McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par N

McMartin, Isabelle (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Vitalism is an underappreciated and often misunderstood idea. This thesis seeks to explore the historical origins and meanings of vitalism in 19th century France; tracing the transition from medical vitalism in the Montpellier School in the late 18th and early 19th century to a largely philosophical vitalism in the late 19th century, emblemized by Henri Bergson. I argue that the decline of medical vitalism was brought about by the rise of scientific medicine, the experimentalism of physiologists like Claude Bernard and the growing influence of positivism in late 19th century France. I see the seminal moment of this transition from …  Lire la suite

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are one of the most powerful speech recognition tools available today. Even so, the inadequacies of HMMs as a "correct" modeling framework for speech are well known. In that context, we argue that the maximum mutual information estimation (MMIE) formulation for training is more appropriate vis-a-vis maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) for reducing the error rate. We also show how MMIE paves the way for new training possibilities. We introduce Corrective MMIE training, a very efficient new training algorithm which uses a modified version of a discrete reestimation formula recently proposed by Gopalakrishnan et al. We propose …  Lire la suite

Gamma ketonic acids of three distinct series have been prepared and their behavior in certain characteristic reactions determined. It has been shown that there is no relationship between the kind of groups present in these acids and their structures. To illustrate this, the action of methyl magnesium iodide and of acetyl chloride has been studied in detail. In the most highly branched series -the acrylio acids- the resemblance of the lactols to triphenyl carbinol has been noted. To account for the action of acetyl chloride, in the other two series, a mechanism for the reaction has been proposed and discussed. …  Lire la suite

Chromik, Richard (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Moreau, Christian (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Damha, Masad (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The effects of intraspecific and interspecific competition, host plant, and prior host plant experience on fecundity, rate of oviposition and mortality of adults and larval survival of Delia radicum Bouche (Cabbage Maggot (CM)), D. antiqua Meigen (Onion Maggot (OM)), and D. platura Meigen (Seed Corn Maggot (SCM)), were studied on cabbage, onion and bean plants. An optimum density for maximum fecundity per female was observed when the four experimental densities were compared. This optimum density was higher on host than on non-host plants. CM females were host specific and did not oviposit on non-host plants. Rates of oviposition and mortality …  Lire la suite

Objectives: To systematically review the research literature on the relationship between Quality of Life (QoL) and cancer therapy-related oral side-effects in a pediatric population. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using 16 databases (research and grey literature), websites, reference lists, and key journals. Inclusion criteria included studies pertaining to children 0-20 years, in English or French, published from 2000 to 2011. Exclusion criteria included mixed population of adults and children and non-discrete disease categories. Data was independently charted by two reviewers. Results: A total of 1270 articles were identified through the initial search. A rigorous review of abstracts and full …  Lire la suite

This thesis examines the impact of a new wonder that emerged through Iranians' travelling and observing educational progressions of advanced countries during the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. In order to analyze the wonder that affected Iran's modern philosophy of education, the study first discusses the predominant themes within Iran's educational philosophy from pre-Islamic times to Qajar's traditional elementary schools. The second part of the study focuses on examining the element of wonder in philosophy and its evolving form in cultures and societies. Subsequently, the new wonder and the early signs of a modern philosophy of education for Iran are …  Lire la suite

La thèse centrale de cette dissertation est que la colonisation doit être comprise comme une élimination temporelle. Plus précisément, elle doit être formulée comme un processus de soustraction du temps au colonisé et au colonisateur. Elle est, en tant que telle, une injustice puisque la possibilité d'une pensée et d'une action véritablement émancipatrices est écartée. Plus précisément, je soutiens que l'élimination temporelle annule les conditions par lesquelles des relations véritablement décoloniales pourraient être réalisées.Dans cette optique, je soutiens que la résistance décoloniale doit s'attaquer à la cooptation coloniale du temps. Je soutiens que les formes de résistance décoloniale qui négligent …  Lire la suite

Fung, Joyce (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

This work is devoted to the development of a hybrid, explicit-implicit, scheme for simulation of unsteady compressible flows with shock waves. The proposed scheme is of the second-order accuracy in space and time for both explicit and implicit modes, while satisfying the TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) property. The scheme is designed for simulation of the compressible flows with temporal stiffness. In this situation,the numerical time step of explicit schemes is severely limited by particular conditions in a relatively small part of the computational domain, while the rest of the domain admits much higher time steps. The hybrid scheme is designed …  Lire la suite

Through spatial diversity, multiplexing or beamforming gain, the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques can offer significant performance improvements in terms of user capacity, spectral efficiency, and peak data rates. Recently, the application of MIMO techniques along with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has aroused great interest as an enabling technology to meet the exacting demands of fifth generation (5G) and beyond 5G (B5G) wireless networks. In effect, by allowing multiple users to access overlapping time and frequency resources in the same spatial layer, NOMA has the potential to provide higher system throughput and solve the massive connectivity needed for future wireless networks. …  Lire la suite

Spoken term detection (STD) is one of many applications that require a capability for searchand retrieval of spoken content from large media repositories. In a typical STD scenario, auser enters a query term consisting of a word or phrase and, in response, the search enginereturns a list of detected occurrences of the query term in the repository. The state-ofthe-art STD systems use an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system for generatinga tokenized representation of the speech and perform search on this representation tofind hypothesized occurrences of the query terms. Varying acoustic conditions, speakerpopulations, and speaking styles, along with specialized task domains, …  Lire la suite

Baumgartner, Jill (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Modernism and Post-Modernism in Canadian poetry have been introduced and developed in the pages of non-commercial "little magazines", beginning with F. R. Scott and A. J. M. Smith's McGill Fortnightly Review in 1925. Subsequent generations and schools of poets have made their first appearances and they have developed their ideas by producing their own magazines. The aim of this dissertation is threefold: to investigate the phenomenon of the little magazine, its role as an essential alternative to commercial publications, and the sociological and aesthetic necessity for its survival; to investigate the progress that has taken place in Canadian poetry in …  Lire la suite

Clarke, F. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

As recently as 1933 one of the leading educational psychologists on this continent, Dr. S. L. Pressey of Ohio state University, was able to deliver with impunity a stinging indictment of professional education [...] The investigation of some aspects of this uncharted territory constitutes the purpose of the research project reported in this thesis, the initial work of which was undertaken in 1931, two years before the publication of Professor Pressey's book. [...]  Lire la suite

Kirmayer, Laurence J. (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Cette étude explore comment africaine et immigrée Caraïbes anglophones hommes qui ont des rapports sexuels avec des hommes sont victimes de discrimination sociale (homophobie, le racisme, la pauvreté, etc.) et examine l'impact de cette discrimination sociale sur leur santé mentale et sexuelle. En utilisant une approche de recherche qualitative phénoménologique par la théorie de l'intersectionnalité, l'auteur a interviewé six hommes noirs qui ont des rapports sexuels avec des hommes (HSH) au sujet de leurs expériences. L'étude a révélé que les expériences de discrimination sociale en formes multiples et convergentes, telles que le racisme, l'homophobie et le classisme des participants, ont …  Lire la suite

Le programme Mesure de radiation atmosphérique (ARM) du Département de l'énergie des États-Unis (DOE) opère plusieurs installations de hautes technologies. La plus grande de ces installations se trouve dans les Grandes plaines du sud près de Lamont en Oklahoma. Elle contient un réseau hétérogène de radar Doppler qui scannent les nuages de convection sévère et qui collecte des informations sur la vitesse Doppler du vent de façon continue et coordonné. Présent aux alentours, le Radar Doppler de surveillance du temps de prochaine génération 1988 (NEXRAD WSR-88D) propriété du Service de météorologie national contribue aussi à cette tâche de façon complémentaire. …  Lire la suite

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae SKN7 gene has been identified through a search for genes which, at a high copy number, could restore the growth of the $kre9 Delta$ disrupted strain showing a cell wall $ beta$-glucan defect. SKN7 was mapped to the right arm of chromosome VIII, and is predicted to encode a 70 kDa protein, Skn7p, with a region of homology to the DNA binding domain of the yeast heat shock transcription factor, Hsf1p. Skn7p also has a domain which shows similarity to the prokaryotic receiver modules found on an extensive family of two-component response regulators, including the product of …  Lire la suite

In this thesis, three architectures of self-pulsating erbium laser sources are studied. Through experimental and numerical investigations, the generation of ultrashort and broadband pulses is enabled. In a first phase, a numerical analysis assesses the pulse ignition and steady-state operation of self-pulsating sources composed of self-phase modulation spectral broadening andoffset filtering regenerators in closed loop. An experimental setup results from the conclusions of this analysis, and a multiwavelength source generating aperiodic light pulses in the range of the picosecond is presented. In a second phase, a new kind of self-pulsating source based on optical regeneration as well as soliton self-frequency …  Lire la suite

Les voies de signalisation ErbB2 et TGFβ coopèrent pour favoriser la progression tumorale et la formation de métastases associées au cancer du sein. La formation de métastases appert comme la principale cause de mortalité chez les patientes atteintes du cancer du sein. Dans le but d'identifier les mécanismes impliquants les voies de signalisation ErbB2 and TGFβ, nous avons transformé des lignées de cellules mammaires épithéliales avec différentes versions activées du récepteur ErbB2, dans lesquelles chacun des sites individuels d'autophosphorylation sont mutés. Ainsi, nous avons identifié les tyrosines 1226/1227 et 1253 du récepteur ErbB2 comme nécessaires pour l'augmentation de la migration …  Lire la suite

This dissertation constitutes the first monograph devoted to Qalawun's life and reign based on the contemporary and original data found in the Arabic chronicles of the period. An historiographical approach has brought to light information regarding the career of this sultan and has revealed contemporary historians' perceptions of his role as sultan. On the basis of an analysis of several aspects of the political and administrative, economic and social structure of the empire, which reflects the emphasis of the sources on the activities of the sultan, we concluded that centralization of sovereignty was enhanced during Qalawun's reign. But, whereas the …  Lire la suite

Most modern studies have portrayed the Mamluk period as that in which the Christian population of the Mamluk empire reached its demise. Two reasons are most often given for this situatoon: 1) the effect of the Crusades in arousing anti-Chrtstian sentiment and 2) the Mongol invasions to which several Christian powers gave active assistance. This study which is limited to the contemporary and later Arabic chronicles and which examines the reign of Qala'un as a case study for the Mamluk period, indicates that contrary to this view, no correlation exists between these two historical factors and the treatment of Christians …  Lire la suite

"An exploratory study was made, describing the self-reported process by which a woman comes to identify herself as lesbian or, as in one case, the process by which a change in sexual self-definition is avoided. The research had two major aims: (1) to obtain a detailed description from the woman encompassing her experiences from the first awareness of her attraction to other women, up to and including her present situation and any external assistance received or problems encountered in relation to the process, and (2) to formulate further research questions. Unstructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with thirteen lesbians and one …  Lire la suite

Klima, S. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

This research project explores the motivations of women's voluntary career transitions at midlife. Participants for this study consisted of 14 women who at the time of their transition were between 40 and 51 years of age. All women had maintained an active career throughout their adult life and were either negotiating or had already experienced a career transition. This voluntary transition was initiated for reasons other than an upward mobility within the same occupation. The data were analysed and reported using the six step phenomenological approach described by Moustakas (1994). Themes important to transition that emerged from the data were: …  Lire la suite

La disponibilité des ressources en eau permettent l’approvisionnement continuel et prudent d’eau dans les pays arides du monde. Les pays islamiques arides sont obligés, lorsqu’ils entreprennent des projets de modernisation technologique, de chiffrer de la protection légale et doivent utiliser prudemment toutes ressources en eau possibles. Dans cette étude, nous recherchons les spécifications historiques et religieuses concernant l’utilisation et la possession de l’eau dans un pays islamique moderne, l’Arabie séoudite. Ce pays a adopté à titre officiel le système de loi islamique de l’école hanbalite. Des préceptes ayant rapport à l’eau se trouvent dans les textes de jurisprudence hanbalite choisis …  Lire la suite

Three soil conservation systems: contour drainage, strip cropping, and terracing, were designed and established within separate plots on hillside farmlands in St. Lucia. A control plot with no form of soil conservation was also established. Topographic and soils surveys of these plots were conducted. Rainfall, runoff and soil loss were measured over one wet season. Crop yields and construction and maintenance costs were also determined. For rainfall amounts between 14.2 and 211.2 mm, runoff depths varied from 0.6 to 203.6 mm in the control plot, 2.1 to 199.2 mm in the contour drained plot, 3.2 to 155.1 mm in the …  Lire la suite

La planification opérationnelle fait partie intégrante du maintien d'un régime opérationnel économique et fiable des réseaux électriques. Traditionnellement, les réseaux ont été conçus sans avoir à se soucier des phénomènes de rampes de puissance, de telle sorte que la planification opérationnelle devait uniquement traiter l'adéquation des capacités en partant du principe que les capacités de rampe des équipements du réseau étaient suffisantes. De nos jours, l'intégration des sources d'énergie renouvelables a contribué à augmenter la variabilité et l'incertitude dans l'équilibre de puissance entre la production et la charge. Cela nécessite d'évaluer précisément l'adéquation des capacités de rampe et de puissance …  Lire la suite

Le nombre de voyages fait en vélos, ainsi que l'investissement dans les infrastructures et programmes visant à promouvoir le cyclisme, est en croissance en Amérique du Nord. Il est donc de plus en plus nécessaire d'étudier et de comprendre comment bien intégrer le cyclisme dans un système de transport urbain. Cela nécessite la compréhension des effets que les différentes infrastructures ont sur la sécurité et le confort des cyclistes, ainsi que l'effet que certains programmes et politiques ont sur la pratique du vélo, et ainsi de suite. La recherche concernant le cyclisme nécessite souvent des données de comptage, et l'un …  Lire la suite

Dialogue systems enable humans to interact with computers in constrained domains using only natural language. However, such systems are typically specialized for a few tasks and do not scale to diverse domains. One approach to address this problem is to use deep neural networks to model human-human dialogue. The availability of large datasets of human-human conversation has allowed these models to produce reasonable responses across a wide array of domains.Despite these successes, neural dialogue models remain difficult to evaluate due to the large potential diversity of responses. When evaluating dialogue systems, it is useful to make a distinction between goal-oriented …  Lire la suite

Matthew Corritore (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Travis, Lisa de Mena (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

Ces dernières années, la recherche s'est multipliée sur les effets hétérogènes de l'exposition aux importations dans toutes les régions. Simultanément, les chercheurs ont identifié l'augmentation considérable de la concentration du marché sur les marchés du travail et des produits. Malgré cela, aucun travail n'examine la relation entre la concentration du marché et le comportement électoral, ni le rôle de médiateur joué par la concentration du marché pour déterminer les effets hétérogènes de la libéralisation des échanges entre les entreprises et les régions. Cet article répond en montrant que l'exposition aux importations peut entraîner une concentration plus élevée sur le marché …  Lire la suite

Les petites GTPases de la famille Rab régulent les différentes étapes du trafic vésiculaire telles que la formation des vésicules, leur transport, ou encore leur fusion avec la membrane du compartiment accepteur. Les protéines Rab contrôlent de nombreuses fonctions au sein des cellules et existent sous deux états : un état actif, dans lequel elles sont chargées en GTP, et un état inactif, dans lequel elles sont chargées en GDP. Dans leur état actif, les protéines Rab recrutent leurs effecteurs qui régulent diverses fonctions cellulaires en aval. Les facteurs d'échange de nucléotide guanine (GEF) activent les protéines Rab en catalysant …  Lire la suite

Neural, humoral and mechanical factors affecting cardiac function and the peripheral vasculature were examined to assess the relative importance of peripheral vs cardiac factors in the control of cardiac output during exercise. First, I examined neural vs local regulation of humoral vasoconstrictors endothelin-1 (ET) and NPY, in anesthetized dogs, and showed that plasma ET levels, in contrast to NPY, increase in response to systemic hypotension but not carotid sinus baroreceptor activation. This did not occur with intact vagi suggesting an interaction of neural and humoral factors. In the next two studies I separated peripheral vascular and cardiac neural influences on …  Lire la suite

Dans cette thèse, j'explore la manière dont les artistes transgenres contemporains utilisent les matériaux d'archives dans leur travail pour générer de nouveaux modes de recherche historique et de pratique archivistique. Les histoires trans sont souvent perdues à cause de méthodes historiographiques et de structures d'archivage qui ne peuvent pas capturer toute la complexité et l'ampleur de la vie des trans. Ces modes de construction du sens historique effacent et mettent en danger les histoires trans en raison de leur dépendance et de leur renforcement des systèmes et des logiques qui excluent activement de nombreuses expériences trans : le temps linéaire, …  Lire la suite

Lambert, W. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite