McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

Gyorkos, Theresa W. (Supervisor)  Read more

Indices of nutritional condition and diet were evaluated in harp seals Phoca groenlandica obtained from hunters in Hudson Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, December 1988 to October 1990. In winter seals, blubber and the lean, eviscerated carcass contributed 90% and 9% of total body lipids, respectively. Lipid was distributed homogeneously throughout the blubber. Blubber thickness and girth at 50% of length showed the strongest correlation to fat stores. Sculp and core mass in females increased from autumn to winter. Mature males were observed to significantly increase their blubber mass from early to late winter. Muscle and liver lipid …  Read more

Acute pancreatitis may be induced by many different types of injuries to the organ. The tissue reaction may vary in severity, but it is believed that it varies little in character, whatever the agent causing the injury may be. For this reason acute pancreatitis is often defined as an acute inflammatory response of the pancreas to injury. In 1842 Classen (1) recognized acute pancreatitis and described its pathological picture. Soon after this, in 1850, Claude Bernard (2) induced the first experimental pancreatitis by injecting oil and bile into the pancreatic duct of animals.  Read more

This thesis is about the development and evaluation of a standardized method to measure the crural diaphragm electromyogram (EMG) in humans, with an esophageal electrode. In order for the diaphragm EMG to be physiologically relevant, its measurement and analysis require objective control of the disturbances and filter effects which can influence the sigma. One issue of importance is the maintenance of diaphragm-to-electrode positioning throughout the inspiration. In the present work, we describe a cross-correlation algorithm by which the position of the diaphragm along a multiple army esophageal electrode can be determined at any instant during a breath, and a second …  Read more

The measurement and analysis of the human diaphragm electromyogram (EMGdi), as obtained with an esophageal electrode, requires objective control of the disturbances and filtering effects which can influence the signal. One issue of importance is that an increase in the muscle-to-electrode distance (MEdist) acts as a low-pass filter, filtering out the high frequency components of the EMG power spectrum (the MEdist filter). Due to the numerous factors which can influence the EMGdi, control of signal quality is also of utmost importance. The aims of this study were: (1) to evaluate the effect of the MEdist filter on EMGdi, as measured …  Read more

Maxwell, Michael  Read more

Cette thèse est une introduction critique et une traduction du roman de Mariko Ôhara, Hybrid Child (1990). Hybrid Child a été écrit en japonais entre 1984 et 1990, durant le pic de la bulle économique au Japon. Pendant cette période, le capitalisme de consommation de hautes technologies s'était entrelacé avec de nouveaux types de contrôle social à travers la "gestion" technologique de tous les aspects de la vie. Hybrid Child est l'histoire d'une arme cyborg appellée "Sample B #3" qui développe une volonté indépendante et s'enfuit de l'armée. Dans la poursuite de l'armée après sa création incontrôlable viennent se tisser …  Read more

The existence or the adrenal gland seems to have been overlooked completely until 1563 when Eustachius(1) in his book “Opuscula Anatomica Gentus” identified and described the adrenals under the title of “De Glandulis quae renibus incumbunt". However, in spite of considerable speculation, it took more than 300 years before any indication of their probable function was obtained. This speculation centered about the probable action of the black bile ("atra bile”) which was found in the central part of the gland. No recognition was taken of the post-mortem autolysis which occurred in the medulla so subject to it, in the often …  Read more

We analyse the preservation of physical properties of numerical approximations tosolutions of the Lotka-Volterra system: its positivity and the conservation of theHamiltonian. We focus on two numerical methods : the symplectic Euler method andan explicit variant of it. We first state under which conditions they are symplectic andwe prove they are both Poisson integrators for the Lotka-Volterra system. Then, westudy under which conditions they stay positive. For the symplectic Euler method,we derive a simple condition under which the numerical approximation always stayspositive. For the explicit variant, there is no such simple condition. Using propertiesof Poisson integrators and backward error analysis, …  Read more

De nombreuses équations différentielles non-linéaires ont des solutions qui cessent d'exister en temps fini car leur norme devient infinie. On dit alors que la solution explose en temps fini. Ce phénomène revêt généralement une grande importance dans l'interprétation physique des résultats, malheureusement la plupart de ces équations différentielles ne peuvent pas être résolues explicitement. De plus l'approximation numérique du phénomène d'explosion est délicat et la plupart des méthodes standards ne donnent que des résultats médiocres. Dans cette thèse nous proposons des façons de construire des méthodes numériques à pas de temps fixe, spécialisées dans l'approximation d'une solution qui explose, les …  Read more

Genest, Christian (Supervisor1)  Read more

Les pédagogies axées sur le dialogue visent à promouvoir un dialogue éducatif de qualité essentiel à l’apprentissage des élèves. Malheureusement, les programmes de développement professionnel sur les pédagogies axées sur le dialogue ont tendance à demander des ressources considérables et leur adoption reste irrégulière. Le manque de recherche sur les processus et mécanismes par lesquels les enseignants apprennent les principes et pratiques dialogiques est inhérent à ce dilemme. Ainsi, cette étude examine comment les enseignants apprennent les principes et les pratiques dialogiques tout en participant à une intervention de recherche collaborative en ligne sur la pédagogie dialogique. Douze enseignants de …  Read more

Sulfuric acid hydrolysis of native cellulose fibers produces stable suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals. Within a specific concentration range, the suspensions spontaneously form an anisotropic chiral nematic liquid crystal phase. This thesis examines the phase separation behaviour of these suspensions, alone and in the presence of added macromolecules. Initially, the effect of hydrolysis conditions on the nanocrystal and phase separation properties for hydrolyzed softwood pulp were investigated and compared to suspensions prepared from hardwood pulp. The macromolecules studied, blue dextrans of varying molecular weights and dye ligand densities, were synthesized and characterized with a number of techniques. The polyelectrolytic nature of …  Read more

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, with atherosclerosis being the largest contributor towards life-threatening events. Cellular activity and cholesterol accumulation lead to vascular remodeling and the formation of fatty plaques. Complications arise from blood clots forming at ruptured or eroded plaques leading to thrombotic occlusion. Vascular smooth muscle cells and macrophages switch their phenotypes during atherosclerosis and influence the disease in various ways. Knowledge about intercellular communication is critical to understanding the disease and the development of novel medications. In this thesis, the literature has been reviewed on molecular interactions between vascular smooth muscle cells and macrophages …  Read more

It is a well established fact that numerous mineral deposits exhibit the phenomenon of spontaneous electrical polarization, commonly referred to as SP. The resulting electromotive force is detected by measuring the values of electrical potential at numerous points over the area in question, with respect to a remote point. The measurements are made with non-polarizing electrodes connected to either a D.C. vacuum tube voltmeter or a potentiometer. [...]  Read more

In 1901 Baron Roland von Eötvös used gravimetric measurements to obtain the elevation contours of a lake bottom and thus established on an experimental basis, the value of this technique for indicating and mapping near-surface density variations in the earth's crust. Since then, the gravity method has been extensively used for outlining various geological structures. A series of typical applications of this method is discussed by Heiland (1940, p. 157) Because of the relatively high density contrast between rock and ice, gravimetric measurements have been used recently for determining subglacial elevation contours. This application of gravity measurements possibly originated with …  Read more

This thesis examines the role of photography in making the Canadian Pacific Railway company (CPR) an integral part of Canadian mythology. It focuses on the company's photographic advertising in the 1920s, and the ways in which its increasingly nationalistic transcontinental brochures framed the country, and equated the act of travelling with nation-building and national identity. The CPR's tourist brochures established a visual vocabulary of the travelling experience, which was readily employed by individuals such as Montreal journalist Frank Randall Clarke. Clarke was sponsored by the CPR to travel across the country in the summer of 1929. His journalistic writing and …  Read more

En raison du changement climatique, le haut Arctique canadien connaît une des plus fortes augmentations de températures atmosphériques de la planète. Le pergélisol, sol qui demeure égale ou inférieure à 0 ° C pendant au moins deux années consécutives, est un phénomène cryospheric dont l'équilibre thermique fluctue en fonction des changements de températures atmosphériques et des conditions géophysiques. De ce fait, la profondeur de dégel saisonnier, c'est à dire la couche active, est prévue d'augmenter sensiblement au cours du prochain siècle. Dans le pergélisol se trouvent de grandes étendues de glace appelées coins de glace - caractéristiques périglaciaires omniprésentes qui …  Read more

The trust of the new Civil Code of Quebec of 1994 relies on the innovative juridical framework of "patrimony by appropriation". The present thesis analyzes the new trust and situates it within a broader perspective through comparisons with the Common law trust and an examination of the alternative approaches to fiduciary institutions in Civil law jurisdictions. The notion of patrimony by appropriation implies that the corpus of the Quebec trust constitutes ownerless property. Despite its novelty, we find that the concept is compatible with the civilian theories of droit subjectif and patrimony, as well as with the other parts of …  Read more

In the Jasper Basin, Jasper National Park, Alberta, the late Frasnian Simla Member and Mount Hawk Formation comprise a shallow water carbonate platform (upper part of the Ancient Wall reef complex) and an adjacent slope and basin respectively. The Frasnian-Famennian paraconformity overlies the Simla Member everywhere within the study area. Basinward, this boundary becomes conformable where it overlies the Mount Hawk Formation. The F-F boundary forms the basal bounding surface for the Sassenach Formation. The early Famennian Sassenach Formation comprises mixed siliciclastic/carbonate strata that overlie, onlap and frequently toplap the underlying Mount Hawk Formation and Simla Member along the northeastern …  Read more

Aggregated Escherichia coli (E. coli) expressing the adhesin involved in diffuse adherence (AIDA-I) cause severe cases of fatal neonatal diarrhea. AIDA-I is a glycoprotein, located in the outer membrane of Gram negative E. coli. It causes bacterial aggregation. Autotransporter adhesin heptosyltransferase (Aah) is an E. coli glycosyltransferase that glycosylates AIDA-I. In the first part of this M.Sc. thesis, we observed both non-aggregated and aggregated AIDA-I molecules by single particle transmission electron microscopy and electron tomography in order to provide insights into the poorly understood mechanism of AIDA-I-mediated attachment. Our analysis showed that non-aggregated AIDA-I were elongated molecules ~320 Å long …  Read more

This study explored undergraduate music majors' strategies in two-part dictation. Sixty volunteers answered a questionnaire on their musical background, learning styles, and dictation methods. They then took part in three dictation sessions. Two sessions directed attention to rhythm first or pitch first, and one session was a non-directed control dictation. Treatments were counterbalanced across 6 groups (n = 10). Dependent measures were pitch and rhythm accuracy scores on dictations. Analysis of variance showed no order effects. A repeated measures MANOVA (pitch and rhythm by 3 conditions) showed a significant effect for condition ($p < .0001$). Higher rhythm accuracy resulted from …  Read more

Mackay, H. (Supervisors)  Read more

Myocardial infarcts are often associated with increased neural innervation surrounding the infarct scar. This nerve sprouting is associated with increased risk of arrhythmias and sudden death. Despite decades of study, fundamental questions remain open, including whether heterogeneous neural activity is proarrhythmic and the number of neurons needed to modulate dynamics at the tissue level. Arrhythmogenic mechanisms in vivo are poorly understood as key physiological parameters are often not experimentally accessible. To address these issues, we developed two in vitro neural cardiac co-culture platforms that will allow us to visualize cardiac wave dynamics while controlling the density and activity of innervating …  Read more

A novel digital image analysis technique to measure the size of fragments on the surface of a muck-pile is presented in this thesis. The technique takes into consideration the physical characteristics of fragment representation and measurement problems. Using an adaptive smoothing filter prior to edge detection, each fragment on the surface is represented by a group of edge segments outlining its boundaries. These segments are then grouped to form continuous contours. A multi-layer analysis of the digital image is then formulated where fragments on the surface are grouped into three layers, each of which is categorized by global characteristics and …  Read more

SpaceBase est un nouveau réseau superposé pair-à-pair dans lequel les serveurs sont des noeuds d’infrastructure mobiles. Contrairement aux superpositions traditionnelles à serveurs fixes, les serveurs mobiles de SpaceBase se déplacent physiquement et le réseau redistribue automatiquement les régions de service, via une structure en arbre de partitionnement, pourmaintenir une couverture spatiale continue et `a faible latence. Chaque serveur gère les données de la région géographique qui lui est assignée, et dès qu’un serveur rejoint, quitte ou se déplace, le réseau réattribue les régions pour garantir une couverture complète. SpaceBase propose une API permettant aux programmes externes d’interagir avec cette infrastructure …  Read more

Marcus Loew, magnat de l’industrie du cinéma aux Etats-Unis, était connu pour sa maxime “We sell ticketsto theatres, not movies.” Ce constat peut sembler incongru aujourd’hui alors que la grande majorité dessalles de cinéma sont des multiplexes dont l’architecture générique se répète d’un bout à l’autre de laplanète. L’accent est donc mis sur le divertissement plutôt que sur l’environnement dans lequel se déroulel’activité culturelle. Cette tendance, cependant, n’a pas toujours été la norme. Des années 1910 jusqu’àl’avènement de la télévision en 1952, le design des salles de cinéma était tout autant, sinon plus important,que le film projeté à l’écran. Si …  Read more

The main objective of the present work is to investigate the nature of the cognitive processes responsible for the problem-solving operations of novices, intermediates, and experts in a semantically rich and complex domain, i.e. electronics trouble shooting, in relation to their knowledge of the task. The performance for each group of subjects shows a varying degree of knowledge integration (theoretical and procedural). The results show (1) that novices lack theoretical knowledge and make theoretical errors, (2) that intermediates do not lack theoretical knowledge but they have some difficulty in applying it, and (3) that experts have well-integrated knowledge and troubleshooting …  Read more

Chronic total occlusions (CTO) are complete blockages of arteries characterized by a high risk for heart attacks, stroke and limb loss. The occlusion is composed of collagen-rich extracellular matrix, intra and extracellular lipids, smooth muscle cells and mixed components, including cholesterol, dense collagen and calcium deposits. As a result, these lesions are extremely heterogeneous and cannot be easily reproduced ex-vivo for the purposes of medical device testing. Current pre-clinical testing and new device validation is performed using cadavers or amputated limbs which can be difficult to obtain in substantial quantities. Animal models, where occlusions are difficult to create and where …  Read more

Between 1840 and the end of the 1850s, the French-Canadian elite dominating the political landscape was calling for "reformism". Besides belonging to the same generation, the members of this elite shared several features: they had accepted the Union, campaigned for responsible government and opposed annexation to the United States. This thesis aims to put forward some of the main ideas of this elite, and thereby of the reformist period. In the historiography of Canada and Quebec, the reformists are generally portrayed as founders, be it of a nation, a political regime or a bourgeois social order. To avoid teleological pitfalls, …  Read more

Les techniques de changement de comportement (TCC) sont des stratégies qui soutiennent le changement de comportement en activité physique, surtout chez les individus avec un handicap. Même s’il y a de nombreuses interventions en activité physique qui utilisent des TCC, il est nécessaire de mieux comprendre comment les TCC sont utilisées pour soutenir le changement de comportement en activité physique. Donc, notre étude vise à examiner et à d’écrire l’utilisation et l’exécution des TCC dans l’activité physique chez les étudiants universitaires avec un handicap physique et/ou des conditions chronique. Nous avons suivi un plan longitudinal intensif, avec une évaluation écologique …  Read more

The work of Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757-1826) is often used by architectural historians to demonstrate the erosion of the principles of classical architecture at the end of the eighteenth century. The Nouvelle Methode appliquee aux Principes elementaires du dessin completed by Lequeu in 1792, a drawing method showing the correct proportions of the face obtained through geometry, reveal another Lequeu, one sympathetic to the architectural theories of his time. The similarities between the Nouvelle Methode and the Dissertation sur les especes naturelles by the Dutch naturalist Petrus Camper (1722-1789) show the importance of the notion of caractere in the structure of …  Read more

Les nano-coquilles d'or intègrent la non-cytotoxicité de l'or, les propriétés de résonance de plasmon de surface, et l'imagerie à haut contraste, ce qui produit une plate-forme efficace et idéal pour l'imagerie biologique. Par exemple, une sonde permettant de détecter des plaques d'athérome, leur composition et leur comportement lors de leur rupture, pourrait conduire à la compréhension et le traitement de cette maladie cardiaque. Les nano-coquilles d'or, en raison de leurs propriétés caractéristiques, en particulier avec la conjugaison de ligands appropriés, offrent une opportunité excitante. Cette thèse présente une méthodologie pour le développement de sondes multitâche à base de nano-coquilles d'or …  Read more

Klein, Marina B (Supervisor1)  Read more

The competition between two molecules of similar polarity for adsorption sites on the stationary phase is discussed in light of rapid kinetics of adsorption and desorption, and of the effects of temperature, acetonitrile, surfactant (cyclohexylaminopropane sulfonic acid, CAPS) and salt concentrations on the retention of the thyroid hormones (3,5-diiodothyronine, T2; 3,3',5-triiodothyronine, T3 and thyroxine, T4). A three parameter equation relates the surfactant concentration and ionic strength to the retention of the hormones and is analyzed in terms of the Stern-Gouy-Chapman theory. A second order polynomial describes the temperature dependency and permits the evaluation of the enthalpy, entropy and heat capacity, …  Read more

Les progrès rapides des technologies en intelligence artificielle (IA) ont mené à d’importants investissements mondiaux ainsi qu’à plusieurs initiatives gouvernementales visant à sensibiliser et éduquer le public sur l’IA. Des pays comme le Canada jouent un rôle de premier plan dans ces efforts, cherchant à encourager une adoption plus large de ces technologies grâce à l’amélioration de la littératie algorithmique. Cependant, la relation entre la littératie algorithmique, l’utilisation d’Internet et l’opinion publique envers les algorithmes reste peu étudiée. Ce mémoire examine comment les conditions socioéconomiques influencent l’utilisation d’Internet, comment cette utilisation façonne la littératie algorithmique et comment ces facteurs affectent …  Read more

Changes in the pituitary content of prolactin (PRL) and in the ratio of immunoreactive forms of PRL were measured during a reproductive cycle in turkey hens. Low levels of PRL were observed in pituitary glands from sexually immature, out-of-lay and moulting hens. Higher levels were present during the egg laying period and the highest levels were detected in hens expressing incubating behaviour. Two immunoreactive bands of apparent molecular weights of 24 and 27 kDa were visualised on western blots, corresponding to the non-glycosylated (NG-) and glycosylated (G-) forms of PRL, respectively. The percentage of G-PRL was about 60 in sexually …  Read more

Une livraison rapide de logiciels et une qualité élevée sont cruciales sur le marché concurrentiel d'aujourd'hui, ce qui amène de nombreuses organisations à adopter des pratiques DevOps pour améliorer leurs pipelines d'intégration continue et de livraison continue (CI/CD). Néanmoins, l’introduction de diverses plateformes telles que GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, Bamboo, Circle CI et Azure DevOps, chacune avec son propre dialecte de pipeline, a rendu la migration inter-dialecte plus complexe.Un langage multiplateforme spécifique à un domaine capable de représenter des concepts abstraits à partir de plateformes individuelles et capable de comprendre plusieurs dialectes de pipeline pourrait résoudre ces problèmes.Cette …  Read more

Le trouble du spectre autistique (TSA) est caractérisé par une hétérogénéité importante en terme de symptômes, de gravité, et de troubles comorbides. C’est probablement pour cela qu’il y a peu de consensus dans les conclusions des études de neuroimagerie sur les TSA. Nous savons ainsi que des facteurs comme l'âge, le sexe, et le quotient intellectuel (QI) contribuent à la variabilité des résultats dans ces études. Comprendre comment ces facteurs influencent la structure du cerveau est donc essentiel pour améliorer notre compréhension de ces troubles. L'étude des TSA est aussi rendue plus compliquée par des facteurs tels que le manque …  Read more

In his 2005 work entitled The Marketing of Rebellion , author Clifford Bob explores the phenomenon of political marketing and its use by insurgent groups struggling to achieve their aims, most often against a central government opposed to their platform. In his book, Bob makes two central arguments: that courting support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is central to the success of insurgent groups; and that support is given to insurgent groups from NGOs not because of need, but rather because of political marketing techniques that insurgent groups use to attract that support. Thus, a successful and savvy insurgent group or …  Read more

We have investigated linguistic structure to find a grammar that will generate all sentences in English and only those. We pointed out that no finitie-state Markov process can serve as our grammar.We also pointed out that phrase structure, per se, is also inadequate but may serve as a kernel for transformational grammars. This, of course, leads to a complexity of obligatory and optional rules. We then introduced syntactic categories built up by the notion of rules of meaning and two basic categories -name (n) and sentence (s). We then built up syntactic types for English structures and described three methods …  Read more

Penhune, Virginia (Supervisor2)  Read more