McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

Background. Poor insight is primary symptom of psychosis that can be characterized along clinical and cognitive dimensions. Clinical insight describes ones awareness of illness, awareness of treatment need/efficacy, and ability to relabel unusual mental events, while cognitive insight reflects ones self-reflectiveness and self-certainty in beliefs. Purpose. Our overall aim was to map the psychopathological correlates and cognitive and neural systems underlying poor clinical and cognitive insight in FEP using behavioural analyses, and MRI-based cortical thickness, diffusion tensor imaging and functional imaging measurements.Methods. We carried out the following experiments: 1. Assessing the trajectory of clinical insight at multiple time points over …  Read more

Neoclassical economics assumes that consumers have stable, well-defined preferences. However, only 16% of subjects selected a chocolate bar when given a choice between it and a coffee cup, while 43% kept a chocolate bar previously given to them when offered a trade for a coffee cup. Instructional wording had no effect. These results support the hypothesis that people value losses more than gains. Subjects were asked their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for twelve goods classified as either public or private, or as environmental or nonenvironmental. WTP tended to be lower for public goods when subjects previously ranked the personal importance or benefit …  Read more

Le poly(étheréthercétone) (PEEK) est un polymère synthétique avec grand potentiel pour une utilisation dans les implants orthopédiques avec une radio-transparence et des propriétés mécaniques près de celles du tissu osseux natif. Malgré ces avantages, ces implants ont tendance à échouer car les cellules immunitaires telles que les macrophages empêchent l’attachement de l’os par l’induction d’une inflammation chronique et d’une encapsulation fibreuse. La modification de la surface peut améliorer l’ostéointégration mais les mécanismes sous-jacents ne sont pas encore bien connus. Puisque la chimie de surface a été liée à des réductions de l’encapsulation fibreuse de surfaces modèles, cette thèse visait à …  Read more

Objective: This thesis aims to explore the role of sex differences in characterizing verbal memory deficits in individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis (FEP). In the healthy population, males tend to perform more poorly than females on verbal memory tests. Sex differences in the healthy population have implications for understanding cognitive and anatomical abnormalities in psychosis, especially given the propensity for greater illness severity among male patients. Thus, study one explored sex effects on verbal memory and their relation to functional outcome; and study two explored possible neuroanatomical correlates underlying this effect. Methods: In both studies, patients were treated …  Read more

On the basis of Biblical theology the Church is meant to be a community church. In the Old Testament the Church is the "people of God", Israel, a community of people, chosen by the act of God. The Suffering Servant of the Lord in Deutero-Isaiah represents in his one person the community of those faithful to God, the Remnant, the true Israel. [...]  Read more

The purpose of this thesis is to describe, in detail, the geology of the Lake Wasa Mining Corporation property in Beauchastel township, Quebec, with particular emphasis on a petrographic and mineragraphic study of selected drill cores from both surface and underground drilling on the property. [...]  Read more

This thesis studies methods to take acoustical measurements of wind instrument bodies and mouthpieces. Acoustic responses and existing measurement methods are reviewed. Multiple- and single-microphone measurement techniques are compared with a discussion of object-length limitations and frequency response. Impulse response measurements using a complex input signal are discussed and signals used for measuring room acoustics are reviewed. Construction and deconvolution methods for several types of signals are specified and the effects of signal degradation on measurements are discussed. A novel pulse reflectometry technique that can use these signals as stimulus is presented. The signals are used in a waveguide model …  Read more

Two sets of connectionist simulations of children's acquisition of distance (d), time (t), and velocity (v) concepts using a generative algorithm, cascade-correlation (Fahlman & Lebiere, 1990), are reported. Pure condition simulations represent a situation in which memory demands across the concepts are equal. The limited memory condition explores the effects of differing memory demands. It was found that the rules that correlated most highly with network responses during training were consistent with the developmental course of children's concepts (Wilkening, 1981; 1982). Networks integrated the defining dimensions of the concepts first by identity rules (e.g., v = d), then additive rules …  Read more

The geology of the dolomitic magnesite deposits of Grenville township is described in detail and an hypothesis oonoerning the origin of the orebodies is presented. The deposits were formed by injection of an aqueous differentiate from the Morin magma, into fractured sillimanaite-garnetnear the contact with cuartzite. Following the crystallization of magnesite from the injected bodies, aqueous residues attacked the country rocksand formed the zone of hydrothermal alteration now referred to as the ore zone. The solutions acting during the period of hydrothermalalteration were richer in lime than the original differentiate. Consequently, dolomite formed from them as veins and replacements. In …  Read more

The tramway on Mount Royal exposes a complete eastwest section of the alkaline gabbro, from the contact with the lowest part of the Utica Shale, which is covered by the tunnel on the east, to the tip of a screen of Trenton limestone which extends into the mass from the west. The alkaline gabbro is not simple but is a complex of intrusive masses of somewhat similar character. In general, the early facias, which contains oli vine, is the most mafic-rich, and the younger facies are correspondingly richer in plagioclase, which is more sodic in composition than that of the …  Read more

The phenol condensation products of the "native" lignin found in spruce wood and of lignin isolated by the Freudenberg method have been prepared and their derivatives studied. When wood is extracted with phenol in the presence of hydrochloric acid as catalyst, two chemically different phenol lignins, in approximately equal amounts, are formed. On the otherhand, when a previously isolated lignin, namely Freudenberg lignin, is subjected to the same treatment, only one phenol lignin derivative is produced and in a nearly quantitative yield, showing that there is a difference between "native" lignin and an "isolated" lignin. The results of the present …  Read more

Moxley, J. E.  Read more

Certain types of infertility found in various animal populations may be due to genetic causes. This type of lowered reproduction becomes increasingly important in the male as the use of artificial insemination extends to more species. The extensive use of affected males tends to increase the frequency of these deleterious alleles in a population and thus lower the rate of reproduction of the species. In poultry, poor reproductive performance is a commercially important problem in broiler and turkey production. Any information, either genetic or physiological in nature, which might help correct this problem should be met with prompt attention.  Read more

Cette thèse explore les façons dont les pénuries alimentaires, le rationnement de la nourriture et la propagande gouvernementale de la deuxième guerre mondiale ont touché la littérature britannique de l'époque. Soutenant que l'imagerie des aliments offre un baromètre utile du climat domestique de la guerre, la thèse est divisée en deux sections principales : la première se concentrant sur la représentation et la règlementation de la nourriture par le gouvernement, et la deuxième analysant la représentation de la nourriture dans la fiction contemporaine comme réponse à la fois à la « martialisation » de la nourriture par le gouvernement et …  Read more

This dissertation charts the construction of national identity in mid-twentieth-century British literature and culture through a focus on food. While official food cultures emerged out of scientific findings, they were predicated on ethical conceptions of good citizenship. Emphasizing stoicism and self-sacrifice, the wartime Ministry of Food linked the purchase, preparation, and consumption of food to heroism and treachery. After the Second World War, controlled distribution and "fair shares" became pillars of welfare state reforms, which sought to ensure that those who had fought and worked for the national good never went hungry. Though rationing and food controls led to discontent …  Read more

On one sample of 'standard cellulose' the isotherms for the sorption of water vapor at different relative vapor pressures, have been established at 20 degree intervals from 0°C to 80°C. These have been determined for both adsorption and desorption. These isotherms have the regular sigmoidal shape and hysteresis is exhibited between the adsorption and desorption curves. It is shown that as the temperature is raised the sorptive power of cellulose toward water decreases and also that the hysteresis decreases, i.e., the desorption and adsorption curves approach one another. The Olausius-Clapeyron relationship bas been applied to these and to "equilibrium" isotherms …  Read more

The secretion of the lipid and protein components of low density plasma lipoproteins (d < 1.063) by perfused rat liver have been studied simultaneously using palmitate-9, 10-3 H and leucine-l-l4c as precursors. The labelled lipid moiety appears in the circulation after a shorter lag period than the protein indicating that the two components are not synthesized simultaneously. Puromycin inhibits the release of labelled lipoprotein following a delay which is due to exhaustion of an intracellular pool of apolipoprotein. More labelled lipoprotein lipid is released by the perfused liver when whole blood is used as the perfusate than when an albumin-Ringer …  Read more

The Weedon Pyrite and Copper Corporation Mine is located one mile north of the village of Fontainebleau, Wolfe County, Weedon Township of the Eastern Townships of Quebec Province. The Mine Property comprises of 10 claims in Ranges II and III. The nearest town is Weedon, four and a half miles to the west. The city of Sherbrooke is 39 miles south and Quebec is 99 miles to the north.  Read more

Barker, Philip A. (Supervisor1)  Read more

In his studies on the isolated cell envelope or a marine pseudomonad, Brown (1960, 1961) observed decreases in the turbidity or suspensions or the cell envelopes when these were incubated at low buffer concentrations. Turbidity changes did not take place when the buffer concentration was increased. These decreases in turbidity or the cell envelope suspensions he interpreted to being due to degradation or the cell envelopes. A number or soluble products were released when the cell envelopes were incubated. The nature or these suggested to Brown that their release was due to the action or an enzyme. Since the release …  Read more

Computations of transonic viscous flows are very challenging. The major difficulty comes from the discontinuity in the solution across a shock wave, causing undesired oscillations in the solution. In this work we focus on minimizing the oscillations by the use of a limiter to control the amount of diffusivity. This limiter provides the right amount of viscosity to capture a sharp shock and an accurate solution in high gradient regions. The limiter employs changes in pressure and entropy and has been implemented into the Streamline Upwind Finite Element Method. A mesh adaptation strategy has been employed to further enhance the …  Read more

Pearsall, David J. (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

This thesis, entitled "Too Fond to Be Here Related": Ironic Didacticism and the Moral Analogy in Henry Fielding's "Amelia" (1751), opens by exploring the current and historical critical reception of Fielding's final extended work of fiction. In an effort to explain Amelia's "failure"---the prevailing assessment among even its more sympathetic critics---I then argue that this experimental novel offers an innovative engagement with David Hume's moral philosophy. The emerging analogy provides a fascinating but previously neglected departure from Samuel Richardson's means of providing moral instruction through a sentimental appeal to upholding a specific social contract; Fielding's unsteady narrator and provocative paradoxical …  Read more

Flanagan, Tara (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

Lerouge, Sophie (Supervisor2)  Read more

Younge, E. (Supervisor)  Read more

The formation and chiroptical properties of liquid crystals of ethyl cellulose (EC) and some related polymers are investigated to determine which features affect the mesophase behaviour. The onset of mesophase formation is studied by employing literature data on the viscosity/molar mass relationship of several cellulose derivatives, including EC in several solvents, to calculate their molecular dimensions by a recent hydrodynamic theory. The phase separation behavior is compared with the predictions of theories for both freely-jointed and wormlike chains. The effects of solvent and degree of substitution (DS) on the cholesteric structure are assessed by studying the chiroptical properties using Circular …  Read more

Neointima formation is the major limitation to the use of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in the treatment of coronary artery disease. It is caused by the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) from the media into the intima resulting in narrowing of the luminal diameter. The ELN -/- mouse exhibits a similar phenotype in which overproliferation of SMCs into the lumen leads to obstruction of the aorta causing death at post-natal day 2.5. Based on this observation, a DNA microarray analysis of the ELN -/- aorta was conducted to identify candidate genes responsible for SMC proliferation and …  Read more

Claudin-3 (CLDN3) is a tight junction protein that is essential for chick neural tube closure, a process that is critical for brain and spinal cord development. Depletion of CLDN3 in chick embryos results in open neural tube defects and altered apical protein localization, including increased PAR3 and PALS1, and decreased F-actin (Legere et al., 2024). The molecular mechanism by which CLDN3 directs neural tube closure is unknown. We hypothesize that localization of proteins required for neural tube closure occurs through interactions between the C-terminal domain of CLDN3 and the tight junction cytoplasmic plaque. My goal was to develop a biotin …  Read more

Territorios is a 15-minute composition for eight percussionists and prerecorded sounds on digital tape. The composer chose this particular instrumentation because of his conviction that percussion and electronic/digital instruments are the most powerful sources of fresh and innovative sound matter that have appeared during this century. This choice also allowed him to challenge the development of a new and consistent rhythmic syntax derived from the internal structure of percussion instruments, which in turn made it possible to establish solid ties between the sound itself and the musical syntax that rules its organization. Since different tempi are often used simultaneously in …  Read more

Alrededor de una musica ausente is an 18-minutes long composition, written for three Instrumental Groups (Group I: two trombones; Group II: four flutes; Group III: strings [6 0 3 2 1]) and three computer-based Digital Signal Processing Stations, positioned in the performance space so as to form a circle around the audience. Instrumental Groups and DSP Stations establish a relationship of outputs to inputs with respect to each other. Throughout the composition, sound material is gradually transformed as it flows from one Instrumental Group or Digital Signal Processing Station to another. Transformation of the sound material is accomplished by means …  Read more

As the key organ in the endocrine system, the pituitary has long been the subject of intense scientific questioning. From the characterization of pituitary hormones to the understanding of the mechanisms controlling their release, the study of the pituitary yielded great discoveries, some being awarded a Nobel prize. More recently, the transcriptional control of genes encoding pituitary hormones was the object of much attention. In that context, our laboratory described the function of Tpit and NeuroD1 in the control of POMC-expressing cell differentiation and POMC cell-specific transcription and regulatory mechanisms. These two important genes do not suffice however to explain …  Read more

The focus of this thesis was to analyze the least cost of producing rations for ducks in three age categories from a mixture of conventional feed ingredients and three different processed food waste products and to examine the financial and economic feasibility of establishing an industrial plant to produce these food waste products in the Montreal region. The first part of the thesis was investigated through the use of a linear programming model. The effect of recognizing the variability of protein levels in the various feed ingredients was examined through the use of chance-constrained programming. The second part of the …  Read more

Apoptosis is a genetically programmed form of cell death that plays an essential role in the tissue homeostasis and development of multicellular organisms. Apoptotic cellular suicide is tightly regulated by both pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins. The dysregulation of apoptosis manifests in a number of pathologies, such as cancer, autoimmunity and neurodegenerative disorders. Thus further insight into these mechanisms may provide a basis for therapeutic opportunities. The primary executioners of cell death belong to a family of cysteine proteases known as caspases that cleave numerous substrates resulting in the morphological characteristics of apoptosis. Caspase8 is the apical caspase involved in death …  Read more

Le dosage biochimique des récepteurs ostrogéniques dans les adénocarcinomes mammaires humains a un intérêt clinique bien établi, cependant la localisation cellulaire des sites de liaison aux œstrogènes dans ces tumeurs demeure incertaine. Les travaux décrits dans cette thèse ont permis d'identifier les sites de liaison de l'oestradiol au moyen de l'autoradiographie après incubation in vitro dans une série de 57 cas de lésions mammaires dont 17 étaient bénignes et 40 étaient des adénocarcinomes. Les résultats obtenus avec la méthode d'incubation in vitro se comparent favorablement avec ceux obtenus dans des études in vivo portant sur l'utérus de souris, un organe …  Read more

La capacité de mesurer les caractéristiques des plantes de manière rapide, sur place et économique profiterait aux sélectionneurs, producteurs ainsi qu’aux consommateurs. Afin de réaliser des essais à la ferme fiables, il est nécessaire de tenir en compte plusieurs facteurs qui affectent le milieu dans lequel la plante se développe. Dans la présente étude, deux plateformes ont été développées afin de mesurer les données du sol, des conditions météorologiques et des cultures de manière efficace. Des méthodes pour le traitement des données combinant les résultats de ces systèmes ont également été mises au point. La combinaison de ceux-ci fournit un …  Read more

In-season sensing of crop architectonics is important for identifying and preventing potential stresses as well as optimizing crop management logistics. Measurements of chlorophyll content, size, density, and/or temperature of the canopy have been used as primary in situ diagnostic tools. The goal of this study was to develop a prototype sensor system that would integrate laser proximity measurements as the basis for a low-cost instrumented system for green vegetable production. The system involves circular scanning of crop canopies to identify fresh biomass under different soil and management conditions.The first experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with lettuce and kale. Biomass …  Read more

Agriculture is under heavy pressure to innovate due to the needs of feeding a rapidly growing global population while agricultural productivity has largely plateaued in recent decades. It is estimated that the world population will reach 9.1 billion by 2050 and the yearly demand for cereals, for instance, will increase by 43%, from 2.1 to 3 billion tonnes. Optimizing crop productivity and addressing current process inefficiencies are critical to meeting the increased demand without creating excessive energy and materials resource demands. Pesticide application, for example, is a highly inefficient process and it is estimated 2.45 billion kg of pesticides are …  Read more

Since the discovery that fish could in fact hear, many studies have been made concerning hearing in fish. However, interest has centred mainly on those fish with specialized amplification systems, such as the Weberian Ossicles of the Ostariophysi, which include species auch as minnows and catfishes. Surprisingly, little is known about the hearing capacities of the more common sacculus-lagena and lateral line complex of the "non-specialist" fish. [...]  Read more

The author analyses the copyright protection of musical compositions in the U.S.A. with regard to the development of new reproduction methods. He argues that the existing copyright law has to be reinterpreted or amended in order to control new technologies in an appropriate way. The possibility to analyze music with computers and to store and reproduce it digitally ("sampling") has not only opened a broad variety of possibilities to use compositions already published for new productions, it also poses new questions for the application of copyright law. The author interprets the existing legislation and adjudication with regard to the possibilities …  Read more

Adams, Frank Dawson, 1859-1942 (Supervisor)  Read more

The purpose was to compare the blood lactate response and performance of varsity hockey players to recreational players, and to provide a shift by shift analysis of blood lactate accumulation in a simulated ice hockey task. Ten university, varsity players and ten recreational players performed a continuous aerobic treadmill test (VO2max), a 45 s Wingate test, and four trials of the Repeat Sprint Skate (RSS) test. Each RSS test consisted of four repetitions of a 91.4 m skate with repetitions initiated on 30 s intervals. To simulate game, competition, 5 min of recovery separated each RSS test. Results indicated: (1) …  Read more