McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1998

The overall objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of using artificial neural networks to detect the incidence of clinical bovine mastitis and to determine the major factors influencing it. The first part of this research was devoted to a general examination of the learning ability of artificial neural networks by training them with relatively small data sets. These data sets (a total of 460,474 records) contained suspected indicators of mastitis such as milk production, stage of lactation and somatic cell count, and it was hoped that artificial neural networks would be able to detect what statistical modelling …  Read more

Brox, Alan (Advisor)  Read more

Choksi, J. R. (Supervisor)  Read more

Crepeau, Claude (Supervisor)  Read more

The relationship between the Arctic and sub-Arctic sea-ice concentration (SIC) anomalies, particularly those associated with the Greenland and Labrador Seas' "Ice and Salinity Anomalies (ISAs)" occurring during the 1960s/1970s, 1970s/1980s, and 1980s/1990s, and the overlying atmospheric circulation (SLP) fluctuations is investigated using the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analysis methods. The data used are monthly SIC and SLP anomalies, which cover the Northern Hemisphere north of 450 and extend over the 38-year period 1954--1991. One goal of the thesis is to describe the spatial and temporal variability of SIC and atmospheric circulation on interannual and decadal …  Read more

It has been well established that the development of discipline in the gymnasium and the classroom is affected by factors related to proper management and instruction (Siedentop, 1991; Doyle, 1986). However, little research has been done to investigate discipline in relation to the overall teaching context by investigating the instructional and managerial systems together. This study provided an in-depth investigation of one secondary physical education teacher's learning environment. The first two instructional units of the school year for each of two grade levels (25 and 22 lessons, respectively) were observed. The Rules, Routines and Expectations (RRE) instrument was used to …  Read more

Antonio Averlino, known as Filarete (1400--1469), wrote that architecture is a gestational process, likening the architect to the mother and the father as the client. The process requires the architect-mother to " fantasticare e pensare e rivoltarselo per la memoria," fermenting ideas and incubating them in conjunction with one's memory. The intent is to understand mnemonics as a creative operation in Filarete's Trattato di Architettura. A key to this lies with Filarete's personal symbol, the bee. The bee's process of mellification acts as a metaphor of the architect's gestational design. The bee, long utilized as a memorative trope, points towards …  Read more

This thesis considers the design of receivers for multi-user communication systems based on asynchronous direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA). Its primary aim is to improve current receiver designs which exhibit shortcomings in systems using long sequence spreading (where the spreading sequence changes with each consecutive bit). The conventional matched filter (MF) and noise-whit MF (NWMF) receivers incur a degradation in performance under power-imbalance (near-far like) conditions. Similar to that of the conventional MF (CMF), the near-far resistance of the NWMF is shown to be zero. Other receivers, including multiuser receivers, suffer from either incompatibility or excessive complexity under long sequence spreading. …  Read more

User participation has been regarded as an empowerment tool to help low-income people to improve housing at a low cost. It was implemented by the Community Design Workshop during the attempts at housing rehabilitation in Pointe St. Charles in the early 1970's. This thesis is focused on the long-term results of user participation employed by the CDW. Both the current physical conditions of the CDW's projects and the inhabitants' attitudes towards participation, one generation after its implementation, were studied. The research shows that the CDW's efforts involving users in housing rehabilitation not only resulted in improved housing conditions for the …  Read more

We shall argue that, in order for the law to fulfill its task in the field of social justice, it should take into account the collective structure of society. We will consider, especially through Quebec's class action, how state law grasps the reality of a corporate society entranched with conflicts arising from unequal social relationships. We will demonstrate that, in favoring a vision of society made of individual components, Quebec's class action fails in its attempt to reflect the collective dimension of conflicts. Hence, it does not allow unorganized social groups to influence social relationships in a significant manner. However …  Read more

Multiple morphologies of self-assembled aggregates of polystyrene- b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO) diblock copolymers in dilute solution have been studied. The PS blocks are relatively long compared to the PEO blocks. The aggregates are prepared by the addition of water or methanol to the copolymer solutions in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), dioxane, or tetrahydrofuran (THF) to induce the aggregation of the PS blocks. Aqueous solutions of the aggregates are obtained by dialysis with water. Morphologies are directly studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The morphogenic effect of the copolymer composition indicates that as the EO content in the diblock decreases, the morphology of the …  Read more

This thesis discusses the design and implementation of a relational database programming language, focusing on the domain algebra for nested relations. While the relational algebra provides operations to manipulate relations as data primitives, the domain algebra allows the manipulation of the attributes of relations. With the nested relational model, the domain algebra subsumes the functionality of the relational algebra. The conventional relational operations (e.g. selection and projection) may be applied to the attributes of a relation. The domain algebra for nested relations has many advantages. For example, the domain algebra makes the nesting and unnesting of relations very easy. This …  Read more

Cholesterol oxidase is a bifunctional flavoenzyme which catalyses the oxidation and isomerization of 3beta-hydroxyl steroids with a double bond at Delta5-Delta6 of the steroid ring. The FAD noncovalently-bound form of the enzyme obtained from Streptomyces sp. SA-COO was crystallized. The structure was solved by molecular replacement, and refined to 1.5 A resolution. The final model contains 498 amino acid residues, the FAD cofactor, and 662 solvent molecules. In addition, the H449N and E363Q mutants of this protein were crystallized. The structures were solved and refined to 1.8 A and 1.65 A, respectively. The superposition of the native structure with the …  Read more

We implement a general procedure for incomplete data estimation problems proposed by Gu & Li (1998) and Gu & Kong (1998). The procedure can be used to find the Maximum Likelihood Estimate (MLE) or solve estimating equations in problems such as estimations with censored or truncated regression model, nonlinear structural measurement error model and random effects model. The procedure is based on the general principle of stochastic approximation (Robbins & Monroe 1951) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo method (Metropolis et al. 1953, Hastings 1970). A new stopping criterion is proposed and simulation studies indicate that the algorithm converges consistently to …  Read more

The aim of this work was to study proliferative growth of airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells from Fisher rats, a highly inbred strain known to have an increased amount of ASM in vivo, and airway hyperresponsiveness, when compared to control Lewis rats. Airway hyperresponsiveness is a hallmark of asthma, and ASM provides the contractile force which narrows or closes the airways during asthmatic episodes. Growth of ASM in asthma and animal models of asthma is well documented, and is likely to be a crucial determinant of an excessive airway response to contractile agonists. However, the mechanisms of ASM growth in …  Read more

The goal of this thesis is to modify the traditional linear prediction (LP) analysis in such way that the fluctuations of the LP coefficients are reduced, while the pitch pulse shape evolves slowly. These modifications can lead to an increase in the coding efficiency and/or an improvement in the speech quality. Two different methods have been developed for this purpose. In the first approach we derive the LP parameters such that the glottal excitation model matches as closely as possible a target waveform. The latter contains slowly evolving pulses representing voiced speech excitation. The simulation results indicate that the target …  Read more

And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul is a composition for chamber ensemble of thirteen performers. It is scored for flute/piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, two horns, percussion, piano, electric guitar, two violins, viola, cello and contrabass. The piece comprises thirteen variations on a musical idea which, although never explicitly stated, is reflected in every aspect of the work. The composed omnipresence of this idea is intended to impose homogeneity upon the variety of its manifestations.  Read more

This thesis studies Wahid Hasyim's contribution to the development of the traditional educational institution (pesantren) and his involvement in political affairs during the colonial era and following independence. Although he grew up in traditionalist circles, his experience studying at this institution and in Arabia, in conjunction with his wide reading on various subjects, gave him an open attitude to innovation, particularly in the field of education. The backwardness of pesantren graduates in mastering secular sciences, compared to those who graduated from the Dutch schools, inspired him to modernize the pesantren system. The introduction of the madrasah into the pesantren system, …  Read more

The host/parasite association between the pulmonate snail Stagnicola elodes and the digenean Plagiorchis elegans was examined with a view to identifying some of the biotic and abiotic factors that govern parasite egg development, infectivity and survival, the dynamics of cercarial production, as well as host susceptibility to infection, growth, reproduction and mortality. Plagiorchis elegans eggs passed with the feces of the hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) experimental definitive host were unembryonated. Between 0 and 30 C, the rate of embryonation continued to increase with temperature, whereas infectivity and survival were optimal between 10 to 20 C. Light adversely affected embryonation. Parasite acquisition …  Read more

Music scholars have long been trying to determine the major influences on the Ballades of Fryderyk Chopin. Some, like Karol Berger, have pointed to ideological influences of the Polish emigration in Paris, while others, like James Parakilas, have given credit to the generic characteristics of the European literary ballad. In my own view, however, the most salient extra-musical factor in the background to Chopin's Ballades are Ballady, a series of poems by the 19th century Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. After Chopin's death, Mickiewicz's Ballady were frequently associated with Chopin's Ballades, and in the first chapter I demonstrate this by examining …  Read more

Polymorphic crystal forms in food fats contribute to physical characteristics of the fats and consequently to their performance in fat based foods. In the present study the phase transitions associated with polymorphism behavior of common food fats were investigated. The polymorphism of butters, margarines, cocoa butter and cocoa butter products were determined and the effects of certain ingredients and conditions of temperature were studied. The following polymorphic forms were detected: sub-alpha, alpha, beta' , beta'3, beta' 2, beta, beta2, and beta1; however, not all forms were observed in all fats. Margarines contained beta' and beta forms depending on their fat …  Read more

Carbon storage was compared between two perennial biomass energy systems, namely switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and short-rotation willow Salix alba x glaffelteri L.) at 2 adjacent sites, and further compared with a corn cultivation, a 20-year-old abandoned field, and a mature hardwood forest, in southwestern Quebec. Aboveground carbon results indicated that switchgrass and corn had significantly greater carbon levels than willow at the less fertile site, but no significant differences were detected at the more fertile site. Root carbon results indicated that corn had significantly lower carbon levels than both perennial systems to a depth of 30 cm at both …  Read more

Virtually from the outset of the 1978--79 Islamic Revolution in Iran, scholars began to study the event from different social, political and economic angles. Yet, the rapid speed of the Revolution, its predominantly Islamic character, and the numerous changes that have occurred during the last nineteen years remain sources of mystery to many students of this area. The goals and philosophy of education and its relation to the basic foundations of the Revolution is one issue however that has been given less consideration. This thesis is an attempt to identify and study the cultural foundations and those religious values underlying …  Read more

Gowrisankaran, K. N.  Read more

The human Cut gene, CUTL1, was mapped to chromosome 7, band 7q22, a region found in cytogenetic studies to be deleted in several human cancers. CUTL1 encodes for the human Cut protein, a homeodomain protein that was shown to bind to the promoter of the c-Myc proto-oncogene and repress its expression. As a first step in trying to determine whether CUTL1 is a tumor suppressor gene, we verified whether this gene is located within the chromosomal region that is deleted in human cancers. High resolution maps containing the CUTL1 genomic DNA were constructed in lambda phage, cosmid and PAC clones. …  Read more

This research documents the use of a 7.6 cm laboratory Knelson Concentrator (LKC) to determine the amount of gravity recoverable gold (GRG) content in ores and evaluate the performance of gravity circuits, with an emphasis on high gangue density. Two approaches were used to minimize the effect of the high gangue density in estimating the GRG content, oversize removal and 2:1 ratio dilution with silica flour. The amount of GRG was determined in four ore samples with an established protocol, yielding values of 35% to 78% of total gold. Results from the Angnico-Eagle La Ronde Division (AELRD), Louvicourt and East …  Read more

The problem of locating a robot within an environment is significant particularly in the context of mobile robot localization and navigation. This thesis presents a new approach to mobile robot localization that avoids the selection of landmarks and the use of an explicit model. Instead, it uses the low level primitive features from video data, and learns to convert these features into a representation of the robot pose. The conversion from video data to robot poses is implemented using a multi-layer neural network trained by back-propagation. In addition, a key aspect of the approach is the use of the confidence …  Read more

This paper proposes a now architecture for distributed multimedia systems, we called it MSZ, which allows users to access multimedia documents in the system. MSZ assumes a system consisting of a not of client machines and a got of server machines. All of these machines are connected through the Internet. A user can ask for a document to be played with the desired quality of service from any server; MSZ is responsible for selecting the beat server that is able to deliver the document to the user most efficiently. The best server satisfies the following properties: (1) It stores the …  Read more

Salinity problems seriously affect agricultural production by reducing crop yield and arable land. The evaluation of potato genotypes (Solanum spp.) for their salinity (NaCl) tolerance in conventional field trials is time consuming and labour intensive. The results are often confounded by many field and environmental variations. In vitro bioassays can overcome some of these difficulties by providing faster, more convenient and dependable methods for screening and selection of salt tolerant potato genotypes. The objective of this research was to develop in vitro bioassay methods for screening and selection of salt tolerant potato. Under in vitro NaCl stress conditions, seed germination, …  Read more

This is a case study of the administration and organization of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), a prominent Chinese university operating under the State Education Commission of China. The prime objective of the research was to understand how a modern Chinese university is governed at the cultural level---what are the implicit governing assumptions of the upper level administrators? An objective of the completed study is to promote international understanding of Chinese higher education in light of China's 1985 education reform. Data was gathered during eight months of fieldwork conducted in the 1995 academic year. More than one hundred …  Read more

This dissertation describes the design and results of an epidemiological study that was conducted to estimate associations between the incidence of lung cancer and indoor air pollution from environmental tobacco smoke and from Chinese-style cooking. The study was designed as a population-based, case-control study of incident, primary lung cancer. It was carried out between 1992 and 1994 among nonsmoking women living in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, and data for 504 case subjects and 601 control subjects were collected and analyzed. Exposure to tobacco smoke from the husbands of subjects was not found to be associated with all types of …  Read more

Testing digital devices constitutes a major portion of the cost and effort involved in their design, production, and use. Built-In Self-Test (BIST) has been warmly embraced by the Integrated Circuits (IC) industry as a solution for the continuously aggravating testing problem. BIST provides a simple go/no-go test screening answer. However, when test fall-out is high, it becomes necessary to diagnose faults to improve the yield. Signature Analysis (SA) is typically used in a BIST environment to compact the outputs of a module into a final signature. Several SA-based diagnostic schemes have been developed in the past. An overwhelming majority of …  Read more

Goodyer, Cynthia G. (Supervisor)  Read more