NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Liens longitudinaux entre le tempérament, la qualité de la relation mère-enfant et le fonctionnement socio-émotionnel chez les enfants.

Different elements can act as protective or risk factors for child socioemotional functioning. It is now well recognized that these elements come from child-specific as well as environmental factors. This thesis focuses on the most studied intrinsic and environmental factors concerning child socioemotional development during toddlerhood: child temperament and mother-child relationship quality. Few studies have investigated the interplay between temperament and mother-child relationships in toddlerhood in the prediction of child socioemotional functioning in the early school years. Yet, this period includes a major developmental transition, namely school entry. Young children’s socioemotional adjustment during this period is one of the main factors influencing their school adaptation (Robson et al., 2020). It is therefore essential to understand why some children adapt better than others in early school years. The first article explored the moderating role of mother-child interactions quality, observed at 2 years old, in the association between child anger proneness and internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviors at school entry. The results showed that child anger proneness predicted socioemotional difficulties, primarily in the context of better mother-child interactions quality. The second article examines the predictive links between maternal autonomy support (observed at 15 months) and the trajectories of internalizing and externalizing behaviors measured from 2 to 7 years, while controlling for the negative dimensions of child temperament. The results showed that the more mothers supported their child's autonomy, the more internalizing behavior increased slowly and the more externalizing behavior decreased rapidly in later years.

Keyphrases: Internalizing behavior, Externalizing behavior, Prosocial behavior, Maternal autonomy support, Mother-child interactions, Moderations, Trajectories
Hybridizing 3-dimensional multiple object tracking with neurofeedback to enhance preparation, performance, and learning

The domain of cognitive enhancement is vast, spanning behavioral, biochemical and physical applications. The techniques are as numerous as are the limitations: poorly conducted studies, ethically ambiguous practices, limited positive effects, significant side-effects, high financial costs, significant time investment, unequal accessibility, and lack of transfer. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a novel way of integrating one of these techniques, neurofeedback, directly into a learning context in order to enhance cognitive performance and learning.  This thesis provides the framework, empirical foundations, and supporting evidence for a highly efficient ‘closed-loop’ learning paradigm. By manipulating task difficulty based on a measure of cognitive load within a classic learning scenario (3-dimentional multiple object tracking) using real-time brain activity, results demonstrate that over 10 sessions, speed and degree of learning can be substantially improved compared with a classic learning system or an active sham-control group. Superior performance persists even once the feedback signal is removed, which suggests that the effects of enhanced training are consolidated and do not rely on continued feedback.  Next, this thesis examines how these effects occur, exploring the neural correlates of the states of preparedness and performance across baseline and task conditions, further examining correlates related to trial results (correct/incorrect) and task difficulty (slow/medium/fast speeds). Cognitive preparedness, performance and load are measured using well-established relationships between real-time quantified brain activity as measured by quantitative electroencephalography. It is shown that the addition of neurofeedback-based task assistance based on peak alpha frequency is appropriate to task conditions and manages to influence cognitive load, keeping the subject in the zone of proximal development more often, facilitating learning and improving performance.  This type of learning paradigm could contribute to overcoming at least one of the fundamental limitations of neurofeedback and other cognitive enhancement techniques : a lack of observable transfer effects, by utilizing a method that can be directly integrated into the context in which improved performance is sought.

Keyphrases: Neurofeedback, Interface cerveau-machine, Performance, Brain-computer interface, Cognitive enhancement, Active-sham, Learning
Sciences du vivant et psychothérapie analytique: formulation d'un modèle autopoïétique de l'activité psychothérapeutique

The theory of autopoietic systems, pioneered by biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, makes it possible to scientifically describe the organizing principles common to all living beings. Autopoietic principles also formally extend to psychic and social life, as argued the sociologist Niklas Luhmann.  Since psychoanalysis and analytic psychotherapy are grounded in both the psychic and the relational domain, we aim to explicit the autopoietic principles underlying their theory and practice. In this respect, the thesis compares the essential aspects of analytic psychotherapy with the general principles of living systems. The work is divided into three chapters, presented as theoretical scientific articles.  The first chapter shows how the analytic setting and analytic process maintain a symbiotic relationship, much like the relationship between the cell membrane and the organelles it contains. We thus describe the operational closure of the setting-process and argue that this makes it a full-fledged autopoietic social system. We then draw attention to how this conceptualization redefines the ethical and practical task of the clinician, who must limit the risk of environmental pressures disrupting the autonomy of the analytic setting-process.  In the second chapter, we continue to explore the consequences of our proposal, arguing that the clinician and the patient may resist the setting-process of analytic psychotherapy; and that the setting-process, as an autonomous system, can also resist its participants. There follows a need to understand the resistances between these systems, leading us to rely on the concept of structural coupling derived from the theory of autopoietic systems. This original point of view fuels reflection on the role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in analytical therapy and leads us to favor a clinical position that values the autonomous interaction of all the systems involved.  The third chapter tackles head-on the problem of transference and countertransference that has already been looming over the previous chapters. By insisting on the radically unconscious character of (counter) transference, we suggest redefining it as a particular form of structural coupling between the participants of psychotherapy. From this new conceptualization, we deepen the notion of analytic communication and highlight its therapeutic potential.  The research ends with a contextualization of its main findings in the broader field of mental health care. Finally, we underline not only the advantages and the limits of the thesis, but also future possibilities such as moving towards a general theory of psychotherapy.

Keyphrases: Analytical psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis, Autopoietic system, Structural coupling, Operational closure, Analytic communication, Analytic setting, Analytic process, Transference, Analytic method
Generalised ladder operators, degeneracy and coherent states in two-dimensional quantum mechanics

In this thesis we discuss degeneracy and the construction of generalised coherent states in two-dimensional quantum systems. We develop a scheme for defining non-degenerate spectra and the corresponding averaged energy eigenstates. When the degeneracy in the spectrum is linear in the quantum numbers, we are able to define generalised ladder operators which lead to a chain of states with a natural set of coefficients. Additionally, we are able to recover completeness relations for the generalised states. On the other hand, when the spectrum is quadratic in the quantum numbers, we utilise some results from number theory to categorise the degeneracy and correspondingly the averaged energy eigenstates. In particular we study the two-dimensional isotropic and anisotropic oscillators as well the two-dimensional Morse potential and its non-separable supersymmetric partner. In all cases, we compute the coherent states and discuss certain aspects of their non-classicality. We find squeezing between conjugate quadratures, non-trivial dependence of the quadrature variances on the parameters introduced when defining the non-degenerate spectra, and non-localisation of wavefunctions. As an application, we study the problem of quantisation and semiclassical phase space analysis in two dimensions by exploiting the completeness of generalised families of two-dimensional squeezed coherent states.

Keyphrases: Two-dimensional quantum mechanics, Coherent states, Squeezed states, Degeneracy, Isotropic oscillator, Anisotropic oscillator, Ladder operators, Morse potential, Quantisation
Detector dose response to megavoltage photon beams coupled to magnetic fields

Magnetic resonance-guided radiation therapy promises more accurate dose delivery than conventional techniques by allowing real-time visualization of internal structures before and during treatment. However, the dosimetry must be performed in the presence of magnetic fields. While the magnetic field does not affect the transport of uncharged particles, it affects the transport of secondary charged particles due to the Lorentz force, which modifies the radiation field and the detector dose-response. This thesis aims to understand the effect of the magnetic field on detector dose-response, characterize it, and provide quality correction factors accounting for the impact of the magnetic field. In the first article, four small-cavity ionization chambers were characterized via Monte Carlo simulations and experimental measurements. It was found that the magnetic field emphasized all the geometrical details. An accurate description of the effective sensitive volume is crucial in the simulations. Also, the modelled geometry must be as close as possible to the actual geometry, including the internal air layers. Quality correction factors accounting for the magnetic field and its uncertainty budget uncertainty are presented for different configurations. The second article evaluated the magnetic field effect on perturbation factors of five small volume detectors, including three ionization chambers and two solid-state detectors. The perturbation factors from extracameral components, density and volume averaging factors were determined for different field sizes and orientation setups. Additionally, quality correction factors were calculated in the same conditions. Results show that the magnetic field significantly impacts the density perturbation factor in the ionization chambers. In contrast, its impact is more pronounced in the extracameral components in the solid-state detectors. The purpose of the third article was to provide more insight into the understanding of detector dose-response in magnetic fields via calculations of electron fluence spectra. The electron fluence differential in energy in the detector cavity can be severely modified in magnetic fields, and fluence perturbations are generally more evident for low-energy electrons. These calculations showed the interplay between multiple factors that make the perturbation effects unpredictable in photon beams coupled to magnetic fields: 1) detector and magnetic field orientation, 2) cavity size and shape, 3) extracameral components, 4) air gaps and their asymmetry, and 5) energy.

Keyphrases: Radiotherapie, Monte Carlo, Radiotherapy, Magnetic fields, Monte Carlo simulations, Reference dosimetry, Ionization chambers, small fields, electron fluence, quality correction factors, perturbation factors, dead volume
Mythe et philosophie dans les Ennéades, ou, L’élan fébrile de la pensée

This thesis aims to define and delimit myth and metaphorical language in the context of Plotinus’s Enneads. In the first chapter, time, discursive practices, soul and the hypostases are identified as essential elements of myth through a short but dense passage of Ennead III.5.9. As this passage proves insufficient to conjure a definition, the second chapter deals with other attempts at definition of myth in the broader context of platonism, and their adequacy to the context of Plotinus is assessed. In the third chapter, I give my insight on a long-standing and intricate debate about the status of the cosmogenesis of Plato’s Timaeus and its Plotinian exegesis. The last chapter is about the most properly Plotinian device, which consists of accumulating clusters of metaphors in order to describe his metaphysical world. This method is to be understood as different from myth but is also intended to bypass ordinary language’s shortcomings when it comes to highly abstract notions. The thesis concludes in the fundamental importance of Plotinus’s mythical and metaphorical language in expressing his philosophy; it should not be seen as a kind of language opposing or rephrasing philosophical thought, but rather as an indispensable part of it.

Keyphrases: Plotin, Plotin, 0205?-0270, Philosophy, Ancient, Greek Philosophy, Neoplatonism, Plotinus, Myth, Metaphor, Timaeus (Plato)
Un tonneau sous le Portique : la réception du cynisme chez les stoïciens

Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, received part of his philosophical instruction from the Cynic Crates of Thebes. This connection left a lasting imprint on the Stoic school, which continued to maintain strong ties with Cynicism. My dissertation proposes a contribution to our knowledge of the relationship between the two philosophical movements by analyzing all the references to Cynicism in Stoic writings, from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius. The first part of my dissertation lists all the texts composing the corpus, cited in Greek or Latin, with a French translation. Each text is accompanied by a philological and philosophical commentary. The complexity of the Stoics’ perspective on Cynicism is made evident in those whose writings are well preserved. This is the case of Seneca, who offers in his philosophical works elaborate portraits of two Cynics, Diogenes and Demetrius, while criticizing some aspects of Cynicism. The contribution of Epictetus is even more important, since he devotes an entire discourse to the life and role of the Cynic, and gives Diogenes a prominent place in his teaching. His admiration for true Cynics contrasts with his harsh judgment on the fake Cynics of his time. The second part of my dissertation analyzes at length three texts that report a Stoic debate on the possibility for the sage to “cynicize” (D.L., VII 121; Cic., Fin. III 68; Arius Didymus apud Stob., II 7, 11s). Some Stoics refuse to allow the sage to cynicize, while some accept it under certain circumstances and others, such as Apollodorus of Seleucia, consider Cynicism to be a quick but difficult path to virtue. By establishing a link between the portraits of the sage and the doctrine of proper actions, I analyze the debate through the moral classification of actions in Stoic ethics. To shed further light on Apollodorus’ position, I explore his connection to the Cynic doxography (D.L., VI 103-105) and examine the meaning of the image of the path to virtue through its genesis and posterity. Three fundamental characteristics of Cynicism emerge: the rejection of social duties, the choice of poverty, and the refusal of extended studies. To endorse this lifestyle, whose features are contrary to customary Stoic advice, pro-Cynic Stoics adopt a posture of compromise and set narrow limits within which the practice of Cynicism becomes legitimate.

Keyphrases: Chrysippe, Cynicism, Stoicism, Diogenes Laertius, Philodemus, Diogenes, Zeno, Chrysippus, Apollodorus of Seleucia, Seneca, Epictetus
Hybrid and data-driven methods for efficient and realistic particle-based liquid simulations

The approximation of natural phenomena such as liquid simulations in computer graphics requires complex methods that are computationally expensive. Despite recent advances in this field, the gap in realism between a simulated liquid and reality remains considerable. This disparity that separates us from the desired realism requires numerical models whose complexity continues to grow. The ultimate goal is to provide users the capacity and tools to manipulate these liquid simulation models to obtain acceptable realism. In the last decade, several approaches have been revisited to simplify and to allow more flexible models. In this dissertation by articles, we present three projects whose contributions support the improvement and flexibility of generating liquid simulations for computer graphics.  First, we introduce a hybrid approach allowing us to separately process the volume of non-apparent liquid (i.e., in-depth) and a band of surface particles using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. We revisit the particle band approach, but this time newly applied to the SPH method, which offers a higher level of realism. Then, as a second project, we propose an approach to improve the level of detail of splashing liquids. By upsampling an existing liquid simulation, our approach is capable of generating realistic splash details through ballistic dynamics. In addition, we propose a wave simulation method to reproduce the interactions between the generated splashes and the quasi-static portions of the existing liquid simulation. Finally, the third project introduces an approach to enhance the apparent resolution of liquids through machine learning. We propose a learning architecture inspired by optical flows by which we generate a correspondence between the displacement of the particles of liquid simulations at different resolutions (i.e., low and high resolutions). Our training model allows high-resolution features to be encoded using pre-computed deformations between two liquids at different resolutions and convolution operations based on the neighborhood of the particles.

Keyphrases: Particle-based liquid, Hybrid simulation model, Particle band, Liquid splash, Upsampling, Wave simulation, Machine learning, Deep learning, Up-res details, Inter-resolution deformations, Neighborhood convolutions
Tailored deep learning techniques for information retrieval

Information Retrieval aims to find relevant documents to a query. Previously many traditional information retrieval models have been proposed. They either try to encode query and documents into vectors in term space and estimate the relevance by computing the similarity of the two vectors or estimate the relevance by probabilistic models. However for vector space models, encoding query and documents into term space has its limitations: for example, it's difficult to catch terms of similar meanings to the exact query term in the document. It is also difficult to represent the text in a hierarchy of abstractions to better match the information need expressed in the query. With the fast development of deep learning techniques, it is possible to learn useful representations through a series of neural layers, which paves the way to learn better representations in latent dense space rather the term space, which may help to match the non exact matched but similar terms. It also allows us to create different layers of representation for query and document thereby enabling matchings between query and documents at different levels of abstractions, which may better serve the information needs for different queries. Finally, deep learning techniques also allows to learn better ranking function.   In this thesis, we explore several deep learning techniques to deal with the above problems.  First, we study the effectiveness of building multiple abstraction layers between query and document, for representation- and interaction-based models. Then we propose a model allowing for cross-matching of query and document representations at different layers to better serve the need of term-phrase matching. Finally we propose an integrated learning framework of ranking function and neural features from query and document.  Experiments on public datasets demonstrate that the methods we propose in this thesis are more effective than the existing ones.

Keyphrases: Information Retrieval, Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Ranking, Tri
Jeux édifiants, vertu et émotion : une éthique vidéoludique

What we feel when playing video games indicates something about us and transforms our person. Determining the ethical value of a video game hence requires to pay special attention to its emotional experience. In this doctoral thesis, we are interested in emotions transmitted by narrative video games and in virtues they put into practice. During the course of this examination, we will reflect on the place of video games in our lives and will provide conceptual tools to evaluate in detail the following examples: Dishonored (Arkane Studios, 2012), Frostpunk (11 bit studios, 2018), Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory, 2017), Neo Cab (Chance Agency, 2019), Outlast (Red Barrels, 2013), Spec Ops: The Line (Yager, 2012) and Vampyr (DONTNOD, 2018).  Our work is divided in three parts. The first one presents a theory of the emotional experience of video games. We defend that an emotion occurs at the encounter between a conceptual perception and a concern, and that video games orchestrate their emotional experience within a progression structure. The second part revisits the debate on “morally engaging” video games and on transgressive game content. In order to take into account the role of emotion, we introduce a virtue ethics according to which video games act as a training ground where our emotional dispositions are constituted. The third part is dedicated to the analysis of potentially edifying video games, which communicates virtues. We explore more particularly how courage and fear as well as justice and anger are connected in these games.

Keyphrases: Video games, Ethics, Virtue, Psychology
Les cultes des eaux douces à Rome d’après les sources de la République tardive et du Haut-Empire : une idiosyncrasie culturelle?

This doctoral thesis in history focuses on the religious relationship between the ancient Romans and the freshwater which they lived nearby as inhabitants of a river town. This study starts from the observation that Romans are known for their technical knowledge of water and their aqueducts. However, religious beliefs associated with water have yet to be fully examined and remain scattered throughout historiography. To fill this gap, this study presents a synthesis of the aquatic cultures of the Romans from literary, archaeological, and epigraphic sources, dating mostly from the Late Republic and the High Empire (1st century BC. 3rd century)

Keyphrases: Source, Temples, Religion, Fontaines, Neptune, Juturne, Water, Myths, Rituals, Fountains, Festivals, Nymphs