McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par F

This study suggests that cultural acknowledgement of the integral partnership between a human community and the environment it inhabits is central to the development of positive human-environment relationships. The comparison of two community environmental projects illustrates cultural implications of human land occupancy through comparisons of their governing land use institutions as well as social and individual experiences. In the Paakumshumwaau-Wemindji project environmental responsibility is strongly motivated by the interaction of shared cosmological understandings with direct experience in the landscape. The creation of Edgewater Park in suburban Pointe Claire is a clear indication of community environmental responsibility working its way towards …  Lire la suite

We studied the effect of Trichuris trichiura on growth in a randomized, double-blind trial in which 508 Mexican children (2 to 10 years) with asymptomatic infections were randomized to one of 3 medication regimes that were selected to differ in efficacy against Trichuris: a single II mg/kg dose of pyrantel pamoate (low efficacy), a single 400 mg dose of albendazole (moderate efficacy) and 3 daily 400 mg doses of albendazole (high efficacy). All three treatment regimes are effective against a range of parasites, and conventional wisdom at the start of the trial was that asymptomatic Trichuris infection is harmless and …  Lire la suite

Glutamate-gated chloride channels (GluCls) are the proposed site of action for macrocyclic lactone anthelminthics, such as IVM, and the milbemycins, such as MOX. The objective of this thesis was to determine whether Haemonchus contortus GluCls are important targets for these anthelminthics. To begin to address this we cloned a full length GluCl alpha-subunit cDNA from H. contortus (HcGluCla). This subunit shares a high homology with GluCl subunits from Caenhorhabditis elegans that have been shown to be important targets for IVM, suggesting that HcGluCla is also an IVM target. However, if HcGluCla is an IVM receptor then it should contain an …  Lire la suite

The search for a greater knowledge of the physiology and biochemistry involved in gastric secretion has advanced very slowly for many years. Many of the possible roads of investigation have been blocked waiting for progress in special fields. However, much investigation can be done using the present knowledge to help elucidate the extremely difficult but important problems. Any advancement in the knowledge of gastric secretion would be a valuable step forward in the understanding of this complex function and might be used to great value in many important problems including that of peptic ulcer and combined systems disease.  Lire la suite

Body composition studies (BC) by a multiple isotope dilution technique were performed for studying nutritional parameters and nutritional support. A group of anthropometric, biochemical and immunological parameters were measured and the data indicated that these parameters were valid measures of the nutritional state for epidemiological studies; but, of little value in assessing the individual's nutritional state. Of 44 morbidly obese patients undergoing jejunoileal bypass, 33 patients lost only body fat. Eleven patients lost both body fat and body cell mass (BCM) thus developing protein malnutrition. Six of these malnourished patients had abnormal liver function tests (LFT), and both the BC …  Lire la suite

Kemp, H. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Hemmeon, J. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

Data are herein reported upon the intra-seasonal changes in the nutritive value of a mixed herbage consisting of Kentucky blue grass, red top and wild wb1te clover as shown by growth and digestibility studies with young rabbits. A progressive decline in nutritive value and digestibility until midsummer and a complete recovery in all respects in the fall was noted. These data would indicate that marked differences in nutritive value may exist between herbage representing only ten days growth when taken at different parts of the season. The effect of small increases in lignin upon the digestibility of the various food …  Lire la suite

Tissue transglutaminase (TG2) is a widely distributed, protein-cross-linking enzyme that creates high-molecular weight polymers from its substrate proteins. Its substrates in bone are mainly matricellular adhesion proteins: fibronectin (FN), osteopontin (OPN) and bone sialoprotein (BSP), which have been localized to the osteoid and to the pericellular matrix of osteocytes. The aim of this study was to compare in vitro the effects of monomeric versus polymeric FN, OPN and BSP on MC3T3-E1/C4 osteoblast adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. We showed that for each of the three TG2-mediated protein polymers tested, a significant increase in cell adhesion was observed. Also when observed by …  Lire la suite

Hydrogen atoms were first obtained in 1912 by Langmuir (9, 10, 11) during measurements of heat loss from a tungsten wire in the presence of hydrogen. Above 2300° abs. the heat loss was abnormally high and he was able to show that this was due to dissociation of molecular hydrogen into atoms. Only very recently has this method been adapted by LeRoy (12) to studies of hydrogen atom reactions. Wood (13, 14) was able to produce atomic hydrogen in high concentration by an electrical discharge through hydrogen gas.  Lire la suite

Sous des conditions d'énergie extrêmement élevées, les constituants de la matière nucléaire deviennent asymptotiquement libres, formant un plasma de quarks et de gluons (QGP). On théorise que cet état de la matière a existé dans l'univers très jeune et peut être reproduit dans des expériences de collisions d'ions lourds relativistes. Le plasma se refroidit rapidement, produisant un rayonnement électromagnétique tout au long de son évolution. Les photons et les dileptons, contrairement aux hadrons qui interagissent fortement avec le QGP, peuvent contenir des informations sur les caractéristiques du milieu du QGP au moment de leur production électromagnétique. Des expériences futures visent …  Lire la suite

Personne n'ignore les services inestimables rendus par Molière à la Comédie. Avant lui, les dramaturges se croyaient obligés de traiter de "grands sujets".(1) Le public d'ailleurs, voulait une intrigue forte et des personnages extraordinaires. Par la puissance de son génie créateur, Molière a su opposer au système dramatique de ses prédécesseurs, une peinture fidèle de la vie de tous les jours. Se moquant des theoriciens, et laissant de côté les conventions acceptées par ses contemporains, il proclama hautement que la grande règle au théâtre, est de plaire. [...]  Lire la suite

The independent yields of l35XE, 133mxe and 133gxe and the cumulative yields of l35I and 133I have been measured for twenty-seven fission systems, consisting of the targets 232Th, 238u, 235u and 233u with protons of energies from 20 to 85 MeV. [...]  Lire la suite

The role of the stretch reflex during upright stance remains unclear despite research that has been conducted to date. We have developed a bilateral electro-hydraulic actuator system to measure the dynamic joint stiffness of the human ankle during standing and help understand the role of the stretch reflex in the control of posture. The apparatus consists of two foot pedals that are each connected to an electro-hydraulic rotary actuator. Transducers were incorporated to measure the position and torque of each actuator, the angle of the ankle with respect to the foot plate, and the positions of the knee and hip. …  Lire la suite

Radar equipment operating at a frequency of 106.5 Mc/s was used to investigate polar aurora. Radio reflections were observed and their characteristics determined by means of directive aerial arrays, one of which was rotatable about a vertical axis. [...]  Lire la suite

The success of biological weed control programs has been limited by a lack of understanding of the stress physiology of insect damage and pathogen development. This case study with the perennial weed, Cirsium arvense, (L.) Scop. evaluated the stress of five natural enemies. Attack by a seed head predator, Orellia ruficauda (F.) caused about 21.5% predation and may reduce seed dispersal. The stress of stem gall formation (Urophora cardui (L.)) is greatest when the gall occurs on young plants and on the mainshoot and defoliation simulation (Cassida rubiginosa Muller) is most effective at high levels on young plants. In nature, …  Lire la suite

During the last fifteen years considerable study has been made of most of the organs of the human body and among these is the placenta. Medical schools have attempted to learn its physiological functions, especially as to the part it plays in the production of certain pathological conditions. Bio-chemists have investigated its chemical nature. Others have studied it from yet different points of view. This paper has for its object to review the work on the chemical constitution of the placenta and with the presentation of some results of our own. [...]  Lire la suite

Clark, Grant (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

L'élimination ciblée par apoptose de neurones excédentaires et de leurs précurseurs est nécessaire à l'organisation du système nerveux pendant le développement. Des facteurs de survie et des facteurs pro-apoptotiques influencent la survie des neurones. Ces signaux contrôlent l'activation des exécuteurs de l'apoptose à travers les voies de signalisation de la c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) et du nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB). Dans le système immunitaire, la kinase TGF-beta-activated kinase (TAK1) est un activateur central de ces voies de signalisation. Nous avons développé une stratégie pour tester l'hypothèse selon laquelle TAK1 jouerait un rôle similaire dans le système nerveux. Premièrement, nous avons tenté …  Lire la suite

For the development of a healthy baby, the regulation of gene expression during development is critical. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that regulates gene expression, is established during gametogenesis and must be properly maintained throughout development. DNA methylation also establishes the parent-of-origin expression of imprinted genes, which play key roles in embryo and placenta development, cancer, postnatal behaviour and are implicated in human disease. The primary objective of this work was to determine the effects on the embryo and placenta of perturbing epigenetic events during oocyte or preimplantation development. The administration of exogenous hormones to increase the numbers of …  Lire la suite

The innate immune system uses pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognize conserved microbial structures called pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). PRRs include the membrane-associated Toll-like receptors (TLRs) family and the intracellular cytosolic sensors: retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs), the IFN-inducible double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase (PKR), DNA-dependent activator of IRFs (DAI), and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (Nod)-like receptors (NLRs). One of these NLR proteins, the Neuronal Apoptosis Inhibitory Protein 5 (Naip5), has been first identified as a locus controlling susceptibility to Legionella pneumophila in mice. The work described in this thesis covers three aspects of host-pathogen interaction study based …  Lire la suite

Rimbaud's life and works have been the subject of numerous readings ever since the poet's first appearance on the literary scene. This thesis is an attempt to reconstitute the multiple layers of interpretations which were grafted onto Rimbaud's life and works between 1883 and 1935 approximately. Successive readings keep a text alive and, in so doing, function also as prefaces. The concept of "preface" is thus expanded here to include the critical text. These strata consist of readings and commentaries influenced both by the historical and intellectual circumstances in which they were formed and by the progressive revelation of the …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the function and the modulations of the figure of Rimbaud in the works of Rene Char, from 1927 to 1988 approximately. This analysis, which traces the passage---from the latent to the manifest---of the figure of Rimbaud through Char's works, is situated at the junction of two series of texts, one "interior" (Char's writings on Rimbaud), the other "exterior" (twentieth-century interpretations of Rimbaud). Intertexuality, understood to mean the influence of Rimbaud on Rene Char, emerges as a reading, that is a "critique" of Rimbaud, the elaboration of a "Rimbaldian" text of which Char …  Lire la suite

Ice hockey is a popular winter sport that involves many skating skills improved by coaching instruction and numerous hours of practice. Once the basic mechanics of skating have been honed, the open game context requires rapid skating transitions between skating skills so as to effectively navigate about the ice surface to evade opponents and move in strategic tandem with teammates. Consequently, a player's performance relates in large part to effective change of direction maneuvers. The purpose of this study was to observe the kinetics of change of direction maneuvers in hockey players while wearing one of two skate models: a …  Lire la suite

Gros-Calin, La Vie devant soi, Pseudo and L'Angoisse du roi Salomon, the four books written and published by Romain Gary under the name Emile Ajar, clearly stand out from the author's other works. They can be distinguished by their unusual style which presents a multitude of literary devices that closely resemble mistakes and are seldom found in Gary's other writings. The present study attempts to explain this particular style by the author's desire to create a truly "total novel" as discussed in Pour Sganarelle, an essay that presents Romain Gary's approach to the art of writing. The greater part of …  Lire la suite

This thesis studies the works of Gabrielle Roy in an attempt to bring to light both the continuity and the evolution that characterize the novelist's writing. To do so, her works have been divided into four groupings. The first, composed of Bonheur d'occasion, La Petite Poule d'Eau and Alexandre Chenevert, identifies the poles of a paradox around which all of Roy's subsequent novels are articulated: disenchanted realism and idyllic chronicle are bridged, in an ironic mode, through the story of the Montreal bank teller. The second grouping, also governed by this principle of alternation whereby each book seems to be …  Lire la suite

Two enzymatic systems from the lactic acid bacterium Oenococcus oeni, isolated from wine, have been studied. The first one is the H+-ATPase for which the activity was characterized under various conditions of growth. The activity gradually increased by l.6 to 1.9-fold upon inoculation at pH 3.5. The H+-ATPase activity did not vary significantly in function of the growth rate or with and without malic acid. However, acidification of the medium in the absence of malic acid induced the activity by 1.5 to 2.2-fold depending on the initial pH. The partially cloned H+-ATPase genes shared high homologies with those from other …  Lire la suite

Woman is an ever-present image in the prose poems Nadja, L'amour fou and Arcane 17 by Andre Breton. While the image incorporates several autobiographical references, this is not the revelation. With textual recurrence forming a thematic, topical thread, the image is seen in its poetic, symbolic and mythical dimensions. Woman offers a surrealist poet a rhetorical gift. In these works the image of woman acquires symbolic value. It is identified with Nature in its cosmic, telluric reality, rooted in the unconscious in its oneiric reality. It is epiphanic in that it gives access to the Other's vision. To the poet …  Lire la suite

Patricia J Boksa (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

We have isolated a novel source of stem cells derived from the dermis of either rodent or human skin. When induced to differentiate in vitro, these cells give rise to all types of neuronal lineages. In this study, we therefore investigated if naive S̲ḵin-derived P̲recursor (SKPs) cells could be neuralized by the neonatal brain environment thereby generating neural cells in vivo. We transplanted orange cell tracker-labelled mouse SKPs into the lateral cerebral ventricule and the hippocampus of neonatal rats. Analysis of the transplants revealed that SKPs survived over the short, medium and long-term in vivo, with SKPs remaining viable for …  Lire la suite

La littérature se devait d'aborder ce thème du conflit des générations, car la pensée humaine doit tenter de tout explorer. L'âme humaine fut et demeurera le champ magnétique des esprits en éveil, une source inépuisable de découvertes et, surtout, le foyer des plus intéressants comme des plus angoissants problèmes. Or, parce que le littérateur se penche sur l'homme, il ne pouvait méconnaître l'existence d'un conflit entre les générations: tôt ou tard, il devait s'arrêter à l'analyse ou à la peinture de ce fait humain. Parce que la littérature est l'image de la vie, elle en traduit l'un de ses aspects: …  Lire la suite

IP-Glasma est un modèle de conditions initiales pour collisions d’ions lourds, basé sur la chromodynamique quantique, capable de décrire un large éventail d?observations, lorsqu’utilisé en combinaison avec une simulation hydrodynamique. Le modèle inclus la saturation des gluons de très basses énergies à l’aide du Modèle de Saturation avec Dépendance au Paramétre d’Impact (“Impact Parameter Dependent Saturation Mode” IPSAT), et introduit des fluctuations de charges subnucléoniques en échantillonnant stochastiquement la densité de charges de couleur de chaque nucléon, pour ensuite évoluer les configurations du champ de gluon à l’aide d’une évolution Yang-Mills classique. En s’appuyant sur son succès phénoménologique, cette thèse …  Lire la suite

Heavy-ion collisions performed at facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) produce the hottest matter in the universe at ∼ 10^12 K. This generates an energetic state of matter in which quarks and gluons become deconfined, known as the Quark Gluon Plasma. This material only survives for approximately 10^−23 s, presenting many challenges for precise study. However, its fleeting nature can, at times, be used as a powerful tool.Atomic nuclei, as natural phenomena described by quantum field theory, are defined by their reliance on the wavefunction and its internal and external fluctuations. …  Lire la suite

Introduction: Les systèmes alimentaires traditionnels des communautés autochtones du nord sont menacés par les contaminants environnementaux. La communication des risques sert à informer les peuples autochtones sur des risques spécifiques. Par conséquent, il est important de comprendre comment la communication des risques est pratiquée dans les communautés autochtones du Nord et quels facteurs devraient être pris en compte lors de l'élaboration de messages pour les peuples autochtones du nord du Canada sur les contaminants dans les aliments traditionnels.Méthodes: Un examen systématique a été effectué pour recueillir des articles de recherche primaire examinés par des pairs sur la communication des risques …  Lire la suite

The study assessed the impact of rice paddy water management practices and related environmental conditions that prevail in Niono, Mali, on the size of larval populations of Anopheles gambiae s.l., a major malaria vector. The longer the period of uninterrupted flooding, the greater was the larval population size. As the density of aquatic weeds increased, the size of the mosquito larval population declined, whereas the presence of rice plants enhanced the size of mosquito larval populations. Numbers of mosquito larvae initially increased as rice plant density rose, but then decreased marginally as densities reached their peak. These results confirm that …  Lire la suite

En radiothérapie, le traitement du cancer est planifié sur des images de tomodensitométrie (TDM). La TDM offre toutefois un faible contraste au niveau des tissus mous et utilise des radiations ionisantes, ce qui expose les patients à une dose supplémentaire de radiation. L'imagerie par résonance magnétique (IRM) est une technique d'imagerie qui fournit un excellent contraste entre les tissus mous, et ce, sans l'utilisation de radiation ionisante, ce qui en fait un substitut potentiel à la TDM en radiothérapie. Présentement, l'utilisation de l'IRM pour la planification du traitement du cancer est cependant limitée en raison de plusieurs facteurs, tel que …  Lire la suite

L'hypoxie est une caractéristique courante dans les tumeurs solides qui diminue l'efficacité de la radiothérapie et de la chimiothérapie. L'hypoxie serait une caractéristique très importante à surveiller lors des traitements de radiothérapie contre le cancer, car elle pourrait permettre le développement de traitements personnalisés. Cependant, il n'existe actuellement aucune technique volumétrique disponible pour cartographier l'hypoxie in vivo de manière non invasive. L'objectif de cette thèse était donc de développer une technique 3D pour cartographier l'hypoxie dans les tissus.Dans ce travail, il a été émis l'hypothèse que l'hypoxie peut être évaluée de manière fiable en utilisant l'imagerie par résonance magnétique (IRM). …  Lire la suite

This dissertation on chromite is not intended to cover all aspects of the mineralogy, geology, and economics of chrome ore. The main purpose is to discuss as adequately as possible the origin of chromite. Chromite is generally considered as a typical mineral of early magmatic origin. But a few authors have expressed some doubt as to the universal early magmatic character of the mineral. Some geologists even suggest that chromite may be hydrothermal. The arguments for late magmatic and hydrothermal chromite come mainly from observations with the microscope, whereas very few advocates have cited arguments based on the geology of …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of listener requests for clarification on dysfluency behavior and information content of stutterers' and nonstutterers' responses. Subjects were 40 boys (20 stutterers and 20 nonstutterers) between the ages of 5;0-6;8 years and 8;5-10;0 years. Two listener requests, "What?" and "I don't understand" were delivered on a time contingent basis during a one-hour conversation with the subject. Fluency and dysfluency measures included frequency and duration of stuttered words, within-word dysfluencies, pauses, and speech rate. Repair strategies were coded according to information content. Results indicated that responding to requests for clarification significantly decreased …  Lire la suite