McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par É

The lifelong process of spermatogenesis is supported by spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Because of their ability to self-renew and produce differentiated cells that transmit genetic information to the next generation, SSCs are an important target cell population to restore male fertility. Pup (6-8 days old) and adult mouse SSCs are believed to possess different characteristics. In order to determine if there is a difference in biological activity of SSCs, in Aim 1, I evaluated the self-renewal and differentiation pattern of pup SSCs and compared it to adult SSCs. Using serial transplantation, I showed that pup SSCs preferentially commit to differentiation …  Lire la suite

Outside the slatted shutters of the bedroom window, the afternoon sun was very bright. Beth thought she could tell its exact brightness from the broken glow that filtered in. The snow would be white today - - so white it would reflect color, just as blackness did when she closed her eyes tightly and stared into the dark. [...]  Lire la suite

The dawn of aviation may have been universally ushered in on 4 June 1783 when two French brothers--Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier--in a pioneering effort, publicly flew their self-made hot-air balloon (built with linen and paper) up to about 1,830 metres: but for many centuries before then, English law had regulated the delictual relations of its subjects in England and its other realms beyond the Seas, including Canada. With the ever-changing circumstances of the World, engendered particularly by developments in science and technology, as by inconstancy in the socio-political disposition of Mankind, the adaptability of the said regulatory scheme assumes a …  Lire la suite

La discrimination et l'inégalité de genre ont été des expériences vécues par les femmes du monde entier, la lutte pour les droits des femmes prenant de l'ampleur aux niveaux national, régional et international. Le régime africain des droits de l'homme a joué un rôle essentiel dans la prise en compte des droits des femmes et de la discrimination à leur égard, au bénéfice des femmes africaines. Cependant, il y a eu des défis, notamment dans les processus de mise en œuvre. Les données disponibles montrent que, au cours des deux dernières décennies, la vulnérabilité continue des femmes africaines à la …  Lire la suite

Abstract:KRAS mutations are highly prevalent in colorectal, lung, and pancreatic cancers, leading to continuous cell proliferation and cancer progression. Mutant KRAS (mKRAS) exposes cells to oncogenic forms of stress (i.e., genotoxic, metabolic, and proteostatic stress), which disrupt proliferation and tissue homeostasis. To cope with stress, cells engage at the level of mRNA translation and involve the functional interplay between the translation initiator factors eIF2 and eIF2B. Phosphorylated eIF2 antagonizes the guanine exchange function (GEF) of eIF2B to mediate translational and transcriptional reprogramming to promote adaptation under stress. We examine how mutant KRAS interacts with translation initiation factor B, leading to …  Lire la suite

Les ostéoclastes sont de grandes cellules multinucléées de résorption osseuse dérivées des précurseurs des monocytes et des macrophages et constituent l'une des principales cellules cibles des médicaments contre l'ostéoporose. Nos recherches et celles d'autres chercheurs ont démontré que l'activité enzymatique de la transglutaminase provenant de l'ensemble ou d'un seul des trois TG, TG2, FXIII-A et TG1, régule la différenciation des ostéoclastes et le remodelage osseux. Des études in vivo et in vitro sur des souris Tgm2-/-, F13a1-/- et Tgm2-/- ont révélé une augmentation de l'ostéoclastogenèse et une perte significative de la masse osseuse. Cependant, le rôle de TG1 dans les …  Lire la suite

AbstractHistone deacetylase 5 (HDAC5), a founding member of class IIa histone deacetylases, is essential in epigenetic regulation by modulating chromatin structure and gene expression, which raises the important question of whether this enzyme is directly linked to genetic disease Related to this, unpublished findings from our clinical collaborators suggest a direct link between mutations in the HDAC5 gene and a new neurodevelopmental disorder, but this has yet to be experimentally established. To assess the pathogenicity of these mutations from a dozen patients with developmental disorders, we investigated their functional and regulatory implications. For this, we first conducted classical and artificial …  Lire la suite

Les épithéliums sensoriels de l'oreille interne des mammifères sont composés de cellules ciliées et des cellules de soutien. Ces cellules proviennent de précurseurs communs, qui sortent du cycle cellulaire vers la fin de l'embryogenèse. Ensuite, les cellules ciliées ainsi que les cellules de soutien ont maintenu un état non –prolifique. Conséquenment, la perte de cellules ciliées chez les mammifères est irréversible. Afin de régénéré les organes de l'oreille interne, les cellules de soutien se doivent réintégrer le cycle cellulaire afin de pouvoir produire de nouvelles cellules ciliées et des cellules de soutien .On en sait peu au sujet des gènes …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse explore le rôle crucial du cortex somatosensoriel (S1) dans la rétention de l'apprentissage moteur, avec un focus sur la persistance des compétences motrices nouvellement acquises. Le travail est structuré autour de trois études interconnectées qui fournissent collectivement un examen complet de la manière dont S1 contribue à la rétention de la mémoire motrice, immédiatement après l’apprentissage et après un délai de 24 heures, ainsi que de la manière dont cette rétention peut être influencée par des écarts sensoriels lors des tests.La première étude visait à délimiter le rôle de S1 dans la rétention de la mémoire motrice en …  Lire la suite

Lapointe, Jacques (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

Flow characteristics including resonance phenomena, bubble phenomena, particle circulation and mixing patterns as well as surface-to-bed heat transfer in aerated vibrated beds were studied experimentally. Beds of various model particles were vibrated in the vertical direction with a frequency varying from 0-25 Hz and half-amplitude from 0-4 mm. Alumina, glass beads and molecular sieve particles of sizes ranging from 6 $ mu$m to 3600 $ mu$m were used as the model particles. Air flow rates through holes in the bottom plates varied from 0 to 4 times the minimum fluidizing velocity with one, five or a multiplicity of holes. The …  Lire la suite

Research on electrochemical detection methods for electroactive species in flowing streams is focussing on improving selectivity without compromising sensitivity or detection limits. With this in mind an effective electrode would be one that can examine electroactivity at many potentials in the shortest possible time frame. This work has investigated this possibility by using a single low temperature isotropic carbon working electrode with a choice of three scanning techniques. The most familiar one is cyclic voltammetry which is known to generate a wealth of qualitative information. The other modes are pulse and square-wave cyclic voltammetry. These modified versions of cyclic voltammetry …  Lire la suite

Particle circulation patterns and drying in aerated vibrated beds of large particles were studied experimentally. The beds were vibrated vertically at frequencies up to 25 Hz and half-amplitudes up to 4 mm. Molecular sieve particles, alumina particles and glass beads with average diameters ranging from 925 $ mu$m to 2300 $ mu$m were used as model particles. Particle circulation experiments were conducted with air in cross-flow as well as conventional up-flow with respect to the direction of the applied vibration. It was found that vibration intensity and aeration rate acted in opposition to restrict the range of useful operation of …  Lire la suite

At the court of Louis XIV during the first weeks of 1686, a group of very influential people were doing everything in their power to have the intendant of New France, the sieur de Meulles, recalled from his post and replaced by his predecessor, the sieur Duchesneau. [...]  Lire la suite

In 1632 Canada, having been under English control since 1629, was returned to France by the terms of the treaty of St. Germain- en-Laye. For the next thirty-five years the French were far too occupied, first by the Thirty Years War then by the civil turmoil of the Fronde, to pay much attention to the affairs of a handful of settlers in the New World. The Company of One Hundred Associates had been granted a monopoly on the colony's trade and charged with its administration but it had shown a marked lack of initiative and administrative ability.  Lire la suite

Angiogenesis and inflammation are hallmarks of several pathologies including breast cancer. The angiopoietins and Tie receptors have emerge as alternative targets for therapeutical intervention due to their function as essential regulators of angiogenesis, vascular homeostasis and inflammation. Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), the main agonist of Tie-2 receptors, promotes vessel growth, inhibits inflammation and maintains vessel stability. Although important advances have been made in understanding the functions of Ang-1 in the vasculature the intracellular signaling pathways activated by Ang-1, as well as its role in breast cancer and inflammation, remain largely unexplored. Using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we identified dual-specificity phosphatases …  Lire la suite

In order to study the exocrine secretion of the pancreas in response to the feeding of an elemental diet chronic pancreatic fistulas were made, in eight mongrel dogs, by cannulating the main pancreatic duct. The volume and enzyme content of the pancreatic juice secreted in response to a test meal of either elemental diet or normal diet was measured. No change was found in the concentrations of amylase, lipase, trypsinogen or protein per, unit volume of juice on either diet. However a 60 percent reduction in the total volume of flow occurred after elemental diet feeding, resulting in an overall …  Lire la suite

While still in Africa, and nearing the end of an epic expedition that had brought him across the heart of the African continent from Zanzibar to the Congo estuary on the Atlantic coast, Henry M. Stanley wrote the following letter to his co-sponsor, the Daily Telegraph, the letter appearing in that paper on 12 November, 1877. Stanley was indeed showing foresight, both commercial and political, for he was anticipating by only a few years the tremendous 'scramble' for Africa that was to engage the European Powers in the last two decades of the nineteenth century.  Lire la suite

This thesis examines the influence of contemporary approaches to biodiversity conservation on conceptions of state sovereignty over natural resources. Traditional approaches to state sovereignty have emphasized the right of states to exploit natural resources. Contemporary approaches to biodiversity conservation, however, have given rise to a more flexible and dynamic understanding of state sovereignty over natural resources: one encompassing sovereign rights of exploitation along with corresponding conservation responsibilities. Founded upon this premise, the thesis focuses on the emergence of a 'balanced' approach to state sovereignty over natural resources and examines its effects on the role of states in managing natural resources. …  Lire la suite

Neuropathic pain is a debilitating problem affecting millions of people worldwide. This condition affects the quality of life and bears a substantial economic burden on society. Current drug treatments are often inadequate to treat this type of chronic pain, as they provide limited relief and are often accompanied with many undesired and difficult to manage side effects. It is imperative thus, to find new treatments that target alternative mechanisms from the currently approved drugs.The pathogenesis of neuropathic pain is very complex and involves structural, physiological and pharmacological changes throughout the neural axis (from the site of peripheral nerve injury to …  Lire la suite

La connexion entre le flux entrant d'accrétion et le flux sortant du jet dans les trous noirs en accrétion à toutes les échelles physiques est un problème fondamental de l'astrophysique moderne. Les binaires à rayons X des trous noirs galactiques (BHXB's, de l'anglais Black Hole X-ray Binaries) sont des cibles idéales pour étudier cette connexion, en raison de leur proximité et de leur variabilité sur de courtes échelles temporelles. Ces dernières années, une attention particulière a été accordée à l'observation multi-longueurs d'onde des BHXBs pendant leurs phases de sursaut, lorsque les jets relativistes éjectés par le système deviennent suffisamment brillants …  Lire la suite

During many years a number of observers have presented evidence suggesting that cerebral ischaemia, resulting from local vascular spasm, or from suddenly diminished blood supply to the brain as a whole, may be instrumental in producing an epileptic seizure. Investigators have also demonstrated that an epileptic discharge may originate in an area of cortex which has been pathologically altered by a previous ischaemia. In the investigation described here these two aspects of the problem of epilepsy have been studied. The first part of the thesis deals with vasospasms and focal cerebral ischaemia produced by mechanical and electrical stimulation of pial …  Lire la suite

Les filaments de vortex sont des tubes de vorticité isolés, et il est important de comprendre leur comportement pour caractériser les fluides dans lesquels ils apparaissent. La reconnection de vortex, i.e. le changement de topologie qui survient lorsque des filaments entrent en collision, est un phénomène particulier qui ne peut être modelisé par la méthode traditionnelle des vortex, ce qui mène (Ghuneim, 2002, Ghuneim et al., 2002) à l'intégrer avec la méthode des ensembles de niveau. Cependant, la complexité de l'implémentation traditionnelle de la méthode des ensembles de niveau limite grandement le type de simulations qui sont possibles. Motivés par …  Lire la suite

"En 1986, l'inclusion du commerce des services, y compris des senices financiers, dans les negotiations commerciales multilatérales, l' "Uruguay Round", du GATT sur la libéralisation du commerce a représenté la reconnaissance officielle mondiale des services en tant qu'objet du commerce international et de leur importance ::our les économies nationales. Par ailleurs, la mise en place de l'Accorrl Clénéral sur le Commerce des Services (GATS) comme partie intégrante de la nouvelle Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC) est la manifestation au niveau des institutions de l'importance croissante des services industriels dans le commerce international. Parmi la variété des services, les services financiers, …  Lire la suite

This thesis assesses the potential for autochthonous malaria transmission in Ontario, Canada. First, the spatial and temporal profile of imported malaria cases in Ontario is characterized. Next, the potential for interaction between the cases and mosquito vector is evaluated. Results of malaria tests that identified subjects as either positive (cases) or negative (controls) were overlaid with vector observation data. Case-control logistic regression showed that malaria cases were positively correlated with living in a neighbourhood with a high proportion of residents who are immigrants from malaria endemic areas. Cases were reported in the suburbs of the Greater Toronto Area, and only …  Lire la suite

The VLDL of both human and rat sera can be dissociated by heparin into an a- and a β-Iipoprotein-containing component of reproducible composition. The heparin precipitable β-containing component of human and rat VLDL contains more than 90% of the triglycerides and cholesterol of that fraction, consistent with the role of the β-lipoproteins as the main triglyceride and cholesterol carriers in the circulation. The heparin soluble a-containing component contains a higher phospholipid to protein ratio than that of any of the other serum lipoprotein fractions, suggesting that it may contain a peptide with high affinity for phospholipids such as the "C" …  Lire la suite

This thesis explores the foundations of the complex and multifaceted work of Leonardo da Vinci as a whole. What underscores the universality of his research and transcends the artificial divisions of his vast body of work into modern categories of specialization, is the operation of analogy, which is grounded in a mimetic imagination. Leonardo's search is ultimately one of understanding the underlying causes that animate the universe and through analogy, his work and his world hold together. Central to my investigation of the continuity of Leonardo's analogical mode of thinking and making, are questions pertaining to the body, architecture and …  Lire la suite

This thesis analyzes the transmission process that generates and links credit, money and economic activity as proposed by Post-Keynesian authors. These authors include mainly Chick, Davidson, Minsky and Wojnilower, who base their hypotheses on the collected works of Keynes and Kalecki. Their key contribution is to identify the cause of the transmission mechanism with the deficit spending of private economic units that is financed by credit that is created by financial intermediaries. The framework used by these authors assumes uncertainty, speculation and instability that have resulted in the formation of institutions such as money, contracts and intermediaries. It is shown …  Lire la suite

Cette thèse est une histoire intellectuelle et sociale de la Banū ʿAlawī sāda vallée de l’Hadhramaut au Yémen, retraçant l'évolution de leur tradition savante soufie depuis leurs origines au début du dixième siècle, avec la migration de leur célèbre ancêtre Imām Aḥmad b. ʿIsā (d. 345/956) de Bassora, en Irak, à Hadhramaut jusqu'à l'émergence de leur principale autorité spirituelle de la fin du XVIe siècle, Shaykh Abū Bakr b. Sālim (d. 992/1583). Bien qu'il existe un grand nombre d'études historiques et anthropologiques portant sur les grandes communautés diasporiques Banū ʿAlawīs de la région de l’Océan indien et sur l'histoire sociale …  Lire la suite

Le développement de Transformateurs a marqué une révolution dans l'apprentissage profond et ses applications. Par exemple, les systèmes modernes de Traitement Automatique du Langage Naturel (TALN) ont obtenu des résultats merveilleux en utilisant des Modèles de Langage Pré-entraînés (MLP) comme une base de leur structure. La plupart de ces MLP sont immenses, sont développés en empilant plusieurs couches de Transformateurs et sont pré-entraînés sur un ensemble de données massif pour apprendre une connaissance générale des langues naturelles.Néanmoins, des défis majeurs sont associés à la performance supérieure des modèles pré-entrainés basés sur les Transformateurs. Premièrement, la taille de ces modèles est …  Lire la suite

L'usage de plaques de verre occupe une place notable dans la production artistique de Gerhard Richter (1932-). Ce mémoire propose d'examiner les diverses exploitations plastiques que Richter fait à partir du verre en portant une attention particulière aux implications liées au concept de « mouvement ». Ceci étant, c'est concurremment à l'analyse des écrits portant sur les œuvres de l'artiste que notre analyse s'ancrera. Méditant sur l'idée selon laquelle Richter opterait pour un (dés)engagment radical par rapport à la tradition picturale, le premier chapitre traite des avantages et des désavantages de l'utilisation par la critique de la notion de « …  Lire la suite

Dental caries are highly prevalent among Canadian children. Limited evidence supports the effectiveness of school-based oral health promotion programs for dental caries reduction; we found one such study from Canada and none from Quebec. Objectives: 1) To identify distinct types of school environments among schools situated in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area of the province of Quebec, drawing from a number of factors related to the provision of school-based oral health promotion programs, engagement in oral health promotion activities, and the social and built environment of the school neighbourhood; 2) To estimate the relation between types of oral health promoting …  Lire la suite

Plasmodium falciparum est le parasite protozoaire mortel responsable du paludisme. Le paludisme est l’une des maladies infectieuses les plus importantes qui a fait rage pendant des millénaires et affecte près de la moitié de la population mondiale. Le régime de traitement qui était basé sur les médicaments à base de quinoléine tels que la chloroquine (CQ) a été efficace pendant des décennies. De nos jours, l'utilisation de cette classe de médicaments est vouée à l'échec en raison de l'émergence de parasites résistants aux médicaments à base de quinoléine. Aujourd'hui, les thérapies combinées à base d'artémisinine (ACTs) sont les médicaments de …  Lire la suite

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the United States to dominance marked the start of a new era in international relations. The need to study accommodation as a security strategy in the developing world stemmed from this major development. In this context, this thesis attempts to add to the growing literature on accommodative strategies by analysing the dynamics of accommodation in protracted conflicts in the developing world. The specific case selected in the search for insights is the evolution of Syrian policy towards Israel in the post-Cold War era. Three instances of attempted accommodation are studied: …  Lire la suite

Experimental evidence is presented in support of the hypothesis that real, large-scale divergence and energy conversion processes can be analysed from the winds and temperatures reported by the present North American rawinsonde network. The Bellamy triangle method has been used to produce divergence and this divergence is shown to have continuity in the horizontal, the vertical and in time. A discussion of the scale on which this parameter can be analysed objectively and the errors involved are presented. Energy conversion processes associated with an individual weather system are displayed in map form for comparison with other synoptic features.  Lire la suite

This thesis considers the question of heresy as it relates to the context of Song dynasty China (960-1279 C.E.). It analyzes the ways in which the Song Imperial authorities constructed a religious orthodoxy and defended it through the legal system. It will deal with how heresy is defined in a multi-religious polity without a unified church, such as the Catholic Church of the medieval West. This thesis will argue that a definition of heresy derived from western heresiology is a valid analytical model and that Song China had a religious orthodoxy constructed around the person of the Emperor.  Lire la suite

Bien que le problème du libre arbitre et du déterminisme ne figure pas pour beaucoup dans la dernière floraison de la philosophie islamique, il devient un sujet principal de la pensée de Sadr al-din Shirazi (Mulla Sadra) ob. 1640. La manière dont il traite de cette question, et du problème de la théodicée qui s'y apparente, aussi bien que les soolutions qu'il propose, dérivent pour la plupart d'un système original et complexe qui lui est propre, bien que Sadra soit influencé par certaines formulations islamiques précédentes. En appliquant au problème du libre arbitre la doctrine de Sadra sur l'ambiguité systématique …  Lire la suite

This thesis attempts to show that the freedom-determinism controversy in classical Islamic theology manifested itself through radical determinism, indeterminism and attempts to make compatible Divine Omnipotence and human responsibility. The first two approaches (represented by the Hadïth material of Bukhari and Muslim, and the treatise of al-Hasan al-Basrï) were closely connected to the first century political-religious upheavals, but the formulations of these two approaches were based upon two different interpretations of the Qur'an. The third approach (represented by al-Ash'arï and Ibn Hazm, among others) sought to preserve Divine Omnipotence while at the same time allowing for some notion of human …  Lire la suite

Files, H. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

Files, H. (Supervisors)  Lire la suite

Natalie Stoljar (Supervisor2)  Lire la suite

Brazing is a low-cost process used extensively in manufacturing and repair of component assemblies in the aerospace industry. For stainless steel joints requiring an airtight seal, the brazing metal Pd-Ni-Cr-Si-B (PalNiCro) is commonly applied. However the underlying mechanisms of the brazing process are not well understood, which has precluded optimization of the brazing parameters and reduced the cost-effectiveness of the production process. To address these issues, the role of processing conditions on the wetting characteristics of austenitic AISI 347 and martensitic AISI 410 stainless steel was studied in this work using PalNiCro as the brazing alloy. Sessile drop tests were …  Lire la suite

Deficits in emotional functioning are prevalent among many mental health conditions and subclinical socioemotional difficulties (Aldao et al., 2016). Research underscores the pivotal role of family-related factors, particularly parent emotion regulation (ER) and emotion socialization (ES), in shaping children’s socioemotional development. However, few interventions comprehensively integrate training in both parent domains (i.e., ER and ES). This dissertation evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the Parenting CARE Program, a novel emotion-focused parenting intervention, delivered in synchronous and asynchronous digital formats. Study 1, a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the synchronous digitally …  Lire la suite

Radio frequency (RF) sensing networks are a class of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which use RF signals to carry out tasks such as tomographic imaging, tomographic target tracking and node localization. While a wide variety of such algorithms exist, they often assume access to measurements of the baseline received signal strength (RSS) on each link, i.e, to measurements taken during some offline calibration period when no temporary obstructions are located near the nodes which form the network. However, in many cases, WSNs are designed to be deployed and used on the fly, and it can be impossible to ensure the …  Lire la suite

La trilogie Marcotte, dans laquelle la Cour suprême du Canada a déterminé que certains articles de la Loi sur la protection du consommateur du Québec sont applicables aux activités de carte de crédit des banques opérant dans la province, a été immédiatement notable pour ses possibles lourdes conséquences sur les activités bancaires à travers le Canada. Cette thèse examine l'analyse constitutionnelle de la Cour dans sa décision principale Banque de Montréal c Marcotte et, plus particulièrement, elle se concentre sur plusieurs affirmations faites par la Cour pour appuyer ses conclusions sous la doctrine de la suprématie fédérale. La première de …  Lire la suite

The skin and especially the large skin glands of amphibia have been the subjects of much study and discussion since Ascherson's investigations on the skin-glands of the frog in 1840. But in spite of this extensive work, one fails to find very much in the field of the structure of the lateral line organ of aquatic amphibia. It is mentioned often; its distribution is also given, but only a few authors have dealt with its actual structure. Very closely connected with the structure of the organs of the lateral line is its function. [...]  Lire la suite