McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par O

Potato is a major part of the human diet in many countries of the world, providing substantial levels of carbohydrate, protein, and vitamins. This study examined the tuber protein content. In the first part of the research, total soluble protein (TSP) and patatin concentration were determined in periderm, cortex, and pith, in tubers of 20 important potato cultivars. TSP concentration was greater in periderm and lesser in cortex and pith tissues. Patatin was present in all tuber tissues but with the opposite pattern, less in periderm and greater in cortex and pith tissues. For intercultivar comparisons, a means of converting …  Lire la suite

Nugus, Peter (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

An understanding of the behavior of brittle solids subjected to stresses is not only of academic interest, but is of great importance in engineering practice. In particular, the stress response of rock masses merits doser attention. Most large engineering projects utilize rock materials either directly, as part of the structure, or indirectly, as the foundation upon which the structure will rest. In tunneling and in mining, excavations are completely surrounded by rock and usually induce in it the extreme stress response of ultimate failure. [...]  Lire la suite

The oldest known descriptions of glaciers are found in Icelandic literature from the 11th century. Scientific studies of glaciers were first undertaken in Switzerland some five hundred years later, and during the 19th century glaciology became important in geology, as it was evident that the glaciers were instrumental in the evolution of landscape. Regular meteorological service, with weather forecasting, was first established in France, where synoptic weather maps were published from 1863, but climatological research had been carried out before that date.  Lire la suite

Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this study (1) to describe the meteorological conditions on the Barnes Ice-cap during the months of June, July and August 1950; (2) to describe the ablation in that period; and (3) to show the relationship between ablation and meteorological conditions. Importance of the study. Nothing has been known about the climate of the ablation period on any Canadian glacier or ice-cap. Wood noted that previous to 1948 it was difficult to recall a single example of studies carried out in North America and devoted to the great areas of snow accumulation. …  Lire la suite

The year-after-year increasing popularity of electric vehicles will cause unprecedented issues in managing the supply of electricity and charging spaces. It is in the interest of utility providers and everyday consumers to be able to plan for peaks and congestion. While past work has been done for localized, short-term forecasting, it has not included longer term forecasting, spatial diversity, while also lacking an exploration of features. This thesis proposes a methodology to forecast demand at public EV charging stations. We explore the potential of data-driven models to predict demand for the medium term or up to one week in advance. …  Lire la suite

Bayer (1) first synthesized acetylcholine but for a long time this substance attracted little pharmacological interest. In 1901, Hunt (2) suggested that an ester of choline might be the active material released by parasympathetic nerve endings. Five years later, Hunt and Taveau (3) reported that the acetate ester of choline was one thousand times more potent in its depressor action than choline itself. [...]  Lire la suite

GH acts through its specific receptor, GHR. In the human liver, more than twelve hGHR mRNAs are transcribed from unique TUTR exons, seven of which are found in two small clusters: module A (V2,V9,V3) and module B (V7,V1,V4,V8). While module A mRNAs are ubiquitously expressed, module B transcripts are restricted to normal postnatal liver, suggesting developmental- and liver-specific regulation of the hGHR gene. To begin characterising the elements regulating module B mRNA expression, I studied the promoter region of the V1 exon, the most abundantly expressing variant in liver. A 1.8 kb region upstream of the V1 transcriptional start site …  Lire la suite

Carolina Beraldo Meloto (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

The Kyoto School groups together a number of Japanese philosophers who were under the tutelage or influence of its founder, Nishida Kitarō. The Kyoto School was at its zenith during both the prewar and wartime periods, when Nishida was still alive. Its philosophers' involvement in the wartime situation aroused much controversy after the war, as their political discourses during this period have commonly been regarded as expressing support for the wartime regime. Recently, in line with the rise of historical revisionism regarding the Asia-Pacific War, scholars have called for a change in the way the Kyoto School's discourses are regarded, …  Lire la suite

Jacobs, Kris (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Brown, Peter Gilbert (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Population-level analyses are inherently complex due to a myriad of latent confounding effects that underlie the interdisciplinary topics of research interest. Despite the mounting demand for generative population models, the limited generalizability to underrepresented groups hinders their widespread adoption in downstream applications. Interpretability and reliability are essential for clinicians and policymakers, while accuracy and precision are prioritized from an engineering standpoint. Thus, in domains such as population neuroscience, the challenge lies in determining a suitable approach to model population data effectively. Notably, the traditional strata-agnostic nature of existing methods in this field reveals a pertinent gap in quantitative techniques that …  Lire la suite

Size, color phases, molar tooth complexity, and post-palatal margin variations were studied as individual characters in C. gapperi in the Quebec Peninsula. These were found to have discordant patterns of distribution. A significant gradient in size increase was found from the neck to the eastern and northern portions of the Peninsula. Brown-back and the fifth angle showed a general increase northward in frequency within the confines of the Peninsula compared with contiguous regions. Local variations within the study area occurred.  Lire la suite

This thesis is concerned with the relationship between geopolitics and the emergence of a "nationalizing Canadian state" at the beginning of the twentieth century. Previous constitutional approaches and economic accounts are not sufficient to explain the emergence of a nationalizing Canadian state. All of these have been insightful, but like economic accounts of nationalism they ignore the larger realm of geopolitics. The literature on state formation has demonstrated that many factors stimulate state formation, but perhaps no other is as important as geopolitics. Geopolitics is concerned with diplomacy, arms, and territory. Such things are seldom discussed when writing about Canada. …  Lire la suite

Many studies reporting on behaviour change interventions do not conduct implementation evaluations (delivery fidelity and participant engagement). We evaluated the implementation of a pilot randomized controlled trial on the role of peers and functional tasks in enhancing exercise training for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Individuals randomized to the intervention (n=11) participated in a synchronous, home-based, exercise and peer support program, grounded in self-determination theory and led by a kinesiologist and behaviour change specialist. Individuals randomized to the control (n=11) participated in a phone-based exercise program led by two kinesiologists. For the intervention, delivery fidelity and participant engagement (primary …  Lire la suite

This thesis studied the role of spinal nitric oxide (NO) in carrageenan-induced dermal hyperalgesia in the rat hindpaw by means of intrathecal (i.t.) administration of various NO synthase (NOS) inhibitors. A spinal role for NO in carrageenan-induced thermal hyperalgesia was confirmed by dose-dependently reducing the hyperalgesia with a non-selective NOS inhibitor. Next, it was determined that a relatively selective neuronal NOS (nNOS) inhibitor and two relatively selective inducible NOS (iNOS) inhibitors were able to reduce carrageenan-induced thermal hyperalgesia. Finally, early administration of either an nNOS or an iNOS inhibitor had no significant effect on carrageenan-induced thermal hyperalgesia. However, late administration …  Lire la suite

Along with forest managers, architects and builders are key change agents of forest ecosystems’ structure and composition through the specification and use of wood products. New forest management approaches are being advocated to increase the resilience and adaptability of forests to climate change and other natural disturbances. Such approaches call for a diversification of our forests based on species’ functional traits that will dramatically change the harvested species composition, volume, and output of our forested landscapes. This calls for the wood-building industry to adapt its ways of operating. Accordingly, this dissertation expands the evaluation of the ecological resilience of forest …  Lire la suite

When George Leigh-Mallory was asked why men should want to climb Everest he made the classic reply: "Because it is there." Perhaps it is not stretching the analogy too far to say that the same answer may be made to the question: "Why should anyone want to tackle the difficult problem of the Second Coming?" It is there as the center around which the theology of the New Testament revolves and it is planted squarely in the creeds of the Church. We can no longer avoid this problem and remain intellectually respectable.  Lire la suite

This thesis examines and assesses the Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations from 1933 to 1939. The first chapter outlines the Peace Treaties of Versailles, Trianon and St. Germain and their effect upon the increased German minority in Europe. This body of Germans in countries outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland are referred to as the Volksdeutsche. The policies of the Weimar Government towards the German minorities in Europe are then examined. The second chapter outlines the minority policy of the National Socialist Party and various prominent National Socialist leaders. Chapter three outlines the major non-National Socialist and National Socialist Germandom organizations. …  Lire la suite

Razek, Tarek (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

This thesis analyses Huatulquenos (1991) and Samahua (1997), by the Mexican author Leonardo Da Jandra. The goal of this study is to examine the interaction between literature and society. For this reason, three elements have been tackled: the referent that inspired the novels, the texts and their reception. The referent, the county of Santa Maria Huatulco (Mexico), has been studied from a socio-political perspective. The text analysis, on the other hand, not only focuses on style and content of the texts, but it isolates the implicit discourses articulated in both novels. Finally, the study of the reception explains the different …  Lire la suite

La demande croissante de systèmes d’entraînement électrique à haute performance et à haut rendement énergétique, notamment dans des domaines tels que les véhicules électriques, l’automatisation industrielle et les énergies renouvelables, met en évidence la nécessité de techniques avancées de modélisation, de simulation et d’optimisation. Les méthodes de simulation traditionnelles traitent souvent la machine électrique et son système de commande comme des entités distinctes, ce qui simplifie le processus de conception mais néglige les interactions critiques entre l’électromagnétisme et la commande, affectant significativement les performances réelles et le rendement du système.Ce mémoire propose un cadre de co-simulation et d’optimisation pour les …  Lire la suite

ABSTRACTGlobal forests are declining at large geographical scales and at rates that outpace our ability to monitor them. The use of field methods alone is limited in scope and can be labour-intensive when utilized to capture multi-temporal changes in biodiversity at a landscape scale. However, it is possible to overcome these constraints using remote sensing, because large geographic areas can be assessed consistently and repeatedly. There is, therefore, a need for innovative, operational remote sensing-based approaches for accurate, reliable, and repeatable monitoring of changes in forest ecosystems at large geographic scales to support conservation initiatives. The aim of this dissertation …  Lire la suite

Onchocerciasis, commonly known as "River blindness" is a disease affecting over 37 million people, worldwide. It is caused by the parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus and transmitted by the blackfly vector of the genus Simulium. The drug ivermectin (IVM) is the principal means of controlling the disease. As a result of recent reports on sub-optimal response to ivermectin and genetic selection in O. volvulus, we carried out a 21 month epidemiological study to investigate the response of O. volvulus to repeated rounds of IVM treatments in 2501 subjects from 19 Ghanaian communities that have received between 6 and 18 annual treatments …  Lire la suite

This paper examines the impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) on domestic control. The paper explains why intellectual property became part of the global trade agenda. The author considers arguments both for and against stronger global protection for intellectual property rights. Through analysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) cases on the TRIPS Agreement, the author argues that the TRIPS Agreement has effectively removed from WTO Member states control over their intellectual property regimes. The author focuses on the negative impact that a rigid application of the TRIPS Agreement is likely to have …  Lire la suite

Rabbi Naftali Zevi Yehuda Berlin's commentary to the Pentateuch, Ha'amek Davar, was first published in Vilna in 1879-1880. The work grew out of a daily class that Berlin taught at the famed yeshiva Etz Hayyim of Volozhin, where he was dean from 1853-1893. This study of Ha'amek Davar focuses on Berlin's exegesis of Noah's three sons. Because Berlin often conceals his sources and their previous discussions, one of the great challenges of working with Ha'amek Davar is trying to recognize which interpretations were original to Berlin and which were adapted from elsewhere. Because my discussion was limited to a few …  Lire la suite

McClure, Ghyslaine (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

This thesis investigates how children learn the first and the second person pronouns in English. In the first phase two cross sectional studies, which examined production and comprehension in children between 16 months and 36 months of ages, were conducted to determine what types of hypotheses children entertain about the semantic rules of the pronouns. In the second phase an intervention experiment was conducted to determine whether children benefit from observing speech not addressed to them for discovering the correct rules. This hypothesis was evaluated by comparing the effects of two different intervention programs: One providing children with opportunities to …  Lire la suite

Hes1 and Hes6 are basic helix loop helix (bHLH) proteins with a similar structure, but opposite biological roles: Hes1 prevents the differentiation of neural progenitors into neurons, whereas Hes6 promotes neuronal differentiation. To elucidate the reasons for the different activities of Hes1 and Hes6, we have focused on structural elements that are specific to either Hes1 or Hes6. In particular, Hes6 contains a stretch of acidic amino acids ("acidic patch") N-terminal to the bHLH domain. Such an acidic patch is not present in Hes1. Based on previous studies showing that similar acidic patches play a role in regulating the dimerization …  Lire la suite

Barnett, Tracie (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

Critical voices in academia and policy circles have increasingly drawn attention to the agency of refugees in displacement situations, questioning the prevalent image of refugees as silent, powerless subjects. Drawing on insights from Giddens' structuration theory, this thesis explores the concept of refugee agency and argues that it is shaped by structural conditions and vice versa. It contends that what makes the agency of refugees distinctive are the particular structures they encounter, including, but not limited to, the refugee camp, the special legal status of refugeehood, and the refugee's damaged relationship with his/her country of origin. To enable a more …  Lire la suite

We propose an analytic center cutting plane algorithm for semidefinite programming (SDP). Reformulation of the dual problem of SDP into an eigenvalue optimization, when the trace of any feasible primal matrix is a positive constant, is well known. We transform the eigenvalue optimization problem into a convex feasibility problem. The problem of interest seeks a feasible point in a bounded convex set, which contains a full dimensional ball with ε(<1) radius and is contained in a compact convex set described by matrix inequalities, known as the set of localization. At each iteration, an approximate analytic center of the set of …  Lire la suite

La problématique: Les enfants souffrant de troubles neurologiques chroniques vivent de plus en plus jusqu'à l'âge adulte. Nos objectifs étaient de décrire, du point de vue du neurologue au Québec, la pratique courante et les opinions à l'égard de la transition de ces adolescents des soins pédiatriques aux soins adultes, incluant les barrières au processus, si les patients éprouvent un carence en soins durant cette période, et si les neurologues pour adultes ont la formation requise pour prendre soin de ces patients.Les méthodes: Nous avons fait une étude transversale par envoyant deux questionnaires par la poste à tous les neuropédiatres …  Lire la suite

La demande de capacité fleurissante des liens de transport optique sur distance métropolitaine et de longue portée (> 100 km) ainsi que les interconnections optiques de courte portée (100m-20km) pour le réseautage entre centre de données et à l'intérieur de ceux-ci pousse la notion de transceveur basé sur le traitement de signaux numérique (TSN). Lors de transport optique, les tranceveurs optique flexible utilisent la détection cohérente le TSN pour permettre d'amoindrir divers impacts de la transmission par fibre, tel que la dispersion chromatique (DC), la dispersion par mode de polarisation (DMP), l'effet nonlinéaire Kerr, le bruit de phase du laser …  Lire la suite

Brenner, Bluma (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Buckeridge, David (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Hanputa (Syriac) and Hanifiyya (Arabic) share the same Semitic root HNP and would, therefore, be expected to carry similar significations. Nonetheless, they have totally opposite meanings. In pre-Islamic Syriac-Christian sources, things or individuals associated with the root HNP are reprehensible for their paganism. However, in early Arabic-Islamic historiography, Hanifiyya is the monotheistic religion of the prophet Muhammad. How could such a drastic semantic reversal have taken place? The central question dealt with in this thesis is that which other researchers who are interested in Semitic philology and the origins of Islam have already asked themselves. However, while past academic studies, …  Lire la suite

Mazancourt, Claire Seizilles de (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The genetic basis of high-grade gliomas (HGGs) remains a topic of great interest due to their prevalence and resistance to common cancer therapies. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have helped uncover a number of intriguing somatic mutations in glioblastoma (GBM), an astrocytic subtype of HGGs. It is unclear however, how these mutations interact with one another and how they are related to tumour phenotype. In this study, we collected a large number of whole-genome and whole-exome sequences from pediatric and adult GBM tumours to examine the associations between somatic variation and tumour phenotype. Due to the size of this …  Lire la suite

Studnicki-Gizbert, Daviken (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite