McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par C

This study investigated the conditions under which communicative interactions were facilitated in hearing-impaired children and their caregivers as compared to normally hearing children and their caregivers. Participants were six normally hearing children and five hearing-impaired children, and their caregivers. Each interactant's communicative behaviors were coded for the intentions conveyed, discourse turn types, and verbal or nonverbal modalities of expression. Patterns emerged regarding caregiver communicative behaviors that facilitated children's participation in ongoing conversations. Caregiver behaviors most likely to be followed by on-topic responses from normally hearing and hearing-impaired children included caregiver requests, messages expressed through simultaneous verbal and nonverbal means, and …  Lire la suite

The current study examined children’s moral evaluations and responses to individuals sharing negative or positive gossip and how this changed depending on their relationship to the gossip sharer and the target. Children (N = 134, ages 8-16) completed vignettes from the perspective of the gossip listener, and morally evaluated the sharer’s action and provided a hypothetical response to hearing gossip, a 2 (valence: negative or positive) x 4 (relationship type: friend or unfamiliar classmate of the sharer and target) design. Additionally, the gossip topic was about the target’s behaviour with consequences for him/herself or another (vignette type: individual or relational). …  Lire la suite

Les commérages sont une forme de communication souvent utilisée entre pairs. Ça permet aux jeunes de comprendre les normes de comportement et de se lier avec leurs amis. Cependant, la cible subit des conséquences négatives. La communication électronique a donné aux adolescents plus d’occasions d'échanger discrètement des informations sociales (par exemple, le commérage en ligne). Les recherches antérieures sur la façon dont les adolescents perçoivent les réponses aux agressions en ligne se sont concentrées sur la cyberintimidation. Cependant, la recherche n'a pas examiné la façon dont les jeunes perçoivent les réponses aux commérages en ligne partagés par des amis. Dans …  Lire la suite

This thesis attempts a critical analysis of modern individualism through an examination of its origins in the seventeenth century. In this thesis I discuss the notion of autonomous and self-responsible individuality as a culturally constructed and culturally specific idea. Furthermore, I describe autonomy as only one of a complex of related features of the modern individual, including a withdrawn and objectifying stance toward the natural world, values and other human beings. In this thesis, I examine two seventeenth-century authors--Robert Burton and John Locke--each of whom represents a different conception of individuality. Burton emulates communal conceptions of identity characteristic of the …  Lire la suite

Le Bestiaire de Leonard de Vinci (datable aux alentours de 1493-1494) est une oeuvre qui s'inscrit dans le cadre de la complexe tradition litteraire-scientifique tout en etant, de plusiers facons, differenciee par rapport au corpus a facettes des ouvrages de Vinci. L'analyse des sources (le Fiore di virtu, l'Acerba de Cecco d'Ascoli, l'Histoire naturelle de Pline, et d'autres textes inspires au Physiologus grec) constitue la premiere partie de l'etude, ou grande place est donnee aux innovations de Leonard. Dans la deuxieme partie les aspects scientifiques et litteraires, qui sont presents simultanement dans l'oeuvre, viennent ainsi examines minutieusement dans l'intention de …  Lire la suite

This exploratory research examines the wage effects of a variety of measures thought to be important in the employment income determination process. It does this by using ordinary least squares multiple regression techniques to construct wage equations for two samples of blue-collar workers in Montreal. Blue-collar wage equations are constructed for: (i) the Montreal labour market and (ii) the Montreal food processing industry. The results of this study show that Montreal blue-collar wages are determined by a variety of factors. Most importantly, however, are the wage effects exhibited by a worker's gender, union membership status and whether or not a …  Lire la suite

Le présent mémoire porte sur deux moments concrets dans la carrière professionnelle du chirurgien et l'anatomiste Charles Nicholas Jenty (?-au moins 1777) dont la biographie comprend de longs séjours et en Angleterre et en Espagne. Bien que la vie professionnelle de Jenty a été étudié dans le contexte des illustrations qui font partie de ses atlas anatomiques renommés, sa biographie et l'étendue de ses activités scientifiques se distinguent par des lacunes notables. Le mémoire se concentre sur l'adhésion de Jenty dans la Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, et la réalisation de ses expériences chimiques en 1761 …  Lire la suite

Des études antérieures indiquent que les migrants et les minorités ethniques sont plus à risque de développer une psychose dû à leur situation sociale défavorisée. Néanmoins, il existe une grande variation de risque, selon le groupe minoritaire et le pays d'accueil. Ces conclusions ont été critiquées, notamment dû au manque d'attention portée aux aspects systémiques et points de vue basées sur l'expérience vécue. Notre but était d'analyser les explications proposées sur les résultats précédents, étudier l'impact des politiques de soutien aux migrants et de la déprivation sociale sur l'incidence de la psychose chez les minorités, et d'explorer les expériences et …  Lire la suite

The folding and assembly of proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen and membrane are monitored by ER quality control (ERQC) mechanisms. This thesis focuses on two elements of ERQC: the unfolded protein response (UPR) and ER-associated degradation (ERAD), essential processes that prevent the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the cell. The mechanisms of both are well studied but only partially characterized and additional pathways are conjectured to exist. We have created the ERQC database that contains protein interactions, gene expression data, sub-cellular localization and orthologies for all genes involved in the UPR and ERAD. Using this highly curated database, …  Lire la suite

This thesis is a study of the problem of intergenerational equity and the optimal depletion of finite resources. A review of the economics literature on the subject precedes an interdisciplinary study of equity in static and intertemporal contexts. Reasons for the use of non-market rules for depletion policies are examined. A simulation model of the Canadian natural gas industry, which integrates non-market rules similar to those used for Canadian gas exports for the last thirty years, is developed to assist in the evaluation of these types of rules, focusing on their intergenerational impacts.  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to develop a cognitive-emotive strategy training intervention (CEST) to help university students regulate and resolve confusion during complex statistics problem solving. One hundred sixty-eight university students from Canada, the United States, and England participated in the intervention. Measures of academic control, epistemic emotions, and confusion regulation strategies were collected. Audio-recordings of the sessions were transcribed and coded to investigate learning strategies used. Results revealed that the intervention was not effective in helping students better regulate their confusion during problem solving. Students in the intervention group did not increase their perception of control after problem …  Lire la suite

Kubow, S. (Advisor)  Lire la suite

The room temperature morphology of quench-cooled isotactic polypropylene (iPP) films and its development were investigated by scanning transmittance electron microscopy (STEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). STEM dark field images revealed that within an amorphous matrix there exist microcrystalline regions, 160 A in size on the average, having the $ alpha$-monoclinic crystal form. Regions of lower crystalline order were also observed which have an $ alpha$-monoclinic crystal form that has a substantially longer b crystallographic axis. DSC studies indicate that during quench-cooling to the glassy state iPP samples attain a low degree of crystalline order to an extent that depends …  Lire la suite

"I found two sortes of people, the one Christians, the other Infidels, these I found the most full of humanity and more friendly than the other." l So said Thomas Morton of MerryMount, one of the first of a long line of critics of New England Puritanism. Since then both the sins and the virtues of America have been laid at the door of Puritanism and the Pilgrim Fathers have been made the recipients of paeans of praise in commemoration speeches and of equally enthusiastic abuse from reactionaries. The one point upon which both parties meet is that Puritanism was …  Lire la suite

The subject matter of this thesis is concerned with the question of homogeneous unimolecular gas reactions, a sharply restricted but important field of chemical kinetics.The beginning o£ chemical kinetics lies far back in the history of chemistry, but it is only in the past two or three decades that the subject has been recognized as a definite branch of the science, and has made sound explanations of chemical mechanisms that form a distinct contribution. [...]  Lire la suite

La violence basée sur le genre, une violation grave des droits de l'homme, affecte de manière disproportionnée les femmes et les filles, dont une sur trois connaîtra une violence physique ou sexuelle au cours de sa vie. Malgré les politiques visant à lutter contre la violence basée sur le genre dans de nombreux pays, y compris le Pérou, la région continue de connaître des niveaux élevés de violence. Cette thèse basée sur des manuscrits évalue l'impact de deux politiques au Pérou sur la violence basée sur le genre, l'une avant et l'autre pendant la pandémie COVID-19, en utilisant des approches …  Lire la suite

This qualitative study explores the perceptions of adult Latin Americans on their secondary school experiences in the city of Montreal. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews conducted with participants, three other involved stakeholders, and from my own reflective memos. The study was guided by the three main research questions: How do they describe their educational experiences? What are the highlights and/or challenges of having been in their schools? How do they describe the process of integrating into a new society? Constant comparison analysis of participants' interviews revealed three major themes, each comprising categories that ran through the data. Under the …  Lire la suite

In this dissertation I explain the transition from modernism to postmodernism through the study of the French existentialist novel. I follow theories that demonstrate that the latter owes its success to historiographic metafiction. By setting off the aporias that deeply penetrate modern novels, I demonstrate the obsolescence of the prototype of the realist novel and I explain the impasses towards which the project of a committed literature lead, inscribed in the line of realism and aimed at an almost direct relation with society and history through the mediation of art between 1945 and 1955 in France. On one hand I …  Lire la suite

La transcription des gènes est hautement régulée par des protéines qu'on appelle facteurs de transcription. Ces facteurs se lient à des séquences d'ADN précises et recrutent de nombreux cofacteurs qui modifient directement la composition chimique de l'extrémité N terminale des histones ou recrutent des enzymes qui peuvent le faire. Cela entraîne une modification de la structure de la chromatine afin d'induire la transcription ou l'inhiber. De nombreux cofacteurs, appelés coactivateurs ou corépresseurs, peuvent interagir avec plusieurs classes de facteurs de transcription. Ligand-dependent Corepressor (LCoR), caractérisé initialement comme inhibiteur de la transactivation par les récepteurs nucléaires, réprime la transcription en recrutant …  Lire la suite

Ghosh, Ratna (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Postnatal handling of rat litters during the first week of life greatly decreases behavioural fearfulness to novelty in the adult offspring. Our first question was to what extent the Benzodiazepine/GABAA receptor complex, a system critical for the expression of fear, might be involved in mediating the observed reduced fearfulness in handled animals (H). Benzodiazepine receptor (BZ) binding was reduced in the amygdala and locus coeruleus (LC), regions important for the expression of fear in non-handled (NH) and maternally separated animals (MS). Moreover, levels of the mRNA for the gamma2 sub-unit of the GABAA receptor complex, which confers high affinity BZ …  Lire la suite

Shrier, Alvin (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

This thesis contains two projects. Project one was inspired, in part, by findings by Baker and Graf (2009). Baker and Graf (2009) found that decreasing the difference in orientation between dichoptic gratings shown to each eye, increased the length of binocular rivalry dominance durations and increased masking thresholds during dichoptic masking. They also found significant individual differences in masking threshold and rivalry rate and that those individuals with the slowest rivalry also had the strongest masking. We set out to replicate these findings with a few novel modifications. When we examined the effects of changing the orientation difference between stimuli …  Lire la suite

Ghoshal, Subhasis (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

L'un des principaux objectifs de la biologie du développement évolutionnaire est de révéler les facteurs cellulaires, moléculaires et génétiques qui sous-tendent la forme du corps. Bien qu'il existe de nombreuses études qui ont contribué à notre connaissance des voies de signalisation et les mouvements cellulaires qui guident le développement de la queue des vertébrés, des différences dans l'échelle, les méthodologies et les processus de développement ont créé une vue mosaïque de développement qui est difficile à conceptualiser. Avec la présente thèse, mon intention est de créer un modèle de développement de la queue qui met les nombreux points de vue …  Lire la suite

Both neoplastic and Neisseria meningitidis cells can obtain iron from transferrin in vivo. Previous findings (Holbein, 1980) showed that the murine hypoferremic response inhibits Neisseria meningitidis infection by iron deprivation. The present studies demonstrated that hypoferremia does not limit Fe acquisition by or growth of murine lymphoma cells. Transferrin binding sites on lymphoma cells and N. meningitidis were enumerated and the transferrin binding affinities were determined. Iron deprivation increased the number of transferrin binding sites on N. meningitidis cells. N. subflava and Escherichia coli were unable to bind transferrin. Competition binding studies demonstrated that lymphoma cells bound human transferrin over …  Lire la suite

Carroll, Robert L. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

L'enzyme bifonctionnelle AAC(6')-Ie/APH(2'')-Ia, agissant sur les aminoglycosides, est l'un des plus importants facteurs de résistance à ces antibiotiques. La connaissance de la structure de cette protéine est essentielle au développement d'inhibiteurs et de nouveaux aminoglycosides ainsi qu'à la compréhension de l'évolution de cette enzyme. J'ai investigué cette protéine au moyen de la diffusion des rayons X aux petits angles et de la cristallographie aux rayons X afin d'en déterminer la structure, les interactions avec ses substrats et les changements de conformation lors de la liaison aux substrats à des fins catalytiques. L'analyse par la diffusion des rayons X aux petits …  Lire la suite

Research suggests that athletes are at greater risk of disordered eating than their non-athletic counterparts. However this literature is limited primarily to female, college-aged populations. The objectives of this study were to develop and validate a screening tool (the Questionnaire of Eating Attitudes and Behaviors, Q-EAB) designed to assess disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in male and female athletes and to estimate the prevalence of disordered eating in a sample of Masters Athletes. A sample of 63 females and 48 males (mean age = 45.4+/-6.6 years, range = 35-65) completed a series of 6 eating questionnaires online as well as …  Lire la suite

The present investigation of the delignification of wood in aqueous sulphite solutions is, primarily, a study of the mechanism and kinetics of the chemical reactions which occur in the sulphite process, approached from the physico-chemical point of view. The specific factors studied were the effects of temperature, liquor composition and pretreatment of the wood sample on the rate of delignification. [...] Experimental methods were chosen so that as many of the variable factors as possible could be held constant, and one isolated variable studied at a time. [...] The experimental data has been presented chronologically and is divided into two, …  Lire la suite

Dans la conception des éléments en béton armé ou précontraint, les éléments peuvent être subdivisés en deux types de régions : perturbées ou flexion. Les régions perturbées sont celles dans lesquelles l’hypothèse de Bernoulli ne pourra plus être appliquée puisque les sections planes ne restent pas planes après flexion. Dans ces régions, le flux des contraintes est perturbé à cause de la présence des discontinuités statiques (ex. la présence d’une charge concentrée) ou géométrique (ex. un changement brusque de la section transversale). Pour cette raison, une approche de conception régionale doit être suivie au lieu d’une approche en section. Le …  Lire la suite

GMl-gangliosidosis is an inherited disease quite distinct from Tay-Sachs and Hurler's diseases. It exists in two clinical forms. These studies were initiated on a patient with the Type II form. GMl-ganglioside was accumulated in the brain and beta-galactosidase activity of brain, leucocytes and cultured skin fibroblasts was 2-6% of normal. The leucocyte S-galactosidase activity of the parents (carriers) was 50% of normal. Two glycosaminoglycan fractions were isolated from the urine. Both CPC- and non-CPC-precipitable fractions contained large amounts of galactose-glucosamine-containing materials of the keratan sulfate type but they were undersulfated. Glycosaminoglycans of similar composition were isolated in large amounts from …  Lire la suite

Treatment of primary uveal melanoma (UM) appears to have no direct influence on the evolution of metastatic disease, as 50% of patients will die of metastases following successful local therapy. This fact suggests that undiagnosed malignant cells have already disseminated at the time of initial treatment. The purpose of the study was to detect early stages of tumor cell dissemination in the form of circulating malignant cells (CMCs) in UM patients during a prospective longitudinal study. CMCs were detected using nested RT-PCR with two markers: tyrosinase and Melan A. These markers were found in our first transitional study to be …  Lire la suite

Greer, Charles William (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Culture shock and reverse culture shock are profoundly personal experiences affecting individuals in a multitude of diverse ways. They happen inside each person who encounters unfamiliar events and unexpected situations. For people who work abroad (sojourners), cultural adjustment is a significant time in their lives. Following the examination of cultural adjustment, a review of literature is explored, highlighting sojourners' acculturation and coping strategies. A case study of the JET (Japanese Exchange Teaching) Programme is presented through an analysis of public documents and interviews with JET staff and former sojourners. Findings report that JET sojourners experience adjustment difficulties with reverse culture …  Lire la suite

L’enzyme UDP-glucose:glycoprotéine glucosyltransférase (UGGT) est un contributeur clé pour le repliement des glycoprotéines et pour le bon fonctionnement du système immunitaire. La fonction de UGGT la mieux étudiée est celle de détecteur de protéines mal-repliées dans le réticulum endoplasmique (ER), où cet enzyme ajoute une étiquette de manière sélective aux glycoprotéines dénaturées et en les dirigeant vers des cycles supplémentaires de repliement avec des chaperonnes. Avant cette étude, la structure de UGGT était inconnue et il n’existait pas de mécanisme de sélection pour les protéines mal-repliées par UGGT. En premier, j’ai produit et caractérisé UGGT de différentes espèces, en obtenant …  Lire la suite

Weight loss is a common occurrence in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and contributes to further debilitation in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Wasting syndrome (WS) is defined as 10% or more unintentional weight loss from usual body weight. The etiology of WS includes alterations in metabolism, which contribute to loss of lean body mass. Cytokine driven oxidative stress may play a critical role in the metabolic pathways that lead to HIV wasting. Studies have shown that that patients infected with HIV may have a depleted antioxidant (AO) defense system, the integrity of which is needed to efficiently …  Lire la suite

A two year study was initiated in 1999 at the Macdonald Campus Farm, on a 2.4 ha site consisting mainly of St-Amable sand to shallow loamy sand (Typic Endoaquent; Humic Gleysol). The site was planted to alfalfa ( Medicago sativa) prior to the establishment of the experimental design and has been planted to corn (Zea mays L.) since 1991. The experiment was set up as a randomized complete block design and consisted of three tillage levels (NT, no-till; RT, reduced tillage; and CT, conventional tillage) and two residue levels (-R, no residues; +R, with residues). This study was performed in …  Lire la suite

Sarkar, Mekhala (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Les surfaces solides sont connues pour avoir un impact direct sur l’écoulement d’air autour des hélices lorsque celles-ci sont proches les unes des autres, ce qui altère la vitesse induite, affectant ainsi la poussée et la portance de celles-ci. Le modèle d’écoulement potentiel développé par Cheesemen \& Bennett \cite{Cheeseman1955} prédit une augmentation relative de la poussée du rotor lorsque la distance au sol diminue, et ce, à puissance constante. Plus récemment, Sanchez-Cuevas et al. \cite{Sanchez-Cuevas2017} ont étendu ce modèle à l’étude des effets de sol sur les quadrotors. Cependant, aucune étude de ce type n’a été effectuée pour caractériser l’influence …  Lire la suite

Studies suggest that deficits in central regulation of stretch reflex thresholds (SRT) underlie both spasticity and other disorders of motor control. We investigated intra- and inter-evaluator reliability to quantify spasticity based on tonic SRT (TSRT) and the relationship between TSRT and Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS, clinical assessment of resistance to stretch). Spasticity was evaluated in 20 subjects with chronic stroke-related spasticity in two different days, by three evaluators. Twenty different velocity-dependent dynamic SRT (angle where biceps brachii EMG signal increased for a given velocity of stretch) were recorded. TSRT (excitability of motoneurons at 0°/sec) was then computed. Spasticity was also …  Lire la suite

Conjugated polymer (CP) materials and their water-soluble counterparts, conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs), are currently used in a variety of applications including photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, and chemical/biological sensors. Fundamental studies on the synthesis of ever more complex architectures and on their resulting optoelectronic properties have paved the way to the broad range of innovative applications associated with these materials. A key discovery was the realization that the optical properties of CP/CPE materials, in particular energy migration along the polymer backbone, may be modulated by the polymer morphology and degree of intra/interchain association. CP and CPEs are thus highly sensitive to the …  Lire la suite