McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 2005

Longitudinal data often consist of a set of covariates and repeated measurements of an outcome over time. In clinical and health studies, a main concern is often the time that a treatment takes into effect, which is referred to as the change-point in this thesis. Modeling and measuring impact of a change in longitudinal data has not been thoroughly explored in the statistical literature. Viewing longitudinal data from the perspective of change-point analysis, we have a data structure that statisticians sometimes refer to as a multi-path change-point problem. In multipath change-point problems, it is often of interest to assess the …  Read more

This thesis examines the potential for pre-service teacher training of video portfolios of elementary students doing school tasks. Study 1 investigates pre-service teachers' use of such records to assess student progress. Ten undergraduate education students each viewed two video portfolios, one for mathematics and one for reading. Each portfolio consisted of four video records. Participants watched the four records in an incorrect order and attempted to put them in their original order. Their orders by-and-large were correct. Most ordered the records according to task characteristics and provided detail interpretations and justifications for their ordering. Since the usefulness of video portfolios …  Read more

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the major greenhouse gases and its significantly increasing emission may lead to higher temperatures and cause climate change. The sequestration of CO2 becomes crucial in stabilizing the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere. The objective of this research is to examine the feasibility of using calcium silicate concrete to absorb CO2 in a flue gas collected from a cement plant and to investigate the effects of material compositions and process conditions on the CO2 uptake. The influencing factors include cement properties such as porosity, chemical component, pre-setting and post-curing as well as reaction parameters …  Read more

This thesis investigates two clinically important questions regarding the effectiveness of statins used in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). First, is the effectiveness for secondary prevention of different statins a class effect? Second, is there an association between the timing of initiation of statins after AMI and the risk of recurrent AMI and mortality? To study the class effect, a systematic review was conducted to compare different statins based on adjusted indirect comparison using published placebo-controlled randomized trials of statins for long-term cardiovascular prevention. This review did not find a difference in the effect among statins for reducing the …  Read more

Although the WTO anti-dumping rules have been created to reconcile and monitor domestic anti-dumping measures, different jurisdictions still have tremendous variations in their domestic anti-dumping legislation and interpretations. Such differences may suggest opportunities for further innovations, especially for countries where the anti-dumping legislation is under-developed, such as China. Through a comparative study of the domestic anti-dumping legislation among the United States, the European Community, and China, problems and opportunities for the innovation of China's anti-dumping law will be found.  Read more

The best-characterized costimulation system for naive T cell activation is the interaction between CD28 and B7.1 or B7.2 ligands expressed on antigen-presenting cells such as activated B cells. Unexpectedly, transgenic mice with constitutive expression of B7.2 on B lymphocytes do not develop systemic autoimmune diseases, but rather exhibit a reduction of the B cell compartment that involves a defect in B cell maturation occurring very early in the ontogeny. In this study, we show that the early B cell loss is accompanied by splenomegaly and lymphoadenopathy that are due to a dramatic and transient increase in eosinophils. This immune response …  Read more

With the increasing demands of transforming raw data into information and knowledge, data mining becomes an important field to the discovery of useful information and hidden patterns in huge datasets. Both machine learning and database research have made major contributions to the field of data mining. However, there is still little effort made to improve the scalability of algorithms applied in data raining tasks. Scalability is crucial for data mining algorithms, since they have to handle large datasets quite often. In this thesis we take a step in this direction by extending a popular machine learning software, Weka3.4, to handle …  Read more

This dissertation examines the history of the Western Multistoried-Buildings garden (Xiyang lou) located within the Chinese imperial Garden of Round Brightness (Yuanming yuan) of the Qing dynasty. As a "Western-like" garden designed and cobuilt by the European Jesuits in China, the Western Multistoried-Buildings garden was unique in garden history. It provides a significant and unique case study of the cultural encounter between Chinese and European civilizations in the eighteenth century. The research reported in this thesis focuses on the communication between the visions of the Chinese emperor and the Western Jesuits during the construction of this European garden. The research …  Read more

Impulsivity and aggression have been shown to be important behavioral correlates of suicide. Neurobiological and genetic studies, mostly focusing on the serotonergic system, have demonstrated that these behaviors not only have clinical implications in suicide but also play an important biological role in increasing suicide risk. It remains unclear, however, how impulsivity and aggression might mediate suicide risk. The first study presented here was carried out to investigate clinical, behavioral and psychosocial correlates of impulsivity in suicide completers. Impulsive suicides were characterized by a greater psychiatric comorbidity as well as increased levels of aggression, and were more likely to be …  Read more

This thesis considers four novels written by Douglas Coupland: Generation X (1991), Shampoo Planet (1992), Microserfs (1995), and Girlfriend in a Coma (1998), and demonstrates how each of these novels provides a discursive space in which Coupland examines the members of Generation X: those born between 1965 and 1980. Frederic Jameson's theories about postmodernism, which he equates with the concept of late capitalism, offer a theoretical lens through which this demographic can be interpreted because Coupland's characters struggle to find meaning and sincerity in a realm where advertising and consumerism are omnipresent and nearly all aspects of life are commodified. …  Read more

The aim of this dissertation is to interpret the Old Saxon Heliand as a catalyst for change. Whereas recent studies have interpreted the poem as an agent of spiritual change, this study will examine the Heliand as an agent of social and political change. The basis of this study will be the text itself, with consideration of its main source, the Diatessaron. The approach will not only be textual in nature, but historical as well. The first order of the study will be to place the poem in its proper historical and cultural context. This will generate two possible contexts, …  Read more

Prostate cancer is still the most diagnosed cancer in man in the Western world and in this group, one of the leading causes of cancer death. CD9 protein is a member of the tetraspanin family, whose members are often down-regulated in advanced prostate cancers. The objective of our study is to decipher the role of the CD9 protein in prostate cancer progression. We have demonstrated that over-expression of exogenous CD9 in highly tumorigenic and metastatic PC-3M-LN4 cell line did not suppress its tumorigenic and metastatic properties in vivo while it even increased its invasive properties in vitro. These data contrast …  Read more