Collective victimisation and collective guilt in the former Yugoslavia : the interplay between individual, local and societal levels

The thesis examines the impact of collective war victimization on individuals' readiness to accept or assign collective guilt for past war atrocities. As a complement to previous studies, its aim is to articulate an integrated approach to collective victimization, which distinguishes between individual-, communal-, and societal-level consequences of warfare. Building on a social representation approach, it is guided by the assumption that individuals form beliefs about a conflict through their personal experiences of victimization, communal experiences of warfare that occur in their proximal surrounding, and the mass- mediatised narratives that circulate in a society's public sphere. Four empirical studies test the hypothesis that individuals' beliefs about the conflict depend on the level and type of war experiences to which they have been exposed, that is, on informative and normative micro and macro contexts in which they are embedded. The studies have been conducted in the context of the Yugoslav wars that attended the breakup of Yugoslavia, a series of wars fought between 1991 and 2001 during which numerous war atrocities were perpetrated causing a massive victimisation of population. To examine the content and impact of war experiences at each level of analysis, the empirical studies employed various methodological strategies, from quantitative analyses of a representative public opinion survey, to qualitative analyses of media content and political speeches. Study 1 examines the impact of individual- and communal- level war experiences on individuals' acceptance and assignment of collective guilt. It further examines the impact of the type of communal level victimization: exposure to symmetric (i.e., violence that similarly affects members of different ethnic groups, including adversaries) and asymmetric violence. The main goal of Study 2 is to examine the structural and political circumstances that enhance collective guilt assignment. While the previous studies emphasize the role of past victimisation, Study 2 tests the assumption that the political demobilisation strategy employed by elites facing public discontent in the collective system-threatening circumstances can fuel out-group blame. Studies 3 and 4 have been conducted predominantly in the context of Croatia and examine rhetoric construction of the dominant politicized narrative of war in a public sphere (Study 3) and its maintenance through public delegitimization of alternative (critical) representations (Study 4). Study 4 further examines the likelihood that highly identified group members adhere to publicly delegitimized critical stances on war. - Cette thèse étudie l'impact de la victimisation collective de guerre sur la capacité des individus à accepter ou à attribuer une culpabilité collective liée à des atrocités commises en temps de guerre. En compléments aux recherches existantes, le but de ce travail est de définir une approche intégrative de la victimisation collective, qui distingue les conséquences de la guerre aux niveaux individuel, régional et sociétal. En partant de l'approche des représentations sociales, cette thèse repose sur le postulat que les individus forment des croyances sur un conflit au travers de leurs expériences personnelles de victimisation, de leurs expériences de guerre lorsque celle-ci se déroule près d'eux, ainsi qu'au travers des récits relayés par les mass media. Quatre études testent l'hypothèse que les croyances des individus dépendent des niveaux et des types d'expériences de guerre auxquels ils ont été exposés, c'est-à-dire, des contextes informatifs et normatifs, micro et macro dans lesquels ils sont insérés. Ces études ont été réalisées dans le contexte des guerres qui, entre 1991 et 2001, ont suivi la dissolution de la Yougoslavie et durant lesquelles de nombreuses atrocités de guerre ont été commises, causant une victimisation massive de la population. Afin d'étudier le contenu et l'impact des expériences de guerre sur chaque niveau d'analyse, différentes stratégies méthodologiques ont été utilisées, des analyses quantitatives sur une enquête représentative d'opinion publique aux analyses qualitatives de contenu de médias et de discours politiques. L'étude 1 étudie l'impact des expériences de guerre individuelles et régionales sur l'acceptation et l'attribution de la culpabilité collective par les individus. Elle examine aussi l'impact du type de victimisation régionale : exposition à la violence symétrique (i.e., violence qui touche les membres de différents groupes ethniques, y compris les adversaires) et asymétrique. L'étude 2 se penche sur les circonstances structurelles et politiques qui augmentent l'attribution de culpabilité collective. Alors que les recherches précédentes ont mis l'accent sur le rôle de la victimisation passée, l'étude 2 teste l'hypothèse que la stratégie de démobilisation politique utilisée par les élites pour faire face à l'insatisfaction publique peut encourager l'attribution de la culpabilité à l'exogroupe. Les études 3 et 4 étudient, principalement dans le contexte croate, la construction rhétorique du récit de guerre politisé dominant (étude 3) et son entretien à travers la délégitimation publique des représentations alternatives (critiques] (étude 4). L'étude 4 examine aussi la probabilité qu'ont les membres de groupe fortement identifiés d'adhérer à des points de vue sur la guerre critiques et publiquement délégitimés.

Dynamical modeling and analysis of large cellular regulatory networks.

The dynamical analysis of large biological regulatory networks requires the development of scalable methods for mathematical modeling. Following the approach initially introduced by Thomas, we formalize the interactions between the components of a network in terms of discrete variables, functions, and parameters. Model simulations result in directed graphs, called state transition graphs. We are particularly interested in reachability properties and asymptotic behaviors, which correspond to terminal strongly connected components (or "attractors") in the state transition graph. A well-known problem is the exponential increase of the size of state transition graphs with the number of network components, in particular when using the biologically realistic asynchronous updating assumption. To address this problem, we have developed several complementary methods enabling the analysis of the behavior of large and complex logical models: (i) the definition of transition priority classes to simplify the dynamics; (ii) a model reduction method preserving essential dynamical properties, (iii) a novel algorithm to compact state transition graphs and directly generate compressed representations, emphasizing relevant transient and asymptotic dynamical properties. The power of an approach combining these different methods is demonstrated by applying them to a recent multilevel logical model for the network controlling CD4+ T helper cell response to antigen presentation and to a dozen cytokines. This model accounts for the differentiation of canonical Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes, as well as of inflammatory Th17 and regulatory T cells, along with many hybrid subtypes. All these methods have been implemented into the software GINsim, which enables the definition, the analysis, and the simulation of logical regulatory graphs.

La reconnaissance des objets sonores chez l'humain

Abstract : This thesis investigated the spatio-temporal brain mechanisms of three processes involved in recognizing environmental sounds produced by living (animal vocalisations) and man-made (manufactured) objects: their discrimination, their plasticity, and the involvement of action representations. Results showed rapid brain discrimination between these categories beginning at ~70ms. Then, beginning at ~150ms, effects of plasticity are observed, without any influence of the categories of sounds. Both of these processes of discrimination and repetition priming involved brain structures located in temporal and frontal lobes. Activation of brain areas BA21 and BA22 suggest an access to semantic representations and/or linked to object manipulation. To investigate the involvement of action representations in sound recognition, analyses were restricted to sounds produced by man-made objects. Results suggest an access to representations linked to action functionally related to sound rather than to representations linked to action that produced sound. These effects occurred at ~300ms post-stimulus onset and involved differential activity brain regions attributed to the mirror neuron system. These data are discussed in regard to motor preparation of actions functionally linked to sounds. Collectively these data showed a sequential progression of cerebral activity underlying the recognizing of environmental sounds. The processes occurred firstly in a shared network of brain areas before propagating elsewhere and/or leading to differential activity in these structures. Cerebral responses observed in this work allowed establishing a dynamic model of discrimination of sounds produced by living and man-made objects.

Modularity of the Consani-Scholten quintic

We prove that the Consani-Scholten quintic, a Calabi-Yau threefold over Q, is Hilbert modular. For this, we refine several techniques known from the context of modular forms. Most notably, we extend the Faltings-Serre-Livn´e method to induced four-dimensional Galois representations over Q. We also need a Sturm bound for Hilbert modular forms; this is developed in an appendix by José Burgos Gil and the second author.

Three-year-olds' attachment play narratives and their associations with internalizing problems

Representational strategies of emotion regulation during play are believed to protect children against behaviour problems. Yet, before the age of 4, it appears that children rely more on their attachment figure than on representational strategies to assuage distress. The study was aimed at testing whether 3-year-olds' narrative features during the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT) could predict concurrent internalizing problems assessed by the mothers' and fathers' ratings of the child, using the Child Behaviour Checklist Regression analyses including gender, IQ, socio-economic status and ASCT dimensions revealed that representations of supportive caregiving predicted mother-reported internalizing problems (negative association), whereas positive resolution and attachment strategies (security, deactivation, hyperactivation, disorganization) did not. Results were interpreted with reference to Bowlby's hypotheses regarding the aetiology of depression and anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)

Policy evaluation and uncertainty about the effects of oil prices on economic activity

This paper addresses the issue of policy evaluation in a context in which policymakers are uncertain about the effects of oil prices on economic performance. I consider models of the economy inspired by Solow (1980), Blanchard and Gali (2007), Kim and Loungani (1992) and Hamilton (1983, 2005), which incorporate different assumptions on the channels through which oil prices have an impact on economic activity. I first study the characteristics of the model space and I analyze the likelihood of the different specifications. I show that the existence of plausible alternative representations of the economy forces the policymaker to face the problem of model uncertainty. Then, I use the Bayesian approach proposed by Brock, Durlauf and West (2003, 2007) and the minimax approach developed by Hansen and Sargent (2008) to integrate this form of uncertainty into policy evaluation. I find that, in the environment under analysis, the standard Taylor rule is outperformed under a number of criteria by alternative simple rules in which policymakers introduce persistence in the policy instrument and respond to changes in the real price of oil.

Explicit methods for Hilbert modular forms

We exhibit algorithms to compute systems of Hecke eigenvalues for spaces of Hilbert modular forms over a totally real field. We provide many explicit examples as well as applications to modularity and Galois representations.

Epidemiology and Anthropology: an integrated approach dealing with bio-socio-cultural aspects as strategy for the control of endemic diseases

The control of endemic diseases has not attained the desired level of effectiveness in spite of the use of modern efficient thecnologies. The classic interventionist approach for the control of schistosomiasis is centered on systemic control of the snail hosts combined to large scale medical treatment and is usually carried out without social preocupation due to the assisted communities. It is easy to understand the interest and the ethical compromise of public health research while producing studies in which the biological and social determinants as well as the cultural components should be considered and also encompass the historical dimensions and symbolic representations. In face of the recent political decision in favor of decentralizations of health administration to municipal level, we suggest, in the present paper, an integrated approach for the epidemiological diagnosis of an endemic situation at local level. Theoretical and methodological aspects from both, epidemiology and anthropology are discussed. Epidemiological methods can be used to detect the dependent variables (those related to the human infection) and the independent variables (demographic, economic, sanitary and social). Another methodological approach of anthropological /etnographic nature can be conducted in order to make an articulation of the knowledge on the various dimensions or determinant levels of the disease. Mutual comprehension, between researchers and the people under investigation, on the dynamic transmission process would be relevant for a joint construction, at local level, of programmed actions for the control of endemic diseases. This would extend reflections on the health/disease process as a whole.

Social Interaction Effects on Fertility: Intentions and Behaviors

The existing literature shows that social interactions in individuals' networks affect their reproductive attitudes and behaviors through three mechanisms: social influence, social learning, and social support. In this paper, we discuss to what extent the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), an individual based theorization of intentions and behavior used to model fertility, takes these social mechanisms into account. We argue that the TPB already integrates social influence and that it could easily accommodate the two other social network mechanisms. By doing so, the theory would be enriched in two respects. First, it will explain more completely how macro level changes eventually ends in micro level changes in behavioral intentions. Indeed, mechanisms of social influence may explain why changes in representations of parenthood and ideal family size can be slower than changes in socio-economic conditions and institutions. Social learning mechanisms should also be considered, since they are crucial to distinguish who adopts new behavioral beliefs and practices, when change at the macro level finally sinks in. Secondly, relationships are a capital of services that can complement institutional offering (informal child care) as well as a capital of knowledge which help individuals navigate in a complex institutional reality, providing a crucial element to explain heterogeneity in the successful realization of fertility intentions across individuals. We develop specific hypotheses concerning the effect of social interactions on fertility intentions and their realization to conclude with a critical review of the existing surveys suitable to test them and their limits.

Closeness in relationships as a mediator between sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence and psychopathological outcome in adulthood.

The risk of adverse psychological outcomes in adult victims of childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) has been documented; however, research on possible mediating variables is still required, namely with a clinical perspective. The attachment literature suggests that secure interpersonal relationships may represent such a variable. Twenty-eight women who had experienced episodes of CSA, and 16 control women, were interviewed using Bremner's Early Trauma Inventory and the DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning; they also responded to Collins' Relationship Scales Questionnaire, evaluating adult attachment representations in terms of Closeness, Dependence and Anxiety. Subjects with an experience of severe abuse reported significantly more interpersonal distance in relationships (low index of Closeness) than other subjects. The index of psychopathological functioning was correlated with both the severity of abuse and attachment (low index of Closeness). Regression analysis on the sample of abused women revealed that attachment predicted psychopathology when abuse was controlled for, whereas abuse did not predict psychopathology when attachment was controlled for. Therefore, preserving a capacity for closeness with attachment figures in adulthood appears to mediate the consequences of CSA on subsequent psychopathological outcome.

The efficacy of single-trial multisensory memories.

This review article summarizes evidence that multisensory experiences at one point in time have long-lasting effects on subsequent unisensory visual and auditory object recognition. The efficacy of single-trial exposure to task-irrelevant multisensory events is its ability to modulate memory performance and brain activity to unisensory components of these events presented later in time. Object recognition (either visual or auditory) is enhanced if the initial multisensory experience had been semantically congruent and can be impaired if this multisensory pairing was either semantically incongruent or entailed meaningless information in the task-irrelevant modality, when compared to objects encountered exclusively in a unisensory context. Processes active during encoding cannot straightforwardly explain these effects; performance on all initial presentations was indistinguishable despite leading to opposing effects with stimulus repetitions. Brain responses to unisensory stimulus repetitions differ during early processing stages (-100 ms post-stimulus onset) according to whether or not they had been initially paired in a multisensory context. Plus, the network exhibiting differential responses varies according to whether or not memory performance is enhanced or impaired. The collective findings we review indicate that multisensory associations formed via single-trial learning exert influences on later unisensory processing to promote distinct object representations that manifest as differentiable brain networks whose activity is correlated with memory performance. These influences occur incidentally, despite many intervening stimuli, and are distinguishable from the encoding/learning processes during the formation of the multisensory associations. The consequences of multisensory interactions that persist over time to impact memory retrieval and object discrimination.

Dynamical systems of type (m,n) and their C*-algebras

Given positive integers n and m, we consider dynamical systems in which n copies of a topological space is homeomorphic to m copies of that same space. The universal such system is shown to arise naturally from the study of a C*-algebra we denote by Om;n, which in turn is obtained as a quotient of the well known Leavitt C*-algebra Lm;n, a process meant to transform the generating set of partial isometries of Lm;n into a tame set. Describing Om;n as the crossed-product of the universal (m; n) -dynamical system by a partial action of the free group Fm+n, we show that Om;n is not exact when n and m are both greater than or equal to 2, but the corresponding reduced crossed-product, denoted Or m;n, is shown to be exact and non-nuclear. Still under the assumption that m; n &= 2, we prove that the partial action of Fm+n is topologically free and that Or m;n satisfies property (SP) (small projections). We also show that Or m;n admits no finite dimensional representations. The techniques developed to treat this system include several new results pertaining to the theory of Fell bundles over discrete groups.

Acute and usual drinking among emergency trauma patients: a study on alcohol consumption and injury patterns.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between usual and acute alcohol consumption among injured patients and, when combined, how they covary with other injury attributes. METHODS: Data from a randomised sample of 486 injured patients interviewed in an emergency department (Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland) were analysed using the chi(2) test for independence and cluster analysis. RESULTS: Acute alcohol consumption (24.7%) was associated with usual drinking and particularly with high volumes of consumption. Six injury clusters were identified. Over-representations of acute consumption were found in a cluster typical of injuries sustained through interpersonal violence and in another formed by miscellaneous circumstances. A third cluster, typical of sports injuries, was linked to a group of frequent heavy episodic drinkers (without acute consumption). CONCLUSIONS: Among injured patients, acute alcohol consumption is common and associated with usual drinking. Acute and/or usual consumption form part of some, but not all, injury clusters.

Narrative Diagrammatik. Mit einer Modellanalyse: Die Diagrammatik des "Decameron"

Taking as a starting point the seeming inconsistency of late-medieval romances notoriously 'run wild' (verwildert), this article is concerned with the description of an abstract form of narrative coherence that is based on the notion of the diagrammatic. In a first section, this concept is illustrated in a simplified manner by an analysis of Boccaccio's Decameron based on two levels of spatial structure: that of the autograph Berlin manuscript (Codex Hamilton 90) and that of the recipient's mental visualisation of the relations between the frame and the tales of the work. It is argued that the connectivity of the work as a whole depends on the perception of those two spatial representations of the plot. A second section develops this concept in a more theoretical fashion, drawing on Charles Sanders Peirce's notion of diagrammatic reasoning as a way of perceiving relations through mental and material topological representations. Correspondingly, a view of narrative is proposed that does not depend on the traditional perspective of temporal sequence but emphasizes the spatial structure of literary narrative. It is argued that these conditions form the primary ontological mode of narrative, whereas the temporal development of a story is an aesthetic illusion that has been specifically stimulated by the narrative conventions of approximately the past three centuries and must thus be considered a secondary effect. To conclude, an interpretation in miniature of an aspect of Heinrich von Neustadt's Apollonius von Tyrland that seems to have 'run wild' is undertaken from a diagrammatic perspective.

Sound objects in time, space and action

SOUND OBJECTS IN TIME, SPACE AND ACTIONThe term "sound object" describes an auditory experience that is associated with an acoustic event produced by a sound source. At cortical level, sound objects are represented by temporo-spatial activity patterns within distributed neural networks. This investigation concerns temporal, spatial and action aspects as assessed in normal subjects using electrical imaging or measurement of motor activity induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).Hearing the same sound again has been shown to facilitate behavioral responses (repetition priming) and to modulate neural activity (repetition suppression). In natural settings the same source is often heard again and again, with variations in spectro-temporal and spatial characteristics. I have investigated how such repeats influence response times in a living vs. non-living categorization task and the associated spatio-temporal patterns of brain activity in humans. Dynamic analysis of distributed source estimations revealed differential sound object representations within the auditory cortex as a function of the temporal history of exposure to these objects. Often heard sounds are coded by a modulation in a bilateral network. Recently heard sounds, independently of the number of previous exposures, are coded by a modulation of a left-sided network.With sound objects which carry spatial information, I have investigated how spatial aspects of the repeats influence neural representations. Dynamics analyses of distributed source estimations revealed an ultra rapid discrimination of sound objects which are characterized by spatial cues. This discrimination involved two temporo-spatially distinct cortical representations, one associated with position-independent and the other with position-linked representations within the auditory ventral/what stream.Action-related sounds were shown to increase the excitability of motoneurons within the primary motor cortex, possibly via an input from the mirror neuron system. The role of motor representations remains unclear. I have investigated repetition priming-induced plasticity of the motor representations of action sounds with the measurement of motor activity induced by TMS pulses applied on the hand motor cortex. TMS delivered to the hand area within the primary motor cortex yielded larger magnetic evoked potentials (MEPs) while the subject was listening to sounds associated with manual than non- manual actions. Repetition suppression was observed at motoneuron level, since during a repeated exposure to the same manual action sound the MEPs were smaller. I discuss these results in terms of specialized neural network involved in sound processing, which is characterized by repetition-induced plasticity.Thus, neural networks which underlie sound object representations are characterized by modulations which keep track of the temporal and spatial history of the sound and, in case of action related sounds, also of the way in which the sound is produced.LES OBJETS SONORES AU TRAVERS DU TEMPS, DE L'ESPACE ET DES ACTIONSLe terme "objet sonore" décrit une expérience auditive associée avec un événement acoustique produit par une source sonore. Au niveau cortical, les objets sonores sont représentés par des patterns d'activités dans des réseaux neuronaux distribués. Ce travail traite les aspects temporels, spatiaux et liés aux actions, évalués à l'aide de l'imagerie électrique ou par des mesures de l'activité motrice induite par stimulation magnétique trans-crânienne (SMT) chez des sujets sains. Entendre le même son de façon répétitive facilite la réponse comportementale (amorçage de répétition) et module l'activité neuronale (suppression liée à la répétition). Dans un cadre naturel, la même source est souvent entendue plusieurs fois, avec des variations spectro-temporelles et de ses caractéristiques spatiales. J'ai étudié la façon dont ces répétitions influencent le temps de réponse lors d'une tâche de catégorisation vivant vs. non-vivant, et les patterns d'activité cérébrale qui lui sont associés. Des analyses dynamiques d'estimations de sources ont révélé des représentations différenciées des objets sonores au niveau du cortex auditif en fonction de l'historique d'exposition à ces objets. Les sons souvent entendus sont codés par des modulations d'un réseau bilatéral. Les sons récemment entendus sont codé par des modulations d'un réseau du côté gauche, indépendamment du nombre d'expositions. Avec des objets sonores véhiculant de l'information spatiale, j'ai étudié la façon dont les aspects spatiaux des sons répétés influencent les représentations neuronales. Des analyses dynamiques d'estimations de sources ont révélé une discrimination ultra rapide des objets sonores caractérisés par des indices spatiaux. Cette discrimination implique deux représentations corticales temporellement et spatialement distinctes, l'une associée à des représentations indépendantes de la position et l'autre à des représentations liées à la position. Ces représentations sont localisées dans la voie auditive ventrale du "quoi".Des sons d'actions augmentent l'excitabilité des motoneurones dans le cortex moteur primaire, possiblement par une afférence du system des neurones miroir. Le rôle des représentations motrices des sons d'actions reste peu clair. J'ai étudié la plasticité des représentations motrices induites par l'amorçage de répétition à l'aide de mesures de potentiels moteurs évoqués (PMEs) induits par des pulsations de SMT sur le cortex moteur de la main. La SMT appliquée sur le cortex moteur primaire de la main produit de plus grands PMEs alors que les sujets écoutent des sons associée à des actions manuelles en comparaison avec des sons d'actions non manuelles. Une suppression liée à la répétition a été observée au niveau des motoneurones, étant donné que lors de l'exposition répétée au son de la même action manuelle les PMEs étaient plus petits. Ces résultats sont discuté en termes de réseaux neuronaux spécialisés impliqués dans le traitement des sons et caractérisés par de la plasticité induite par la répétition. Ainsi, les réseaux neuronaux qui sous-tendent les représentations des objets sonores sont caractérisés par des modulations qui gardent une trace de l'histoire temporelle et spatiale du son ainsi que de la manière dont le son a été produit, en cas de sons d'actions.