McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par F

Castro, Rui (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Chinese international students in Canada and the United States have been victims of racial prejudice and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the response of universities from Canada and the United States to this pandemic discrimination and the effectiveness of the measures. Quantitative data is collected by obtaining raw data from the official websites of the selected schools. Schools were picked based on accessibility, size, diversity, and the information available on their official websites. Various types of Anti-Asian hate events from January 2020 to May 2021 were coded based on the website information. The events were categorized as …  Lire la suite

Bien que l'on sache que l’alimentation riche en sel (HSD) est liée au développement de maladies chroniques, l’effet d’une consommation prolongée de sel sur le système immunitaire et le comportement douloureux restent insaisissables. Ici, nous cherchons à déterminer comment la HSD a affecté les seuils de douleur de la souris et l'immunité innée, en particulier les cellules myéloïdes. Des souris mâles et femelles C57BL / 6 en bonne santé ont été nourries avec du HSD (contenant 4% de NaCl dans le nourriture de rongeurs et 1% de NaCl dans l'eau) à partir du sevrage (3 semaines après la naissance) pour …  Lire la suite

La plupart des protéines mitochondriales sont synthétisées comme préprotéines dans le cytosol et ensuite importées dans l'organite d'un façon post traductionnel. L'adressage des protéines dans la mitochondrie requiert la reconnaissance de différents facteurs : les chaperons cytosoliques, Hsc70 et Hsp90, et les récepteurs de la translocase de la membrane externe (TOM), Tom20 et Tom70. L'activité de Hsc70 et de Hsp90 dépend d'un cycle de hydrolyse de l'ATP et est régulée par certaines co-chaperons, incluant Tom70. Tom70 est dotée d'un domaine en pince TPR qui fixe un motif conservé à l'extrémité carboxylique des chaperons : EEVD. Cette interaction est essentielle pour …  Lire la suite

Dans la mesure où aucune analyse holistique n’avait été faite jusqu’alors sur la diversité des rhizobactéries établies dans les espaces sauvages et agricoles du Sud-Ouest du Québec, le premier objectif de ce projet était d’identifier les communautés rhizobactériennes cultivables associées à différents types de plantes sauvages et cultivées de la région de Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. Un total de 446 souches de rhizobactéries ont été isolées et classées en 90 genres bactériens, les phyla dominants dans tous les échantillons étant Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes et Bacteroidetes.Leur capacité à promouvoir la croissance a été évaluée en utilisant l’écotype Columbia (Col-0) d’Arabidopsis thaliana. Quatre des 98 …  Lire la suite

Simpson, Benjamin K. (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Susan Gail Ballinger (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

This thesis focuses on the renin-angiotensin system and atrial natriuretic factors (ANF) two hormonal systems which are stimulated and which may exert important antagonizing actions on the regulation of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and body fluid homeostasis during pregnancy. All experiments were conducted in healthy nonpregnant and/or pregnant (gestational age of 105 to 140 days, term = 145 days) mixed breed ewes, using a facility designed for studies of large animals. Findings from the first study with unilateral denervated kidneys provide evidence that renal nerves are a necessary component in the control of renin secretion in both nonpregnant and pregnant …  Lire la suite

Stroian, Gabriela (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Antibiotics are widely used in the livestock industry for preventing disease and improving feed efficiency. Many antibiotics are not completely absorbed by animals and they are excreted in urine and feces. When manure containing such antibiotics is used as a fertilizer, it can affect the degradation of pesticides since antibiotics inhibit the action of bacteria in soils or kill the bacteria. A ninety-day field lysimeter study was conducted to assess the effects of antibiotics on the degradation of three herbicides, atrazine, metribuzin and metolachlor, in a sandy soil. Poultry manures, respectively containing monensin, narasin and salinomycin, were used to investigate …  Lire la suite

Antibiotics are widely used in the livestock industry for preventing disease and improving feed efficiency. Many antibiotics are not completely absorbed by animals and they are excreted in urine and feces. When manure containing such antibiotics is used as a fertilizer, it can affect the degradation of pesticides since antibiotics inhibit the action of bacteria in soils or kill the bacteria. A ninety-day field lysimeter study was conducted to assess the effects of antibiotics on the degradation of three herbicides, atrazine, metribuzin and metolachlor, in a sandy soil. Poultry manures, respectively containing monensin, narasin and salinomycin, were used to investigate …  Lire la suite

Fertilizer applications of urea and triple superphosphate (TSP) suffer from low efficiency for corn production. Band or broadcast application of urea with acidic-P fertilizers may increase fertilizer efficiency. Urea and acidic-P fertilizer interactions in soil-fertilizer microsites were investigated using two Quebec soils. Adding acidic phosphates such as TSP and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) to urea reduced pH in microsites, urea hydrolysis, NH$ sb3$ volatilization, and increased soil NH$ sb4$- and NO$ sb3$-N contents. Ammonia loss decreased as P$ rm sb2O sb5$: urea-N ratios increased. Adding urea to P fertilizer increased soil pH and P sorption when using CaCl$ sb2$ as the …  Lire la suite

Christie, C. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

Sakata, Jon (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

De nos jours, avec un nombre croissant d’appareils reposant sur la technologie GNSS (GlobalNavigation Satellite System), la s´ecurit´e de GNSS suscite beaucoup d’attention, en particulierles attaques d’usurpation de GNSS. Pour att´enuer l’usurpation d’identit´e GNSS, la tˆache la plusimportante est la d´etection fiable de l’usurpation d’identit´e. Dans ce travail, nous proposons und´etecteur bas´e sur type et un d´etecteur bas´e sur type s´equentiel pour la d´etection d’usurpationGNSS. Le signal GPS L1 C / A est consid´er´e dans ce travail. Nous pr´esentons d’abord lad´erivation compl`ete de la proc´edure de traitement du signal. Sur la base de notre d´erivation, les´echantillons de signal apr`es traitement …  Lire la suite

La laitue contient plusieurs composés bénéfiques pour la santé. L'augmentation de la concentration des principaux composés bénéfiques pour la santé dans la laitue est ainsi devenue un objectif de plusieurs programmes d'amélioration et de producteurs. Dans une première expérience, 38 génotypes de laitues dont pommée, butterhead, Romain, laitue en feuilles, les espèces latine et sauvages, ont été cultivés dans des serres à deux sites et les concentrations des principaux flavonoïdes et des composés phénoliques ont été quantifiés. Dans une seconde experience, 6 cultivars de laitue ont été cultivés dans des chambres de croissance avec températures élevées (20°C nuit/28°C jour) ou …  Lire la suite

The photoelectrochemical (PEC) approach of converting solar energy into fuels holds significant potential to establish a sustainable energy system. Tremendous effort has been devoted to metal oxide based PEC systems. However, it remains elusive to reach the calibre for application in terms of efficiency, stability and scalability, due to the intrinsic limits of metal oxide light absorbers. Herein, we demonstrate the versatility of indium gallium nitride (InGaN) alloys grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) for the purpose of water splitting under sunlight. Using tunnel junction nanowires, we realize a monolithically integrated InGaN-nanowire/Si tandem photocathode with dramatically improved efficiency and …  Lire la suite

Like humans, computer vision systems can better infer a scene's 3-D structure by processing its 2-D images taken from multiple viewpoints. While this seems effortless for humans, it is still a challenge for computer vision. Underlying the act of associating the different perspectives is a problem called wide-baseline stereo, which computes the geometric relationship between two overlapping views. Wide-baseline stereo can be problematic when working on images taken of real-life urban environments, due to practical issues such as poor image quality or ambiguity raised by repetitive patterns. We analyze why these factors pose difficulties for current methods and propose principles …  Lire la suite

Ratzer, Gerald (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The epididymis is the site where spermatozoa are matured and stored. After orchidectomy this tissue loses up to 80% of its weight. In the prostate, androgen withdrawal by orchidectomy is associated with apoptotic cell death. The objective of this study is to investigate whether apoptotic cell death is involved in the androgen dependent weight loss found in the orchidectomized rat epididymis. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were orchidectomized and apoptotic cells were identified by in situ TUNEL apoptosis detection. Throughout the rat epididymis, apoptotic cell death was localized specifically to epithelial cells. Androgen replacement therapy demonstrated that apoptosis in the caput, …  Lire la suite

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is an adult-onset disorder characterized by progressive eyelid drooping, swallowing difficulties, and proximal limb weakness. The autosomal dominant form of this disease is caused by the expansion of a polyalanine stretch from 10 to 12--17 alanines in the N-terminus of PABPN1. Mutated PABPN1 (mPABPN1) is able to induce the formation of filamentous intranuclear inclusions that are the pathological hallmark of OPMD. PABPN1 is predominantly localized to the nucleus, binds RNA poly(A) tail, forms oliogmers, and is involved in polyadenylation. In this study we first demonstrated that oligomerization of PABPN1 is mediated by two potential oligomerization domains …  Lire la suite

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that play important roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation in eukaryotic cells. They target mRNAs to suppress gene expression by inhibition of translation or promotion of mRNA decay. miRNAs have emerged as key gene regulators in diverse biological pathways, with over half of the human transcriptome predicted to be under miRNA regulation. In conjunction with other post-transcriptional control pathways, the majority of the gene expression cascade can be under direct or indirect miRNA regulation. Given this far-reaching role, it is not surprising that disruption of miRNA functions can contribute to many human diseases. Both computational …  Lire la suite

La famille des facteurs de transcription E2F est un régulateur vital du cycle cellulaire, coordonnant la transcription des gènes essentiels à la progression du cycle cellulaire. De manière importante, l'hyperactivité d'E2F est fréquemment observée dans la plupart, voire toutes les cellules cancéreuses, contribuant à une prolifération non contrôlée. En utilisant la drosophile comme organisme modèle, des recherches antérieures menées dans notre laboratoire sur E2F1 ont identifié une forme d'épissage alternatif appelée dE2F1b. dE2F1b joue un rôle distinct et indispensable dans la régulation de l'endocycle, une variante du cycle cellulaire où les cellules répliquent le contenu génomique sans division. Étant donné …  Lire la suite

Les interfaces sérielles à haute vitesse (interfaces HSSI) ont connu une utilisation accrue dans les télécommunications. Le taux d'erreur sur les bits (BER), mesure de la fréquence des erreurs, est d'une importance cruciale dans les interfaces modernes de télécommunication. Cette thèse traite de l'accélération de la caractérisation du vacillement et des tests BER. Cette thèse propose tout d'abord un nouvel algorithme, approprié pour l'extrapolation de la performance de la tolérance au vacillement d'un récepteur pour un taux d'erreur sur les bits (BER) à un niveau de 10-12 ou moins. Cet algorithme permet de caractériser la tolérance au vacillement dans les …  Lire la suite

FPGAs have witnessed an increased use of dedicated communication interfaces. With their increased use, it is becoming critical to test and properly characterize all such interfaces. Bit error rate (BER) characteristic is one of the basic measures of the performance of any digital communication system. Traditionally, BER is evaluated using Monte-Carlo simulations, which are very time-consuming. Though there are some BER test products, none of them includes channel emulator. To overcome these problems, this thesis presents a scheme for BER testing in FPGAs, with a few orders of magnitude speedup compared to Monte-Carlo method. This scheme consists of two intellectual …  Lire la suite

Personalized medicine is a rapidly growing field of health research. Dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs) are a way of formalizing the sequence of decisions that are made based on the personal medical history. Value search estimators such as inverse probability weighted estimators (IPWE) and augmented inverse probability weighted estimators (AIPWE) are frequently used for estimating DTRs. These estimators directly specify a restricted class of regimes and find the optimal regime by maximizing the expected outcome under each of the regimes in the class. The IPWE is a singly robust estimator which requires the correct specification of the treatment model, however, the …  Lire la suite

Mysticism can be examined from various viewpoints: historical, theological, sociological, and psychological. This study primarily examines the philosophical status and implications of mysticism, an issue investigated many times, particularly over the last four decades. Walter T. Stace's work in the early sixties is regarded as a hallmark in the field. The topics covered in this thesis are epistemological, metaphysical and religio-ethical and deal with mystical knowledge, its object, and its method. The characteristics of mystical knowledge, its objectivity or subjectivity, its object/s, its logical status, the way/s it is presented in the language, and its method/s of acquisition are investigated. …  Lire la suite

This thesis deals with one of the essential problems in epistemology, that is, the foundation and variety of universal concepts. The classical controversy on universals is baseless if we do not consider different kinds of universal concepts. In this thesis, universal concepts are examined as classified into three groups: first intentions, logical second intentions and philosophical second intentions. We elaborate these three kinds of concepts from two perspectives. First, we have a journey in the history of Islamic philosophy from Farabi to contemporary philosophers in order to see what they mentioned in this regard. We found that the origin of …  Lire la suite

This thesis focuses on third-party liability in the field of copyright law in common law countries, that is, liability for the copyright infringement committed by others. By revisiting basic philosophies for copyright protection and case studies of three basic doctrines, authorization, vicarious liability, and contributory infringement, employed by courts to deal with third-party liability in the common law system, the author tries to extract applicable legal doctrines to treat third-party cases under a variety of circumstances. These doctrines could serve as a vigorous base with which to face future challenges, especially those resulting from ever-changing technological landscape, involving third-party liability …  Lire la suite

Salivary hypofunction is a major side effect of radiotherapy for patients with head and neck cancer. Our group used a cell extract from whole bone marrow (BM) cells, named BM Soup, which contains numerous cytokines, growth factors, and other paracrine factors, to rescue the function of irradiation (IR)-injured salivary glands (SGs). The results demonstrated that BM Soup restored the salivary flow rate, protected salivary cells from IR damage, and upregulated the expression of genes related to tissue repair/ regeneration. However, the components of BM Soup which are responsible for the therapeutic effects remain unknown. The first aim of this thesis …  Lire la suite

This thesis describes a new computational method for a comparative genomics approach called phylogenetic footprinting, for predicting transcription factor binding sites in DNA sequences. The traditional approaches have been divided into two main families: alignment-based and motif-based approaches. In this thesis, we present a new approach for phylogenetic footprinting that takes advantage of the strengths of the two approaches, while correcting their weaknesses. Our new method uses alignment information when it is available and reliable as the guide for the identification of conserved regions. We formalize the ideas into a new algorithmic problem, the Alignment-Compatible Substring Parsimony Problem, where we …  Lire la suite

In vertebrates, PBX and MEIS/PREP are normally localized to the cytoplasm and are mutually dependant on one another for their translocation to the nucleus. Recently, phosphorylation and cytoskeleton anchoring to myosin heavy chain II B were proposed as regulatory factors for PBX subcellular localization. Moreover, MEIS-independent regulation of PBX1 subcellular localization has also been reported. In this study, we investigated the role of actin and myosin in the control of PBX1 subcellular localization and the PBX1-independent regulation of MEIS1 subcellular localization. Our data suggest that PBX1 interacts with actin via myosin, and the interaction interface was mapped to the PBC-B …  Lire la suite

The ability to pinch an object precisely is an essential function of the hand. The primary objective of this experiment was to examine the effect of aging on the perception of a pinch-grip force exerted by the thumb and index finger. Twelve young (25.3 +/- 2.4 yr.) and twelve older (71.4 +/- 3.3 yr.) healthy adults executed unilateral and bilateral pinch-grip tasks with and without visual feedback. The performance of the older group was worse than that of the younger individuals when asked to reproduce a pinch force. Specifically, the older adults tended to produce an initial overshoot in force …  Lire la suite

Owing to its significant effect on fire hazards of combustible materials and the performance of internal combustion engines, spontaneous ignition has been studied since the beginning of this century. Early workers however aimed mainly at determining the ignition temperature, and it was not until recent years that ignition delay has received due attention and formed a subject of research in its own right. Dixon, Bradshaw and Campbell (Ref. 1) using an adiabatic compression apparatus in 1914, were the first to recognize the existence of a ‘pre-flame period’.  Lire la suite

The ignition delays of propane in a flow system were found to be influenced by the manner in which propane was introduced into the air. For a multihole injector with fuel jets at 90 degrees to the air stream the delay-.temperature relationship is of the form In y =71,800/RT + constant, RT over the range of air/propane ratios 117 - 35:1. This equation is dependent on the concentration of propane. Investigations showed that by decreasing air/propane ratio from 117:1 to 11:1, ignition delay increased to a maximum and then decreased to an almost constant value, tor air temperatures between 1011 …  Lire la suite

Le plasma atmosphérique froid (PAF) a émergé comme une stratégie thérapeutique prometteuse et non invasive pour le traitement du cancer, exploitant sa composition unique en espèces réactives de l’oxygène (ERO) et en espèces réactives de l’azote (ERA) pour induire sélectivement la mort des cellules cancéreuses tout en préservant les tissus sains. Nous avons résumé les mécanismes sous-jacents des effets anticancéreux du PAF, notamment l’apoptose, la mort cellulaire immunogène (MCI), la pyroptose, la ferroptose, la nécrose, ainsi que la modulation du microenvironnement immunitaire tumoral. Les avancées récentes dans les thérapies à base de PAF incluent à la fois les traitements directs …  Lire la suite

With the increasing enrollment of international students in Canadian higher education, international students’ life and academic experience has become an important consideration. Most studies attempt to determine the discrepancy between the requirements of English-speaking institutions and international students’ perspectives or behaviors (Hughes, 2013; Rienties et al., 2012; Singh, 2017). Especially in academic writing, previous research (Newton & McCunn, 2015; Neumann, Padden & McDonough, 2019) emphasized the importance of modifying students’ writing performances in order to better adapt to the new academic environment. However, what writing support that international students can receive also plays an important role to help improve their …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse présente le processus de conception et de reconception de MAHW, un système de vibrato numérique et mécanique pour les guitares électriques. Il est conçu comme substitut plus personnalisable et plus facile à fabriquer pour les vibratos mécaniques traditionnels sur les guitares. En tant qu’interface musicale, MAHW combine la mécanique de la barre de vibrato (whammy bar) et la modélisation numérique du vibrato à l’aide d’un pitch-shifter, qui modifie la hauteur du son.La nécessité de cette nouvelle interface musicale est discutée dans le premier chapitre, en analysant les problèmes présents dans les conceptions des vibratos existants. On aborde ensuite …  Lire la suite

De-inking sludge and its contaminants were studied in supercritical water (SCW), where temperature and pressure are above water's critical point of 374ºC & 22.1 MPa. Phase behavior of pure organics in the sludge were studied with a diamond anvil cell (DAC) technique, and optical & FT-IR microscopes. Oxidation experiments in SCW were performed in batch and flow reactors for the complex sludge and pure decachlorobiphenyl (10-CB). From the visual observations in the DAC, homogeneous phases with water were found for cellulose at 329ºC; for naphthalene (NT) at 383ºC; for benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) at 508ºC and for polystyrene (PS) at 570ºC. Adding …  Lire la suite

Dark House is a creative writing thesis. In the story, Ben Sandler, a twenty-five year old graduate student in English, retreats to his great uncle's home in rural Ontario to write his Master's thesis. The text is presented in alternating chapters. Chapters 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are first person accounts of Ben's experiences. Chapters 2, 4, 6 and 8 are annotated selections from his writings. The required critical afterword is in two parts. The first section deals with innovative and experimental approaches to literary criticism. In the second section, I consider some issues of epistemology, orienting my discussion …  Lire la suite

Daniel, Sam Joseph (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Les substances per- et polyfluoroalkylées (PFAS), y compris l'acide hexafluoropropylène-dimère (GenX), sont des contaminants environnementaux préoccupants qui résistent à la dégradation naturelle. La toxicité du GenX et de ses produits de transformation potentiels, combinée à la persistance du GenX, rend le traitement difficile, car il doit être permettre d’atteindre une concentration résiduelle très faible et une transformation en produits non toxiques. Les traitements électro-oxydatif et réducteur se sont avérés efficace pour éliminer le GenX de l'eau, mais les connaissances sur les produits de transformation générés sont limitées, et de nombreuses études existantes ne fournissent pas de descriptions adéquates de la …  Lire la suite

Translation is the process by which proteins are synthesized from messenger RNAs. This complex process is regulated by a multitude of factors (1). One such factor is the Polyadenylate Binding Protein (PABP), an abundant protein associated with messenger ribonucleoprotein particles (mRNPs) (18). As a result of its interaction with both poly(A) RNA and eukaryotic initiation factor 4G (eIF4G), a component of the tripartite eIF4F cap-binding complex, PABP elicits mRNA circularization and stimulates translation (2). Although the mechanism by which mRNA circularization facilitates translation is not clear, one model suggests that circularization promotes ribosome recycling. Recently, an interaction between PABP and …  Lire la suite

The Internet news medium has immense potential to restructure the existing media regime in Egypt. Online news sites offer new patterns for the production and consumption of media content and function as communication spaces in realms which lie beyond existing social and political constraints. This dissertation begins with an analysis of the social construction of the Internet in Egypt. It endeavours to show how certain political, economic and cultural interests and the agendas of key social actors are shaping the development of the Internet in Egypt. It also describes how institutional arrangements, the regulatory system and the communications culture are …  Lire la suite

Thermally-responsive and thermally-tunable materials appeal to a variety of applications, especially systems in space experiencing extreme thermal cycles. These materials can be architected to offer multifunctional performance to fulfill strict functional requirements highly demanded in the current industry. While several concepts have been proposed in the literature for thermal expansion tunability, most display trends of conflicting thermo-elastic properties, hence falling short under strict practical requirements. These requirements include high structural efficiency for structural applications and availability of a wide range of thermal expansion with high CTE tunability.The first trade-off tackled in this thesis is the inherent coupling of thermal expansion …  Lire la suite