This thesis re-examines the Non-Aggression Treaty of August 1939 arrived at between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in light of the changes which occurred in Eastern Europe since 1989. It is based on a systematic analysis of primary and secondary source materials. It is demonstrated that, contrary to the popular viewpoint, the Soviet Union played a central role in the events leading up to the treaty and the outbreak of World War Two. Stalin's efforts to draw Germany into an agreement and its consequences are discussed.

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Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis is concerned with the diplomatic reaction of the Axis Countries, Italy, Japan, Spain and Hungary, to the Russo-German Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939. The immediate origins of the Pact were studied in order to put into context the individual responses of the various countries, known as the Axis Powers. Each of these countries was confronted with a dramatic change in the European situation and each had to adjust its relations with Germany in accordance with its own interests and expectations for the question of war or peace in Europe. / With the exception of Hungary, all were opposed to the Pact because it seemed to run contrary to their national interests and promised to upset the Balance of Power on the European, and indeed, the Asian continent. The thesis thus illustrates the special character of Hitler's diplomacy, in the last year of peace before the Second World War, which did not consider the interests of his partners when concluding his arrangements with the Soviet Union.

No description available.

Perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer membranes demonstrate great potential for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) due to their favorable electronic properties and excellent efficiency. However, the assignment of key vibrational transitions such as the symmetric sulfonate and ether stretches is not yet fully understood depriving researchers of a quick and simple technique for analyzing morphological changes. The symmetric sulfonate stretch could be used to track changes in the ionic clusters formed within the membrane while the ether stretch will provide insight into the largely semi-crystalline PTFE phase. Alterations in either regime will affect both ion transport and mechanical properties and produce a major shift in device performance. This study focused on predicting the vibrational transitions for Aquivion, 3M PFSA, and Nafion using density functional theory (DFT) with the bulk being performed using the same functional and basis set combination, B3LPY/6-31+G*. For all three ionomers, the predicted vibrational transitions were affected by changes in both the conformer and solvation method with water being used as the solvent. Despite the noted changes, both vibrational transitions were determined to be within the range of 970-1100 cm-1 with the symmetric sulfonate stretch present at around 970-1010 cm-1 and the ether stretch observed at around 1050-1100 cm-1 with solvation present. While the calculated peak positions mirror those found in the experimental spectra within the literature, the traditional normal mode assignments do not match those predicted by our calculations. However, recent studies have hypothesized that these vibrational transitions are coupled, which could explain why they have been so difficult to assign. / Master of Science / Perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer membranes show great promise for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) due to their excellent efficiency. However, the current techniques used to determine changes in structural configurations require sophisticated equipment and trained personnel to operate. Simpler techniques exist wherein the vibrations of certain bonds can be measured upon exposure of the sample to measured amounts of infrared light. The problem with this technique is that researchers currently do not fully understand at what wavelengths certain portions of the polymer known as functional groups will vibrate. These vibrations are also known as vibrational transitions. This study was undertaken to predict through numerical solutions to the Schrödinger equation at what wavelengths two particular vibrational transitions would occur for three common ionomers, Aquivion, 3M PFSA, and Nafion. For all three structures, the positions of these transitions mirrored that observed within the literature although the functional groups assigned to these positions did not match with those identified by our calculations. However, recent studies have indicated that these vibrational transitions occur at the same positions, which could explain why they have been so difficult to assign.

CoxsackievirusB3 (CVB3), a member of the Picornaviridae family is the causative agent of Virus-induced Myocarditis and Dilated Cardiomyopathy. The 5’UTR contains an Internal Ribosome Entry Site or IRES element that recruits ribosomes in a cap-independent manner. The ribosomes are recruited upstream of the AUG triplet at 591 (AUG591), also called as the cryptic AUG, after which they scan downstream for about 150 nucleotide, before initiating at the initiator AUG or AUG741. The 3’UTR of CVB3 is 99 nts long, highly structured RNA containing conserved domains, and is followed by a poly (A) tail of variable lengths. We have investigated possible involvement of host proteins which may interact with CVB3 IRES and influence its activity. We have demonstrated the role of Poly-pyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB) and established PTB as a bona-fide ITAF for CVB3, by characterizing the effect of partial silencing of PTB ex-vivo in HeLa cells. The IRES activity in BSC-1 cells, reported to have very low level of endogenous PTB, is found to be significantly low compared to that in HeLa cells. PTB is observed to interact with both the 5’ and 3’ UTR of CVB3, although with different affinities. Finer mapping of the interaction between PTB and the UTRs showed that the protein interacts with multiple regions of both UTRs. We have also shown the cis-acting effect of the CVB3-3’UTR on IRES mediated translation. The PTB contact points on the 3’UTRwas found to map to conserved regions, the deletion of which abrogates the 3’UTR mediated enhancement of the IRES activity. The possible role played by PTB in enhancing IRES activity by CVB3 3’UTR suggests that PTB protein might help in circularization of the CVB3 RNA by bridging the ends necessary for efficient translation of the viral RNA. In the second part, we have investigated possible role of some of the cis-acting element present in the CVB3 5’UTR RNA particularly the cryptic AUG. We have shown that mutation in cryptic AUG reduces the efficiency of translation mediated by the CVB3 IRES. Mutation in cryptic AUG moiety also reduces the interaction of mutant RNA with La protein. We have demonstrated that binding of 48S ribosomal complex with mutant IRES RNA was weaker compared to wt IRES RNA. We have investigated the possible alteration in secondary structure in the mutant RNA by chemical and enzymatic modification, which suggests that there is marginal alteration in the local structure due to mutation. It appears that integrity of cryptic AUG is important for efficient translation initiation by the CVB3 IRES. Results suggest that cryptic AUG plays a significant role in mediating internal initiation of translation of CVB3 RNA by mediating precise La binding and correct positioning of the 48S ribosomal complex. Finally, we have investigated the importance of a conserved hexa-nucleotide stretch in the apical loop within stem loop C (SLC, nt104-180), upstream of the ribosome landing site, on CVB3 IRES function. It has been already shown from our laboratory that the deletion at this apical loop resulted in significant decrease in IRES activity. This deletion mutant was shown to alter the secondary structure of the CVB3 5’UTR RNA. Here we have investigated the effect of point mutation in the apical loop SLC/c on CVB3 IRES activity by generating substitution mutation in the apical loop SLC/c in order to avoid possible alteration in secondary structure. Both the deletion or substitution mutation at this apical loop resulted in significant decrease in IRES activity. Both the mutant IRES RNAs (deletion and substitution mutant) failed to interact with certain trans-acting factors. Furthermore, expression of CVB3 2A protease significantly enhanced IRES activity of the wild type, but the effect was not so pronounced on the mutant IRESs. It is possible that the mutant RNAs were unable to interact with some trans-acting factors critical for enhanced IRES function. We have short-listed three proteins of approximate molecular mass of 56, 64 and 90 kDa, which showed reduced binding with mutant IRESs. By using RNA affinity column with biotinylated UTP labeled RNA we have purified couple of proteins and identified p64 as Cyto Keratin 1 protein by performing in-gel trypsin digestion followed by MALDI analysis. Overall, the results characterize the CVB3 IRES structurally and functionally, which could be useful in targeting critical RNA-protein interactions to develop candidate antiviral agent against Coxsackievirus infection.