sense of entitlement and lack of sympathy in the elites that caused them to adopt a colonial-like attitude towards the working class. The fourth chapter addresses how the novels under consideration mediate the relationships between social classes, subjectivity and space. This section analyses how, on the one hand, representations of space show how power is manifested to benefit the ruling class, and on the other hand, how space was co-opted by radicals and militant workers in order to further their interests. The fifth chapter explores how the neo-proletarian novels ironically subvert tropes from the earlier proletarian genre which, I argue, expresses the political ambivalence and cynicism of the late twentieth century.

Keyphrases: midfiction, Historiographic metafiction, proletarianism, realism, postmodernism, space, class struggle, midfiction, contemporary fiction
Autonomie personnelle et socialisation : l’approche hiérarchique de Frankfurt et la
critique féministe

The present study is about Frankfurt’s hierarchical approach, which gives an explanation of autonomous action by means of its two-level theoretical framework. According to Frankfurt, an action is autonomous when it is caused or guided by a desire that is itself caused or guided by a second-order desire, the latter being formed by a process of identification that realizes the evaluation of the first-order desire. As a first step, I study the development of Frankfurt’s approach and I show that it undergoes a significant change: if Frankfurt first gives a causal explanation of autonomous action, he will give later on a structural explanation of this kind of action. As a second step, I review different versions of a critique of Frankfurt’s approach made by some feminists, that is, the critique of the autonomous status of the process of identification. In the third part, I defend Frankfurt’s approach regarding this critique. This defense is based on an interpretation of the process of identification: I claim, with the help of the interpretation I suggest in the first chapter, that the evaluation intrinsic to the process of identification consists in the evaluation of the conformity of a desire with a motivational model, and that this interpretation avoids the feminist critique.

Keyphrases: Harry Frankfurt, Philosophy, Moral psychology, Feminism, Personal autonomy, Socialization, Hierarchical approaches
L’alchimie de l’État : la construction de la différence dans le processus de sélection des immigrants au Québec

Most people who immigrate to Canada do so through an administrative process that aims at selecting those who would be most able to integrate into Quebec society and whose professional skills are most likely to be economically profitable to the country. At the end of this process, these selected persons are given permanent resident status. Before even arriving in Quebec, they exchange documents with the Canadian and Quebecer migration authorities and go through an interview with a government officer, among other steps. Once in Quebec, they continue the immigration process through courses about Quebec’s culture and values. Following an ethnographic path, this thesis digs into the experience of these newcomers to understand the complex shapes taken by the state through the interactions with migrants. If the administrative proceedings are always developed in a climate of hospitality, the granting of the “permanent residence”, as well as the face-to-face interactions, produces a bureaucratic space in which culture is central. Indeed, through the administrative process, it becomes clear that the selected migrants are made the “them” of a Quebec or Canadian “us”. Integrating these migrants has a price: constructing them as Others.

Keyphrases: immigration, interaction, State, ethnic boundaries, bureaucracy, permanent resident, Quebec, economic immigration, ethnography, interaction
Unfolded singularities of analytic differential equations

The thesis is composed of a chapter of preliminaries and two articles on the theme of unfolding of singularities of analytic differential equations in a complex domain. They are both related to the problem of local analytic classification of parametric families of linear systems: When two parametric families of linear systems are equivalent by means of an analytic change of coordinates in a neighborhood of the singularity? The article Analytic classification of families of linear differential systems unfolding a resonant irregular singularity deals with the question of analytic equivalence of parametric families of systems of linear differential equations in dimension 2 unfolding a generic resonant singularity of Poincaré rank 1 whose leading matrix is a Jordan bloc. The problem is completely solved and the moduli space of analytic equivalence classes is described in terms of a set of formal invariants and a single analytic invariant obtained from the trace of the monodromy. Universal unfoldings are provided for all such singularities. The article Confluence of singularities of non-linear differential equations via Borel-Laplace transformations investigates bounded solutions of systems of differential equations describing a 1-dimensional center manifold of an unfolded saddle-node singularity in a family of complex vector fields. Generally, a system of analytic ODE at a double singular point possesses a unique formal solution in terms of a divergent power series. The classical Borel summation method associates to it true solutions that are asymptotic to the series on certain sectors in the complex plane. The article shows how to unfold the Borel and Laplace integral transformations of the summation procedure. A new kind of solutions of parameter dependent systems of ODE with two simple (regular) singular points unfolding a double (irregular) singularity are constructed, which are bounded on certain “spiraling” domains attached to both singular points, and which at the limit converge uniformly to a pair of the classical sectorial solutions. The method provides a unified treatment for all values of parameter.

Keyphrases: confluence, Stokes phenomenon, irregular singularity, parametric systems, analytic differential equations, unfolding, confluence, divergent asymptotic series, Borel summation, saddle–node singularity, normal forms
L'effet des normes d'équipe sur le leadership partagé

This research mainly aims to study the effect of team norms on shared leadership within work teams. We wanted to check the relationship between three norms proposed by Day (2007) as significantly influencing the sharing of leadership within teams. This refers to hierarchical distance, psychological safety and learning orientation. This research also aims to test the moderating effect of the interdependence to the task and of the task complexity on the relationship between team norms and shared leadership.   This research is based on secondary data that was collected by Vincent Rousseau (Professor at University of Montreal) and Caroline Aubé (Professor at HEC Montreal) among 394 members from 77 teams and among 77 immediate supervisors of these teams. All these participants work in a Canadian public safety organization. Data was collected using the questionnaire method. Regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses of this study.    The results show that hierarchical distance, psychological safety and learning orientation were significantly related to shared leadership. These team norms are also strongly interconnected. The results did, however, fail to confirm the moderating effect of task interdependence and task complexity on the relationship between team norms and shared leadership.    Overall, the results show that managers will benefit from promoting team norms related to a low power distance, a strong psychological safety, and a strong learning orientation to facilitate the exercise of shared leadership and in order to improve team and organization performance.

Keyphrases: Shared leadership, Team norms, Task interdependence, Task complexity, Team work
Une étude sur l’effet médiateur du conflit travail-famille entre les conditions de l’organisation du travail et les symptômes dépressifs

The main objective of this master’s thesis is to advance the state of knowledge in social explanations of mental health problems in the workforce. It focuses on the mediating effect of work-family conflict in a causal sequence between the conditions of work organization and the development of depressive symptoms. The statistical analyses required for this study were performed using data from the SALVEO’s survey on determinants of mental health in the Canadian population. Multilevel path analysis supported that work-family conflict relate significantly with more depressive symptoms. However, the results did not suggest that work-family conflict fully mediated the relation between work organization conditions and depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, in an exploratory approach, some associations between the work organization conditions and depressive symptoms were completely mediated, some were partially mediated and some were only associated with depressive symptoms. Psychological demands, hours worked, work schedule, coworkers support and professional income were fully mediated by work-family conflict. Furthermore, work-family conflict partially mediated the relationship between job insecurity and depressive symptoms. Part of the effect of job insecurity was direct, while part of the effect was indirect through work-family conflicts. Therefore, these findings suggest that future researches and organizational interventions need a more complete understanding of the relationship between work organization and depressive symptoms, which can be achieved if work-family conflict is considered as a mediator in this dynamic.

Keyphrases: Depressive symptoms, Depression, Work-family conflict, Work organizational conditions, Mediation, Canadian active population