McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par T

La convection humide simulée numériquement présente une forte dépendance à la résolution de la grille du modèle. Avec l'utilisation d'un modèle résolvant les nuages, l'effet de l'espacement de grille horizontal (∆) sur l'initiation de la convection profonde est étudié afin d'identifier les processus des couches nuageuse et sous-nuage régulant cette sensibilité. Les simulations sont initialisées avec un profil représentant un écoulement conditionnellement instable au repos. Une fonction de chauffage de surface diurne est prescrite pour générer une longue ligne de convergence à la surface, avec un courant ascendant associé qui dépasse le LFC pour initier la convection de cumulus.Les résultats …  Read more

The vast majority of secondary school English teachers in China are non-native English speakers (NNS). These teachers might not have adequate language proficiency to promote a communicative language environment for students. This has raised an ongoing discussion concerning the growing need to foster NNS teachers' communicative language proficiency, which has been identified as one of the most important qualifications for successful ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language) teachers (Murdoch, 1994; Kamhi-Stein & Lee, 1999; Nunan, 2003). In this study, 53 secondary NNS teachers from Chinese secondary schools were asked to self-assess their English proficiency as well …  Read more

Parallel optical interconnects (POI) have attracted a great deal of attention in the past two decades as the system bandwidth continues to increase. Optical interconnects are known to have more advantages than their electrical counterparts in many aspects such as crosstalk, bandwidth distance product, power consumption, and RC time delay. The parallelization of several optical links is also an effective method to increase the aggregate data rate while keeping the component count manageable and to reduce the unit cost of optics, electronics, and packaging at lower line rate. Parallel optical transceiver modules running at several gigabits per second are commercially …  Read more

Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are widely used in the management of type 2 diabetes due to their cardiovascular benefits. However, current evidence remains insufficient to fully explain the substantial reduction in cardiovascular death observed in trials of these agents. One understudied mechanism is their potential effect on the risk of ventricular arrhythmias (VA). While several studies have examined the effect of SGLT2i on the risk of VA, this existing literature has reported heterogenous findings. Therefore, the goal of my thesis was to synthesize the available evidence and determine if the use of SGLT2i is associated with the risk …  Read more

Cette thèse composée de trois essais va consacrer sur l'acte collectif et l'influence de l'information dans le marché financier. Le premier essai s'applique sur la théorie informatique de Feuilles de style en cascade d'Avery et Zemsky (1998). En utilisant le chiffre de commerce quotidien et quota data, nous verrons comment les investisseurs entrent dans le marché en même temps et comment cette tendance a une influence sur le futur prix. Nous trouvons ici une variation de la théorie de l'information asymétrie pour prédire la relation entre la haute fréquence et l'augmentation d'acte collectif. C'est évident que la haute fréquentation monte …  Read more

La transmission coopérative agit comme étant une solution diffusée, permettant de fournir une communication sans fil très robuste. Elle regroupe les ressources disponibles, comme la puissance et la bande passante, à travers le réseau. Le réseau à relais est le modèle théorique le plus simple pour un réseau sans fil coopératif et la compréhension des limites de communication à travers de ce réseau permet potentiellement de saisir la conception d'un réseau sans fil plus efficace. Par contre, la capacité du réseau à relais est encore inconnue. Dans cette thèse, nous adressons la conception du schéma du decode-forward partiel dans un …  Read more

La localisation est traitée comme étant un problème de classification binaire à base de pixels dans cette thèse. Un ensemble de fort classificateur, obtenu à l'aide d'une combinaison pesée de plusieurs forêts (faibles classificateurs) aléatoires, est entraîné sur des vecteurs figurant des pixels. Le classificateur fort est ensuite utilisé pour classifier les pixels appartenant à la face ou au fond dans la prochaine image. Les marges de classifications sont utilisées pour créer une carte de confiance dont le sommet indique où est la nouvelle face. Le sommet est localisé par Camshift qui ajuste la grandeur de la face à localiser. …  Read more

Mesoscale lattice structures with different desired physical properties are promising for a broad spectrum of applications. However, intricate geometric features of these structures are usually difficult to be directly fabricated by traditional manufacturing processes. The availability of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology has significantly relaxed the fabricating limitation of mesoscale lattice structures. It enables the fabrication of the tailored heterogeneous lattice structures which generally show a better performance than its homogeneous counterpart. However, the lack of suitable design methods and tools for heterogeneous lattice structures seriously hinders its wide application. In this thesis, a general multiscale and multifunctional design methodology is …  Read more

Le quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) est une plante annuelle originaire d'Amérique du Sud et l'une des principales cultures vivrières dans certaines régions de Bolivie et du Pérou. Le quinoa est génétiquement diversifié, très adaptable et capable de survivre dans des environnements extrêmes. Ces dernières années, la production de quinoa a considérablement augmenté en raison de la demande croissante d'aliments sains et sans gluten. Il existe très peu d'informations sur les exigences de gestion agronomique et l'adaptation du quinoa dans des environnements frais et humides. Les objectifs de ce projet étaient de déterminer le potentiel agronomique du quinoa au Québec et …  Read more

High quality, well oriented Zinc Oxide polycrystal thin films on oriented Si crystal surfaces and amorphous SiO$ sb2$/Si, Corning Glass and Al/SiO$ sb2$/Si substrates have been produced by a DC conical reactive S-GUN magnetron sputtering technique. X-Ray diffraction measurements, scanning electron microscopy measurements and ultrasonic measurements have been used to characterize the film properties. It has been shown that our films have 1$ sp circ$ Full Width Half Magnitude rocking curves of (002) and (004) reflection planes on Si surfaces, 1.2$ sp circ$ FWHM (002) and (004) plane rocking curves on Al/SiO$ sb2$/Si substrates and 2.0$ sp circ$ FWHM (002) …  Read more

À mesure qu’une part croissante des activités humaines se déroule en intérieur, le besoin de systèmes de localisation précis et en temps réel dans les espaces clos ne cesse d’augmenter. Bien que les systèmes de navigation par satellite (GNSS) soient très performants en extérieur, ils échouent généralement en intérieur en raison de l’atténuation du signal et des phénomènes de multipath. Le Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) suscite un vif intérêt pour la localisation en intérieur car il ne requiert aucune infrastructure externe et estime le déplacement pas à pas à partir des accéléromètres et gyroscopes déjà intégrés aux smartphones et dispositifs …  Read more

The properties of blown polyethylene (PE) films depend on various factors, including crystallinity, morphology, and orientation, in addition to chemical composition. It has been shown that the optical properties are strongly influenced by surface morphology. In this project, we use non-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM) and polarized light microscopy (PLM) to visualize surface and bulk morphology. Various techniques, such as surface and line roughness, surface and line fractal dimension, pair-correlation function and nearest neighbor distance distribution function, are employed to quantify the description of morphology and to compare the morphological characteristics of a number of polyolefin films of commercial interest. …  Read more

The Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is one of many steroid hormone receptors. It controls broad physiological gene networks, confers pathological effects in a range of disease states, and offers an excellent target for therapeutic intervention. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the mechanisms of GR regulation. In particular, we are interested in better understanding the protein-nucleotide interactions (transcription factors interacting with transcription factor binding sites). Upon glucocorticoids-hormone binding, the GR forms a protein-nucleotide interaction with a specific transcription factor binding site known as a glucocorticoid response element (GRE). This research has employed three different but complementary bioinformatics approaches to identify …  Read more

Since it was first published, Gabrielle Roy's third novel, Alexandre Chenevert (The Cashier), has regularly been studied from the so-called "psychological" perspective while the hero's bodily dimension, as revealed through the narrative, has been generally ignored. But figuratively, literally and properly, what can be said about Alexandre's body? The aim of this study is to answer this question in two parts. First, by focussing on the cashier's body illnesses, we establish that his physical suffering is the metaphor of the psychological harm which affects him too, the prostate cancer illustrating his difficulty with oral and written communication. Then, through a …  Read more

The importance of host heterogeneity in generating aggregation was investigated using Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Nematoda) in laboratory mice. The protocol compared parameters of infection between inbred and outbred mice, primary and challenge infections, and gavage and natural exposure, to investigate the relative effects of innate resistance, acquired resistance and behaviour, respectively. The results show that heterogeneity in acquired resistance is the most consistent factor contributing to the variability and aggregation of H. polygyrus. When groups of mice did not acquire resistance, either in certain inbred strains or when mice were immunosuppressed, variability after the challenge was comparable with that after a …  Read more

Part one of the thesis. She's leaving. She's running away. Everything goes too fast. If she doesn't, the emptiness in her life will destroy her. There, in Africa, nothing happens. Nothing but sight, silence, space and time. There, she finds another way of living. There, everything happens. Everything that has anything to do with essence. Only then can Gisella, 30, come back. Part two. How can one tell of silence with words? How can silence be what makes not only the style and themes of a fiction, but the whole fiction, resonate, vibrate? In the fiction of Marguerite Duras, more …  Read more

The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the life of Marie-Charlotte Guillimin, the wife of James McGill, the founder of the University that bears his name. Marie-Charlotte Guillimin life spans the XVIIIth century and takes place in the cities of Quebec and Montreal. She was also the wife of Joseph-Amable Trottier DesRivieres, a Montreal merchant, in a first marriage. The education that she received at the Ursulines convent in Quebec city, her two marriage contracts as well as various other legal documents all tend to demonstrate that Marie-Charlotte Guillimin's lifestyle was other than the traditional one of wife and …  Read more

The rate of heat transfer to a fluid flowing in a pipe can be greatly enhanced by the use of internal fins, but the pressure gradient must be similarly increased in order to maintain the desired flow rate. Computer simulations are a cost-effective method to obtain optimal heat transfer designs of internally finned pipes. In this work, a control-volume finite element method was formulated, coded, and used for computer simulations of fully-developed, laminar, fluid flow and heat transfer in pipes with internal twisted fins of triangular cross-section. Values of Nusselt number and friction factor were computed for a relevant range …  Read more

La présente étude s’intéresse à l’interdiction de discrimination prévue à l’article 10 de la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne (Charte québécoise), qui, de par sa nature et son objet, doit être étudiée à la lumière du phénomène social d’inégalité que cette règle vise à réguler. Pour les fins de l’analyse, trois phénomènes ont été identifiés en raison de leur énonciation, de leur interprétation et de leur application distincte : la discrimination fondée sur : -les motifs d’origine ethnique ou nationale, de race et de couleur, généralement abordés sans distinction, et parfois avec confusion ; -le motif d’expression …  Read more

It is common practice to add reactive metal particles to high-explosive formulations in order to increase the total energy output. The present study is an effort to increase the understanding of metal particle combustion in detonation products. Aluminum and magnesium particles ranging from 2 to 100 μm are subjected to the flow of detonation products of a stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. Luminosity emitted from the reacting particles is used to determine the reaction delay and duration. It is found that the reaction duration increases as d^n with n ≈ 0.5, more consistent with kinetically controlled reaction rather than …  Read more

When a detonation propagates in an explosive that partially fills a channel, a shock wave can be generated in the air gap between the explosive and its confinement. This is typically referred to as the channel effect. In the air gap, the detonation products behave as a piston, which drives the precursor air shock wave ahead of the detonation. Since the shock wave runs ahead of the detonation, it preconditions the explosive and the detonation propagates into shocked explosive. This can affect the detonation in various ways, depending on the nature of the explosive. Properties such as heterogeneity, porosity and …  Read more

La douleur est la principale raison pour laquelle les individus recherchent des soins de santé et la principale utilisation des ressources de soins de santé. Pourtant, les caractéristiques biologiques, psychologiques et sociales qui déterminent l'expérience de la douleur ont rarement, voire jamais, été étudiées ensemble dans une large population. Ici, nous dérivons un modèle épidémiologique multivarié pour expliquer la propagation de la douleur à partir de 10 catégories de caractéristiques cliniques (99 éléments au total) chez 500 000 participants de la UK Biobank. Ce modèle était caractérisé par une mauvaise santé mentale, sociodémographique et physique alignée sur le cadre biopsychosocial …  Read more

Wastewater has become a vital new supply for irrigation; however, concerns are mounting about environmental and health hazards related to heavy metals present in wastewater. Experiments were conducted to evaluate wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum L.) uptake of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). Some 15 plants per pot were allowed to establish themselves in the greenhouse for 4 and 6 weeks for buckwheat and wheat, respectively. Plants were then transferred to one of two growth chambers differing in the vapor pressure deficit (VPD), creating conditions for two different transpiration rates to occur: high (HT) and low …  Read more

Design automation has steadily contributed to improvements witnessed in the system design process. Initial applications were to address low level design concerns such as transistor layout and simulation; however the focus of tools has slowly been progressing up the design abstraction scale. The current state-of-the-art provides modelling capabilities at different levels of abstraction, but solutions for synthesis issues at the register-transfer and lower levels are the norm. The proliferation of design description languages at different abstraction levels has prompted the need for standardization (VHDL and Open-Verilog) to promote design migration and re-use. While design automation has helped in reducing design …  Read more

STARNET is a fiber optic based network which facilitates the interconnection of distributed Local Area Networks. Configured as a sixteen pointed star topology with a multiprocessor based controller at the center of the star (named the Central Switch). STARNET is capable of scheduling calls from users connected to User Access Nodes located at the points of the star. Messages are passed from one node to another through the Central Switch via duplex fiber optic lines connecting each node to the center. This paper presents a multiprocessor based design of the User Access Node. The hardware and software structure is examined …  Read more

This thesis investigates Plato's analogy between virtue and crafts, a comparison made extensively in the early dialogues. I first detail the model of technical knowledge that Plato uses as a paradigm of knowledge. An application of this model shows the inadequacies in some claims to know or to teach virtue. Applying the model to the Socratic dictum, 'Virtue is knowledge' enables us to understand what such knowledge is about. Such knowledge is identified as 'self-knowledge' and is the product of philosophy. Philosophy is thus revealed as the craft of virtue, directed at the good of individuals. One problematic aspect of …  Read more

A delicate balance exists between the protective effects of adrenal glucocorticoids (GCs) secreted in response to stress and the negative consequences that the excessive production of these hormones may have for numerous systems. GCs are involved in the regulation of the stress response, have effects on feeding and body weight gain and are associated with the acceleration of central nervous system aging. Their production, secretion, and containment are subject to both environmental modulation and individual variation. Neonatal manipulations known to affect the development of the adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response to stress had profound effects on both basal and stress-induced dietary …  Read more

The objectives of this thesis were (1) to identify older women's health priorities for promoting physical, psychological and social well-being; and (2) to measure the extent to which women perceive that their health priorities are being met. A qualitative methodology using 3 focus group sessions with 36 community-dwelling women aged 65 year and older was used to elicit older women's health priorities. Priorities were categorized into three groups: disease-related priorities, disability-related priorities, and psychosocial-related priorities. A questionnaire was developed to quantify the extent to which women perceive that these different priorities are being addressed. The survey was administered to a …  Read more

Ragweed antigen E was insolubilized by polymerization with ethyl chloroformate and the polymer (in 40 mg aliquots) employed as immunoadsorbent for the isolation of reagins from 5 ml aliquots of human ragweed atopic serum. Maximal adsorption of reagins was obtained on incubation of serum and polymer for 75 min. For recovery of the adsorbed reagins, 2 M KSCN was shown to be a more effective eluting agent than 2 M KI and near quantitative recoveries were obtained by incubation of the immunoadsorbent-antibody complexes with this reagent for 75 min. The specificity of the immunoadsorbent was demonstrated in experiments with a …  Read more

Studies of population trends in the Western world over the past fifty years indicate that the aged, that is, those persons over 65 years, have increased, as a group, both relatively and absolutely. This, in turn, has created a shift in the balance between dependants, i.e., those under 20 and those over 65, to the bread-winners, throwing a heavier burden on the earning population. These trends have had wide ramifications in our economic and social institutions, and have made research and planning imperative in the field of geriatrics.  Read more

As extreme poverty and homelessness continue to increase and become more visible in urban centres throughout Canada, it is increasingly more important to develop and critique interventions within the field. This grounded theory study provides and overview of one type of intervention---street outreach programs. It is informed by interviews with front line street outreach workers in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. It includes an outline of the academic literature on homelessness and street outreach programs and stresses the importance of viewing this social phenomenon through a structural lens. It describes in detail the main aspects of street outreach work, as well …  Read more

In a paper published in 1883 Ogston had this to say of the "micrococci": "Yet when the animal (injected with "micrococci" taken from a suppurative infection) is subjected to microscopic scrutiny, we find that at the seemingly unimportant injection site an enormous and appalling growth of deadly organisms, in numbers that would be but faintly computed by millions, while the blood which we would naturally have supposed to be richly inhabited, is so poorly provided with the organism that it is clear that the chemical intoxication by the ptomaine, not the vital injection of the germ, has been the cause …  Read more

In 1947 D.G. Denton (Murray, Denton, Stevenson, and Diena, 1957) isolated a mold, later identified as Penicillium cyaneo-fulvum, and demonstrated that it produced in culture a substance which neutralized staphylococcal alpha-haemolysin. In subsequent work on this toxin-neutralizing agent, Diena (1954 and 1956) developed a method of purifying the toxin-neutralizing substance and established that it neutralized a wide spectrum of bacterial toxins. The toxin neutralizing substance derived from culture filtrates of P. cyaneo-fulvum has been designated Noxiversin. The purpose of this investigation was to study some of the characteristics of the neutralization of staphylococcal alphahaemolysin by Noxiversin.  Read more

Morgan Sonderegger (Supervisor1)  Read more

Contexte: La morbidité maternelle sévère (MMS) comprend des complications potentiellement mortelles survenant pendant la grossesse, à l’accouchement ou dans les 42 jours qui suivent, et touche entre 1,5 % et 2,0 % des naissances au Canada. Les schémas d’utilisation des services de santé au cours de l’année suivant un épisode de MMS sont inconnus. Dans cette étude, nous avons comparé l’utilisation élevée des services de santé entre les jours 43 et 365 après l’accouchement chez les personnes ayant eu une grossesse affectée ou non par une MMS en Colombie-Britannique (C.-B.), Canada.Objectifs: 1) Évaluer les associations entre la MMS et l’utilisation …  Read more

Hemmeon, J. (Supervisors)  Read more

Geitmann, Anja (Supervisor1)  Read more

One of the key design requirements of communication circuits is that of linearity, and one of the main figures of merit for measuring the amount of nonlinear distortion at the output of Radio Frequency (RF) circuits is the third order intercept point (IP3). There are two general classes of methods for calculating the IP3 of a circuit. The first is analytical and is usually based on Volterra series. This approach is cumbersome and is difficult to automate for arbitrary circuits with arbitrary non-linearities. The second class of methods is based on multi-tone simulations and is general and flexible but requires …  Read more

The third order intercept point (IP3) is an important figure of merit which gives a measure of the linearity of communication circuits. There are two classes of methods for calculating the IP3 of a circuit. The first is analytical and is usually based on Volterra series. This approach is cumbersome and is difficult to apply to arbitrary circuits with arbitrary non-linearities. The second class of methods is based on multi-tone simulations and is general and flexible but requires significant CPU cost. In this thesis a new method based on the computation of the circuit moments is proposed. The new approach …  Read more

This thesis is a theoretical and practical investigation of the role played by informal learning and teaching in the development of identity and applied knowledge. With the advent of mass schooling, there came to be a distinction between formal and informal education, with formal schooling representing the superiority of abstract, decontextualized, and rule-based learning over the informal, or the concrete, situated, and supposedly unstructured learning from everyday life. Research and theory in anthropology, sociocultural psychology and progressive educational philosophy have challenged this distinction, explicitly demonstrating the dialectical relationship between the formal and informal modes of all activity, regardless of setting. …  Read more