NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Changement identitaire et revendications régionalistes du Kansaï au Japon

In recent times, we hear more and more the word "Kansai" to designate the Japanese region of Kinki (literally ‘the neighborhood of the capital’). This thesis proposes to analyze the emergence of this regional entity and its cultural discourse to compensate for the lack of previous research on the socio-cultural variety and the regionalism of Japan. In the current situation, on one hand, some wish to consider Japan as a homogenous entity, and on the other hand, Japan it-self considers its people as homogenous. Historically, these views were refuted several times by researchers and organisms. In the meantime, the regional variation becomes less and less clearly observable because of the urbanization, the progress made in transportation systems, the internal migration and the development of mass media. It is in this post-industrial era however that the regionalist discourse of Kansaï emerged. In this context, this study focuses on the cultural discourse regarding the region and the people of Kansai, that is the Kinki region, where were situated the old capitals and the cradle of the Yamato state, and on which one observes an alteration and a transformation of its description starting at the Tokugawa era. Since Meiji era, the spatial integration of the Japanese archipelago has become inseparable from the emergence of the so-called "modern" state. In addition, a division between Western Japan (Kansai) and Eastern Japan continues to exist for their differences in customs, linguistic variations and mentality: a dichotomy better represented by the current opposition between the cities of Osaka and Tokyo. Today, Japan experiences a continual centralization around Tokyo and the balance of power on the economic level is being undermined. I examine the emergence of the Kansai entity by analyzing its economic and social context, from the arrival of the phenomenon the Kansaï people call jibanchinka (the "land subsidence" of Kansaï) until the recent demands for the introduction of a quasi-federalism system called dōshū-sei in the context of unbalanced regional development of Japan. Resting on my investigation carried out in Kansai, I argue that their regionalist aspiration exists, but does not stand for the homogeneity of the region as a whole. Rather, they ground on its position as an antithesis to the centralizing approach they perceive as being rather Tokyoite in nature. Their discourse inevitably emphasizes the variety existing within the region itself, while underlining the fact that this is what constitutes the Kansai.

Keyphrases: Osaka, Kansai, Japan, Regionalism, Cultural discourse, Nation-state
Étude de la formation et de l'évolution de nanostructures par méthodes Monte Carlo

This thesis consists of four scientific articles concerning atomistic numerical methods and their use to simulate semi-conducting systems where nanometer-scale structures play a crucial role. We introduce accelerated methods designed to study systems driven by activated events. Afterwards, our first article presents, in depth, the kinetic Activation-Relaxation Technique (kART), an off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm based on the Activation-Relaxation Technique nouveau (ARTn). This method permits the exact treatment of elastic effects in materials over time-scales reaching one second.  This algorithmic development, combined to recent empirical data, forms the basis of our second article. We explain the origin of heat release by self-implanted crystalline silicon in nanocalorimetry experiments after 3 keV ion bombardment, with the help of kART simulations. We show that the structural relaxation is described by a two-step "Replenish-and-Relax" model. This model is quite general and can potentially explain relaxation in other disordered materials. In the next chapter, i.e. the third article, we push the analysis further and give a complete atomistic description of the mechanisms responsible for structural relaxation during the anneal. We show that punctual defects and small defects complexes control the relaxation, in net contrast with the literature that identify "amorphous pockets" as the drivers of relaxation.  Finally, we study some aspects related to the growth of Ge quantum dots on Si (001). After short chapters explaining the scientific context of this work and methodological details, our fourth article concerns the wetting layer formed by Ge deposition on Si (001), using a QM/MM implementation of the bigDFT-ART code. We characterize the 2xN surface reconstruction atomistic structure and decrease the minimum temperature at which deep Ge intermixing is predicted by ab initio calculations by more than 100 K.

Keyphrases: Simulation, germanium, relaxation structurelle, silicon, defects, structural relaxation
À travers le pare-brise : la création des territoires touristiques à l’ère de l’automobile (Québec et Ontario, 1920-1967)

This thesis explores the different ways in which territory has historically been perceived, conceived and practiced through the experience and growth of mobility. It shows the crucial role that "automobility" played for touristic development in Quebec and Ontario and the ways it shaped parts of their territory. The present study examines the different measures adopted to promote tourism in newly developed regions and to both physically and symbolically transform these regions between 1920 and 1967. The thesis answers the following question: how and in which way has automobility transformed and created tourist regions?  The period under study opens with the beginning of government intervention in the tourism industry through the creation of automobile-related infrastructure. The thesis carries its examination through the celebrations organised around the 100th anniversary of Canada and Expo 67 in Montreal, an event which led to large-scale territorial development necessary to accommodate an unprecedented number of automobiles from across Canada and the United States. This thesis first reconstitutes the processes involved in the creation of tourist regions: the conception, construction and promotion of the highway system; the implementation of itineraries and tourist routes; and the creation of useful tools that tourists might bring on their journey. It next examines beautification as a structuring element within the transformation of territories. Finally, advertising, travelogues and tourism practices are studied in detail in order to identify the mechanisms through which various actors contributed to fashioning representations of territories.   This thesis reveals the close and complex ties that bound automobility, tourism and territorial modification as they developed during the 1920s. It helps to shed light on the historicity of certain approaches and orientations that remain current in the Canadian tourism industry, such as territorial development in terms of car accessibility. By showing the role that automobility played within the tourist experience, the present study adds to the developing understanding of the democratization of leisure. Often explained through higher standards of living as well as through the rise of leisure time and the spread within the working world of paid vacation, this democratization can also be explained through the greater accessibility of automobility, which, in turn, provided greater access to regions located further and further from urban areas. The recreational dimension of automobiling that was put forward early on in its history explains its rapid adoption by Canadians and other North Americans, as well as the dependence on cars that progressively spread through a large portion of the population.

Keyphrases: automobile, transport, routes, mobility, automobile, transportation, tourism, leisure, territory, landscape, human-environment relations, roads, Quebec and Ontario
Examen des contributions d’une approche relationnelle de la socialisation organisationnelle

Both among researchers and practitioners, organizational socialization seems to be a topic of interest nowadays (Fang, Duffy, & Shaw, 2011). Along this line, the present thesis seeks to deepen our understanding of organizational socialization in order to provide a more complete and documented picture of it, but also to develop useful practices for organizations and their employees. Specifically, the relational aspects inherent to the experience of newcomers, largely ignored so far in the literature (Ashforth, Sluss, & Harrison, 2007), are examined using data collected at three points in time among a sample of 224 newcomers. Using social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) as a background and the concept of affective trust (McAllister, 1995), the first of the two articles that comprise the thesis shows that, compared with conventional approaches (i.e., expressing a cognitive view of organizational socialization), a relational approach to organizational socialization can better reflect the psychological bond that is established between newcomers and organizations, while conventional approaches are more explanatory of employee performance. The two approaches thus seem complementary to explain newcomer adjustment. The second article draws from the evidence reported in the first article and seeks to further deepen the relational aspects inherent to the experience of newcomers, as well as their influence on adjustment. To this end, conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) is considered and affective commitment (Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001) is put forward as the focal concept. Results suggest that affective commitment to the supervisor compensates for a decline in affective commitment to the organization as resulting from a breach to individuals’ relationship with the organization. Relationships thus seem, under certain circumstances, to have an impact that goes beyond their direct protagonists. This thesis therefore demonstrates that the relational aspects inherent to the experience of newcomers have a distinct, prevailing and complex influence on their adjustment. In doing so, it is part of a research stream that tries to put forward and better understand the relational dynamics within organizations (Ragins & Dutton, 2007). Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Keyphrases: performance, organizational socialization, newcomer adjustment, affect-based trust, role clarity, affective commitment, turnover intentions, performance, emotional exhaustion, psychological contract breach, organizational socialization tactics
Figures of Time : Preemptive Narratives in Recent Television Series

This thesis examines complex narrative temporalities in the recent television series Life on Mars (BBC, 2006-2007), Flashforward (ABC, 2009-2010), and Damages (FX/Audience Network, 2007-2012). The general argument proposes that the renewed technics of television have enabled innovative aesthetic standards and temporal experiences in serial TV fiction. It is subsequently shown that these new aesthetic and experiential qualities of TV fiction are correlative to an increased political and ethical relevance of time. This overall argument is laid out in four major steps. The project first addresses the technics of recent television to show how new technologies have enabled new techniques of experiencing television. Drawing on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as well as the media theories of Matthew Fuller, Thomas Lamarre, and Jussi Parikka, the complex and productive linkages between technology and techniques will be theorized as an abstract machine which I call the serial machine. The argument then draws on theories of perception and nonrepresentational approaches to art in order to analyze the new qualities of aesthetic experience in serial TV fiction. For this purpose, I develop the central concept of the figure of time understood as the directly felt abstract shape effectuated by a narrative’s movement through time.  It will be seen, in a third step, that the figural movements discussed in this thesis concern questions of future-orientation and preemption. All of the narratives in this project anticipate their own ending and take form with respect to this foretold future. They are therefore conceptualized as “preemptive narratives,” in which the future poses an affective rather than epistemological problem. I will show that, in the serial narratives under discussion, the preemptive loop through the future is immediately ontogenetic in that it creates a reality in the present by inducing uncertainty and fear of the future. Finally, the thesis proposes that such affective politics are an element of what Gilles Deleuze calls control societies, in which conditions of life are constantly modulated. Following his writings on control societies and Spinoza’s Ethics, it is argued that the requirements of such a modulatory environment are ethical in nature (rather than moral). Drawing on the work by artists-philosophers Madeline Gins and Arakawa, I elaborate the techniques of attention which sustain an ethics for surviving the control society in the TV series Damages.

Keyphrases: television series, temporal complexity, aesthetic experience of time, preemptive narratives, figures of time, ethics of attention
Pleine conscience, régulation émotionnelle et psychose : états des connaissances et applications cliniques

This thesis is divided into three main parts, all pertaining to emotional regulation or to the efficacy of third wave cognitive behavioral treatments particularly in individuals having experienced psychotic symptoms. The thesis consists of one book chapter published in French, four articles published in English (i.e., introduction, deux meta-analyses and a clinical pilot study), and a general discussion. The introduction already published as an article (and as book chapter) involves a comprehensive review of the literature on emotion regulation in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Individuals with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders tend to show emotional dysregulations at the experiential, expressive, and processing levels. This first part strongly recommends integrating emotion regulation strategies, namely third wave cognitive behavioral strategies such as mindfulness, acceptance and compassion in the treatment of individuals with psychosis. In the second part of the thesis, two meta-analyses reviewing the effectiveness of these third wave cognitive behavioral strategies in regulating emotions are presented. The first investigates the effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy across all psychological disorders and medical conditions. The second meta-analysis focuses more specifically on the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for psychosis. The results from both meta-analyses show moderate to large effect sizes, with higher ones for affective symptoms, especially anxiety, depression and distress. Furthermore, the investigated strategies (i.e., mindfulness, acceptance and compassion) are strong positive moderators of the treatments’ effectiveness. These results suggest that these strategies are effective in regulating emotions, at least when measured in large pools of participants, including individuals with psychosis. The third part of the thesis involves the development and preliminary validation of a new group intervention for early psychosis using a combination of acceptance, compassion and mindfulness. Twelve individuals participated in this pilot study. Results indicated the feasibility and acceptability of the treatment, with improvements in emotion regulation and affective symptoms observed, and potentially linked to the intervention.  The thesis overall empirically supports the important role of emotional regulation in treating individuals with psychosis. More research is warranted pertaining to the effectiveness of the new developed treatment.

Keyphrases: Mindfulness, Meditation, Emotion regulation, Acceptance, Compassion, Third wave, Early psychosis, Schizophrenia, Meta-analysis, Treatment outcome
Impacts de la réforme du réseau québécois de la santé et des services sociaux (2003) sur la représentation qu’ont les gestionnaires de leur travail

This thesis focuses on the work of Quebec health and social services centre (CSSS) managers following the implementation of this sector’s reform in 2003, by the Minister at that time, Philippe Couillard. The re-engineering of the state in which this reform occurred was based on a certain representation of public organizations inspired by the New Public Management (NPM). In concrete terms, the reform has profoundly changed the context in which manager’s work in these organisations.    In this context, the objective of this research was to understand the impact of this reform on the nature of the work being performed by health and social services centre (CSSS) managers. Using a micro-sociological approach and by adopting a comprehensive epistemological position, we were interested in examining how managers define their work in terms of the role they play within the organization. Moreover, we attempted to understand whether we are witnessing a change or a consolidation in their work representation following the reform.    Methodologically, we chose to conduct a multiple case study.  We selected two CSSS’s and we conducted forty-nine semi-structured interviews with managers from these CSSS.  In order to identify the representation managers have of their work two ideal types representing two opposing work representation were created. These ideal types have allowed us to determine that we are witnessing a homogenization of managers’ representation of their work.  In addition, following the Couillard reform, health and social services centre (CSSS) managers are more likely to adhere to a managerial representation of their role.       Above all, this thesis shows how this change takes place. It appears that the CSSS structure leads to working conditions that promote management work representation to some degree and impede others. Moreover, this new structure and the working conditions that accompany it have pushed the balance of power among managers. In doing so, certain sub-groups see their representations valued, and are able to impose them on their colleagues.  If some managers are skeptical about these changes, it appears that very few of them have the means to resist.

Keyphrases: Reform, Quebec health care and social services, health and social services centre (CSSS), new public management, managers
Conceptualisation et communication des nuances de timbre à la guitare classique

This thesis is about the lexicon of timbre descriptors, its definitions, and teaching strategies regarding sound production of the classical guitar. Our methodology is based on mixed methods research, in that it combines both qualitative and quantitative data, while our methods are derived from different disciplines. This research is grounded in musicology of performance and focuses more specifically on the conceptualization of classical guitar timbral nuances by classical guitar players. The design of this research is based on three separate studies. The first study focuses on the analysis of adjectives used to describe timbral nuances and their definitions from classical guitarists. The results demonstrate that the construction of the lexicon of timbre descriptors relates primarily to matter, thus reinforcing the concept of timbre as sound matter. Regarding the interaction between timbre and other sound parameters, a discourse and emergent themes analysis has revealed the importance of register, intensity and duration in the definition of timbre. The implementation of a second questionnaire helped to define further the characteristics of the timbre descriptor vocabulary of the classical guitar. The distribution of lexical categories showed that adjectives often refer to a metaphorical timbre description while nouns essentially give an account of the instrumental technique. To define timbral nuances, classical guitarists commonly use sound parameters, production modes and other descriptors of timbre. Following those results, a terminological dictionary of 8 timbral nuances (metallic, round, bright, thin, dry, velvety, dark and dull)  was also proposed. Finally, the development of a semantic space of timbre from the evaluation of semantic proximity between those 8 timbre descriptors reveals two main axis, the first is defined by the presence of the attack and the plucking position, while the second refers to the resonance, the projection and the value judgment.  The third and final study examines the communication strategies used in the context of two master classes. The results of our analysis highlight the use of three main ways to explain the sound production and to characterize the musical performance. The participating professors have recourse to verbal explanation, instrumental demonstration as well as vocalization or imitation. Our research has demonstrated that the conceptualization of timbre nuances refers to matter, sound parameters, metaphorical descriptions, as well as production modes. Such an inclusive conceptualization allows access to all the subtleties of the production and perception of classical guitar. In regards to communication, timbral nuances are expressed by verbalization, performance as well as vocalization or imitation.

Keyphrases: musicology of performance, timbral nuances, classical guitar, psycholinguistic approach, terminology, semantics, instrumental didactics