McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1982

Considering that the nature of the input is one of the most important variables in determining how the brain will process information, findings from tachistoscopic studies aimed at assessing hemispheric specializations are examined in terms of the characteristics of the incoming information either available or required for processing. The basic features of the tachistoscopic technique are analyzed, and a framework for further investigation is suggested along with a reinterpretation of existing evidence. In a subsequent series of four experiments, several assumptions and interpretations made earlier are empirically tested. In a second series of three experiments, hemispheric asymmetries are examined with …  Lire la suite

We have studied the radiation decays of non strange mesons into (pi)('+),(pi)('-) and one or three gamma rays observed in the reaction (pi)('-) + p (--->) Meson + n at beam momentum 8.45 Gev/c in a Counter-Spark chamber experiment conducted at Argonne National Laboratory Zero Gradient Synchrotron. We set a new apper limit on the branching ratio (omega) (--->) (pi)('+)(pi)('-)(gamma) which is almost an order of magnitude smaller than the previously set upper limit. We present a high statistics independent measurement of the branching ration (eta)' (--->) (rho)(gamma). We observed the decays (rho) ((omega)) (--->) (eta)(gamma) for the first time …  Lire la suite

The body of critical literature on Kant's philosophy of history and religion is examined and criticized for its failure to recognize the consistency of Kant's thought. In opposition to it, a new interpretation based on the critical ideas of freedom, morality and teleology is proposed. The transition from the Critiques to history and religion is justified in terms of the notion of "a priori end" and through the recognition of evil. Kant's ideas are viewed in the historical context of Leibniz, Lessing and Herder. Kant conceives history as the process of self-creation whereby man overcomes the split within his being …  Lire la suite

This thesis represents the first attempt at the empirical estimation of Marxian categories in the Canadian economy for the 1961-76 period. The thesis also addresses the question of the relevance of Marxian economics for an understanding of contemporary capitalism. The first part of the thesis presents an overview of Marxian economics, more particularly a summary of Marx's Capital, Michio Morishima's Marx's Economics, and Ernest Mandel's Late Capitalism. The second part of the thesis reviews the conventional economic statistics in Canada over the 1961-76 period, elaborates the Marxian input-output frame-work as applied to the Canadian economy and estimates the basic Marxian …  Lire la suite

Une expérience clinique à double insue fut entreprise pour déterminer si l'addition d'un traitement au métronidazole pourrait significativement améliorer les résultats accomplis par le traitement conventionnel (détartrage et polissage). Le traitement conventionnel plus un placébo ou le traitement conventionnel plus le métronidazole furent administres à 23 patients atteints de maladie péridentaire. L'état de la maladie et les effets du traitement furent évalués au moyen de mesures cliniques et microbiologiques au début du traitement et après 1,3 et 6 mois. […]  Lire la suite

The present research addressed three major role-taking issues: (1) its developmental nature; (2) its underlying variables; and (3) its status within social cognition. Children between 6 and 11 years were tested. Study 1 examined the development of 3 role-taking tasks. Study 2 compared role taking to nonsocial word-pair comparison to determine whether the self's involvement demanded additional skills. Using original tasks, Studies 3 and 4 related role taking and comparison to referential communication. Study 4 also examined (a) the effects on these behaviours of a direct attentional decentration manipulation and (b) their relation to integration as measured by a modified …  Lire la suite

Conventional and radical approaches alike to the anthropological study of social change and economic development have fallaciously attempted to examine complex and mutable underlying social and historical processes by means of abstract theoretical structures. Through a critical focus on the contemporary marxian debate over modes of production, a new and potentially more fruitful direction for economic anthropology and development studies is proposed here in the form of an hypothesis concerning imperialism. Imperialism is hypothesized to constitute such a complex and mutable process inseverably bound to that of capitalist development throughout the latter's history. Attempting in a gradually maturing manner to …  Lire la suite

Using a newly devised model, the in vitro behaviour of E. histolytica strains IP-106, NIH:200 and DKB has been measured. Behavioural differences between the three strains have been demonstrated which correlate with their virulence. Changes in some environmental conditions (e.g. low pH, high concentrations of bile) caused behavioural changes within the strains studied. The type of movement exhibited by trophozoites of E. histolytica have been characterized and the forces produced by a pseudopodium during penetration have been measured. A 'monopodial' form of E. histolytica has been described. This form comprising less than 1% of a normal amoebic population in culture, …  Lire la suite

The level structure of neutron-deficient ('121)Xe, ('123)Xe and ('124)Xe was studied. These levels were populated in the (beta)-decay of ('121)Cs, ('123)Cs and ('124)Cs respectively, which were produced by the proton bombardment of isotopically enriched ('124)Xe gas targets. Using (gamma)- and (beta)-spectroscopy techniques the level structures of these isotopes were obtained. High-spin levels of ('122)Xe and ('124)Xe populated in the ((alpha),4n(gamma)) reaction on enriched tellurium targets, were investigated. Gamma-ray-multiplicity filter, and angular distribution measurements have been carried out. The observation of the backbending of the ground band, and of the two-quasi-particle high-spin bands in ('122,124)Xe, is the first in xenon nuclei. …  Lire la suite

The thesis examines Canada's public pension system and its economic impact. It discusses the evolution of Canada's public pension plans and by reviewing reports commissioned by the Quebec, Ontario, and federal governments as well as other studies, it indicates the possible direction that the system may take in the future. A two-period model of consumption planning is employed to illustrate the effects of social security programs on saving. A neoclassical growth model is then considered to see what criteria are used to determine the optimal rate of saving. By referring to the Cambridge economists' views on this subject, possible weaknesses …  Lire la suite

The Lac Guyer greenstone belt in the James Bay region of New Quebec was a zone of active volcanism in Archean times and constituted part of a system of "rifts" known as the La Grande superbelt. The rifting of continental crust initiated with the deposition of a sequence of volcanics dominated by pillowed basalts. An overlying volcanic sequence began with the deposition of rhyodacites and other felsic volcaniclastics, intercalated with mafic flows and tuffs. These, in turn, are overlain by peridotitic and pillowed pyroxenitic komatiite flows and then by pillowed basalts. The rocks in this Archean belt have experienced at …  Lire la suite

Water is one of the most important elements in Bernanos' novels. Rain bathes these novels as well as the childhood country-side of the writer : it reflects the enduring presence of Grace. Another permanent thematical element : water mixed with soil, which represents man's two fundamental tendencies - Good and Evil - and symbolises his lifelong spiritual fight. […]  Lire la suite

Le Flysch a Helmintho(')ides et son substratum de shales noirs constituent des facies extremement repandus des nappes de flysch neocretaces alpins. Malgre ses implications paleogeographiques, la sedimentologie de ces unites reste mal connue. Pour contribuer a combler cette lacune, cette etude s'interesse a un des Flysch a Helmintho(')ides classiques et a son Complexe de base. Le Complexe de base est constitue de shales noirs associes a des carbonates authigenes. La petrographie, la diffraction X, la microsonde et l'analyse isotopique du carbone sont appliquees a la description de ces carbonates qui ont pour compositions moyennes: dolomite: Ca(,1).(,02) Mg.(,42) Fe.(,24) Mn.(,32)(CO(,3))(,2); rhodocrosite: …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse fait une étude des principaux aspects relatifs à l'ASECNA. La première partie, qui constitue l'essentiel de notre étude, analyse sa structure, ses attributions, son statut juridique, son financement, ses pouvoirs, ses relations avec les autres organisations internationales. Les principes du droit international public ainsi que les problèmes engendrés par l'application de la nouvelle convention de Dakar sont pris en considération. Quelques développements sont consacrés à une étude comparée des trois organisations régionales de sécurité aérienne (EUROCONTROL, COCESNA, ASECNA). […]  Lire la suite

The total synthesis of the biologically active, dextrorotatory enantiomer of 3-methyl-7(beta)-phenylacetamido-(DELTA)('3)-O-2-isocephem-4-carboxylic acid was accomplished. The key step involved the asymmetric cycloaddition of azidoacetyl chloride to the cinnamylidene Schiff base of protected D-threonine to generate the desired monocyclic cis (beta)-lactam diastereomer (9:1). The absolute configuration of the final product was confirmed by comparing its antimicrobial activity with that of the corresponding racemate. The influence of (a) the (beta)-chiral center in the starting (alpha)-amino acid, (b) the bulk of the carboxylic acid and (c) the distribution of bulk throughout the imine on the stereochemical outcome of the reaction was studied. The absence …  Lire la suite

The functions of somatostatin, norepinephrine and epinephrine in regulation of rhythmic growth hormone secretion were evaluated in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Three experimental strategies were used: (1) the chronic cannulation model to assess the effects of stress, lateral hypothalamic stimulation, monosodium glutamate, and pharmacologic agents on growth hormone dynamics, (2) biochemical mapping of central somatostatinergic pathways involved in growth hormone regulation, and (3) an in vitro perifusion system to study somatostatin release. It is shown that exictatory and inhibitory neural inputs must be intact to maintain normal rhythmic growth hormone secretion. Growth hormone rises are generated by hypothalamic neurons that liberate …  Lire la suite

A variety of iron precipitates formed in the electrolytic zinc industry were studied to estimate the possibility of magnetic filtration to augment conventional thickening/filtering systems. The precipitates included K,NH(,4),Na jarosites, (alpha) and (beta) goethite, (alpha) hematite and an industrially produced NH(,4) jarosite. The wet Frantz Isodynamic Separator was used to generate magnetic susceptibility data. Susceptibilities ranged from (kappa) = 6.9 x 10('-5) (--->) 15.5 x 10('-5) emu/cm('3)0e. Particle size of the precipitates ranged from 25 (mu)m to < 1 (mu)m. Magnetic filtration breakthrough curves were produced using a high gradient magnetic filtration technique. The role of fluid viscosity and velocity …  Lire la suite

Using the new Picker flow calorimeter, the excess heat capacity (C(,p)('E)) has been measured for systems containing normal, branched and cyclic alkanes. The results indicate two unusual effects: (1) a large negative contribution due to the destruction of orientational order in a pure n-alkane component, and (2) a positive contribution attributed to the "condensation" of a more freely-moving molecule or segment on a sterically-hindered branched alkane, resulting in a restriction of rotational movement, i.e. creation of order in the solution. Mixtures of cycloalkanes and their methyl derivatives also show unexpected positive effects in the excess heat capacity. Thus the plate-like …  Lire la suite

Radar cells from the GATE experiment, from Spain and from the Montreal area were followed and measurements of their total rain flux and area were extracted. The values of the flux and area, for each one of the cells, for initial time increments T(,0) were used to evaluate various extrapolation schemes for forecasting purposes. The extrapolation procedure that gave the smallest error in forecasting the changes in flux and area, was found to be the linear one and the optimum increment T(,0) was about 30 min. However, even though these techniques have the advantage of establishing a trend in the …  Lire la suite

An analysis of 5 minute resolution Quadra data on day 261 of GATE (0953 - 1451 GMT) is made to yield statistics of maximum area, echo top, lifetime and maximum reflectivity factor in medium-sized convective cells. The procedure generates a unique data set which is used to compare with the results of a three-dimensional cloud model and to study cloud interactions and merging processes between convective echoes. The results, obtained by tracking 140 echoes throughout their lifetime, indicate that the maximum area is log-normally distributed, 90% of the echoes being smaller than 40 km('2) and living shorter than 60 min. …  Lire la suite

In 1980-81, teneral and fully melanized adult flea beetles were monitored with water traps. Phyllotreta cruciferae, P. striolata and Psylliodes punctulata are univoltine in southwestern Quebec. Their spatial distributions were estimated by D-Vac('(REGTM)) sampling in rutabaga and cabbage an the proportions of flea beetle species varied in time and space. Dispersal studies, using interception traps coupled with statistics of directional data, showed four immigrations to and seven emigrations from a rutabaga field. P. cruciferae was more attracted to allyl isothiocyanate than P. striolata, whereas the behavior of Ps. punctulata was not affected. Sex ratio estimations were affected accordingly. The color …  Lire la suite