McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par R

ContexteL'efficacité des interventions cliniques est remise en question à mesure que de nouvelles données de recherche apparaissent. Le concept de renversement de la médecine (RM) se produit lorsque de nouvelles preuves déterminent qu'une pratique médicale établie est moins efficace qu'on ne le prétendait à l'origine et contribue à un changement de pratique. Les raisons sous-jacentes d’une RM restent mal comprises dans le contexte des soins de santé de première ligne. Le but de cette recherche est d'identifier les caractéristiques des essais cliniques randomisés (ECR) associés au phénomène de RM dans les soins de santé primaires. Méthodologie et méthodesUn ensemble de …  Read more

RATIONALE: Objective outcome measures in rehabilitation are required to demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions. The Gross Motor Function Measure is a criterion-referenced evaluative tool designed to detect change over time for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Reliability of the measure has not been tested with children diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the intra and inter-rater reliabilities of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) for use with children diagnosed with Type I, III or IV osteogenesis imperfecta, by physiotherapists at the Shriners Hospital for Children. METHODS: One physiotherapist (the author) administered and scored …  Read more

Cette thèse examine le rôle de la littérature, de la mémoire et du genre dans la tétralogie « Cimetière des livres oubliés » de l’écrivain espagnol Carlos Ruiz Zafón. La série fameuse, composée de L’Ombre du vent (2001), Le Jeu de l’ange (2008), Le Prisonnier du ciel (2011) et Le Labyrinthe des esprits (2016), suit la famille Sempere, ses amis et leurs ennemis dans les années entourant la guerre civile espagnole (1936-1939). Cette thèse présente une analyse critique de l’univers littéraire de Ruiz Zafón qui passe le temps avant et pendant la guerre, la dictature de Francisco Franco (1939-1975) et …  Read more

La maladie de Parkinson (MP) est la seconde maladie neurodégénérative la plus commune. Elle affecte plus de 10 millions de personnes dans le monde. L’impact de cette maladie ne fait qu’augmenter, notre population étant vieillissante dans une société ou l’espérance de vie s’allonge. Les 20 dernières années de recherche sur l’aspect génétique de la maladie ont révélé des marqueurs génétiques associés avec une diminution ou une augmentation du risque de développer la maladie, ainsi qu’un effet sur sa progression. Les études génomiques se sont avérées un outil de choix pour le dépistage de régions génétiques qui pourraient être associés à …  Read more

Synapses in the autonomic ganglia form a vital link between the activity of the central nervous system and the peripheral tissues. The fast neurotransmission in these autonomic synapses is mediated by the postsynaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and is remarkably robust, producing suprathreshold excitatory postsynaptic potentials. However, in diabetes, the sympathetic synaptic transmission becomes depressed when hyperglycemia elevates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ROS inactivate the postsynaptic nAChRs containing the α3 subunit. Because dysautonomias result from such synaptic depression, the important questions are whether the synaptic depression happens in all 3 branches of the autonomic nervous system – the sympathetic, …  Read more

Les programmes universitaires de formation des maîtres s'efforcent de trouver ou de créer des contextes où, plutôt que de risquer d'offrir une « intervention faible » (Burant et Kirby, 2002; Wideen, Mayer-Smith & Moon, 1998), le cadre d'ensemble peut aider les étudiants en éducation à construire une identité d'enseignant qui représente leurs propres « talents, choix et actions » (Pinnegar, 2005, p. 271). Les étudiants en éducation, avant d'obtenir leur diplôme, ont besoin d'occasions de faire eux-mêmes l'expérience de ces épisodes que vivent les enseignants, d'y réfléchir, de les relater, de s'en instruire (Doyle & Carter, 2003). Mon étude a …  Read more

The effect of current on diffusion in spark plasma sintering (SPS) was investigated using the Cu-Ni system. The 1D case was first investigated through the use of binary diffusion couples generated from bulk material. Subsequently, diffusion was studied in 3D by sintering a blend of nickel and copper powders.Copper and nickel diffusion couples were generated in SPS and in a horizontal insertion vacuum furnace. In SPS, two separate orientations were processed: one where copper diffusion occurred in the same direction as the current, denoted Cu/Ni, and another where current passed in the opposite direction of the diffusing copper, denoted Ni/Cu. …  Read more

Cette thèse décrit la conception et développement d’une méthode de simulation qui modélise le transportd’électrons dans une microscope électronique en utilisant une solution hydrodynamique à l’équation deSchrödinger. Des trajectoires quantiques sont calculées de la fonction d’onde de l’électron avec la capacité de représenter son évolution dans l’espace réel pendant qu’elle est transmise à travers d’un filmmince. Un programme de simulation a été développé en premier temps pour représenter un système en deuxdimensions d’un faisceau d’électrons incident sur un film mince d’aluminium. Des trajectoires quantiques ont étécalculées de la fonction d’onde à chaque pas de temps en utilisant une décomposition spectrale. …  Read more

The neocortex and the thalamus send dense, glutaminergic projections to the sensorimotor striatum. The cortex targets a distinct class of striatal interneurons immunoreactive parvalbumin (PV). The first objective of this study was to determine whether the parafascicular thalamic nucleus ( Pf) also targets PV-immunoreactive interneurons. An anterograde tracer was injected into the Pf of normal adult rats. It was found that 75.9% of thalamic boutons synapsed onto unlabelled dendrites, 22.5% onto unlabelled spines, and 1.6% targeted PV-immunoreactive dendrites. The second objective of this study was to determine whether competition between corticostriatal and thalamostriatal fibres during development account for the sparse …  Read more

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk can be lowered by introduction of plant sterols (PS) in the diet, since PS have been shown to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Given that the efficacy of PS as cholesterol-lowering agents depends on their appropriate solubilization, the cholesterol-lowering efficacy of PS in non-traditional matrices needs to be determined. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the consumption of PS (a) in an oil rich in medium chain triglycerides (MCT) or (b) low-fat yogurt with or without a meal, on changes in lipid parameters. Additional objectives were: (1) to assess the effects of MCT …  Read more

Au Canada, la conception sismique des structures en acier se base sur le principe de la conception basée sur la capacité, qui bénéficie de la ductilité inélastique des systèmes de résistance aux charges sismiques (SRCS). En particulier pour les contreventements en treillis concentriques, les catégories de conception de ductilité modérée (MD) et ductilité limitée (LD) exigent que les éléments structuraux et les connexions sur le trajet de la charge latérale soient conçus pour la capacité probable des diagonales en traction et en compression. Cependant, il existe également la catégorie Construction Conventionnelle (CC) décrite à la clause 27.11 de la norme …  Read more

This thesis is a study of the pattern of politics and its effects on foreign policy advocacies in contemporary Burma. The focal point of the analysis is an examinatian of the various Burmese societal interests and their respective foreign policy demands.1 The methodology employed defines Burma's societal interest groupings in terms of ideology, interests, and objectives, While providing a functional mode! for the understanding of Burmese political processes. Foreign policy demands are to be classified as to bilateral relations with neighbours, to the Southern Asian international system, and to the global state system. The purpose of this study is to …  Read more

This study examines the drama of Yusuf Idris (1927-1991), a well-known Egyptian playwright who has made very important contributions to the search for Arab roots, Arab identity, and a new face for Egyptian (Arab) drama. The analysis of Idris's eight plays (written over a quarter of a century) in the light of Egyptian (Arab) post-1952 social, political, and cultural realities has enabled us to clarify the playwright's ideas and understand why his literary works have occasioned so much discussion and so many polemics. This study shows that Idris's plays mirror and document the post-Revolutionary Egyptian (Arab) era. They also appeal …  Read more

Cette thèse porte sur l’histoire du plaidoyer britannique pour la cause palestinienne à travers une étude approfondie de deux générations de la famille Richmond, de 1895 à 1982. Elle examine le parcours migratoire de l’architecte britannique Ernest Tatham Richmond, vers le Moyen-Orient dans les années 1890. Durant ce parcours, Ernest a appris l’arabe, et est devenu un membre du gouvernement mandataire en Palestine à la suite de la Première Guerre mondiale. Cette thèse montre que Ernest n’avait aucune tendance pro-arabe lors de son déménagement en Égypte en 1895. Ainsi, sa volonté d’interagir avec les Égyptiens locaux et d’apprendre l’arabe le …  Read more

Over a period of several years, Japp and his students investigated the properties of certain cyclopentenolones which they termed anhydroacetonebenzils, from the method of preparation. [...] In attempting to ascertain the structure of these substances, dry hydrogen chloride was employed as a reagent; it brought about the replacement of a hydroxyl group by a chlorine atom (1). Japp was unable to determine the nature of this chlorinated derivative from the evidenceat hand. While studying the reactions of cyclopentenolones with various inorganic halogen compounds in this laboratory, Spanagel (2) prepared a chloride isomeric with Japp' s, and found that it was …  Read more

Le détecteur de xénon liquide à lumière seule (LoLX) est un petit détecteur de recherche et de conception situé à l'Université McGill, conçu pour étudier les propriétés du transport de la lumière dans le xénon liquide (LXe) à l'aide de photomultiplicateurs au silicium (SiPMs). LoLX est présentement utilisé pour surveiller et caractériser le comportement à long terme des SiPMs Hamamatsu VUV4 et FBK VUV-HD3, tous deux pris en compte par l'expérience de désintégration double bêta sans neutrino nEXO. Afin de surveiller le comportement de ces SiPM, on a proposé d'augmenter le LXe avec une source radioactive de Xe-127. Ce travail …  Read more

Digital musical instruments, which are defined here as interactive musical systems containing a control mechanism and a sound generation mechanism, are powerful tools for analyzing performance practice and for transforming and reimagining the bounds of musical performance. However, the transitory nature of digital technology and the complexity of maintaining and configuring a digital musical instrument involving tens, if not hundreds, of interconnected, discrete components presents a unique problem. Even the most mechanically complex acoustic musical instruments, like a piano, are robust enough to withstand the daily grind without expert intervention by someone with intimate knowledge of the material and mechanical …  Read more

This dissertation explores the cultural practice of smoking and its connection to social relations from the beginning of cigarette mass production in Montreal in 1888 to the First World War. It uncovers the norms of smoking etiquette and taste, their roots in gender, class and race relations and their use in reproducing these power relationships. It argues that these prescriptions reflected and served to legitimize beliefs about inclusion, exclusion and hierarchy that were at the core of nineteenth century liberalism. Liberal ideals of self-control and rationality structured the ritual of smoking: from the purchase of tobacco; to who was to …  Read more

Natural communication between humans is not limited to speech, but often requires simultaneous coordination of multiple streams of information---especially hand gestures---to complement or supplement understanding. This thesis describes a software architecture, called CLAVIUS Whose purpose is to generically interpret multiple modes of input as singular semantic utterances through a modular programming interface that supports various sensing technologies. This interpretation is accomplished through a new multi-threaded parsing algorithm that co-ordinates top-down and bottom-up methods asynchronously on graph-based unification grammars. The interpretation process follows a best-first approach where partial parses are evaluated by a combination of scoring metrics, related to such criteria …  Read more

The current trend in computer game design is toward larger and richer virtual worlds, providing interesting and abundant game content for players to explore. The creation and continuous expansion of detailed virtual environments, however, is a time and resource-consuming task for game developers. Procedural content generation potentially solves this problem; textures, landscapes, and more recently the creation of entire cities and their constituent roads and buildings can be performed in an auto mated fashion, potentially offering considerable resource savings for developers. This thesis develops a comprehensive system for content generation, centering on a hierarchical world design. The Arda tool is …  Read more

This thesis explores the role of an adhesion protein, CD44, in the biology of colon cancer. CD44 glycoprotein is a main extracellular receptor for hyaluronic acid. A single CD44 gene composed of 20 exons encodes a variety of isoforms due to alternative splicing of 10 middle exons. Overexpression of CD44 and appearance of abnormal isoforms containing products of variant exons have been implicated in the origin and progression of cancer, including human colon carcinoma. Of two main parts comprising the dissertation, the first one ("CD44 and the adhesion of neoplastic cells" by Z. Rudzki and S. Jothy) reviews the current …  Read more

IntroductionLe processus de différenciation entre la variante comportementale de la démence frontotemporale (DFTvc) et les troubles psychiatriques primaires à début tardif est complexe en raison du chevauchement de leurs manifestations cliniques. Ce projet de thèse a évalué la capacité de deux outils diagnostiques complémentaires à améliorer la précision du diagnostic de la DFTvc: les chaînes légères de neurofilament du sérum (sNfL), un biomarqueur liquide de la neurodégénérescence, et la tomographie par émission de positrons (TEP) au [18F] fluorodéoxyglucose (TEP-FDG), un examen de neuroimagerie fonctionnelle.MéthodesPremièrement, nous avons analysé les données de 226 patients de la base de données rétrospective « Diagnostic …  Read more

Cette thèse est une analyse de l'histoire des pratiques foncières (de la possession et de l'usage des terres, ainsi que de la délimitation de leurs frontières), sur le territoire qu'est aujourd'hui la réserve de Kahnawá:ke, une communauté Mohawk proche de Montréal. Elle en reconstitue les transformations depuis la fin du XVIIIe siècle, alors que les Mohawks de Kahnawá:ke gouvernaient eux-mêmes leur territoire sans trop d'interventions extérieurs, jusqu'au début du XXe siècle, lorsque les coutumes locales furent supprimées par une plus grande ingérence de l'État. Porté par des politiques libérales et d'assimilation, le Département des affaires indiennes (DAI) s'attaqua d'abord aux …  Read more

Cette dissertation explore l'oeuvre de l'architecte colombien Rogelio Salmona (1927- 2007) d'un regard interprétatif qui privilège les idées d'expérience poétique et de lieu, considérés comme deux aspects essentiels du métier d'architecte. La dissertation explore le façonnement et l'expérience des lieux de Salmona sous l'angle de la poétique de l'imaginaire, établissant ainsi des liens entre l'histoire de l'architecture et ses traditions. Dans ce dessein, la thèse construit un cadre théorique à travers l'activité parallèle à l'architecture qu'est l'écriture poétique et revisite le concept de lieu sous une perspective phénoménologique. L'étude de cas porte sur une oeuvre mature de Rogelio Salmona, un …  Read more

Mintzberg, Henry (Supervisor2)  Read more

A great deal of conflicting material has been written about the 'Urabi movement, as an examination of the European sources for this topic shows. Even though 'Urabi's memoirs were in a large part copied from Salim al-Naqqash's Misr lil-Misriyin, and the atmosphere of charge and counter-charge in which they were written makes them suspect, they resolve some of the conflicts between the sources. Specifically, they clearly show some of 'Urabi's motives, indicating that he was more than a power-hungry military adventurer. He was concerned about a wide range of problems, including the status of native Egyptians, foreign influence in Egypt, …  Read more

During 1975 the Architect Christopher Alexander designed and built an experimental project for low income people in the city of Mexicali, Mexico. The aim of the project was to create a beautiful place, not just of architectural beauty but in its essential spirit, in its quality of life. A number of patterns, taken from the book A Pattern Language, were used to design the environment. The residents played an important role in the design of their place: this, according to the author, would guarantee that the place would directly respond to their physical and spiritual needs. Today, 20 years later, …  Read more

Few weeks after birth, a switch in peptide elongation factor 1As from EF-1alpha/EF1A-1 to S1/EF1A-2 occurs in brain neurons, heart and skeletal muscles of mammalians. In order to elucidate the reason behind this switch, I studied the expression of both homologous proteins during muscle differentiation and apoptosis and, documented the relation between peptide elongation factors and caspase-3 activation. I found that during in vitro muscle differentiation of L6 myoblasts, a switch in peptide elongation factors 1A occurs as physiologically observed in skeletal muscles. While EF-1alpha/EF1A-1 is expressed in replicating myoblasts, S1/EF1A-2 is solely found in differentiated myotubes where it replaces …  Read more

In the field of optomechanics, we have achieved tremendous control over mechanical elements at every mass scale by making use of the radiation forces from light. These forces are commonly enhanced by many orders of magnitude using a Fabry-Perot optical cavity geometry consisting of two highly reflective mirrors facing each other; the structure's optical resonances then serve as a means to "catch and hold" photons for as many as ~ 100 000 round trips, dramatically increasing their interaction with an embedded mechanical element. Typically, one strives to achieve a very small optical mode volume for two reasons: the per-photon radiation …  Read more

Apoptosis is a stringently regulated programmed cell death pathway by which a cell will kill itself in response to extensive damage, stress or a targeted signal. It is an important process in development, which requires the elimination of superfluous cells, as well as the regulation of mitotically active cells in a fully developed organism. The key regulators at the heart of the apoptotic pathway are a group of proteins known as the BCL-2 family, containing both pro- and anti-apoptotic members. These proteins are intimately involved in mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum dysfunction triggered by an apoptotic signal. These dysfunctions include release …  Read more

Orsat, Valérie (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

This doctoral thesis describes a program of research that investigated the social psychological consequences of being a victim of discrimination. A series of four experiments with women, Asians, and Blacks examined how disadvantaged group numbers perceive the discrimination that confronts them. These experiments first established that disadvantaged group members sometimes perceive discrimination but more often, minimize the discrimination that is directed at them personally. Second, the results explain why disadvantaged group members are inclined to minimize their personal experience with discrimination, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that by minimizing discrimination, disadvantaged group members protect their state self-esteem in the social …  Read more

This thesis describes a program of research aimed at examining the social psychological consequences of being a victim of discrimination. An experimental paradigm was developed to determine if, and to what extent, disadvantaged group members perceive the discrimination that confronts them. Women were asked to react to negative feedback after receiving information about the probability that they had been discriminated against. When discrimination was made ambiguous, subjects minimized their personal experience with discrimination and attributed their failure to themselves. A second experiment investigated the role of perceived control as a potential cause of minimization of personal discrimination. The results indicated …  Read more

Murshed, Monzur (Supervisor2)  Read more

Prasher, Shiv (Supervisor1)  Read more

In this thesis, I investigate the role and power of literature in education. Literature is generally connected to broader educational aims, but its importance has been underestimated. In order to achieve the multiple aims of education, reading and teaching literature need to be emphasized. In this thesis, I endeavor to clarify the connection between literature and education more systematically and explicitly. By evoking narrative imagination, reading literature promotes the moral capacity of empathy. Hence literature can be a valuable resource for achieving multiple educational aims. I first elaborate the key aims of education and how reading literature can serve the …  Read more

Ors8 is a mammalian autonomously replicating DNA sequence, previously isolated by extrusion of nascent CV-1 (monkey kidney cells) DNA from replication bubbles active at the onset of S phase. A panel of deletion mutants of ors8 have identified a fragment of 186 bp that is essential for the in vitro and in vivo replication of ors8 containing plasmid. This fragment, when subcloned into pBR322 and similarly tested, was capable of autonomous replication in vivo and in vitro (Todd et al., 1995). The objective of the research in this thesis is the purification and characterization of a mammalian factor(s) that specifically …  Read more

Experimental studies, in temperate grasslands, assessing the role of biodiversity and its effects on ecosystem functioning have generally shown that a decline in species number has negative effects on ecosystem functioning. Even though, this relationship has been intensively studied in the last ten years, little is known about it in complex and hyperdiverse tropical ecosystems and where species diversity is not manipulated. My research examines the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in natural tropical forests with a special focus on scale. This research centers on field studies. The field studies address the relationship between natural tree biodiversity and aboveground …  Read more

Chez les nématodes, les neuropeptides jouent un rôle essentiel dans la modulation des réseaux neuronaux. En agissant indépendamment ou conjointement avec d’autres neurotransmetteurs, ils influencent toutes les réponses comportementales chez ces organismes. Les FMRF amide-like peptides (FLPs), font partie d’une famille de neuropeptides particulièrement conservés dans l’embranchement phylogénétique des nématodes et qui divergent de leurs équivalents chez les vertébrés. Les FLPs sont impliqués dans le contrôle des fonctions neuromusculaires, la régulation de l’alimentation et du métabolisme et la reproduction chez les nématodes vivant seules où parasitaires. Ces caractéristiques font en sorte que leur récepteurs, principalement des récepteurs couplés aux protéines …  Read more