McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

As Sir WaIter Scott, when he drew near his end, sat by the window of his library looking down on his beloved Tweed, he expressed a wish to his son-in-law Lockhart that he should have something read to him. Lockhart asked him from what book it should be. "Need you ask?" said Sir Walter, "there is but one." That book was the Bible, and it was the Bible in the Authorized Version of James the First. We may apply the words with perfect fitness to the place which the Bible holds in the rich treasure-house of our English Literature. Of …  Read more

The section which has served as a type for the Lower and Middle Devonian beds of eastern Gaspe was first worked out by Logan in 1863, and later elaborated by Clarke. The former gathered much of his data from the Gaspe Bay region, especially from the exposures on the Fori1lon. The latter also studied the rocks of the Forillon intensively, and, using Logan's work as a basis, worked out in great detail the section of the limestones, both lithologically and paleontologically. It might have been expected that the section thus developed would serve for much or all of the Gaspe …  Read more

Intensive study was done on an area of about 25 square miles, lying between Granby and Yamaska Mountain on the south, and between Roxton Pond and East Milton on the north. A considerable area to the south of this was also examined, but here outcrops are scarce and detailed work is possible only along one ridge. The Sillery formation in this area is composed of two main rock types, a sandstone and a slate, and there are two developments of each. The slate is composed of a red and a green type, and these are so intimately interbedded as to …  Read more

When medically important fungi were first studied, some pathogenic fungi which were unicellular in vivo were found to change to a mycelial form when cultured. This change in morphology was misleading as investigators believed they were not isolating the correct pathogenic organisms. The confusion continued until the pathogenic fungi were shown to change their morphology as a result of temperature changes. [...]  Read more

This Thesis concerns the influence upon the properties of cellulose nltr~te exerted by the moisture history of the original cellulose. It is shown that the wetting and direct redrying of highly swollen cotton llntera, followed by technioal nitrition, yields a nitrate whose nitrogen content is perceptibly diminished from the normal value. Systematic fractionation of such nitrates suggested that degredation during nitration was slightly less severe. In an effort to discover whether wetting and redrying of the cellulose eventuslly yielded nitrates in which the distribution of the nitrate groups in the cellulose\ macromolecule wae abnormal, technically nitrated products were oxidized with …  Read more

The development of emulsion polymerization has been one of the most important steps in the evolution of a commercial synthetic rubber. The main advantage of this type of system lies in the degree of control over the polymerization reaction which it affords. [...]  Read more

Maass, O. (Supervisor)  Read more

The psychological significance of recurrent dreams was explored in a multivariate comparison of recurrent, previously-recurrent and non-recurrent dreamers on core psychological well-being and recalled dream content dimensions. Analytical psychology dream theory was employed to generate hypotheses concerning the relationship between recurrent dreams and psychological distress or neuroticism, and the psychological health value held to associate with the resolution of a recurrent dream. Sixty-seven individuals twice completed measures assessing core psychological well-being dimensions and collected a fourteen day time-sample of their remembered dreams. Multivariate and discriminant analyses revealed the clear separability of the comparison groups in the directions predicted by Jung. …  Read more

Humankind’s utilization of outer space has increased dramatically since Sputnik 1 first orbited the earth. Yet as technology has advanced to extend humanity’s reach farther and more comprehensively into outer space, the law governing international conflict in outer space has advanced very little. The unique technological and legal setting of outer space calls for a modernized approach to managing international conflict in space.States increasingly need to defend their reconnaissance, communications, and navigation satellites from interference that is internationally wrongful but that nevertheless falls below the level of armed attack. To do that, they need a tool that is more effective …  Read more

Anticipatory postural adjustments (APA's) occurring prior to the initiation of forward whole body movements are characterized by muscular activity of the legs and trunk under feed-forward neural control. Compensatory postural muscle responses to unexpected perturbations of the support surface in multiple directions have been shown to have a directionally tuned organization. This thesis sought to examine whether APA's preceding multi directional pointing movements performed while standing are organized in a similar directionally tuned manner as to feedback postural adjustments. The postural musculature was recorded in seven subjects as they performed discrete pointing movements to targets placed at 15° intervals in …  Read more

Sabok, Marcin (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

The branches of systems neuroscience – neurological recordings, computational models and behavior – offer complementary views of human cognition, and can be linked together with a popular analytical framework called representational similarity analysis (RSA). RSA abstracts from measurements and their units to analyze dissimilarities between stimuli in a neural state space. A central assumption of RSA is that matrices of representational dissimilarities, and linear comparison of matrix entries, can capture and compare shape structures, but this assumption remains untested. In this dissertation I introduce a novel framework called representational topology analysis (RTA) which can capture and compare shape, i.e. topological, …  Read more

DNA methylation patterns were thought to be stable and unchanging throughout life. However more evidence has emerged suggesting that the DNA methylation pattern is dynamic, subject to changes in response to physiological and environmental cues. Thus, it is crucial to understand when these changes occur and how the DNA methylation pattern can be manipulated. This thesis focuses on alterations in the DNA methylation pattern during the cell cycle both globally and at a specific promoter, as well as how the methylated DNA binding domain protein MBD3 is involved in regulating these changes. During the cell cycle, the levels of DNA …  Read more

Moore, T. M. (Supervisor)  Read more

Héritiers du réformisme laïc de Khayr al-Din et successeurs de Bashir Safer comme porte-parole de la populace tunisienne devant la bureaucratie francaise, les Jeunes-Tunisiens étaient une petite élite groupée autour de 'Ali Bash Hanbah et de l'hébdomadaire Le Tunislien. Ils voulaient des transformations majeures dans les structures pédagogique, judiciaire, fiscale et administrative de leur pays mais ils restaient toujours fidèles à la France; le panislamisme qu'ils soutenaient n'était qu'un rattachement culturel et sentimental, et ils repoussaient toute comparaison entre eux-mêmes et les Jeunes-Turcs ou les Jeunes-Egyptiens. Ils jouissaient d'un large appui parmi les rangs grandissants des Tunisiens munis d'une formation …  Read more

Since the time of the Arab conquest of North Africa, Tunisia has been involved in the broad context of the Arab world. After its achievement of independence in 1956, however, it played a minimal role in the affairs of the Arab League until 1961, when the League gave Tunisia its full support during the confrontation with France over Banzart (Bizerta). Tunisia reverted to a passive role in 1965 when President Bürqiba's proposed solution to the Palestine problem was emphatically rejected by most other Arab leaders. In the months following the six days' war of June 1967, however, Tunisia resumed activity …  Read more

The effect of species, parent material, and stand age on nitrogen mineralization were examined during aerobic lab and field incubations. The experimental design consisted of 3 tree species (birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.); poplar (Populus tremuloides Michx.); and conifers (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. and Picea glauca (Moench) Voss.)); two parent materials (lacustrine clay and glacial till); and three stand ages (50, 75, and 124 years of age). The strongest determinant of nitrogen mineralization potential was species. The effects of parent material and stand age were variable. Total nitrogen, pH, and soil moisture also affected N mineralization. Nitrogen mineralization dynamics may be …  Read more

La propagation des signaux nerveux de la rétine au cerveau est cruciale pour un comportement visuel et non visuel approprié. Cette propagation des signaux est médiée par les neurones terminaux du réseau rétinien, les cellules ganglionnaires rétiniennes (CGR). Le développement des CGR est un processus complexe qui repose sur plusieurs étapes de programmes de développement qui se chevauchent mais restent distincts, avec des changements transcriptionnels hiérarchiques facilitant le cheminement et le guidage général des CGR, puis une spécificité supplémentaire générée par un mélange de régulation transcriptionnelle, ainsi que des mécanismes dépendants de l'activité neuronale et de signalisations paracrines. La compréhension …  Read more

Selection differentials and selection indices in retrospect were calculated to determine the relative emphasis placed on production and type traits through bull selection. Indices in retrospect including only production traits indicated that, for Holsteins, fat yield was the trait most heavily selected for between 1978 and 1987, followed by protein percent and then milk yield. Fat percent and protein yield had negative index weights throughout the nine year period. In Ayrshires, similar weights were observed except that milk yield index weights were negative throughout the nine year period. It was found that the relative weight placed on type was small …  Read more

Smith, Nathan (Supervisor2)  Read more

DNA is a versatile material capable of forming a rich variety of supramolecular structures, in addition to its role as an information-storage molecule. Formed through a multitude of non-covalent interactions, these DNA nanomaterials can be designed with nearly unlimited geometric complexity and control over conjugated molecules. By leveraging the natural photochemistry of DNA nucleobases these can be converted into covalent connections through cyclopyrimidine formation between closely-spaced Thymine or Cytosine nucleobases; imparting massive chemical and structural stability. These "crosslinked" nanomaterials are uniquely suited to the rigors of biological environments, as their covalent linkages are resistant to degradation, tolerate low-salt conditions, and …  Read more

Walton, F. (Supervisors)  Read more

This thesis evaluates how equitably market efficiency education reforms deliver the public good of education. It critiques extreme market education initiatives for prioritizing efficiency above equality and for neglecting matters of equality, and then conducts a case study on the McKay Scholarship Program, a voucher designed for students with disabilities, evaluating the program against a framework of educational equality. Overall, study finds that this voucher program seriously neglects its students equality, comments on the challenges of efficiency-based reforms being able to equitably distribute public goods such as education and calls for further research to be done on this issue.  Read more

A simple model is proposed for the description of the scattering of neutrons by a vibrational even-even nucleus employing a complex spheroidal well surface interaction. This model is particularly convenient since it allows an exact analytic solution, which can be written in the form of correction terms to the spherical optical model. The application of this model to the s wave strength function results in a splitting of the single peak at A= 55. The inclusion of the effect of octupole excitation introduces desirable but minor modifications. Determination of the total neutron cross sections with this model substantiates the view …  Read more

Two years ago I submitted a thesis on the subject mentioned above to the Higher Degrees Committee of McGill. It was returned to me with certain suggestions for revision. Since that time I have had the privilege of visiting the greater part of this province and also of spending some time in the western states of Washington and Montana. From the day that my thesis was retuend and I am pleasefd that it was. I ahev been using wevery opportunity to study this movement that reflects the spirit of this his western province and makes it resemble the states to …  Read more

Prince, S. (Supervisors)  Read more

Real-time control strategies were developed for biological systems requiring exposure to a number of different redox environments. The approach taken was to develop control strategies under static redox conditions, and then merge them into a unified scheme. The anoxic system studied consisted of the removal of oxidized nitrogen by Pseudomonas denitrificans. A control strategy that was based on detecting an inflection point in the transient ORP signal was applied. The inflection point was detected by searching for a minimum in the first derivative. Using this approach, all of the nitrate and nitrite was removed each cycle. Aerobic removal of toluene, …  Read more

The Self-Cycling Fermentation (SCF) technique was applied to a culture of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus RAG-1. Both insoluble and soluble carbon substrates were used as the limiting nutrient. The disappearance of the carbon source was found to correspond with the attainment of a minimum in dissolved oxygen concentration. Cellular occurences, averaged out with asynchronous batch cultures, were magnified by the temporal alignment of metabolic events brought about by the synchronization associated with SCF's. The cell population doubled only once per cycle, thus establishing an equality between cycle time and doubling time. Parameters of primary interest were biomass concentration, total bioemulsifier (emulsan) production, …  Read more

The nitrification of ammonia and nitrite in soil is but one part of the overall nitrogen cycle. Essentially, nitrification may be defined as an oxidative-reductive mechanism whereby ammonium ions or nitrite ions are oxidized to nitrate by microorganisms.  Read more

The bulk of mRNA turnover proceeds through a deadenylation dependent mechanism, whereby mRNAs have their 3’-poly(A) tails trimmed, followed by either degradation by the 3’-5’ exosome, or decapping of the 5’ end and degradation by the 5’-3’ exonuclease Xrn1 (5’-3’ exonuclease 1). However, several mechanisms exist to specifically regulate subsets of mRNAs, allowing for fine-tuning of the transcriptome by deadenylation-independent mRNA decay. One such mechanism is via endonucleases that internally cleave RNA to promote decay and play key roles in controlling specific transcripts. Recently, a novel class of predicted nuclease domains were identified, known as NYN domains. One such protein …  Read more

This thesis examines the interaction between brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens). The goal of the thesis was to add to our understanding of the food web dynamics of intraguild predation in fish communities through an exploration of the trophic ecology of brook trout. Results suggest brook trout and yellow perch interact as intraguild predator and prey---juvenile brook trout and yellow perch compete for shared resources and adult brook trout prey on yellow perch---and that the outcome of the interaction is dependant upon yellow perch abundance and ecosystem size. In the presence of yellow perch, juvenile brook …  Read more

A crystalline oestrogenic hormone has been isolated from human placenta. This substance shows a melting point ot 274 c. (uncorrected). The carbon-hydrogen analysis gives carbon 74.8 per cent, hydrogen 8.8 per cent. The mixed melting point with theelol shows no lowering. The substance differs physiologically from previously isolated female sex hormones. It is relatively inactive on the adult ovariectomized albino rat. The dose required is 16y, as compared to 1.5y for theelol. It is however, effective on the immature intact rat, 21 days old, in a dose of 1.2y. This is the same as theelol. [...]  Read more

Contexte: Le diabète gestationnel (DG) est une maladie qui se traduit par de nombreuses conséquences affectant à la fois les femmes enceintes et leurs bébés.Objectif : L'étude visait à estimer la prévalence du diabète gestationnel et déterminer les prédicteurs associés avec le développement du diabète gestationnel dans une population de femmes enceintes dans l'île antillaise de Saint-Vincent-et-les Grenadines (SVG). Méthodes : Une étude rétrospective a été réalisée d'août à octobre 2011 dans 29 cliniques prénatales à travers l'île en utilisant les dossiers prénataux et anténataux de 454 femmes enceintes ayant eu une grossesse unique. Les analyses statistiques de variables continues …  Read more

An experimental paper calender was designed and built to measure paper strain in the nip of the calender as a function of machine speed, load and calender roll radius. The effect of roll deflection due to bending was eliminated by making the calender as narrow as possible while still reproducing industrial conditions in all other aspects. The width of the new machine is 75 mm. Permanent paper strains measured with the new equipment reproduced previously published results. In-nip paper strains were obtained under a variety of calendering conditions. Paper strains under load have previously been obtained in a platen press; …  Read more

Crotogino, R. H. (Supervisor)  Read more

( 1) The previously reported (22) 3-hydroxyethyl-1,2: 5,6-diisopropylidene-D-glucofuranose, of specifie rotation -32.5 degrees, was apparently contaminated with 1,2:5,6-diisopropylidene-D-glucofuranose. The correct specific rotation of the former compound was found to be -38.0 degrees. (2) A procedure was developed for preparing pure crystalline 3-hydroxyethylglucose on a larger scale. [...]  Read more

Hemmeon, J. (Supervisors)  Read more

Ten years ago, the glycolytic system as elucidated by Embden, Meyerhof and others, along with the tricarboxylic acid system as elucidated by Krebs and others, was believed to be the sole pathway of carbohydrate metabolism. Other reactions, known to be concerned with the metabolism of carbohydrates, were considered to be side reactions of the major scheme. [...]  Read more

Despite the fact that the moods, symptoms, and disorders associated with anxiety and depression frequently co-occur in youth, very little is known about the developmental pathways leading to comorbid anxiety and depression. The common aetiology hypothesis proposes that anxiety and depression share common risk, vulnerability, and causal factors which increase the likelihood that they will co-occur. Such common aetiological factors are expected to temporally precede the onset of symptoms and to be uniquely associated with symptoms of each disorder, independent of the strong association between anxiety and depression. Previous research has identified vulnerability factors in the development of both anxious …  Read more

The aim of these studies was the isolation of corticotropic factors other than ACTH(,1-39) from the bovine and human fetal pituitary gland. The bovine anterior pituitary contains three corticotropic peptides, ACTH(,1-39), ACTH(,1-38) and a putative ACTH(,1-33). The bovine neurointermediate lobe did not contain corticotropic factors different from those found in the anterior lobe. ACTH(,1-38) is formed enzymatically in the fetal calf anterior lobe from ACTH(,1-39). The formation of both peptides in the fetal calf anterior pituitary cell in culture is stimulated by arginine-vasopressin, and a fetal calf hypothalamic extract, and is inhibited by dexamethasone. ACTH(,1-38) appears to be equipotent to …  Read more

Dans cette enquête narrative qualitative, j'ai examiné la promulgation de la justice sociale dans les établissements scolaires par la perspective de 4 responsables de l'éducation qui sont visibles dans leur activisme pour la justice sociale. J'ai aussi examine les conditions de vie de 8 activistes couvrant les 19e et 20e siècles à des fins comparatives. Je décris comment les 4 participants perçoivent leur activisme et connectent leurs expériences courageuses à leur vision d'aider les chefs d'établissement à promulguer la justice sociale. Par l’adoption d’une méthodologie phénoménologique, je me suis concentrée à souligner les expériences et les perceptions de la justice …  Read more

Les troubles du remodelage osseux, y compris l'ostéoporose, sont répandus dans le monde et ont un impact sur la qualité de vie. Une meilleure compréhension moléculaire des cellules de résorption osseuse appelées ostéoclastes peut nous permettre d'affiner les thérapies géniques pour les affections osseuses. La protéine Osteopetrosis transmembrane protein 1 (Ostm1) permet l'activité des ostéoclastes mais Ostm1 réduit la maturation et la fusion cellulaire des ostéoclastes. Il a été démontré que Ostm1 inhibe la production et la présence nucléaire d'un facteur clé pour la maturation des ostéoclastes appelé facteur nucléaire des lymphocytes T activés (NFATc1). La base sur laquelle Ostm1 …  Read more