McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1998

Real-time control strategies were developed for biological systems requiring exposure to a number of different redox environments. The approach taken was to develop control strategies under static redox conditions, and then merge them into a unified scheme. The anoxic system studied consisted of the removal of oxidized nitrogen by Pseudomonas denitrificans. A control strategy that was based on detecting an inflection point in the transient ORP signal was applied. The inflection point was detected by searching for a minimum in the first derivative. Using this approach, all of the nitrate and nitrite was removed each cycle. Aerobic removal of toluene, …  Read more

The arbitrability of legal disputes surrounding patent issues is a controversial problem in most legal systems. For many countries, patent disputes touch on public policy, which in turn, often interfere and sometimes deny the arbitrability of such disputes. There is no legal obstacle to arbitration. The controversy lies rather in the arbitral tribunal's power to challenge the validity of registered rights. In all cases, the state ensures that all granted rights fulfil the legal criteria. Therefore, it may decide to give exclusive rights to its jurisdiction to adjudicate any dispute challenging the validity of a patent. This paper suggests doing …  Read more

Torsade de pointes (TdP) is a proarrhythmic side effect of antiarrhythmic drugs that prolong the QT interval. The exact electrophysiologic mechanism of TdP is under intense investigation. To study the mechanisms and characteristics of TdP requires an animal model in which the arrhythmia occurs at a high incidence, predictably, reproducibly and resembles the characteristics of the clinical arrhythmia. We have developed such a model in the isolated rabbit heart (chapter II). This model is based on our earlier work showing that in isolated ventricular preparations from the rabbit heart, class III drugs, such as d-sotalol induce a greater increase in …  Read more

The purpose was to compare the blood lactate response and performance of varsity hockey players to recreational players, and to provide a shift by shift analysis of blood lactate accumulation in a simulated ice hockey task. Ten university, varsity players and ten recreational players performed a continuous aerobic treadmill test (VO2max), a 45 s Wingate test, and four trials of the Repeat Sprint Skate (RSS) test. Each RSS test consisted of four repetitions of a 91.4 m skate with repetitions initiated on 30 s intervals. To simulate game, competition, 5 min of recovery separated each RSS test. Results indicated: (1) …  Read more

A statistical analysis of water quality data collected on paired agricultural watersheds was undertaken. The objective of the study was to evaluate trends in water quality. The data sets that were used to determine the changes in water quality were taken from the project "Gestion de leau dans le bassin versant de la partie superieure du ruisseau St. Esprit". For the period from 1994 to 1996, the analysed water quality parameter were nitrate, phosphate, ammonium, potassium, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, total phosphorus and suspended sediment. The data sets were analysed using descriptive statistics, graphical techniques and non-parametric methods to detect trends …  Read more

Zsombor-Murray, Paul J. (Supervisor)  Read more

This dissertation examines the arguments against tragedy offered by feminist playwrights in their "re-visions" of the plays of Euripides and Shakespeare. In the first part, I maintain that feminist dramatic re-vision is one manifestation of an unrecognized tradition of women's writing in which criticism is expressed through fiction. I also argue that the project of feminist dramatic re-vision embodies a feminist "new poetics." In the second part, I examine the aesthetics and politics of tragedy from a feminist perspective. Feminist arguments against tragedy are, in effect arguments against patriarchy. But it is the theorists and critics of tragedy---not the playwrights---who …  Read more

In practice, the reservoir net inflow is computed based upon the application of the water balance equation to the reservoir system since it is difficult to obtain direct and reliable measurements of this variable. The net inflow process has been thus found to possess a random behaviour because it is related to the stochastic nature of various physical processes involved in the water balance computation (e.g., precipitation, evaporation, etc.). Therefore, the aim of this research is to propose a forecasting method that can accurately and efficiently predict the random reservoir inflow series. The proposed forecasting methods considered were the linear …  Read more

Contrary to the view of many interpreters that Francis of Assisi (1181--1226) dabbled in church renovation for a few years following his first conversion experience in 1205, architecture remained a central preoccupation until his death in 1226. His creative practice ranged from hermitage planning to the clothing design of its occupants, from architectural legislation to the composition of psalms to be sung in the hermitage churches. Through the medieval art of memory, Francis formed his architectural intentions around two contemplative foci: first, the symbol of the tau, which became his attire, prayer position, signature, talisman for healing the sick and …  Read more

A project was developed to determine the feasibility of using liquid hog manure as a nutrient source (Nitrogen) for the potato crop. A survey of liquid hog manure storage facilities on Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) provided a sampling technique and the range of nutrients found on hog farms. It was concluded from the data that there were large differences between farms and on farm manure sampling was required to determine accurate nutrient applications. An infrastructure was designed, constructed and tested for storage, handling and the application of liquid hog manure at the Harrington Research Farm, Crops and Livestock Research Centre, …  Read more

Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan parasite and the causative agent of amoebiasis. While infection is associated with suppression of cell-mediated, immunity, drug-cured patients are resistant to reinvasion by amoebae. Macrophages are the principal effector cells in host defence against E. histolytica via production of nitric oxide which is cytotoxic for the parasite. The objective of this study was to determine the T cell cytokine responses associated with host defence against E. histolytica . A mixed Th1/Th2 (Th0) response predominated at days 5--10 of amoebic liver abscess development in gerbils, as indicated by spleen and hepatic lymph node cell IL-2 (Th1 …  Read more

Fortin, M. G. (Advisor)  Read more

Intercomparison among three sensors for ground-based measurement of DSD's are presented, the Joss-Waldvogel Distrometer (JWD), the Optical Spectro-Pluviometer (OSP), and the Precipitation Occurrence Sensor System (POSS). This is done in order to quantifying any systematic bias that can be identified in their measurements, and to evaluate a new data acquisition system developed for the JWD. Data corresponding to stratiform, continental rain is analyzed, and a function (delta) is defined in order to provide a quantification of the relative differences between pairs of instruments. Significant differences in drop concentrations simultaneously measured by the instruments are found, being these about 100% at …  Read more

Liturgical creativity and reform has been a hallmark of Reconstructionist Judaism since its inception in America in the mid 1930s. All facets of Reconstructionist liturgy are molded to reflect and convey the movement's Jewish ideology. As such, much insight is gained by analyzing the full texts of the Reconstructionist prayerbooks, including translations, editors' notes, interpretive versions, supplementary readings, commentary, rubrics and layout. The first Reconstructionist liturgies (1941--1963) were edited primarily by the movement's founder, Mordecai M. Kaplan, and were fashioned to mirror his understanding of modern belief, moral sense and aesthetic taste. Kaplan believed that only a text edited with …  Read more

The primary objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a hygiene programme in reducing the incidence of respiratory and diarrheal diseases in toddlers attending day care centres (DCCs). A randomized field trial was conducted in 52 DCCs in Quebec. One or two toddler groups in each DCC were followed between September 1st, 1996 and November 30, 1997. Absences for any reasons and the daily occurrence of colds and/or diarrhea in toddlers were recorded on calendars by the DCC educators. Questionnaires to the DCC director and on-site visits were used to measure potential confounding variables. The number of …  Read more

CKI-gamma2 is a serine/threonine protein kinase of unknown biological function. This study is the first to detect CKI-gamma2, as mRNA and protein, widely expressed in mouse tissues and mammalian cells. In addition, CKI-gamma2 as a protein of 75kDa was immunologically detected coprecipitating with Nck, an adaptor protein involved in receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling. CKI-gamma2 coprecipitated with Nck presents similar enzymatic properties as the recombinant and endogenous CKI-gamma2, demonstrating that the immunoreactive p75 CKI-gamma2 associated with Nck is indeed CKI-gamma2. These results suggest that Nck-mediated signaling downstream of activated RTKs could involve CKI-gamma2 as an important component. The finding that …  Read more

Relationships between the steroid hormones estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), cortisol (CRT) and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), memory and mood were investigated in men, in women estrogen-users and non-users, and in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). In Study 1, 72 year-old healthy men and women estrogen-users performed better than estrogen non-users on Forward and Total Digit Span, which test attention and short-term memory, concomitant with their higher E2 levels. The estrogen-users performed better than the men and the non-users on Delayed Selective Reminding, a test of explicit verbal memory. Men and women with higher CRT levels performed worse on several explicit verbal memory …  Read more

Expression of human prolidase in E. coli: Kinetic and metal binding properties. Massive iminodipeptiduria, severe skin ulcers, and mild mental retardation mark Prolidase Deficiency, a rare autosomal recessive disorder. In vitro, Prolidase requires incubation with Mn 2+ for maximal activity, however, the in vivo role of metal in prolidase catalysis has not been clarified. Human Prolidase cDNA was cloned into the bacterial expression vector pRSET C. The plasmid expresses a chimeric protein consisting of a hexahistidine tag and enterokinase site at the N-terminus of prolidase. This protein was purified to homogeneity. Several properties of the purified prolidase were examined. Prolidase …  Read more

The following thesis is a meditation on the drawings of Michelangelo that are connected to his three projects at San Lorenzo and a series of 'gift' drawings for Tomasso de'Cavalieri. The drawings offer a glimpse of his radically inventive imagination that calls for an architecture rooted in the soul and based on the appearance of a 'live' and an emotive body. Engaged within a holistic fabrication of architecture, both the recto and the verso of the sheet are constructed as palimpsests comprised of design sketches, figurative studies, poetic fragments and pragmatic calculations. As instruments of communication, Michelangelo's paper templates are …  Read more

Polycyclic aryl hydrocarbons such as benzo[a]pyrene (BP) are produced during combustion or pyrolysis of organic matter and are thus ubiquitous in the human environment. BP has been shown to induce mammary carcinomas in laboratory animals, and can accumulate in lipid stores such as the mammary fat pad. In the process of converting BP to a more water-soluble and excretable form, highly mutagenic intermediates are formed. BP can enhance expression of the metabolizing enzymes involved in this process by binding to a ligand-activated transcription factor known as the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). In its native state, cytosolic AhR is found in …  Read more

Introduction. Radon gas is a naturally occurring, radioactive contaminant of indoor air. Based on extrapolations from occupational epidemiologic studies in underground miners, as many as 10--14% of lung cancer deaths may be attributable to radon exposure. Such extrapolations involve many sources of uncertainty. The individual results of the eight major completed studies investigating residential exposures have been equivocal. Inadequate statistical power is a substantial problem in their interpretation. To mitigate this problem, an analysis of the combined primary data from the three completed North American studies has been undertaken. Methods. Individual-level data were received from Winnipeg, Canada, and New Jersey …  Read more

Jane Austen revises the sentimental epistolary tradition by introducing a structural epistolarity that replaces the anatomical vocabulary of female corporeality with the domiciliar terminology of female domesticity. In Austen's novels, the epistolary metaphor of the passport links letter reading, the heroine's education process, and views of domestic space. Epistolary issues aligned with domestic spaces indicate the metaphorical relationship between the structural dialectic of closed and open and the epistolary paradox of writing to dissemble character and reading to reveal character. Letter writing and reading represent the spatial order within prescribed views and tours of houses and grounds. The heroine's critical …  Read more

The work of Jacques Ferron could well be defined by a paradox: to go forward one has to revisit one's past. Indeed, in his texts, Ferron, significantly, returns to his roots---literary and political---to understand, explain, and criticize his nation which at the time was preparing for the Quiet Revolution. Assuredly, Contes du pays incerain (1962) and Contes anglais (1964) are the two works in which are found the greatest number of references to great texts of the Western literary tradition. Ferron transposes classical and traditional Culture into his own and adapts many myths, biblical texts, and folk tales. Moreover, these …  Read more

In this paper we describe an experimental study conducted at McGill University in which we assessed the performance of different types of team organizations in terms of their effect on key process variables such as rework, defect density, review quality, cost of quality, productivity, etc. We also analyzed the ability to rank product quality from process data, prior to the completion of the projects. The qualitative analysis showed the benefits and disadvantages in working on a hierarchical team or a collaborative team organization. All those factors are also relevant when developers need to choose the best product, based on process …  Read more

The narrators of Roughing It in the Bush and Obasan struggle with the notion of home and how to reinvent it in situations of exile. Moodie is estranged when she emmigrates from Britain to Canada to find her role compromised by the rigors of the pioneering experience. Naomi, a Japanese Canadian is estranged when she and her family are expelled from their home, relocated in internment camps, and dispersed across the country during the Second World War. I argue that reinventing home requires both questioning and claiming material and discursive spaces. Moodie reinvents home by negotiating Old and New World …  Read more

The effects of food availability and selective control of late instar larvae of Aedes aegypti on preimago population structure, mortality, adult abundance, sex ratios, and size of females were examined. Food availability i an important factor in determining preimago population structure and mortality. At optimal food availability more adults emerged, females were larger and in higher proportions than at suboptimal food availability. The effects of selective control on preimago population structure and post treatment larval mortality differed with food availability. At suboptimal food availability the type of control applied had a significant effect. Simulated pathogen-induced mortality resulted in a shift …  Read more

To investigate interactive effects of dietary fatty acid composition and energy restriction on body lipid metabolism and its regulation, rats were fed for 10 weeks diets varying in fat type and energy intake level. Energy deficiency was achieved by removing carbohydrate from the diets while keeping fat and other nutrient intakes constant. Tissue fatty acid deposition was influenced by the interaction between the dietary fat source and body energy balance. Less total fatty acids were deposited in livers of the ad libitum beef tallow-fed animals than the other fat feedings. However, such difference no longer existed when energy intake was …  Read more

Cree communities in Northern Quebec have been going through rapid changes since the first arrival of the Eurocanadians on their lands. Their customs, their houses and their eating habits have been deeply influenced by western living patterns. Today, the houses and the community designs remind more of the suburban Canadian landscape. Yet, Native social, cultural and natural environment still differs from non-Native communities in Canada. Traditionally, women used to play an important role in the domestic area. Due to colonization, Native women have lost their status and are not part of the decision making process of their homes. Despite that, …  Read more

Siegfried Kracauer is mostly known for the work on film theory he wrote during his post-war exile to North America. This thesis proposes to examine a lesser known and far more complex portion of his oeuvre, namely the vast body of essays and monographs he produced throughout the 20s and 30s as editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung, which offer not only a cultural diary of the Weimar republic but also a critique of modernity and the many upheavals it engendered. Using both a detailed analysis of his own work as well as an examination of the various critical responses it …  Read more

It seemed to us that decision-making bodies (legislators or judges of Supreme Courts) fear the abuses that could be generated if laws were amended to allow voluntary active euthanasia, in some circumstances. They fear that even partial decriminalisation, which would allow voluntary active euthanasia in very few circumstances, will lead to such great abuses that States should not amend the law to create a medical exception to the Criminal Codes, to this effect. A majority of judges are in favour of the criminal sanctions, but not of the recognition of the patient's rights and the implementation of control measures in …  Read more

The goal of the work presented here was to investigate the hypothesis that cytoplasmic SLBP is required for translation of somatic H1 mRNA, and their translational repression is due to a lack of SLBP in the cytoplasm of oocytes, and early cleavage-stage embryos. To this end, the expression of SLBP in murine oocytes and pre-implantation embryos was characterized by RT-PCR, Western blotting, and immunocytochemical. techniques. mRNA encoding SLBP was detected throughout oogenesis and pre-implantation development, from small growing oocytes to the late blastocyst stage. SLBP protein was found in the nucleus and cytoplasm of growing and fully-gown prophase I-arrested oocytes. …  Read more

Bobyn, J. D. (Supervisor)  Read more

A take-home milk supplementation programme consisting of 2 kg dry powdered milk offered monthly for 12 months to children 6--24 months of age in participating primary health care clinics was evaluated by assessing weight changes in supplemented and control children. Growth charts of supplemented (n = 362) and control (n = 410) children were summarized by the intercept and slope from the regression of individual weight measurements on age. The 2 groups were stratified by gender, ethnicity (Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese), and age intervals 0--6, 6--24, and 24--30 months which corresponded to pre, during, and post supplementation periods, respectively. Supplemented Indo-Guyanese …  Read more

Cytokines are known to be involved in mastitis, yet their production by bovine epithelial cells has so far not been reported. In this research a bovine mammary alveolar cell line (MAC-T) was used as a simplified model for mammary glands. Cultured MAC-T cells were stimulated with 1, 10 and 20 mug/ml of a bacterial cell wall component (lipopolysaccharide) to verify the production of epithelially derived bovine cytokines. Cytokine mRNA production was assessed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using RNA samples isolated during the first 24 hrs of lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Interleukin-1alpha/beta, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 mRNA production seemed to be …  Read more

We adapt the theory of Empirical Normal Modes (ENMs) to diagnose gravity waves generated by a relatively high resolution numerical model solving the primitive equations. The ENM approach is based on the Principal Component Analysis (which consists of finding the most efficient basis explaining the variance of a time series), except that it takes advantage of wave-activity conservation laws. In the present work, the small-amplitude version of the pseudoenergy is used to extract from data quasi-monochromatic three-dimensional empirical modes that describe atmospheric wave activity. The spatial distributions of these quasi-monochromatic modes are identical to the normal modes of the linearized …  Read more

Cucumber root rot caused by Pythium aphanidermatum can be suppressed by introduced plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Preliminary experiments clarified that this root disease could be suppressed by strains of Pseudomonas aureofaciens, P. corrugata, and P. fluorescens. To determine whether the mechanism was a systemic resistance induced by PGPR, a split root technique was employed on greenhouse cucumbers grown in soilless substrates. On the split roots, bacteria which were introduced into one side of the root were completely separated from pathogen challenged-inoculated roots-on the other side of the roots. Results from the series of experiments conducted with this design demonstrated that …  Read more

A potential vorticity (PV) analysis is performed using a 60-h simulation of a family of mesoscale frontal cyclones which occurred over the Western Atlantic ocean from 0000 UTC 13 to 1200 UTC 15 March 1992. The frontal cyclogenesis events were characterized by an upper-level ring of PV anomalies of stratospheric origin, located on the cyclonic side of the jet stream. The shape of the "PV ring" resembled the tracks of the surface frontal cyclones, implying its role in determining the initiation and the tracks of the surface cyclones. Piecewise PV inversions indicate that low-level baroclinicity contributed most to the intensity …  Read more

This thesis seeks to assert the literary merit of the Middle English alliterative translation, William of Palerne, which has been dismissed by earlier critics of the poem as, at best, a mediocre work by an incompetent poet. It demonstrates that previous criticism of the poem has generally misunderstood its key elements, such as magic, as well as the poet's use of certain self-reflexive techniques to convey meaning. By tracing the poet's treatment of the magical and pseudo-magical events in the poem, and the alterations that the English translator makes to the original French version, the thesis reveals the sophistication involved …  Read more

Since Celine's death, the pamphlets he wrote at the beginning of World War II always presented great difficulties for those who studied him. But in the last few years, for various reasons the pamphlets have stirred up researcher's interest. Following this movement, this thesis is an attempt to integrate these pamphlets to the prose of the author of Journey to the End of the Night in a general pattern of analysis. In order to do this analysis, is developed an hermeneutic model of analysis which divides Celine's work into a poetical investigation and a polemic pursuit that demonstrate that these …  Read more

This study investigates the extent to which the elements of Confucian thought, survive and are practiced in the curriculum of Hong Kong secondary schools. It briefly examines the historical background of Confucianism in moral education in China and Hong Kong, examines curriculum guidelines and reference materials issued by the Hong Kong Education Department, and reports on interviews with two supervisors, seven principals and twenty-five teachers. It includes their perceptions of the locus of responsibility for moral education, their assessment of recent curriculum trends, their views on the impact of Confucian values on youth and their speculations on the future of …  Read more

Speech coding at bit rates near 4 kbps is expected to be widely deployed in applications such as visual telephony, mobile and personal communications. This research focuses on developing a speech coder based on the waveform interpolation (WI) scheme, with an attempt to deliver near toll-quality speech at rates around 4 kbps. A WI coder has been simulated in floating-point using the C programming language. The high performance of the WI model has been confirmed by subjective listening tests in which the unquantized coder outperforms the 32 kbps G.726 standard (ADPCM) 98% of the time under clean input speech conditions; …  Read more

In this thesis, we applied both numerical methods and artificial intelligence techniques to NMR data processing and analysis. First, a comprehensive study of the Iterative Quadratic Maximum Likelihood (IQML) method applied to NMR spectral parameter estimation is reported. The IQML is compared to other conventional time domain data analysis methods. Extensive simulations demonstrate the superior performance of the IQML method. We also develop a new technique, which uses genetic algorithm with a priori knowledge, to improve the quantification of NMR spectral parameters. The new proposed method outperforms the other conventional methods, especially in the situations that there are signals close …  Read more

Gilson, Denis F. R. (Supervisor)  Read more

Allergen-induced rhinitis is associated with the recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells, particularly eosinophils and CD4 + T cells into the nasal mucosa. Monocyte chemotactic proteins (MCPs) have been shown to induce chemotactic activity in these particular cell types under in vitro assay conditions. To assess the contribution of MCPs in the recruitment of inflammatory cells in vivo, we investigated the allergen-induced late response in subjects with allergic rhinitis. Using immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization, we demonstrated a constitutive expression of MCP-1, -3 and -4, of which MCP-3 and -4 were significantly increased in the nasal mucosa following allergen provocation. …  Read more

Computer methods have proven very useful in many medical imaging studies and applications. The advantages of using computers for the analysis of the images of different modalities have raised the interest of researchers from different fields of science and medicine. An image analysis application which aims to quantify Multiple Sclerosis (MS) lession in human brains based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been developed. In this thesis, image analysis based on statistical theory applied in medical imaging studies is reviewed. A three-dimensional method has been developed to compare the classification probability distribution of two groups of subjects. Using random field …  Read more

The objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate the existence of a prophetic discourse in the work of the French writer J. M. G. (Jean-Marie-Gustave) Le Clezio. Within the period of his first books (1963--1973), from Le proces-verbal (The interrogation) to Les Geants (The Giants), Le Clezio systematically adopts a prophetic discourse conveying his personal view of the world. We intend to show that these works form a complete cycle within the broader scope of Le Clezio's writings. At the forefront of these earlier works we find a questioning on the nature of language and the process of writing, the …  Read more

Crossed anode wire position sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PS-PMTs) detect the location of a light source and provide the X and Y coordinates of the events. These coordinates are typically generated using Anger logic, where a resistor chain divides the current flow into two signals for each coordinate (X+, X-, & Y +, Y-). In the standard readout, identical resistor values are used across the entire resistor chain. While this arrangement provides a linear readout in the central portion of the photomultiplier face, the readout is non-linear and sometimes even double valued near the edges of the PS-PMT due to the …  Read more

Chronic heart failure is an increasingly prevalent condition associated with high mortality and a heavy burden on patients, families, and society. Despite evidence that psychosocial variables are associated with the clinical evolution of other forms of cardiac disease, little is known about the prognostic impact of these factors for patients with asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) or overt heart failure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate social isolation, mood (anxiety, depression, and vigor), low socioeconomic status, non-White ethnicity (in U.S. patients), life stress, and poor self-rated health as possible correlates of health outcomes for patients with systolic LVD. …  Read more

This thesis explores the problems associated with an individual's interpretation of historical events; especially through a question such as "Where were you when you heard the news of the Challenger explosion?" Remembering an event in this manner implies that both a physical and temporal distance exists between an individual watching from afar and the event in question. This distance indicates that the event is never transparent nor is its meaning self-evident; it unfolds over time and is rendered almost incomprehensible through the proliferation of language and discourse surrounding the event, the fragmentary nature of its remnants, and the fallibility of …  Read more

In the treatment of Parkinson's disease some cases require the ablation of a specific region in the basal ganglia. The accurate localization of this region inside the patient's brain is essential and because direct visual anatomical information for such deep brain structures is not available, the surgeon has to rely on other sources of information such as MRI, CT and x-ray of the patient's brain. However these imaging techniques do not provide sufficient anatomical information, requiring the use of a subcortical brain atlas book to assist in the localization of the different structures. This way of proceeding is cumbersome and …  Read more