NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Essays in partial identification and applications to treatment effects and policy evaluation

In this thesis, I have been interested in the nonparametric (partial) identification of structural potential outcome functions and Average Treatment Effect (ATE) in various discrete models with endogenous selection and treatment. This topic of treatment effect concerns measuring the impact of an intervention on an outcome of interest. The type of treatments and outcomes may be broadly defined in order to be applied in many different contexts. There are many examples of treatment in economics (Labor, health, education, trade, industrial organization) such that Job training programs, surgical procedures, higher education level, research and development investment, being a member of a trade union etc. The decision to be treated or not, is usually not random but is based on individual choices or preferences. In such a context, determining the impact of the treatment becomes an important issue since we have to take into account the selectivity bias. The parametric version of such models has been widely studied in the literature, however in models with discrete variation, the parametrization is a strong source of identification. Then, we don’t know if the empirical results we obtain, are driven by the data or by the parametrization imposed on the model. I propose to look at a fully nonparametric version of those models, in order, to have more robust policy recommendations. The central challenge in this nonparametric structural identification is that the hypothesized structure fails to identify a single generating process for the data, either because of multiple equilibria or data observability constraints. In such cases, many traditional identification techniques become inapplicable and a framework for identification in incomplete models is developing, with an initial focus on identification of the set of structural functions of interest compatible with the true data distribution (hereafter identified set). Therefore, in the first chapter, I provide a full characterization of the identified set for the ATE in a binary triangular system. In the second chapter, I consider a model with sector specific unobserved heterogeneity. I provide the full characterization of the identified set for the structural potential outcome functions of an instrumental variables model of sectoral choice with discrete outcomes. Assumptions on selection include the simple, extended and generalized Roy models. In the last chapter, I consider a binary model with several unobserved heterogeneity dimensions, such as entry and participation games. I provide the full characterization of the identified set for the payoffs in 2   2 games with perfect information, including duopoly entry and coordination games. In all chapters, the identified set of the functions of interest are nonparametric intersection bounds and are simple enough to lend themselves to existing inference methods.

Keyphrases: Average Treatment Effect, Policy evaluation, Endogeneity, Incomplete model, Identified set
La transmission des normes internationales en droits de la personne et le développement démocratique au Mexique

What is the power of international human rights norms ? Do those norms have the capacity to change the political course of a State ? More precisely, can they contribute to a better human rights protection and the democratization of a State ? This thesis tackles these questions and tries to figure out how the international human rights norms are participating to the political evolution of a country. Examining the case of Mexico, this thesis seeks to provide answers to three main questions. The first one is related to the path followed by norms : are the domestic human rights groups bypassing their State to search out international allies to bring pressure on the government, as suggested by the boomerang model, or are they able to display effective pressure for human rights changes? This thesis also tries to understand the impact of human rights groups on human rights domestic changes : are the international and national human rights groups able to bring out domestic human rights changes ? Finally, the impact of human rights groups on democratization is examined : do international and national human rights groups play a role within the democratization of the mexican State ?   The analysis of data helps to draw the appropriate conclusions. First, the thesis argues that domestic human rights groups are using the boomerang effect, seeking international allies in Mexico to put effective pressure on their gouvernment. Indeed, the human rights domestic pressure became effective only when the international community started to get involved in the protection of human rights in Mexico. Secondly, it shows that international and national human rights groups have been efficient in encouraging the Mexican government to adopt human rights policies between 1988 and 2006. As the human rights sector expanded in Mexico, the government has put into place many reforms and institutions to promote human rights.

Keyphrases: Effet boomerang, Mexico, Human rights, Democratization, Norms socialization, International/transnational networks, Spiral model, State/civil society dynamic, Political reforms, Boomerang effect
Des pères non-agresseurs face au dévoilement de l'agression sexuelle de leur enfant : impact psychologique et soutien paternel

Child sexual abuse is a devastating social epidemic. It threatens the physical and psychological integrity of children who have experienced it, and brings about horrific repercussions for them and their parents. Yet, parents are considered to be key actors in the recovery of their children. Unfortunately, the current state of knowledge on parental support concerns almost exclusively mothers and not much is known in regards to the role played by fathers.. The principal objective of the present thesis is to further the current understanding of the role and realities experienced by fathers who dealt with the disclosure of their child’s sexual abuse. The present thesis is made up of two scientific articles. The objective of the first article was to describe the experiences of non-offending fathers whose children had been sexually abused either by someone related to them or not, in terms of their emotional, cognitive and behavioral reactions following disclosure. To accomplish this, 17 fathers whose children were the victims of extra or intrafamiliar sexual abuse were recruited at either the Centre d’Expertise Marie-Vincent in Montreal, the Centre d’Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille in the nearby region of Gatineau, or in the general population, and were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. Results indicate that fathers in this study suffered from a noticeable psychological shock following disclosure that resembles indirect trauma. This study also brought into light the existence of a grieving process among fathers who were confronted to their child’s loss of innocence. The objectives of the second article were to describe the repercussions of disclosure on the ways fathers involve themselves with their children and to isolate the different forms of support offered by fathers to their sexually abused children. Qualitative content analyses from 17 fathers who dealt with the disclosure of sexual abuse on their children suggests that it could be interpreted as an element of ‘severance’ in the bond with the child, which requires adaptation to a new reality. Even though all of the interviewed fathers expressed their concerns for their children and their desire to help them, findings highlight the difficulties of some fathers to involve themselves with their children because of their own important psychological distress, their ambivalence toward the child or because of feelings of uneasiness that were stirred up while providing to the primary needs of the child or during physical play. Analyses shed some light on these father’s capacities to help their children deal with the consequences of sexual abuse. The acknowledgement of a new form of support specific to fathers, namely, the ability to open the child to his outside world and in doing so playing a role in the development of self-esteem, constitutes a ground-breaking finding of the present thesis.

Keyphrases: Engagement paternel, Non-offending father, Sexual abuse disclosure, Child, Psychological impact, Paternal involvement, Paternal support
La relation entre les cognitions sociales des parents, les pratiques parentales et les caractéristiques comportementales de l'enfant ayant un TDAH

Studies have confirmed that behavior of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects parents’ parenting practices (Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2008). However, only few studies have investigated the association between parental social cognition and parenting practices in parents of children with ADHD (Rudy & Grusec, 2006). The principal purpose of this thesis was to examine the association between parental social cognitions, parental practices and the behavioural characteristics of their child diagnosed with ADHD. The purpose of the first study was to examine the association between parental social cognitions (parental causal attributions, parental self-efficacy), behavioural characteristics of their child (ADHD subtypes, comorbidity symptoms) and parental practices. Multiple regressions indicate that parental self-efficacy is associated with more use of appropriate discipline, praise and incentives, positive verbal discipline, and less use of harsh and inconsistent discipline and physical punishment. Results also show that parental causal attributions for the child’s misbehaviour to their own efforts are a predictor of positive verbal discipline whereas parents’ causal attributions for the child’s misbehaviour to the child’s lack of efforts are a predictor of harsh and inconsistent discipline. Parents’ perception of their child’s oppositional symptom is a predictor of appropriate discipline and positive verbal discipline. Finally, the presence of comorbidity symptoms in ADHD children is a predictor of harsh and inconsistent discipline. The purpose of the second study was to examine the association between cognitions (self-efficacy, causal attributions) of parents of ADHD children about their child’s behavior and their parental practices following an intervention (parent training program (PTP), support phone call (SPC)) in comparison with a control group (CG). Multiple regressions indicated that in some instances parental self-efficacy and causal attributions were predictors of parenting practices after the intervention. However it would be premature to conclude to the moderating role of social cognitions with regard to parenting practices following an intervention. Clinical implications of these results are explored in the discussion.

Keyphrases: attributions parentales, social cognitions, parenting practices, parental attributions, parental self-efficacy, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Méthode de calcul à N-corps basée sur la G0W0 : étude du couplage électron-phonon dans le C60 et développement d’une approche accélérée pour matériaux organiques

This thesis studies the limitations of density functional theory. These limits are explored in the context of a traditional implementation using a plane waves basis set.  First, we investigate the limit of the size of the systems that can be treated. Cutting edge methods that assess these limitations are then used to simulate nanoscale systems. More specifically, the grafting of bromophenyl molecules on the sidewall of carbon nanotubes is studied with these methods, as a better understanding of this procedure could have substantial impact on the electronic industry.  Second, the limitations of the precision of density functional theory are explored. We begin with a quantitative study of the uncertainty of this method for the case of electron-phonon coupling calculations and find it to be substantially higher than what is widely presumed in the literature. The uncertainty on electron-phonon coupling calculations is then explored within the G0W0 method, which is found to be a substantially more precise alternative. However, this method has the drawback of being severely limitated in the size of systems that can be computed. In the following, theoretical solutions to overcome these limitations are developed and presented. The increased performance and precision of the resulting implementation opens new possibilities for the study and design of materials, such as superconductors, polymers for organic photovoltaics and semiconductors.

Keyphrases: Nanotechnologie, Condensed matter physics, Ab initio calculations, Density functional theory, Nanotechnology, Carbon nanotubes, Many-body perturbation theory, G0W0 method
Recherche de champs magnétiques chez les étoiles Wolf-Rayet par l'analyse d'observations spectropolarimétriques

This thesis presents the results of a spectropolarimetric survey aimed at detecting directly the presence of magnetic fields in Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. The search for the elusive WR fields began by observing the highly variable WN4 star EZ CMa = WR6 = HD 50896 and continued among a sample of eleven bright WR stars. All observations were obtained using the highly-efficient ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope.  The methodology used in this study attempts to detect the characteristic circular polarization (Stokes V) pattern in strong emission lines that is expected to arise as a consequence of a global magnetic field with a split monopole configuration. Since Stokes V data were affected by significant cross-talk from linear polarization to circular polarization, the spurious cross-talk signal was removed prior to applying the magnetic analysis.  In the end, no magnetic fields are unambiguously detected in any of the observed stars.  Nonetheless, the data show evidence supporting marginal detections for WR134, WR137 and WR138 for which the most probable field intensities, in the observable parts of the stellar winds, are B ~ 200, 130 and 80 G, respectively. In the case of non-detections, the average field strength upper-limit for the magnetic field is B ~ 500 G. Finally, this study cannot confirm the magnetic origin of co-rotating interaction regions observed in several WR stars since, out of 4 stars showing CIR-type variability, none showed decisive evidence for the presence of magnetic fields.

Keyphrases: Wolf-Rayet, Magnetic fields, Polarization, Spectropolarimetry
Le Sentier d'Or : vision du destin dans Dune de Frank Herbert

This thesis examines the concept and modalities of destiny as it is articulated in Frank Herbert's Dune series. Destiny constitutes one of humanity's most ancient themes. Instigator of the human being's wide-ranging questioning with regard to its freedom and selfhood, thought about destiny is intimately linked to the emergence of civilizations. As a sign of major changes in existence, the evolution of the concept of destiny is also linked with the important scientific discoveries: new knowledge about nature and the world change the way in which human be- ings consider themselves in their surrounding world; destiny is redefined at every discovery, becoming in turn limited or expansive, offering ideas of an inexistent human freedom or a freedom subjected to no limit other than death itself. Thinking about destiny means thinking about the human in what it holds most intimate. Against this backdrop, the first part of this study deals with the evolution of the con- cept of destiny in Western thought, from Greek civilization to the modern period, including metaphysical reflections on the role of transcendence in human life. Throughout this dia- chronic study, destiny is analyzed in emphasizing the notion of the individual’s attempt to in- crease human freedom. The second part takes on the evolution of science and the impact of its development on human thought about the world and humanity itself. In the context of this part, the thesis explicates the role played by science, as well as by the discourse of science fic- tion, in human efforts to take control of destiny and possess ever greater freedom. In the final part, by means of interpreting Dune’s three principal characters - Paul, Alia, and Leto 2 -, the analysis of the Dune series foregrounds a transhistorical perspective of the concept of destiny in order to trace out the imminent mutations of destiny that go beyond the individual, situating the human in the broader universe.

Keyphrases: Dune, Leto 2, Destin, Fate, Golden Path
Optimisation des horaires des agents et du routage des appels dans les centres d’appels

We study the management of multi-skill call centers, with multiple call types and agent groups. A call center is a very complex queueing system, and we generally need to use simulation in order to evaluate its performances.  First, we develop a call center simulator based on the simulation of a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) that is faster than traditional discrete-event simulation. Using an uniformization method, this simulator simulates the embedded discrete-time Markov chain of the CTMC. We propose strategies to use this simulator efficiently within a staffing optimization algorithm. In particular, we study the use of common random numbers.  Secondly, we propose an algorithm, based on subgradient cuts and simulation, to optimize the shift scheduling problem. Since this problem is usually too big to be solved as an integer programming problem, we relax the integer variables and we propose methods to round the solutions. We also present a local search to improve the final solution. Next, we study the call routing optimization problem. We propose a new routing policy based on weights, call waiting times, and agent idle times or the number of idle agents. We develop a modified genetic algorithm to optimize all the routing parameters. Instead of doing mutations and crossovers, this algorithm refines the parametric distributions used to generate the population of solutions.  We also develop a staffing algorithm based on aggregation, queueing theory and delay probability. This heuristic algorithm is fast, because it does not use simulation. The service level constraint is converted into a delay probability constraint. Moreover, we propose a variant of a CTMC model based on the waiting time of the customer at the head of the queue. Finally, we design an extension of a cutting-plane algorithm to optimize the stochastic version with recourse of the staffing problem for multi-skill call centers.

Keyphrases: Centre de contacts, Planification, Simulation, Contact center, Stochastic optimization, Staffing, Scheduling, Heuristic, Markov chain
Caractérisation des occupations du sol en milieu urbain par 
imagerie radar

This study aims to test the relevance of medium and high-resolution SAR images on the characterization of the types of land use in urban areas. To this end, we have relied on textural approaches based on second-order statistics. Specifically, we look for texture parameters most relevant for discriminating urban objects. We have used in this regard Radarsat-1 in fine polarization mode and Radarsat-2 HH fine mode in dual and quad polarization and ultrafine mode HH polarization. The land uses sought were dense building, medium density building, low density building, industrial and institutional buildings, low density vegetation, dense vegetation and water. We have identified nine texture parameters for analysis, grouped into families according to their mathematical definitions in a first step. The parameters of similarity / dissimilarity include Homogeneity, Contrast, the Differential Inverse Moment and Dissimilarity. The parameters of disorder are Entropy and the Second Angular Momentum. The Standard Deviation and Correlation are the dispersion parameters and the Average is a separate family. It is clear from experience that certain combinations of texture parameters from different family used in classifications yield good results while others produce kappa of very little interest. Furthermore, we realize that if the use of several texture parameters improves classifications, its performance ceils from three parameters. The calculation of correlations between the textures and their principal axes confirm the results. Despite the good performance of this approach based on the complementarity of texture parameters, systematic errors due to the cardinal effects remain on classifications. To overcome this problem, a radiometric compensation model was developed based on the radar cross section (SER). A radar simulation from the digital surface model of the environment allowed us to extract the building backscatter zones and to analyze the related backscatter. Thus, we were able to devise a strategy of compensation of cardinal effects solely based on the responses of the objects according to their orientation from the plane of illumination through the radar's beam. It appeared that a compensation algorithm based on the radar cross section was appropriate. Some examples of the application of this algorithm on HH polarized RADARSAT-2 images are presented as well. Application of this algorithm will allow considerable gains with regard to certain forms of automation (classification and segmentation) at the level of radar imagery thus generating a higher level of quality in regard to visual interpretation. Application of this algorithm on RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 images with HH, HV, VH, and VV polarisations helped make considerable gains and eliminate most of the classification errors due to the cardinal effects.

Keyphrases: Radar, texture, classification, cardinal effect, urban area, land use