McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par R

The existence of Baffin Island has been known for many years, but, since the time of the last world conflict, when its strategic importance became evident, increasing interest has been shown in its history and development. In this, no easy pattern can be followed, because of the many factors influencing the settlement of the Island. Its geographical location made it a resting place for explorers, and provided harbours for whaling fleets of earlier years. Trading posts were placed by the Hudson' s Bay Company at accessible points along the coast, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has, in recent years, …  Lire la suite

Titone, Debra Ann (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Les études sur les compétences en matière de conscience phonologique (CP), un facteur prédictif important pour la réussite en lecture, des enfants autistes se sont principalement concentrées sur la période préscolaire et rapportent des résultats contradictoires puisque la plupart des études n'ayant pas inclus des enfants présentant une diversité de capacités cognitives. En outre, il est souhaitable de se diriger vers des études fondées sur les forces, ce qui peut être réalisé en utilisant les forces et les intérêts des personnes autistes, comme la musique, pour pallier leurs difficultés. Ainsi, la présente thèse vise à élucider le développement des aptitudes …  Lire la suite

Epilepsy, from the earliest times, has been branded 'hereditary’, and marriage and children for those "possessed" by this ailment was frowned upon. To Hippocrates and Galen (115) idiopathic epilepsy was that type which developed in the brain directly and was assumed to have a hereditary basis. Burton (84) in his "Anatomy of Melancholy", claims that the ancient Scots "instantly gelded" any man with falling sickness, and if a woman "were round to be with child, she with her brood were buried alive and this was done for the common good, lest the whole nation should be injured or corrupted".  Lire la suite

Joos, Geza (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Children with depressive symptomatology are at a higher risk for experiencing social functioning difficulties (Stark et al., 1996). The research reviewed suggests a connection between type of social problem-solving strategies employed by children and levels of depressive symptomatology. Participants were grade four, five, and six students (n = 315), who were divided into a depressive symptomatology (DS) group (n = 57) and a nondepressed (NONDEP) group (n = 57). Using Felner, Lease, and Phillips' (1990) quadripartite model of social competence as a theoretical guide, the present study was conducted to compare children with and without depressive symptomatology on: (a) strategies …  Lire la suite

The main objective of this thesis is to study and investigate the dynamics and stability of cantilevered structures subjected to internal, external, or simultaneous internal and external axial flows. This was accomplished, in some cases, by deriving the linear equations of motion using a Newtonian approach and, in other cases, by making the necessary modifications to existing theoretical models. The continuous cantilevered systems were then discretized using the Galerkin method in order to determine their complex eigenfrequencies. Moreover, numerous experiments were performed to compare and validate, or otherwise, the theoretical models proposed. More specifically, the four cantilevered systems studied were …  Lire la suite

Three proteins of stripped rough microsomes (SRM) from dog pancreas or rat liver, with apparent molecular weights of 35, 56 and 90 kDa (pgp35, pp56, pp90), were phosphorylated in vitro by both ($ tau$-32P) GTP and ($ tau$-32P) ATP. Another SRM protein of 15 kDa (pp15) was phosphorylated in vitro only by ($ tau$-32P) GTP. Comparison of the in vitro phosphorylation profile of SRM to those of other well defined subcellular fractions, i.e., plasma membranes, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, endosomes, mitochondria and smooth microsomes, showed the four major GTP phosphorylated proteins were restricted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Further characterization of …  Lire la suite

The impacts of tariffication on Canadian milk producers were estimated via supply, price and trade flow parameters using a spatial price equilibrium model applied to milk production regions of Canada and the United States. Two price scenarios were put forward because of supply management in Canada. The first incorporated producer prices while the second used shadow prices for Canadian producers, defined as the producer price less a reduction in price which accounts for the value of production quota. The hypothesis that tariffication reduces milk production in Canada to the extent that U.S. producers increase their exports to Canada was partly …  Lire la suite

The ability to evade apoptosis is an acquired characteristic associated with many normal and pathophysiological processes. TMEM 85 represents a novel transmembrane domain containing human protein isolated in our previous screen for Bax suppressors, but whose function is currently unknown. Using viability and growth assays, we confirmed that TMEM 85 is anti-apoptotic. Four unique human cDNA sequences containing regions distinct from and of perfect identity to our cDNA were present in the database. Analysis of TMEM 85 suggests that it consists of five exons, alternatively spliced to produce at least four different mRNA's and proteins (TMEM 85v1-v4). RT-PCR analysis using …  Lire la suite

This thesis looks at two theories of universalizability: Immanuel Kant's deontological one and R. M. Hare's utilitarian one. It also looks at criticisms of both theories by David Wiggins. It concludes that his arguments against Hare are decisive because the moral theory that follows from Hare's version of the claim that moral judgements must be universalizable is incompatible with several basic requirements on moral theories. Wiggins' criticism of Kant, on the other hand, centres on a technical point that is overcome by an interpretation of Kant's tests for the universalizability of maxims that is given by Onora Nell. Finally the …  Lire la suite

The Attentional Blink (AB) refers to the impaired identification of a second target that appears after a first target in a stream of rapidly presented stimuli (Raymond et al., 1992). Lag-1 sparing is the intact ability to correctly identify a second rapidly appearing target if it is presented directly following the first target (Potter et al., 1998). Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have characteristically presented with atypical spatial attention profiles (Ames & Fletcher-Watson, 2010) and the purpose of the current study was thus aimed at exploring the AB and Lag-1 sparing in autism by employing a rapid dual-stream presentation …  Lire la suite

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a complex neurodevelopmental condition that affects social communication and behavioural functioning, has been increasingly discussed as reflecting one end of a continuum that is characterized by an expansive array of traits that vary with regard to their incidence and strength. The autism continuum (Wing, 1988) ranges from typically developing (TD) individuals in the population who present with lower, subclinical levels of autistic characteristics or traits to those individuals who receive an ASD diagnosis due to a more pervasive level of autistic presentation in terms of both the number and severity of the autistic features that they …  Lire la suite

La mécanique des fluides numérique (MFN) est un outil essentiel permettant aux scientifiques et aux ingénieurs de développer leur compréhension qualitative et quantitative des écoulements aérodynamiques. De nombreux défis restent cependant à surmonter afin d’améliorer l’efficacité, la robustesse et la fiabilité de ces méthodes MFN. La génération de maillages est un des aspects les plus coûteux en temps de travail dans la simulation d’écoulements à l’échelle industrielle et la précision des méthodes MFN dépend fortement de la qualité du maillage. Dans ce contexte, l’adaptation de maillage apparaît comme l’une des approches les plus prometteuses pour améliorer les simulations MFN. Étant …  Lire la suite

La fibuline-4 est un des sept membres de la famille des protéines fibulines. Cette famille se caractérise par des répétitions de motif «calcium-binding epidermal growth factor» (cbEGF) et une extrémité C-terminale qui contient un module fibuline. Les souris knockout meurent avant ou quelques jours après la naissance. Cela est dû à des ruptures aortiques. Une étude à partir d’un microscope électronique démontre de sévères perturbations dans la formation des fibres élastiques et très peu d’associations entre celles-ci et la surface des cellules vasculaires de fibre musculaire lisse. Des mutations génétiques du gène fibuline-4 ont été identifiées chez deux patients qui …  Lire la suite

Ce mémoire a pour objet de montrer la centralité de la figure du flâneur dans le roman d'Édouard Dujardin Les lauriers sont coupés (1887). Ce roman doit sa postérité dans l'histoire littéraire à l'invention du monologue intérieur, et, de fait, la critique dujardienne a principalement envisagé le texte sous cet angle. Sans en faire l'économie, ce mémoire montre que Les lauriers sont coupés ne se réduisent pas à l'invention d'un procédé d'écriture. Après avoir situé le flâneur dans l'épistémologie du XIXe siècle, ce travail montre la coïncidence du personnage principal des Lauriers avec « l'homme des passages », selon l'expression …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to investigate the economic feasibility of alternative crop rotations and to determine the economic implications of including forages and livestock during the transition to organic agriculture in Nova Scotia. The rotation systems were distinguished by: (i) frequency of forage in the rotation, (ii) source of nutrient supply, and (iii) type of farming operation. The economic analysis was divided in two parts. The first part analysed data from a four-year crop rotation experiment, using enterprise budgeting and statistical methods to compare differences among rotations under different treatments. The second part involved the development of a …  Lire la suite

Near-inertial waves (NIWs), i.e. inertia-gravity waves with a frequency close to f , account for about half of the wave energy in the ocean. Forced mainly by winds, NIWs are ubiquitous in the oceans, superimposed over balanced currents. While NIWs have a strongly depth-dependent structure, the balanced flow is more often vertically uniform over a few hundreds of meters. It is unclear whether NIWs exchange energy with the balanced flow, thus influencing the oceanic circulation. Using a two-layer shallow-water model, we investigate this question. We compare our results with those from Xie & Vanneste (2015), which highlights energy transfers from …  Lire la suite

The initial inquiry and ultimate objective of this thesis will be to investigate the question of the obscure and incommunicable aspect of poetic expression. [...]  Lire la suite

This research examines Hemodialysis patients' psycho-social characteristics and predictors of quality of life and compliance at a small rural hospital. Sixty-four patients from the hemodialysis unit at Renfrew Victoria Hospital in Renfrew, Ontario, and a satellite unit at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry's Bay, Ontario, were assessed using the Social Work Patient Profile, Perceived Quality of Life and Compliance Indices. Bivariate correlation and multiple regressions were conducted on psychosocial, physical and mental health variables to determine if they correlated, and could be predictors of, social worker and nurses' perceptions of patients' quality of life and compliance. Findings support multiple …  Lire la suite

Porter, J. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

The purpose of this project is to investigate the operation of transistor time delay circuits, with special attention to thermal stability and linearity of pulse width control. The operation of a time delay circuit is divided into the functions of timing and switching. Consideration is given to circuits with both passive and active timing networks. It is shown that passive timing is most suitable for stable, fixed delay applications, while active timing is useful in circuits combining thermal stability and linear delay control.  Lire la suite

Beauchastel Township is west of the Township of Rouyn, and occupies an important position on the axis of the well-recognized zone of weakness along which mineral deposits occur, and which passes through Kirkland Lake and Noranda, and thence eastward in the Province of Quebec. The region was prospected and developed at the time of the discovery of gold and copper at Noranda, and though its history has not been as bright as that of the neighbouring township, a number of deposits of economic value have been operated. [...]  Lire la suite

Les patients atteints d'un cancer de la tête et du cou et soumis à une radiothérapie peuvent subir des changements anatomiques importants dus à la perte de poids et au rétrécissement de la tumeur. Ces changements peuvent avoir un impact sur l'efficacité du plan de traitement initial, ce qui peut nécessiter une nouvelle planification du traitement. Cependant, la replanification nécessite du temps supplémentaire de la part du personnel clinique, ce qui peut conduire à une planification du traitement sous-optimale et stressante. Cette interruption du flux de travail peut avoir un impact sur de nombreux patients. En outre, il n'existe actuellement …  Lire la suite

Home builders are supplying mass housing projects which are designed without taking into consideration the specific needs and expectations of residents. As well, house are not produced with enough flexibility to enable homeowners to perform easy adaptations that would express their own choices and accommodate their particular requirements. On the other hand, due to economic constraints, most first-time home buyers usually cannot afford the professional services of architects in order to have a house specifically designed to suit their needs and aspirations. This research explores the different types of modifications that occupants of affordable single-family housing in Montreal make to …  Lire la suite

The kinetic relationship between the activities of multifunctional enzymes from folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism were examined. Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase catalyzes the main disposal reaction for excess one-carbon units produced in the liver. The enzyme, which catalyzes also a hydrolytic reaction, was purified from porcine liver and a radioactive assay was developed to measure both activities simultaneously. These and other kinetic measurements established that the dehydrogenase and hydrolase are kinetically independent activities of a single type of polypeptide. NAD-dependent methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase is found in all transformed mammalian cells and catalyzes sequential reactions with channeling of the metabolic intermediate. However, these activities are …  Lire la suite

The DICOM-conformant PACS of the MGH was subjected to a performance study. The goal was to develop the tools needed to extract meaningful, quantitative measures related to performance with a view towards establishing reliable indicators that can help identify design weaknesses and performance changes over time. Efforts focused on operational scenarios such as moving images from servers to workstations, automatic routing and prefetching tasks. The performance of each process underlying these scenarios was studied using residency timing combined with a web-based monitoring system to yield quantitative data from various low-level resources on each server. While the critical processes and hardware …  Lire la suite

This dissertation explores the process of reproduction of works of art in the province of Quebec. Reproduction is studied historically, considering its significance as a cultural industry and its characteristics as a mode of communication. The dissertation first engages the theoretical discourse surrounding the novelty of technologies of reproduction of art works at the turn of the century and further pursues an exploration of reproduction within the framework of postmodernity. The phenomenon is studied with special attention to the movement of art works into private spaces. In considering the history of reproduction with regard to works of art in Quebec, …  Lire la suite

Les adolescents multilingues partagent leur temps entre plusieurs langues, mais on s’attend d’eux qu’ils développent des compétences langagières avancées et deviennent des scripteurs compétents dans la langue d’instruction pour réussir. Bien que les recherches aient démontré que le niveau d’exposition linguistique dans chaque langue favorise le développement des compétences langagières chez les enfants bilingues, l’acquisition de plus de deux langues et les effets à long terme du multilinguisme demeurent peu étudiés. Cette thèse examine les compétences langagières et rédactionnelles d’adolescents multilingues et celles de leurs pairs francophones, à l’aide d’épreuves standardisées et d’échantillons de langage oral et écrit.Le chapitre 1 …  Lire la suite

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a research topic whose eventual outcome will allow users of computer systems for more natural interfaces than the traditional keyboard and mouse. Ideally, those interfaces would exploit the same communication channels used in everyday life, which are speech, gestures or any other expressive feature of the human body. In this thesis, a continuous dynamic gesture recognition system is presented. Positioning devices such as a mouse, a data glove or a video camera are used as input streams to the recognition module, from which it extracts the most interesting features. Gestures are recognized continuously, which means that …  Lire la suite

Hoheisel, Tim (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Gaelle Fiasse (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology that is characterized by chronic inflammation of the joints and by the presence, in high titers, of an autoantibody known as the rheumatoid factor (RF). The human cytomegalovirus, a member of the human Herpesviridae family, has been proposed as a potential environmental agent involved in the induction of RF production. The report of an anti-CMV antibody having structural homology to a major group of human paraproteins with RF activity, as detected by the expression of RF-associated idiotypes and by variable region sequences, provided a possible structural relationship between CMV infection …  Lire la suite

La fasciolase est une infection vétérinaire importante. Entre les deux agents causals, Fasciola hepatica et Fasciola gigantica, f. hepatica a une meilleure capacité pour établir une infection primaire et pour résister aux défenses de l'hôte. Certaines espèces hôtes, tels que les bovins, résistent une seconde infection mieux que d'autres espèces, tels que les moutons. Afin de mieux comprendre la réaction de l'hôte pendant l'infection, des analyses protéomiques de sérums de moutons et de bovins affectés par f. hepatica ont été entreprises. Vint-six marqueurs d'infection ont été validés par spectrométrie de masse de temps de vol à désorption-ionisation laser potentialisée par …  Lire la suite

In Brazil, the coincidence of massive growth and growing inequalities was also combined with an authoritarian regime. This coincidence led the dependency scholars to link the Brazilian economic model and the repressive and authoritarian nature of the political regime. However, the Brazilian democratization process, taking roots in the mid-70s, reformulated the issue. Indeed, while remaining committed to transnationalism, a democratization process was underway. This paper argues that the democratization process is consistent with, and even motivated by, the regulation imperatives of the regime of accumulation. However, these regulation imperatives limit the nature and scope of democratic reforms. Nevertheless, transnationalism also …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the design of discriminators suitable for use in portable frequency modulated transceivers.  Lire la suite

Steiger, Howard (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

The remarkable progress in graphics processing units over recent decades has given rise to a significant increase in the application of computer graphics across various industries, such as in cinema and video games. Consequently, there has been a surge in opportunities to push the boundaries of computer graphics algorithms, leading to the development of highly intricate fluid simulations and photorealistic rendering. These methods now serve as the foundation for AAA games, animation features, and blockbuster movies.This thesis emphasizes the development and application of flexible Monte Carlo techniques for two specific subfields within computer graphics, namely physically-based rendering and fluid simulations. …  Lire la suite

La pollution de l'air extérieur, y compris la pollution atmosphérique par les particules fines (PM2,5), contribue à une gamme d'effets néfastes sur la santé. Cependant, la méthode standard de mesure des expositions à la pollution atmosphérique particulaire en tant que concentration massique a des limites. Récemment, des mesures émergentes ont été développées qui tiennent compte de la composition et de la toxicité des particules. L'objectif général de cette thèse était de décrire les variations spatiales intra-urbaines des mesures nouvellement développées de la composition et de la toxicité des particules (y compris de multiples mesures du potentiel oxydatif des particules ainsi …  Lire la suite

Adams, Charles J. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

In 1782, the Montgolfier Brothers, professionally engaged in the manufacture of paper bags , produced the first machine to accomplish flight per se. Their first practice was to fill paper bags with hot air, which ascended by the thermodynamic force produced. Following their original discovery, they made larger and larger bags until they eventually evolved a great balloon which was capable of carrying a man into the air. Development was so rapid that within ten years from the first successful man-carrying ascent, balloons were successfully employed in warfare by the French, against the Austrians in 1794 at Maubeuge, in the …  Lire la suite

En 2023, le secteur du bâtiment représentait 32 % de la consommation énergétique mondiale et 34 % des émissions de carbone. Avec l’urbanisation rapide qui alimente la demande de bâtiments plus hauts et plus durables, la réduction du carbone incorporé est devenue une priorité majeure. Conformément au Plan de réduction des émissions du Canada à l’horizon 2030, cette thèse explore des stratégies visant à réduire les émissions de carbone incorporé dans les bâtiments en évaluant l’impact environnemental des matériaux de construction conventionnels et des systèmes hybrides émergents bois massif–acier (MT-S).La thèse se compose de deux grandes phases. La première phase …  Lire la suite