McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par É

La mémoire immunitaire est une composante essentielle du système immunitaire, en cequi a trait à l’élimination d’infections de la grippe saisonière. Cependant, les mécanismesqui régulent le maintien de la mémoire immunitaire et l’activation de cellules mémoirelors d’une réinfection restent à élucider et quantifier. Dans ce mémoire, nous développonsun modèle mathématique intra-hôte du virus de l’influenza A, composé de 11 équationsdifférentielles à retards. Ce modèle décrit trois phases de la réponse immunitaire: laréponse immunitaire innée, la réponse immunitaire adaptative (acquise) et la formation dela mémoire immunitaire. Nous étudions mathématiquement un sous-modèle composé de3 équations, décrivant la dynamique virale de l’influenza A; …  Read more

During the summer of 1949 the writer was engaged by the Labrador Mining and Exploration Company of Montreal on a survey party mapping an area in central Labrador and, in particular, a band of iron-bearing formation that runs through it. In the winter of the same year a petrographic study of the formation was undertaken at McGill University, by the writer, and is the subject of this thesis. The iron formation lies between the lakes Snelgrove, to the south east, and Comeback, to the north, both of which are situated within the Dyke Lake Sheet and lie in the concession …  Read more

Le séisme catastrophique de 2010 en Haïti a fait 200 000 morts et 1,5 million de sans-abri. Même avant le désastre, le classement d'Haïti selon l'indice de développement humain des Nations Unies se trouvait parmi les plus bas au monde. Depuis le séisme, le pays a glissé encore plus bas. Aujourd'hui, la plupart des Haïtiens n'ont toujours pas accès aux services de base et luttent pour leur survie. Paradoxalement, le séisme pourrait représenter une occasion de repenser les communautés et les institutions sociales. L'objectif de la présente thèse de doctorat est d'examiner des cas de développement communautaire participatif dans la …  Read more

Le développement de médicaments est un domaine de recherche exigeant une quantité considerable de financement et de temps, ainsi que la collaboration étroite de spécialistes dans diverses disciplines des sciences de la vie. Dans ce contexte, les méthodes assistées par ordinateur ont le potentiel d'améliorer la situation. Par exemple, des programmes de docking moléculaire sont souvent utilisés pour faire des criblages virtuels sur de grandes bibliothèques de molécules, à la recherche de candidats qui peuvent être convertis en médicaments efficaces et sécuritaires. L'une des composantes critiques d'un programme de docking est celui chargé de faire l'évaluation de l'affinité du complexe …  Read more

Renoux, Christel (Supervisor1)  Read more

Butler, I. S. (Supervisor)  Read more

This study examines the impact of snowmelt runoff on nutrient transfer from the terrestrial to the aquatic (lake) portion of a subarctic catchment 6 km WSW from Schefferville, Quebec. Statistically significant differences in snow chemistry were recorded among the tundra, woodland and forest snowpacks. Significant overland substantial scouring of nutrients from the organic horizons were recorded in the tundra, woodland and forest. A calculation designed to generate, on a daily basis, 70% of the meltwater from the terrestrial catchment to the lake indicates overland flow is a predominant route of meltwater during the spring. This calculation made possible the determination …  Read more

A Cisplatin-resistant subline of a Human Ovarian cancer cell line, A2780 CP also exhibits cross resistance to 60Co gamma-radiation. Cellular Glutathione (GSH) levels were measured by the Tietze Spectrophotometric method. GSH levels in A2780 CP cells were approximately three time that of the parental A2780 cells. In cells depleted of GSH by L-Buthionine Sulfoximine (BSO), Cisplatin-resistance was significantly decreased in both cell lines. BSO had no effect on the radiation resistance of either cell lines. However treatment of cells with a combination of BSO and Dimethyl Fumarate (DMF) significantly decreased the radio-resistance in A2780 CP cells. The combination treatment had …  Read more

The chemistry of organo-metallic compounds has been an important field of investigation, providing a link between organic and inorganic chemistry. Valuable organo-metallic compounds of many uses have been discovered or synthesized: drugs, such as the arsenic compounds; reaction intermediates, such as Grignard reagents and lithium alkyls; and polymeric substances, such as the silicones. The organic chemistry of Group IV elements is interesting because these elements, being tetracovalent, can act much more like carbon than any other hetero elements can.  Read more

Pereg-Barnea, Tamar (Supervisor1)  Read more

This thesis is dedicated to the work of one of the most brilliant representatives of the Soviet (Russian) literature of the past decades---Chinges Aitmatov. In this thesis I concentrate on Aitmatov's short stories which I consider to be one of the most important aspects of his work. What is so particular about Aitmatov's short stories? How does he manage to condense in his short stories such a deep meaning such a refined and sensitive world of heroes, together with the very essence of being? His pure and sometimes naive stories characterized by deep philosophical thought lead us to ponder over …  Read more

This study is a critical analysis of Carl Gustav Jung's interpretation of the book of Job. It presents first the methodological approach adopted in Jung's reading of the book of Job and the epistemology at the basis of his enterprise. It then explores the biographical context of Jung's writings on the book of Job followed by the reconstruction of Jung's interpretation of it with reference not only to Antwort auf Hiob ( Answer to Job) published in 1952, but also to other writings. A series of critiques addressed to Jung's reading of the book of Job are analyzed and followed …  Read more

Davies, David (Supervisor)  Read more

Cette étude qualitative examine le potentiel de l'écriture de blogue comme moyen de combler l'écart entre la théorie et la pratique dans le domaine de l'éducation en langue seconde (l'ELS) et de promouvoir la collaboration entre les chercheurs et les praticiens. Un blog traitant de la recherche en enseignement des langues secondes a été utilisé comme plateforme pour des chercheurs aux études supérieures afin de de publier courts articles de recherche conceptuellement accessibles. Sur une période de trois mois, quelques professeurs de langue (PLs) ont été recrutés pour suivre le blog et publier des commentaires. Les commentaires ont été collectés …  Read more

Cette étude à double cas examine de façon approfondie et détaillée l’expérience de jeunes adultes participant à des activités musicales en personne et en ligne durant la pandémie de COVID-19. De récents rapports nord-américains indiquent que le bien-être mental des jeunes adultes pourrait être en déclin depuis 2009, avec des symptômes liés à la dépression et l'anxiété en forte augmentation. L'isolement et les autres facteurs de stress dus à la pandémie peuvent aussi avoir exacerbé le besoin d'accès à des services et des activités favorisant le bien-être. Cette étude de cas s’intéresse particulièrement aux perceptions de jeunes adultes sur la …  Read more

Debruille, Jacques Bruno (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

This chapter book begins with an overall discussion of the field of aesthetic medicine, with a focus on soft tissue injectables [e.g., hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers]. In particular, this book evaluates adverse events (AEs) associated with the use of aesthetic injectables. Following a general introduction to the topics of interest (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 summarizes a 53-year retrospective analysis of MedEffectTM, Health Canada’s AE reporting database. Incidence rates of AEs associated with different injectable products (e.g., HA versus neurotoxins) are calculated, using data from this review. Chapter 3 focuses on an in-depth discussion of the findings presented in Chapter 2 …  Read more

La viabilité de différentes pointes pour usage dans un système intégré de "Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy" (SICM) et de microscopie à force atomique (MFA) destiné à l'étude des caractéristiques de chargement des batteries lithium-ion est évaluée et plusieurs sondes sont fabriquées. Des tubes capillaires et des tubes pour diffraction de rayons x sont pliés par un arc électrique pour démontrer que des tubes ouverts peuvent être remodelées dans la forme d'un cantilever de MFA pour être utilisées dans un microscope électrochimique à force atomique. Des sondes faites à partir de tubes pour diffraction de rayons x ont été recouvertes d'une …  Read more

Les mesures électrochimiques sur les matériaux de batteries sont importantes pour la validation expérimentale des modèles théoriques actuels et pour l'amélioration informée des technologies de batteries. Cela nécessite la mesure électrochimiques et physiques simultanée pour établir leur corrélation in situ à l'échelle atomique.Dans cette étude, de nouvelles sondes de pipette pour la microscopie à conductance ionique à double balayage (SICM) et la microscopie à force atomique (AFM) ont été conçues et créées pour répondre à ces demandes. Ces sondes ont ensuite été testées sur des matériaux d'étalonnage pour évaluer leurs capacités.Pour tester leur fonctionnalité en tant que sondes de force, …  Read more

Bedos, Christophe (Supervisor1)  Read more

This qualitative, quasi-phenomenological study presents strategies and methods hospital-based mental health social workers utilize to promote social justice and advocate for their clients. Three frontline mental health social workers and one mental health department head were interviewed. The findings of this research demonstrated that the participating social workers utilized a variety of creative and flexible approaches to promote social justice and successfully advocate for their clients. These approaches included: the use of appropriate language, using the system against itself, developing written standards and regulations for their tasks, and forming a network of allies.  Read more

The objectives were (1) to establish a profile of total fatty acids and cholesterol in amniotic fluid (AF) as well as (2) to determine possible associations between AT fatty acids (micromolar and relative proportion) with gestational age and birth weight. A total of 208 AF samples collected between 12 and 22 weeks of gestation during routine amniocentesis were analyzed using tandem column gas chromatography (GC). Smoking increased AF polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFAs) levels while developmental stage and storage time decreased AF fatty acid quantities. AF trans fatty acids (TFAs) were negatively associated with both birth outcomes, whereas specific fatty acids …  Read more

The work of balancing the role of child welfare worker and mother is often a challenging one, particularly during times of high stress. In this study six women with young children employed in children welfare settings were interviewed about their experience of burnout. The interviews explored their understanding and personal experience of combining both motherhood with their employment as child welfare workers. The centrality of supportive supervision in modifying the experience of burnout is addressed. The unpredictability, responsibility and risk women face in front line child welfare produces extreme stress, which often becomes extremely difficult to manage, in particular when …  Read more

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a technique in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that translates the signal produced by an MRI scanner into values of magnetic susceptibility related to the structures that are being scanned. MRI scanners record complex signal with a magnitude and a phase component. Through theory based on electromagnetism, it can be shown that the phase data produced by the MRI scanner is directly related to the magnetic susceptibility of the structures being scanned. The process in which we relate phase back to susceptibility is called QSM. However, there are many complications that make this inverse problem troublesome, …  Read more

Optic flow is the changing array of light that is reflected from objects in the environment and is projected on the retinae during motion. Speed gradients are a natural component or optic flow and they are the result of the relative ordering of objects in depth. It has been proposed that speed gradient information may signal the direction and speed of self-motion as well as the three-dimensional structure of the environment. The dorsal region of the medial superior temporal area of the visual cortex, or MSTd, is believed to be the neuronal basis for the analysis of optic flow and …  Read more

Dudek, Gregory L (Supervisor2)  Read more

Heat dissipation from silicon chips is becoming critical as a result of increasing circuit density and power applied to these chips. In this regard, aluminum nitride (AlN) is the most promising candidate to be used as a substrate since it possesses high a thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient close to that of silicon. In addition, metal-ceramic interfaces determine the heat dissipation through a circuit. In order to minimize the effect of interfaces, direct bonding (DB) of AlN to Cu was studied. DB process has been reported to provide a low thermal barrier and an interface which is free of …  Read more

Composite materials can be produced through a novel process known as reactive plasma spray forming. This technique was used to fabricate Al-TiAl 3 composites by injecting both Al and TiCl4 vapor into a triple plasma system. The microstructures of the Al-TiAl3 composites were compared with those of more conventional processing routes. The resulting microstructures were strongly dependant on processing method. The cast microstructure exhibited an acicular morphology of TiAl3 in an Al matrix. Composites produced by powder metallurgy and vacuum plasma spray contained coarse equiaxed particles of the intermetallic phase whereas the microstructure of the reactive plasma sprayed material was …  Read more

Cette recherche implique le suivi des objets génériques non-rigides qui passent à courte distance à un capteur RVB-D utilisant une caméra infrarouge avec triangulation. Le travail a été motivé par un besoin de partenaires de l'industrie pour une application à faible coût pour fonctionner dans un cadre de surveillance. Il y a plusieurs éléments nouveaux de ce recherche qui utilisent la technologie classique et nouvelle pour rendre l'application faisable dans le monde réel avec peu de contraintes. L'initialisation est automatique sans connaissance à l'avance de l'objet et il n'y a aucune restriction sur l'apparence ou transformation de l'objet. Il n'y …  Read more

[...] The recent Public Health report on Fundamental Cancer Research (1939) stressed the research objectives in the field of cancer. It was pointed out that there are two fundamental problems involved: One, the causal aspect of the cancer problem; the other the formal genesis - the the factors responsible for the nature of the cancer cells and their uncontrolled growth [...]. Thus, the fundamental problem of cancer is directly associated with an understanding of the processes of growth, the metabolism and functions of normal cells. It is with this broad aspect of the general cancer problem in mind that the …  Read more

The goal of this paper is to analyze the various images of Samson as presented by some of the classical and modern Jewish Bible commentaries and interpretations: Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto's Maaseh Shimshon; Ze'ev Jabotinsky's Samson; Adin Steinsaltz's essay in Biblical Images, Men and Women of the Book, and Rabbi Gershon Weiss' Samson's Struggle. Through this analysis, I will explore the evolving images of Samson and how they reflected both the period in which the interpretative work was written, the author's interests and the beliefs of the intended audience.  Read more

Effective management of saline soils requires rapid, reliable methods of monitoring both soil water content (theta) and salt concentration, the latter measured in terms of electrical conductivity (sigma). This thesis examines estimation of theta, and bulk soil sigma (sigmaa) and soil water sigma (sigmaw), using time domain reflectometry (TDR). Calibration experiments were conducted in soil columns and in a vineyard that were irrigated with saline water. Within a theta range of 0.025--0.490 m3/m3, the correlation between TDR theta (thetaTDR) and gravimetrically determined theta (theta g) was high (r2 = 0.979 in soil columns, r2 = 0.836 in the field). The …  Read more

The categorical perception paradigm was used to compare French/English bilinguals' and French and English monolinguals' categorization of code-switched words. A previous study by Burki-Cohen et al. (1987) showed that bilinguals' categorization of a cross-language continuum that varied from a French word to an English word was different when the words were presented in the context of a French or an English carrier phrase. Using the same stimuli the present study examined whether the effects of base language (i.e. the carrier phrase) are due to processing specific to bilinguals or are mediated by general phonetic or auditory processes. Results showed that …  Read more

ContexteLes soins de santé d'affirmation du genre sont un domaine qui évolue rapidement, et les normes qui encadrent l’accès aux soins pour la transition médicale ont suscité des débats considérables auprès des communautés trans, des professionnel·le·s de la santé et des décideurs politiques. La littérature existante catégorise généralement la prestation de soins de santé d’affirmation de genre dans deux modèles, soit le modèle évaluatif et le modèle de consentement éclairé. Ces modèles diffèrent en termes de lieu de pouvoir décisionnel : dans le premier, c’est le professionnel de la santé qui détient le pouvoir et dans le deuxième c’est pouvoir …  Read more

Sheldon Andrews (Supervisor2)  Read more

Beaucoup d'applications en ingénierie ont besoin d'algorithmes rapides et précis pour résoudre les problèmes de complémentarité linéaire (P.C.L.) mixtes qui sont obtenus lors d'une simulation multicorps assujettie à l'unilatéralité et au frottement. L'évaluation de la précision de ces algorithmes requiert la détermination de l'erreur introduite. Cette thèse montre que les mesures d'erreur fréquemment utilisées souffrent d'incohérence d'unités physiques, dont la conséquence est que l'erreur n'a pas de signification physique. Nous proposons une mesure d'erreur qui est cohérente en unités et qui calcule les composantes de l'erreur en énergie qui sont dépendantes de la masse effective de chaque contrainte. Le compromis …  Read more

The purpose of our thesis is to show the important role of the woman in the novelistic autobiography of Leon l'Africain. Inspired by the Description de l'Afrique, written by the famous arab geographer Mohamed al-Wazzan ez-Zayyati, Maalouf converted this autobiography to a quest of a man in search of an identity exceeding the geographic, ethnic and religious boundaries. If he succeeded in arriving to the end of his journey, it's mainly due to the contribution of the woman who is present under different names and faces throughout the novel and who leads him to the dialogue of cultures.  Read more

Adams, Annmarie (Supervisor)  Read more

A long-lens type beta ray spectrometer was modified by the addition of a central electron-focusing coil to the system. An increase in the transmission of the spectrometer of over a factor of five was realized with small loss in resolution. Recently observed 10 and 15 hour osmium activities produced by proton bombardment of rhenium were studied with a gamma ray spectrometer, a 28 channel kicksorter, a 180° beta ray spectrograph, and a slow coincidence assembly, as well as with the improved spectrometer. Measurement of their relative field cross sections assigned the two activities to Os183, establishing the existence of an …  Read more

Nilson, Laura (Supervisor2)  Read more

Until recently, criticism has dismissed Flann O'Brien's journalism (written under the pseudonym "Myles na gCopaleen") as not worthy of study, and has tended to focus on the elements of satire in his novels. This thesis demonstrates the importance of O'Brien's Cruiskeen Lawn column, written for the Irish Times between 1940 and 1966, by studying the column's use of the satirical parody. After presenting a brief history of the critical reaction to the column, I discuss how satirical parody is employed in O'Brien's novels, grounding my argument in previous critical studies of O'Brien's satire. I then apply this understanding of O'Brien's …  Read more

Les jeunes pris en charge par le système de protection de l'enfance au Québec ont un taux de grossesse chez les adolescentes et de parentalité précoce beaucoup plus élevé que leurs pairs qui n'ont jamais été pris en charge par les services sociaux. Très peu d'études se sont penchées sur cette disparité et encore moins ont pris en compte la perception qu'ont les participantes elles- mêmes de cette expérience. Ma thèse identifie les expériences et le soutien que quatre jeunes parents ayant été pris en charge par les services de protection de l'enfance ont considérés comme les expériences déterminantes dans …  Read more