McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

In the mid-1960's the Canadian government began proposing to public service bargaining agents the transformation of their existing, nationally uniform wages into a series of geographically differentiated rates based on alignment to the comparable local going wage. Official criteria for a wage zone system are; significant geographic variation in pay data for similar outside employees, limited area of recruitment and limited mobility. The policy objectives are; greater equity and reduction in the undesirable geographic variation of labour supply conditions to the public service. With emphasis on the second objective, the 1972 proposal to the Postal Letter Carriers is analyzed using …  Read more

Progress in surgical therapy is based upon the firm understanding of the anatomical, physiological and pathological processes involved in any specific disease entity. Each contribution must necessarily be only the addition of a brick, or at best a keystone, to the vast masonry work of scientific knowledge. [...]  Read more

Much progress has been made in the study of chemical kinetics on the basis that many reaction mechanisms involve the participation of 'free radicals'. In such mechanisms the overall reaction is assumed to consist of a recurring series, or 'chain', of elementary reactions which can be initiated and propagated by stable but very reactive fragments of molecules, or radicals.  Read more

Nelson Mandela's presidency, marked especially by the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, fostered a context in which the South African heritage industry was encouraged to promote the core values of reconciliation, unity and diversity, the underpinning of the president's nation-building project. District Six and Robben Island Museums are assessed as two of the most prominent heritage sites for the commemoration of apartheid in South Africa. Despite their differences--District Six began as a local museum with little government funding, while Robben Island was destined to be South Africa's most recognised heritage site and its largest recipient of government monies—both …  Read more

Hussain, Sabah N. A. (Supervisor1)  Read more

This study evaluates the prevalence and incidence rates of infection with Human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV), in a cohort of drug users (DU) on methadone maintenance treatment in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 700 DU participated between 1988 and 1995; the follow-up rate was high. The prevalence rate at entry into treatment declined dramatically over time for all 3 viruses. Comparing DU born before 1961 to those born after 1970 the prevalence rate of HIV was 29. 1% versus 2.0%, of HBV 71.3% versus 2.2%, and of HCV 83.6% versus 17.9%. The incidence rates for HIV …  Read more

Soil surveys are revealing the location and extent of phosphorus deficient soils in Eastern Canada, and recommendations for fertilizer practice are being made. The primary objective of fertilization is to improve crop yield. It is, however, desirable to have information on the composition of unfertilized crops from such areas, and also on the extent and duration of the effect of fertilization on crop composition. The principal objective of the present investigation has been to study the behaviour of forage crops under such conditions. Studies of this nature usually have been confined to the determination of the total amounts of calcium …  Read more

Objective. To investigate the independent association of changes in sexual and drug injection risk behaviour on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) seroconversion among Montreal injection drug users (IDUs). Design. Subjects were selected from the St. Luc cohort, a prospective study that has recruited IDUs since September 1988. Eligible subjects must have enrolled in the cohort after December 31, 1991 and completed at least two follow-up visits. HIV serostatus testing was performed at baseline and semi-annually. Questionnaires on injection and sexual risk behaviour were administered at each visit. Cox regression with time-dependent covariates was used in the analysis. Results. The risk of …  Read more

Background. Little attention has been given to the assessment of quality of life (QOL) in injection drug users (IDUs). Some studies have suggested that existing measures are inadequate for use in IDUs. Objectives. The objectives were: (1) to develop and evaluate a QOL measure for IDUs, the Injection Drug User Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL), (2) to describe the QOL of cocaine and heroin IDUs and identify its constituents and correlates, and (3) to describe the relation between the QOL of cocaine and heroin IDUs and the use of public health programs. Methods. The psychometric properties of the IDUQOL were …  Read more

Street children in Central America are largely denied protection of their human rights. They live in difficult situations of poverty, inappropriate work and neglect, and thus are not able to enjoy most of their rights and basic needs. The international framework for children's human rights law, composed primarily of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the principles inherent to it, can be described as based on a doctrine of integral protection, a notion developed primarily by Central American legal scholars. At the same time, however, most Central American states ignore their obligations to conform their domestic legislation …  Read more

The concept of World Music is important for the explanation of various twentieth-century musical phenomena but its application to virtually every genre of music creates an inevitable confusion. In the 1980s, World Music was a term useful for describing popular music in fusion with ethnic music. That fact has lead many to an association of the term exclusively with that new genre. In this study I define World Music in Western art-music---from an historical perspective as well as with regard to musical style, ideology, and aesthetics and give examples of various composers' approaches. In the ideological discussion, the debate over …  Read more

The title chosen for this study emphasizes the antithesis between political idealism and political realism in Polish political thought. Such a study goes beyond a mere intellectual exercise to touch upon the heart or political controversy in modern Poland. For in the opinion or the writer, amid the cross-crossing currents or international politics, social processes, and ideological trends--at least in the past two centuries the conflict between political idealism and political realism has represented the single most significant phenomenon in Polish political lire. The antonymy between political idealism and political realism in Poland is basically but a fragment, confined to …  Read more

The morphological and cellular changes observed during embryonic development are mainly caused by a reorganisation of gene expression programmes at the cellular level. These reorganisations are a consequence of extracellular and intracellular signals that converge in the nucleus to alter gene expression and thus give rise to cells with entirely novel properties. The mechanisms governing the regulation of gene expression in a given cell type during embryonic development are still ill-defined. In order to understand more how the cardiac genetic programme is governed, we undertook to clone the rat cDNA of theGATA-6 transcription factor. The GATA family of transcription factors …  Read more

À l'intérieur de l'étude des Relations internationales, la politique d'apaisement est souvent considérée comme une stratégie nécessairement vouée à l'échec, suite à la tentative désastreuse de Neville Chamberlain pour apaiser Hitler lors de la conférence de Munich. Ce mémoire cherchera à réfuter cette présomption d'échec vis-à- vis la politique d'apaisement. L'approche théorique réaliste néoclassique, constituée des ressources actuelles d'un état, de l'équilibre international du pouvoir et de plages de temps, servira de base au travail dans cette recherche et sera superposée par un modèle théorique d'acteur rationnel plus spécifiquement la propension aux risques, la préférence des gains relatifs ou absolus …  Read more

Gauvin, W. H. (Supervisor)  Read more

Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt had unique visions of the Paris Opera House. Thus each artist perceived and portrayed the pageant of fashionable contemporary life at the Opera from diverse perspectives. Manet rendered a singular image of this world, that of a masked ball, which elicits an extraordinary insight into the manners and mores of an era. The focus by Degas on the dancers on stage invites a penetrating look into the spectacle of the performance from exceptional viewpoints. Mary Cassatt's depictions, exclusively of the female spectators in the audience, intimate a serious reflection of her earnest feminist …  Read more

Le thème des bals masqués de l'Opéra est intimement lié au peintre et graveur français du XIXe siècle Guillaume Sulpice Chevalier, dit Gavarni (1804-1866). Entre 1830 et 1853, celui-ci a produit plus de deux cents lithographies sur ce sujet, dont la majorité ont été publiées dans la presse populaire de l'époque. Ces scènes et les légendes qui les accompagnent--bribes de conversations réelles-évoquent l'esprit des bals. Chronique visuelle irrésistible, ces gravures dépeignent les moeurs et les manières de la société parisienne de l'époque. La présente thèse propose une analyse visuelle rigoureux du traitement de ce phénomène par Gavarni qui s'appuyer sur …  Read more

En France nous avons tendance à croire %ue les Canadiens français se souviennent avec amour, de leur ancienne patrie.N'ont-ils pas adopté pour devise: Je me souviens? Plusieurs conférenciers et hommes de lettres français ont fait s'accréditercette légende, soit en cachant consciemment la vérité, soit en ne racontant inconsciemment que ce qu'ils ont vu envoyageant, c'est-à-dire le côté romanesque des choses. Un Français ne peut conserver longtemps d'illusion lorsqu'il habiteparmi les Canadiens. Il est à remarquer que, Même avant 1763, des .français avaient senti comme une barrière s'éleverentre la nouvelle et la vieille France. Bougainville écrivait en 1758: "... il semble …  Read more

Depuis l'introduction de la factorisation en matrices non-négatives (NMF) en tant qu'outil pour la séparation de sources musicales monophoniques (SC-MSS) au début du 21e siècle, son utilité et sa popularité ont augmenté de façon régulière et elle continue d'être un grand domaine d'intérêt au sein de la communauté de traitement du signal. Cependant, il est reconnu dans la littérature sur le sujet que l'hypothèse fondamentale du modèle de mélange pour la représentation spectrale de la source acoustique, à laquelle la NMF est appliquée, enfreint la véritable nature de la superposition des signaux acoustiques en ignorant la combinaison de phase entre …  Read more

A general method for the formation of acetals using chlorotrimethylsilane has been developed. Dioxolanes are formed from most carbonyl groups whereas methyl acetals are only formed from electron-poor carbonyl groups. The intermediacy of a silicon-bound carbonyl species is discussed. The method has been extended to the formation of esters. In a solution of the alcohol to be esterified, methyl, ethyl, benzyl and 2-trimethylsilylethyl esters are readily formed in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane. Using ('29)Si-N.M.R., a trimethylsilyl ester has been shown to be an intermediate in the reaction. The Lewis acid catalyzed condensation of 1,3-bis-trimethylsiloxy-1-methoxy-1,3-butadiene with a variety of dielectrophiles, in …  Read more

Ferguson, Sean Alastair (Cosupervisor2)  Read more

A study of the fixation of phosphates by soils requires a correct understanding of the terms absorption and adsorption. The term absorption is used in general to designate the process by which a solid or liquid draws into itself, and retains within its structure, or on its surface another liquid solid or gas. [...]  Read more

In Western Newfoundland, erosion surfaces are recognised at the following elevations: 2350-2500', 2100-2300', 1900-2150', 1750- 1900', 1550-1700', 1250-1500', 1100-1350', 1000-1150', 850-1000' and 750-850'. Surfaces below 750' were not investigated. All are considered to be of subaerial origin. By inductive reasoning, based on a recent hypothesis of the evolution of the continental margin of eastern North America, it is tentatively concluded that the group of surfaces above 2000' developed during a Cretaceous - early Cenozoic erosion cycle, and that lower surfaces are of later Cenozoic age. Uplift occurred at the beginning of the Cretaceous, in the mid Cenozoic and in the …  Read more

The emphasis on segmentation and reduction in atomistic thinking has had a huge impact on the way that we educate. This increasingly questioned worldview encourages fragmentation, isolation and feelings of alienation and powerlessness, believed to contribute to anger, depression, substance abuse, aggression, violence and at times suicide among our youth. We urgently need to find and implement solutions. A new emerging paradigm in education, referred to as holistic education, is surfacing as a possible solution. This dissertation is based on my qualitative research study of a soul-centered, holistically-oriented private elementary school in Texas---the Robert Muller School of Fairview, Texas. (Robert …  Read more

An examination is made of important influences that shaped both the development of Plato's religious and philosophical teachings/theories of the Soul and Spirit which were based on core Spiritual Laws or Principles, and his scheme of education as outlined in the Republic. Included are Plato's early years and the teachings and influence of Socrates and the Orphic, Pythagorean and Eleusinian Mystery Schools. Plato's system of education is shown to be very much influenced by the Pythagoreans, to involve the 'Principle of Initiation' and to be soul-centered, where all thought is related to 'The One'. The conclusion is that the philosophy …  Read more

Frissen, Ilja (Supervisor1)  Read more

The method employed in the investigation of this suject depends on the partial demagnetisation of a magnetized steel needle when placed inside a solenoid thro' which a Leyden jar discharge is passed. [...]  Read more

Nos systèmes sensoriels doivent continuellement faire la différence entre des sensations dues aux événements extérieurs (exaférence) et des sensations provoquées par nos propres actions (réafférence). Faire la différence entre ces deux types de stimuli est essential pour permettre une perception et un control moteur précis. Cette distinction est possible, au niveau du système vestibulaire, grâce au fait qu'une prédiction des conséquences sensorielles de la commande motrice évaluée par un modèle interne est comparée avec le retour sensorielle réel; si la prédiction du model interne est similaire au retour sensoriel, le signale vestibulaire est supprimé; si ils sont différent, le signal …  Read more

This thesis explores the controversial Panama Canal expansion proposals using an analytical framework developed by Herman Daly, an ecological economist at the University of Maryland and a critic of traditional models economic development. At a time when nearly every nation seeks to increase the size of its economy, Daly has been an ardent advocate of setting limits to economic growth, arguing that, as the earth is materially closed, there cannot be infinite growth of the consumption of material and energy resources within a finite (nongrowing) biosphere. These limits should be defined by the regenerative and waste absorptive capacities of the …  Read more

This thesis examines methods for efficient and reliable image registration in the context of computer vision and medical imaging. Direct, parameterized image registration approaches work by minimizing a difference measure between a fixed reference image, and the image warped to match it. The calculation of this difference measure is the most computationally intensive part of the process and for faster registration it either has to be calculated faster, or calculated fewer times. Both possibilities are addressed in detail. Efficiency and reliability are addressed in four ways (1) Methods are presented for generalizing the Gauss-Newton Hessian approximation to the non-least squares …  Read more

The phylogenetic relationships of the subfamily Dolichopodinae were investigated based on the examination of over 340 species from all zoogeographic regions. Sixty-five exemplar species were included in cladistic analysis based on 74 morphological characters of adult specimens. Twenty genera are recognized in the Dolichopodinae: Allohercostomus Yang, Saigusa and Masunaga, Anasyntormon Parent, Argyrochlamys Lamb, Cheiromyia Dyte, Dolichopus Latreille, Ethiromyia gen. nov., Gymnopternus Loew, Hercostomus Loew, Metaparaclius Becker, Muscidideicus Becker, Ortochile Latreille, Paraclius Loew, Parahercostomus Yang, Saigusa and Masunaga, Pelastoneurus Loew, Platyopsis Parent, Poecilobothrus Mik, Prohercostomus Grichanov, Stenopygium Becker, Sybistroma Meigen, and Tachytrechus Stannius. Eleven genera are newly synonymized: Halaiba Parent (= …  Read more

In the past two to three decades there has been tremendously increased interest from various sectors of society in the performance, effectiveness and social responsibility of higher education. As a result, an audit culture has evolved within which quality assurance has become an integral part of the politics of governance which assumes external regulation of academic activity to be the natural state of affairs. In Quebec, the Commission d'Evaluation de L'enseignement Collegial (CEEC) serves government instrumentally by institutionalizing accountability mechanisms, evaluation, and other quality assurance practices as technologies that transmit, as well as shape, particular values within the college-level sector. …  Read more

A novel method has been developed to prepare magnetic carriers for metal ion removal from dilute solutions. In this work, magnetic carriers were prepared by coating an organic surfactant on magnetic particles. The coating was deposited by molecular self-assembly. Two coatings were tested, using two similar bolaamphiphiles* of different chain lengths, HS-(CH2)11-COOH and HS-(CH 2)15-COOH. The magnetic particles were nanosized maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3). The surfactants were synthesized and characterized. Magnetic carriers were prepared, characterized, and tested for metal ion loading. Molecular orientation, density, and stability of the surfactant coatings were characterized by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy …  Read more

Chakravarty, Megha (Supervisor1)  Read more

Cette thèse examine l'épidémiologie de l'infarctus aigu du myocarde. En particulier les trois sujets ci-dessous sont étudiés en détail.1. Un examen des données nationales suggère un déclin important dans la morbidité et la mortalité de l'infarctus du myocarde dans la population canadienne. Une banque de donnée provinciale du Québec nous a permis de confimer qu'une grande proportion de ce déclin de mortalité est secondaire Ii une amélioration dans les soins cardiologiques avec une diminution des taux de léthalité hospitalière. [...]  Read more

Contexte: La compassion – et en particulier l’auto-compassion – est associée à de nombreux effets positifs, notamment une réduction des symptômes psychopathologiques et une amélioration du bien-être. Cependant, certaines limites freinent l’avancement des connaissances dans ce domaine, notamment les débats sur l’opérationnalisation et la mesure de la compassion, le manque d’accès à des outils valides et fiables évaluant les différentes orientations de la compassion (p. ex., envers soi-même, envers autrui, reçue d’autrui), notamment dans des langues autres que l’anglais, ainsi qu’une compréhension limitée des mécanismes de changement de l’auto-compassion, à savoir comment cette pratique conduit à des effets positifs pour …  Read more

The study of radiative transfer in multifractal clouds is of great interest, an important application being to Global Climate Models. In this work we develop a formalism analogous to the multifractal singularity formalism for understanding photon scattering statistics in radiative transfer in multifractals, and test the results numerically on lognormal multifractals. Although the results are only exactly valid in the thick cloud limit, the approximation is found to be quite accurate down to optical thickness of $ tau approx1$-10, so the results may be widely applicable. Furthermore we show the possibility of "renormalizing" the multifractal by replacing it with a …  Read more

This thesis is an attempt to assess the importance of the satirical photo essay Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles in the life and literary development of the German author Kurt Tucholsky, and to help establish the significance of the work in the German literary canon. The work appeared in 1929, and marked a complete departure from his previous output in many respects. He experimented with the genre of photo essay and photomontage in collaboration with renowned montage artist and dedicated Communist John Heartfield, attempted to reach a new reading audience in the German working classes, and published the book in a …  Read more

I investigated the effects of continuous administration of fluoxetine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, on energy expenditure, body temperature, and thyroid and catecholamine metabolism during weight reduction using a very low calorie diet (VLCD, Optifast, 1757 kJ/day) followed by a balanced deficit diet (BDD, 5016 kJ/day). Fluoxetine (60 mg/day by mouth, n = 10) or placebo (n = 10) were administered during 3 weeks of inpatient VLCD followed by 8 weeks of outpatient BDD in a double-blind, randomized design. A similar amount of weight was lost in both groups during the VLCD, but by the end of the BDD total weight …  Read more

The Beaufor Mine, formerly owned by Beaufor Mining Corporation Limited and now the property of Cournor Mining Company Limited, consists of a North-South block of eight claims in the South-West corner of Pascalis township and an adjoining group of eight claims in the NorthWest corner of Louvicourt township, in Northwestern Quebec. It lies immediately to the South of the Perron property (See map no. 2). Its area is 661 acres. It is only about a mile away from the main highway between Val-D'Or and Senneterre and the distance to Val-D'Or is 13 miles. The distance to Pascalis station, on the …  Read more

For many years, phospholipid has been considered as perhaps one of the most obscure fields in biochemistry. Indeed, although the history of the study of phosphorus associated with lipid dates back to at least the 1880's (1, 2), subsequent investigations in this area have been characterised by the almost complete inability to penetrate the enigma surrounding the biological synthesis of the metabolic function of phospholipid. [...]  Read more

Le trouble déficitaire de l'attention avec ou sans hyperactivité (TDA/H) est l'un des diagnostics pédiatriques les plus répandus. Présentement, la gestion des symptômes et la promotion de la réussite académique de l'enfant sont au centre des interventions. La pensée populaire veut que plusieurs des déficits sociaux, cognitifs et moteurs fréquemment observés chez les enfants avec un TDA/H, seraient la conséquence de leurs difficultés d'attention. Lorsque ces déficits persistent, ils peuvent compliquer le développement et la réussite académique de ces enfants. Pour cette raison, ces difficultés doivent être rapidement reconnues et adressées par les ressources du domaine de l'éducation et de …  Read more

Le cancer est un facteur de stress dyadique qui exerce une influence substantielle sur le bien-être psychologique, social, physique et spirituel des patients et de leurs partenaires. Les réactions des patients et de leurs partenaires à ces effets ne surviennent pas isolément, mais plutôt au sein de la dynamique et l'interdépendance du système dyadique. Bien que les perspectives dyadiques sur des modèles de stratégies d'adaptation au cancer axées sur l'individu aient été réalisées avec succès, l'étude sur l'auto-efficacité n'a pas fait l'objet de pareils avancements. Les attentes d'un individu vis-à-vis son efficacité personnelle reflètent les croyances de ce dernier sur …  Read more