McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1996

van de Voort, F. R. (Supervisor)  Read more

The superficial layers of the entorhinal cortex (EC) are responsible for the transfer of neocortical input to the hippocampal formation (HPC) via the perforant path (PP). A significant, albeit not well characterized, component of the PP originates in EC layer III pyramidal cells and terminates directly in area CA1 of the HPC, circumventing the classical trisynaptic circuit. In an attempt to elaborate the input-output properties of this pathway, neurons of this layer were characterized both morphologically and electrophysiologically in an in vitro rat brain slice preparation using intracellular labeling and recording techniques with sharp micropipettes and under current-clamp conditions. These …  Read more

Two experiments were conducted in 1994 and 1995 to compare the field performance of photoperiod sensitive (PS) and photoperiod insensitive (PI) oat (Avena sativa L) genotypes. In the first experiment, bulks of PS and PI lines from four covered oat crosses, as well as the cultivars Sylva, Newman, the PI naked oat cultivar AC Lotta and the breeding line NO820-3L were tested at seven locations across Quebec and Ontario. The second experiment was a seeding. date trial performed at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue in which individual PS and PI lines of three covered oat crosses were utilized. In the multi-location experiment, the PI …  Read more

The most commonly assumed memory consistency model for shared-memory multiprocessors is Sequential Consistency (SC), which is a straightforward extension of the sequential programming model, and is therefore simple to reason with. However, SC places severe restrictions on the use of high-performance hardware and compiler optimizations. In order to mitigate the performance limitations of SC, designers have proposed relaxed consistency models that retain the SC programming interface for a restricted class of programs, and at the same time allow more aggressive hardware implementations by relaxing restrictions on memory access ordering. In cache-based systems, the management of the cache is an important …  Read more

Various accounts have been proposed to explain the deficits found in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Since many of these hypotheses have been evaluated using English speaking subjects, there is an important need for cross-linguistic evidence. In this study, the language of Quebec French speaking language-impaired children was examined in an attempt to provide further information about the nature and characteristics of this impairment. The research examined the language of ten 7-year-old unilingual French language-impaired children. Their language was compared to language samples elicited from ten 7-year-old and ten 5-year-old normally developing children. Spontaneous language samples were elicited and …  Read more

One of the most enduring questions pertaining to eukaryotic translation initiation is how the 40S ribosomal subunit recognizes and binds at or near the cap-structure of mRNAs. Eukaryotic initiation factor 4B (eIF4B) is one of the factors that are required for this step of protein synthesis. eIF4B stimulates the RNA helicase activity of eIF4A and eIF4F, melting RNA secondary structure in the 5$ sp prime$ untranslated region (UTR), and is thus believed to contribute to ribosome binding by creating an area of single-stranded RNA accessible to the 40S ribosomal subunit We studied the mechanism of action of eIF4B by initiating …  Read more

Fifty well-educated consumers over 50 years of age selected print variables within the safety zone for optimal print presentation. A Typography Variable Score (TVScore) matrix based on deviations from optimal print was developed in order to provide a means of assessing consumer product instruction labels. There was a significant correlation between the TVScore and participants' ratings of ease of reading and attractiveness of 40 product instruction labels presented. A modified Miscue Analysis procedure was developed and used to assess the influence of typography on the ease of reading of labels with different typography and TVScores. Participants who read the label …  Read more

The first part of this M.A. thesis is comprised of short stories that focus on the theme of essential lack, exploring the process whereby one discovers that something is lacking and the various ways in which one attempts to fill the void. The second part consists of an essay on creative writing which proceeds from two main questions: first, is it possible to write when "nothing is happening"?; and secondly, can "nothing" be meaningful? In discussing these questions, we will refer to works of nouveau roman novelists, as well as those of writers such as Rainer-Maria Rilke, John Gardner, Raymond …  Read more

The pathway of membrane insertion and assembly of a signal anchor sequence specific for the outer mitochondrial membrane has been investigated. Signal anchor protein insertion into the outer membrane, in vitro, was found to overlap with a general import pathway followed by the outer membrane protein, porin, as well as matrix-targeted proteins. However, signal anchor protein insertion did not require a postreceptor import step involved in porin insertion and matrix protein translocation. Also, in contrast to the membrane insertion of porin, signal anchor protein insertion did not require nucleoside triphosphates for transfer of bound precursor to the membrane assembled form. …  Read more

While much has been written on the Yiddish poet Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, there is a paucity of critical material which deals with the issue of persona in his poetry. This is unfortunate since the use of persona takes centre stage in Halpern's oeuvre. This work will discuss the issue of persona in Halpern's poems, and will focus specifically on one of Halpern's personae: "Moyshe-Leyb." I will begin with an overview of the relevant literary criticism on Halpern, and a discussion of the major themes found in his poetry. Furthermore, I will discuss Halpern's connection to literary modernism, and this movement's paradigm …  Read more

Non-linear vibration of a spinning tether is studied in this thesis. The tether is thought to be a part of a spinning tethered satellite system in the station-keeping phase so that the tether has a constant nominal length and is forced to spin at a constant rate about its nominal axis. Using the extended Hamilton's principle the governing equations of motion are derived retaining non-linear terms up to the third order that originate from geometric non-linearity. They are discretized by the assumed-modes method, truncated to one-mode equations, and transformed to the phase-space form. Then the method of averaging is applied. …  Read more

The primary concern of this thesis is to understand why the "public-private dichotomy" has such resilience in contemporary Western society. Feminist reflection on the dichotomy reveals that at it serves the patriarchal purposes of misrepresenting, masking and devaluing women's lives. Teleworkers are individuals who work at home; they often opt for this work arrangement because they want to better integrate their public (or work) and private (or nonwork) spheres. Ironically, however, teleworkers reify the dichotomy between public and private in their daily lives. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with female and male teleworkers, I explore the mechanisms which reinforce this. These …  Read more

The development of pre-conception and post-conception reproductive technologies has substantial implications and consequences for women. To better establish the impact of the eugenic and sexist traditions which support the elimination of disability/defect and the propagation of "designer babies," a survey of literature outlining the scientific, feminist, legal, cultural, and social perspectives regarding new reproductive technologies was undertaken. Three conclusions of this review are that while new reproductive technologies are not responsible for the environment which fosters bias and intolerance towards oppressed members of society, they have created eugenic demands by supporting genetic perfection; they have informally displaced women's rights to …  Read more

The survival of red blood cells in circulation has been correlated to a negative surface charge in the membrane due to the presence of N-acetyl neuraminic acid (NANA) residues. In this study, biodegradable NANA analogs such as the polyelectrolytes Carboxymethylchitin (CMC) and Carboxymethyl/Glycolchitin (CO) have been adsorbed by physical adsorption onto the surface of positive and neutral liposomes. The dye Alcian Blue has been used to standardize the initial polymer concentration between unequally substituted polymer batches of the same molecular weight. The amount of polymer adsorbed on the surface of the liposomes can be quantified using chitinase from Streptomyces griseus …  Read more

Chan, T. H. (Supervisor)  Read more

The study identifies the major problems associated with the current approach to the planning and engineering of large development projects with respect to the objectives of sustainable development and the requirements of the environmental impact assessment process. The Great Whale Hydroelectric Project is used as an example to illustrate some of these deficiencies. The author argues that the economic and technical criteria traditionally used by engineers in designing projects are no longer sufficient to meet society's objectives, and that a new multidisciplinary approach must be adopted that allows for the accommodation of environmental and social factors from the very beginning …  Read more

The topic of this Master's thesis is "Intercultural 'Landeskunde' in the field of German as a foreign language at Canadian unversities: a documentation of a case study in the Department of German Studies at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada". In the introduction "Landeskunde" itself will be defined as well as its role in the teaching of a language. The three main approaches to "Landeskunde" will be studied, by which more emphasis will be laid on the intercultural approach, which will then be elucidated through a practical example. In chapters two, three and four the background information leading up to the …  Read more

The International Airspace is located above the High Seas. In this area, the freedom of overflight is absolute, alike the freedom of navigation on International waters. No State can exercise its constraint power. Nowadays, the International Airspace is used in different ways, more or less legally. Sometimes, abuses can happen, for instance, a civil aircraft can use the International Airspace in order to "spy" military activities of a foreign State. In that case, the State, victim of the abuse, has essentially two ways to reply: legal means or armed force. Even in a case of reply to an abuse, International …  Read more

In lettuce (Lactuca sativa), the dominant gene Tu confers resistance to turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) infection. In order to eventually clone and characterize the Tu gene using a map-based cloning strategy, the chromosome region in which Tu is located needs to be saturated with molecular markers. Random polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were screened using bulked segregant analysis. Nine new RAPD markers, UBC431$ rm sb{420}, UBC431 sb{940}, UBC434 sb{360}, UBC434 sb{1000}, UBC439 sb{520}, UBC448 sb{685:750}, UBC135 sb{240}, OP108 sb{410} and OP108 sb{1305},$ were identified as linked to Tu. Each marker was mapped relative to Tu using F$ sb2$ individuals previously known …  Read more

The following research used data from the SSE to determine whether socialization or discrimination can explain the lower status of female engineers, compared to men. It was learned that female engineers with children are as committed to their careers as childless female engineers. Moreover, there is no difference in income or job status between these two groups. There is also no significant difference in income between male and female engineers when controlling for employment status, degree, job status and experience. However, female engineers are not found in management positions as often as their male colleagues, even after controlling for experience. …  Read more

Based on the barycentric vector and direct path approaches, the kinematics of a multiple arm space robotic system is developed, and the differences between the two formulations are discussed. Applying the general Lagrangian formulation, a concise explicit model of the system dynamics is derived, and the specific characteristics of space robotic systems as compared to fixed-base manipulators are discussed. Coordination between a spacecraft and its multiple end-effectors, based on planned trajectories, is investigated in capturing a moving space object. Two model-based control algorithms, based on an Euler angle and an Euler parameter description of the orientation, are proposed as well …  Read more

Mexico is part of the dramatic change that information technologies are triggering worldwide and is thus subject to the potential risks of privacy that this "digitally conformable" world implies. Encryption may be a solution to this problem, but its use also involves important difficulties that some countries have tried to solve restricting its use, import or export. This thesis studies the legal challenge of achieving a balanced legislative answer that ensures maximum protection of privacy without conflicting with law enforcement. It also warns the Mexican Consultant Committee on Informatic Policies about the potential problems that the use of encryption technologies …  Read more

The current study was designed to examine sex differences in the importance of peer relations. Interviews were conducted with 85 elementary school children from grades one, four, and six. As documented in earlier studies, boys and girls showed a clear preference for same-age, same-sex peers. There were no sex differences in children's desire to marry or how often they thought about marriage. Sex differences were found in how much children desired to play with the popular girl and boy in their class. Females desired to play with the popular girl significantly more than with the popular boy in grade one. …  Read more

The study of patients has shown that certain higher cognitive processes, such as those involved in the monitoring and the manipulation of information within working memory, depend on the integrity of both the dorsolateral frontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe memory system, as well as on their functional interaction (Petrides, 1994). Small surgical removal of the anterior temporal region, including the entorhinal cortex, is not sufficient to interrupt that fronto-hippocampal relationship. More extensive removals, however, that include a sizeable portion of the hippocampus and the surrounding parahippocampal cortex do disrupt such a fronto-hippocampal functional interaction (Petrides and Milner, 1982). …  Read more

Mining automation has incrementally progressed from line-of-sight remote operation to teleoperation and automatic control of mobile machines, mainly due to significant advances in underground communication systems. The present trend points towards a robotic mining environment where mobile machinery and stationary equipment will be fully integrated with a mine-wide information system overseeing all aspects of mining via a communication network. The successful design and implementation of the software and hardware components necessary to realize this vision depends on the level of seamless integration achieved. The complexity involved in terms of systems functionality and coherence necessitates systems analysis and computer-aided software engineering …  Read more

Much debate on the conceptualization and implementation of anti-racist (AR) and multicultural (MC) education exists both in the literature and in practice. But often overlooked is the influence that students have in generating these initiatives against racism. This qualitative research draws on the experiences of ten student activists and leaders, and explores student-involved AR and MC programs in Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto. Specifically, the roots of student involvement, their views of AR and MC, the factors which limit action within schools, and the sources of hope and discouragement will be documented. It is argued that school ethos, a hierarchy of …  Read more

This thesis describes the modelling of electrohydraulic actuation systems of a prototype forestry vehicle, the experimental identification of the dynamic models parameters and control strategies for forestry operations. The linear graph method is selected to derive comprehensive models of three electrohydraulic actuation subsystems, i.e. the swing, boom and stick subsystems, on the vehicle based on modelling of individual components. A new approach is proposed, then, to integrate rigid-body dynamic models with the actuator dynamic models to result in a complete machine model. Off-line parameter identification procedures are used, including the least-square method. A series of experiments is performed to obtain …  Read more

Etches, Rob (Supervisor)  Read more

This study explores the presentation of transgressive, effective and erotic relationships in a selected group of early modern plays as those relationships relate to the English Renaissance ideal of marriage and sexuality expressed in religious and secular tracts. The depictions of illicit love and sexuality in these plays reveal problematic social and moral issues inherent in the construction of the English Renaissance ideal of love and marriage. Not only do the dramatists reveal the tension between transgressive and normative love and sexuality, but they do so through the use of aesthetic forms that transgress conventional dramatic structure. This dissertation contends …  Read more

Tyszer, Jerzy (Supervisor)  Read more

Based on a case study of the export informatic$ sp1$ services industry, this dissertation examines the prospects for industrial development in Jamaica in the twenty first century. It contends that the island's current strategy of neo-liberal industrial restructuring will not bring about sustained development because it embodies macro-economic reforms that are incompatible with local, cultural and structural realities. Under structural adjustment, Jamaica has embarked upon policies that have been short-term in vision, un-coordinated and subject to the demands of local and global hegemonic groups. These policies have limited the expansion of this export sector and has encouraged forms of work …  Read more

Two types of oxygen carrying particles were formed: a 200cs silicone oil microencapsulated within a nylon membrane, and a solid silicone elastomer microsphere. These oxygen carriers had mean diameters of 0.1 and 1 mm respectively. Free cell cultures of Gluconobacter oxydans performing a bioconversion of glycerol to dihydroxyacetone in a non-growth medium were supplied with oxygen solely from the oxygen carriers. The production of DHA by the culture was used as a bioprobe to evaluate the oxygen transfer capabilities of the oxygen carriers. Models of the reactor system were developed to describe the kinetic and mass transfer phenomena taking place. …  Read more

The patriots depend on the uprising of the people and on popular enthusiasm in general, both for the physical and for the ideological support to achieve the revolution. In order to ensure the progress of the revolution, they will strive to control and direct popular agitation through written discourse. Revolutions de Paris, one of the most popular newspapers of the French Revolution, offers a good example of that: events are interpreted through narratives that distinguish 'good' popular uprisings from 'bad' ones, thus outlining a plan for the contribution of popular enthusiasm to the revolution.  Read more

The cadherins are calcium-dependent cell adhesion molecules. I have used a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strategy to identify the cadherins expressed in mouse CD4$ sp+$ CD8$ sp+$ thymocytes and testis. Two novel cadherins (designated T1-cadherin and T2-cadherin) were discovered utilizing this approach. cDNAs containing partial coding regions for T1-cadherin and T2-cadherin were used as molecular probes in Northern blot and in situ hybridization protocols to determine the tissue- and cell-specific expression patterns of T1- and T2-cadherin. A T1-cadherin mRNA transcript of 3 kb was detected in adult mouse testes extracts. An mRNA transcript of 3.5 kb was detected for T2-cadherin …  Read more

Test cost comprises a substantial portion of producing an integrated circuit. As a result, structural modifications of the circuit via design for test (DFT) techniques are commonly used as an aid to reduce test cost to the lowest possible level. One important class of DFT is Built-In Self-Test (BIST). In BIST, test generation and response analysis logic is integrated into the original circuit and are transparent during normal operation. In this manner, in-circuit tests can be performed with minimal need of external test equipment, if any. Test strategies based on pseudorandom test stimuli are attractive since the simplicity of the …  Read more

Cellular adhesion interactions involved in invasion and migration are crucial to cancer metastasis. Neoplastic tissue explants were cultivated in three-dimensional collagen lattices and monitored for the detachment of coordinated locomoting tumor cell clusters. Blocking monoclonal antibody treatment (10ug/mL) against the $ beta sb1$ and $ alpha sb2 beta sb1$ integrin receptors on cluster surfaces allowed the functional evaluation of these receptors during metastatic invasion. Clusters in treated wells exhibited a loss in migratory persistence, reduction in cluster motility and a greater amount of "stops" during migration as compared to control wells for both anti-$ beta sb1$ and anti-$ alpha sb2 …  Read more

Formiminotetrahydrofolate:glutamate formiminotransferase (EC 2.1.2.5) - formiminotetrahydrofolate cyclodeaminase (EC 4.3.1.4) is a bifunctional enzyme arranged as a circular tetramer of dimers that exhibits the ability to efficiently channel polyglutamylated folate between catalytic sites. A novel, full-length cDNA clone encoding the porcine liver formiminotransferase-cyclodeaminase was isolated and inserted into a prokaryotic expression vector. The recombinant enzyme is expressed as a soluble protein in Escherichia coli and was purified to homogeneity using a multistep scheme. Deletion analysis of the cDNA indicated that each subunit consists of an N-terminal transferase-active domain and a C-terminal deaminase-active domain separated by a short linker sequence. These domains …  Read more

The interrelation among maternal dietary intake, pregravid weight, amount and pattern of gestational weight gain and cigarette smoking in influencing the balance between fetal growth and maternal postpartum weight retention was in investigated in 1,330 healthy participants in the PEI Nutritional Counselling Program. Among nonsmokers, gestational weight gain was the main predictor of postpartum weight retention and explained 65.3% of its variability, while explaining only 4.7% of infant birth weight variability. Women with higher postpartum weight retention gained more weight during pregnancy and most of the difference between higher and lower weight retention groups occurred in the first 20 weeks. …  Read more

Government expenditure on infrastructure has been high in most developing countries. However, though access to services has broadened, the general condition of infrastructure is poor, and the quality of service has deteriorated. Water services is a good example of this problematique. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a demand-oriented perspective on water provision for domestic users. The thesis examines cost recovery potential based on household willingness to pay more for an improved service and water pricing. Also, factors contributing to rising provision costs are explored, with the aim of formulating prescriptions for demand management and lowered costs. The …  Read more

Society's attitudes toward criminal offenders changed dramatically over the nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century the system of handling offenders in Montreal was highly institutionalized and based on sex- and age-specific treatment involving the Catholic Church, civic and legal authorities, and Protestant reform organizations. A thematic study of the relationship of female offenders, concerned organizations, and the criminal justice system at the height of industrial capitalism shows that as the economy expanded and the city grew, there were increasing opportunities for women to break the law. Women's crimes were largely determined by their socio-economic status in Canadian society, often …  Read more

Gauthier, S. (Supervisor)  Read more

This thesis investigates chain formation processes in syntax within the general framework of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1993, 1994, 1995), where comparison among derivations plays a central role. It is primarily concerned with interactions between Grammatical Function changing (Baker 1988a) and wh-movement. Constructions such as antipassive, applicative, and Object Preposing: (special "passive") from typologically different languages are examined together with their implications for extraction. On a theoretical level this thesis proposes a modification of the notion of reference set (Chomsky 1994, 1995), which fixes the domain of comparison for the purpose of economy. In particular, the notion of reference set …  Read more

An evolving environment can have such an impact on the requirements of an existing software system that it can render the system obsolete. We have experienced precisely such a loss in our research environment. The Congruence Evaluation System was an innovative proof of concept (CES POC) system, developed over two years with three person-years of effort. It was part of an environment which was constantly evolving, and this change in the environment dictated the fitness of the CES POC system in the environment. The system served excellently for the basic research goal of discovery and proof, but failed seriously in …  Read more

IL-12 and IL-13 are recently discovered cytokines which belong to Th1 and Th2 subtypes, respectively. To further support the hypothesis that Th2-type cytokines are involved in asthma, mRNA levels for IL-12 and IL-13 were measured in bronchial biopsies from asthmatics and normal controls as well as in moderately severe asthmatics before and after corticosteroid therapy using the technique of in situ hybridization. The number of IL-13 mRNA positive cells in asthmatics was significantly higher than that found in normal controls. However, there was a significant decrease in the number of IL-12 mRNA positive cells in asthmatic biopsies compared to normal …  Read more

Soleymani, M. Reza (Supervisor)  Read more

This thesis examines the reasons why Walt Whitman has been a "puzzle" to literary critics for well over a century. It shows the correspondence between Walt Whitman's work and the mystical tradition of East as also interpreted by American Transcendentalists. Enquiry into "self" is the central theme of most of Whitman's work. Two aspects of this enquiry have been investigated in this thesis and compared with the Upanishads: the development of self; and the use of contradictions as a means of conveying meaning. Both aspects support the view that Whitman displays a worldview not in accordance with the popular Western …  Read more

Objectives. (i) to develop a computationally efficient algorithm of tree-growing for censored survival data, (ii) to assess the performance of two validation schemes, and (iii) to evaluate the performance of computationally inexpensive model selection criteria in relation to cross-validation. Background. In the tree-growing literature, a number of computationally inexpensive model selection criteria were suggested; however, none of them were systematically investigated for their performance. RECursive Partition and AMalgamation (RECPAM) is one of the existing tree-growing algorithms that provide such built-in model selection criteria. Application of RECPAM's different model selection criteria leads to a wide range of models (40). Since RECPAM …  Read more

The effects of the March 1990 deregulation policy on the marketing of agricultural products are examined in terms of price levels, price variability and market integration for maize, tef, noug and sorghum for the Bako, Tibe and Shoboka markets of the Wollega and Shoa regions of Ethiopia. Weekly price data from 1986 to 1993 are used. The price level and price variability changes are tested using a T-test and F-test respectively while market integration is tested using traditional price correlation analysis and Granger's and Johansen's methods of cointegration analysis. Deregulation has resulted in an increase in real prices which has …  Read more

Multithreaded architectures use the parallelism in programs to tolerate long latencies for communications and synchronizations. On encountering a long latency memory access, the processor in a multithreaded system rapidly switches context to another computation thread, thereby improving the performance. Unlike traditional single threaded execution and multitasking in operating systems, multithreading allows accesses from one or more threads of a user program at a processor to contend for system resources simultaneously. Hence, a performance analysis of multithreading should account for the effect of multiple concurrent accesses on throughput of subsystems. Modeling a real multithreaded system, like McGill's EARTH system, poses several …  Read more