McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par T

Milk proteins represent an important source of protein ingredients due to their distinctive physico-chemical, nutritional, technological and functional properties. Casein content of milk represents about 80% of milk proteins. The distinguishing property of phosphorylation provides important properties to caseins. The objectives of this research were to investigate enzymatic dephosphorylation of caseins, to characterize products of dephosphorylation and to examine the effects of dephosphorylation on biological properties of caseins. Bovine whole casein, alpha-casein and beta-casein were dephosphorylated with potato acid phosphatase; optimum dephosphorylation conditions were 37°C, pH 5.8 for 6 h. The extents of dephosphorylation accounted for 71.6, 89.2 and 73.7% …  Read more

Diouane, Youssef (Supervisor2)  Read more

The strong interactions between aircraft and air systems necessitate the integration of the latter to multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) considerations of the former. This research presents such a methodology considering environmental control and ice protection systems. These systems consume pressurized bleed air from the aircraft's engines to perform their respective functions. We first describe the models used to predict the behavior of these systems and then propose different approaches to their integration into an existing aircraft MDO environment. A business jet test case was studied using the developed methodology. The comparison of MDO results obtained with and without the considered …  Read more

A theoretical and experimental method is described whereby the hydrodynamic forces, both normal and shear, acting on the spheres of a doublet can be calculated. This is applied to a system of sphered human red blood cells agglutinated by human hyperimmune anti-B antiserum undergoing Poiseuille flow and observed using the traveling microtube technique. The mean forces separating the cells of individual doublets were found to be proportional to antiserum concentration from 0.73 to 3.56% v/v, normal forces increasing from 0.060 to 0.197 nN and shear forces from 0.023 to 0.072 nN. It was impossible to determine which force was responsible …  Read more

The Warsaw Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air was adopted when aviation was in its developing stage. In order to protect this infant industry, the Convention limited the liability of the air carrier in international air transportation to certain specified amounts. As time went by the Warsaw Convention was amended by several instruments. The end result is that there are several instruments to regulate the liability of air carriers engaged in international air transportation and most of these instruments provide only limited recovery to passengers. Often, passengers try to break the limits prescribed …  Read more

Fifteen mutants of Sinorhizobium (Rhizobium ) meliloti unable to utilize acetate as a sale carbon source (Ace-) were characterized in this study. Merodiploid complementation tests showed that nine of these mutations were in loci distinct from previously described gluconeogenic loci. The chromosomal locations of the mutations were determined, and complementing clones were isolated from the cosmid library of S. meliloti genomic DNA. The mutants were placed into four groups (I--IV) based on genetic linkage in phage co-transduction. None of the mutations were in glyoxylate shunt enzyme-encoding genes. Nucleotide sequence analysis of ace mutants from Groups III and IV showed mutations …  Read more

Zhao, Yaoyao Fiona (Supervisor1)  Read more

En 2007, Babaioff, Immorlica, et Kleinberg formulèrent la version matroïdale du problème du secrétaire (matroid secretary problem), liant de façon élégante la théorie des matroïdes à des généralisations du problème du secrétaire. Dans cette thèse, nous introduisons le lecteur aux matroïdes et au problème du secrétaire, avant de nous lancer dans la définition de Babaioff et al. et dans une étude de résultats récents. En suite nous nous concentrons sur l'important cas spécial du transversal matroid secretary problem. Nous formulons une classe de matroïdes transversales qui n'a pas été defini auparavant, et présentons un algorithme c-compétitif (c une constante) pour …  Read more

La résolubilité computationnelle des jeux économiques est un thème central à la théorie des jeux algorithmique. La logique sous-jacente à cette étude repose sur l’idée qu’il est difficile d’imaginer que des agents rationnels puissent parvenir aux équilibres d’un jeu dans le cadre d’interactions stratégiques si ces équilibres ne peuvent être calculés par un algorithme en un temps raisonnable. Dans cette thèse, nous appliquons ce principe aux décisions auxquelles font face les oligopoles. Nous étudions la complexité computationnelle des décisions dans les modèles d’oligopoles, l’efficacité d’algorithmes de recherche euristique qu’ils peuvent employer, et l’impact social général de l’élaboration de leurs stratégies …  Read more

It has been argued that patients with frontal lobe lesions are impaired in temporal context memory and, more generally, in retrieving the source of one's knowledge or ideas. Furthermore, it has been speculated that a failure to retrieve source information may result in an increased susceptibility to distortions of episodic memories in patients with frontal lobe lesions. The precise role of the frontal cortex, however, in source or episodic retrieval is not clear. Does this region of cortex play a primary role or a secondary, executive role in the processing of such memories? Studies of patients with temporal lobe lesions …  Read more

Many nations, except the United States, have long regulated non-scheduled air services under their bilateral air transport agreements. Though inconstant and largely superficial, this regulation has served to alleviate the constrictive effects of multifarious laws and regulations, enacted to keep charter expansion in check. The (mainly) unilateral, diverse legal regimes charters have had to face have not stopped their growth. The late 1960s saw their worth: inter alia, their low fares facilitated tourism, filled empty aircraft seats, and injected some competition into a highly regulated industry. The Americans then realised that, absent the legal uncertainty that continuously plagued charters, and …  Read more

Les simulateurs physiques et informatiques sont fréquemment utilisés pour aider les résidents et étudiants en médecine à pratiquer les techniques chirurgicales. Dans la salle d'opération, il y a souvent des distractions auditives. Actuellement, il y a peu d'études qui examinent l'effet de la complexité des tâches et la capacité de faire plusieurs choses à la fois sur la performance des chirurgiens experts et des novices dans la salle d'opération. Nous avons étudié comment l'entrainement à l'aide d'un simulateur chirurgical peut aider à développer l'automaticité. Avec le simulateur informatique LapSim, nous avons examiné l'effet d'une tâche supplémentaire sur l'exécution de tâches …  Read more

Le trouble de déficit de l'attention avec hyperactivité (TDAH) est un désordre neurocomportemental répandu avec une étiologie complexe impliquant des facteurs génétiques et environnementaux. Bien qu'il soit maintenant établi que plusieurs gènes sont impliqués dans le TDAH, aucun seul gène de risque a été identifié. De plus, plusieurs facteurs environnementaux, tels que le tabagisme maternel, l'abus de l'alcool, et le stress maternel, ont été fortement associé à cette maladie. Cette thèse décrira comment la cigarette durant la grossesse est un indexe pour un sous-groupe plus homogène d'enfants atteints d'un TDAH. En étudiant les caractéristiques comportementales et neurocognitives chez ces enfants, …  Read more

World wide steel consumption as grinding media is estimated at over 600,000 tons per annum. Total steel media wear in a given mill (ball or SAG) grinding process is a product of three recognized wear mechanisms---impact, abrasion, and corrosion of which the contribution of each wear mechanism to total media wear has not been well established. A total media wear model can be defined on the assumption that the effect of each wear mechanism can be independently determined and this effect can be tied to mill charge motion as determined or estimated using a charge motion simulator, which allows for …  Read more

Hovey, Richard (Supervisor1)  Read more

Meger, David (Supervisor1)  Read more

Russell Ruo (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

In the past two decades, the prison population has increased considerably in many industrialized countries. In the United States, for example, the prison population has more than quadrupled since 1980. As a response to the considerable incarceration costs, the number of private prisons and the number of prisoners working for private corporations have increased significantly. Proponents of private sector involvement in prison industries argue that inmate labour can reduce the incarceration costs and contribute to rehabilitation of prisoners. The question of private sector involvement in prison facilities raises significant concerns as regards to international labour standards. Opponents of private sector …  Read more

Les bactéries entéropathogènes et entérohémorragiques Escherichia coli (EPEC et EHEC) sont des pathogènes d'origine alimentaire pouvant causer de sévères diarrhées et même la mort chez l'humain. Citrobacter rodentium est un pathogène de la souris qui sert de modèle animal pour les infections causées par EPEC et EHEC chez l'homme. EPEC, EHEC et Citrobacter rodentium transportent les protéines de virulence bactériennes directement dans la cellule hôte via un système de sécrétion de type III (T3SS). Le NleA (non-LEE-encoded effector A ou effecteur A non encodé par LEE) est un effecteur T3SS commun chez ces bactéries et est requis pour conférer la …  Read more

Pilote, Louise (Supervisor1)  Read more

La méthylation des protéines sur leurs résidus arginines et lysines est catalysée respectivement par la famille des Protéine Arginine Méthyltransférases (PRMTs) et celle des Lysine Méthyltransférases (KMTs). D'une part, les PRMTs sont capables de catalyser la formation d'arginine NG –monométhylée (AMM), d'arginine --NG,NG-diméthylée asymétriquement (ADMa) ou d'arginine --NG,N'G-diméthylée symétriquement (ADMs). D'autre part, les KMTs peuvent générer des lysines mono- (Kme1), di- (Kme2) or triméthylées (Kme3). Au fil des années la méthylation des protéines s'est distinguée en tant que modification post-traductionnelle (MPT) essentielle régulant différents processus cellulaires comme la transcription, l'épissage des pré-ARNm, la localisation cellulaire des protéines, la synthèse protéique, …  Read more

Food allergy, an immune-mediated adverse hypersensitivity reaction to ingested food, is an emerging global health problem that not only causes the disease to susceptible individuals but also causes psychological impacts and financial damage to their families. Food allergy incidence is significantly increased in the past decade and currently estimated at 6-8% in 1 year old children, and 2-4% in older children and adults. Food allergy is the leading cause of anaphylaxis in children and severe cases may lead to fatal anaphylaxis reactions. Although continuous efforts have been made to better understand the nature of allergens, predisposing environmental factors, and the …  Read more

This study traces the development of central banking in Greece. Her problems of central banking are part of the general problem as to whether central banking institutions are necessary in underdeveloped countries, or not. No matter what importance a central bank has for an underdeveloped country, it is now a fact that every country regards it as an indispensable part of the institutional framework of her economy. In fact the central banks of today have become a symbol of independence in the regulation of monetary affairs of a country.  Read more

The concept of "humanitarian intervention" in international law is composed of two seemingly contradictory propositions, which is the cause of great controversy. On the one hand, there is the principle of humanity, which requires that human beings must be protected from unjust oppression or persecution, wherever they may occur. On the other hand, there is the principle of non-intervention, which strictly prohibits any "dictatorial interference" in the affairs of other States.  Read more

For the purposes of this thesis, I can say that the educational work that I have addressed represents 'informal education' in that it is oriented towards transforming gendered power relations and shares the basic methodological principle building analytically and practically upon, the experiential knowledge of the learners themselves. The discussion is based on a detailed study of informal and incidental learning that takes place in Baltistan. Research presented in this thesis seeks to show that with women acting as men's equals rather than as mere auxiliaries, greater victories in the fight against poverty and deprivation may be won. Rather than …  Read more

Ginger, originating in Asia, seems to be a common flowering plant. Ginger’s rhizome contains over 400 bioactive constituents, that have been discovered to date. Many of these compounds are polyphenols, including gingerols, shogaols, and paradols. The extract of the rhizome of ginger has the potential to provide therapeutic value as it exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-cancer properties. Although ginger has been used in medicinal purposes for centuries, direct delivery to late parts in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract proves to be a difficult feat primarily due to its low solubility and low bioavailability. This calls for an innovative delivery method of …  Read more

A knowledge of the processes governing the intake of water and food substances by parasites from the tissues of their hosts is essential for a full understanding of parasitism, but the study of this aspect of the nutrition of phytopathogens is decidedly incomplete. The more destructive parasites which manifest the phenomenon of "action in advance" are considered to be able to satisfy their nutritiona1 requirements from materials liberated from host cells which are killed by some toxin or enzyme secreted by, and diffusing in advance of, the parasitizing mycelium; but the more highly specialized parasites such as the rust fungi …  Read more

During the past three years a rust of peas has become prominent in Eastern Canada. From a position of obscurity and of purely myoological interest, this rust has rapidly attained a position which is causing considerable concern among growers. The only pea rust described to date on this Continent is Uromyces fabae (Pers.) de Bary, though the possibility ofthe European pea rust, Uromyces pisi (Pers.) Wint., having become established in this country is considered herein. [...]  Read more

The object of this thesis is to see if the kenotic theory still gives the most meaningful Christology for today. This will be attempted by discussing and commentating on the views of a range of Twentieth Century theologians, comparing those who agree with those who are against kenosis. In an age when not only other religions are making themselves a real force in the world, but also when men are apt to make all sorts of differing statements about God, it seemed necessary to the writer to see just what is our Christian claim. Having completed the work of this …  Read more

Severe anemia is the most prevalent life-threatening complication of malaria infection. In addition to destruction of red blood cells (RBC), decreased RBC production or erythropoietic suppression has been shown to contribute to malarial anemia. The mechanism of this suppression is unknown, but it is considered to be multifactorial since erythropoietic suppression can be observed in the presence of both inflammatory mediators and parasite-derived factors. Experiments presented in this thesis aimed at determining the role of host cytokines released in response to blood-stage malaria infection and parasite-derived factors in erythropoietic suppression underlying the development of malarial anemia. Pro-inflammatory cytokines released during …  Read more

In this thesis, we study two problems focusing on the interplay between geometric properties of differential equations and their invariants. For the first project, we study the validity of the principle of symmetric criticality (PSC) in the context of invariant gauge fields over the four-dimensional non-reductive pseudo-Riemannian homogeneous spaces G/K recently classified by Fels & Renner (2006). Given H compact semi-simple, classification results are obtained for principal H-bundles over G/K admitting: (1) a G-action (by bundle automorphisms) projecting to left multiplication on the base, and (2) at least one G-invariant connection. There are two cases which admit nontrivial examples of …  Read more

Move ordering is important to alpha-beta tree search efficiency since a well-ordered minimax game tree precipitates more cutoffs than a randomly ordered tree. The use of move ordering heuristics is shown to be a valuable addition to the alpha-beta algorithm. Eight different move ordering heuristics are described and implemented on a skeleton chess program. The relative gains in search performance are observed for each individual heuristic as well as for combinations of heuristics. It is shown that when searching minimax game trees to a depth of 6 to 9 plies with well-chosen "killer" heuristics, reductions in search time and tree …  Read more

Deblois, Francois (Internal/Supervisor)  Read more

The problem of estimating call blocking probabilities in ATM networks is addressed in this thesis. We develop a new, two-step iterated framework for call acceptance control (CAC). In the first step, we define a new variable bit rate (VBR) traffic descriptor called effective rate and we use a known effective bandwidth technique in the second step to estimate cell loss. This approach yields decoupled estimators at the call level so that loss systems models can be used to perform network analysis. Our work on loss systems is divided in three parts: single-link problems, reservation and network problems. In the single-link …  Read more

Branton, Phil (Supervisor)  Read more

The study indicates a need for further research in the diagnosis of language deficits in beginning readers to prevent reading problems.  Read more

Les interneurones parvalbumine (PV+) sont d’importants régulateurs du traitement de l'information excitatrice/inhibitrice au sein du néocortex. Leur maturation est associée à l'ouverture de périodes critiques du développement (CP), période au cours de laquelle les circuits neuronaux sont plus facilement modelés par l'environnement externe. La maturation des filets périneuronaux (PNN) autour des cellules PV+ est associée à la fermeture de ces CP. De récentes études ont révélé que les axones PV+ corticaux sont myélinisés et que la myélinisation joue également un rôle dans la fermeture des CP. L'exposition à la maltraitance infantile (CA) au cours du développement peut avoir des effets …  Read more

This study examined the relationship between residential environment and subjective quality of life (QOL) for individuals with mental illness. Demographic variables impacting QOL were also examined. The Wisconsin Quality of Life Index---Canadian Version (CaW QLI, Diaz & Mercier, 1996) was administered to a total of 46 participants and was used to assess the QOL of individuals living in a supported residential environment as compared to individuals living in other types of environments. The major findings were: (1) psychiatric consumers/survivors in the supported residential environment reported higher QOL scores in 4 of the 9 domains examined; (2) residents living in a …  Read more

In Marie-Claire Blais's trilogy Soifs, the history of the 20th Century is registered in an inter-cultural and inter-discursive realm both as a history which is "infernal" (chaotic, violent, fragmented) and as one which is civilizing. The objective of this study is to observe and comment on this double inscription, to evaluate how it takes charge of and modulates signs and representations already in circulation in social discourse. The author seeks to discern the inter-discursive work of manipulation and translation of social discourse from a point of view which is at once formal, narrative, linguistic and ideological, to ultimately identify the …  Read more

Genetically engineered anchorage-dependent human embryonic kidney (293) cells were cultured at 37$ sp circ$C on 1 mm thick sheets of a fibrous polymeric matrix having an average fibre diameter of 10.2 $ mu$m and a void fraction of 0.81 using Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 2.5 mM glutamine. Immobilization efficiencies above 70% were observed when cells were added to 100 mL spinner flasks (operating at 60 rpm) containing 70 mL of medium and two 1 x 1 cm squares of matrix (total gross area of 2 cm$ sp2$) fastened to the base …  Read more

Desbarats, Catherine (Supervisor2)  Read more

Nicolau, Belinda Farias (Supervisor1)  Read more

Allison, Paul J. (Supervisor1)  Read more

The reduction of iron oxides has been investigated extensively, mainly by virtue of its industrial significance. Nevertheless, despite the large amount of experimental evidence, there has been as yet no agreement as to the mechanism of the reaction, nor has a generalized correlation for the reaction rate been suggested. As a matter of fact, many workers appear to assume that the complexity of the system makes the formulation of such a correlation impossible. One of the main objects of this study has been to attempt an analysis of the mechanism of the reduction, from which a correlation could be derived. …  Read more

L'initialisation de la vapeur d'eau et de la température est, depuis longtemps, un sujet de préoccupation pour les prévisions météorologiques à la méso-échelle, où de petites erreurs dans ces champs produisent souvent des erreurs significatives dans le modèle concernant la caractérisation des processus à la méso-échelle, telles que l'initiation de la convection. Afin de répondre à cette question, un radiomètre micro-ondes à « méso-échelle » a été conçu et construit à l'Université McGill dans le but exclusif de fournir avec précision, ou au moins de contraindre, les champs de vapeur d'eau en trois dimensions. Une évaluation de la capacité d'un …  Read more

The two current approaches to increasing computer speed are giving individual processors the ability to exploit instruction-level parallelism (ILP), and harnessing multiple processors to work together on a single problem. The first approach has worked well so far, but more and more investments in instruction scheduling hardware seem to be producing diminishing returns. Parallel processing, on the other hand, has tremendous potential, but has been disappointing in practice. One reason is that parallel computer designers cannot afford to put the same resources into building processors as the makers of commodity chips, who command a much larger market. Therefore, most parallel …  Read more