NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Caille-moi ; suivi de La violence du langage comme modalité de négociation avec le réel dans la pièce Rouge gueule d’Étienne Lepage

Through a twofold approach, the current M.A. thesis suggests an investigation of violent language in contemporary theatre as a means of coping with reality. By proposing first the play Caille-moi and its sober scenography and subsequently an essay on Étienne Lepage’s Rouge gueule, this thesis aim to draw attention to a desubjectified language (Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Pierre Ouellet) in which alterity replaces an undeniable alienation. At the cross road of Literature and Theatre Studies and following Marion Chénetier-Alev’s work on the oral nature of theatre, the present study wants to address violence as both a theatrical apparatus and as directed towards the readers-viewers in the space of the theatre by use of language. The reflection on the subject also expands to investigate the British In-yer-face Theatre (Sarah Kane) and its ramifications on Quebec’s contemporary theatre by demonstrating its broad knowledge as proven by the play. Consequently, the young playwright’s invented language offers a counterpoint to contemporary cynicism and imposes a rich language conscious of its history.

Keyphrases: Étienne Lepage, Rouge gueule, Violence, Désubjectivation, Quebec's Theater, Contemporary Literature, Language, Desubjectivation, Orality, Relationship to reality, Otherness
Les nouvelles représentations dramaturgiques de la femme au Québec (2000-2010) : Fanny Britt, Evelyne de la Chenelière et Jennifer Tremblay, un féminisme diversifié

Can contemporary Quebec feminine drama be considered feminist? This master’s dissertation answers in the affirmative. It demonstrates that the new women’s theatre is still feminist, but more complex and more diversified than in the 1970s and 80s, as it tends to blend the intimate and the social. The plays of Fanny Britt (Chaque jour, 2011), Evelyne de la Chenelière (L’Imposture, 2009), and Jennifer Tremblay (La Liste, 2008), offer innovative elements in their dramatic portrayal of women, as they focus on three themes: the media, motherhood and men-women relations. By comparing the plays with one another, as well as with important plays from past decades, it will be shown that Chaque jour, L’Imposture and La Liste renew the representation of women in Quebec theatre and society. Finally, this dissertation will address the links between this contemporary feminist theatre and the third wave feminist discourse.

Keyphrases: Theatre, Feminism, Contemporary Quebec theatre, Women's theatre, Representation, Intimacy
Entre dévoilement et dérobade : l'écriture entre les mots de Silvia Baron Supervielle

Writing in an «adopted» language has become more and more a common literary phenomenon. To date, its contextualisation mostly emphasizes on the topics of identity and exile, and neglects a less biographic approach, that would more likely refer to a poetic of bilingualism in the tradition of Walter Benjamin's philosophy of language. The concept of a pure language, resonating within the silence of each language like the evidence of an elapsed presence, can help to access this opening-dimension of words, their concurrent power of both unveiling and eluding what they supposedly name; it might lead to an attention on what's being said through them. The work of Silvia Baron Supervielle, a francophone writer and translator of Argentinian origin, testifies this exteriority inherent to all languages. By configuring complementary philosophical concepts, the thesis' analysis aims, in a suggestive way, to make this singular voice palpable in three publication of different genres: philosophical reflections on language (L'alphabet du feu), a diary of a reading poet (Le pays de l'écriture), and a poem in prose (La frontière). It intends less to develop a theory of the in-between-language than rather to show the opening of the word, generated by the writing from one language to the other.

Keyphrases: Baron Supervielle, Benjamin, Wittgenstein, Lévinas, theory of translation, bilingualism
La théâtralisation du pâtir dans la pièce de théâtre L’Île de la Demoiselle et dans le roman Kamouraska d’Anne Hébert

Passion is a vital element in Anne Hebert’s work. This passion results in a peculiar rhetoric for the characters: the rhetoric of suffering. L’Île de la Demoiselle, theater radio broadcast in 1974, and Kamouraska, novel published in 1970, are prime examples of the textual construction of suffering. In the case of those two works, this kind of suffering is distinctive because it seems to be altogether sustained and desired by the protagonists. This master thesis focuses on one specific tool of dramatization, speech, primarily by the main characters Marguerite de Notron and Elisabeth d’Aulnières. We study how the speech builds sustained, mastered and desired suffering of the main characters via dramatization. For each work, we make microlectures, like the theorician Jean-Pierre Richard did, to study how the suffering unfolds in the speech throughout the text. We use the theory of Austin on language to analyze with various textual themes how there is performativity of speech even if the main characters seem inactive. Our goal is to show how speech staging is the same in both works.

Keyphrases: Île de la Demoiselle, Kamouraska, passion, suffering, theatricality, speech, performativity of speech, quebec literature
Etude comparative de l'acte d'invitation dans les cartes d'invitation au mariage en français et en vietnamien

This research on the act of invitation to marriage aims to find out the characteristics of this act in invitation cards in French and Vietnamese, then to reveal the resemblances and the differences which are culturally determined. For this purpose, we described the formulation and the pragmatic functioning of invitation cards to marriage in the view of linguistic politeness.  The analysis result allowed us then to exploit the particularities in the formulation of cards as well as the strategies of politeness privileged in French and Vietnamese communities. We concluded that unlike the individuality that characterises Occidental cultures including French culture, Vietnamese people of rice culture attach more importance to the respect of honor and are afraid of losing face, making others lose face, being different from others, or not being in common with them. As a consequence, they often choose traditional models of invitation cards without insisting too much on the personalisation and they privilege the positive politeness.

Keyphrases: Invitation, Face, Speech act, Positive politeness, Negative politeness, Interpersonal relations
Agrammatisme : effet potentiel d'un entraînement musical sur le traitement syntaxique

The present thesis aims at the unification of the results suggested by behavioral, neuropsychological and electrophysiological studies on the possible relation between neural correlates dedicated to treatment of language and music.  To do this, a theoretical analysis of specific aspects processed in the structural and temporal integration of linguistic or musical elements when being processed on-line is essential. Our goal is to question whether a musical training would benefit the aphasic population (Broca) with agrammatism, especially on processing syntactic structures.

Keyphrases: agrammatism, Broca's aphasia, music, semantic, musical training
Algorithmes d’apprentissage profonds supervisés et non-supervisés: applications et résultats théoriques

The list of areas affected by machine learning is growing rapidly. As the amount of available training data increases, the development of more powerful learning algorithms is crucial. This thesis consists of three parts: first an overview of the basic concepts of machine learning and the details necessary for training neural networks, models that lend themselves well to deep architectures. The second part presents an application of machine learning to online video games, and a performance measurement method when using these models as decision policies. Finally, the third section presents theoretical results for unsupervised training of deep architectures. Video games are a particularly fertile area for machine learning: it is easy to accumulate large amounts of data, and many tasks are possible. Assembling teams of equal skill is a common machine learning application for online games. The first paper compares different learning algorithms against deep neural networks applied to the prediction of match balance in online games. We then present a simulation based method to evaluate the resulting models used as decision policies for online matchmaking. Following this we present a new method to train generative models. Theoretical results indicate that it is possible to train by backpropagation unsupervised models that can generate samples following the data’s true distribution. This is a relevant result in the context of the recent literature investigating the properties of autoencoders as generative models. These results are supported with preliminary quantitative results and some qualitative experiments.

Keyphrases: Matchmaking, Machine learning, Neural networks, Autoencoders, Content recommendation, Deep architectures
Staffing optimization with chance constraints in call centers

Call centers are key components of almost any large organization. The problem of labor management has received a great deal of attention in the literature. A typical formulation of the staffing problem is in terms of infinite-horizon performance measures. The method of combining simulation and optimization is used to solve this staffing problem. In this thesis, we consider a problem of staffing call centers with respect to chance constraints. We introduce chance-constrained formulations of the scheduling problem which requires that the quality of service (QoS) constraints are met with high probability. We define a sample average approximation of this problem in a multiskill setting. We prove the convergence of the optimal solution of the sample-average problem to that of the original problem when the sample size increases. For the special case where we consider the staffing problem and all agents have all skills (a single group of agents), we design three simulation-based optimization methods for the sample problem. Given a starting solution, we increase the staffings in periods where the constraints are violated, and decrease the number of agents in several periods where decrease is acceptable, as much as possible, provided that the constraints are still satisfied. For the call center models in our numerical experiment, these algorithms give good solutions, i.e., most constraints are satisfied, and we cannot decrease any agent in any period to obtain better results. One advantage of these algorithms, compared with other methods, that they are very easy to implement.

Keyphrases: Simulation, Erlang C, Call center, Staffing, Chance constraints, Optimization, Service level, Average waiting time
Complexité de la communication sur un canal avec délai

We introduce a new communication complexity model in which we want to determine how much time of communication is needed by two players in order to execute arbitrary tasks on a channel with delay d. We establish a few basic lower and upper bounds and compare this new model to existing models such as the classical and quantum two-party models of communication. We show that the standard communication complexity of a function, modulo a factor of d/ lg d, constitutes an upper bound to its communication complexity on a delayed channel. We introduce a few examples on which a clever strategy depending on the delay procures a signiﬁcant advantage over the naïve implementation of an optimal communication protocol. We then show that a delayed channel can be used to implement a cryptographic bit swap, but is insufﬁcient on its own to implement an oblivious transfer scheme.

Keyphrases: communication complexity, relativity, lower bounds, quantum communication complexity, cryptography, rounds in communication complexity, information theory
Projection multilingue d'annotations pour dialogues avancés

For a few years now, there has been an increasing number of applications allowing advanced dialog interactions with the user. However, the universalization of those systems quickly becomes painful : since they are highly dependent on the original development language, each new language to integrate requires an additionnal and significative time investment. A matter that only gets worse considering quality usually rests on the size of training set. This project tries to speed up the overall process. It presents various methods to generate multilingual versions of a first functionnal system, using statistical machine translation. Information from the source data is projected to another language in order to create similar target data, which then reduces the upcoming development time. Many approaches were tested and analysed. In particular, a method that regroups data in clusters before reordering the associated translation candidates shows promising results.

Keyphrases: Syntactic projection, Advanced dialogs, Machine translation, Consensus treatment, Universalization
Débats contemporains dans l’historiographie de la Révolution haïtienne

The historiography of the Haitian Revolution has flourished over the last twenty years. A wide range of interpretations of the events that lead to the creation of Haiti now exist. The purpose of this thesis is to assess different perspectives on issues central to the contemporary historiography. The thesis is divided into three sections. Each chapter develops a particular problem in the historiography by exploring the findings of various researchers. In the first chapter, the theme of the transformation of the revolt in revolution will be studied. Then, we will analyse how researchers assess the impact of the Haitian Revolution on the history of slavery in the Atlantic world. To conclude, the dichotomy between the longstanding absence of the Haitian Revolution in the Western historiography and the attention it receives today will be discussed in the third chapter. Today, the Haitian Revolution draws a great amount of attention from researchers from different backgrounds. It is in this context that this thesis presents a perspective of the major ideological debates in the historiography of the Haitian Revolution since the 1990s.

Keyphrases: Cause, Impact, Abolition, Haitian, Revolution, Haiti, Cause, Impact, Debate, Contemporary, Slavery, Abolition, Historiography
«Tu ne tueras plus!» : une étude du processus de «recivilisation» de la société ouest-allemande d’après les catéchismes catholiques (1945-1970)

Among scholars who have studied contemporary Germany, many consider that by perpetrating such a barbaric crime as the Holocaust, the Third Reich caused a “rupture of civilizationˮ (Zivilisationsbruch) in the history of the Western world. These experts have reflected on the meaning as well as on the historical and philosophical consequences of the Holocaust for the contemporary world. However, very few of them have examined the other side of this “rupture of civilizationˮ, i.e. the “recivilizingˮ process that occurred in West German society during the first postwar decades. Characterized by the rejection of violence and militarism, the restoration of elementary norms of civility and the growing importance attached to civic values such as democracy and human rights, this process explains how, within barely two decades, West Germans succeeded in building a stable and democratic state on the ruins of a genocidal dictatorship. Using the presentation of the Decalogue in the Catholic catechisms, this master’s thesis examines the role attributed to religious moral norms in the “recivilizingˮ process of West German society. It intends to show that during the 1950s and 1960s the Catholic catechisms published in the FRG presented numerous signs of a “recivilizingˮ will, which consisted in a particular attention to issues of war and peace, an updated view of parental authority and the adoption of a conception of civil authority based on the fulfilment of civic duties rather than on sheer obedience to hierarchy.

Keyphrases: Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Postwar era, Recivilization, Catholic Church, Just war doctrine, Second Vatican Council, Democracy, Human rights, Civic culture, Parental authority
La loi mémorielle de 2005 et la réaction des historiens. Perspective sur la pédagogie de la mémoire dans les cours d'histoire

The memorial law of February 23, 2005 created quite an uproar in France. Historians spearheaded the opposition, as the act collided head on with the very basis of their profession. Actually, the law of 2005 advocated the obligation for them to teach the positive values of French colonization, a recommendation that contradicted the freedom of thought essential to their role as historians. This dissertation analyzes how historians reacted in order to work out their positions and their understanding of the crisis. It sheds new light on the memorial crisis of 2005 and assesses what historians wrote and acted upon in the wake of the law. It turns out that the crisis was more complex than the interpretation given by historians. In this respect, the study underlines the importance of the public arena in the relationship between memorial communities and historians. To that effect, schools symbolize the meeting ground of memory and history.  The dissertation also examines the teaching of history in a school environment affected by memorial tensions. In response to these memorial excesses, historians have a duty to uphold intellectual rigor in school as well as in public space in general.

Keyphrases: France, Memory, Law, Teaching, Colonization
Évaluation de l’effet des vagues de bateau sur les conditions hydrauliques près des berges en milieu fluvial

Boat induced waves generate additional stress on banks and should be included in bank erosion predictive models. The objective of this study is to investigate the role of boat generated waves on near bank flow in a fluvial environment. We used a longitudinal array of four bi-directional eletromagnetic current meters (ECMs) perpendicular to the bank and two optical backcattering sensors (OBSs) set back to back, one facing the river bank (inner looking) and the other towards the river (outer looking) to measure mean  and turbulent properties of the horizontal and vertical flow velocities and suspended sediment fluxes generated by the waves. The waves were generated using a 16 ft long boat equipped with a 40hp motor. The effect of three different distances between the bank and sailing line (5, 10, 15 m) and of three different speeds of the vessel (5, 15 and 25 km/h) was evaluated. Five replicates of each combination of distance and speed were realized for a total of 45 passages. Variability of flows conditions, wave characteristics and turbidity properties were characterized and spectral analyses were performed to separate oscillatory and turbulent flow induced by boat generated waves. An important variability in suspended sediment response to the passages of boat wave is observed between replications and the effect of speed and distance of sailing line is nonlinear. It was often unbalanced between the inner and outer looking OBS suggesting that the bank changed its morphology. Cross-correlation between hydraulic and turbidity variables show the significance of the relation between shear stress and suspended sediment transport variables. This study provides quantitative relations between wave dynamics and plumes of suspended sediment that could help to develop mitigation measures in fluvial environments where vessel traffic represents a major issue for bank erosion and retreat.

Keyphrases: Turbulence, Boat waves, Bank erosion, Suspended sediment transport, Shear stress, Spectral analysis, Oscillatory flow, Turbulence
L’histoire postglaciaire de la végétation et des feux dans la région du Lac Mégantic

The Lac Mégantic area is probably the first deglaciated in Quebec (13,500 cal. BP) which gives it a special interest. The pollen and charcoal analysis in sediments of three lakes located in its vicinity, Clinton, Dubuc and des Joncs Lakes, helped to reconstruct postglacial vegetation and fire, locally and regionally. The presence of an altitudinal gradient resulted in some delays in the introduction of various forest stages especially at the beginning. At start, tundra established in the region. The start of the afforestation is marked by the arrival of the balsam fir and black spruce. By multiplying their populations, the forest closed around 10,000 years cal. BP to build a boreal forest and was also disturbed by multiple fires.  By 8,000 years cal. BP, new conditions favored deciduous species and created a sugar maple and yellow birch forest associated with lower fire frequencies. This study offers new perspectives in fire and forest reconstitutions by using proximal sites.

Keyphrases: Vegetation, Fires, Holocene, Palynology, charcoal analysis
El habla de la comunidad paisa de Medellín en Montreal

In this study we describe the current state of the Spanish spoken by the Paisa community from Medellin (Colombia) in Montreal, whose dialect or language variant is also known as Paisa. To carry out this research, we conducted fieldwork with a questionnaire and semi-structured oral interviews. The data collected allowed us to establish the first set of comparisons between Paisa spoken in Montreal and that of Medellin and to identify some of the main linguistic changes in this community of speakers, especially interferences from French in spoken Spanish, factors that favour them, as well as changes at a socio-cultural level: Paisa’s linguistic attitudes towards their variation, towards Spanish in general and towards the French of Quebecois in Montreal’s Metropolitan Area. Finally, it is also possible to identify some of the differences and similarities in regards to the current linguistic situation in Medellin. Although the studied community represents a low percentage of Spanish speakers in the city, this research contributes knowledge about the Spanish spoken in Montreal, since its results combined with those from other studies will facilitate a better understanding of the linguistic reality facing this language.

Keyphrases: Colombian Spanish, Paisa linguistic variation, Spanish in Montreal, Linguistic interferences
"A Most Weird Dialectic of Inversion" : revolutionary fraternity, sexuality and translation in Pierre Vallières and Eldridge Cleaver

In this master's thesis, I will explore the roles of gender, sexuality and translation in the relationship between two nationalist movements. In the first section, I will look at the representations of family life contained in the autobiography of Front de liberation du Québec member Pierre Vallières (1938-1998), Les Nègres blancs d'Amérique. In the second section, I will examine the analysis of gender and sexuality offered by Soul on Ice, a collection of texts written by the Black nationalist Eldridge Cleaver (1933-1998). In the third section, I will re-read Nègres blancs in English translation—Joan Pinkham's White Niggers of America—in order both to understand and to critique, from the vantage point created by Cleaver's reading of Black masculinity in a white-supremacist society, Vallières's attempt to build networks of international and interracial solidarity between men. In the conclusion, I discuss internationalism as a way of tying the three texts together and make use of queer theory, translation theory and biographical data to formulate final remarks.

Keyphrases: Pierre Vallières, Eldridge Cleaver, Joan Pinkham, race, gender and sexuality, translation, queer studies, études queer