McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par T

This thesis proposes the evaluation and comparison of software process engineering support tools and environments. The two dimensions our work focuses on are the goals pursued when processes are engineered, and the roles, related to software processes, played in a software production setting. A framework is proposed to help assess how well software process support tools and environments meet specified goals, and support identified roles. Software process support approaches as well as the tools and environments implementing them are studied in order to provide for the necessary knowledge needed to make sensible judgments. The results of our evaluation show that …  Lire la suite

La cryosphère de la Terre contient des habitats parmi les plus extrêmes de notre planète, avec les régions polaires offrant des conditions parmi les plus sèches, froides et salées pour la vie microbienne. Ceci incluant le pergélisol, la glace, les sources d’eau hypersalines et les lacs sous-glaciaires. Malgré cela, plusieurs microorganismes adaptés au froid sont capables d’activité métabolique et même de croissance in situ dans ces environnements. La présence de microorganismes dans les cryoenvironnements démontre la possibilité que d’autres astres planétaires, tels que Mars, Europe et Encelade, pourraient abriter et supporter des formes de vie microbiennes existantes. Toutefois, aucun instrument …  Lire la suite

This thesis presents an in-depth study of statistical mechanical systems having microcanonical equilibrium properties, i.e., energy-dependent equilibrium properties, which cannot be put in correspondence with their canonical or temperature-dependent equilibrium properties. A general theory of these systems which focuses both on the thermodynamic and macrostate levels of description of systems is presented along the lines of a number of rigorous results derived recently by Ellis, Haven and Turkington (Journal of Statistical Physics, 2000). Several new results are also presented which relate the appearance of nonequivalent microcanonical and canonical properties with first-order (discontinuous) phase transitions and with nonequilibrium properties of systems. …  Lire la suite

Even if they rely on apparently quite different investigation domains and ideologies, both Freud and Bakhtin participate to that current which in the XXth century would upset the foundation of the positivist thought and would modify profoundly the traditional conception of science, language and the cartesian vision of the conscience and of the human subject. The thought of one as of the other, therefore, surpasses largely the principal reason of their research: If Freud applies the principles of the interpretation of dreams to the study of literary works, Bakhtin expands on the novel theory and questions polyphony and dialogism of …  Lire la suite

Depuis le début de la première guerre mondiale, un fait n’a cessé de piquer la curiosité de nombreux observateurs de la vie intellectuelle en Amérique, à savoir, la vogue extraordinaire que l’oeuvre d’Anatole France connut aux Etats-Unis. Il est en effet tort curieux que cet auteur,qui, de l’aveu de plusieurs critiques, possède des qualités essentiellement françaises et latines, ait pu susciter chez ses lecteurs anglo-saxons un intérêt aussi vif. Henri Peyre, un des étudiants les plus avisés de la question, nous dit: L’immense succès d’Anatole France dans les pays anglo-saxons et nordiques est un des phénomènes littéraires les plus surprenants …  Lire la suite

The prognosis of breast cancer is characterized by a high degree of variability, which is partially accounted for, by a set of clinical, pathological and biological parameters. The aim of my study was to test whether met, a proto-oncogene encoding a protein related to normal histological differentiation, undergoes structural changes in breast cancer. I have extracted tumor DNA from 83 breast cancer patients and performed Southern blot hybridization with the MetH probe. This study demonstrates that somatic alterations of met occur in 22% of informative women with breast cancer. No correlation was found between loss of heterozygosity (LOH) for met …  Lire la suite

The clerks of Chaucer's day were not the first nor the last men to philosophize about the relation of man to the Divine Governor, nor was Troilus unique in being perplexed by the conflicting arguments. The free will problem faced the Fathers of the early Greek church when they attempted to overcome the beliefs of Gnosticism. The Gnostics denied that any free chmice was given to man, whereas the early Greek Fathers argued for man's free will. [...]  Lire la suite

Bradbury, John (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous décrivons les quotients de F*<x,y> qui sont des F-groupes limites. Les techniques que nous utilisons proviennent des résultats sur la structure des groupes limites développées par O. Kharlampovich, A. Miasnikov et indépendamment par Z. Sela. Nous utilisons également la théorie maintenant classique de H. Bass et de J.-P. Serre sur les actions des groupes sur les arbres. Comme application nous redérivons les descriptions des solutions des systèmes d'équations à deux variables données par Hmelevskii et Ozhigov, qui jusqu'à présent demeurent les plus précis, mais cette fois-ci en utilisant des méthodes complètement algébriques. …  Lire la suite

Bar-Or, Amit (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

String Quartet No. 1: Dialogues Funérailles is a composition that models the predominantly narrative dialectic of the string quartet genre. Dialectic is modeled from the structural level of the piece through to the surface interaction of the four instruments. The pitch plan involves a four-stage pitch structure whose final stage produces two contrasting pitch fields (A and B). Each of the five movements of the quartet takes a different view of the pitch system, creating a formal dialogue between five entities, whose topic is explored through textural changes and contrasting uses of the overall structure.  Lire la suite

McAdams, Stephen (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Boulet, Benoit (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

The analysis and the simulation of fluid extruded out of a die opening are of great importance in dfferent industrial applications. Mathematical modeling and experimental studies of extrusion out of a constant die gap has been the subject of numerous publications in the literature. Extrusion Blow Molding is a polymer forming technique used to manufacture a wide range of large hollow parts such as fuel tanks used in the automotive industry. The die gap is varied during extrusion to adjust the manufactured product’s final thickness and to compensate for uneven stretching during molding. In this work, mathematical modeling of varying …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse porte sur un système de communication crypté (SCC) qui a été développé par le Comité technique du Congrès national africain (CT ANC) et exploité par un certain nombre de Sud-Africain.e.s, de Néerlandais.es et de Canadien.ne.s qui ont participé au mouvement de libération de l’Afrique du Sud dans les années 1980 et au début des années 1990. Le SCC a permis aux combattant.e.s de la liberté sur le terrain en Afrique du Sud de communiquer secrètement et de manière transnationale avec les hauts dirigeants en exil du Congrès national africain (ANC) basé à Lusaka, en Zambie, via Londres, en …  Lire la suite

This thesis deals with the legal framework of foreign investment in the face of political risks which are ravaging the African continent in general and Mali in particular. An emphasis is placed on the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Mali for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments. I will be discussing and comparing the provisions of that agreement with those contained in other bilateral investment treaties. Mali's political situation is the basis of the criticisms of some of the clauses of the Agreement, namely the compensation of losses clause. The latter …  Lire la suite

Reader, Simon (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

La formation et le maintien de frontières entre les différentes régions embryonnaires jouent un role primordial pour préserver l'organisation de l'embryon au cours du développement. L'adhérence intercellulaire est l'un des paramètres qui doivent être régulés aux interfaces entre les cellules de différents tissus. Dans la présente étude, nous avons tenté de comprendre et de caractériser la dynamique des cadhérines à la frontière entre l'ectoderme et le mésoderme dans la gastrula de Xénope. A cette frontière, il a été démontré que les cellules effectuent des cycles d'attachements puis de détachements, dictés par la voie de signalisation éphrine/Eph (Rohani et al., 2011). …  Lire la suite

The activation of death receptor Fas (CD95/APO1) triggers apoptosis inducing caspase activation by direct (extrinsic) and mitochondria dependent (intrinsic) pathways. Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK), which include p38, JNK and ERK kinases, are also activated during Fas signaling and are known to either positively or negatively regulate apoptosis. Chemical inhibition of JNK (SP600125) and p38 (PD169316) sensitize tumor cells to Fas mediated apoptosis. I studied Fas mediated apoptosis in Jurkat cells and in some experiments HeLa cells. PD169316 is less potent than SP600125 and attenuates the effect of the later when present together. PD169316 inhibits two isoforms of p38 which …  Lire la suite

The high familial rate of anencephaly and spina bifida was used to test whether spina bifida occulta is a minor form of neural- tube defects. Occulta's were identified from X-Rays taken in hospitals and reproductive histories obtained from the mothers, thus ascertaining dysraphic conditions in 100 families. Out of 525 brothers and sisters, 3 malformations (1 spina bifida, 2 spina bifida-like) were found whilst at least 25 were expected from the rate observed in studies in which anencephaly and spina bifida cystica were indicators. The findings do not support that the occult type belongs to the pathological line of major …  Lire la suite

On May 29, 1990 the Agreement establishing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was signed in Paris. As an international institution with a regional purpose, as a mixture of a private and development bank, the EBRD is without doubt a novel organisation. But almost three years after its creation what is the assessment of this institution? This thesis attempts not only to explain the existence of the Bank, the reasons which led to its creation but also to make explicit its mode of operation while casting a critical eye on its actions in Eastern Europe.  Lire la suite

It is commonly agreed that phonological elements must be prosodically licensed in order to be interpreted phonetically (cf. Ito, 1986). The licensing of segments is generally assumed to follow from the Universal Association Conventions. The licensing of phonological units smaller than the segment, however, has not been fully addressed. There is no agreement on the exact licensing mechanisms at play and on what constitutes a proper anchor for the initial association of floating subsegmentals. This thesis proposes a principled account of subsegmental licensing within the theory of segmental structure known as feature geometry, as modified by Piggott (to appear). It …  Lire la suite

Au cours des cinq dernieres annees, de nouvelles techniques ont ete developees pouridentifier l’ensemble des interactions entre ARN et ADN dans le noyau des cellules, dontiMARGI et RADICL-seq. Parallelement, le role des ARN non-codants et de la structure3D de la chromatine - sur laquelle ces ARN peuvent influencer - apparait de plus en pluscomplexe et cruciale dans differents processus comme la regulation de la transcription.Dans ce contexte, les donnees produites par ces techniques sont d’importantes sourcesd’information. Elles apportent un nouvel eclairage sur les interactions fonctionnellesARN-ADN et pourraient permettre d’identifier de nouvelles fonctions pour certains ARN.Cependant, une importante proportion de ces …  Lire la suite

Bell, J. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Precup, Doina (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

The potential for an adaptive response to global climatic change was evaluated for an annual C$ sb3$ weed, Brassica juncea, by performing a selection on fecundity for eight generations. During the selection, atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature were gradually increased from current levels (370 $ rm mu L cdot L sp{-1}$ CO$ sb2$, 20$ sp circ$C) to conditions predicted during the next century by climate models (650 $ rm mu L cdot L sp{-1}$ CO$ sb2$, 23.6$ sp circ$C) including heat stress events at 32$ sp circ$C/26$ sp circ$C day/night), At the end of the selection, a reciprocal transplant experiment …  Lire la suite

The Mascouche site (located near Montreal, Quebec) served as a petroleum waste dump ground during the 1950's and 1960's. It then housed a petroleum waste incinerator from 1969 to 1974. Laboratory forced air biostimulation studies were performed on a soil sample from this site for two reasons: (a) high permeability sand presented optimal conditions for the application of biostimulation and (b) the wish to test the effectiveness of the method in site reclamation. The concentrations of various pollutants, such as PAHs, PCBs and heavy metals, were first determined in the soil samples. Biological degradation using forced aeration was responsible for …  Lire la suite

Since the late 19th century, scientists and clinicians have generated an astonishing array of meters, scales, experimental designs, and questionnaires to quantify pain with more precision, accuracy, and objectivity. In this thesis, I follow the development and implementation of pain-measuring technologies in the United States until the mid-1970s. Focussing on how these technologies work, I analyse the relationship between practices of objectification; the social, material and technical resources on which these practices depend; and changing conceptions of pain, subjectivity and objectivity. Surprisingly, as efforts to objectify pain were intensified, pain was increasingly conceptualised as a subjective experience, that is, as …  Lire la suite

Soderstrom, Lee  Lire la suite

Dans ce mémoire, nous résumons les résultats connus concernant la concentration des fonctions propres du laplacien dans la limite de haute énergie. Nous révisons les bornes asymptotiques sur les normes Lp des fonctions propres, et les limites quantiques admissibles, sous une variété d'hypothèses sur la variété. Nous prouvons un résultat nouveau qui stipule que si les fonctions propres convergent faiblement vers une limite quantique sur le n-tore, ils doivent aussi le faire sur le n-tore rééchelonné.  Lire la suite

Some analytical properties of the load flow problem are examined in this work. In order to facilitate this, the load flow equations are expressed in rectangular co-ordinates. Each load flow equation is formulated as a fully quadratic form and the nature of these quadratic forms is studied in detail. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the matrix in each equation are derived and their significance to the nature and existence of load flow solutions is discussed. An experimental study is also done on the load flow feasibility region which is defined, in the space of net real and reactive powers as …  Lire la suite

Thompson, Christopher J. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The topic of this thesis revolves around the organization of geographical information in permanent memory. Our premise is that a recognized and fully documented direct access storage technique called Multidimensional Paging or Multipaging would provide a well balanced storing structure for this category of data. Since multipaging uses a multidimensional perspective on the information to allocate it to pages in secondary storage then spatial data, which is fundamentally multidimensional by nature, would surely offer a suitable profile. First, we attempt to evaluate the efficiency of multipaging on static files and to suggest possible modifications to the standard algorithm to better …  Lire la suite

In Quebec, bacterial leaf spot of lettuce was observed for the first time in 1994. Since this first mention, the disease has been observed each year and the severity varied with environmental conditions. Little information was available on this disease because until recently it was only sporadically observed around the world following the first mention in 1918. In this project, we found that two groups of Xanthomonas caused the bacterial leaf spot of lettuce according to the BIOLOG profiles. From the results of strain characterization, a semi-selective medium has been developed to detect and quantify X. campestris pv. vitians. This …  Lire la suite

The climate of Knob Lake is analyzed by means of a detailed examination of the eight years’ (1955-1962) meteorological records of the first-order weather station operated by the personnel of the McGill Sub-Arctic Research Laboratory. Chapter II deals with the physical controls of climate and Chapter III the dynamic climatology. The main part of the thesis is Chapter IV, which is concerned with an analysis of the meteorological data. The final chapter offers some suggestions as to the use of the data in the field of applied climatology. It is hoped that the numerous tables and figures will aid future …  Lire la suite

Les leucodystrophies sont un groupe hétérogène de maladies héréditaires rares affectant la substance blanche cérébrale. Ensemble, ils ont une incidence dans la population de 1 pour 4733 naissances vivantes. La grande majorité des leucodystrophies sont des maladies neurodégénératives, entraînant une augmentation de la morbidité et finalement de la mortalité des mois à des années après leur apparition. Ce projet se concentre sur l'un des leucodystrophie hypomyélinisante les plus courants, connu sous le nom de leucodystrophie hypomyélinisante liée à l'ARN polymérase III (POLR3-HLD). POLR3-HLD est causé par des variants pathogènes bialléliques dans des gènes codant pour quatre sous-unités distinctes du complexe …  Lire la suite

Les expériences faites sur les animaux sont fondamentales à la recherche préclinique. La recherche sur les animaux vise tout d'abord à améliorer la santé et le bien-être des être humains. La recherche scientifique biomédicale sur les animaux constitue un sujet controversé qui soulève plusieurs questions éthiques. D'un côté, les expériences sur les animaux semblent acceptables éthiquement parce qu'elles contribuent à l'amélioration des intérêts de l'être l'humain. Alternativement, beaucoup considèrent qu'utiliser les animaux comme objets et les faire souffrir pour le bien de l'être humain, bafoue les droits moraux des animaux, et est, de ce fait, considéré comme non éthique. Jusqu'à …  Lire la suite

This thesis examines the construction of social spaces in the interstices of the Internet by members of dispersed national societies. Red de Argentinos is explored as an example one of such spaces. Red emerged as an email based solidarity network of the Argentine diaspora and is now a community attached to multiple locales, for which cyberspace has a central articulatory role. These locales include the homeland but, as well, the variety of places in which individuals identifying themselves as Argentinian may be found. This project analyzes some of the factors that allow these types of virtual communities to develop. Special …  Lire la suite

Lepage, Martin (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

Epilepsy has been defined as a tendency to recurring epileptic seizures, which areproduced by excessive neuronal discharge with the nervous system. It is not strictly a disease but a symptom of disease (Penfield and Erickson, 1941). Pathologically and anatomically the eiplepsies differ widely byt are joined by the common physiological mechanism manifested by the seizure. Clinically two types have been distinguished, the symptomatic in which some pathological cause such as cerebral tumar can be demostrated, and the Idiopathic (essential or cryptogenic) in which no cause can be found (Penfield and Erickson, 1941). It is this syndrome or disease entity which …  Lire la suite

The experimental work which follows represents one in a series of clinical and research investigations undertaken at the Montreal Neurological Institute aimed at the solution of the problem of epilepsy. In a previous thesis the author has reviewed the social and medical history of epilepsy and summarized the present state of scientific knowledge about this disease (Tower, 1948). The facts presented therein make it clear that epilepsy is one of the important diseases confronting society and the medical profession and demanding a solution. The present state of world conditions underlines this demand, since war carries with it an inevitable aftermath …  Lire la suite

The classification of plants has involved an enormous amount of work on the part of a large number of botanists. It is based on the natural affinities of plants- and has been guided by the concepts of evolution. The tools of the taxonomist have been mainly morphology, anatomy, embryology and palaeontology. However, in many cases it has been impossible to construct accurate phylogenetic relationships. It becomes important, therefore, to discover additional means whereby some of the problems of taxonomy may be resolved. As Gibbs (33) and others have pointed out, the comparative chemistry of plants provides another source of evidence …  Lire la suite

Although generally understood to denote a wistful desire for the past, nostalgia may assume a variety of forms. This dissertation explores nostalgias (i.e., diverse nostalgic modes and expressions of nostalgia) in twentieth-century American fiction and film. Specifically, it interrogates the critical functions of nostalgia in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), Elliott Nugent’s The Great Gatsby (1949), Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955), Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962), Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye (1953), and Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973). Attending to narrative and formal expressions of nostalgia in these novels and films, as well as readers’ and viewers’ experiences of …  Lire la suite

La protéine apoptin issue du virus de l'anémie infectieuse du poulet est capable d'induire l'apoptose de cellules cancéreuses humaines de façon spécifique et indépendamment de p53 par un mécanisme encore inconnu. Il a été suggéré qu'apoptin agit en inhibant le complexe promoteur de l'anaphase (APC/C), une ubiquitine-ligase E3 requise pour la mitose, par sa liaison à la sous-unité APC1. Dans cette étude, apoptin a été trouvé capable d'induire la dissociation et la dégradation de l'APC/C par le biais de son interaction avec d'autres sous-unités en plus d'APC1 (APC2, APC3/Cdc27 et APC7). L'interaction avec APC1 a été localisée à la région …  Lire la suite

Supernatural beings in medieval romances are a ubiquitous feature of the genre, yet seldom have these beings been the centralized point of analysis in scholarship. Instead, otherworldly beings have been viewed as ancillary characters acting as a complementary necessity to the hero’s journey. This study aims to disengage from this tendency and instead analyze the supernatural beings within Sir Orfeo, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Sir Launfal as independent and intentioned characters. When viewed through models from folklore studies, supernatural beings demonstrate their agency, openly challenge courts and court figures, and create a predatory power dynamic with their …  Lire la suite

Fishman, Jennifer (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite