McGill University Theses and dissertations by author name (I)

Testing VLSI circuits is a complex task that requires enormous amounts of resources. To decrease testing costs, testing issues are considered earlier in the design process. This is known as "design for testability" (DFT). Built-in Self Test (BIST) is one proposed DFT approach. BIST generally consists of incorporating additional circuitry on the chip to generate test patterns and compact the response of the circuit under test (CUT) into a reference signature. Compaction implies an information loss, introducing the possibility that a faulty circuit declares itself as good. Such errors are known as aliasing errors. Several BIST schemes have been proposed, …  Read more

Dans un écoulement turbulent contenant un contaminant passif (ou "scalaire passif") tel que la température ou la concentration d’une espèce chimique, il est utile de connaître le taux de dissipation des fluctuations scalaires à mesure que le scalaire se mélange au fluide environnant. Il existe une estimation avérée pour le taux de dissipation de l’énergie cinétique turbulente en mesurant la vitesse rms et l’échelle de longueur intégrale hydrodynamique caractérisant la taille des tourbillons contenant l’énergie cinétique. Tandis que des mesures directes du taux de dissipation scalaire sont très sophistiquées, nous démontrons qu’il est également possible de l’estimer en mesurant la …  Read more

L'objectif de cette étude était d'isoler les récepteurs nicotinique d'acétylcholine originaire des vers parasites trématodes Schistosoma mansoni adultes, identifier leur composition oligomèrique et tenter de les reconstruire dans un modèle d'expression hétérologique afin de mieux comprendre leurs rôles dans le système cholinergique du ver.En utilisant une méthode de purification par affinité qui exploite la liaison entre les récepteurs nicotinique d'acétylcholine et l'α-bungarotoxine, nous avons réussi à analyser les protéines recueillies par colonne et nous les avons analysés par spectrométrie de masse (SM) et transfert de Western. Bien que quelques protéines se soient liées non spécifiquement, les analyses de SM ont …  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

Gauvin, Raynald (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

La conscience de sensations corporelles est inévitable lorsqu'on s'entraine à un niveau d'intensité élevée. À une intensité basse à moyenne, la personne qui s'entraine peut se distraire des sensations corporelles ou peut porter attention volontairement à ses sensations corporelles. Cette thèse soulève deux questions de recherche: Premièrement, est-ce que porter attention volontairement aux sensations corporelles en s'entrainant physiquement empêche ou facilite l'acte de l'entrainement physique au fil du temps? Deuxièmement, est-ce qu'une intervention psychologique peut aider les personnes s'entrainant physiquement à faire face aux sensations corporelles liées à l'exercice à haute intensité? L'Étude 1 présente les propriétés psychométriques d'une échelle …  Read more

In this dissertation, I argue that Dostoevsky’s notion of the underground, which originates in his novella Notes from Underground, informs the literary representations of various undergrounds – the political, the literary, and the rock underground – in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The primary texts studied are Dostoevsky’s writings of 1864-1880, Leonid Andreyev’s short stories, the poetry and essays of Viktor Krivulin, Vladimir Makanin’s novel Underground, or A Hero of Our Time (1994), and the texts of Siberian punk rock (Egor Letov, Konstantin Riabinov). My theoretical framework includes Mikhail Bakhtin’s analysis of discourse in Dostoyevsky; the key concepts of philosophy …  Read more

This study examines the application of the Project Research in Nursing (PRN) patient classification/workload measurement system in a teaching hospital in Quebec. It also compares the workload estimates of direct and indirect care activities determined from patients' total PRN point scores and from corresponding PRN levels of care (classes 1-15). This study examines the allocation and the rankings of patients' needs for nursing care in relation to the categories of the classification instrument. Two documentary sources, audit records of 1988-1989 to 1992-1993 and audit data collection forms of 1992-1993 were used to conduct the study and to provide a comparison …  Read more

L'ingénierie des cristaux de solides moléculaires est un domaine en plein essor, combinant de nombreux aspects de la chimie des matériaux. Il est d'une grande importance pour l'électronique, la nanotechnologie ainsi que pour l'industrie pharmaceutique, ou il y a grand besoin de concevoir des réseaux ordonnés de molécules. Alors que la synthèse organique donne accès à un grand éventail de molécules, le contrôle des interactions intermoléculaires entre celles-ci est le défi pris en charge par l'ingénierie des cristaux. Cette thèse se concentre sur l'auto-assemblage d'acides carboxyliques en surface, en utilisant ce dernier comme modèle pour étudier les facteurs généraux gouvernant …  Read more

Lying deep in Mississippi is an area known to many readers of contemporary fiction as Yoknapatawpha County. Here, within an area of 2400 square miles, between the Northern bills and the fertile bottom lands of that state, live approximately fifteen thousand people. This county and these people are the creations of' William Faulkner's fertile imagination, and they form the subject matter of most of his fiction. [...]  Read more

Early vision is usually considered to involve the description of geometric structure in an image or sequence of images. Whether biological or artificial, the behavioural constraints on real-time visual systems typically require that this first stage of visual processing be fast, reliable, general and automatic. The design of a visual system which is general enough to handle a wide variety of tasks is thus most likely to be highly parallel, and involve distributed representations of geometric objects. In this work, we investigate some of these general principles and propose both general methodology and specific applications. We build on a general …  Read more

Geomorphology, from its Greek derivation, is the study of the shape of the earth's surface and, as such, it falls within the realms of both geography and geology. In each of the two disciplines, however, its objectives differ. The core of geographical research is the study of the 'region' and geomorphology provides this with a physical basis. [...]  Read more

I compared the interrelationships among traits affecting interspecific variation in the growth of seedlings of 22 hardwood tree species subjected to chronic intermittent drought. Leaf traits were the most responsive to contrasting water regimes; canopy architecture, hydraulic conductivity and leaf phenology were less affected. Relative growth rate (RGR) under drought, however, was most closely related to variation in canopy duration: species in leaf longer had greater RGR. Secondarily, maintaining higher stomatal conductance (g) under drought further enhanced RGR. Higher g is associated with a higher photosynthetic rate (A), but the relationship between A and g varied with internal CO$ sb2$ …  Read more

A meter for the measuring of radio noise should give results which are comparable with the effect of the noise as heard in the loudspeaker of a radio receiver and at the same time be accurate and rapid in operation. Radio noise from different types of apparatus differs in character; some types of noise have high amplitude but are of short duration, whereas others are more nearly sinusoidal in form. Furthermore the characteristics of the radio receiver upon which the noise impinges will have an effect on the noise characteristics, so that the wave shape of the noise pulse at …  Read more

Entamoeba histolytica, etiological agent of amebiasis, continues to be a significant threat to human health worldwide. The disease affects 10% of the world's population and leads to an estimated 100, 000 deaths a year. The parasite's surface Gal-lectin is an immunodominant protein that also mediates colonization and pathogenicity. The Gal-lectin is the most promising vaccine candidate against amebiasis. However, the immune mechanisms involved in protection against disease remain unclear. The objective of this study was to characterize the immunological basis of the host defense mechanisms using a Gal-lectin based vaccine. Exposure of the Gal-lectin with immature dendritic cells increased cell …  Read more

This research examined the relationship between client emotional expression and the level of working alliance between therapist and client. The data were collected from 24 psychotherapy sessions conducted by exemplary psychotherapists of different theoretical orientations. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated that there was no significant linear relationship between the level of intensity of client emotional expression and the level of working alliance. Client emotional expression occurred independently of the level of the working alliance. Using a qualitative method, the study restricted its sample to 5 episodes each from the high and low working alliance sessions in order to …  Read more

Brouhard, Gary (Supervisor2)  Read more

Le changement climatique, les catastrophes naturelles, la pandémie et la crise financière ont changé la façon dont les êtres humains envisagent les ressources essentielles et la technologie. Dans le contexte du droit de l’espace, ce discours amène à l’utilisation des ressources spatiales procurées par des corps célestes à travers les technologies spatiales avancées dans le but de résoudre les problématiques contemporaines par des solutions du futur. Ainsi, les technologies spatiales demeurent le pilier de l’exploration du cosmos, en ce qu’elles déterminent quelle entité aura un accès fonctionnel à l’espace extra-atmosphérique vis-à-vis des bénéfices. Toutefois, l’un des plus importants problèmes qui …  Read more

The ability to adapt behavior is critical to survival in an ever-changing environment. To maintain and support flexible, adaptive behavior, information about outcomes must be integrated across time. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is implicated in learning and decision-making by integrating glutamatergic inputs with dopaminergic input from the ventral tegmental area. However, the role of NAc glutamatergic inputs in reward processing remains unclear. Theories of NAc integration suggest distinct functions for inputs from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and ventral hippocampus (vHip), but there is limited data to support this. To probe this, we utilized dual-site in vivo fiber photometry to …  Read more

"Infant Mortality Rate" (IMR), is an important socio-economic indicator which measures an important dimension of the well-being of any society. For the developing and less developed countries of the world, Infant Mortality Rates are much higher than those in the developed countries. This research aims to study IMR in India, a country which achieved considerable growth in industrial and agricultural sectors during the post-independence era, but which still has a relatively high level of IMR. Different formulations for measuring IMR are given and work done by different searchers in this area are reviewed in this study. Indicators of the variables …  Read more

In order to alleviate the throughput bottlenecks being encountered by high speed electronic computing and switching systems, research is turning its attention toward free-space photonics technology. Of particular interest currently is the use of Hybrid/SEED devices implemented as smart pixel arrays to encode the electronic data onto an array of constant power beams of light. This paper presents the design and implementation of a robust, scalable and modular optical power supply spot array generator for a modulator based free-space optical backplane demonstrator. Four arrays of 8 by 4 spots of (1/e$ sp2$ irradiance) 6.47$ mu$m radii pitched at 125$ mu$m …  Read more

Les structures adaptatives intégrées pourraient avoir un impact significatif sur de nombreuses industries, de l'aérospatiale à l’automobile. En combinant plusieurs matériaux, il est possible de développer des structures primaires dont la forme peut être contrôlée directement, en évitant d’utiliser des ensembles complexes d’actionneurs mécaniques, hydrauliques ou électriques. L'approche pour développer des composites adaptatifs dans cette thèse combine des alliages à mémoire de forme (AMF) moulées dans des laminés époxy renforcés de fibres de carbone. Les AMF procurent la capacité d'actionnement et de contrôle alors que les laminés composites permettent à la structure de supporter les charges. L'objectif de cette thèse …  Read more

Contexte : La pandémie de COVID-19 a provoqué une augmentation significative de l'anxiété chez les individus évoluant dans des environnements éducatifs tels que les écoles dentaires. La crainte de l'infection, de la contamination des proches et les difficultés liées à l'apprentissage à distance avec une formation pratique limitée ont généré de l'anxiété chez les étudiants en médecine dentaire, le personnel de soutien et les enseignants. Toutefois, les impacts psychologiques de la pandémie sur les travailleurs des écoles dentaires canadiennes sont peu connus.Objectifs : Les objectifs de l'étude étaient de a) décrire les niveaux d'anxiété associée à la COVID-19 (C19A) parmi …  Read more

Dans la présente recherche, le comportement en champ lointain des vagues de non-idéal souffle engendré par l'explosion d'une sphère pressurisée est étudié. Méthode de Roe est utilisée pour résoudre des lois de conservation pour la propagation du non-idéal explosions. Deux cas d'éclatement des sphères sont étudiés: la sphère chaude et froide de la sphère. L'équivalence entre le champ lointain ondes de souffle idéal et non idéal est examinée sur la base des courbes correspondant surpression de choc, les trajectoires de choc et propriétés d'écoulement. La solution numérique indique que l'explosion de sphère chaude et point idéal explosion de la même …  Read more

Hamdy, C Reggie (Supervisor2)  Read more

This dissertation seeks to evaluate and legitimize the idea of happiness in the Spanish Mystic literature of the sixteenth century through the writings of both the pioneers of recogimiento Francisco de Osuna and Bernardino de Laredo, and the Carmelites Saint Theresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross. In order to accomplish this objective an epistemology of happiness has been constructed from the metaphorical and symbolical language of their narrative and poetical works. Particular emphasis is paid to the repercussions such an epistemology might have for the anthropological perspective of the Renaissance that seeks to reconcile the two spheres …  Read more

Les molécules d’adhérence cellulaire sont des éléments essentiels dans les subtilités d’intégrité synaptique et de la fonction du circuits neuraux. En raison de leurs natures conservées au cours de l'évolution parmi des systèmes vertébrés et invertébrés, ils peuvent donc être examinés entre espèces différentes pour comprendre leurs rôles et interactions dans la base moléculaire de la maladie neurologique humaine et du développement des troubles. Le système oculaire de Drosophila melanogaster s’avère être un système modèle précieux pour définir ces molécules en raison de sa relative simplicité de connectivité neurale et de sa similarité structurelle reconnaissable à ses homologues mammifères. Chacun …  Read more

The deep seabed until the late sixties was a largely unknown part of the sea and represented nothing more than an academic curiosity. With technology making hitherto hidden depths of the ocean accessible for exploitation, it became known in the late sixties that the deep seabed contained precious minerals. In a world used to shrinking resources, this shot the deep seabed into the centre stage of world politics, becoming perhaps the most controversial issue in any United Nations Conference. The controversy centered around the legal status of the deep seabed. This work contends that there is not in place any …  Read more

From the mid-nineteenth century until 1952, education in Nigeria was largely the responsibility of religious denominations. But in 1952 the control of education passed to Regional Governments who then began to participate on a large-scale in educational matters. The Western Nigeria Government led the way with a Universal Free Primary Education scheme launched in January, 1955. [...]  Read more

This study with young adult learners of French in foreign language classrooms examined the effects of multimedia instruction on the acquisition of a difficult area of second language (L2) grammar in French, namely, the use of the perfective (passe compose) and imperfective ( imparfait) to mark past tense. In particular, the study investigated the impact of two aspects of multimedia instruction on the target grammar development: (a) the type of past tense targeted in instruction, prototypical (i.e., emergent perfective and imperfective forms) and non-prototypical (i.e., advanced perfective and imperfective forms), and (b) learners' readiness for non-prototypical past. The questions were: …  Read more

This thesis attempts to explore the mental image that a sample of juvenile delinquents have of the recreational and informal educational agencies with which they have been associated. It is concerned with the problem of the subjective picture held by a sample of delinquents regarding these agencies - their staff, their members and their activities. A great deal has been written in the past decade or more by various interested groups in the community offering interpretations of the nature of delinquency, its causes and programs for its prevention and cure. None of these studies, however, has at tempted to elicit …  Read more

Over the course of transformation, the cancer cell must adapt its metabolism in support of proliferation. A common feature among cancer cells is the engagement of the Warburg effect, a tendency toward glycolysis and lactic acid production despite adequate oxygenation. The molecular events that occur during metabolic reprograming in cancer remain to be defined. AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a cellular energetics sensor that governs the balance between anabolic and catabolic metabolism based on environmental and cellular signals. The upstream kinase of AMPK, liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is an established tumour suppressor and metabolic regulator, yet the role of …  Read more

CEA-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1), a member of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family, is downregulated in a variety of malignancies including colon, prostate, liver, breast and endometrial cancers. Previous studies have shown that expression of the CEACAM1 isoform containing the long cytoplasmic domain (aa 448--521 in mouse; CEACAM1-L) inhibited tumor growth in vivo, while the expression of the CEACAM1 isoform bearing the short cytoplasmic tail (aa 448--458 in mouse; CEACAM1-S) had no effect. Therefore, the long cytoplasmic domain contains determinants which are crucial for the growth inhibitory phenotype. We have demonstrated that sequence elements within the C-terminal region of …  Read more

Dans cette étude, la structure des catalyseurs iminium est analysée, en se concentrant sur lesdifférences mécanistiques entre les catalyseurs hydrazides et les catalyseurs à base d’aminesecondaire classiques. Une comparaison systématique des réactions intramoléculaires, avec et sanssubstitution en position α, suggère une différence intrinsèque de réactivité. Des étudescomputationnelles et la comparaison de modèles simples soutiennent les résultats expérimentauxet mettent en évidence une différence stérique présente dans tous les aldéhydes, y compris leformaldéhyde.À partir de la catalyse organique du Cope, la découverte d'une nouvelle cascade d'ouverture decyclopropane a été réalisée, rendue possible par un intermédiaire cationique non classique. Les α-cyclopropylidène énals, énones …  Read more