McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

The present study investigates parent perspectives of raising bilingual/multilingual children in Canada as part of an international project run by members of COST Action IS1406 Working Group 3 under the direction of Elin Thordardottir. The goal of this study was to obtain a better understanding of parent experiences to help guide clinical practices. A total of 34 parents from across the country participated in semi-structured interviews of approximately 30 minutes, which used questions from a previous study on bilingual children with Down syndrome (Elin Thordardottir, 2002). Data were analysed quantitatively using frequency counts, as well as qualitatively using a qualitative …  Read more

What is the best way to understand 'applies to' when it is said of a linguistic theory that it applies to a particular language-user? We can answer by saying that a linguistic theory is applicable to an individual language-user just in case that individual tacitly-knows the theory. But this is an uninformative answer until we are told how to understand 'tacit-knowledge'. The end goal of this thesis is to defend the claim that we should take tacit-knowledge to be, simply, knowledge. Towards this end I argue against the satisfactoriness of competing ways of understanding 'tacit-knowledge'. For example, the instrumentalist position …  Read more

Through the first ethnographic case study of an African Indigenous media project, drawing on over a year of research with a Baka “Pygmy” participatory video project in southeast Cameroon, this thesis examines the ways in which Indigenous communities and organizations conduct self-representation to accomplish various objectives, including claiming rights, attracting resources, and challenging outside narratives and discourses. When Indigenous community members produce films and videos about themselves, they take deliberate, often politically-motivated, decisions about what elements of their cultures and communities to include in and exclude from the works that they produce. In this process, questions and debates about who …  Read more

Fast evolution and successive dislocations are well known attributes of international air transportation. Nearly seventy years after the Chicago Convention has been signed, one must acknowledge the economic importance of international transportation has grown considerably. Focusing both on transportation of goods, supporting the development of international trade, and transportation of individuals, whose access to air transportation has constantly grown, States and their governments began to modernize, and thereby revolutionize air law's traditional paradigms; air law, initially focusing exclusively on safety and security aspects of transportation, must now integrate the economical dimensions of air transportation. At the same time, international society …  Read more

Cette thèse essaie de répondre aux questions suivantes: 1. Dans quels contextes les récits se développent-ils? 2. Quel est le rôle de Moise? 3. Comment se dégage l'image de Moïse? 4. Jusqu'à quel point Moïse sert-il de "modèle" au Prophète Muhammad? La dimension de la figure de Moise croît progressivement parce que les situations vécues par le Prophète Muhammad et la nouvelle communauté musulmane, ont engendré des récits appropriés. Moise était-il un "modèle" ou a-t-il été "créé à l'image de Muhammad?" L'étude des passages pertinents révèle certains parallèles entre la situation et la mission du Prophète Muhammad et celles de …  Read more

A series of hindered biphenols specifically designed to form stable biphenoxy radicals were prepared by an oxidative coupling reaction of hindered phenols in the presence of CuCl and molecular oxygen in butyronitrile or by reacting the diphenoquinones with HCl gas. The biphenoxy radicals generated from the oxidation of the original biphenols with an aqueous solution of KOH/K$ sb3$Fe(CN)$ sb6$ or Ag$ sb2$O were used as reagents in organic reactions and catalysts in the oxidation of diarylmethanes to corresponding ketones. They were also used in the synthesis of novel ether and acetal monomers through a quantitative radical coupling reaction with monomers …  Read more

The explosive boiling that occurs when a volatile liquid is suddenly vented to the atmosphere has been investigated experimentally. Refrigerant 22 is used as the test liquid and is depressurized from an initial state of equilibrium using a bursting foil diaphragm. The competition between the rates of venting and vapor generation can lead to substantial repressurization within the vessel. The influence of vent area, quantity of liquid, initial pressure and pre-nucleation on the explosive boiling characteristics has been studied in a 260 ml Teflon-coated vessel as well as in a 75 ml glass tube. The amount of repressurization is found …  Read more

Les tachycardies ventriculaires (TV) monomorphes sont des événements courants chez les patients atteints d'insuffisance cardiaque avec fraction d'éjection (FE) altérée. L'étude de la transition entre le rythme de base et la tachycardie - l'inititation de la tachycardie - pourrait aider à comprendre le mécanisme de cette tachycardie, ce qui pourrait avoir un impact sur le pronostic. Les premières études ont permis de définir au moins deux différents modes d'inititation en se basant sur la morphologie du battement initiant la TV comparé à la morphologie de la TV, classant ce mode d'initation de la TV en "non-subit", quand la morphologie du …  Read more

Cette étude explore l'impact des thermosets hautement réactifs sur les contraintes induites par le processus et la déformation dans les préformes en fibre de verre non tissées pour les processus de moulage liquide, en particulier la Moulage par Transfert de Résine (MTR). Ce travail comprend une méthodologie complète pour caractériser les propriétés thermo-chimiques des thermosets hautement réactifs, cruciales pour l'imprégnation de résine dans les préformes. Cinq systèmes de résine commerciaux ont été évalués : Hexion, Airstone, Gurit Standard/Fast, et un système AOC. Des modèles cinétiques de durcissement et des modèles basés sur les équations de viscosité ont été utilisés, le …  Read more

Sunahara, Geoffrey I (Supervisor2)  Read more

Ewing, Gordon (Supervisor)  Read more

This research addresses the question of effective public participation in resource management decisions within the context of resource-based communities. Despite advances in mechanisms for enabling public input, over the past 30 years, public participation remains problematic. Rather than promoting genuine communication and strengthening relationships between government, resource industries and communities, public participation often becomes an exercise in frustration that increases the adversarial nature of public policy decision-making. Evaluations of public participation have been undertaken across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, with much emphasis placed on criteria relating to the process and outcome dimensions. The majority of approaches intend to …  Read more

Exploring the process by which autonomous agents coordinate represents a pivotal advancement toward emulating populations, which encompasses diverse applications in robotics, game theory, economics, and social sciences. Specifically, the mechanisms that allow cooperating learners to converge toward coherent team strategies remain poorly understood, and yet, understudied. The myriad of challenges that hinder concurrent learning -- environment non-stationarity, intricate credit assignments, exponential complexity, etc. -- has fragmented the focus of the literature such that the underlying mechanisms of successful multi-agent coordination remain to be pinpointed. This work puts forward and explores three key elements of coordination, namely, shared incentives, interactions, and …  Read more

Wilms' tumor, a childhood malignancy of the kidney, is one of the most common pediatric tumors. The disease occurs in both sporadic and hereditary forms and is associated with a number of congenital disorders. Wilms' tumor appears to be genetically heterogeneous although only a single Wilms' tumor suppressor gene, designated WT1, has been isolated to date. WT1 encodes a zinc finger protein and is mutated in a subset of Wilms' tumors and in patients with Denys-Drash syndrome (DDS), an association of Wilms' tumor and severe genitourinary defects. This thesis reports a mutational analysis of WT1, detailing the spectrum and frequency …  Read more

Prasher, Shiv (Supervisor2)  Read more

Housing is one of the most important basic necessities of human life next to food. The activity in housing does not meet the demands of increasing populations, with the result that today every country is facing a serious housing problem particularly in urban areas. It is an actual fact that the need for housing, particularly of people of low income in urban areas such as Bangkok, has reached a high level. The significance of this can be seen from the steady growth of housing projects, but most of them are not perfectly suited to satisfy the needs of the people …  Read more

Johnstone, Rose M. (Supervisor)  Read more

In this thesis this writer explores first-hand via a participative hermeneutics from an objective idealist perspective the relationship between consciousness, language and the world by reconstructing the seminal philosophy contained in the fifth century poem of Parmenides of Elea--first, in dialogue format, secondly through an essay in which two men, one last and one higher, are each respectively de- and reconstructed for the purpose of indicating, in that final section of the essay, how they each define their own paradigm of education in comparison to M. J. Adler and Carl Rogers.  Read more

With the increased use of captive breeding for species conservation and for wildlife research there is a rising concern over potential effects of captivity on animal populations. Changes arising within populations as a result of captivity could reduce their ability to survive and reproduce after release into the wild, or make research on captive specimens incomparable to their wild counterparts. Research into the effects of captive breeding is relatively new and is often hampered by the difficulty of separating origin and rearing environment effects on animals. The overall aim of this study was to determine the effects of captivity on …  Read more

Davies, David (Supervisor)  Read more

[...] Vulcanized rubber is generally considered to possess a network structure which results from the presence of occasional cross-linkages between essentially linear polymeric molecules (1). The detailed structureof such three-dimensional polymers can be elucidated by consideration of the chemical processes by which the network is formed. [...]  Read more

La formation et l’évolution de la galaxie la plus brillante d’un amas (brightest cluster galaxy, BCG) et de la lumière intra-amas (intra-cluster light, ICL), ainsi que leur relation l’un à l’autre, sont à ce jour mal compris. Il semblerait que ces deux systèmes soient le résultat d’une évolution complexe, situés au carrefour de nombreux phénomènes tel que les interactions entre galaxies, les courants de refroidissement, voir même la rétroaction de noyau actif de galaxie. Ce mémoire se penche sur la dépendance entre le décalage spectral et la formation de l’ICL. En premier lieu, à travers l’analyse du centre d’un amas …  Read more

Shore, Bruce (Supervisor)  Read more

This study explores the morphology and electrical behavior of breeding weakly electric fish. Wave-type electric fish communicate by means of a continuous oscillatory electric signal produced by an electric organ. The electric organ discharges at frequencies which are sexually dimorphic in many species of electric fish. This dimorphism is thought to be attributed to female mate choice, although to date, there is no evidence for mate choice or intrasexual competition to have driven the evolution of this signaling dimorphism in wave-type electric fish. Here, I have tracked changes in body shape and electric organ discharge (EOD) frequency of A. leptorhynchus …  Read more

The fact that it took so long, in spite of successive waves of invaders and spirited yet sporadic resistance, to fashion a united national front, points out an anomaly in Algerian society: a divided identity. It took a cruel French occupation, the incompetence of colonial authorities, and the infiltration of European nationalist ideology to fashion a united front, but it was only a front, for immediately after independence, the unity was shown to be a temporary one. The Berber majority found itself excluded, both culturally and politically, from the new Algerian state. Strangers in their own land, Berbers were faced …  Read more

Cairns, R. D. (Supervisor)  Read more

Water makes and remakes the physical and cultural spaces that Bangladesh inhabits. In the environmental history of Bangladesh’s birth as a nation-state, rivers emerge as one of the ways the state actualizes its power and thus as one of the sites where state power can be contested. This research aims to explore the place of rivers at the intersection of nature and nation in Bangladeshi river-centric films. The centrality of moving waters in the construction of a Bangladeshi national identity is undeniable, yet its presentation is shrouded in sentimentality, overlooking the material implications of reorganizing regional spaces and their constituents, …  Read more

The Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathways are evolutionarily conserved signaling units implicated in the transmission of extracellular cues to intracellular compartments. The ERK, JNK and p38 pathways are the best described MAPK cascades. Their function relies on a core module of three kinases, composed of a MAPK Kinase Kinase (MAPKKK), a MAPK Kinase (MAPKK) and a MAPK, which becomes sequentially phosphorylated upon mitogenic, proinflammatory or stress signals. These modules are used in various developmental contexts and are implicated in the maintenance of homeostasis in adult organisms. Although most of the core components of MAPK signaling pathways have been discovered, the …  Read more

Un Horla is a 25 minute composition for mezzo-soprano, one percussionist, electric guitar, violin, cello, double bass and electronics with real-time spatialization. It consists of a musical interpretation of the short story Le Horla by Guy de Maupassant, in which the narrator becomes convinced that an invisible “Being” is troubling his thoughts and is taking possession of his life. The story is written in the style of a journal and takes place over a period of 4 months. Gradually the psychological state of the narrator progresses from melancholia to schizophrenia, punctuated by short episodes of fevers and anxiety.The present thesis …  Read more

Dereglement passager de corps heterogenes is a work for flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), horn, piano, violin, cello and contrabass which explores the concept of "virus" within a musical form similar to the theme and variations. During its elaboration, I imagined what could metaphorically be the effects of different virus on what I define as "musical organisms". This idea suggested a number of variations that could serve as laboratories to experiment different levels of interaction between the virus and the musical organisms. This thesis consists of the musical score and a detailed analysis.  Read more

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic heart failure (CHF) patients show a marked reduction in exercise capacity compared to that of healthy age-matched individuals. While inadequate gas exchange and resulting hypoxemia appears as the primary factor in COPD, an impaired cardiac output is the predominant explanation for the reduced oxygen delivery in CHF. However, the extent of the contributions of other systemic factors remains unclear. In light of the potential interactions between cardiac output (Qc) and pulmonary hyperinflation, there is surprisingly little data thus far on ventilatory constraints in CHF and on the role of blood flow delivery in …  Read more

In the course of the romantic movement, the vision of the poetic ministry has been expressed by several poets through the figure of Jesus at the Mount of Olives. While Lamartine appropriates the suffering of Christ in order to proclaim himself to be a poet-prophet, Vigny refuses the silence of God. He, thus, accomplishes his poetic mission against God. Whereas Hugo does not take into consideration the meaning of Jesus' agony in order to make the Gethsemane a place of glory, Nerval rejects the notion of a Christlike mission. Hence, by putting into words the death of God, he foretells …  Read more

The effect of high external pressures on the Raman spectra of various metal pyrophosphate salts has been investigated with the aid of a diamond-anvil cell and a Raman microspectrometer. The pressure dependences of the Raman-active bands were determined from the wavenumber vs. pressure plots. The KMHP2O7·2H2O [M = Co(II), Mn(II), Zn(II) and Mg(II)] series of salts was studied at pressures up to about 50 kbar (ca. 50,000 atm). The Co(II) salt displayed an irreversible, pressure-driven, structural transformation at around 29 kbar. The M4(P2O 7)2·10H2O [M = Zn(II) and Mn(II)] salts were also investigated. A reversible phase transition was observed to …  Read more

Tappolet, Christine (Supervisor2)  Read more

L’artiste peintre afro-américain Jacob Lawrence met en scène, dans son œuvre du même titre, la Grande migration de la population d’ascendance africaine du Sud agraire des États-Unis jusqu’à son Nord industriel (1910-1970). Par la visualisation de l’œuvre de Lawrence, plus précisément le tableau vingt-huit de The Migration Series, nous proposons dans cette thèse de réfléchir à une autre histoire du droit du travail et de son articulation en Amérique du Nord. Car afin d’accéder à une autre idée du droit du travail, il nous faut désormais voir autrement. Dans le premier chapitre, nous expliciterons la méthode transdisciplinaire déployée dans cette …  Read more

Convergence results for sequences of random variables, known broadly as limit theorems, form some of the most fundamental results in probability and statistics. Given their central role in probability theory, there are a wide variety of proofs of limit theorems, most which rely on purely probabilistic arguments. Recently, a new approach to proving limit theorems has been proposed [4, 5, 6], using convergence results for finite difference schemes and other theory from the field of partial differential equations (PDEs).This thesis explores more deeply the extent to which convergence results for finite difference schemes can be used to prove limit theorems. …  Read more

Cette thèse explore les idées, images et références bouddhistes dans la poésie de Leonard Cohen et affirme le rôle durable du bouddhisme dans les œuvres de Cohen. La thèse commence par examiner le lien entre les relations nord-américaines et juives avec le bouddhisme en ce qui concerne le contexte historique de Cohen. Les premières œuvres de Cohen révèlent son orientalisme précoce et l’évolution d’une voix cynique qui dominera la carrière de Cohen. Accro aux plaisirs de la célébrité, Cohen est plongé dans une profonde dépression qui n’est directement abordée que par Sasaki Roshi, un moine bouddhiste qui enseigne finalement à …  Read more

Weber, Michael (Supervisor1)  Read more

The postnatal changes in the various epithelial cell types of the different regions of the epididymis at the level of electron microscope (EM), and the expression of various secretory proteins has not been well characterized in developing rats. In this context, Epon embedded epididymides at postnatal days 21, 39, 49, and 56 were examined under the light and electron microscope. Furthermore, expression of two secretory proteins, namely sulfated glycoprotein-2 and immobilin, well characterized in adult animals, were immunolocalized using paraffin sections at various postnatal ages i.e. 7, 15, 21, 28, 39, 49, and 56. The latter was performed to examine …  Read more

This dissertaion comprises three related papers. The first paper reports a historical cohort mortality study which was carried out among 21,744 electrical utility workers in the province of Quebec. A total of 1582 deaths were observed at the end of follow-up (1970-1988). A job exposure matrix (JEM) was used to estimate the exposure to 60 Hz electric, magnetic, and pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) from the code of the last job held by each worker. The results showed no evidence of excess of cause specific or general mortality relative to provincial death rates in the cohort overall. The ratios of Standardized …  Read more

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of case-based instruction and lecture-discussions in enhancing students' multicultural social work competence and their reflective self-regulation to learn multicultural social work. The sample consisted of undergraduate social work students enrolled in a multicultural social work practice course which was composed of two classes, the Special Bachelor of Social Work (SBSW) and the Regular Bachelor of Social Work (RBSW). The students in the SBSW had higher levels of education, mean age, and mean GPA than the students in the RBSW class. Each of these classes was divided into two sections. …  Read more

There are two extreme views on how discrimination learning takes place. One is the view advanced by Spence (1936) that excitatory and inhibitory tendencies to each stimulus are built up irrespective of the opportunity or lack of opportunity to compare the positive and negative stimuli. The other is the relational hypothesis, that subjects learn by comparing one stimulus with another, and that the amount of opportunity for comparison of stimuli affects the rate of learning. In support of the relational hypothesis, Loess and Duncan (1952), using human subjects, found that the learning of a difficult pattern discrimination under conditions of …  Read more