McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

Kimmelman, Jonathan (Supervisor3)  Read more

Context: Inuit experience health through language and culture. Being healthy and well requires a balance between Ilusirsusiarniq (‘bodily health’), Qanuinngisiarniq (‘well-being’), and Inuuqatigiitsianiq (‘quality of social relationships’) (IQI). Together, these interconnected concepts represent the foundation of health, as described in the IQI model of health and well-being developed in Nunavik. Previous quantitative studies focusing on health and the social determinants of health (SDoH) of Inuit most often measured health using single outcome indicators available through survey data. To study health wholistically, two research questions guided the present thesis: How can a wholistic assessment of health based in Nunavimmiut knowledge be …  Read more

Gaudreau, Louis (Supervisor2)  Read more

This research project investigates the nature of university professors' discipline-specific pedagogical knowledge (DPK). Traditionally, DPK has been examined with the help of constructs from two distinct lines of research: the knowledge base for teaching and disciplinary specificity in university teaching. Yet, the two lines of research have seldom been combined to explore DPK. Furthermore, linkages between those two lines of research point to the potential contribution of research on personal epistemologies. Therefore, the aim of this research is to describe empirically the phenomenon of DPK using constructs from these three lines of research. The research project takes the form of …  Read more

In this thesis, we study rational extensions of monoids with a zero element. This is essentially a generalisation of the corresponding theory for rings as developed in (7) and (6). (See bibliography at the end). For various reasons, we have decided to consider monoids with a zero element, henceforth called monoids, but most of the results can easily be generalised to general monoids. In the first chapter, we first introduce the notion of an M-set, which is essentially a representation of a monoid, and these M-sets play the same role as R-modules for rings. Then, through the rest of the …  Read more

Le 27 septembre 1792, un critique anonyme affimait qu'll fallait lire Sade "pour voir jusqu'ou peut aller le delire de l'imagination humaine." Pourtant, la lecture des trois versions de Justine nous laisse une impression sensiolment differente: la stylisation romanesque, en attenuant le spontaneite du desir confere a l'oeuvre une certaine austerite [...]  Read more

Shultz, Thomas R. (Supervisor1)  Read more

Adopting an historical approach, which conceives the consumer as a political construct, this thesis seeks to reconstitute the figure of the consumer that the drafters of the Quebec consumer law had in mind, in the 1970s. By reconstructing the different stages of the development that produced it, this thesis aims, moreover, to explain the reasons for this conception. What figure of the consumer do they formalize? What factors contributed to their choice at the expense of other possibilities? In addition to outlining an answer to these questions, by reconstructing the history of this representation, this thesis is an opportunity to …  Read more

Whalen, Joann Karen (Supervisor1)  Read more

Amongst other things, the 20th century can be seen as having been the century of aviation. Progress in the aviation industry can be measured through the evolution of aircraft, their performance, cargo volume and the number of passengers. In the shadow of such progress, one of the main characteristics to have developed is that of the modern airport, which has moved from a simple runway to a veritable enterprise with an identity of its own. It is also linked to other related sectors such as airlines companies and States, which still have a strong involvement in airports. The following study …  Read more

An alignment/phylogeny of the papain superfamily of cysteine proteases was created from which the existence of at least 11 families of mammalian cysteine proteases was inferred, including two as yet uncharacterized ones. Character weighting increased the average speed of maximum parsimony phylogenetic searches two- to three-fold. To study a sequence motif in pro-cysteine proteases and mammalian cystatins, cystatin C, a cysteine protease inhibitor, was expressed and purified using a new affinity method giving $>$99% purity. Methionine oxidation to the sulfoxide occurring during protein production was eliminated. Reduced stability caused by Met14 oxidation was demonstrated. No function for the sequence motif …  Read more

Joly, Yann (Supervisor1)  Read more

Venous thrombosis is the formation of a thrombus in a deep vein and pulmonary embolism is a severe complication of this condition. Together venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism form a single pathological entity called venous thromboembolism that has a fatality rate of more than 10%.Thrombosis is a pathologic variation of physiologic hemostasis that prevents hemorrhage after vascular injury. Thrombosis differs by the involvement of leukocytes, such as neutrophils and monocytes, and proinflammatory factors. This dissertation provides new elements on three important steps specific to thrombus formation: recruitment of leukocytes, adhesion of leukocytes and cooperation between leukocytes.In our laboratory, we investigate …  Read more

The signal responsible for blocking elongation by RNA polymerase II during transcription of the late DNA strand of polyomavirus was characterized. A 10 to 20-fold excess of stalled RNA polymerases was localized by transcriptional run-on analysis to a 164-nucleotide region that contains four binding sites (A, B, C and 1/2) for polyomavirus large T antigen. Inactivation of thermolabile large T antigen using a temperature-sensitive virus eliminated stalling by RNA polymerases in this region. Mutations in large T antigen binding site A, but not sites B or C, also eliminated the block to transcription elongation. These results suggest that polyomavirus large …  Read more

Measles virus has been among the most important infectious agents in the history of mankind. Prior to the isolation of the virus and development of the first vaccines in the early 1960' s, measles killed between 0.1 - lO% of each birth cohort in the world. Although live-attenuated measles vaccines have significantly reduced mortality by more than 99% in developed countries, - 1 million deaths still occur annually in the developing world, and many questions remain regarding measles immunopathogenesis, the correlates of immunity and the vaccines themselves. The excess mortality associated with the promising high titer (HT) measles vaccines, developed …  Read more

The anaphylactoid shock in guinea pigs produced by enzymic casein-hydrolysates, has been determined by in vivo test and by the Schultz-Dale technique. It has been shown that hydrolysates with low transmittances are more prone to produce anaphylactoid reaction than hydrolysates with high transmittances. [...]  Read more

Dhindsa, Rajinder S. (Supervisor)  Read more

The distribution of Photosystems (PS) I and II was studied in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and compared to that found in the higher plant Pisum sativum. Two antibodies were used; one, anti-CP1-e, was raised against the two reaction center proteins of PS I from Synechococcus elongatus, and the other, anti-CP40, was raised against the 40 kDa protein of PS II from the same organism. Immunogold labelling of C. reinhardtii sections showed that both appressed and non-appressed thylakoid membranes were labelled by each antiserum, with labelling on the non-appressed membranes being somewhat (1.7-1.8 times) higher than that on the appressed …  Read more

Congenital malformations of the urogenital system (UGS) are one of the most frequent birth defects. They include several developmental anomalies at the level of the kidney, ureter and bladder. Most of these malformations result from failure to complete distal ureter maturation. This is the morphogenic process by which the newly formed ureter separates from the nephric duct to reach its final position within the bladder. To date, relatively little is known about the morphological, cellular and molecular aspects underlying this process. We have identified two members of the Leukocyte-Antigen RelatedReceptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, RPTP-o- and LAR, as required for normal …  Read more

Patterns of variability in growth, development and mortality in early life histories were examined at two levels--general and specific. At the general level, I examined the functional significance of larvae in metazoan life cycles. This was achieved by surveying the metazoa at the class level and categorizing mode of development by habitat. Three long-standing hypotheses for the paucity of larval development in fresh water were rejected. I argue that viewing metazoan larvae as a means for feeding and growth provides a unifying framework for evaluating the features of habitats which correlate with the range of variation expressed in development modes. …  Read more

La réduction dissimilatoire du sulfate joue un rôle important dans le façonnage de la composition isotopique des sulfides sédimentaires. Ce signal isotopique, à son tour, représente un archive important de l'évolution de l'oxygène atmosphérique. Le fractionnement produit par ce métabolisme microbien est contrôlé par le flux de soufre à travers du réseau de réactions et l'effet isotopique associé à chaque réaction. Bien que le fractionnement isotopique général de ce métabolisme ait été bien étudié, il est important de comprendre l'influence de chaque composante du réseau. La dernière étape, la reduction du sulfite en sulfide, n'est pas encore entièrement comprite. Les …  Read more

L'os est un matériau complexe et hiérarchiquement organisé, la capacité à se former et à s'adapter morphologiquement en réponse à son environnement mécanique étant récemment devenu évident. Ce phénomène s'étend également aux tissus formés dans un cal de guérison à la suite d'une blessure, un processus qui reste mal compris, en particulier dans les os affectés par des dysplasies telles que l'ostéogenèse imparfaite (OI).Tout d'abord, je présente une étude examinant l'effet des stimuli mécaniques pendant la distraction osseuse (DO), une technique utilisée pour allonger les os et combler les défauts segmentaires. Cette expérience a examiné l'effet de l'incorporation d'une compression …  Read more

Error correcting codes are of paramount importance for reliable communications. By adding redundancy to the transmitted data they allow the decoder to detect and correct errors. However in favorable channel conditions, a part of this redundancy can be removed in order to increase throughput. Unfortunately most coding schemes are poorly adapted to these higher coding rates. For example, the decoding of block codes grows exponentially with code length. In this thesis we propose a novel solution to this problem: selective trellis pruning. Selective trellis pruning reduces decoding complexity by removing certain codewords from the trellis. This reduction is accomplished by …  Read more

The following conclusions may be drawn from electrophysiological study of the efferent pathways of the supplementary and precentral motor areas: 1) Stimulation of the motor cortex by single, short duration square pulses evokes in the cord responses consisting of a stable "direct" early component of fixed latency and of an "indirect" late one, variable in amplitude form and latency. 2) Both components are electrically positive at the recording electrode tip against a diffuse reference. [...]  Read more

Everett, Jane (Supervisor)  Read more

Cette thèse explore la manière dont les romans de Jessie Redmon Fauset et de Nella Larsen utilisent la mode pour donner du pouvoir aux femmes noires et biraciales, leur permettant ainsi de défier les contraintes liées à la race, au sexe et à la classe sociale pendant la Renaissance de Harlem. Si la mode est avant tout un support visuel, les descriptions littéraires de la Renaissance de Harlem révèlent ses dimensions sociales, personnelles et historiques à travers les interactions entre le vêtement, la personne qui le porte et la société. Dans leurs romans, Larsen et Fauset utilisent la mode vestimentaire …  Read more

Reniers, Brigitte (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

The production of photons in the energy range of 0 to 3 GeV is discussed as a signature of the creation of a quark-gluon plasma in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. However, they are also created in the hadronic phase. Therefore I investigate the role of the pirho → pigamma and pio → pigamma reactions in the photon emission from hot hadronic matter, and I compare their respective importance. These reactions are known to be the leading contributions. For this purpose I use diverse effective chiral Lagrangians that are in accord with known empirical properties of strong interaction. Then I discuss the …  Read more

Radiation therapy is currently under investigation as a therapeutic option for the prevention and the treatment of restenosis following percutaneous coronary interventions. Restenosis after vessel injury is associated with a transient state of cell proliferation and bears many similarities with wound healing. It is known that ionizing radiation can delay or impair wound healing. One proposed approach uses the deployment of a radioactive stent and continuous low dose-rate treatment. Our experimental studies have been conducted to better evaluate the radiobiology of vascular cells and as a preamble to the design of an original radioactive stent based on a 45Ca-DTPA polymer-coated …  Read more

Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is a simple betaretrovirus that causes a contagious lung adenocarcinoma in sheep. One unique feature of JSRV is that its envelope (Env) glycoprotein functions as an active oncogene that induces oncogenic transformation in vitro and in vivo. While oncogenesis by JSRV Env protein has been extensively studied, the entry mechanism of JSRV has not been investigated. In this study, we showed that JSRV entry was specifically inhibited by lysosomotropic agents and bafilomycin Al (BafAl), indicating that JSRV is pH-dependent. Interestingly, oncoretroviral pseudotypes bearing JSRV Env protein were not inactivated by an acidic pH treatment, suggesting that …  Read more

Research workers on human nutrition have shown the value and importance of fresh vegetables in the diet, especially for their mineral and vitamin content. Of recent years the consumption of such fresh vegetables has greatly increased, which in turn has brought about the necessity of storing vegetables in order to have a continuous supply. Celery is one of the most important stored vegetable crops and at the same time one of the most hazardous to store. In spite or its importance, very little experimental work has been done as yet on vegetable storage problems. Because low temperature is probably the …  Read more

The importance of programming the built environment is increasingly recognized, mostly because of the growing complexity of architecture. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the meaning of architecture for its users. This thesis reviews the research on meaning in architecture, and proposes new directions in the investigation of meaning within the process of architectural programming.  Read more

Bartlett-Esquilant, Gillian (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

This paper is concerned with the role of the terms of trade in the long-run development of primary producing underdeveloped economies. The present chapter discusses the importance of the terms of trade and the welfare significance of the various 'terms of trade' concepts. Chapter II develops a simplified theory of trade and development which emphasizes the role of the terms of trade as an adjustment and transmission mechanism for growth in the basic two-country world. Chapter III considers the pros and cons of the hypothesis that underdeveloped economies are experiencing and will continue to experience a secular deterioration in their …  Read more

Cette thèse explore l'état de la démocratie environnementale au Québec et en Colombie- Britannique en analysant la façon dont s'articulent les droits procéduraux environnementaux dans les deux provinces. Ces droits, qui ont été structurés en trois piliers par le principe 10 de la Déclaration de Rio, sont reconnus comme étant l'accès à l'information environnementale, la participation du public au processus décisionnel et l'accès à la justice environnementale. La procédure d'évaluation environnementale est un des cadres où ils s'exercent tout particulièrement. Afin de mettre en lumière la force de la démocratie environnementale dans les deux juridictions provinciales, un examen de leur …  Read more

Can we read the Gospel of Mark as tragedy? How so? With what limits? With what results? I depart from previous explorations of these questions by rejecting their definition of tragedy as a work faithful to the dramatic conventions described in Aristotle's Poetics. I build instead on Aristotle's essential definition of tragedy as a work that inspires fear and pity in an audience. Using a narrative-critical approach, which allows a focus on the effects generated by Mark's plot and characters, I conclude that Mark, while more tragic than Matthew, is not clearly tragic or comic: the gospel maintains a careful …  Read more

The first part of this thesis offers an analysis of the overtures and clausulas found in The Surveillant, a collection of short stories written by Québec author Gaetan Brulotte. Literary methods are treated in accordance with the functions and forms of intensification that said methods suggest to the reader. Such treatment demonstrates the strategic importance of beginning and end of a text. Furthermore, the interpretation of these different writing techniques shed a new light on author's writing. The second part of this thesis is a creation work in the form of various-length short stories written around the theme of waiting. …  Read more

Nicell, J. (Supervisor)  Read more

We consider various properties of the general three-way layout in experimental design, and begin with the information or C-matrices that play a key role, particularly with row-column and two-way elimination of heterogeneity designs. We introduce a new class of three-way layouts that satisfy a certain "generalized" decomposability property and obtain several new results for such layouts. Four different types of canonical correlations and associated canonical efficiency factors are considered and their connection with connectedness and orthogonality examined. We obtain a new inequality involving the average efficiency factors of a two-way elimination of heterogeneity design and of its two subdesigns. The …  Read more

Although biological data concerning the North Atlantic fin whale ( Balaenoptera physalus) have been collected since the beginning of this century, much is still unknown regarding their biology and evolution. The aim of this study was to increase our knowledge of the evolution, population structure and molecular ecology of this species using modern molecular techniques. Fin whale samples were collected in six feeding areas from the North Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Cortez (North Pacific Ocean). To facilitate the molecular analyses, two new sexing techniques were developed, and several hyper-variable microsatellite loci were isolated from humpback …  Read more

Introduction: Les patients ayant subi une blessure orthopédique sont reconnus pour être à risque de développer de la douleur chronique. Nous avons développé une intervention hybride administrée par une application web et en personne pour prévenir la transition de la douleur aiguë à chronique suite à un traumatisme majeur aux extrémités inférieures (iPACT-E-Trauma). Objectifs: 1) Développer une intervention d'autogestion; 2) évaluer l'acceptabilité de iPACT-E-Trauma; 3) examiner la faisabilité de iPACT-E-Trauma et de la méthode de recherche; et 4) évaluer les effets potentiels de l'intervention sur l'intensité de la douleur et l'interférence de la douleur avec les activités (variables primaires) ainsi …  Read more

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has been in a crisis of multilateral negotiations since its inception. From this observation, this thesis addresses the question of how the multilateral trading system has been able to function in the context of continued failures to reach multilateral agreements to pursue the so-called rules-based regime. It suggests that the answer to this questionlies in the dispute settlement system and the Appellate Body of the WTO. This thesis demonstrates that WTO Members have relied on the Appellate Body to create de facto precedents. With precedents, the Appellate Body has served as a means for preserving …  Read more

The Magic Square Game is perhaps the most famous example of a pseudo-telepathic game: Games that cannot be won using classical computation, but that can be won using quantum computation. To physicists, these games are particularly interesting, as an implementation would be an extremely convincing and simple demonstration that the world is not governed by classical physics and is not local-realistic: Winning these games would otherwise require telepathy. To computer scientists, these games are particularly interesting as they are an example of a problem where quantum computing can provably do something that classical computing cannot do, regardless of technological developments. …  Read more

This thesis examines the interpretation of section 515(10)(c) of the Canadian Criminal Code. Particularly, it seeks to explain and justify the paradoxical interpretation of the "public." The first Chapter details the contemporary media context and the role of judicial legitimacy. I conclude that judges are sensitive to public opinion and that this may be problematic because public opinion is greatly influenced by sensationalist media coverage. Chapter 2 traces the emergence of the current interpretation of 515(10)(c) Criminal Code. Specifically, I explain how judicial legitimacy considerations lead the Supreme Court of Canada to reject the provision's constitutional challenge, but that their …  Read more