McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

The plasma concentration of total corticosteroids, cortisol, and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone in 4 patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia of the 21-hydroxylase deficiency type, was measured at intervals on one day when cortisone acetate treatment was administered, and on the following day when treatment was withdrawn. On the day of treatment was withdrawn, the major plasma corticosteroid was 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, and it appeared likely that in addition to cortisol other unidentified adrenal steroids may have been present.  Read more

In various experiments, young rats were given single injections of labelled sugars, particularly 3H-1-galactose and 3 H-1-mannose, and sacrificed after various time intervals. Radioautographs showed that 3H-1-galactose and 3H-1-mannose were incorporated into a great variety of cells. Most mucous cells showed heavy reactions; label appeared first in the Golgi region, later in mucus. In reactions over chondrocytes, label appeared to migrate from Golgi region to surrounding matrix. Many cells utilized 3H-1-galactose and 3H-1-mannose to a different extent. After 3 H-1-galactose only, heavy reactions appeared over certain nonsecretory cells (duodenal columnar, various duct cells) in which label appeared to migrate to …  Read more

Young rats were injected with 3H-fucose and sacrificed after various times. In electron microscopic radioautographs of duodenal villus columnar cells and hepatocyes, at 2 minutes after injection the label was localized mostly over the Golgi apparatus. By 20 minutes, label appeared at all cell surfaces and in lysosomes. It is interpreted that the fucose label was incorporated by the Golgi apparatus into glycoproteins which migrated to lysosomes and to all cell surfaces to be added to the cell coat. A method developed to stain radioautographs of duodenal cells with phosphotungstic acid revealed glycoprotein in all labelled structures, including cytoplasmic vesicles …  Read more

After having reached a level of influence unmatched by any other element of Soviet government under Stalin and Beria, the security organs of the Soviet Union proved difficult to tame. While it has been argued that the KGB was made subservient to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union after the ascent of Khrushchev in the late 1950's, this essay will attempt to show that the security police apparatus was able to maintain a high level of prominence and even autonomy throughout the history of the Soviet Union and beyond. While it may have appeared that the organs were under …  Read more

Variable frequency oscillators are an essential element of many radio communication systems. One of the problems in their design is the elimination of undesirable variations in the output frequency. Present day knowledge of the causes of frequency instability in oscillators used in radio communication equipment, and of the methods developed to achieve good stability, is thoroughly outlined. The functions required of a variable frequency oscillator, and means of achieving variable frequency output with crystal control are mentioned. The special conditions applicable to very high frequency oscillators are presented. The record is given of an experimental investigation of the frequency fluctuations …  Read more

L'analyse des données de séries temporelles se pose dans de nombreux domaines d'application. Bien que les processus gaussiens soient bien adaptés à l'analyse des séries temporelles, leur performance prédictive dépend généralement de la spécification d'une fonction de covariance optimale. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons comment les fonctions de covariance standard peuvent être combinées sous la forme de fonctions de covariance additives pour apprendre la structure sous-jacente présente dans les séries temporelles. En outre, nous employons un algorithme de recherche avide pour déterminer automatiquement les fonctions de covariance additives optimales pour les processus gaussiens et démontrer leurs capacités prédictives sur une …  Read more

De nombreux sons et enregistrements musicaux ont été créé sur des équipements désormais considéré comme vintage. Ces équipements vénérables sont convoités par les musiciens et les passionnés de musique pour leur qualité sonore perçue comme supérieure. Parmi les pédales pour guitare électrique, peu sont plus révérées que la pédale Fuzz Face – une pédale de distorsion devenue célèbre grâce à des utilisateurs tels que Jimi Hendrix. Bien que recherché, La Fuzz Face utilise des transistors obsolètes de type bipolaires au Germanium (GBJT), enclins aux pannes, fluctuant avec la température, et de fabrication inégale.Pour pallier ces problèmes, de nombreux chercheurs et …  Read more

This thesis in part examines the efforts of a teacher to bring critical literacy to life in a classroom and also defines and critiques the use of this pedagogical practice within Québec's Anglophone schools. Critical literacy is often referred to in many government based curriculums across Canada, and especially within Québec's Anglophone document; however whether or not it is enacted in the classroom is challenged. By primary means of reflection on three critical incidents of teaching and examination into professional practices what is revealed is that far too often teachers are convinced they are enacting the emancipatory purpose of critical …  Read more

Objectif: Déterminer la fréquence, la persistance et les déterminants du VPH chez les femmes Inuites du Nunavik, Québec par génotype, espèce et potentiel cancérigène. Méthode: Nous avons recruté une cohorte de femmes vivant au Nunavik quand elles se présentaient aux cliniques pour les soins de routine. Des données démographiques et reliées au mode de vie ont été récoltées et les échantillons de cellules du col de l'utérus ont été analysés à l'aide du PGMY Line blot assay afin de détecter de l'ADN-VPH. Résultats: Près de 40% des femmes ont acquis une infection avec le VPH, à un taux de 14.44 …  Read more

This thesis is in three chapters. Chapter one is about Harold Bloom's theory of the Anxiety of Influence. Bloom's argument is that literary history is shaped by the anxiety of "strong" poets at their belatedness. I show that he depends upon a subjective interpretation of literary production in order to defend a rigidly traditional canon. Chapter two deals with theories of intertextuality, principally those of Julia Kristeva and Michael Riffaterre. As alternatives to theories of influence, neither proves satisfactory. Both founder on the contradictory goal to explain all literature, at the expense of recognizing literary diversity. Chapter three concerns literary …  Read more

[...] Difficulties are, however, by no means necessarily objections. In the Unes which follow the .intention has been to analyze what three outstanding philosophers meant by courage, how it is related to the other cardinal virtues, and where each of these thinkers stands with respect to the notions presented above. From such an analysis it is hoped that some support will be found for the authorfs own position, namely that courage is a habit of will which makes for something being done without dissuasion by adverse circumstances. We shall inquire (1) whether courage is a virtue, (2) whether courage is …  Read more

The catalytic hydrogenation of oils as anindustrial process is becoming more widespread withthe advance of years. It is safe to say that itsusefulness could be greatly increased, and will bewhen more is known about the mechanics of the reaction. [...]  Read more

The catalytic hydrogenation of oils in the preparation of solid fats for edible and general industrial purposes has been in general use for a comparatively short time. In a broad sense, much is already known about the mechanism and peculiarities of hydrogenation, and process control is largely scientific, there is not, however, sufficient available information covering any one phase of the extensive field of hydrogenation. In view of this fact, it was decided to investigate some of the fundamental aspects of catalytic hydrogenation. With this object in mind, the work to be discussed in the following pages was undertaken. [...]  Read more

A particular application requires a voltage pulse of l/100th microsec. duration, 30 volts amplitude and 100 kc/sec. recurrence frequency. Methods usually employed for low-frequency, microsecond duration impulses are found inadequate. The author analyzes, using the La Place transform theory, the transient response of two circuits. The differentiating circuit is found impractical. Class C operation of a pentode, having sinusoidal input, with a parallel LC plate circuit can give the desired pulse. For analysis an idealized plate current-grid bias characteristic is used. The transient response of a 6 mc/sec. circuit to a 700 kc/sec. input was measured. Definite values of Gm …  Read more

Nous abordons des questions théoriques dans le domaine des systèmes quantiques nanoélectromécaniques. Ceux sont les systémes où un oscillateur mécanique est couplé à un conducteur dans lequel les électrons individuels ou la cohérence quantique des électrons joue un rôle important. L'interaction entre un dispositif électronique dans le régime quantique avec le mouvement d'un objet macroscopique fournit un moyen de sonder à la fois les degrés de liberté méchaniques et électroniques avec une sensibilité extraordinaire. Nous réglons trois problèmes basées sur la surveillance soit la composante électronique ou mécanique pour mesurer les propriétés quantiques du systéme couplé. D'abord, nous étudions les …  Read more

We study theoretically a mechanical oscillator coupled to a superconducting single-electron transistor (SSET), focussing on the regime where incoherent Cooper pair tunnelling in the SSET leads to a negative damping instability of the oscillator. In this regime, large oscillator motion modulates tunnelling in the SSET, which in turn affects the oscillator. This interplay leads to interesting strong feedback effects, including a highly non-thermal stationary oscillator state and a significant enhancement of the low-frequency current noise in the SSET. These effects and others are reminiscent of laser physics: the SSET corresponds to population-inverted atoms while the oscillator corresponds to cavity electro-magnetic …  Read more

This thesis examines the role of transfer of first (L1) language properties and access to knowledge of Universal Grammar in second language (L2) acquisition. Two empirical components are included: a study of the syntax of anaphora in Serbo-Croatian and an experimental study of second language acquisition of reflexive binding. Data from field work on the coreference properties of anaphors in Serbo-Croatian are discussed in terms of standard, parameterized, LF movement, and Relativized SUBJECT approaches to Binding Theory. Recent versions of the theory identify a categorial distinction between morphologically simple ($ rm X sp circ$) and complex (XP) anaphor types as …  Read more

Sabok, Marcin (Supervisor1)  Read more

In 1949 the Educational Department of the Montreal Young Women's Christian Association was merged with the arts and crafts interest groups of the Young Adult Department and the new Art Workshop and Educational Classes Department was assigned the challenging responsibility of developing an imaginative and creative program in the arts and crafts. The decision to initiate workshops in which young and enthusiastic amateurs could explore the world of design, rhythm and beauty and experience the thrill of creation put the Montreal Association into the ranks of those few Y.W.C.A.'s (1) who for some time have pioneered in the field of …  Read more

The question of sex differantiation in education resolves itself into two problems 1} whether men and women should receive the same type of education, 2) whether the two sexes should be educated together. The first question entailed a discussion of the ideas concerning women which have controlled their lives and their education, of sex-differences, of the necessary function of women in society and the bearing of each of these on education. It was concluded that the similar educaation of men and women was preferable in all respects to sex-differentiation. In treating the second question, the objections to co-education were first …  Read more

From the feminists movements initiated in the 1970s, women’s poetry experienced a paradigm shift and the theme of filiation is thought in a whole new light. It is no longer a matter of choosing between the experience of motherhood and literary or artistic creation but of finding a way to make them coexist which is not always done in harmony. This dissertation intends to reflect the contribution of the specificity and singularity of the maternal experience in contemporary Quebec women’s poetry. To do so, we propose a reading of three collections of poetry that show complex and nuanced representations of …  Read more

Le tsar Ivan IV, surnommé le Terrible, fut un personnage qui devint rapidement un symbole pour l'identité nationale russe. Dès la création de l'Empire russe par Pierre le Grand, il fut reconnu comme celui qui a consolidé le territoire de la Moscovie au XVIe siècle et a centralisé son pouvoir contre les velléités d'une élite à conserver ses privilèges. Cependant, la construction de ce récit historique fut un long procédé, limité par la rareté des sources et les conventions étatiques. Cette thèse visait à analyser comment quatre historiens clés de la Russie impériale construisirent les connaissances historiques sur Ivan. Les …  Read more

Le lymphome diffus à grandes cellules B (LDGCB) est une maladie hétérogène, mise en évidence par le nombre d'expressions géniques et de signatures mutationnelles identifiées. Cependant, tous les patients reçoivent actuellement le même traitement, R-CHOP, et malgré une efficacité significative, le LDGCB rechute chez environ 40% des patients. Nous avons effectué le séquençage de l'exome entier sur 38 patients LDGCB en rechute / réfractaire (rrLDGCBL), où nous avons utilisé l'ADN germinal du sang périphérique pour définir les mutations. Nous émettons l'hypothèse que des mutations enrichies en rrLDGCB peuvent donner aux cellules lymphomateuses un avantage de croissance et potentiellement conduire à …  Read more

Cette thèse examine comment les souvenirs peuvent façonner la manière dont nous percevons le présent et l'avenir dans le cadre de la formation des enseignants et du développement professionnel. En utilisant une enquête qualitative, en m'inspirant de l'auto-apprentissage et de la mémoire-travail, j'explore les façons dont l'autoethnographie critique peut servir d'outil de croissance personnelle et professionnelle dans le contexte de l'identité des enseignants. Cette thèse étudie la relation entre l'autoethnographie, la pédagogie critique et l'autoethnographie critique.Dans mon travail sur le terrain, j'examine trois lieux de la mémoire. Le premier site de recherche est une étude influencée par l'art des souvenirs …  Read more

When physical impairment impedes a driver's access to a vehicle's controls, adaptive equipment can compensate for functional loss. However, the impact of modifying automotive controls and the effectiveness of driver-training remain unclear. Of particular importance is the older driver's ability to integrate these adaptations. This thesis comprises two studies comparing older and younger drivers' perceived workload when driving with adaptive devices. First, workload ratings in normal driving were compared to ratings while driving using hand-controls to activate the vehicle's pedals. Significant increases in workload were observed for younger and older drivers. The second study evaluated the effect of driver-training on …  Read more

Canadian military historians have overlooked the role of the Canadian artillery in the South African War of 1899-1902, This thesis is an attempt to fill that gap in the historiography, Based largely on primary sources such as newspaper reports, military records, and personal diaries and letters, the thesis examines the contributions and experiences of D battery, Royal Canadian Field Artillery, in South African War. It asserts that the battery played a variety of roles, ranging from the monotonous line of communication duty to intense combat actions, and that the soldiers reacted to this varied experience in different ways.  Read more

The importance of the Grande Greve and Cape Bon Ami Formations of Gaspé has been brought out by the discovery and exploitation of copper ore bodies in these two formations by the Gaspé Copper Mines Ltd. The rock samples which have been analysed come from one drill-hole (Buffalo Canadian E-3) located near the Copper Brook Aureole. In this hole it has been possible to correlate the various zones in the aureole of alteration with their unaltered equivalents outside. [...]  Read more

This thesis is an evaluation of the extent to which theories of focalization are useful for the analysis of point of view in film. In it, I apply the small number of focalization models advanced within film studies to an analysis of the works of an internationally acclaimed Taiwanese director, Edward Yang. I reveal that Yang's films serve well to demonstrate how the conventional typologies of external and internal focalization are convenient labels that mask the considerable degree of ambiguity that is reflected by processes of focalization and narration in many films. Furthermore, I illustrate how an application of the …  Read more

The purpose of our study was to examine if there is an ERG component (a-wave, b-wave, or OPs) that could be used as an estimate of the intraretinal time of visual processing. To investigate that matter, we proceeded to simultaneous recordings of the ERG and of single cell unit activity at the geniculate level in paralyzed and anesthetized rabbits. Our results show that 86.4% of the geniculate cells (n = 162) responded to the flash before the peak of the b-wave. One of the oscillatory potentials, the OP2, was preceding the geniculate activity in 77.8% of the cases. Furthermore, the …  Read more

Novel approaches to enforce the Geometric Conservation Law (GCL) on moving grids using spectral in time solvers are introduced. The governing equations are based on the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations, discretized in time through either the Non-Linear Frequency Domain (NLFD) or the Time-Spectral (TS) methods. The equations are spatially discretized by a structured finite-volume scheme on three-dimensional hexahedral meshes or two-dimensional quadrilateral grids. The derived methodologies follow a general approach where the positions and the velocities of the grid points are known at each time step based on the dynamic mesh deformation using the Radial Basis Functions …  Read more

Microarray expression analysis was applied as an approach for identifying cancer-related genes on chromosome-X (CHR-X) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The Hu6800 and U133A GeneChipsRTM were used to evaluate the expression of 446 CHR-X genes in an in vitro EOC model system comprising 4 EOC cell lines and 12 primary cultures of normal ovary surface epithelia. Fifty-one new candidate CHR-X genes were identified in addition to 49 genes previously implicated in cancer. Many genes map to regions with frequent genetic aberrations in EOC tumours, or interact with the known EOC tumour suppressors BRCA1 and BRCA2. Candidate genes described in this …  Read more

This observational study compared the value of physician-administered Advanced Life Support (MD-ALS) to Basic Life Support (BLS) in the treatment of penetra1mg trauma in an urban setting. Patients were identified in Montreal and Quebec City between 1993 to 1997 Prehospital care is provided exclusively by Urgences Sante in Montreal. Patients in Montreal are randomly allocated to either ALS or BLS due to an insufficient number of MD-ALS units. The south shore of Montreal and Quebec City are serviced by a separate emergency medical system (EMS) which provides only BLS. Differences were not statistically significant in terms of age and ISS …  Read more

Serial arterial blood gas studies and pulmonary diffusing capacity measurements were made in 43 patients admitted with fractures to detect subclinical fat embolism. The values were correlated with chest radiographs, coagulation factors and serum lipid fractions. Eight patients developed fat embolism, with all but one of them having multiple fractures. Significant arterial hypoxemia developed in all of the patients with fat embolism and was detected early following injury. The other tests were of limited value. Fat embolism is primarily a pulmonary disease and occurs most frequently following multiple fractures. Serial arterial blood gas determinations should be obtained during the 72 …  Read more

Recent measurements of dissolved oxygen (DO) along the Laurentian Trough revealed the presence of hypoxic waters in the bottom 50 meters of the water column of the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary (LSLE). In addition to the change in the oceanic regime on the continental shelf at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence proposed by others, a large sediment oxygen demand along the LSLE though to contribute to this DO depletion. To verify the latter hypothesis, I developed a laterally integrated, two-dimensional model of the DO distribution for the bottom waters of the Laurentian Trough. The fluid transport is …  Read more

Solomon, Christopher (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

This thesis introduces a monocular optical flow algorithm that has been shown to perform well at nearly real-time frame rates (4 FPS) on natural image sequences. The system is completely bottom-up, using pixel region-matching techniques. A coordinated gradient descent method is broken down into two stages; pixel region matching error measures are locally minimized, and flow field consistency constraints apply non-linear adaptive diffusion, causing confident measurements to influence their less confident neighbors. Convergence is usually accomplished with one iteration for an image frame pair. Temporal integration and Kalman filtering predicts upcoming flow fields and figure/ground separation. The algorithm is designed …  Read more

This thesis introduces a flexible and general representation of image deformations using a correspondence matrix H. It is shown that these image deformations can be performed and detected using the optimal basis operators derived from the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of H. Among other uses, the decomposition can convert the description of an image deformation into a matrix multiplication. The correspondence matrix is used to perform a variety of image transforms, including scale change, image plane rotation and translation. The methodology is also used to independently reproduce the steerable basis operators for the rotation of functions. The correspondence matrix framework …  Read more

La thèse principale soutenue dans ce mémoire avance que le système fiscal canadien devrait adopter une approche fonctionnelle à l'égard de la Règle Générale Anti Évitement (RGAÉ) et, de ce fait, abandonner le principe du Duke of Westminster. Le Chapitre I fournit une revue détaillée de la justification de ce principe, argumentant que ce dernier promeut une idéologie libérale classique. Dans cette perspective, le mémoire s'oppose à la compréhension habituelle du principe qui soutient qu'il serait neutre et apolitique. Le mémoire suggère aussi qu'il faudrait l'abandonner parce qu'il ne s'inscrit pas dans le respect des valeurs de la société canadienne …  Read more

Transcript expression and pre-mRNA processing are emerging as important mechanisms that increase the complexity of eukaryotic transcriptomes. These processes allow a genomic locus to produce a number of mRNAs and proteins with distinct properties that affect function, stability, and sub-cellular localization by controlling the rate of transcript expression, by varying the initiation or termination of transcription and by modulating the inclusion of exons (alternative splicing) in mature mRNAs. Thus, it is crucial to determine the extent of these types of variations to better understand their importance in creating organism diversity. The studies described in this thesis provide the first genome-wide …  Read more

Submerged macrophyte beds provide a secondary realm of accumulation in lakes. Particles otherwise destined to reside in the deep-water profundal zone are intercepted by nearshore macrophyte communities that attenuate wave and current energy. The microenvironment found inside submerged macrophyte beds can be substantially more quiescent than that of the open-water, allowing for fine particles to be deposited out of the water column. Together with larger, eroded inorganic sediments and coarse organic particles, these materials comprise the sediments underlying macrophyte communities. Thirty-four littoral sites were sampled in Lake Memphremagog (Quebec-Vermont) to quantify the role of morphometry (littoral slope and site exposure) …  Read more