McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par J

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

L’apprentissage en ligne exige de l’étudiant de niveaux supérieures d’apprentissage autorégulé (AAR). Bien qu'un lien théorique entre l’évaluation formative et l’AAR ait été revendiqué, peu de recherches existent sur la relation entre l’évaluation formative en ligne et l’AAR sur la manière dont les étudiants emploient l’évaluation en ligne. Cette étude a pour objectif l'analyse virtuelle de l’AAR des étudiants du premier et deuxième cycle et de leur utilisation d’évaluations sommatives et formatives, ainsi que les effets sur l’engagement, le rendement, et la satisfaction des étudiants. Une méthode hybride a été employée ayant pour but l’examination des étudiants du premier et …  Read more

Avec l'augmentation de la recherche et de l'application de l'apprentissage approfondi, la capacité de former ou d'améliorer les modèles à l'aide de nouvelles données sur le terrain est de plus en plus sollicitée. L'algorithme populaire de rétropropropagation est très efficace lors de la formation de grands modèles hors ligne, cependant, il nécessite des ressources informatiques considérables. Comme alternative à l'algorithme traditionnel de propagation en retour, la propagation en équilibre est un algorithme d'apprentissage basé sur l'énergie pour les réseaux de neurones. En utilisant presque le même calcul pour la phase avant et la phase arrière, l'algorithme est un candidat intéressant …  Read more

All-fiber lasers in the near-IR region from 800 nm to 2500 nm have become a promising technology and been successfully applied in the fields of optical sensing, spectroscopy, communications, and medical surgery. Recognized as the most stable heavy metal fluoride glass, ZBLAN fiber is an excellent host for rare-earth ions to generate lasing emission in the near-IR region. In this thesis, we demonstrate the use of Tm3+:ZBLAN fiber to achieve near-IR lasing emission at 810 nm, 1480 nm, 1900 nm and 2300 nm in all-fiber configuration. Simultaneous multi-band or multi-wavelength lasing outputs are realized with different output manners including CW, …  Read more

Objective. To investigate the effect of dental status on nutritional status in oral cancer patients. Method. A prospective study design was initially conducted on a group of post-therapeutic oral cancer patients. However, the level of compliance was low, so to ensure fullest use of the data, analyses were performed assuming a cross-sectional study design. Nutritional, dental and clinical information were analyzed at two time periods: evaluation one was at 1-6 months, and evaluation two was at 7-12 months post-therapy. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between dental and nutritional status. Results. 44 subjects participated in evaluation …  Read more

The popularity of online social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook and Twitter results in an enormous amount of online content being generated and spread through the SNS every day. This highlights an interesting problem of predicting how much attention the published content might receive, with both academic and economic significance. With limited data, it is difficult to predict the amount of popularity of content generated by a given user over time, which depends both on the structure of the network as well as on the content itself and the nature of the user's interaction with others. We study this …  Read more

Social networks play an increasingly important role on the behavior of communication on the Internet. We present a general framework called socially governed networks that provides a network protection scheme at the level of social individual/social organization instead of the traditional level of physical address. The functionalities of socially governed networks are mainly composed of two parts: social accountability and social computation based security policy generation. For social accountability part, we design Gates (Personal Gate and Social Gate) binding users' actions on the Internet with users' social identities issued by given online social network (such as Facebook) instead of physical …  Read more

This thesis presents a study of optimal threshold designs for energy-detection based spectrum sensing in a cognitive-radio network with a pair of Primary-User (PU) transmitter-receiver and a pair of Secondary-User (SU) transmitter-receiver uniformly distributed in their corresponding transmission and interference ranges. Both large-scale path-loss and small-scale fading are considered in the wireless channel model. At first, the optimization problems under three criteria: Risk Minimization, Cost Minimization, and Capacity Maximization are formulated for SU with narrowband sensing capability. Derived under Bayesian framework, Risk Minimization threshold aims to minimize the sum of the miss detection and false alarm probabilities while Cost Minimization …  Read more

The fundamental motivation for the work in this thesis is the study of decentralized dynamical decision systems and their optimization properties. The design of competitive markets to substitute for traditional centralized regulation has been considered in many domains and a key feature of the decentralized decision mechanisms of competitive markets is that, subject to certain hypotheses, they maximize social welfare. Progressive auctions constitute a highly developed form of such market mechanisms and hence in this thesis we construct and analyze them as paradigm examples of decentralized dynamical decision making systems.In the work of Lazar and Semret (1999), a so-called Progressive …  Read more

Les défis énergétiques et environnementaux sont des obstacles critiques au développement durable, soulignés par l'objectif de neutralité de carbone de l'ONU pour 2050. La croissance rapide de l’utilisation d’appareils électroniques, de véhicules électriques et de systèmes de stockage d'énergie nécessite des matériaux de stockage d'énergie efficaces, abondants et compatibles avec l'environnement. Bien que les batteries lithium-ion aient émergé comme une solution clé pour le transport par véhicule électrique, leur dépendance au lithium qui est rare et au cobalt qui est coûteux et toxique pose des risques pour l’approvisionnement et entraine des préoccupations environnementales. En revanche, les batteries sodium-ion offrent une …  Read more

Quantum technology is attracting great attention in academia, government institutions and policy-making bodies, as well as industry. Quantum technology includes quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensing. These technologies exploit the peculiarities of quantum physics to achieve very substantial performance gains over their classical counterparts. From the hardware point of view, the basic unit in a quantum computer is the qubit, implemented in controllable quantum two-level systems. Qubit also plays an important role in the repeaters of quantum internet. There are many ways to implement a physical qubit. The solid-state spin-qubit is one of the most popular realizations, which uses …  Read more

Bidding for electricity supply, as adopted by the UK electric power system, is One of the best ways to introduce competition among electricity suppliers. This thesis research concentrates mainly on the study of the rules governing the operation of the England and Wales Power Pool, with the objective to explain and justify these rules through rigorous theoretical analysis, and to provide a deeper understanding of the pool operation. In order to provide a broader picture beyond the pool operation, an extensive review of the electricity industry in England and Wales as a whole is also presented. In the theoretical aspects …  Read more

The Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are the most pronounced modes of extratropical atmospheric wintertime variability in the Northern Hemisphere. This thesis investigates different aspects of the AO and NAO on the in traseasonal and seasonal time scales. First, the question of how the differences between the AO and NAO are influenced by the choice of the definitions of the NAO and to what extent the AO and NAO differ from each other is investigated using the daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data spanning 51 boreal winters. One AO index and four different NAO indices are used in …  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

Airway hyperresponsiveness to bronchoconstrictors has been found in asthma and related to the severity of the disease. The factors which result in hyperresponsiveness are not completely understood. A possible mechanism is an imbalance between endogenous bronchoconstrictors and dilators. NO is known to relax tracheal smooth muscle by activating soluble guanylate cyclase and increasing the level of intracellular cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP). The first hypothesis tested was that the NO-cyclic GMP-relaxant pathway is involved in the regulation of airway responsiveness. Inhibition of endogenous nitric oxide by N$ sp{ omega}$-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) significantly increased airway responsiveness to inhaled methacholine in normoresponsive Lewis rats …  Read more

La présente etude est un sondage auprès de travailleurs en première ligne dans une agence de protection de l’enfance (N=60) avec deux buts principaux: 1. d’explorer si ces travailleurs étaient atteints par du traumatisme vicariant dans leur travail et (2) si cette traumatisme vicariant était en corrélation avec le nombre de leurs années de service en première ligne. Le Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) et le Secondary Trauma Stress Scale (STSS) sont les deux mesures employées dans cette étude. Les résultats ont été comparés avec ceux obtenus dans des études externes sur d’autres groupes professionnels. Cette étude a trouvé …  Read more

Thomassin, Paul (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

Dumont, Marie-Josée (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

L'utilisation de produits chimiques contre les pathogènes des cultures est fortement compromise par la sélection pour la résistance causée par l’application excessive de ceux-ci. Dans cette étude, nous avons cherché à établir une corrélation entre l'hétérogénéité de pulvérisation de fongicide et la sélection de résistance chez Botrytis squamosa. B. squamosa un pathogène fongique important causant la brûlure de la feuille chez l’oignon. Le premier objectif était de déterminer le seuil de souches résistantes nécessaires dans une population provoquant une réduction drastique de l'efficacité du fongicide. Le deuxième objectif était de déterminer si la couverture de fongicide pouvait induire le développement …  Read more

La modélisation des interconnexions financières et la prévision des pertes extrêmes sont essentielles pour la gestion des risques sur les marchés financiers. Cette thèse étudie les retombées multivariées du risque á des niveaux de réseau de marché à haute dimension, ainsi que la modélisation de risque extrême univariée au niveau des actifs. Le premier chapitre propose une nouvelle méthode économétrique en série temporelle pour mesurer les structures de réseaux de marchédirigées et pondérées de grande dimension. Les effets directs et indirects à différents horizons, entre nuds et entre groupes, sont mesurés dans un cadre unifié. En utilisant un cadre de …  Read more

Peck, Jonathan (Supervisor)  Read more

Au début du 21ème siècle, des spécialistes des sciences sociales, des professionnels de la santé publique et des urbanistes ont découvert l'influence des comportements de transport inactifs sur la santé des populations urbaines. Depuis lors, le domaine des déplacements actifs (DA, y compris la marche et le vélo) a attiré l'attention de différents domaines de recherche, de la santé publique, des sciences sociales et de l'urbanisme à la géographie, la biologie, l'ingénierie environnementale et l'énergie. Bien que de nombreuses études aient été réalisées sous différents angles et dans différentes disciplines, il reste encore beaucoup d'incertitudes dans le domaine de la …  Read more

L'utilisation de la Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire (RMN) est largement répandue tant dans les milieux de recherche que dans les milieux cliniques et constitue la base de nombreuses technologies innovantes. Cependant, les données brutes de RMN doivent subir diverses étapes de prétraitement dans les domaines temporel et fréquentiel avant de pouvoir être analysées. Le principal défi du prétraitement réside dans la correction des erreurs de phase, qui est le sujet central de mes recherches. J'ai développé deux nouvelles approches pour aborder ce problème : le rétrécissement non linéaire (NLS) et les modèles de correction d'erreurs de phase multiples (MPC). De plus, …  Read more

The most common indication for heart transplantation and the second most common cause of heart failure is dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease affecting the heart’s ability to deliver oxygenated blood to the body. Given the poor prognosis, there is a need for earlier intervention and more effective treatments for DCM patients. However, diagnosing and treating DCM is made difficult by its diverse causes and heterogeneous clinical manifestations. Our objective is to better understand the distinct phenotypes of DCM, particularly genetic and chemotherapeutic-induced forms, using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs). iPSC-CMs harbor the same genetic mutations and many of …  Read more

We propose a Modified Extended Neyman Pearson (MENP) framework which is suitable for spectrum sensing when there might be different types of primary signals. Our work generalizes the existing Neyman Pearson (NP) test to accommodate multiple probabilities of false alarm constraints. This allows the cognitive radio wireless communication system to provide different levels of protection for various primary users. The M-ROC surface, representing the relationship between the probability of detection and the constraints, is used to depict the performance of MENP testing. Using the MENP framework, energy and cyclostationary based spectrum detector are developed for sensing a free channel in …  Read more

Morgan Sonderegger (Supervisor1)  Read more

Analyses of genes involved in yeast cell wall $ beta$1,6-glucan assembly have identified CWH41, PTC1/CWH47, EXG1, PBS2 and a family of genes related to the human oxysterol binding protein, OSBP. CWH41 encodes a novel membrane N-glycoprotein located in the ER. Disruption of CWH41 leads to a K1 killer toxin resistant phenotype, and a 50% reduction in the $ beta$1,6-glucan level The $cwh{ it 41 /} Delta$ mutant displayed strong synergistic defects with $kre{ it 1 /} Delta$ or $kre{ it 1 /} Delta$ null mutations: the $cwh{ it 41 /} Delta kre{ it 6 /} Delta$ double mutant showed a …  Read more

Les systemes de securite critiques (SCS) peuvent rencontrer des erreurs doux en raison deperturbations causees par des evenements exterieurs tels que les rayons cosmiques, rayonnement de l'emballage et de neutrons thermiques. Les techniques traditionnelles demodelisation d'erreur souvent ne traitent que des corruptions et d'analyse uniques bitsbases sur des techniques populaires tels que le facteur de vulnerabilite architecturale (AVF)traiter chaque bit comme independant. Toutefois, des etudes rcentes ont montre une augmentation spectaculaire renversement multi-bits (MBU) ou la defaillance d'un seul bit estfortement correlee avec ses bits voisins. Ce phenomene est dû a la diminution des transistors et l'augmentation de la densite …  Read more

Les progrès rapides des technologies single-cell offrent des possibilités inédites d’explorer l’hétérogénéité cellulaire à travers diverses modalités moléculaires. Cependant, l’intégration de ces jeux de données hétérogènes pose d’importants défis computationnels, en particulier pour établir des correspondances précises entre cellules provenant de conditions expérimentales, de lots ou de modalités différentes. Cette thèse présente de nouvelles approches basées sur les graphes pour traiter le problème fondamental de l’alignement cellulaire dans l’intégration des données single-cell.Au cœur de ce travail se trouve scGALA (single-cell Graph Attention Link-prediction based Alignment, un cadre conceptuel qui reformule l’alignement cellulaire comme une tâche de prédiction de liens dans …  Read more

Ooi, Boon-Teck (Supervisor2)  Read more

CONTEXTE: Des preuves cliniques démontrent un lien entre une infection bactérienne aiguë et une métastase. Des données émergentes suggèrent que le récepteur de domaine d'oligomérisation nucléotidique 1 (NOD1), un récepteur de reconnaissance de motifs moléculaires, pourrait jouer un rôle important et complémentaire dans la réponse immunitaire à l'infection bactérienne, son rôle dans les métastases cancéreuses est totalement inconnu. Par conséquent, nous avons cherché à déterminer les effets de NOD1 sur la métastase.MÉTHODES: L'expression de NOD1 dans le cancer du côlon primaire humain et la métastase hépatique appariés, ainsi que des cellules de cancer du côlon humain et murin ont été …  Read more

Capacitation of spermatozoa is essential for fertilization. This process is associated with a change of motility pattern of the spermatozoon called hyperactivation. The possibility that reactive oxygen species play a role in mouse sperm hyperactivation and capacitation was investigated. In this work, we demonstrate that the generation of reactive oxygen species by the reaction xanthine + xanthine oxidase stimulates hyperactivation and capacitation. Reactive oxygen species scavengers such as N-tert-butyl-$ alpha$-phenylnitrone, superoxide dismutase, catalase, dimethysulfoxide, benzoic acid and salicylic acid inhibit basal as well as (X + XO)-induced sperm hyperactivation and capacitation. These results suggest that ${ rm cdot}O sb{2-}$ and …  Read more

We have developed a new chemical methodology, based on simple acid-base hydrolysis of aminosilanes with molecules containing terminal OH groups, to prepare robust siloxane based polymers and organic-inorganic hybrid network materials for second-order nonlinear optics. First, a variety of polymers containing NLO-active chromophores covalently bound to the siloxane backbones, [-R2Si-(O-SiR2)n-O-(NLO-Chromophore)-O-] n (R = CH3 or CH3/C6H4) and [-R2Si-(O-SiR2)n-O-R'-O-(NLO-Chromophore)-O-] n. (R' = -C6H4-C 6H4-C6H4-), were prepared. Their solubility in common organic solvents, and high thermal stability, imparted ease of thin film preparation, and subsequent poling at high temperatures. These polymers exhibit good second-harmonic generation susceptibilities, and the temporal stabilities of the …  Read more

SMARCA4 (BRG1) et SMARCA2 (BRM) sont les deux ATPases mutuellement exclusives des complexes de remodelage de la chromatine SWI/SNF fréquemment perdus dans les cancers. SMARCA4 est fréquemment inactivé par des mutations alors que SMARCA2 est rarement muté, mais est souvent réprimé épigénétiquement dans les tumeurs. La perte concomitante de SMARCA4/2 caractérise le carcinome à petites cellules de l'ovaire de type hypercalcémique (SCCOHT), un cancer de l'ovaire rare mais mortel affectant les jeunes femmes, et se produit également dans d'autres cancers agressifs, notamment le cancer du poumon non à petites cellules (NSCLC), associé à résistance à la chimiothérapie conventionnelle et mauvais …  Read more

Les protéines La-related (LARPs) constituent une famille de protéines de liaison à l'ARN impliquées dans une variété d'activités régulatrices des gènes. Les LARPs se caractérisent par un tandem unique de deux domaines de liaison à l'ARN, le motif La (LaM) et le motif de reconnaissance de l'ARN (RRM), collectivement appelé un module La. Dans de nombreux LARPs, le domaine LaM agit de manière synergique avec le RRM en aval pour lier l'ARN. LARP1 est une protéine impliquée dans la régulation de la synthèse des protéines ribosomiques en réponse au signal mTOR et dans la stabilisation de l'ARNm. Bien que son …  Read more

An optically accessible plate reactor with spatially-resolved measurement techniques provides the opportunity to obtain temperature and gas composition profiles along the catalytic surface during a reaction. This allows a more detailed investigation of reaction kinetics compared to traditional catalytic reactors with end-of-pipe measurement. The reactor requires a well-coated catalyst plate with a uniform catalyst mass distribution. This study aims to develop a procedure leading towards a strong and homogeneous catalyst coating, which will then be used to gain a deeper insight into the fundamental steps of heterogeneous catalyzed reactions (methanation). The investigation focused particularly on thermally pre-treating Fecralloy® plates and …  Read more

A vector mode analysis of dispersion-shifted-mode triangular-index fibers with a trench is presented. The aspects considered are the total dispersion, splice losses and bending loss of such fibers as a function of the trench width and location, wavelength fluctuations, index difference, as well as core radius change. The presence of a trench has pronounced effects on the performance of these fibers, yielding combined advantages of dispersion-shifted and dispersion-flattened fibers, and also improves the splice loss and bending loss characteristics. Some fiber characteristics due to the presence of a trench found in this study are interesting and have not been noted …  Read more

Oblique Plane Microscope (OPM) system is an emerging variation of light-sheet microscopy that offers ultra gentle illumination, versatile mounting options and rapid volumetric imaging speed to probe 3D tissue structures. Fluorescent microscopy has long been an important and powerful tool for the biological sciences due to its capability to differentiate subcellular components at high resolution. However, when applied to the field of tissue engineering, where we need to image cellular behaviour in large 3D structures, traditional confocal microscopy is severely limited in image acquisition speed at depth, while avoiding sample photobleaching. In contrast, light-sheet microscopy can achieve faster imaging throughput …  Read more

The evolution of flow stress and microstructure during the deformation of two Mg-based (+Al, Mn, Zn) alloys has been studied under various conditions of temperature and strain rate. The tested materials were taken from AZ31 and AM30 extruded tubes. The effect of twinning was investigated by using uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression and ring hoop tension testing. Strain path change testing, i.e. tensile prestraining followed by uniaxial compression, was carried out to study the role of contraction and double twins on the subsequent deformation. Optical metallography and EBSD techniques were employed to study the microstructural development. The first part of the …  Read more

The effect of Si addition on the interaction between recrystallization and precipitation during multipass deformation has been investigated in terms of the no-recrystallization temperature (Tnr), the minimum temperature at which recrystallization can be completed. The Tnr was measured in three Nb microalloyed steels with Si concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 0.48wt.%. Continuous cooling conditions were employed, with interpass times of 20--200s and strains of 0.2 and 0.35 applied at a strain rate of 2s -1. It was observed that for similar Nb contents, the Tnr increased with Si level, but appeared to saturate at long interpass times. In addition, high …  Read more

Drivers' "illegal maneuver" and "unsafe behavior" contribute to a large number of traffic accidents every year, which are now receiving great attention from both government regulators and car manufacturers. Indeed, many research efforts have been dedicated to understanding and recognizing dangerous driving conditions to prevent crashes and injuries. In addition to the features that are already installed in the vehicles, enhancing driving safety via mobile sensing techniques (e.g., smartphones and wearables) is becoming increasingly successful with the deep penetration of smart computing. The mobile device today is equipped with numerous sensors, which has become a very effective platform to facilitate …  Read more

Fiber reinforced concrete with postpeak strain hardening type of response contributes significantly to the load carrying capacity, the impact and fatigue resistance and the reduced crack opening width, and is developed for special applications when large energy absorption capacity is required. While the strain hardening fiber reinforced cement paste and mortar are extensively studied, the strain hardening fiber reinforced concrete (SHFRC) with large quantity of coarse aggregates is not readily achievable. In this research, two approaches were investigated to fabricate strain hardening fiber reinforced concrete with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber and steel fiber: One used polymer addition and the other …  Read more

A new approach has been studied for solution-phase oligosaccharide syntheses using low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ethers (MPEG, average Mn = 550 and 750) as oligomer supports. A complex branched mannononaose (Man9) has been synthesized by this method in a very concise way to yield a large quantity of final product. Attempt has been made towards the synthesis of a heptasaccharide phytoalexin elicitor (HPE). Model linear mannotetraose and branched mannopentaose were first tested using the novel HMB low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) linker. The use of this linker as the oligomer support retains the normal advantages of polymer-supported solution …  Read more

Les métasurfaces optiques, des éléments optiques plans nanostructurés, représentent une plateforme émergente pour la réalisation de composants miniaturisés et plus facilement intégrables dans les domaines de la science et de la technologie quantiques. Dans cette thèse, nous démontrons que des métasurfaces optiques conçues de manière inverse peuvent être utilisées pour la discrimination d’états quantiques de polarisation de photons uniques. Cette métasurface optique repose sur des nanostructures périodiques en silicium amorphe, dont les paramètres géométriques ont été optimisés. Nous simulons ces métasurfaces à l’aide de la méthode d’analyse rigoureuse des ondes couplées (RCWA) et utilisons des approches d’optimisation globale et locale …  Read more

Mise en contexte: Le taux de polypectomie est lié à des indicateurs d'assurance qualité de la coloscopie de dépistage. Toutefois, il est difficile d'identifier les coloscopies de dépistage des bases de données de santé provinciaux. Objectif: estimer les taux de polypectomie pour la coloscopie de dépistage en fonction des indications selon le patient et l'endoscopiste et de les comparer aux indicateurs de qualité publiés. Méthodes: Une étude de cohorte rétrospective des endoscopists dans 7 hôpitaux de Montréal et leurs patients âgés de 50-75 qui ont eu subi une coloscopie. Des patients consécutifs ont été interviewés par un assistant de recherche …  Read more

In Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1), the primer tRNA for reverse transcriptase is tRNA$ sp{ rm Lys3}.$ To facilitate the characterization of the viral tRNA$ sp{ rm Lys3},$ we first purified tRNA$ sp{ rm Lys3}$ from human placenta and fully sequenced it. We also developed a rapid method for preparing free and tightly associated tRNAs from viruses. 2-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE) of viral tRNA patterns showed that the number of tRNAs incorporated into HIV-1 varies from 4 to 25, depending on the cell type producing the virus. COS-7 cells transfected with HIV-1 proviral DNA produce virions (HIV-1(COS)) …  Read more

In wet regions subsurface drainage is essential in removing excess water in soil and promoting crop growth; however, it may also result in environmental problems. Implementation of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on subsurface-drained lands can mitigate environmental problems brought on by human activities and climate change. To provide effective mitigation and adaptation measures for the management of subsurface-drained fields, a quantitative assessment of the impact of water table depth, agronomic management practices, and climate-change-driven rises in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on water quality and crop production were assessed through an modeling approach (Root Zone Water Quality Model, RZWQM2).Drawing on …  Read more

In the past two decades, strengthening Sino-African ties have led to the emergence of a transnational African population in Guangzhou, China’s southern manufacturing center. Based on fourteen months of ethnographic research, this dissertation examines how African migrants navigate their lives in the city, with a focus on Muslims from sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of migrants studied work as small-scale business owners. They face racial, cultural, and legal challenges on a daily basis, and often have tense relationships with local residents, the Guangzhou police, and the Chinese state. Exploring the experiences of African Muslim migrants in Guangzhou opens up new discussions …  Read more

One of the primary methods in the numerical solution of large-scale scientific and engineering applications is to use the finite element method. Consequently, maintaining a good mesh quality becomes very important in the unstructured mesh. In order to achieve high quality meshes, a number of mesh smoothing techniques have been used. Most of these techniques are able to improve the mesh quality effectively. In this research, the Laplacian smoothing algorithm, combined with two complementary methods, is investigated. However, one of the problems with mesh smoothing techniques is to maintain an efficient compute time especially in some large-scale applications. Thus, parallel …  Read more

Luis, Miranda-Moreno, (Supervisor)  Read more