McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

Strachan, Ian (Supervisor2)  Read more

Agriculture consumes around 70 % of freshwater resources globally. Sensor-based irrigation systems will play a critical role in improving water-use efficiency (WUE) of crop management, with research in controlled environments allowing for rapid testing of effects on yield and plant-growth parameters. Substrate water characteristic curves were developed for commercial rockwool and coconut coir products using a modified evaporative method with in-situ tensiometers inserted directly into production-format samples. Desorption curves were measured for rockwool with tensiometers placed horizontally at 3 cm, 6 cm, and 9 cm from the base, and for three coconut coir products at 6 cm from the base. …  Read more

For more than a decade, music information science and musicology have been at what Nicholas Cook has described as a 'moment of opportunity' for collaboration on database-driven musicology. The literature contains relatively few examples of mathematical tools that are suitable for analysing temporally structured data like music, however, and there are surprisingly few large databases of music that contain information at the semantic levels of interest to musicologists. This dissertation compiles a bibliography of the most important concepts from probability and statistics for analysing musical data, reviews how previous researchers have used statistics to study temporal relationships in music, and …  Read more

The motivation of this work lies in the hope that there may exist some possibly significant connection between the structure of a (finite) group and the structure of its associated cohomology groups. l use the word "hope", since to the present so little work has been done along these lines that one cannot accurately judge of what use the cohomology theory may be in abstract group theory. Perhaps the outstanding reason for this lack of results is due to the extreme difficulty of effectively calculating the cohomology structure of a given abstract group. So it is to the problem of …  Read more

Leacock, S. (Supervisors)  Read more

This thesis explores Jurgen Habermas's dualist, system and action methodology of the social sciences as a continuation of Frankfurt School critical theory. It also interprets it as a reworking of this tradition. First, it lays out the criteria and models Habermas uses for a theory of rational modern progress, and relates these ideals to his empirical political theory of practice in the public sphere (Chapter One). Then, it looks for positivisms and objectivisms in the project that threaten its critical function (Chapter Two). Finally, it illustrates these positivisms at work in Habermas's dualist theory of new social movements (Chapter Three). …  Read more

The Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) was applied to industrial processes over a century ago. In recent years there has been an increased interest in the direct current twin cathode EAF. It proved to be a successful technology in industry and now there is interest to learn more about what is happening inside the furnace especially relating to the interactions of the two electric arcs. These interactions have an impact on arc structures since they can cause the two arcs to merge. The observed structures are separated into two groups based on the number of attachment points on the anode: (1) …  Read more

Chipmunk antipredator calls were examined during the summers of 1990 and 1991. The structural characteristics of the three calls, chipping, chucking and the trill, were obtained through taped recordings and sonagraphic analysis. Behavioural observations indicated that chucking by choruses of individuals occurs in the presence of aerial predators, chipping by choruses of individuals occurs in the presence of terrestrial predators and the trill is given by single individuals when fleeing from predators. Experiments were carried out to determine the function of the trill and chipping. Demographic and contextual effects indicate that the trill is in part a call which functions …  Read more

This study reports on a biomechanical analysis of the vertical standing posture of normal human subjects and muscular dystrophy patients. The compensatory roles of lordosis and equinus in stabilizing the knee joint were studied using a force plate, cinephotographic and electromyographic methods. The results indicate that both lordosis and equinus stabilize the knee in extension. These compensatory mechanisms are progressively negated by progressive knee flexion contractures, resulting in inability to stand when the quadriceps muscles are severely weakened. An explanation is offered for the significant clinical observations of lordosis which disappears with knee bracing, requirement for knee bracing following heel …  Read more

The following thesis describes two stereoselective carbon-carbon bond forming processes---the aldol reaction and its one-carbon homologue, the homoaldol reaction. The first chapter describes our efforts to increase the stereoselectivity of a catalytic homoaldol reaction. This methodology features a second generation Binol titanium (IV) fluoride catalyst capable of opening a silyloxycyclopropane ring to form discrete homoenolates. These homoenolates react with a variety of aldehydes to form 1,4-hydroxy carbonyl compounds. The catalyst was prepared by a literature method and has improved the stereoselectivity of this reaction compared to the first generation Binol titanium (IV) triflate catalyst. A variety of substituted Binol ligands …  Read more

Blood platelets are small colourless bodies found in varying numbers ln blood. Osler {1874) was the first to recognise them as formed elements or blood. Their existence has beenrepeatedly affirmed and denied; yet, as Professor Tait -cf. Tait and Burke (1926) - recently stated, "no author who has ventured to extend his survey beyond the group of mammals has doubted either their existence or their close functional similarity to certain distinctive and readily observed cells common to the blood of all non-mammalian vertebrates and of inuumerable invertebrates as well". Their origin remains obscure. [...]  Read more

Stehle, R. (Supervisors)  Read more

This dissertation examines the educational contributions of the American Mission in Egypt using previously untapped archival documents from the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. The principal focus of this research is on the establishment of American Mission schools in Egypt. The successes and failures of this missionary movement's work with Copts and Muslims are examined within the context of demographic data and political history. The study also discusses Egyptian anti-missionary sentiments directed against the American Mission in the 1920s and 30s, and constitutes an exploration of Christian-Muslim relations in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Egypt.  Read more

This is a study of the role of the 'ulama' during the French occupation of Egypt: 1798-1801. Bonaparte penetrated Islamic Egypt, marking the beginnings of the modern era. The French military brilliance dominated the East-West confrontation. Napoleon's military victories were short-lived when prominent 'ulama', whom he thought had been wooed to his side, organized rebellions against him from Al-Azhar. Although his attempt to raise the status of the Egyptian 'ulama' to assist him in governing the people was successful, it was not enough to prevent his own hasty exodus from Egypt. The French left lasting cultural influences in Egypt: the …  Read more

La création d'une ville implique la création d'un monde. Cette simple notion suggère la complexité colossale inhérente à la tâche de création urbaine. Dans l'époque pre-moderne, le continent américain a été le scénario d'expérimentation urbaine et de l'entreprise d'une ampleur inconnue; des centaines de fondations urbaines ont été réalisées par l'entreprise coloniale espagnole en Amérique, du XVIe au XVIIIe siècles. Cette thèse étude la création et le développement urbain de la ville de Puebla de los Ángeles, au Mexique, au cours de la période pre-moderne. La thèse est divisée en deux sections, la première examine la création de la ville …  Read more

Les phénols sont omniprésents dans la nature et dans l'industrie chimique, où ilsinfluencent la fonction et la durée de vie des produits chimiques dans l'environnement. Denombreux phénols sont extraits de ressources naturelles, mais la majorité utilisée pour préparerdes produits chimiques fins nécessite une synthèse. Bien que de nombreux dérivés simples soientdisponibles à partir du procédé de Hock ou de la substitution aromatique nucléophile, les phénolscomplexes, en particulier ceux présentant des profils de méta-substitution, sont difficiles àproduire.Des progrès récents dans notre laboratoire ont montré que les phénols parafonctionnaliséspeuvent subir une transposition en 1,2 pour fournir le phénol métafonctionnalisé,toujours insaisissable, via un …  Read more

The primary focus of the present thesis is the exploration of factors that influence the dopamine (DA) neuron by examining the expression of the dopamine transporter (DAT), a marker of the DA neuron. The secondary focus of this thesis is on the serotonin neuron and in particular the serotonin transporter (SERT), a marker of the serotonin neuron. To this end three distinct and separate models have been employed. The goals of this thesis were: (1) to test the hypothesis that monoamine oxidase inhibition during development alters serotonergic innervation in the cortex and raphe, while not affecting relative DA innervation of …  Read more

Brown, Peter Gilbert (Supervisor1)  Read more

Non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) has been applied to the prototypical molecule-insulator system C60 on KBr. Both contact and non-contact imaging modes were used to characterize the KBr(001) surface. C60 molecules were deposited on UHV-cleaved KBr(001) surfaces and imaged with NC-AFM. Surveys of the surface revealed an island growth mode with a tendency towards nucleation at step edges. A long diffusion length was also estimated (600-800nm) from survey images. Molecular resolution images were also obtained revealing a coincident epitaxy between the C60 molecules and the substrate. Also, a 20 +/- 3pm height difference is observed between some first layer molecules, …  Read more

The epitaxy and growth of a series of organic molecules deposited on insulating surfaces were investigated by noncontact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM). The molecules studied, C60 , 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA), 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxlylic diimide (PTCDI), and copper (II) phthalocyanine (CuPc), were selected to investigate the effect of different molecular geometries, charge distributions and intermolecular interactions and as interesting candidates in molecular electronic applications. As it is known that the properties of molecules are influenced by their structural arrangements, an understanding of the interactions of molecules with substrates of interest as well as the dominant processes involved in growth are of …  Read more

This dissertation focuses on learning how to control the physico-chemical properties of multilayer thin films containing weak polyelectrolytes by gaining an understanding of the films from a fundamental perspective. This information is then used, as a proof of principle concept, to assemble films with desired properties for a model application. Multilayer thin films were prepared using the layer-by-layer deposition technique, which involves the sequential adsorption of oppositely charged polymers onto a charged substrate from dilute aqueous solutions. The charge density of weak polyelectrolytes is highly sensitive to the pH and ionic strength of the solution environment. In turn, the solution …  Read more

The kinetic and mechanistic details involved in the morphological transitions occurring in aggregates prepared from the copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) in dioxane-water mixtures and the ability of sodium dodecyl sulfate to induce architectural changes in these aggregates are described in this dissertation. The kinetics of the sphere-to-rod, rod-to-sphere, and vesicle-to-rod transitions were determined by following the change in the solution turbidity as a function of time after the transitions were induced by a sudden jump in one of the solvent components of the system. The kinetics of each transition was explored as a function of the initial solvent composition, the …  Read more

This study investigates dyspnea and the mechanics of breathing during progressive exercise. Three subject groups, athletes, normal sedentary subjects and chronic obstructive diseased patients were studied during progressive exercise testing to exhaustion on a cycle ergometer. Subjects rated dyspnea on a Borg Scale. Inspiratory flow, esophageal/gastric pressures and rib cage/abdominal displacements were measured. Subjects demonstrated two patterns of dyspnea response to changes in esophageal (pleural) pressure. All athletes, two normals and five patients were termed "low dyspnea responders", (LDR), whereas the remaining subjects were termed "high dyspnea responders", (HDR). LDR demonstrated large, rapid negative gastric pressure swings, coupled with outward …  Read more

Beginning in June of 2014, and escalating from September-December of that year, young people from Hong Kong organized mass occupations of its streets and digital spaces to interrogate its political system, relationship to China, and its political identity. Since December 2014, these protests have broken into several youth-led movements, which have continued to act in the city, in both physical and digital expressions of youth activism. Hong Kong's young people-both majority and minority cultures-have been engaging in activism, but the experiences, activist identities, and civic participation of the majority culture have overshadowed those of Hong Kong's ethnic minority young people. …  Read more

Contexte : Les récits numériques, des histoires personnelles de 2 à 3 minutes créées par des individus non formés à la réalisation cinématographique, combinent une narration en voix off issue d’un script personnel, de la musique, des extraits vidéo, des photographies et du texte afin de capturer des moments significatifs de leur vie. Dans le cadre de l’étude Learning to Care, nous avons mis en place quatre ateliers de deux jours réunissant quatorze jeunes adultes ayant une expérience vécue de troubles ou de maladies mentales. Ces ateliers les ont accompagnés dans la création de récits numériques portant sur leur expérience …  Read more

Transcrire à la main une tablature pour guitare à partir d'un enregistrement audio est un processus difficile et long, même pour les guitaristes chevronnés. Bien que plusieurs algorithmes aient été créés pour extraire automatiquement les notes d'un enregistrement audio, et d'autres pour préparer des arrangements de notes de tablature pour guitare tels qu'on les retrouve dans la création musicale, aucun environnement n'a été mise en place pour faciliter l'association de ces algorithmes. Le travail qui suit présente un environnement accessible sur l'Internet, permettant la transcription et la préparation d'arrangements de tablatures de guitare, directement à partir d'un enregistrement audio. Cet …  Read more

Experiments have been made to determine the stability field of natrolite under elevated pressures and temperatures. The validity of the experiments as reproductions of nature's processes is examined. The equilibrium curve for the upper limit of the natrolite stability field was determined for certain fixed environmental conditions.  Read more

An agent is placed in an unknown environment and charged with the task of locating a lost object. What can the agent use as an efficient technique to find the object? We propose a new algorithm for planar search. The algorithm stems from theoretical work on search games, in particular provably optimal search techniques on restricted domains. This thesis addresses the problem of efficiency in robotic search: having a mobile robot find a target object in an unknown environment with obstacles in an efficient manner. As a side-effect, the robot explores the environment. Based on previous results, a formal description …  Read more

Understanding the molecular mechanisms by which eukaryotic cells direct and distribute essential components is of central importance to cell biology, as well as to the unravelling of the underpinnings of many disease states. Two major membrane trafficking systems through which eukaryotes maintain cellular homeostasis are the clathrin and coatomer I (COPI) coat machineries, whose core components share evolutionary homology. Clathrin functions at the plasma membrane in clathrin mediated endocytosis (CME), and at the trans-Golgi network and endosomes in clathrin mediated membrane budding. COPI function is best described in the early secretory pathway on cis-Golgi cisternae and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi …  Read more

Seely, J. F. (Supervisor)  Read more

MOTIVATION Unmeasured confounding is a common, and important, problem in many observational studies. Pharmacoepidemiological studies, which typically rely on large administrative databases, are especially prone to this source of bias. Often, however, smaller validation samples are available, such as clinical datasets collected as part of a study into a particular disease or drug, which provide information on additional confounders, not measured in the large 'main' database. In the last decade, several methods have been proposed to utilize such validation samples in order to correct for unmeasured confounding bias in the analyses of large main databases. However, most recent methods do …  Read more

This work focuses on two dimensional simply-connected complexes. In particular, I examine sufficient conditions on such a complex for convex hulls of compact sets to be compact. I show that there exist complexes where convex hulls of compact sets are not compact if no restriction is placed on the curvature. I prove that convex hulls of compact sets are compact for most nonpositively curved planar complexes, and for negatively curved simply-connected complexes composed of triangles.  Read more

The purpose of this study was to construct and standardize a short individual performance test of intelligence for children and adults living in isolated or restricted environments. It had been noted by Canadian Army Personnel Selection during World War II that an unusually high proportion of individuals from outlying rural areas in Canada made scores on service tests below the set selection standards. A non-verbal section of the general selection test was used to attempt to discriminate between these individuals on the assumption that the non-verbal material used was appropriate for assessing the abilities of individuals from such isolated or …  Read more

The purpose of this study is to examine the agricultural production in the province of Quebec, and to evaluate in quantitative terms, in so far as the tools of analysis and availability of data permit, the degree of efficiency with which resources are being applied in the agriculture of this province.  Read more

Ramsay, Dr. James O.  Read more

The epidemiology of Listeria monocytogenes reveals that lineages I and II are more adapted for establishing successful mammalian infections, when compared to lineages III and IV. However, no genetic factor has been identified that comprehensively explains this variable. PrfA is the master regulator of virulence in L. monocytogenes and is indispensable during the cellular phase of infection. The mechanisms by which PrfA regulate intracellular virulence are well-understood, however, almost all experiments used to elucidate these mechanisms were performed using lineages I and II-derived isoforms of PrfA (PrfA_I/II). The current literature makes no distinction among the PrfA variants that have been …  Read more

This dissertation examines the arguments against tragedy offered by feminist playwrights in their "re-visions" of the plays of Euripides and Shakespeare. In the first part, I maintain that feminist dramatic re-vision is one manifestation of an unrecognized tradition of women's writing in which criticism is expressed through fiction. I also argue that the project of feminist dramatic re-vision embodies a feminist "new poetics." In the second part, I examine the aesthetics and politics of tragedy from a feminist perspective. Feminist arguments against tragedy are, in effect arguments against patriarchy. But it is the theorists and critics of tragedy---not the playwrights---who …  Read more

In this thesis, I examine Roland Barthes's essays on music in order to explore the relationship between the musical and linguistic elements of the contemporary popular song. I argue that what song lyrics appear to "say" bears no relation to what they "mean." Rather, meaning resides in the act of engaging with the popular song. First, I analyze the four main phases of Barthes's thinking in order to provide a basis on which to explore his work. Second, I provide an in-depth study of his essays on music. I then critique the literary approach to song analysis through an examination …  Read more

During the past decade film analysis and semiotic inquiry have meshed to produce significant changes in film theory. This thesis discusses the philosophical and epistemological shift represented by this development, resulting in the creation of semiotic models (e.g. those of Christian Metz and Umberto Eco) which consistently overemphasize the textual framework for cinematic expression. As a result, problems of performance and interpretation are ignored. The thesis proposes a radically different strategy to explain meaning in film. To solve problems of performance the new concept of projections is proposed. Projections are defined not as images or pictures, but as sites (or …  Read more