McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1983

The objective of this project was to examine how vestibular stimulation, evoked by changing the static position of the head relative to space, modifies the excitability of the soleus motoneuron pool in normal human subjects.  Read more

This study examines the traditional claim that in 1903, while an employee of the Edison Manufacturing Company, Edwin Stanton Porter discovered the principle of editing construction which made possible the fictional motion picture narrative. It will show that Edison studio policy in the period would have discouraged such an achievement and that the crucial first step in the elaboration of the early film narrative was the development of a compositional aesthetic derived from the staged or 'fake' newsreel. Based on that aesthetic between 1904 and 1907 film directors including Edwin Porter turned out a short-lived, tableau-action narrator-dependent story film in …  Read more

The history of al-Quds under the Mamluks is rather obscure , with the exception of Mujîr al-Dîn's work, the city, despite its religious significance, inspired only a few scattered remarks in Mamluk chronicles. The recent discovery of the Haram documentary collection, however, changes this historiographical picture radically. This dissertation examines a specific dccumentary type, the estate inventory, which, along with related documents, represents the largest single group of documents in the collection. Using this new historical material, supplemented by literary and other documentary evidence, information on various aspects of al-Quds's history is brought to light. [...]  Read more

When Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027 var. RCII, a chloramphenicol-tolerant substrain, is grown in a phosphate limited, complex medium, along with the drug (150 (mu)g/ml), it accumulates high intracellular levels of inorganic phosphate and fails to synthesize normal levels of alkaline phosphatase and pyocyanine. Glucose transport is additionally hindered, and, accordingly, extracellular glucose is mainly oxidized to 2-ketogluconate. The preference of NAD(H)-linked enzymatic activities suggests the absence of transhydrogenase activity. The cytochrome content and intracellular ATP pool of this substrain are also greater. The ATP pool is further augmented when chloramphenicol is omitted from the medium. H('+)/O analysis confirmed that the …  Read more

Through its Global Transmission Network, Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques (SITA) provides Aeronautical Telecommunications related to Safety of Air Navigation, Flight Planning Reservations etc., to two hundred and forty-three airlines of one hundred and fifty-four Nations. Comprehensive comparison of SITA with two Governmental Institutions--International Maritime Satellite Organisation (INMARSAT) and European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL)--reveals no substantive dissimilarity. All three possess infrastructures worth millions of dollars, operate transnationally and in areas beyond National Jurisdiction, and supply Telecommunications Services to Private Persons on a non-profit basis. Other than "Form", no rationale emerges for endowment of International Legal Personality …  Read more

Les différences entre les processus de résolution de problèmes appliques par des enfants doués et des enfants normaux ont été analysées, selon le langage de programmation Logo. Repartis en paires, seize enfants de 9 à 11 ans ont suivi un cours de géométrie "Turtle" d'une durée de dix semaines. Un système de classification des protocoles d'analyse, conçu en 1978 et augmenté aux fins de la présente étude, a été utilise pour l'examen des différences entre les processus de résolution de problèmes pour ce qui est du style de programmation (réseaux de traitement), du type et de la fréquence des erreurs …  Read more

Nous calculons les fonctions du groupe de renormalisation y(n) et y ns (n) nécessaires a l'évaluation perturbative de la fonction de structure G1(q2) pour la diffusion polarisée d'électrons par des protons, jusqu'à l'ordre g4 de chromodynamique quantique (QCD). Nous utilisons pour ces calculs la méthode de régularisation dimensionnelle et le système de soustraction minimale. Nous présentons les résultats obtenus pour y(n) et yn (n) sous forme analytique et calculons aussi leur valeur numérique pour n = 2, 4, 6, ... , 20. Finalement nous évaluons le deuxièmes moment de G1(q 2) en QCD avec 4 et 6 saveurs de quarks …  Read more

We compute the anomalous dimension (gamma)(n) and (gamma)(,ns)(n) needed in the evaluation of the polarized structure function G(,1)(q('2)) in electron-proton scattering, up to and including the order g('4) contributions in the minimal subtraction scheme in perturbative QCD. Both the analytic expression and the numerical result for (gamma)(n) and (gamma)(,ns)(n) with n = 2, 4, 6,..., 20 are obtained. We also evaluate the second moment of flavor singlet and the flavor non-singlet part of G(,1)(q('2)) in QCD, with 4 and 6 flavors with the Wilson coefficients left as unknowns.  Read more

Contogouris, A. P. (Supervisor)  Read more

Nonlinear Dirac equations exhibiting soliton phenomena are studied. Conditions are derived for the existence of solitons and an analysis of their stability is presented. New results are obtained for models previously considered in the literature. A particular model is studied for which all stationary states are localized in a finite domain and have positive energy but indefinite charge. The electromagnetic field is introduced by minimal coupling and it is shown that the discrete nature of the electric charge, and of the angular momentum, follow from a many-body stability principle. This principle also implies the de Broglie frequency relation, and furnishes …  Read more

Horizontal distribution of Diabrotica longicornis (Say) eggs around plants was random in three Quebec cornfields. Vertically, 72% and 24% eggs occurred in the surface 10 cm soil before and after fall plowing, respectively. A 5 x 10 cm x 15 cm (deep) sampling unit was appropriate for estimating egg populations before plowing. Thereafter, 20 cm depth was needed. Larvae and pupae were concentrated around the root system and a soil quadrat 20 x 20 cm x 10 cm (deep) was an easily reproducible sampling unit. Direct counting on corn plants in early morning was the most efficient method for adult …  Read more

The complexes Cp(,2)M(SH)(,2), where M = Ti and Zr, have been prepared and treated with S(,8) and >N-S(,x)-NN = benzimidazolyl, phthalimidyl and x = 1, 2, to give the metallacyclohexasulfanes Cp(,2)MS(,5). Reaction of Cp(,2)TI(SH)(,2) with >N-SR, where >N = phthalimidyl, succinimidyl, gave the complexes Cp(,2)Ti(S(,2)R)(,2) (R = CHMe(,2)) and Cp(,2)Ti(SR)(S(,3)R) (R = Ph, 4-C(,6)H(,4)Me). The thiolates Cp(,2)Ti(Cl)SR and Cp(,2)Ti(SR)(,2) (R = CHMe(,2), CMe(,3), Ph, 4-C(,6)H(,4)Me) were prepared for comparison. Treatment of the complexes Cp(,2)MCl(,2) with anhydrous solutions of Li(,2)E(,x) gave the complexes Cp(,2)ME(,5), where M = Ti, Zr, Hf and E = S, Se. The compounds (RCp)(,2)TiS(,5) (R = Me, …  Read more

The role of crustacean zooplankton in changing the size structure of phytoplankton communities was examined in Lake Memphremagog, Quebec. The hypothesis that zooplankton have a selective effect on various algal size classes, within the net- and nannoplankton, was tested during different periods of the growing season in controlled field experiments. Depending on the pattern of loss rates imposed by zooplankton on different algal size fractions, it is shown that zooplankton can both accelerate and decelerate successional events in the phytoplankton. Manipulation of zooplankton biomass produced significant changes in algal phosphorus demand, estimated from observations on the short-term dynamics of orthophosphorus. …  Read more

The design and construction of an electrochemical detector with two working electrodes located on the opposite walls of a thin-layer cell and its use as a detector for High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) in the analysis of catecholamines in human cerebrospinal fluid are described. The location of the electrodes in this manner permits an electrochemically reversible or quasireversible couple to be electrolized more than once as it passes through the detector. If one electrode is held at a potential where oxidation takes place and the second electrode at a potential where reduction of this oxidized form back to the starting …  Read more

Arthur Stringer (1874-1950) was one of Canada's first professional authors. A prolific writer, he published fifty-nine books, including thirty-eight novels and fifteen volumes of poetry. His work is now out of print and unduly ignored. The dissertation comprises an annotated selection of Stringer's correspondence and a discussion of him as man of letters. The Introduction draws on Stringer's personal papers--including unpublished manuscripts, notebooks, and correspondence--to illustrate his working methods, his relationship with editors and publishers, and the role he played in the literary community. The letters selected show Stringer handling the daily problems of authorship, giving support to other Canadian …  Read more

Mewett, Alan W. (Supervisor)  Read more

A new approach for studying thermal phase separation in sodium borosilicate glasses using Mn('2+) as a luminescent probe is investigated. Seventy-one samples of glasses activated by Mn('2+) inside and around the Na(,2)O(.)B(,2)O(,3)(.)SiO(,2) miscibility gaps were prepared. These samples were then phase separated by dry thermal treatment. It is shown that on addition of MnO, the ternary Na(,2)O(.)B(,2)O(,3)(.)SiO(,2) system behaved like other quaternary systems of the type X(,2)O(.)MO(.)B(,2)O(,3)(.)SiO(,2) (X = Na, K; M = Mg, Ca, Ba, Zn). Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis demonstrated that manganese concentrates preferentially in the boron-rich phase. This analysis, in conjunction with a comparison of …  Read more

The inspiration for this study was the work of Karl Polanyi. The study therefore looks to an economics of which market economy is only part of a special case. On the basis of evidence from economic historians and economic anthropologists, it seeks to show that the wider economics of Polanyi can be given a unified basis that operates equally in simple and complex communities, ancient and modern communities, and in communities on either side of the "great transformation". A first charge on economic surplus is invariably the resources to perpetuate the social structure itself, and may be a charge so …  Read more