McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par J

IntroductionIntracranial meningiomas are the second most common tumor of the central nervous system, and they account for approximately 15-20% of all primary brain tumors in adults. There is persistent debate regarding optimal patient selection for possible treatment modalities, their timing and delivery, without any consistent management approach to treatment across institutions. The present study reports the institutional experience with WHO grades I to III meningioma patients treated at Montreal Jewish General Hospital.Materials and methodsA retrospective analysis of 137 patients with diagnosis of meningioma that were treated at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital (JGH) from 2008 to 2018 was performed. Clinical …  Lire la suite

Contexte : La tuberculose (TB) touche de manière disproportionnée les personnes nées à l'étranger et vivant au Canada. En général, ces personnes ont contracté une infection tuberculeuse latente (ITL) dans leur pays d'origine et progressent vers la tuberculose-maladie au cours des mois et des années qui suivent leur arrivée. Il est pertinent de comprendre la prévalence de l’infection tuberculeuse latente (ITL) chez les personnes nées à l'étranger afin d'élaborer des stratégies ciblées de prévention de la tuberculose, mais cette prévalence n'est pas connue à l'heure actuelle. Mes travaux ont estimé la prévalence de l’ITL chez les résidents permanents et les …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to determine if levels of reported activism varied between people with and without disabilities, and if quality of life (QOL) played a role in those differences. McGill University students with (n = 49) and without (n = 79) disabilities completed the Activism Orientation Scale (AOS), the Quality of Life Questionnaire, a demographics measure, as well as a measure of political efficacy. Results of independent samples t-tests revealed greater levels of reported traditional activism among people with disabilities relative to those without disabilities. Furthermore, people with disabilities had higher scores on the AOS, as well …  Lire la suite

Iyer, Srividya (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Le nombre de personnes effectuant des voyages migratoires clandestins vers l'Europe a dramatiquement augmenté au cours des dernières années. Particulièrement à la suite de la soi-disant « crise migratoire » de 2015, les frontières de l'Europe ont été considérablement renforcées et militarisées, afin de contrôler ces flux de migrations indésirables en provenance du Moyen-Orient, d'Afrique du Nord et de l'Ouest, d'Asie centrale et du Sud. L'introduction de frontières très restrictives à la périphérie de l'Europe a entraîné des milliers de voyages interrompus et d’importantes zones d'immobilisation pour les migrants en transit. Certains migrants passent des mois et même des années …  Lire la suite

Gold, Ian Jeffrey (Supervisor3)  Lire la suite

This essay studies the language dealing with commerce in French Canada from 1841 to 1867. It starts by showing that the English greatly influence the French regarding business in general. The main question put forth throughout the thesis is the following: Does this English dominance over the French-Canadians in commerce reflect in the commercial vocabulary? In each chapter one aspect of the commercial vocabulary is studied to decide what sort of role the English language plays in the French language. The thesis deals with different businesses, trades and professions, commercial products, measurements, ways of transportation, and general terms. The conclusion …  Lire la suite

La transition des études de premier cycle aux études supérieures présente de nombreux défis pour les étudiants, particulièrement en éducation musicale, où la préparation à la recherche peut être limitée au niveau du premier cycle. Cette étude a examiné les expériences d’étudiants effectuant la transition entre des programmes canadiens de musique au premier cycle et des programmes d’éducation musicale aux cycles supérieurs, en se concentrant sur les facteurs académiques, sociaux et structurels qui ont influencé leur préparation et leur réussite. Les participants comprenaient des étudiants à la maîtrise et au doctorat actuellement inscrits dans des programmes canadiens d’éducation musicale aux …  Lire la suite

This thesis is situated in the history of British debates over the relationship of technical and vocational schooling to capitalism. It analyses the impact of 'new vocational' policy initiatives on English education from the 1970s, using an approach termed 'historical ethnography.' Using this methodology, it draws on ethnographic studies of the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) between 1985 and 1992. My argument is that TVEI represents the most recent manifestation of a long history of educational policies that have systematically produced and ordered the social relations of class in an educational form. In this vein, I argue that the …  Lire la suite

Rare earth elements (REE) comprise the fifteen elements of the lanthanide series as well as yttrium, and may be found in over 250 different minerals. These elements are required for many different applications such as high-strength permanent magnets, catalysts for petroleum refining, metal and glass additives and phosphors used in electronic displays. REE are abundant in the earth's crust, yet deposits with economically extractable concentrations are much less common. This thesis examines the separation techniques that are currently employed for REE bearing mineral (REM) beneficiation, identifies areas in need of further research, employs characterisation techniques to examine fundamental properties of …  Lire la suite

Coulombe, Sylvain (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Meunier, Jean-Luc (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

We study the behavior of a simple cubic crystal interface through the analysis and simulation of the Ising model in three dimensions; we use an algorithm which permits local temperature variations by emulating thermal diffusion. We derive a description of the interface based on the thermal fluctuation population at equilibrium and then use it to identify the equilibrium and dynamic roughening transitions observed under a variety of circumstances including a planar interface at equilibrium, a metastable bulk inclusion, an evaporating inclusion and a planar interface in the presence of a driving force. We also study strongly driven interfaces which exhibit …  Lire la suite

Definitions of literacy have evolved considerably since the beginning of the 20th century, especially over the last two decades, in response to the demands of a highly technological society. These enhanced definitions include more than the basic skills of writing and reading. For women, in particular, literacy has become linked with a variety of issues such as personal growth and development, ways of knowing and the effects of patriarchy on their lives. This study attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the personal meanings of literacy in the lives of a group of women. It examines the meanings women assign …  Lire la suite

Over than sixty years ago was concluded the Warsaw Convention in order to provide a basis for the unification of the international private air law. The treaty, not only eliminated the problems of conflicts of laws and jurisdictions, but also set a regime of liability based on presumed fault which is still applied, today, in most international air transportations. But since the late sixties, the system has been more and more criticized and is now in crisis. The present situation has arisen because the treaty, drawn up during the infancy of the aviation industry, has, thus, afforded the carriers a …  Lire la suite

This thesis describes a study of machine learning and its application to waiting times in radiation oncology. Specifically, an evaluation of waiting time estimates for daily radiation treatment appointments at the McGill University Health Centre was conducted and two unique communication tools for conveying these waiting time estimates were developed. To evaluate waiting time estimates, a subset of previously-treated patient records was used for training and modelling by several off-the-shelf machine learning algorithms and tested using treatment records unseen by the algorithms. Furthermore, machine learning was explicitly used to predict treatment durations in order to calculate an overall waiting time …  Lire la suite

Des altérations développementales tôt au cours la période périnatale sont reconnues de mener au développement de troubles de neurodéveloppementaux tel que la schizophrénie. Un rôle crucial de l’hippocampe ventral (HV) en développement de changements comportementaux et cellulaires chez l’adulte associés à la schizophrénie a été démontré en utilisant un modèle de lésion néonatale de l'hippocampe ventral (LNHV). Dans ce modèle lésion de l’HV par excitotoxicité induite par l'acide iboténique pendant la première semaine postnatale conduit à l'émergence post-pubère d'une série de déficits cognitifs, sociaux et sensorimoteurs liés à la schizophrénie chez les animaux LNHV. Les déficits comportementaux étaient également associés …  Lire la suite

Stress is inherent in our daily lives and it is debilitating to our mental health. My assumption is that racism and stress are intertwined. The purpose of this research is to explore the narratives of Black social service workers who are working in mainstream social service agencies. I will explore whether, and how, they experience racism and how their experiences might result in a range of stressors in the workplace. This paper is based on the premise that the amount of stress Black social workers are subjected to is directly related to the social and structural forces within the agencies, …  Lire la suite

The work of this thesis explores statistical and machine learning methods for anomaly detection in a novel low-power microwave breast cancer screening system. Reported dielectric contrast in the microwave frequency range between healthy and malign breast tissue is the main motivator behind the effort to design a time-domain radar-based prototype for safe breast screening. The microwave radar does not strive to yield a three-dimensional image of the breast interior. Instead, its aimed use wouldbe for frequent monthly screenings which have the potential to detect a departure from the normal, hence increasing the chance of early detection and, in turn, successful …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this dissertation is to establish the extent to which women's membership in self-help groups and their involvement in various activities of these groups, with particular reference to Micro Credit programs, impacted their socio-economic empowerment. The objective is to study the socio-economic empowerment impact factors (evidences) in women members of micro-credit self-help groups in rural India upon the self, the family and the community. Data selected for analyses was based on an operational model of empowerment that encompassed indicators of purported empowerment at the personal, family and community levels. The working hypotheses in quantitative analyses are that there …  Lire la suite

A change-point is said to occur at $ tau$ in a sequence of random variables $X sb1,X sb2,$ ...,$X sb{T},$ if $X sb1,X sb2,X sb3,$ ...,$X sb tau$ are identically distributed with distribution function $F sb1,$ and $X sb{ tau+1},$ ...,$X sb{T-1},X sb{T}$ are identically distributed with distribution function $F sb2,$ with $F sb1 ne F sb2.$ The current literature deals only with the change-point problem in the context of the observation of a single sequence. However, in this thesis, inference will be based on the observation of N sequences of random variables, i.e., multi-path problems. Two classes of multi-path …  Lire la suite

Asthma and depression are highly prevalent and often co-occurring conditions with substantial personal, social, and economic impact worldwide. Little is known about psychological factors in occupational asthma (OA), a type of asthma caused by exposure to workplace substances. Individuals under medical investigation for OA face distressing respiratory symptoms and uncertain occupational implications. Although preliminary evidence indicates a high rate of depression among patients under investigation for OA (UIOA), the impact of depression on patient health and well-being is unclear. The current dissertation examines whether major depressive disorder (MDD) and depressive symptomatology contribute to the burden of illness in people UIOA. …  Lire la suite

Peter Henry Radziszewski (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

The mdx mouse is the genetic homologue of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). In this model, repeated cycles of muscle fiber necrosis occur within the diaphragm and other muscles. It has been reported that molecules associated with tissue damage, such as extracellular matrix breakdown products, can act as endogenous ligands for Toll-Like receptors (TLRs). However, the role of TLRs and endogenous ligands released from damaged skeletal muscle has not been examined. The goals of this study were to determine whether genes associated with TLR function are abnormally regulated in mdx diaphragm and tibialis anterior and if TLR2 gene ablation affects genes …  Lire la suite

CONTEXTE L'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) recommande le déparasitage de masse à partir de l'âge de 12 mois dans les zones où l'infestation par les helminthes transmis par le sol (HTS) est endémique. Par contre, les données sur les avantages pour les enfants âgés de moins de deux ans sont limitées et la couverture n'est pas optimale. Cet âge correspond à une période critique pour l'intervention afin de promouvoir la santé et prévenir la malnutrition à court terme ainsi qu'à long terme. Par conséquent, l'objectif de cette étude était de démontrer l'effet d'une intervention de déparasitage, y compris la …  Lire la suite

The present study was designed to investigate the neuropsychological functioning of two groups of children: one evaluated as having borderline psychopathology, and a second with psychiatric disorders such as conduct disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but not BPD. The total sample included 83 subjects, 71 boys and 12 girls, ranging in age from seven-12 years. Borderline psychopathology was assessed using the Child Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (C-DIB-R). Frontal-system functioning was assessed with the Continuous Performance Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and the Rey Complex Figure Test. IQ was evaluated with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third …  Lire la suite

Children with and without autism were evaluated on two change detection tasks that entailed responding to 2 side-by-side images that were displayed on a computer screen. In Experiment 1, a distracter object that remained unchanged was displayed next to a target object that changed in 1 of 3 ways, a global position change, a color change, or a local deletion change. The stimuli consisted of photographs and drawings that were presented at blank intervals of either 50 or 250 ms. In Experiment 2, color and deletion changes were compared in photographs of objects and people. Children with autism were expected …  Lire la suite

Due to the importance of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in regulating many physiological and metabolic processes, the IGF-I gene was chosen as a candidate gene to study trait associated polymorphisms in chickens. A PstI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was detected at the 5' region of the gene and mapped to about 7 Kb upstream of the published promoter sequence. Analysis for association of the marker with traits of economic importance in an unselected, random-bred population of 359 White Leghorns revealed a significant association with egg weight (P ≤ 0.05) and specific gravity (P ≤ 0.05). There was also a …  Lire la suite

Na+/H+ exchangers (NHEs) are a family of highly regulated, integral membrane (glyco)phosphoproteins that regulate intracellular pH and cell volume homeostasis. Compounds such as amiloride are known to be competitive antagonists of Na+ binding and previous structural studies have demonstrated that these antagonists interact with amino acids located in transmembrane domains 4 and 9 (TM4 and TM9). Wt therefore wished to test the hypothesis that TM4 and TM9 are also part of the cation translocation pore. To this end, cysteine-scanning mutagenesis was used to analyze these regions of the protein. Using a functional cysteine-less NHE1 mutant as a template, cysteine residues …  Lire la suite

Knowledge of Cosmic Rays dates back to the early days of research in radioactivity. As in all fields of research the collection of accurate information about Cosmic Rays has been slow. This has been due, especially in the earlier period, to the lack of apparatus capable of obtaining the necessary data, and as the field of Nuclear Physics was new, no adequate theories had been developed. Within the past two decades, two valuable pieces of apparatus have been developed for the experimental study of Cosmic Rays. These instruments are the coincidence counter circuits employing Geiger-Muller (G.M.) counters and the counter …  Lire la suite

Les sursauts radio rapides (Fast Radio Bursts, FRB) sont transitoires de durée micro à milliseconde d'origine extragalactique. Malgré des estimations de taux de FRB de milliers par ciel par jour, seulement 30 sources ont été détectés au cours de cette décennie depuis la découverte initiale, et les progéniteurs des FRB restent un mystère. Cela va bientôt changer, des recherches dédiés en temps réel 24/7, devraient détecter des dizaines de FRB tous les jours, sont dans les premiers stades de mise en service. La recherche est hébergée par un télescope piloté par logiciel avec un champ de vision d'environ ~250 degrés …  Lire la suite

TrkA is the receptor for Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Through TrkA, NGF conveys neuronal survival, proliferation, neuritogenesis and modulation of synaptic plasticity. Receptor TrkA decreases proportionally as cognitive deficits increase in Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome. Even more so, the decrease in function and density of TrkA precedes cholinergic neuron death in these pathologies. NGF transport is also impaired. These observations have led to the hypothesis that providing agonists of TrkA may rescue the cholinergic neurons, halt disease progression and even reverse symptoms. As endogenous molecules usually do not have desirable pharmacological properties, many advocate for small …  Lire la suite

Approximately 85% of human cancers arise from epithelial cells. In healthy tissues, the epithelium is a highly organized structure made up of epithelial cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesions. Furthermore, many epithelia, such as those that make up ducts and alveoli, display apical-basal polarity. These polarized cells possess both an anti-adhesive apical membrane facing the lumen, and a basolateral membrane that creates strong adhesions to adjacent cells and the extracellular matrix. While not fully understood, the well accepted mechanism underlying the formation of epithelial cancer involves the loss of organization through the disruption of apical-basal polarity and the cellular over proliferation leading …  Lire la suite

Introduction: La sarcopénie est définie comme une perte de force musculaire et de masse musculaire liée à l'âge et peut être dépistée et diagnostiquée de différentes manières dans les soins cardiovasculaires aigus et chroniques. Les principaux objectifs de cette thèse étaient de 1) étudier la valeur pronostique incrémentale du diagnostic de sarcopénie par l'indice de masse musculaire appendiculaire (AMMI) basé sur DXA et la force musculaire basée sur la performance chez les personnes âgées subissant une chirurgie cardiaque, et 2) déterminer la valeur pronostique de dépistage de la sarcopénie par questionnaire SARC-F et paramètres de force musculaire chez les personnes …  Lire la suite

Focusing upon the protests that erupted in India when the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was codified into law on December 11, 2019, this thesis attempts to document and analyze the affective story that shaped the anti-CAA resistance on new media. The law, which has been shown to harbour an unconstitutional and anti-Muslim logic, was critiqued in the civil society spheres such as policy, law, academia, and art. Contextualizing three key events from the Movement, namely the violence on the campus of Jamia Millia Islamia University, the women-led resistance at Shaheen Bagh, and the Hindu nationalist violence on Muslims in Northeast …  Lire la suite

A significant alteration in the pattern of secretion of gonadotropins is the hallmark of age-related loss of estrous cyclicity and reproductive capacity. Although various components of the reproductive axis contribute to altered gonadotropin secretion, neuroendocrine dysfunction is believed to play an important role in the age-related loss of estrous cyclicity in the rodent. Our studies examining the pituitary responsiveness to GnRH with age revealed that the pituitaries of C57BL/6J mice appear to be capable of sustaining normal endocrine function under appropriate stimulus even in old females. Thus we hypothesized that changes at the level of the hypothalamus may be responsible …  Lire la suite

Lamontagne, Anouk (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Immediately after World War II, India met with success in her great political struggle and emerged as an independent nation with a new concept of freedom and equality of human beings; a concept which the Indiana regard as the only hope for survival and happiness of mankind in the true sense of the term. India is striving hard to march toward progress and prosperity to maintain the independence she has won, an independence which is an achievement and not a gift to her. Sometimes it is easy to achieve a goal but hard to maintain it. There were many problems …  Lire la suite

The etiology of endemic pneumonia in rats has been investigated, and the specific cause of the condition was established. A viral agent was isolated in rat embryo skin primary tissue cultures, and postulates have been fulfilled for identifying this viral agent with endemic pneumonia in rats. Some characteristics of this virus were established. A method for demonstrating the cytopathogenic agent, involving two-step incubation of inoculated tissue cultures at two different temperatures has been described. This technique was successfully employed for the isolation of the virus responsible for endemic pneumonia in rats.  Lire la suite

Delicate and perishable small fruits like strawberries and raspberries require extra care in handling, shipping and processing. Berry growers must put their product on the market in good condition, which requires careful handling during picking, storing and subsequent shipping to the market so that the fruits retain freshness and quality. On the other hand, the fruit preservation industries are interested in the quality of their finished product, which is largely dependent upon the quality of the raw berries.  Lire la suite

Parminder Chahal (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Recently, the scientific community has recognized the potential application of lipophilic compounds of grain amaranth as an active ingredient in nutraceutical supplements and cosmeceutical formulations specifically squalene, sterols, tocols and polyphenols. This research study has actualised the optimisation of a novel methodology for eluting bioactive lipophilic compounds from grain amaranth by employing microwave assisted extraction (MAE). The study developed an approach to exploit the lipids of this unconventional pseudo-cereal for industrial applications. Experimentation of this study was carried out in three phases. In the first phase, pre-optimisation studies were conducted to identify the optimum parameters such as sample particle size, …  Lire la suite