McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 2005

In this research, the seismic response of an existing bridge bent built in the 1960's in the Montreal area is studied in order to determine its seismic deficiencies. Bridges built in the 1960's were designed with outdated codes which had inadequate seismic design detailing provisions and therefore, are expected to behave poorly during an earthquake. The existing bridge bent examined has three major design deficiencies such as large spacing of ties in the column, total lack of shear reinforcement in the beam, and lack of shear reinforcement in the beam-column joint. A one-half scale model of the existing bridge bent …  Read more

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is extensively used in brain imaging research and clinical diagnostics. Increasingly, automated image processing algorithms are used for identification of tissue types within the image, such as gray matter, white matter and cerebro-spinal fluid. There is a wide range of algorithms, which vary in speed and accuracy, and it is often difficult to compare their performance in any objective and controlled fashion. The goal of this research was to design an automatic, generic, standard, extensible pipeline for objective and quantitative validation of MRI tissue classification algorithms and their processing pipelines. The main issues and requirements, for …  Read more

Electric power substations are very vulnerable to earthquakes. This study has analyzed the seismic risk index of electric power substations of Hydro-Quebec. The critical parameters responsible for vulnerability of substations are identified by statistical analysis of field data. Correlation of different parameters with vulnerability, sensitivity of the weighting factors of critical parameters and sensitivity of seismic exposure levels to seismic risk index are also studied by statistical analysis. Study shows that year of manufacture of equipment, anchoring of heavy equipment, load-bearing system of the building, and control systems are the four most critical parameters for vulnerability. Vulnerability of substations largely …  Read more

This thesis examines the role of Christian idioms and practices in the self-fashioning of second generation Haitians of Protestant faith in Montreal. These members of Baptist and Pentecostal Haitian Churches encounter the particular challenges of combining multiple affiliations as they face racism and pressures to assimilate to the mainstream Quebecois society. Taking this context into account, I examine how young Protestants use and subvert religious symbols and practices in constructing their identity, and how they negotiate their position in their world defending themselves against denigrating stereotypes. My research explores how they undertake their personal as well as collective salvation through …  Read more

This thesis examines the construction and utilization of gender in religious nationalist projects. Communalist groups sacralize gendered understandings of time, space, and community, rooted in the bifurcation of the public (masculine) realm and the private (feminine) sphere. Nationalist understandings of citizenship maintain the public and private division, but acknowledge the potential to politicize both. In this conception of citizenship, the private (feminine) is deployed to achieve social and religious change. This thesis analyzes two contemporary South Asian transnationalist groups, the Muslim Tablighi Jama`at and the Hindu Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and investigates women's participation in the nation as cultural repositories and …  Read more

The morphogenetic plasticity of adult pancreatic islets of Langerhans has been implicated in the development of pancreatic adenocarcinomas and in islet transplant failure. The objective of this doctoral work was to investigate the extent of this plasticity and to characterize the unknown cell types and intracellular mechanisms involved in changes of adult islet phenotype. In the first published study, isolated adult canine islets were induced to undergo a phenotypic switch into highly proliferative duct-like structures through a two-stage process entailing beta-cell death and the dedifferentiation of the resulting cells. The transformed islets were no longer immunoreactive for islet cell hormones, …  Read more

Runoff generation refers to the physical processes by which water travels through the landscape, moving through the subsurface or over the ground surface, ultimately arriving at the stream channel. These physical processes vary in both space and time leading to difficulties in mechanistic modelling of storm response, contaminant transport and nutrient fluxes. Runoff generation has been extensively studied at the hillslope scale and in headwater catchments. However, only recently have empirical studies begun to collect similarly detailed datasets across multiple catchments with which to examine how these processes change with scale. This study examines runoff generation from a series of …  Read more

This is a study of a problem in the logic of belief revision. On the assumption of a number of fairly traditional views concerning the relationship between mind and world, the mechanics of perception, and the nature of belief, an argument is made to the effect that revision of extant beliefs is impossible even in the light of new perceptual experience. The argument turns on the ability of a cognitive system to recognize conflict among its thoughts and perceptions. A number of models of the mechanics of perceptual interpretation are explored, all of which are revealed to share a susceptibility …  Read more

G protein-coupled Receptor (GPCR) signalling pathways are essential for all aspects of cell and organ physiology and the involved proteins work together to transmit signals across the plasma membrane. This process is highly regulated by a number of proteins including RGS (Regulators of G protein Signalling) proteins, which serve as GTPase-activating proteins for the Galpha subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins. Previous work in our lab has identified RGS5 as being expressed in the heart as well as being up regulated in the atria but not the ventricules of transgenic (TG4) mice that have a 195-fold cardiac increase in beta2AR levels. …  Read more

The experimental investigation described in this thesis is primarily aimed at acquiring digital particle-tracking velocimetry (DPTV) measurements of a free-surface granular flow down the upper inclined surface of a wedge-shaped static pile of the same material, contained in a narrow channel between two parallel vertical glass plates. The glass plates are 610 mm long and 350 mm high. Three different values of the normal separation distance between them were investigated: 25.4 mm, 38.1 mm, and 50.8 mm. For each of these separation distances, the following three values (nominal) of the mass flow rate per unit width were considered: 0.81 kg/s-m, …  Read more

In this thesis, an overview of non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) technique is presented. The entire formulism is derived from the starting point of the definitions of Green's functions. The special application of NEGF to transport problems is discussed in details. A brief introduction of Kondo phenomenon and several theoretical approaches are presented. Using the knowledge of NEGF and Kondo problem in general, we investigated the Kondo phenomenon in double quantum dots (DQD) in great detail. In this application, the physical quantities are derived in terms of Green's functions and self-consistent equations determining the state of the system are solved numerically. …  Read more

The current study examined the impact of plant sterols, stanols, sterol esters, and stanol esters on (i) cholesterol-lowering efficiency, (ii) gene expression of ABCG5 and ABCG8 sterol transporters in the liver and small intestine, and (iii) colon mucosal cell proliferation in hamsters. After 5 weeks on experimental diets, plasma total cholesterol levels were reduced ( P<0.05) by stanols, sterol esters and stanol esters compared to cholesterol-control diet. Different PS analogs did not alter ABCG5 and ABCG8 mRNA levels in small intestine and liver as compared to cholesterol control. In addition, colon mucosal cell proliferation was 21.4% lower (P<0.01) in group …  Read more

Eutrophication resulting from phosphorus (P) accumulation in water systems has been a worldwide concern for three decades. Agricultural soils are known to be an important non-point source of P in waterways. The objectives of this research are to identify agricultural management practices that reduce the risk of P loss from soils, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms of P retention and loss from soils. In the short term (4 years), dissolved P loads were not affected by tillage and were similar in corn (in a continuous corn rotation) and soybean (in a soybean/corn rotation) production systems. Soils amended with composted …  Read more

Hydrostatic pressure has been demonstrated to induce major changes in secondary structure of whey proteins resulting in an increased digestibility in vitro, and possibly an improvement of the glutathione (GSH) inducing effect of whey proteins in vivo. Micro filtration and ion-exchange, two commonly used processing techniques in whey protein manufacture, generate whey proteins with different compositions. Two animal studies were designed to compare the digestibility and GSH inducing effects of whey protein isolates (WPIs) treated with three repeated pulse cycling of pressure (3-cycle) or single pulse of high pressure (1-cycle) and pressurized microfiltrated and ion-exchange WPIs. The results indicate that …  Read more

With Hecate Nocturne, I set out to create a unified piece of substantial length. The piece features certain sounds of British Columbia---birds, animals, wind, water, machinery, and folksong; their musical depictions represent a growing interest of mine, one which was expanded significantly in this piece. The primary goal of the thesis is a close interconnection of all musical material, at all levels; that a limited pool of material could produce, through motivic development, all the components of the piece, from small to large. The secondary goal is to give the music a "sense of place" through depictions of natural sounds …  Read more

Biological invasions threaten the stability and biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. The impacts of an invading species often vary across systems, making their prediction difficult. When data from multiple invaded sites are available, statistical models can be developed to correlate an invader's distribution and abundance with local environmental variables; such models could then provide managers with useful tools to help prioritize efforts to control the invader. The introduction of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga mussel (D. bugensis) to North America ranks among the most ecologically and economically disruptive aquatic invasions ever documented. While some attempts have been made …  Read more

The purpose of this dissertation is to establish the extent to which women's membership in self-help groups and their involvement in various activities of these groups, with particular reference to Micro Credit programs, impacted their socio-economic empowerment. The objective is to study the socio-economic empowerment impact factors (evidences) in women members of micro-credit self-help groups in rural India upon the self, the family and the community. Data selected for analyses was based on an operational model of empowerment that encompassed indicators of purported empowerment at the personal, family and community levels. The working hypotheses in quantitative analyses are that there …  Read more

Muller, Bill (Supervisor)  Read more

The safety of civil aviation has been endangered not only by terrorism, but also by many other unlawful acts committed by persons with varying motivation. The international community has worked to provide a secure and safe air transportation system for general people and thus has developed aviation security systems in the legal and technical fields to combat and prevent the man-made intentional harm against civil aviation. The legal instruments are mainly based on several multilateral conventions, resolutions and declarations. They are all focused on how to eliminate safe heavens for unlawful actors against civil aviation, secure the safety of passenger …  Read more

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is predominantly found in foods of ruminant origin such as milk and processed cheese, and has gained much interest recently due to its beneficial health and biological effects on animals and humans. The bioconversion of linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LNA) by a selected Bifidobacterium from healthy infant feces was studied. Bifidobacterium breve JKL03 had the ability to convert linolenic acid (0.2 mg/ml) to CLNA in fermentation of skim milk medium for 24 h up to a yield of 72.0% (up to 74.7% under aerobic conditions) and linoleic acid (0.2 mg/ml) into CLA by fermentation …  Read more

The Buxheim Organ Book, the largest fifteenth-century manuscript of keyboard tablature, has never before been examined as a whole in light of musica ficta issues, although it contains far more accidentals than any contemporaneous source in mensural notation. Although tablature has been used by various scholars to examine accidentals in sixteenth-century music, studies of fifteenth-century accidentals have focussed on theoretical evidence and small groups of pieces from mensural sources. The author uses the Buxheim Organ Book to extend the investigations of accidentals in tablature back into the fifteenth century, combining the large data set provided by this manuscript with a …  Read more

This thesis is a study of the Saundarya Lahari, a Sanskrit poem associated with the Srividya Sakta Tantric tradition. It traces the movement of meaning between textual, ritual, and cultural spaces in order to understand the performed possibilities of the text. The Goddess as Sakti (power) both grants enjoyment and is the principle of that enjoyment: beauty, love, and worldly powers. These powers follow the movements of the text: its scanning of the Goddess from shining head to toe; the twinned movements of publicity (exoterism) and secrecy (esoterism); and the gestures and utterances of ritual performance. First the text is …  Read more

Human face detection in gray scale images has been researched extensively over the past decade, due to the recent emergence of applications such as security access control, visual surveillance and content-based information retrieval. However, this problem remains challenging because faces are non-rigid objects that have a high degree of variability in size, shape, color and texture. Indeed, few of the proposed face detection methods have been analyzed for performance under different conditions, such as head rotation, illumination, facial expression, occlusion and aging. Nowadays, most face detection methods are based upon statistical and learning strategies. Many of these appearance-based methods tend …  Read more

Referees have a job to ensure a safe and fair playing environment. The purpose of this study was to quantify on-ice intensities (heart rate) and on-ice movements (forward or backwards skating or stationary) of referees during ice hockey games. 15 HC referees had their heart rates monitored and skating video taped throughout a 60 minute game. A treadmill run test was used to identify their peak heart rates and VO2. The dominant on-ice activity was forward skating followed by stationary then backwards skating. On average referees worked at 80% of their peak heart rate. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found between …  Read more

This dissertation examines Jewish exegesis of the book of Job to two ends. First, it explores four topics previous generations of scholars left unstudied or incompletely examined. Second, it uses the results of these studies to describe the history of the Jewish tradition of Job exegesis from the period of the Talmud until the present. Chapter 1 provides a review of the scholarly literature treating various aspects of Job exegesis from antiquity to the post-Holocaust period and highlights a number of issues in need of further study. Chapter 2 argues that Wertheimer's reconstruction of Midrash Iyov, although unlikely an accurate …  Read more

Linear programming is perhaps the most useful tool in optimization, much of it's success owed to the efficiency of the simplex method in practice --- its ability to solve problems with millions of variables with relative ease. However, whether there exists a strongly polynomial algorithm to solve linear programming remains an open question. Pivot methods, including the simplex method, remain the best hope for finding such an algorithm, despite the fact that almost all variants have been shown to require exponential time on special instances. Fundamental questions about the path length (number of iterations) of pivot methods remain unanswered. Some, …  Read more

Clarke, H. (Supervisor)  Read more

This thesis presents experimental and theoretical results on the nonlinear dynamics and stability characteristics of thin-walled clamped-clamped circular cylindrical shells in contact with flowing fluid. Additionally, the large-amplitude vibrations of clamped shells subjected to an external radial harmonic force excitation are also investigated theoretically. The experiments were conducted with three experimental set-ups: one for experiments with elastomer shells in annular air-flow, the second for elastomer shells with internal air-flow, and the last one for aluminum or plastic cylindrical shells with internal water-flow. In all cases the interaction between the shell and the fully developed flow gives rise to instabilities in …  Read more

This study used hyperspectral data to determine nitrogen, weed, and water stresses in a corn (Zea mays L.) field in southwestern Quebec, and incorporated these data in crop growth models for better crop growth simulation under stressful conditions. In 2000, aerial hyperspectral images (72 wavebands, ranging from 407 to 949 nm) were acquired, and analyzed using a stepwise approach to identify wavebands useful in detecting weed and nitrogen stresses. Discriminant analysis (DA) was used to classify different weed and nitrogen treatments and their combinations. This analysis showed greater classification accuracy (nearly 75%) than those obtained with artificial neural networks (58%) …  Read more

A new legal phenomenon has emerged in recent years, as plaintiffs from developing countries have begun to initiate civil proceedings against multinational corporations in the courts where these companies have their headquarters. These suits have typically claimed damages for personal injuries arising from the multinationals' activities in a developing country. While the doctrine of forum non conveniens blocked many of the earlier attempts by plaintiffs to seek justice overseas, courts are increasingly refusing to dismiss these cases to ensure the interests of justice are served. The purpose of this thesis will be to compare the application of forum non conveniens …  Read more

Background. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with considerably elevated rates of coronary heart disease (CHD). Understanding the reasons for this is crucial for developing effective CHD prevention and treatment in SLE patients. Objective. To gain insights into biological mechanisms underlying the accelerated atherosclerosis in SLE, this thesis examines (i) the longitudinal evolution of traditional coronary risk factors and global coronary risk, and (ii) the independent effects of corticosteroid use and lupus disease activity on this evolution. Methods. First, a systematic comparison between alternative approaches to global coronary risk assessment was performed based on data from the Framingham Heart Study …  Read more

Chemotherapy is used in the treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, drugs often fail due to multidrug resistance (MDR) caused by P-glycoprotein (P-gp1or ABCB1) and the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP1 or ABCC1). These proteins bind and transport drugs out of cancer cells, thereby conferring MDR. The second chapter of this thesis addresses an unexplained phenomenon that accompanies P-gp1 expression, collaterally sensitive to verapamil. The collective results of this work demonstrated that treatment of cells that over-express P-gp1 with verapamil induces apoptosis. Furthermore, the findings show that the ATPase activity of P-gp1 was activated by verapamil. The degree of ATPase activation was proportional …  Read more

A novel and accurate method of chemical analysis was developed to identify and assay the products of the hydrolysis that occurred when magnesium chloride hexahydrate was heated and held at temperature and reacted with its own liberated waters of hydration. The novel method took advantage of the solubility of magnesium chloride and magnesium chloride hydrates in methanol and the concomitant insolubility of magnesium oxide and magnesium hydroxychlorides in methanol. The method was found to have a precision of 5-7 % and represents a substantial improvement over previous analytical methods. The method is also readily applied to any methanol soluble salt …  Read more

In constructing and evaluating a theory of justice, it is crucial to determine the scope of justice---that is, the range of cases to which considerations of justice are appropriately applied. One important strand of contemporary political thought, best exemplified by John Rawls, argues that the primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society, i.e., its major political and social institutions. Rawls' position has not, however, been without its share of critics. An alternative to institutional egalitarianism begins by emphasizing that the structure of institutions alone is of uncertain benefit when it comes to meeting the demands of justice. …  Read more

Commercialization of space activities particularly harnessing satellites for telecommunication in the 1970's is perhaps the most dynamic development of the twentieth century comparable only to the industrial revolution of the seventeenth century. The possibilities of civilian applications of satellite technology confined to its military use until the recent past has raised urgent questions of policy and regulations both nationally and internationally. The main objective of the thesis is to review the development of satellite telecommunication with particular reference to India. The thesis assesses the present access status and the regulatory regime, analyzes general challenges of deregulation including concerns of national …  Read more

This thesis investigates the second language acquisition of Japanese relative clauses (RCs) by native speakers of English or Korean. Researchers have argued that Universal Grammar (UG) can be accessed in adult second language (L2) acquisition. The Full Transfer Full Access (FTFA) Hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse 1994, 1996) claims that after initial transfer from L1, learners reset their parameter values and are able to acquire L2 properties that are different from their L1. Japanese and English relativization: while Japanese relativization does not involve movement in the syntax (Kuno 1973, Saito 1985, etc.), English relativization involves obligatory operator movement and is subject …  Read more

The application of visible/near-infrared hyper-spectral analysis to monitor the quality of frying oil and fried breaded chicken nuggets was investigated. Partial least squares (PLS) calibration models were developed to predict the acid value, total polar components and viscosity of heated oils with different ratios of hydrogenation. Coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) were calculated to assess the performance of each model. Results of the study demonstrated good prediction ability of the calibration models for the quality parameters with R2 values of over 0.92. The second study was based on developing calibration models for prediction of moisture …  Read more

Social workers experience theoretical and practical problems with recording. This study examined the problems in the recording of initial psychosocial assessments, and evaluated a teaching procedure designed to improve recording. First, the content of 180 initial recordings from three hospitals and a community agency was compared to existing professional guidelines. Findings indicated that professional guidelines were not enough to ensure that the recommended content is recorded; the recording form, rather than the guidelines or literature, predicted the content recorded by workers; and a professional opinion was included in fewer than half the recordings. Second, a generic model, defining the essential …  Read more

DNA methylation is an epigenetic phenomenon catalysed by a family of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and is tightly regulated throughout spermatogenesis. In these studies, I employed pharmacological and genetic means to disrupt DNA methylation in the male germ line. First, to lower levels of DNMT activity, I treated adult wild-type (Dnmt1+/+) and DNMT-deficient (Dnmt1c/+) male mice with the anticancer agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-azaCdR), which incorporates into DNA and inhibits methylation. Dnmt1+/+ males treated with clinical doses of 5-azaCdR for 7 weeks, to expose germ cells throughout their development, exhibit abnormal testicular histology, as well as dose-dependent reductions in testis weight, sperm count, …  Read more

Large caldera-forming eruptions are among the greatest hazards faced by mankind. Eruptive sequences from caldera-forming eruptions at Ossipee ring complex, New Hampshire, and Lake City caldera, Colorado, reveal that magmas underwent crystal fractionation to produce a zoned silicic magma chamber in each case before caldera formation. At Ossipee, magmatic inclusions with resorbed phenocrysts and positive Eu anomalies demonstrate that magma replenishment caused chamber rejuvenation and the initiation of caldera collapse. At Lake City, two ignimbrite units associated with episodes of caldera collapse have mafic-rich bases; this indicates that these collapse events were initiated by mafic magma replenishment. A numerical model …  Read more

In recent years, new and novel forms of computation employing different natural phenomena such as the spin of atoms or the orientation of protein molecules have been proposed and are in the very initial stages of development. One of the most promising of these new computation techniques is quantum computing that employs various physical effects observed at the quantum level to provide significant improvement in certain computation tasks such as data search and factorization. An assortment of software-based simulators of quantum computers have been developed recently to assist in the development of this new computation process. However, efficiently simulating quantum …  Read more

My research goal was to functionally dissect the regulatory region of the gene encoding the muscle protein troponin I (TnI) in the simple chordate Ciona intestinalis. Based on evolutionary sequence conservation and computational prediction of cis-elements in the regulatory region, I designed mutants and assayed their effects in a recombinant DNA construct reporter system. I electroporated TnI DNA-linked reporter constructs into Ciona zygotes and assayed reporter activity following 12-14 hr of development. These studies showed that a conserved E-box is essential for high-level embryonic tail muscle-specific expression whereas conserved MEF-2 and overlapping CREB/TEF-1 sites were not. I carried out functional …  Read more

Huntingtin interacting protein-1 (HIP1) is an endocytic protein that associates with clathrin on coated vesicles, but it also binds directly to actin and microtubules. Close histological examination of the testis of HIP1-/- mice from 7-30 wks of age revealed that HIP1-deficiency was particularly detrimental to spermatids. The testis showed a significant decrease in the diameter of seminiferous tubules, a reduction in the number of late spermatids and the sloughing of germ cells, which were evident as round cells in the epididymal lumen. Major abnormalities in spermatids included structural deformations of heads, bent flagella, the presence of proacrosomic vesicles with the …  Read more

Let R(t) be the error term in Weyl's law for (2 n + 1)-dimensional Heisenberg manifolds. We prove that in the 'rational' case, R(lambda) is of order O(tn -7/41). In the 'irrational' case, for generic (2n + 1)-dimensional Heisenberg manifolds with n > 1, we prove that the error term is of the order Odtn-1/4+8 for every positive delta. The polynomial growth is optimal. We also prove that for arithmetic Heisenberg metrics, 1T&vbm0;Rt &vbm0;2dt=cT2n+1 2+Od T2n+14+d where c is a specific nonzero constant and delta is an arbitrary small positive number. In the three dimensional case, this is consistent with …  Read more

Hypothesis. We hypothesized that contrary to "normal aging," frail elderly women would have a heightened resting energy expenditure per kg fat free mass (REE/kg FFM) and thermic effect of food (TEF) response. Methods. 13 healthy (H) [X +/- SEM: 81.4 +/- 1.1 yr] and 9 frail elderly women (F) [84.7 +/- 1.6 yr], free from acute conditions underwent REE and TEF measurements (liquid standard mixed meal: 720 kcal, 58% carbohydrate, 14% protein, 28% fat) using ventilated hood indirect calorimetry. Anthropometric and body composition measurements, thyroid hormones, cortisol, cytokines and catecholamine concentrations, and physical activity (PASE) and mobility ("time up and …  Read more

The purpose of this study was to identify the most responsive measure of aerobic fitness over a four week pre-surgical aerobic training program (prehabilitation) in patients undergoing major bowel resection. Twenty one subjects (14 in exercise, 7 in control) participated. Fourteen subjects underwent 26.5 +/- 8.6 days of progressive aerobic exercise training at 40 to 65% of heart rate reserve (%HRR). The results showed that peak power output was the only maximal measure that responded to training as it improved by 26 +/- 27% (ES = 0.24, SRM = 1.05) in the exercise group (p < 0.05) compared to no …  Read more

This study explores culture teaching in English classes in urban and rural elementary schools in Korea from the perspectives of both teachers and students. Language and culture theories provide a framework for the data interpretation. As well, qualitative research methodology depicts a picture of much deeper understanding for teachers' and students' perceptions. Interviews were audiotape recorded as a primary tool to gather information for the inquiry for three months (May-July, 2004). Data also included document analysis and participant observations in schools. From the research findings, I conclude that not only can teachers not fully engage in culture teaching in elementary …  Read more

Frequency synthesizers play an important role in modern communications and timing systems. The output of frequency synthesizers may be used as the local oscillator signal in superheterodyne transceivers, or in frequency modulation/demodulation. Fully integrated CMOS RF synthesizers are currently a major research topic. Several publications demonstrated improvements in a variety of aspects such as phase noise, power consumption, and tuning range. However, very low voltage frequency synthesizers are very challenging, since they usually have a limited tuning range and a relatively high phase noise. This research work demonstrates a new architecture to achieve a wide tuning range and low phase …  Read more

Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is a very serious disease affecting nearly 5 in 1000 newborns each year. The development of PPHN has been linked to a decrease in the activity and expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Thus, it is critical to understand the mechanisms by which eNOS is regulated to identify new pathways and novel therapies for PPHN. eNOS is dynamically regulated at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, post-translational, and developmental levels, however mechanisms of this regulation are unresolved. Our data indicates that increases in eNOS expression and activity correlate with increased cellular levels of labile zinc …  Read more

Strips of magnesium (A-Z91 and AM50) and aluminum (AA6111) alloys were cast on a moving mold system devised for simulating single belt casting operations. Different type of substrates were used for the moving mold; copper, low carbon steel, alumina coated steel, nickel coated steel, and zirconia coated steel. Interfacial heat fluxes between the solidifying strip and the moving mold substrate were calculated by the IHCP (Inverse Heat Conduction Problem) technique. The temperature history of the solidifying strip was calculated using the Enthalpy FVM (Finite Volume Method) associated with Scheil's model of solidification. The influence of thermophysical and morphological properties of …  Read more