McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par T

Hood, E. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

By the very nature of its subject, soil mechanics as compared to a modern science is inexact. Of necessity, idealized sections have been assumed in the determination of the various theories which govern the action of a soil. However, in the field all the local vagaries of nature come into play and the resulting heterogeneous mass is difficult to analyse and inconsistent in its properties. Thus, the field or soil mechanics has seen two parallel paths utilized in its development. The theoretical path has led to a fuller understanding of the stresses and strains which affect the soil; but the …  Lire la suite

The earliest observations that the adrenal medulla produces a substance which is added to the blood stream and has powerful effects on muscular tissue in general, expecially the heart and vascular system, were made by Oliver and Schafer in 1895, (1). [...]  Lire la suite

The work to be presented in this thesis concerns the divergent pathways of tryptophan metabolism to the 5-hydroxyindoles and to kynurenine. More specifically an attempt has been made to elucidate the role of dietary tryptophan in the operation of these two pathways. Previous investigators have implied that thiamine is involved in the kynurenine-forming pathway. Both nutritional studies and experiments in vitro were carried out to determine just where thiamine (or thiamine pyrophosphate, its coenzyme form) exerts its action.  Lire la suite

Graff, W. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

Mono-N-dealkyldisopyramide (MND), the major metabolite of disopyramide, reaches significant concentrations in patients; however, little is known about its electrophysiological effects. We therefore assessed its activity in canine ventricular tissue superfused in vitro. MND produced a concentration and rate dependent increase in the magnitude of V$ sb{ rm max}$ depression. MND shortened all phases of repolarization in Purkinje fibers but prolonged action potential duration and effective refractory period in ventricular muscle. We then assessed the effects of the combination of disopyramide and MND at clinically relevant concentrations. The combination produced additive effects on depression of V$ sb{ rm max}.$ MND accentuated …  Lire la suite

This thesis explores the intersections between global finance capitalism and settler colonialism. It argues that, in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, the Canadian public debt played a key role in the onset of settler colonialism. This study concludes with a focus on Epekwitk, the British named Prince Edward Island, as a way to conceptualize both the local and the global aspects of the role of the public debt in settler colonialism. Epekwitk aqq Piktuk is one of seven (sometimes eight) territorial districts of Mi'kma'ki, the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Mi'kmaq. Despite the unceded nature of the lands, the Island …  Lire la suite

Using Kinder zhurnal, an American Yiddish children's literary magazine, as the focus for this thesis, the intimate relationships between the Yiddish cultural movement which began in East Europe and the Yiddish secular school movement in America are explored. As a product of and for the Sholom Aleichem Folk Institute, a now defunct educational organization, Kinder zhurnal demonstrated the key philosophical tenets of the Yiddishist education movement as it evolved. In an analysis of the Yiddishist philosophy of education parallels are drawn between modern Yiddish secular education and that of John Dewey in their humanistic emphasis and underlying pragmatism. Utilizing the …  Lire la suite

Using the new Picker flow calorimeter, the excess heat capacity (C(,p)('E)) has been measured for systems containing normal, branched and cyclic alkanes. The results indicate two unusual effects: (1) a large negative contribution due to the destruction of orientational order in a pure n-alkane component, and (2) a positive contribution attributed to the "condensation" of a more freely-moving molecule or segment on a sterically-hindered branched alkane, resulting in a restriction of rotational movement, i.e. creation of order in the solution. Mixtures of cycloalkanes and their methyl derivatives also show unexpected positive effects in the excess heat capacity. Thus the plate-like …  Lire la suite

Aging is the greatest risk factor for multiple chronic human pathologies, including diabetes, neurodegeneration, cancer and heart disease. Using C. elegans as a model organism, we investigate the cell and molecular mechanisms involved in longevity in order advance our understanding of the aging process and the mechanisms by which healthy aging can be promoted.While the biology of aging is incompletely understood, accumulating evidence indicates that mitochondria play a significant role in the aging process. Multiple mitochondria exist in the form of an interconnected network within a single cell, where they undergo fission, to break away from the network, or fusion, …  Lire la suite

Tamblyn, Robyn (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

L’intolérance à l’exercice est omniprésente chez les personnes atteintes de la maladie pulmonaire obstructive chronique (MPOC) légère à très sévère, et ceci a des effets néfastes sur la santé, y compris la mort prématurée. Les mécanismes d’intolérance à l’exercice chez les personnes atteintes de la MPOC sont complexes et multifactoriels, mais incluent des anomalies pathophysiologiques au niveau des poumons ainsi qu’aux muscles périphériques, à savoir ceux des jambes. Il s’ensuit que la tolérance à l’exercice des personnes avec la MPOC est souvent limitée par l’essoufflement et/ou l’inconfort des jambes qui est intolérable. L’objectif de cette étude était de comparer les …  Lire la suite

Graham Greene has stated that he believes there to be an undercurrent of fantasy running through all of his work that has largely gone unnoticed by his critics. Within the context of any discussion on Greene can be found a starting point for an evaluation of his work in terms of the fantastic and fantasy. Eric S. Rabkin defines fantasy as the inverse of reality. In a fantasy world, the ground rules, expectations, and perspectives of everyday experience are reversed, or diametrically opposed, and the effect is a sense of hesitation and wonder. All of Greene's fiction describes worlds divided. …  Lire la suite

The mathematical framework for statistical decision theory is provided by the theory of probability which in turn has its foundations in the theory of measure and integration. In constructing a probability model for an experiment, the first step is a consideration of what are the possible outcomes of the experiment. We assume that all possibilities for the outcomes can be foreseen, and we refer to this collection of outcomes as the sample space H. An arbitrary outcome or point of this space is designated by x. The events to be studied are aggregates of such outcomes, they are represented by …  Lire la suite

It is undoubtedly of considerable significance that purines occur in every living source which has been examined. The purines are integral parts not only of all the nucleic acids studied, whether of true cellular origin or in the less specialized structures, the viruses, but they are also essential constituents of coenzymes, adenosine-5' -triphosphate (ATP), etc. [...]  Lire la suite

Investigations of the participation of non-endocrine organs in steroid transformations are gaining equal prominence with those studies in which end products of overall steroid metabolism are sought in the excretia. Although the liver probably plays an important role in this regard, the importance of extrahepatic tissues in steroid metabolism is becoming increasingly apparent. In 1948 Werthessen and collaborators (1, 2, 3) reported that incubation of estrone in blood resulted in destruction of the 17-keto function of the steroid accompanied by a loss of biological activity. On the other hand, Bischoff and associates (4, 5) incubated the red cells of rabbit …  Lire la suite

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; aka Lou Gehrig Disease) is an adult-onset, rapidly progressing motor neuron disease for which there is currently very little treatment. Glutamate excitoxicity, formation of proteinaceous inclusions, proteasome impairment, and mitochondrial dysfunction have been associated with both sporadic and familial ALS, but there are many questions about how these events fit together to cause motor neuron dysfunction and death. In culture models of familial ALS due to mutations in the enzyme Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1), treatments that reduce intracellular Ca2+ prolong viability and prevent formation of mutant SOD1 inclusions. Motor neurons are vulnerable to Ca2+ overload due to …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of the visual culture of enslaved black children in New France and early Quebec (1700-1834). Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources in both slave minority and slave majority sites, this project serves as a contribution to numerous fields notably that of Art History, Slavery, Canadian, and Postcolonial studies through its decoding of Canada’s artistic legacy. Focusing primarily on the condition of the enslaved black children in the Canadian context, this project offers an analysis of black children in British portrait paintings to better comprehend Canada's artistic legacy. In …  Lire la suite

Within the framework of generative grammar, it is assumed that children are endowed with an innate language faculty called Universal Grammar (UG). Children learn their native language on the basis of the interaction of positive evidence in the input with the principles and parameters of UG. In terms of parameter setting, positive evidence consistent with just one value of a parameter causes the preemption of any incorrect settings hypothesized by the child, in accordance with the Uniqueness Principle (Pinker 1984, Wexler and Culicover 1980) which ensures that only one parameter setting can be held at a time in the child's …  Lire la suite

The neuromuscular system interacts with the environment by generating forces that cause motion about joints. The study of this interaction is termed joint dynamics. If the environment is controlled, as it is in experimental situations, then it is possible to draw conclusions concerning the nature of the intact neuromuscular system by studying the nature of environmental interactions; i.e., by studying joint dynamics. The properties of the neuromuscular system, as manifested by the dynamic properties of joints, vary through time as a result of variations in the state of the physiological structures involved. Identifying the time-varying dynamics of joints under controlled …  Lire la suite

This dissertation offers the first full-length study of five feminist writing practices developed between May 1968 and the publication of Rachel Blau DuPlessis's The Pink Guitar in 1990: ecriture feminine (Helene Cixous), ecriture au feminin/writing in the feminine (Nicole Brossard, Daphne Marlatt, Lola Lemire Tostevin), lesbian/political writing (Monique Wittig), innecriture (Trinh T. Minh-ha), and writing as feminist practice (DuPlessis). These share what I call a feminist poetics; I develop the concept of "sympathy" (the transmission of symptoms from one body to the next) to explain how they nourish one another. I recount their poststructuralist context, and outline key historical influences, …  Lire la suite

Regulators of G-protein coupled signaling (RGS) accelerate GTP hydrolysis and consequently influence signal termination. The RGS-4 gene has recently been reported to be implicated in a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and addictions. In this study, the vervet RGS-4 gene was sequenced on a CEQ 8000 genetic analysis system (Beckman Coulter) and characterized using molecular and bioinformatic tools. The obtained vervet sequence overall showed 95.3% sequence identity with the human RGS4 gene. Thereafter, SNPs in the region encompassing the proximal promoter, exon 1 and the first 450 bp of intron 1 were identified by direct sequencing …  Lire la suite

What is to create? In an artistic point of view, is it to imitate Nature, to show the occults causes of its manifestations or to establish another Nature, more magnificent than the one we know? The answer to this question cannot be found easily, especially since with the “what” comes the “how”. Nonetheless, Joris-Karl Huysmans with À rebours (1884), asks and gives an answer to both questions through the creation of an artificial microworld, the Villa of Fontenay-aux-Roses where his protagonist withdraws from the influences of Nature and Society. The avoidance of those influences is a way to contradict a …  Lire la suite

"The attitudes of female hospital social workers towards the fear of death of self and others and the fear of dying of self and others were examined in relation to specific variables. These background variables were: hospital service unit worked in, level of social work education attained, age, family status, exposure to death and dying, the importance of religion, and the level of involvement in social and personal activities. The purpose of this study was to examine whether these variables affected the workers' attitudes towards the four fears. The director and members of the three service units of the Social …  Lire la suite

León, Reyna, Luis De (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

Tremblay, Michel (Internal/Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Maestro, Rolando Fausto Del (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

This thesis describes different bit allocation schemes and their performances when applied on coding line spectral frequencies (LSF) using the GMM-based coder designed by Subramaniam and a simple image transform coder. The new algorithms are compared to the original bit allocation formula; the Pruning algorithm used by Subramaniam, Segall's method and the Greedy bit allocation algorithm using the Log Spectral Distortion and the Mean-Square Error for the LSF quantizer and the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio for the image coder. First, a Greedy level allocation algorithm is developed based on the philosophy of the Greedy algorithin but, it does so level by …  Lire la suite

Brunet, Gilbert (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

La propagation rapide de la résistance bactérienne aux antibiotiques a créé une demande sans précédent pour de nouveaux agents antibactériens. Les panthothénamides sont une classe de composés qui montrent diverses activités antimicrobiennes telles que de l’activité antibactérienne, de l’activité antifongique ainsi que de l’activité d’inhibition croissance antiplasmodiale. Actuellement, pour ces agents antimicrobiens, le mécanisme d’action accepté implique principalement l’activation d’enzymes biosynthétiques de la coenzyme A (CoA) en leurs analogues correspondants, ce qui affecte les voies biosynthétiques en aval, incluant la biosynthèse des acides gras.La panthothénate kinase (PanK) est l’enzyme impliquée dans l’étape limitante de la biosynthèse de la CoA. Chez …  Lire la suite

Leukocyte recruitment into tissues in response to infection or injury is a crucial event for the elimination of pathogens to protect the host. However, when leukocytes invade the central nervous system (CNS) and neuromflammatory disorders result, neurological function may be compromised. Infiltration of the CNS, predominantly by T cells and macrophages, characterizes Multiple Sclerosis and its animal counterpart, Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE). Autoreactive T cells that initiate EAE produce Th1 cytokines (e.g., IFNgamma, TNFalpha). Nevertheless, previous studies also indicated an unnecessary or even protective role for IFNgamma in EAE. I have identified a novel role for IFNgamma in my studies …  Lire la suite

Szkopek, Thomas (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Le virus influenza A (VIA) est à l’origine de certaines des épidémies les plus dévastatrices de l’histoire. La médecine et les programmes de vaccination ont considérablement réduit les taux de morbidité ; cependant, les infections grippales touchent encore des millions de personnes. Conduisant souvent à une maladie grave ou à la mort, les personnes immunodéprimées ou âgées sont particulièrement à risque. De plus, les vaccins saisonniers ne protègent pas contre les souches d’influenza aviaires hautement pathogènes (IAHP), qui présentent un potentiel de pandémie considérable. Ainsi, de nouvelles stratégies visant à améliorer la réponse à la vaccination contre la grippe et …  Lire la suite

La dérégulation de l'homéostasie calcique joue un rôle important dans la pathogenèse de la sclérose latérale amyotrophique (SLA). La toxicité de formes mutantes de la superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), responsables de la SLA, est réduite en limitant l'entrée du calcium dans les motoneurones. La lomérizine est un antagoniste des canaux calciques voltage-dépendent de type L et T qui est très bien toléré chez l'homme. Ainsi, la lomérizine est un candidat intéressant pour le développement d'une thérapie contre la SLA. In vitro, la lomérizine protège les motoneurones contre la toxicité induite par le glutamate en réduisant la concentration de calcium cytoplasmique. …  Lire la suite

Fundamental rights have been traditionally understood as prohibitions of state interference with the private affairs of citizens. Classic liberalism views human freedom generally as the absence of governmental restrictions, maintaining that happiness, prosperity and progress can be achieved only by limiting government. The dissertation challenges these traditional assumptions by showing that the protection of fundamental rights depends on both restraint and intervention of the state. Therefore, the realization of freedom, equality and justice should not be left to market forces but requires active governmental participation. The state assumes positive as well as negative obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights …  Lire la suite

Les vecteurs lentiviraux (LVs) sont un outil populaire d'administration de gènes en thérapie cellulaire et génique, principalement pour les modifications ex vivo et qui gagne en popularité pour les applications in vivo. Plus particulièrement, les LVs sont le principal outil de transduction ex vivo des cellules T pour l'expression des récepteurs antigéniques chimériques dans les thérapies cellulaires CAR-T, dans lesquelles les cellules T extraites d'un patient sont modifiées pour cibler et détruire des cellules cancéreuses. Malgré tous les progrès réalisés dans la production de LV au cours des trois dernières décennies, le défi persistant est de produire suffisamment de vecteurs …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse concerne des concepts d'analyse du bruit, de dispositifs thermoélectriques et de capteurs électrochimiques, présentant des résultats dans ces domaines interconnectés. Dans la première partie, la recherche fait progresser la compréhension des matériaux thermoélectriques en étendant le théorème de fluctuation-dissipation pour révéler la relation entre les fluctuations de température et de tension. Ce cadre théorique est validé par des expériences avec un micro-dispositif thermoélectrique ultra-rapide, démontrant une densité spectrale de fluctuation de tension améliorée au-delà du bruit de Johnson-Nyquist des matériaux ohmiques. Les implications pratiques pour la mesure de température par réponse thermoélectrique sont discutées.Dans la deuxième partie, le …  Lire la suite

Ce mémoire donne une vue d'ensemble de l'amplification en chaîne de par polymérase (PCR) et de ses applications en recherche et en industrie. Il discute des composantes spécifiques et des étapes de la PCR et donne un aperçu des connaissances requises dans les domaines de la chimie, de l'ingénierie et de la biologie pour effectuer une électrophorèse sur gel et une PCR en temps réel. Nous abordons ensuite les lois de la physique qui sous-tendent le concept de chauffage direct sans contact, plusieurs techniques de thermométrie et les systèmes Single Input Single Output (SISO).Nous examinons également les propriétés d'inhibition des …  Lire la suite

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the use of small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for various civilian and military applications. Many of the proposed applications are outdoor and may include environments with high wind. The relatively small size of quadrotors means that wind gusts can destabilize the quadrotor if the on-board flight controller is not equipped to deal with wind effects. This work investigates the ability of a quadrotor to maneuver in a wind field and develops a method to cope with wind disturbances. A dynamic model of a quadrotor is presented to model its …  Lire la suite

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) synthesizes 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, a methyl donor for conversion of homocysteine to methionine. A common thermolabile variant causes mild MTHFR deficiency, induces mild hyperhomocysteinemia when plasma folate levels are low and increases risk for neural tube defects (NTD) and pregnancy loss. To increase our understanding of Mthfr regulation, the 5' and 3' regions of the mouse cDNA and gene were characterized. These studies revealed two major promoters, an internal coding exon in the 5'UTR, alternative transcriptional and translational start sites and alternative splicing and polyadenylation. These data suggest that Mthfr regulation is likely to be complex. To investigate the …  Lire la suite

Moraes, Christopher (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Moraes, Christopher (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Lire la suite

Pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is crucial for mammalian reproduction; it regulates gametogenesis and gonadal function. We know that impaired FSH production may leads to infertility, yet the mechanisms controlling FSH synthesis are poorly understood. Intra-pituitary activins stimulate FSHβ subunit (Fshb) gene transcription in gonadotrope cells, the rate-limiting step in FSH hormone synthesis. Studies conducted in immortalized gonadotrope cells indicate that activin A-stimulated Fshb gene transcription is dependent on homologs of Drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic (SMAD) proteins. More recently, the transcription factor forkhead box L2 (FOXL2) was reported to stimulate SMAD/activin A-induced Fshb transcription. Here, I focused on elucidating the mechanisms …  Lire la suite

La fibrose pulmonaire idiopathique (FPI) est une maladie évolutive rare associée à un pronostic sombre. Durant la dernière décennie, grâce à la recherche sur des traitements potentiels, deux médicaments, soit le nintedanib et la pirfénidone, sont maintenant approuvés pour traiter la FPI d’intensité faible à modérée. Malgré ces avancées, la recherche d’autres options de traitement de la FPI efficaces et abordables est donc loin d’être terminée. Les directives cliniques de traitement de la FPI recommandent maintenant conditionnellement un traitement antiacide, principalement par des inhibiteurs de la pompe à protons (IPP), qu’il y ait ou non reflux gastro-œsophagien. Cependant, les données …  Lire la suite