McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par A

Bone resorption and bone-implant interface instability are two bottlenecks of current orthopaedic hip implant designs. Bone resorption is often triggered by mechanical bio-incompatibility of the implant with the surrounding bone. It has serious clinical consequences in both primary and revision surgery of hip replacements. After primary surgery, bone resorption can cause periprosthetic fractures, leading to implant loosening. For the revision surgery, the loss of bone stock compromises the ability of bone to adequately fix the implant. Interface instability, on the other hand, occurs as a result of excessive micromotion and stress at the bone-implant interface, which prevents implant fixation. As …  Read more

This thesis consists of two parts wherein each part introduces a new concept in team theory. In the first part, we introduce systems with partially exchangeable agents. A system is called partially exchangeable if it can be partitioned into sub-populations where agents are exchangeable. A sub-population of agents is called exchangeable if the manner in which agents are indexed does not affect the dynamics and cost. In practice, this insensitivity to the index naturally emerges in many applications. For example, in power systems, the system dynamics and cost would not change if the houses in a residential neighbourhood were numbered …  Read more

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most disabling neurological conditions affecting young adults. MS is becoming more common in Saudi Arabia where specialized health services are still being developed. Many people with MS in Saudi Arabia look for help where they can and risk getting information from unreliable sources. In such a context, self-management would be crucial for reducing the impact of MS. Success at self-management requires acknowledging the specific problems, recognizing that solutions are possible, and contextualizing self-management for the individuals within their culture.This PhD thesis aims at setting a roadmap to aid in the translation of knowledge …  Read more

ABRÉGÉ La qualité de vie reliée à la santé (QRVS) devient de plus en plus l'objectif principal des recherches en réadaptation et en médicine. Les études portant sur la sclérose en plaque (SP) visent particulièrement des résultats pouvant améliorer la qualité de vie des personnes. En effet, la sclérose en plaque (SP) est une condition neurologique chronique qui affecte principalement de jeunes adultes. Cette maladie résulte en de sévères symptômes. Une meilleure compréhension de la gestion de ces symptômes dépend principalement de la précaution et de la précision des évaluations. Les mesures de qualité de vie reliée à la santé …  Read more

Demopoulos, George (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

Climate change is the largest global challenge of the 21st century. Combustion of fossil fuels for applications ranging from transportation to power generation is at the root of the issue. It is well known that when burnt, hydrocarbons release CO2, CO, soot, and other harmful substances in the atmosphere that largely contribute to climate change. The Alternative Fuels Lab (AFL) has worked on solutions to this problem for the past few decades. Metal powder, particularly iron, is one of the proposed replacements of conventional fuels. This AFL project consists of proving the iron combustion cycle is a viable option as …  Read more

Focusing on Montreal Italian social networks, this thesis examines the ideological nature of ethnicity, and its functioning in political processes in urban Quebec. The ideological dynamics of ethnicity are revealed in the process of the creation and re-creation of belief in "Italian family", as a distinctive 'Italian' culture. This first separates Italians into different families and regional groups of paesani, but then brilliantly unites Italians into one group according to necessity. In political processes, various Italian associations and presidents are connected to formal politics through the mediation of Italian political brokers. The extensive construction of suburban residences created Italian economic …  Read more

Joseph, Jonas, John (Supervisor1)  Read more

Nous avons étudie l'ontogénèse des oxidases hépatiques à function mixte chèz l'homme, et l'influence des hormones thyroidiennes sur l'ontogénèse de ces enzymes chez le rat. Durant la période néonatale chez l'homme, on observe une déficience significative de l'aminopyrine-N-danethylase, de l'aniline-p-hydroxylase, de l'NADPH oxidase, NADPH cytochrane c reductase et du cytochrome P-450, tandis que l'NADPH cytochrome P-450 reductase n'est pas mesurable.  Read more

Lewis, David J. (Supervisor)  Read more

Downes, J. A. (Supervisor)  Read more

Mondialement, les villes font face à de sérieux risques en rapport aux changements climatiques. Plus de la moitié de la population mondiale habite en ville et cette proportion va croître jusqu'à 80% en 2050. Les zones urbaines sont confrontées à de nombreux risques résultant des changements climatiques comprenant de plus fréquents et intenses épisodes de canicule, inondations et de plus grandes demandes en eau et énergie. La santé humaine sera particulièrement atteinte puisque les effets du climat sont aggravés par l'urbanisation rapide, une densité de population élevée et un environnement urbain sensible au climat. Les villes des Pays du Sud …  Read more

The thesis proposes to be a critical investigation of T. w. Adorno's I philosophy of modern music. The study focuses upon Adorno's view of music as an ideological gauge of historical movement. The thrust of the project has been directed toward an examination of Adorno's neo~arxistHegelian dialectic assumption vis-a-vis critiques of speculative philosophy of history. A member of the Frankfurt School of sociology, Adorno articulates a philosophy of music which he defines in terms of his social-theoretical formulations. For Adorno, music not only becomes a function of the tensions within the social fabric but also mirrors those tensions. [...] Specifically, …  Read more

Contexte : Les pays africains sont touchés de manière disproportionnée par le VIH, représentant environ deux tiers des personnes vivant avec le VIH dans le monde. Malgré les avancées dans les stratégies de dépistage – étape cruciale pour connaître son statut sérologique et accéder aux soins – des lacunes persistent, plusieurs pays demeurant en deçà de la cible de l’ONUSIDA (95 % des personnes vivant avec le VIH connaissant leur statut). L’autodépistage du VIH (ADVIH), recommandé par l’OMS depuis 2016, permet un test confidentiel, non invasif, effectué soi-même. Il a le potentiel d’accroître la couverture du dépistage, notamment chez les …  Read more

Les défis émergeants liés à la durabilité des ressources impactent de façon croissante les communautés autochtones de l'Amazonie. Toutefois, les peuples autochtones ont fait des progrès considérables pour la protection de leurs droits fonciers, et les territoires autochtones remplissent un rôle critique dans la préservation du couvert forestier au sein de ce biome. Les pertes fauniques, l'appauvrissement des forêts et la pénurie des terres ont récemment été documentés dans certaines communautés. La perspective d'une pénurie croissante des terres est particulièrement déconcertante. Des recherches récentes suggèrent qu'une insuffisance de terres pourrait mener à des transitions problématiques des systèmes fonciers dans les …  Read more

The incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) is rising annually. Researchers attribute this increase to the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide. In fact, the majority of oropharyngeal cancers (OPC) can be attributed to chronic infection with HPV. The current standard of care involves surgery and adjuvant chemoradiation therapy which can often leave survivors debilitated. Unfortunately, long-term side effects of treatment greatly impact the quality of life of HNC patients. In order to limit treatment toxicities and improve patient quality of life, de-escalated treatment strategies are currently being explored. The purpose of this …  Read more

Nous développons une théorie compositionnelle du traitement non linéaire des signaux audio basée sur une catégorisation de la série de Volterra. Nous commençons par augmenter la définition classique de la série de Volterra pour qu'elle soit fonctorielle par rapport à une catégorie de base, dont les objets sont des distributions tempérées et dont les morphismes sont certaines transformations linéaires. Cela conduit à des formules établissant comment les résultats des transformations non linéaires sont affectés si leurs signaux d'entrée sont d'abord traités linéairement - par exemple, translatés, modulés, échantillonnés ou périodisés. Nous examinons ensuite comment les systèmes audio non linéaires eux-mêmes …  Read more

La négligence visuospatiale (NVS) post accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC) est un trouble perceptuo-attentionnel qui altère la capacité à détecter et répondre à des stimuli visuels du côté opposé à la lésion corticale. Puisque la locomotion dépend fortement de l'information visuelle, la NVS pourrait altérer les comportements de marche en réponse à des stimuli visuo-spatiaux, tel que des obstacles, en particulier lorsqu'ils sont situés du côté 'négligé' de l'espace. Une incapacité à adapter la marche en réponse à des obstacles pourrait engendrer des collisions ou des chutes. De plus, étant donné que les ressources attentionnelles sont limitées chez les personnes avec …  Read more

Flotation is a multivariable process that can be considered the output of at least four interacting factors: chemical (frother, collector), physical (particle size, percent solids), machine and circuit arrangement. These factors combine with the aim of producing the best conditions for particle collection. Gas dispersion defines the characteristics of a bubble population generated from a continuous stream of air. Gas Dispersion parameters include superficial gas velocity, gas holdup, bubble size and bubble surface-area flux. Gas distribution defines the spread of the air bubbles throughout the cell volume. It is intuitive that best metallurgical results are likely associated with uniform distribution …  Read more

The thesis argues for holding the United Nations responsible for violation of rules of self-determination in the same manner it has been responsible for infringement of humanitarian norms. The position stems from the decision of the International Court of Justice that held the United Nations has duties corresponding to its rights. By the analogously application of the rules of state responsibility, the United Nations is responsible for breach of rules of self-determination in the de-colonization process of Eritrea. The responsibility of the organization emanates from an imposition of a lopsided resolution. The resolution gave more weight to political and strategic …  Read more

Commercial food proteins were used in order to study the relationship between hydrophobicity and two functional properties: emulsification and foaming. Hydrophobicity determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) binding method and the cis-parinaric acid (CPA) fluorescence probe method gave poor statistical correlation with foaming and emulsification. The SDS binding method gave higher hydrophobicity and higher correlation values with foaming and emulsifying, than the fluorescence probe CPA method. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to study the secondary structures, of the commercial food proteins. Infrared spectra of the protein samples with or without denaturing agents (SDS, urea, and guanidine) in the …  Read more

Julie Bruneau is characterized in many different ways in the Papineau family correspondence. The first-, second- and third-person narrators of the correspondence each use many techniques, some similar and some different, to emphasize various aspects of Julie's character. The study of the characterization achieved by the different narrative voices, as well as by the contrasting first-person voices in Julie's own letters, allows us to better understand the nature of epistolary characterization in all its forms. The comparison of these varying accounts of Julie Bruneau's character allows us to come to a more balanced and complete portrait than would the study …  Read more

This thesis describes a new framework for parametric shape recognition. The key result is a method for generating classifiers in the form of conditional probability densities for recognizing an unknown from a set of reference models. Our procedure is automatic. Off-line, it invokes an autonomous process to estimate reference model parameters and their statistics. On-line, during measurement, it combines these with a priori context-dependent information, as well as the parameters and statistics estimated for an unknown object, into a conditional probability density function, which represents the belief in the assertion that the unknown is a particular reference model. Consequently, the …  Read more

This thesis introduces a novel method for sequentially accumulating evidence as it pertains to an active observer seeking to identify an object in a known environment. First, a probabilistic framework is developed, based on a generalized inverse theory, where assertions are represented by conditional probability density functions. In order to resolve ambiguous assertions from single view measurements, a sequential recognition strategy is developed in which evidence is accumulated over successive viewpoints until a definitive assertion can be made. The main contribution of the thesis is a strategy for conditioning the inference and the measurement processes with feedback from prior information.  Read more

Salisbury, R. (Supervisor)  Read more

Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) is a Gram-negative bacteria that is the causative agent of bacterial meningitis. The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria functions as a selectively permeable barrier. The exchange of small hydrophilic solutes between the external environment and the periplasm is mediated by large water-filled channels, porins. Charged residues of the pore determine the functional properties of the protein, which include: ion conductance, ionic selectivity, and voltage gating. To study the properties of the porin (341 amino acids; Mr 37,782) of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), purified porin was subjected to chemical modification. The covalent modification of lysine residues …  Read more

This work presents mathematical properties of the RSA cryptosystem. The topics of backdoors and padding algorithm are developped. For padding schemes, we give a practical instantiation with a security reduction. It is based on the compression function of SHA-1 without any chaining function. Our solution has the advantage over the previous one of removing the relation of the output length of the compression function to the length of the RSA modulus. For backdoors, improvements on definitions, existing algorithms as well as extensions of existing theorems are shown. The definitions pertaining to backdoored key generators are improved as to make their …  Read more

Cette thèse historicise les évaluations interprétatives de Cervantes dans le contexte cisatlantique de l'indépendance cubaine jusqu'en 1898. L'introduction offre un commentaire critique sur les milieux, les connexions et les défis théorico-méthodologiques des études de la réception de Cervantes. Tout en démontrant l'impact décisif de la réception espagnole et de ses relations paneuropéennes, le premier chapitre expose les tendances et les tensions qui transforment l'énonciation des valeurs esthétiques de Don Quichotte dans la mise en œuvre d'une valeur instrumentale. Le deuxième chapitre traite de la relocalisation de ces idées dans l'île et de l'appropriation politique de Cervantes par le nationalisme cubain. …  Read more

Conjugal relationships have faced numerous changes in recent history. The struggle between private and public ordering has compelled changes in the personal and the economic spheres of conjugal relationships. This thesis explores this debate through a critical analysis of a proposal which would attenuate the immutability of marital agreements in Colombia. This critical analysis relies on feminist relational contract theory to survey the economic regulation of couples’ relationships in the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as in Colombia. Two general arguments arise from this analysis. First, marriage and cohabitation are often long-term, interdependent relationships that change over …  Read more

An important aspect of Diophantine Approximation deals with the problem of approximating real or complex numbers by rational numbers or, more generally, by algebraic numbers of bounded degree. This study provides criteria to decide whether a given real or complex number is algebraic or transcendental. In this thesis we present several such results. Following Davenport & Schmidt we look at the approximation of a real number by rational numbers, by quadratic irrational numbers and by algebraic integers of degree at most 3. We also look at the related problem of simultaneous approximation of a real number and its square by …  Read more

Gélinas, Céline (Supervisor1)  Read more

One of the most perplexing figures in Shakespeare's tragedies is Lady Macbeth. In light of recent feminist studies, Lady Macbeth must be studied in the social and historical context of Shakespeare's own era. By comparing the situation of women at that time with the vast number of social constraints placed on them through state channels, we see these women emerging from the social ideal of the cloistered submissive wife despite the attempts of patriarchal politics to restrain their advances. Lady Macbeth's actions are often interpreted as those of a bloodthirsty woman overstepping her social position. But Lady Macbeth is a …  Read more

Cette brêve description du comportement ambivalent de Laurent le Magnifique contient plus que le simple mépris de l'auteur à l'endroit de cet illustre représentant de la famille Médici. L'illusion entretenue qui nous est fournie comme exemple signifie plus pour l'observateur attentif et retiré qu'un simple passage biographique; elle est une nouvelle rencontre avec l'éternelle mauvaise foi qui, elle, n'est pas illusoire parce qu'historique, avec ce déguisement que la conscience opère au niveau de l'agir humain et qui a toujours offensé les honnêtes gens en plus de faire rougirmles tenants de la discussion spéculative.  Read more

The thesis deals with experimental research on concrete oolumns reinforced with horizontal and vertical steel. The object was to find if the horizontal reinforcement actuallyraised the ultimate strength. The somewhat slow, yet manifest changes which have been apparent within comparatively recent years in the design and construction of reinforced concrete structures constitute one of the greatest advances in engineering of the present generation. To mention but two, there is the Kane System of construction whereby the concrete in beams is made to work in conjunction with structural steel. [...]  Read more

In On the Spiritual in Art, Wassily Kandinsky, one of the founders of abstract art, turns to the Symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck in his quest for a new aesthetic language. Both the playwright and the painter, in breaking away from Naturalist aesthetics, seek to free the signifier and the signified, in literature and in painting, from their referential function. In particular, the painter considers Maeterlinck's treatment of a word: the components of a linguistic sign, that is, its acoustic imprint and its internalized visual image, conceived of and apprehended by a spectator's subjectivity, are now combined arbitrarily. As autonomous entities, …  Read more

OV90, a spontaneously immortalized epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell line, has been shown to contain a homogeneously staining region (HSR) originating from chromosome 22. To identify the amplified genes, differential gene expression was assessed using high-density oligonucleotide array (chip) technology. Genomic differential PCR and dot blot analysis showed that overexpression is consistent with gene amplification, as all sequences tested within the 1 Mb region of 22q11.21 are present in increased copy number. However, overexpression was not common, as only two of 69 EOC samples evaluated using the Hu6800 chip showed overexpression of a gene amplified in OV90, and three other …  Read more

During the summer 1988 and 1989, surveys were conducted on the muck soils, South of Montreal to estimate the prevalence and incidence of the carrot diseases. Cercospora blight was the most prevalent disease; 91% and 96% of the fields and 99% and 92% of the plants sampled were diseased in 1988 and 1989, respectively. In decreasing order of occurrence the diseases present were: Crown gall, Alternaria blight, Root Knot, Sclerotinia rot and Aster yellows. Greenhouse and field studies were carried out to evaluate partial resistance to Cercospora blight in 111 carrot cultivars based on the mean incubation period (MIP), the …  Read more

Les adaptations moléculaires des plantes arctiques sont encore mal comprises, elles sont pourtant à la base de la survie des plantes dans ces milieux dominés par une saison de croissance froide, une lumière faible et un environnement nutritionnellement pauvre. Cette thèse consiste en trois études 1) une comparaison du transcriptome des plantules d'espèces d'Oxytropis arctiques et tempérées; 2) la détection de pressions de sélection dans les gènes ces espèces; 3) une analyse phylogénétique qui caractérise la récurrence de l'évolution de lignées arctiques au sein du genre Oxytropis. La première étude utilise la construction de banques d'ADNc, la technique de « …  Read more

Étant donné que des difficultés d'attention et de lecture sont associées à la plupart des troubles neurodéveloppementaux (TND), il est essentiel de comprendre le rôle de l'attention dans l'acquisition de la lecture pour les apprenants présentant des TND. Les études utilisant des mesures de l'attention basées sur des informateurs ainsi que celles utilisant des mesures directes de l’attention suggèrent que les habiletés attentionnelles sont liées à différents aspects de l'acquisition de la lecture (reconnaissance des mots, compréhension orale et compréhension de lecture). De plus, des études suggèrent que des interventions ciblant l'attention permettraient d'améliorer les performances en lecture. Cependant, la …  Read more

Sans etoiles is a musical composition in three movements written for clarinet, horn, violin, cello and piano. This essay deals with the principal characteristics of the musical material used in the piece, the modalities governing transitional processes and the influence of these factors on memory and the perception of musical time. The artistic project gave way to a reflection on the directional aspects of music in order to establish transitional links between independent musical entities defined as 'musical objects'. The main transitional agent between these entities consisted of an autonomous musical layer bearing an exclusive impact on the surrounding musical …  Read more

A novel technique was developed to immobilize plant cells. The cells are deposited on a surface of man-made fibrous material which provides for strong binding of the plant tissue biomass growing in the submerged culture. It was shown that the plant cells need to be fully viable for the attachment process to occur. The scale-up of this technique to laboratory size specifically designed bioreactors was performed successfully. The cell immobilizing matrix was formed into a vertical spirally wound configuration to provide for a high immobilizing area-to-volume ratio (0.8-1.2 cm$ sp{-1}$). A modified airlift (riser-to-downcomer area ratio of 0.03 and vessel …  Read more

Seuntjens, Jan Peter Frans (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more