McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1993

Mujumdar, A. S. (Supervisor)  Read more

The injury-induced alterations in sulfated proteoglycans (PG) were studied, in neointima, developed in response to a selective deendothelialization of the aorta, of normocholesterolemic rabbits. Light microscopic radioautography and size exclusion chromatography revealed differences in PG between neointima not covered by regenerated endothelium, and reendothelialized neointima or normal aorta. These differences included radioautographic reaction, concentration, size distribution and composition. Further studies were conducted to examine the putative role of the altered PG in lipoprotein (LP) sequestration and lipid accumulation during atherogenesis. LP-PG complexes were isolated by anti apo-B affinity column, from intima-medial tissues from normal and injured aortas. These complexes contained …  Read more

Issues associated with dynamical modelling and control of a spacecraft-mounted robotic manipulator capturing a spinning satellite are investigated in this research. The formulation of the post-capture dynamical equations of the system was carried out by writing the individual Lagrange's equation for the mother spacecraft, the two-link robotic manipulator, and the captured payload. These equations were then assembled to obtain the constrained dynamical equations of the system as a whole. This method, however, introduces the non-working constraint forces and moments which substantially complicate the dynamical analysis and therefore have to be eliminated. A novel technique that involves the use of the …  Read more

This thesis studies how Native women make life choices and set goals for themselves, and what influences those choices. In Chisasibi, James Bay, young Cree women learn their roles and responsibilities--what is expected of them as women--at school, at home, in the bush and, most importantly, from the examples set for them by older women in the community. Cree women's descriptions and perceptions of their own lives, in their own words, forms the basis of the framework used here to analyze women's comments on their aspirations, expectations and obligations. The conclusions drawn here are first, that Cree women perceive the …  Read more

The localisation of B lymphocyte precursor cells in mouse bone marrow and their associations with stromal reticular cells and macrophages have been investigated by in vivo radioimmunolabeling combined with light and electron microscope radioautography. Many early B lineage cells expressing the B220 glycoprotein prior to the expression of surface immunoglobulin and those regenerating after sub-lethal $ gamma$-irradiation, were located in bone-associated regions of femoral marrow. Labeled B220$ sp*$ lymphoid cells of undifferentiated morphology were closely associated with complex cytoplasmic processes of stromal reticular cells. The binding of a monoclonal antibody raised against a B lymphocyte-supportive stromal cell line (mAb KMI6), …  Read more

Despite dramatic increases in female participation rates, a notable and persistent feature of the Canadian labour market is the highly unequal distribution of men and women across occupations. The focus of the current paper is how to explain the observed occupational distribution of women across occupations. In particular, we assess the evidence put forward in support of the standard view within the economics profession--the human-capital notion of 'occupational choice'--and compare its explanatory power with a non-competitive approach to women's labour market opportunities, based on the notion of a labour market characterised by job rationing. While occupational decision-making remains ill-understood, there …  Read more

This thesis attempts to answer the following questions, each of which corresponds, sequentially, to chapter in this thesis: (1) What is the internal composition and the historical contextualization of the 18th chapter of the Qur'an, the Surat al-Kahf? (2) Who is al-Khadir, a figure in the Surat al-Kahf, verses 66-82? How has he been described in Muslim commentary and how has he been analyzed in nineteenth and twentieth century scholarship; and with whom has he been associated and/or identified in such commentary and scholarship? (3) How are probable prototypes or parallels of Khadir portrayed in non-Islamicate documents traceable to before …  Read more

The in situ, equimolar, trimethylaluminum/H$ sb2$O catalyst was used for the ring opening polymerization of racemic $ beta$-butyrolactone, $ beta$-heptanolactone and $ beta$-nonanolactone to form synthetic analogues of the naturally occurring family of biodegradable poly((R) -$ beta$-hydroxyalkanoate) polymers. This catalyst was found to produce both a better yield and a higher molecular weight of a high isotactic, primarily crystalline fraction of poly($ beta$-(R,S) -hydroxybutyrate) than the conventional in situ, equimolar triethylaluminum/H$ sb2$O catalyst. A mechanically tougher, less isotactic and less crystalline fraction of lower molecular weight and a largely amorphous fraction of even lower molecular weight were also isolated and …  Read more

Ghosh, Ratna (Supervisor)  Read more

The thesis examines the problems of the "observer" and "objectivity." I review Thomas Kuhn's concept of "paradigm shift" in order to access wider debates in the history and philosophy of science concerning epistemological development. I argue against traditional notions of "objectivity" and "rationality" that proceed to "naturalize" the binary opposition between the natural sciences and other intellectual pursuits. To make this argument I draw from feminist critics of science, including Sandra Harding, Evelyn Fox Keller, and Donna Haraway, who reconsider more palpable conceptions of "objectivity" and "rationality" for a feminist science project. Jonathan Crary's revisionist, and non-linear approach to a …  Read more

This thesis explores the various manifestations of irony in prose-fiction by women in Quebec from 1960 to 1980. Traditionally used by men, irony is gradually becoming more widespread in women's writing, which in itself is an interesting reversal: more often "objects" of irony, women now reverse the rules of the game and become ironizing "subjects". The first part of the thesis investigates explicit irony; that is, irony which is duly identified and already decoded for the reader; for example, the author might emphasize an ironic fate or destiny for her characters, or might invest a character with an attitude, a …  Read more

This thesis investigates the knowledge of semantics-syntax correspondences in second language acquisition (SLA) within the Principles and Parameters framework. A parameter of semantic structure is proposed to account for crosslinguistic syntactic differences between two previously unrelated, and superficially distinct, verb classes: change of state locatives and 'psychological' verbs. Chinese and English contrast in terms of the parameter setting. Experimental evidence indicates that adult Chinese learners of English L2 initially transfer parameter settings, but are able to reset the proposed parameter. However, they only acquire L2 lexical properties and concomitant syntactic privileges with ease when L2 input adds a representation to …  Read more

This thesis deals with violence in the language of Timothy Findley's work: both the language of narration and the language of dialogue between the characters. In the thesis, I will examine the way language is violated for the purpose of re-assembling it into a more competent vehicle for communication. Bakhtin's theory of dialogics and Robert Kroetsch's theory of violent silence will be examined with regard to Findley's consistent focus on the way language must be violated to render it useful, and why any character of Findley's who refuses to violate language and chooses instead to submit to silence, is destroyed. …  Read more

The liver is a major site of production of circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). We have used primary cultured rat hepatocytes maintained under serum free conditions to explore the regulatory role of various hormones on hepatic IGF-I and IGFBP-1 mRNA levels. IGF-I mRNA levels were stimulated 2.0 to 2.5 fold by bovine growth hormone (bGH) and 1.8 to 2.0 fold by glucagon but on combining bGH and glucagon, a synergistic effect was observed and IGF-I mRNA level was augmented 10 to 12 fold. Octreotide blocked the hGH induced stimulation of IGF-I production in serum …  Read more

The complex nature of Netochka Nezvanova, one of Fyodor Dostoevsky's early pieces, makes this work an interesting and revealing point from which to study the evolution of the writer's craftsmanship. Written under the influence of major Russian, French, and German prose works of the period, it reflects Dostoevsky's process of creative emulation of the achievement of European realist writing and a process of reworking of Russian Romanticism into what would later be called "psychological realism." The unfinished nature of Netochka Nezvanova testifies to Dostoevsky's struggle with the previous literary tradition and to his search for a new literary form. The …  Read more

This study examines the systematics and biogeography of frogs in the Eastern Caribbean, a biogeographical province consisting of the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, and Tobago. A comprehensive collection of specimens was subjected to an analysis incorporating morphometric, osteological, and biochemical approaches. An investigation of $ alpha$-level taxonomy revealed the presence of four additional taxa: Colostethus chalcopis sp. nov. on Martinique, Eleutherodactylus amplinympha sp. nov. on Dominica, E. euphronides comb. nov. on Grenada, and E. shrevei comb. nov. on St. Vincent. Based on species distributions and detailed analyses of the largely congruent data sets, Eastern Caribbean frogs can be grouped into two …  Read more

An experimental and theoretical investigation of detonation diffraction around single cylinders is performed. Four cylinder diameters: 1", 1.25", 2.35", and 4", along with three different mixtures: stoichiometric, equimolar, and 40% argon diluted oxyacetylene, are used interchangeably. The initial pressure is varied from 20 to 90 torr. Experiments are performed in a two dimensional rectangular channel with a test section 1085 mm long, 101 mm wide, and 25.4 mm thick. High speed framing Schlieren photographs of the diffraction phenomena are taken. Smoke foils are also used to provide a record of the change in cell size during the diffraction process. The …  Read more

The production of massive scalar particles at $e sp+e sp-$ machines is studied in detail. In particular, we show that models which rely on scalar fields which couple only to heavy fermions cannot be rejected based on branching fractions for the $Z sb0$ decays at LEP.  Read more

The effects of exogenous estrogen administration on aspects of memory and cognition in women were examined in two studies. In Study 1, women receiving estrogen replacement therapy were compared to untreated women on four measures of verbal memory. Those receiving estrogen had significantly better scores on a measure of delayed memory for propositional material. In Study 2, women in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) were administered either estrogen or placebo on a double-blind basis for six months. Women given estrogen showed improvement on a measure of verbal memory and spatial attention compared to the placebo controls. The combined …  Read more

Planar z-cut LiTaO$ sb3$ waveguides were fabricated by proton-exchange in pyrophosphoric acid and post-exchange annealing. Their refractive index profiles were measured, and the index profile parameters were related to fabrication conditions. This data will be useful for the design and fabrication of single and multi-moded waveguides and devices. A step function was found to accurately model the index profile after proton-exchange. Empirical equations relating the waveguide depth $d sb{pe}$ and the extraordinary index increase $ Delta n sb{e}$ to the exchange temperature and time were found. Propagation losses were measured, and index instabilities were detected. The generalized Gaussian function can …  Read more

The most severe problem for the vacuum arc deposition (VAD) technique is the formation of micron-size particles on the films. These particles degrade the films' properties. The present work studied the generation mechanisms and characteristics of the droplets that are produced in the carbon films deposited by vacuum arc technique. To achieve a better control of the generation mechanism of these droplets, the effect of the arc current, arc duration time, cathode spot temperature and distance between cathode and substrate on the size and population of the micro-droplets are studied. The micro-droplets are in the range of 0.3 $ mu$m …  Read more

A turkey prolactin (PRL) cDNA, encoding a 199 amino acid turkey PRL (tPRL), was cloned from a pituitary library. The mature PRL shared about 70% homology with mammalian PRLs and about 30% with fish PRLs. Areas of highest homology to other PRLs were located in the carboxyl terminus of the tPRL. Prolactin mRNA analyses, during the reproductive life of the turkey hen, confirmed that the high pituitary and plasma levels of PRL measured during the incubation phase are due to enhanced transcription of the PRL gene. Furthermore, tPRL mRNA levels were highly correlated with pituitary levels of tPRL. Recombinant tPRL …  Read more

This thesis makes a proposal for a Greek policy in the area of television broadcasting aimed at ensuring the country's ability to maintain a distinctive position in the European broadcasting market while protecting and promoting Greece's culture and language. The first part of the thesis presents the evolution of Greek legislation on television broadcasting and the status of programming content and quality from 1966, when the first television programme schedule was transmitted, until the present day. The European Community's legal framework and, in particular, the "Television Without Frontiers" Directive is analyzed since any Greek broadcasting policy has to abide by …  Read more

In conventional built-in self test (BIST) schemes, additional hardware is normally added to the original circuit for test pattern generation and compaction of test responses. This additional hardware not only adds significant hardware overhead, but also degrades performance, which cannot be tolerated in high performance architectures such as data-path architectures. Accumulator-Based Compaction (ABC) is a recently introduced test response compaction scheme which targets a broad class of circuits featuring data-path architectures. ABC uses existing arithmetic hardware commonly available in such circuits to perform compaction of test responses with little or no modification to the circuit under test (CUT). This implies …  Read more

The role of Islam in the public life of Pakistan has been a complex and changing one.Since the country' s inception in 1947, Islamism has been the primary language of itspublic discourse in political, cultural, economie and social matters. Nevertheless, there hasbeen little consensus with respect to a c1ear definition of this concept. Islamism hasprovided a fairly flexible and yet powerful mechanism - or language - through whichdifferent political actors have attempted to dorninate public discourse in the country. [...]  Read more

Fusarium oxysporum grown on natural media was believed not to produce mycotoxins of the trichothecene family. Using a defined chemical medium toxin production was investigated for and it was found that trichothecenes were produced. A yeast bioassay using Kluyveromyces fragilis, an organiam sensitive to such trichothecenes as T-2 toxin and verrucarin, was used for detection of toxin in culture filtrates. Detectable levels of toxin (0.2 $ mu$g in litre of culture) were seen by day 4 and peaked around day 9 corresponding to maximum growth (measured by mycelial mass). After this time fluctuations in the level of toxin and growth …  Read more

Galaty, John (Supervisor)  Read more

This thesis examines pond aquaculture as a development strategy in the Philippines, with particular reference to its impact on the local environment and the livelihoods of local people. A theoretical framework is provided by recent literature in development studies and human geography, which attempts to move away from an essentialist and ethnocentric development praxis, and towards a locally-based, participatory process of empowerment. From the perspective of such 'alternative' development ideas, orthodox strategies involving modernization, formalization of economic activities, and resource mobilization, can be reassessed. The promotion of pond aquaculture--and the widespread mangrove deforestation associated with it--is shown to be a …  Read more

Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating agent which has deleterious effects on reproduction in both males and females. When administered to male rats in chronic low doses (6 mg/kg/day), cyclophosphamide caused a dose-dependent increase in post-implantation death of the offspring. On day 7 of gestation, two days after implantation, the inner cell mass-derived embryonic tissues were retarded or absent while trophectoderm-derived extraembryonic tissues appeared normal. The preimplantation growth of embryos sired by cyclophosphamide-treated males was affected; as early as day 3 there was a significant decrease in cell number and in DNA synthesis. On day 3, there was no ultrastructural evidence of …  Read more

Biomass production of chlorophyllase of the marine alga (Phaeodactylum tricornutum) at the exponential and stationary stages was performed. The results demonstrated that the biomass yield at the stationary stage was three times that of the exponential stage. A procedure for the extraction and purification of chlorophylls from fresh spinach leaves, used as substrate, was also developed. Chlorophyllase was extracted from photosynthetic membranes of the disrupted cells and partially purified. The purification procedure resulted into 70-fold increase in enzyme activity. Further purification of the partially purified enzyme was performed, using preparative isoelectric focusing on Rotofor-Cell System. Three enzyme fractions, FI$ sp …  Read more

The focus of this thesis is an AIDS education programme targeting prostitutes in the industrial town of Thika, Kenya. The thesis challenges three key assumptions underlying the programme, namely: (1) prostitutes in Kenya form a readily identifiable, homogenous social category; (2) medically, they are a source of HIV-infection, and a risk group due to their sexual activity; (3) once provided with knowledge about AIDS transmission and prevention, they have the incentive, and the means to modify their risk behaviour. The notions of "prostitution", "risk", and "responsibility", as assumed in the medical discourse of the programme, are contrasted with those found …  Read more

Mice homozygous for the scid (severe combined immunodeficiency) mutation are generally unable to produce B lymphocytes, a condition attributed to defective rearrangements of immunoglobulin genes in precursor B cells. Some early B lineage cells are present in the bone marrow (BM), however. In scid mice, we defined three subsets of early progenitor B cells lacking $ mu$ heavy chains (pro-B cells) based on the expression of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) and B220 glycoprotein: (a) early (TdT+B220$-$), (b) intermediate (TdT+B220+), and (c) late (TdT$-$B220+). Double immunofluorescence labelling of BM cell suspensions has shown normal numbers of early and intermediate pro-B cells, …  Read more

Plusieurs etudes ont demontre qu'au seizieme et au dix-septieme siecle, les eglises espagnoles (metropolitaines et monacales) employaient des ensembles de musiciens utilisant des instruments "hauts" pour jouer dans de nombreuses liturgies et processions tout au long de l'annee. Ce que cette musique etait precisement, au-dela de la participation dans l'accompagnement des choeurs des messes et motets, ne reste que conjectures puisqu' au aucune note n'a ete trouvee. Cette dissertation est une etude et une edition d'un manusmt d'une importance majeure et nouvellement decouvert, identifie comme ayant fait partie du repertoire des menestrels servant le duc de Lerma, c. 1607, qui …  Read more

The goal of the present investigation was to evaluate the role of the pulmonary diffusion capacity (as measured by DLco) in relation to exercise-induced hypoxemia in elite athletes working at near maximal exercise intensities. Twenty-four elite cyclists were submitted to a direct measurement of VO$ sb2$ max on cycle ergometer which permitted classification into one of two groups. "Desaturaters" (N = 13) if oxyhemoglobin saturation (SaO$ sb2$%), as determined by finger oxymetry, fell below 91% or "non-desaturaters" if SaO$ sb2$% remained above 91%. Subsequent determinations of the transfer capacity for CO (DLco) were made using a 3 second breath-hold technique …  Read more

This thesis considers M-ary phase coding for the non-coherent AWGN channel. More precisely, we develop block-coded MPSK modulation schemes specifically for non-coherent block detection which significantly surpass the performance of ideal uncoded coherent MPSK. A class of block codes which are well-matched to MPSK modulation, called module-phase codes, is presented. The algebraic framework used for defining these codes relies on elements of module theory which are discussed along with a method for constructing such codes for non-coherent detection. It is shown that differential encoding, when considered on a block basis, may be viewed as a specific code from a particular …  Read more

Farant, J. P. (Supervisor)  Read more

A comparison of the CDF (Collider Detector at Fermilab) central calorimeter electron response between 1991 test beam electron data and the CDF full detector simulation, using six variables that are used to identify electrons in CDF, is performed. Possible parameters that could be used to tune the simulation are also pointed out.  Read more

This study examined the comparability of estimates of health status elicited through a telephone interview and a face-to-face interview. Standardized measures of cognition, mood, functional performance, and community reintegration were administered, over the telephone and then again in the home, to 366 individuals up to five years after their discharge from a rehabilitation hospital. Information on illness, hospitalizations, falls, and medication use was also elicited. Half of the telephone interviews were performed by health professionals, the other half by trained lay interviewers: all of the home interviews were performed by health professionals. Proxy respondents provided information for those unable to …  Read more

This thesis presents the mechanical design of the prototype of a planar three degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator with revolute joints and the design and implementation of a closed-loop control circuit which controls the motors of the constructed manipulator. Mechanical design here is understood as the decision-making process involved in tasks such as: material selection, structural design and drive selection. In this study the aforementioned tasks for the three degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator are described in detail and their conclusions are used for the construction of the manipulator. Finally a motor speed/control system for the control of the selected motors, to form a …  Read more

It was hypothesized that children with physical disabilities would show a deficit in procedural and declarative knowledge of ball catching compared to age-matched non-disabled children. The first group of children consisted of sixteen children with physical disabilities, three girls and thirteen boys, aged from 6 years and 5 months to 12 years and 6 months. Sixteen children, five girls and eleven boys, comprised the second group. Their age range was from 6 years and 4 months to 12 years and 2 months. All children were tested individually. Procedural knowledge of ball catching was measured by a 15-task ball-catching hierarchy. The …  Read more

The aim of this essay is to explore the potential for an epistemology consistent with eliminative materialism based on work in connectionist modeling. I present a review of the connectionist approach to psychological models that contrasts it with the classical symbolic approach, focusing on the nature of their respective representations. While defending the legitimacy of the connectionist approach, I find that its most useful application is as a basis for neuroscientific investigation. Discussing connectionist psychology, I find it inconsistent with folk psychology and therefore consistent with eliminative materialism. I argue also for the naturalization of epistemology and thus for the …  Read more

In this Master's thesis, we consider the Horton-Strahler number $S sb{ rm n}$ for various distributions of random binary trees with n nodes. For random equiprobable binary trees with n nodes, we give a new probabilistic proof of the well-known result that E$S sb{n}$ = log$ sb4$ n + O(1), and show that for every x $>$ 0, bf P} { vert S sb{n} - log sb4 n vert ge x } le {D over 4 sp{x}}, or some constant $D>0.$ For random binary tries and Patricia trees constructed from n i.i.d. sequences of independent bits with probability $p in …  Read more

Speech understanding systems try to extract meaning from one or several word sequences hypotheses generated by a speech recognizer. Designers of these systems rely increasingly on robust matchers to perform this task; a robust matcher processes semantically important word islands rather than attempting to parse the entire word sequence. This thesis describes a robust matcher for speech understanding whose rules are learned automatically from training data. Learning is carried out by a new set of algorithms involving a new data structure, the Keyword Classification Tree (KCT). By eliminating the need to handcode and debug a large number of rules, this …  Read more

Hydro-Quebec's electricity exports greatly affect our economy and our environment. They may be concluded either under "interconnection agreements" to sell excess capacity and production during off-peak periods, or completed under "firm sales" contracts. Hydro-Quebec exports could thereby replace production plants that are needed and difficult to build south of the border. Economics and regulation of the American industry have led to the writing of too much rigidity into the clauses. There are long term, responsibility, major force and other clauses that prevent the contracts from adapting to the changing competitive market conditions. Utilities involved in such international sales would be …  Read more

The preparation of allylsilanes by silylation of allylsulfones followed by the reductive cleavage of the silylated sulfones, is described. The use of this new methodology in the synthesis of polyenic compounds including cis and trans retinoic acid was reported. The preparations and reactions of a series of aminomethyl substituted $ alpha$-allylsilyl anions with carbonyl electrophiles were studied. The stereoselectivity of these reactions was subject to solvents and temperature effects. For instance, the condensation of these anions with carbonyl electrophiles proceeded to give the corresponding E-homoallylic alcohols in benzene, but the same reactions at lower temperatures in the presence of dimethoxyethane …  Read more

Dairy heifers were submitted to high or moderate plane of nutrition before and during first gestation. High plane of nutrition did not increase milk production but negatively affected reproduction and health. In addition, high plane of nutrition decreased growth hormone (GH) concentration and increased prolactin concentration during gestation. There was no effect of previous plane of nutrition on peripartum concentrations of hormones. Milk production was positively correlated with GH concentrations, but was negatively correlated to concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) concentrations postpartum. The effect of GH administration on mammary vasculature and on paracrine secretion of growth factors was investigated in …  Read more

We study the kinetics of domain growth in deeply quenched anisotropic ferromagnets in the presence of a small external field H, using three simulation methods in two dimensions. In particular, we concentrate on the time evolution of the inverse perimeter density, squared magnetization, and structure factor, all of which characterize the domain morphology. The inverse perimeter density evolves as $R sp2$(t,H) $ sim$ t$ sp{n}$, where n = 1 for early time and n = 2 for late time. We characterize the crossover behavior of this growth law and demonstrate that the inverse perimeter density behaves like $R sp2$(t,H) = …  Read more

This thesis studies the way in which Robert Soulieres uses, in increasing complexity, four forms of humour in his novels for adolescents. The novels studied are: Le visiteur du soir, Un ete sur le Richelieu, Casse-tete chinois, and Ciel d'Afrique et pattes de gazelle. These forms of humour are defined, identified, and classified. How they are used and interact with other components of the works are examined. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first looks at the way in which the author manipulates language. The second analyses the role of the narrator and the different narrative levels. The …  Read more

Stuart, P. R. (Supervisor)  Read more

Kamal, M. R. (Supervisor)  Read more