McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par B

Les énergies renouvelables, en particulier le solaire et l'éolien, deviendront les piliers de notre production d'énergie pour permettre notre transition vers un avenir net-zéro. Leur variabilité, tant sur le plan temporel que géographique, pourrait cependant nécessiter l’utilisation de solutions de stockage énergétique longue durée et à grande échelle. L’aluminium pourrait remplir cette fonction, en plus de faciliter l’échange d’énergie propre à l’échelle mondiale. La réaction de l’aluminium avec de l’eau supercritique représente une méthode prometteuse pour générer de l’hydrogène et de la chaleur sur demande, puisqu’elle permet d’obtenir une réaction complète tout en dissipant l’énergie thermique à haute température. Dans …  Lire la suite

This dissertation, “Keeping Time: Temporal Imagery and Thought in the Calendars of Later Byzantium,” explores how visual expressions of the calendar shaped understandings of time’s creation, structure, and experience. From the tenth century onward, concerted efforts of ordering temporal systems, especially calendars, emerge in astronomical, agricultural, and liturgical manuscripts. In the wake of these organizational projects, illustrations were added to these manuscripts, elaborating on the information contained within them. Work by historians of science and of liturgy has crucially revealed the mathematics and technologies involved in temporal reckoning, as well as the development of a church year filled with readings …  Lire la suite

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in high income countries, with maximal risk of acute events between 06:00 and noon. Behavioral changes associated with the sleep-wake cycle were first implicated in the risk clustering of cardiovascular events. The circadian system orchestrates the endogenous 24-hour variation of a variety of biological processes, including within the cardiovascular system. Epidemiological evidence supports the involvement of both circadian and sleep-wake processes in the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events, but causal pathways are only starting to emerge. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate a possible interaction between the circadian- and …  Lire la suite

The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) is mostly devoid of regenerative abilities. Injuries and degenerative disorders hence lead to irreversible loss of neurons and can result in devastating impairments. Stimulating endogenous regeneration, as occurs in lower vertebrates, would allow mammals to restore tissue integrity and function. Glia have been identified as a potential source of regeneration in the CNS since they are present in large numbers, are resistant to trauma, and some have the capacity to proliferate. Here, we take advantage of the retina as a model system to investigate glia-mediated CNS endogenous regeneration. We initially examine the regenerative potential …  Lire la suite

The monograph [Mak95] introduced a multi-sorted first-order logic with dependent sorts (FOLDS) likely to serve as a 'perfectly invariant' foundational language for general category theory. In the same work, the model theory for FOLDS was developed to a large extent. We give here the exhaustive proofs for basic facts about the model theory of finitary and infinitary languages for FOLDS, most of which were sketched in [Mak95].  Lire la suite

The use of steel frame/wood panel shear walls as a seismic force resisting system (SFRS) in residential and/or commercial buildings is expected to increase in the future. At the moment, in Canada, however, no specific guidelines in line with the seismic provisions of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) exist with which the engineer can design a building consisting of these shear walls. An extensive research program has therefore been undertaken at McGill University to develop a design method through the testing of different configurations of steel frame/wood panel shear walls loaded with monotonic and reversed cyclic protocols. A …  Lire la suite

Malgré les avancées scientifiques dans la détection et le traitement du cancer, les taux de mortalités sont toujours élevés dans les cancers agressifs tels que le mélanome métastatique et l'adénocarcinome pancréatique (AP). Plus d’information sur les gènes suppresseurs de tumeurs et d’oncogènes pourrait avoir le potentiel d’optimiser les thérapies de ces cancers résistants. Précédemment, nous avons démontré que le Facteur de Croissance Transformant Bêta (TGFβ) agit comme un puissant suppresseur de tumeurs dans le mélanome par l’inhibition du cycle cellulaire et de l’induction de l'apoptose. Par conséquent, nous avons étudié l’effet de TGFβ dans les cellules souches cancéreuses du mélanome, …  Lire la suite

This thesis attempts a study of the published plays of Rejean Ducharme. Apart from the fact that they have both been published, Ines Peree Inat Tendu et HA!ha!... form a coherent whole because of their shared place in the history of contemporary Quebec theatre. Associated from the beginning with the claims made by the "New Quebec Theatre", Ducharme's plays are now part of the repertory. The first chapter examines the textual forces that allow one to trace the narrative structure in Ducharme's dramatic writing. It also describes the different actantial models as well as the mechanisms that regulate their function. …  Lire la suite

Measuring the zero-shear viscosity of a molten polymer is not at all straightforward. Available rheometers are unable to operate at shear rates low enough to measure this important property, especially for polymers that have a very broad molecular weight distribution or a high degree of long chain branching. A new falling ball viscometer, the Magnetoviscometer (MVM), has recently been developed in Austria for the measurement of melt viscosity at very low shear rates. The primary objective of the research was to evaluate this instrument as a tool for the routine measurement of the zero-shear viscosity. Another objective was to develop …  Lire la suite

This study investigated the effects of age of acquisition and syntactic complexity on the outcome of American Sign Language (ASL) acquisition. All the participants were ban deaf, had used ASL as a primary language for a minimum of 12 years, and began to acquire it at three different ages. The experimental task was grammatical judgement. In this task, the signer saw dynamic ASL sentences on a computer screen and decided whether they were grammatical or not. Response accuracy and latency were measured. The stimuli were 168 examples of six ASL syntactic structures ranging from simple to complex. Results showed that …  Lire la suite

ThermoMechanical Processing (TMP) is a tool whereby a controlled microstructure and mechanical properties are achieved by a combination of controlled deformation and heat treatment steps. However, because there exists a trade off between strength and ductility, steels destined for both high formability and high strength applications must further undergo a sequence of energy intensive heat treatment steps. Alternatively, TRIP (TRansformation Induced Plasticity) steels have been acknowledged to possess excellent combinations of both strength and ductility. The timely strain or stress induced transformation of Retained Austenite (RA) to martensite locally strengthens these steels at the point of plastic instability, causing failure …  Lire la suite

Haggard, Daryl (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

In this dissertation we formulate a short-term electricity market-clearing problem with stochastic security criteria. The proposed stochastic security criteria, snake use of probabilistic measures of the expected bald not served or of the loss-of-load probability associated with the random failures of pre-selected sets of generators, lines as well as load disturbances. We snow that by economically penalizing the operation of the market through the associated demand-side costs of involuntary load shedding, the reserve service requirements are determined implicity, thus removing the needs for specifing any a priori reserve requirements. Under this approach, the market-clearing problem gains in flexibility as it …  Lire la suite

Research has shown that children attending immersion programs reach a native-like level in comprehension and in reading by the end of elementary level. However, in writing and speaking, they rarely achieve target-like proficiency. Some conditions seem to favor the production of output. This study presents an investigation of children's ability to notice errors in their French second language in immersion program in Montreal. The study was conducted with forty-three (43) children aged 8-9, and aimed to gather information related to the following research questions: Can we train 8 year-old second language learners to: (a) notice their errors; (b) self-correct (given …  Lire la suite

The development of information technology has had a radical and worldwide effect on the way people communicate. This technological revolution is illustrated notably by the way in which more and more sectors of society increasingly make use of the Internet. The business sector has found enormous potential in electronic communication for improving and increasing commercial transactions. This thesis studies the legal questions posed by the use of the Internet as a basis of contractual agreements and business relationships. The way in which on-line contracts are drawn up and agreed upon brings factors into play which are outside the scope of …  Lire la suite

The thesis describes a program of research that investigated the over-riding hypothesis that a clear cultural identity is associated with positive personal and collective self-esteem, and positive personal well-being. The testing of this novel hypothesis required first and foremost that a reliable measure of cultural identity generally, and the clarity of a person's cultural identity in particular, be developed. To meet this goal Study 1 introduced an innovative method in a story-telling form, the "Cultural Narrative". The Cultural Narrative method is built on McAdams' (1996, 2001) Life Story Model for assessing personal identity. In order to verify its generalizability, this …  Lire la suite

The present thesis describes a group-oriented program of research designed to investigate the experience of victims of discrimination. Ninety female college students were tested in small groups and confronted with the possibility of their having been discriminated against by a male student on a test. Women assessed the extent to which the received feedback was due to discrimination or their answers on the test, prior to and following a group discussion. Results indicated that contrary to previous research in which women consistently minimised discrimination as a reason for group-based negative feedback, women in the present experiment were willing to acknowledge …  Lire la suite

La quête des mécanismes moléculaires sous-jacents à la formation de nos souvenirs et à la persistance de ceux-ci dans notre mémoire continue de préoccuper la communité scientifique. Parmi les découvertes importantes dans ce domaine, on compte celle d'une kinase active de façon constitutive, appelée la PKM zeta. Celle-ci est nécessaire pour le maintien de la plasticité synaptique à long terme et en conséquent de la mémoire. Chez les vertébrés, la PKM zeta est produite à partir d'un ARNm de la PKC atypique, qui est spécifique au cerveau, soit la PKC zeta. Chez les invertébrés, la synapse sensori-motrice de l'Aplysie constitue …  Lire la suite

Près de 40% des enfants de moins de cinq ans dans les pays à faible et moyen revenu n'atteignent pas leur plein potentiel de développement, et la carence en iode fait partie de principaux facteurs de risque.L'iodation universelle du sel est la stratégie recommandée pour contrer les désordres dus à la carence en iode mais son effectivité à améliorer le développement des jeunes enfants n'a pas encore été mesuré. Nous avons évalué les effets du sel iodé sur le développement mental et physique des enfants de moins de 30 mois en Ethiopie.Nous avons mis en œuvre un essai clinique par …  Lire la suite

I investigate the free field realization (FFR) of various extended conformal field theories (ECFT's). More specifically, I first present a systematic method that allows the construction of the exponential type screening currents in terms of free fields in the case of the ECFT's with Kac-Moody algebras. This method is explicitly illustrated through the $su(n) sb{k}$ and $sp(4) sb{k}$ Kac-Moody algebras. Then, I use the FFR to unravel the embedding structure of the Verma modules of the ECFT with a $W sb3$ algebra. This embedding structure is expressed through a set of intertwining diagrams, which in turn, is used to compute …  Lire la suite

Variable selection is one of the most important tasks in statistical analysis. It helps provide researcherswith more interpretable and parsimonious models. For variable selection procedures, the capability ofcontrolling the false discovery rate (FDR) is very important in the post selection inference phase of theresearch. This topic was intensively studied in the past with different approaches to achieve an optimalsolution, and recently a new family of methods emerged named "Knockoffs Filters" (Barber and Candes(2015), Candes et al. (2017), Sesia et al. (2017), Romano et al. (2019)). The knockoffs method enjoyssome desired properties namely: It does not restrict the model relating the …  Lire la suite

Kost, Karen (Internal/Cosupervisor3)  Lire la suite

La relation inverse entre le tabagisme et la maladie de Parkinson (MP) a été largement documentée, mais ses mécanismes sous-jacents restent mal compris. Parmi les explications possibles figurent les effets neuroprotecteurs de la nicotine, les traits de personnalité intrinsèques associés à la MP, et la causalité inversée, selon laquelle la neurodégénérescence prodromique modifie les comportements. Les voies mécanistiques, telles que l’interaction de la nicotine avec les récepteurs nicotiniques de l'acétylcholine, l’influence de l’axe intestin-cerveau et les perturbations des systèmes de récompense mésolimbiques, sont explorées en parallèle avec les tendances épidémiologiques.Cette thèse examine cette relation sous l’angle des dynamiques temporelles, en …  Lire la suite

Much water pollution is due to the disposal of liquid waste from industrial and municipal outfalls. The disposed effluent from the outfalls, located on the banks of streams and rivers, affects the pollutant concentration levels along the coast. The effluent in the form of a jet mixes with the crossflow on the upstream side and forms a recirculation region immediately downstream of the discharge. The objective of this thesis, therefore, is to study the behaviour of such polluting effluents with emphasis on its impact along the coast. The study consisted of experiments conducted in a laboratory whereby a dye was …  Lire la suite

Chu, Vincent H. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The aim of this study was to explore cultural representations conveyed in the media discourse using a content-analysis software called ALCESTE. Our exploration focused on a sample of written media discourse in the Quebecois linguistic context, the Michaud affair, comparing and contrasting two different perspectives. We retrieved from the Internet all the articles published between December 2000 and January 2001 related to the case under study from two English Canadian newspapers, the National Post and The Gazette . The two corpora were submitted to ALCESTE software. Using the factorial correspondence analysis of ALCESTE, we identified four different lexical worlds in …  Lire la suite

The medial surface of a 3D object is comprised of the locus of centers of its maximal inscribed spheres. Interest in this representation stems from a number of interesting properties: i) it is a thin set, i.e., it contains no interior points, ii) it is nomotopic to the original shape, iii) it is invariant under rigid transformations of the object and iv) given the radius of the maximal inscribed sphere associated which each skeletal point, the object can be reconstructed exactly. Hence, it provides a compact representation while preserving the object's genus and making certain useful properties explicit, such as …  Lire la suite

La lèpre est une maladie chronique infectieuse affectant les êtres humains. Elle est causée par Mycobacterium leprae, un parasite intracellulaire à croissance lente ayant un tropisme pour macrophages et les cellules de Schwann. En 2010, il y eu environ 228.474 nouveaux cas de lèpre diagnostiqués dans le monde entier. Des recherches menées depuis des décennies ont fortement suggéré que des facteurs génétiques de l'hôte contribuent fortement à la susceptibilité à la lèpre. Utilisant une approche de clonage positionnel, le groupe Schurr a identifié des polymorphismes génétiques dans la région promotrice partagée par les gènes PARK2 et PACRG comme facteurs prédisposant …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse étudie les dynamiques du réseau de neurones Krotov-Hopfield. En premier lieu, leChapitre 1 présente la littérature pertinente à ce sujet. Commençant par de simples réseauxlinéaires, puis introduisant des non-linéarités. La section finale du Chapitre 1 introduit lesystème principal qui est étudié dans ce texte, le réseau de neurones Krotov-Hopfield. Celui-ci est d’un intérêt particulier, car il produit des mémoires intuitivement compréhensibles.Le Chapitre 2 commence par reproduire un résultat connu dans ce système, la transitionde caractéristique-à-prototype. De surcroît, il présente de nouveaux résultats concernantles dynamiques d’apprentissage du réseau, montrant que dans une vaste gamme d’hyperpa-ramètres les brisures de symétries …  Lire la suite

As the applications being modeled by discrete event simulation become more complex the resources required for these simulations become prohibitively large. Distributed simulation offers a promising solution to this problem, but creates a new set of issues and trade-offs. This thesis focuses on distributed simulation algorithms based on a conservative approach with clustered processes. A multiprocessor based, distributed simulation testbed PARADIS, has been designed and implemented on a hypercube iPSC/2. Using this testbed, the performance of the TNE/DLTNE algorithms is investigated. A distributed knot detection algorithm and a distributed artificial deadlock algorithm were developed in order to detect, respectively, inter-processor …  Lire la suite

Tropper, Carl (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells of the innate immune system. They are finely tuned to sense invading pathogens and danger signals. The initiation of appropriate T cell activation, expansion and effector function relies on the delivery of three signals from DCs: antigen presentation, costimulation and cytokine production. The combination of these three signals determines the type and magnitude of the T cell response. Activation of DCs is accompanied by rapid and global transcriptional reprogramming mediated, in large part, by epigenetic modification downstream of signal transduction pathways. Intrinsic mechanisms exist to restrain DC activation in the absence of …  Lire la suite

Introduction : Malgré la recherche en faveur de la gestion ambulatoire pour diverticulite aiguë non compliquée, les hospitalisations pour diverticulite aiguë compliquée (DAC) sont en croissance. Les programmes Hôpital-à-Domicile (HaD) ont suscité de l'intérêt pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, conduisant au développement d'un tel programme offrant une surveillance virtuelle dans notre établissement pour les patients souffrant de pathologies cardiopulmonaires. Un programme similaire pour la gestion de la diverticulite aiguë compliquée (DAC) n'existe pas encore. Objectifs : Évaluer la proportion d'admissions pour DAC qui pourraient potentiellement être gérées avec le HaD et déterminer la faisabilité et la sécurité d'un programme pilote …  Lire la suite

The E1A oncoproteins of adenovirus type 5 are potent inducers of apoptotic cell death. To manifest growth promoting properties, therefore, E1A requires the co-expression of a suppressor of apoptosis. During normal viral infection, this function is provided by the E1B 19kDa protein. However, the cellular suppressor Bcl-2 can substitute for 19K during infection, and both proteins can effectively cooperate with E1A to facilitate transformation of primary cells in culture. How E1A induces apoptosis and at whatpoint(s) on the pathway Bcl-2 and E1B 19K act at are not presently known. Here, we demonstrate that E1A -induced apoptosis is accompanied by specific …  Lire la suite

Early-life stages of fish are often more susceptible to environmental pollutants than juvenile and adult forms. In aquatic ecosystems, sediments can be an important source of exposure to contaminants in these early-life stage fish. The overall goal of this thesis was to investigate the effects of embryonic and larval exposure of fish to sediments from Lake Saint Louis, a fluvial lake affected by agricultural, industrial, and municipal inputs located in southwestern Quebec.In the first data chapter of this thesis (Ch.2), an in situ method was developed and validated by exposing early-life stages of walleye (Sander vitreus) to reference and contaminated …  Lire la suite

La recherche du temps perdu est une quête de l’amour, vaine et navrante poursuite d'un “mirage délicieux" (1) qui se dérobe et se renouvelle sans cesse dans le désert sentimental d'où l'amour est exile. "Illusion" (2) funeste, "la chimère amoureuse" (3) reserve aux malheureux qui s’éprennent d’un fantôme et qui lui sacrifient leur chair, "un exemple frappant du peu qu'est la réalité pour nous." (4)  Lire la suite

Verbrugge, Clark (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

Proteins are known to be post-translationally modified. This thesis will discuss arginine methylation, one of the many post-translational modifications that occur within the cell. The enzymes that catalyze this post-translational modification are called arginine methyltransferases. The three main types of methylated arginines include monomethylated arginine (MMA), asymmetric dimethylated arginine (aDMA) and symmetric dimethylated arginines (sDMA). Type I arginine methyltransferases catalyze the formation of MMA and aDMA; Type II enzyme catalyze the formation of MMA and sDMA. Protein arginine methylation has been implicated in the regulation of many different cellular processes, including transcription, cellular localization, protein-protein interaction and signal transduction. The …  Lire la suite

Students with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) have specific deficits related to self-regulation that increasingly impact their school performance as the demands of schooling rise during middle childhood. A central aspect of self-regulation is the ability to appropriately regulate one’s emotions in relation to the environment. To date, research investigating self-regulation in children with BIF has focused on identifying deficits in meta-cognitive aspects of executive functioning, such as working memory (Alloway, 2010; Danielsson, Henry, Messer, & Rönnberg, 2012). However, other components of executive functioning, such as emotion regulation abilities, have yet to be examined among children with BIF. The current study …  Lire la suite

Le Développement positif des jeunes (PYD) est une approche basée sur les forces pour comprendre le développement des jeunes (Agans et al., 2016). En exploitant les ressources de leurs caractéristiques individuelles et de leurs environnements sociaux les jeunes peuvent favoriser un changement développemental positif (Lerner et al., 2005). Compte tenu de sa popularité, son environnement engageant et de ses avantages physiques et psychosociaux, le contexte sportif est un cadre prometteur pour promouvoir le développement et le bien-être des jeunes (Swann et al., 2018). Cependant, avec l’arrivée de la pandémie de la COVID-19, les règles strictes de distanciation sociale appliquées pour …  Lire la suite

Les endoprothèses (stents) et les prothèses vasculaires sont actuellement utilisées pour, respectivement, rouvrir des vaisseaux sanguins et réaliser des pontages chez les patients atteints de maladies cardiovasculaires. Les prothèses vasculaires améliorent grandement la qualité de vie des patients. Toutefois, des complications comme les resténoses et les thromboses peuvent survenir et mener à des procédures de revascularisation complexes. Une cause sous-jacente de l’occlusion des dispositifs provient du faible taux d’endothélialisation de la surface qui maintient l’homéostasie vasculaire et fournit les propriétés anti-thrombogènes des vaisseaux sanguins endogènes. Une approche pour stimuler la formation de la couche endothéliale est de promouvoir l’adhésion des …  Lire la suite

Pack, Christopher (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

This thesis takes the consensus around the need for more data collection in humanitarian settings as a point of departure, and goes on to address the lack of knowledge about the experience of the actors involved in data collection activities in such settings. To address the identified knowledge gap, I begin with a conceptual analysis of the intersections between data collection, relationships and moral experience in humanitarian settings broadly defined. In particular, I look at how the greater emphasis now being placed on the accountability of aid organisations has resulted in the notion of 'impact' becoming increasingly central to the …  Lire la suite

Cette these a pour sujet l'histoire soeiale de l'emigration eanadienne-fran~aise aux Etats-Unis de 1920 A 1930. Nous presentons le cheminement de cette emigration, vue dans son ensemble, e'est-a-dire les causes, le depart, l'etablissement ou l'integration de ees emigrants dans leur nouveau milieu et le rapatriement de certains. Le Quebec d'alors etait sensibilise a l'exode desCanadiens fran~ais vers les Etats-Unis. C'est en fait la deuxieme fois qu'on peut parler d'exode a propos de leur migration. Les emigrants sont des gens de elasse moyenne en quete d'une situation meilleure et non l'elite eanadienne-fran~aise. Une fois rendus aux Etats-Unis, ils s'etablissent dans les …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to investigate which type(s) of somatic cells release nitric oxide (NO) in response to Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cytokines in vitro and how NO affects superoxide anion (O2-) production by bovine neutrophils and blood monocytes. Mammary epithelial cell line (FbE) released NO after stimulation with recombinant bovine interleukin-1beta (rBoIL-1beta). Moreover, monocytes produced NO in response to recombinant bovine interferon gamma (rBoIFN-gamma) alone or in combination with LPS in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Nitric oxide production was diminished by addition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitors L-N 6-(1-Iminiethyl)lysine or aminoguanidine. However, NO …  Lire la suite