McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

Optimization of the culture conditions for the biomass production of the alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum was investigated in relation to chlorophyllase activity. To obtain the highest total chlorophyllase activity, the biomass of P. tricornutum was harvested after a period of 7 days of incubation during which the incubation temperature was maintained at 18°C for 18 h during the day and 10°C for 6 h during the night. During culture incubation, illumination was provided by fluorescent lamps projecting an incident intensity of 330 mumol/m2.s and the pH of the culture was maintained at 8.4, adjusted by a stream flow of CO 2. …  Read more

NF-$ kappa$B proteins regulate the transcription of numerous genes involved in the immune response, transcription control and viral pathogenesis. To examine the effect of ectopic expression of NF-$ kappa$B proteins on DNA binding activity and transcription control, individual NF-$ kappa$B subunit genes were introduced into NIH 3T3 cells via retrovirus mediated gene transfer. Expression of NF-$ kappa$B subunits p65, p105, p100 or c-Rel increased the basal level of nuclear NF-$ kappa$B DNA binding in NIH 3T3 cells, whereas expression of p65$ Delta$ and p52 subunits did not affect basal level activity. TNF-$ alpha$ treatment of the NF-$ kappa$B expressing cells …  Read more

This doctoral thesis seeks to advance our understanding of organizational legitimacy through the analysis of types and properties of legitimacy and of its relation to the concepts of status and reputation. More specifically, this doctoral thesis seeks to contribute to organizational theory and strategic management by (1) reviewing and systematizing legitimacy types discerned in the literature and contrasting legitimacy with related concepts of reputation and status, (2) identifying the properties of legitimacy, and (3) exploring some of the implications of these properties for management practice and strategic management research. The doctoral research is presented in the form of a manuscript-based …  Read more

This thesis critically assesses the effectiveness of WTO legal rules in the regulation of international trade in petroleum and highlights potential conflicts between competing resources of energy from the WTO regime’s perspective. The theoretical framework of the thesis is built on the concepts used in natural resource economics, trade theories and international relations. On the basis of Hotelling’s rule of natural resource economics, it proposes a model that reconciles the use of petroleum and the development of renewable sources of energy in the power generation sector, which prospectively can be adopted with respect to the transport sector and other sectors …  Read more

Chiu, Ray C. J. (Supervisor)  Read more

1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D) est la forme active de l'hormone vitamine D, un facteur clé dans l'homéostasie du calcium (Ca2 +). 1,25D est aussi un facteur clé dans plusieurs autres mécanismes physiologiques. Dans cette étude, nous sommes particulièrement intéressés par les propriétés immuno-régulatrices de 1,25D et son rôle dans la stimulation de réactions immunitaires contre les infections pathogènes. La branche innée du système immunitaire produit la réaction immédiate non-spécifique de l'hôte contre l'infection pathogène. 1,25D provoque l'expression de peptides antimicrobiens qui constituent l'avant-garde de la réaction immunitaire innée dans les cellules monocytes humaines (THP-1), ainsi que les cellules épithéliales intestinales (SW480, …  Read more

Après l'échec du processus de paix d'Oslo en l'an 2000, plusieurs universitaires et éducateurs ont commencé à considérer les récits historiques antithétiques israéliens et palestiniens comme étant un obstacle à la résolution pacifique du conflit Israélo-Palestinien. Une décennie plus tard, l'optimisme initial d'une perspective de récit commun, susceptible de favoriser une compréhension mutuelle, s'est dissipé. Plusieurs des premiers fervents de cette idée l'ont abandonnée car ils la considèrent irréaliste. Ce document compare les récits historiques Sionistes et Palestiniens, du conflit dans son ensemble, à l'œuvre des historiens qui se spécialisent dans le domaine des questions foncières et territoriales en Palestine …  Read more

Background:Transitions in clinical care are often associated with changes in services and with care goals (Davidson, Dracup, Phillips, Padilla and Daly, 2007; Naylor, 2000). Although the transition from curative care to palliative care is recognized as a critical moment in the illness journey little is known about this potentially complicated transition (Schofield, Carey, Love, Nehill & Wein, 2006). More specifically, we understand little about the experience of hospitalized patients moving from acute care to palliative care. It is also not clear whether or not the notion of transition fully or accurately captures the lived experience of dying for individuals in …  Read more

Le TGF-β (facteur de croissance transformant β) est une cytokine multifonctionnelle jouant un rôle important dans la croissance, la différentiation cellulaire et la déposition de la matrice extracellulaire. La dérégulation de la cascade de signalisation du TGF-β peut engendrer la fibrose des tissus ou des cancers. Le TGF-β transmet son signal grâce aux récepteurs de type I (TGFBR1) et de type II (TGFBR2), qui phosphorylent leurs substrats intracellulaires, SMAD2 et SMAD3. Les SMAD2/3 phosphorylées s'associent à SMAD4 et régulent l'expression de gènes cibles. En plus de la voie canonique de SMAD2/3, le TGF-β transmet aussi son signal par des voies …  Read more

When a new drug is introduced onto the market, patients treated with it often tend to be sicker than those who are not. Once a drug has been released onto the market, its safety and efficacy can usually only be assessed using non-experimental studies. However, these methods cannot account for the differential assignment of sicker patients to new drugs, which can make a new drug seem detrimental or even dangerous, if these systematic differences are not accounted for. This is a prototypical example of confounding by indication, which is often viewed as an insurmountable problem in pharmacoepidemiologic research. Confounding by …  Read more

The present work is an endeavour to gain an understanding of the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) estimator beyond that which can be garnered from textbook consultation. To this end, I explore two aspects of the estimator which cannot be fully understood from the textbooks: the rationale for its weights, and its performance. The first one has to do with the basis for the particular choice of the estimator's weights, and the second one with the estimator's distributional properties and their assessment. The approach to each of the topics is, first, to identify and understand what is presented in the original literature; and …  Read more

The work to be described in the following pages may be conveniently divided into two parts, the first section dealing with various chemical reactions resulting from the action of hydrogen peroxide-- nitric acid mixtures on organic compounds and identification of the products obtained, the second with physical measurements of hydrogen peroxide mixtures, principally of refractive index. The latter part is somewhat preliminary in nature, the ultimate aim being to obtain a means of determining the structure of hydrogen peroxide and the various peracids which are formed by its action upon different acids, both organic and inorganic. The refractive index measurements …  Read more

All athletes dream of competing to their full potential. Experimenters have shown that mental preparation can enhance performance. Self-efficacy and self-confidence have also been shown to have a direct relationship with performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of team highlight videotapes as mental preparation tools designed to enhance feelings of self-efficacy and sport-confidence, which in turn might lead to enhanced performance. Three-minute video montages of successful shot-making were set to music, with key words (words chosen to encourage or to emphasize a good shot) added throughout. Forty-seven competitive female tennis players were randomly assigned to …  Read more

A zonally averaged coupled atmosphere-ocean model for climate studies is developed. The ocean component is the Wright and Stocker two-dimensional thermohaline circulation (THC) model, and the atmospheric component is a zonally averaged energy-moisture balance model for the atmosphere. Both single- and multi-basin configurations of the model are considered. The results obtained with this coupled model are compared with those from an ocean-only model that employs mixed boundary conditions. The differences in the steady states of the two models and their linear stability are examined over a wide range of parameters, for both one- and two-basin ocean models. The presence of …  Read more

Background: In 2016, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia introduced an opioid prescribing practice standard, with a revision in 2018. While intended to improve patient safety and maintain essential opioid access, these policies reduced the volume of opioids dispensed to patients living with cancer or receiving palliative care. Objectives: This study evaluated the sex-stratified and age-stratified impacts of the 2016 practice standard and its 2018 revision on opioid dose and duration, and the proportion of eligible patients dispensed opioids among patients living with cancer or receiving palliative care to better understand changes in volume previously observed.Methods: This …  Read more

The purpose of this thesis is the study of the four novels of Thomas Wolfe. Wolfe’s work is centered in a single protagonist; a figure that is largely autobiographical, and is dominated by a number of themes. In ‘Look Homeward’, ‘Angel’, the important themes are, the isolation of individuals and their inability to communicate with each other, the influence of chance in men's lives, and the effects of the passing of time. ‘Of Time and The River’ continues these ideas, but the dominant themes are those of Eugene's search for an external and permanent image of strength and wisdom, his …  Read more

Although the effects of radiation on inorganic and small organic molecules had been studied for many years, it was only in 1952 that work began on the examination of the changes produced by radiation in organic polymers. Early in this work it was found that on exposure to radiation the chains of some polymers were joined while the chains of others were broken. The reactions producing these changes are still not completely understood. Surprisingly little study has been devoted to the effect of radiation on the copolymer of butadiene and styrene which is the basic constituent of the synthetic rubber …  Read more

The social worker has a contribution to make towards the present intensive program on cancer research. To discover the nature of that contribution is the purpose of this study. The terminally ill have become a most serious social problem in recent years. Since medical science has found cures for the death-dealing infectious diseases, more patients have survived to succumb to the chronic illnesses common to older age groups. Illness resulting from a damaged cardio-vascular system such as arteriosclerosis, a deterioration of the muscular-skeletal system. such as rheumatoid arthritis, a diseased respiratory system such as tuberculosis and diseased body cells producing …  Read more

Until recently, Schubert's sonata forms have been treated as the partially successful products of a classicist who often misunderstood his models. The development of sonata form in his early string quartets, though, raises serious questions about such a view. The quartets (ca. 1810 to 1816), constitute the composer's first concentrated work in large-scale instrumental music and include some of his earliest compositions in any genre. The first sonata-form movements all lack the most basic features of the structure, specifically a clearly delineated subordinate theme and subordinate key in the exposition. The evolution of Schubert's sonata form from 1810 to 1816 …  Read more

Les cils et les flagelles sont des appendices cellulaires ressemblant à des tentacules qui constituent la base biologique de la motilité cellulaire et existent depuis le dernier ancêtre commun des eucaryotes. Le cytosquelette des cils et des flagelles est l’axonème, une structure à base de microtubules (MT) qui se compose d’un tubule A à 13 protofilaments complet et d’un tubule B, incomplete, à 10 protofilaments. Des protéines motrices et diverses liaisons protéiques génèrent une force et un glissement entre les doublets de microtubules (DMT) qui entraînent la flexion et la motilité. Dans le centre des DMT se trouve un réseau …  Read more

The purpose of this study was to develop new catalytic methods to mediate carbon-carbon bond forming reactions with imines under mild conditions and in a general manner. We found that copper catalysts were compatible in cross-coupling of a range of mild organometallic reagents, providing simple, efficient routes to alpha-substituted amides and amines. Chapter 2 of this thesis describes a new copper-catalyzed multicomponent synthesis of alpha-substituted amides. This reaction was developed based upon previous work in this laboratory, which showed that palladium catalysts were competent in Stille-type cross-coupling of imines, acid chlorides, and organostannanes. While providing a mild method of generating …  Read more

Two distinct patterns of neurological disease have been identified among Cree Indian children in Chisasibi, Nouveau Quebec and among Native Indian infants in Northern Manitoba. Both affect the cerebral white matter. The fifteen patients in the first group may suffer from an autosomal recessive defect causing defective development of cerebral myelin. The eleven patients in the second group have systemic immune dysfunction and meningoencephalitis. Together, these diseases are responsible for over half the deaths of infants and young children in Chisasibi. Inbreeding, and the familial occurrence of cases, suggest a genetic cause in both groups, in whom no gestational or …  Read more

Stevenson, J. (Supervisor)  Read more

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the descriptions of Yahweh's creative activity in Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55). In the last century, biblical scholarship on creation has been concerned primarily with its relationship to redemption. This thesis will study the descriptions independently of redemption. The references to creation incorporate a broad spectrum of material which is presented randomly throughout Deutero-Isaiah. Because of their diversity, the references will be organized into three groups: Yahweh's initial creation (cosmogony), his creation of the people, and his new creation (his present or upcoming creative activity). Discussion will begin with the cosmogonic material, since it …  Read more

Oliver, M. (Supervisor)  Read more

Oliver, M. (Supervisor)  Read more

A heterogeneous basic complex and the surrounding and intruding rocks are described. There are few outcrops and much alteration so the description is brief and some of the conclusions based on it must be conjectural. The basic complex is discussed and interpreted as having been a layered massif or massifs, which together with the older rocks have been folded and much altered. This conclusion is reached partly on an analogy with a fairly common type of massif which is characterized as having a considerable horizontal extent in comparison with its depth, or thickness, but for which there is no general …  Read more

Medical ethics is a critical component of physician identity and professional self-regulation, and has been since the mid-19th century and the establishment of the American Medical Association (AMA) as the preeminent national medical society, and its Code of Medical Ethics as the preeminent set of ethics norms in the United States. Ethics, though, is not the only source of norms for physicians and the medical profession. Since the late 19th century, the State has taken a greater role in regulating both physicians and health care, starting with public health measures and professional licensing and eventually extending into most corners of …  Read more

The most disturbing paradox in the world today is war. All men desire to live, yet every so often large sections of mankind strive to destroy each other in deadly combat. Although the causes for this unfortunate dilemma are manifold, and stem from various directions, I believe that among the most preponderant causes are those pertaining to irrational elements in man’s thinking and acting. In this thesis I have not ventured to consider any absolute criteria of what is rational and what is irrational, but have rather relied upon a comparison of certain relative merits of two systems of human …  Read more

Obesity, by definition, is a condition characterized by the accumulation and diffuse distribution of fatin excess of what is normal. Obviously obesity can result only from a persistent positive energy balance - an excessfood intake over that normally disposed of by the body. Whether or not this positive energy balance - the lack of adjustment of intake to expenditure of energy - is due to some endocrine disturbance has been a question of longstanding. [...]  Read more

This thesis is based on the literature of Dominion and Provincial Surveys of Canada and other pertinent sources. In scope, this investigation does not include the Grenville Sub-province because of its indecisive geological relationship to the remainder of the Shield. Archean rocks are classed as such because; 1. they consist largely of vo1canics and illsorted sediments and when in contact with the less deformed (Algonkian Type) rocks are bound to underlie them unconformably. 2. the sediments approximate lithologically the younger Algonkian group, but are more strongly deformed. The purpose of this research is to render a summary of what is …  Read more

The mine is located 6 miles east of the Town of Malartic, and is about 300 miles northwest of Montreal. A belt of altered peridotite about 2,500' wide trends southeasterly across the property. An embayment of talc-chlorite rock branches from the Cadillac fault, which forms the north contact of the peridotite, into the peridotite belt in a southeasterly direction. [...]  Read more

"My purpose in this thesis is to give a short account of the history of the Scottish law of reparation for personal injuries and death from mediaeval times to the present day_ Scots law on this topic is today an amalgam of native customary law, of Romanistic principle, and of English Common Law rules. Each of these factors is examined, both from an historical point of view and in the context of the mark which it has left on the present law. The influence of English law in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is dealt with in particular detail. I …  Read more

The use of the electron microscope as a powerful instrument in the study of crystal structure, colloids, fibres, and bacteriological specimens has now become widely recognized. In an effort to obtain images of higher quality, an electron microscope using magnetic lenses was constructed in this laboratory during 1939-40. The writer’s work along this line was interrupted by war work from the summer of 1940 onward. In the spring of 1945 the University acquired a Type EMU (R.C.A.) instrument which has been used for a variety of studies in electron microscopy; the writer has taken a number of photographs of pulp …  Read more

Szapor, Judith (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

This study of the mysids of the Great Bras d' Or of Cape Breton Island is part of an investigation into the bionomics of the cod worm, Porrocaecum decipiens (Krabbe), conducted by the Fisheries Research Board of Canada in Cape Breton and elsewhere. This worm occurs as a larval form in several fishes and as an adult in seals (Scott, D. M., 1953, 1954). The investigation in Cape Breton was initiated by Dr. D. M. Scott in 1949 and continued until 1951 when the author took over the study in that area.  Read more

The collection of Dr. A. D. Blackader's over 22 published works: 1. Presidential Address:The Canadian Medical Association. 2. Drugs & Medicinal Agents considered from the Professional,Economic & National standpoints. 3. The New British Pharmacopoeia. 4. Presidential Address before The American Therapeutic Society. [...]  Read more

An analysis of the discourse in the Jesuit Relations indicates that the Jesuits' representation of Huron and Montagnais Indians is informed by a colonial ideology. The Jesuits' attempt to identify Indians according to permanent customs and manners is compared to conventional ethnographic description and is shown to result in a reductive, essentializing discourse. In their elaboration of the category of 'savagery' Jesuits metaphorically equated Indians with wild animals. They then stressed the need for reclaiming the Indians' humanity through conversion to Christianity. The Jesuits' figuration of the spiritual realm as a territory to be subdued and conquered is discussed, and …  Read more

Muscle stem cells (MuSCs) are essential for the lifelong regeneration and health of skeletal muscle. In homeostatic conditions the MuSCs exist in a quiescent state but maintain the ability to rapidly re-enter the cell cycle to repair the muscle. Quiescence is a dynamic state that requires numerous cues and checkpoints to maintain. It is an important process to upkeep the MuSC pool throughout life and maintain skeletal muscle function. However, quiescence is not fully understood. There is an interplay between the cell intrinsic pathways and the communication of the MuSCs with their niche environment. The myofiber is the principal component …  Read more

Agricultural systems are known to emit nitrous oxide (N2O)---a potent greenhouse gas. The roving flux tower measuring system of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada was used to make continuous measurements of N2O fluxes in an edible pea field in Western Quebec in 2003-04 and then in an alfalfa-timothy forage field in Eastern Ontario in 2004-05. The experiment was designed to capture, at the field scale, the expected large N2O emissions occurring as a result of fertilizer application for a year, in relation to both large precipitation events and spring thaw. Growing season N2O emissions averaged 0.5 to 5 mg N2 O-N …  Read more

Boyd Eric White (Supervisor)  Read more

Cette dissertation développe un modèle théorique du processus créatif propre au documentaire. Il propose un rôle fondamental pour la métaphore, qui préserverait l'intégrité émotionnelle de l'expression artistique. La première partie est dévouée à l'examen du rôle de la métaphore dans la littérature, selon la perspective du philosophe Giambattista Vico. Une application à la production artistique du modèle Vichien du développement culturel révèle le fondement imaginaire de l'expression artistique, ainsi qu'une dynamique par le biais de laquelle la subjectivité de l'artiste est communiquée directement à son public. La deuxième partie du texte applique ce modèle au documentaire. L'analyse de ses principes …  Read more