McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1996

Palliative care provides symptom control, social, psychological and spiritual care for terminally ill patients, and psycho-social support and bereavement care for their families. Ethics is the study of rational processes for determining the best course of action between conflicting values and choices. All medicine is practiced within a defined cultural setting and local beliefs about health and illness may determine particular solutions to ethical problems. Culturo-religious beliefs and practices in Jamaica are linked historically to its people's African ancestry and to the syncretism of Euro-British values during slavery. The resulting socio-cultural and medical pluralism has presented an ethical dilemma concerning …  Lire la suite

Sensible heat flux, a key component of the surface energy balance, is difficult to estimate in practice. This study was conducted to see if backpropagation neural networks could estimate sensible heat flux by using horizontal wind speed, air temperature, radiometric surface temperature, net radiation, and time as input. Ground measurements from the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment (FIFE), collected in 1987 and 1989 over a prairie grassland in Kansas, were used for network training and validation. Networks trained on part of the data from a narrow range of space-time coordinates performed well over the other …  Lire la suite

The fate of fertilizer N is of primary concern for both agricultural productivity and environmental quality. Concerns include denitrification, leaching losses, mineralization of organic N as plant available N. Denitrification is an important source of N$ sb2$O, a greenhouse gas but field measurements are difficult. Two methods of measuring denitrification are soil core (SC) incubation and closed chamber (CC) methods. These methods were assessed on soil under monoculture corn, monoculture soybean, and alfalfa in a corn soybean alfalfa rotation. Greater concentrations were found in the CC method than the SC method. Denitrification rates ranged from less than 15 g N …  Lire la suite

This dissertation discusses medieval and Renaissance clerical and cultural constructions of femininity and female masculinity, and it analyses the complex relationship between such conceptions and the literary representation of the transvestite woman. Medieval theology legitimated female masculinity as transcendence of temporal sexuality. A woman who contained her affective femininity and replaced it with rational and ascetic behaviour was frequently lauded for having become male in all but body. In the middle of the first millennium, hagiographic legends abounded in which women appear to have embodied the patristic equation between spiritual rationality and masculinity. This dissertation proposes a radically different interpretation: …  Lire la suite

Milde, Michael (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The rapid growth of medical sciences and technologies created the need of increased use of computers to address the recognized problems associated with information overload, and to help health care professionals provide better quality decisions. This thesis presents the development, implementation, and evaluation of a real-time expert monitoring system (EMS) developed for the patient data management system (PDMS) of a pediatric intensive care unit. The objective of the EMS is to generate real-time warning signals in the event of life threatening patient conditions. The research in this thesis concentrated on the analysis of the performance of the expert system in …  Lire la suite

This study involved characterizing the oxidation behaviour of low carbon steel in various gas mixtures of O$ rm sb2, CO sb2, H sb2O$ and N$ sb2,$ at different oxidation temperatures. Rate measurements for the oxidation of the low carbon steel during reheating in a walking-beam steel reheat furnace were also carried out. Scaling rates during reheating were predicted from oxidation rates obtained in the laboratory. In-situ characterization of the phase compositions of the iron oxides, "scale", that form on low carbon steels during their oxidation at elevated temperatures was carried out using a neutron diffraction technique. Growths in the intensities …  Lire la suite

In spite of a broad body of theoretical discussion on generativity, empirical research has yet to confirm many central tenets of the theory. Within 2 research studies, 3 questions were addressed. A study of 98 midlife men and women pursued (1) the relationship between generative concerns and 4 indicators of adjustment, positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction, and work satisfaction, and (2) the role of agency and communion as predictors of generative concerns, with attention to sex differences in these predictive roles. A study of 75 largely pre-midlife women and men provided a conceptual replication of the results of the …  Lire la suite

$ beta$-Hexosaminidase (Hex) is an essential lysosomal enzyme whose absence in man results in a group of disorders, the G$ sb{ rm M2}$ gangliosidoses which includes Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases. There are two major isoenzymes of Hex, Hex A ($ alpha beta$) and Hex B ($ beta beta$). Two cell types, apical and narrow cells, in the initial segment of the rat epididymis immunolocalized Hex. Principal cells of the epididymis were intensely reactive for Hex only in the intermediate zone, caput and proximal corpus regions. Clear cells were reactive in the regions of the epididymis where they were found. Electron …  Lire la suite

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are a key technology underpinning the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO's) communications, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management concept. The fact the de facto GNSS, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a military system owned, operated and controlled by the United States raises many legal and institutional issues for civil aviation. This thesis will discuss the nature of GPS/GNSS as a global utility, ICAO's evolutionary path toward a civil GNSS (ie one independent from GPS) and trace the development of the institutional debate within ICAO. Reliance on navigation by GNSS in terms of the principle of State …  Lire la suite

The thesis is a short novel, Food of the Gods, followed by a critical afterward and bibliography. In Food, four graduate students, all to varying degrees perverse, come together in a cabalistic union. Bored and desperate, they begin to transgress a series of taboos, eventually performing communal acts of aggression, murder, and even cannibalism. Frank West, one of the students, is the novel's narrator and questionable moral center. It is through his confession that the four's "monstrous deeds" are filtered through. Thematically, Food examines the potential for evil in individuals, as well as the group dynamics which encourage such acts …  Lire la suite

Assessment of freshness and quality of meat and fish is a major activity of both food regulatory agencies and the food industry. Various methods are used for measuring fish and meat quality, each with its particular advantages and limitations. However, methods based on monitoring the products of proteolysis have received relatively little attention. The objective of the present study was to identify specific protein and peptide products of proteolysis as indicators of freshness and quality during chilled storage of fresh fish and meat. Samples of meat and fish were subjected to chilled storage; at intervals of 0, 2, 4, 8, …  Lire la suite

Salmonella enteritidis has recently emerged as a potential pathogen in poultry products. The growth of S. enteritidis in poultry is affected by several factors such as storage temperature, pH, water activity, modified atmosphere and the presence of preservatives. All of these factors may act alone or in combination with each other resulting in a synergistic, antimicrobial effect. In this research, initial storage studies were done to determine the effect of various atmospheres (air, vacuum, oxygen absorbent and gas packaging) on the microbial changes of packaged chicken thighs followed by challenge studies with a strain of S. enteritidis$ sp{ rm{NAST}}$. Chicken …  Lire la suite

Established in 1988, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the "CITT") replaced the Tariff Board, the Canadian Import Tribunal and the Textile and Clothing Board. Tasked with the responsibilities of advising the government on various trade related matters, conducting injury inquiries and reviewing certain decisions of the customs department, the CITT is an important source of Canadian trade policy and jurisprudence. This paper focuses on the role the CITT has played in the development of Canadian trade jurisprudence, with particular emphasis on the CITT's material injury inquiries and its appellate review of Canada Customs' classification and valuation determinations. Placing these decisions …  Lire la suite

Calcium (Ca$ sp{2+}$) and protein kinase C (PKC) are believed to act as intracellular signals triggering the activation of NADPH oxidase in neutrophils leading to superoxide generation. This was tested on bovine neutrophils by chelating extracellular and/or intracellular free Ca$ sp{2+}$ and by measuring PKC activity when the cells were stimulated by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or opsonized zymosan (OZ). Chelation of extracellular Ca$ sp{2+}$ with EGTA did not alter O$ sb2 sp{-}$ production from PMA stimulated cells. However, it did cause a 64% decrease in O$ sb2 sp{-}$ production in the neutrophils when stimulated with OZ. When intracellular Ca$ …  Lire la suite

The influences of some environmental and genetic factors on the incidence of abnormal test-days in milk-recorded cows enrolled in the Quebec Dairy Herd Analysis Service (QDHAS) was determined in this study. Conditions Affecting Records (CAR) codes, collected monthly by QDHAS's supervisors, are possible explanation for a reduced production in the day of test. For the purpose of this study, CAR codes were used to analyze the incidence of health problems under generalized linear models methodology. Poisson and logistic regression model analyses were able to model the number of cases of abnormal test-days and health problems per lactation. Herd, testing program, …  Lire la suite

In this thesis we focus on the "Kantorovich Inequality": {t prime At cdot t prime A sp{-1}t} over({t prime t) sp2}} le {{( lambda sb1+ lambda sb{n}) sp2} over {4 lambda sb1 lambda sb{n}}}, here t is a real $n times 1$ vector and A is a real $n times n$ symmetric positive definite matrix, with $ lambda sb1$ and $ lambda sb{n},$ respectively, its (fixed) largest and smallest, necessarily positive, eigenvalues. We begin the thesis with five different proofs of the Kantorovich Inequality and continue by showing that it is equivalent to five closely related inequalities due, respectively, to …  Lire la suite

This dissertation investigates transitivity alternations, with particular reference to Amharic. The lexical-semantic and morphosyntactic properties of morphological causatives, experiencer predicates, applicative constructions and complex predicates formed by light verbs are examined in detail. It is claimed that transitivity alternations are an artefact of Event-type alternations and follow from universal principles such as Event Headedness. It is argued that the valency difference between various verb classes reduces to whether the Root of the verb is specified or underspecified for Event Headedness. Two levels of phrase structure, l-syntax and s-syntax, are recognized in the study. It is argued that productive causatives are …  Lire la suite

This thesis aims to develop a comprehensive strategy for automatic control of the ITH percussive drilling process. Such automation would provide the benefits of improved productivity and quality in terms of penetration rate and hole deviation, as well as enhanced hole quality and machine life. Analysis of field data acquired from drilling experiments performed at INCO's Little Stobie Mine is presented. As a result of this analysis, a control algorithm is formulated to enhance the drilling process efficiency. This algorithm calculates the specific energy (SE) of the rock and adjusts the applied feed force based on this SE value, using …  Lire la suite

Tension tests have been carried out for a preliminary study of the influence of the steel reinforcement corrosion on bond behaviour. The bond strength was studied through both transverse and longitudinal splitting cracks and a relative bond effectiveness of the corroded bars was determined from the crack spacing. Different stages of the corrosion were established to study their relative bond behaviour, ranging from no corrosion to complete corrosion at the steel-concrete interface. These stages have been achieved by using an accelerated corrosion method. An electrochemical method was used to accelerate corrosion within the specimens. Direct current was applied for increasing …  Lire la suite

The hemopoietic microenvironment of the bone marrow is an essential regulator of in vivo hemopoiesis. In addition to supporting the growth of normal blood cells, it also influences the growth of leukemia. This thesis describes the use of a rat model to examine three aspects of the function of the hemopoietic microenvironment. First, using a myeloid leukemia cell line (BNML), we showed that the pattern of growth of these cells differed in the bone marrow and spleen, that their presence was associated with a relocalization of normal hemopoietic stem cells from marrow to spleen, and that factors (yet to be …  Lire la suite

This thesis explores issues of subjectivity and gender around ritual activity in Xianyou county, Fujian Province, China. It focuses on three groups of women: Buddhist nuns, mediums and village women engaged in the ritual caretaking of their families. It also examines a spirit writing text from the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911). It is suggested that subject positions and kin positions are to a certain extent coextensive and that participation in certain rituals is what constitutes one as a gendered subject (as a "woman") and in certain kin roles (as wife, daughter-in-law, etc.). Other gendered subject positions (such as that of …  Lire la suite

Several twentieth century archaeological expeditions to Lower Nubia recovered the skeletal and cultural remains of C-Group populations mainly from cemetery sites between Shellal and the Second Cataract. Along with the remains of the more or less contemporary Pangrave and Kerma peoples, the C-Group archaeological sequence was assigned to the Middle Nubian Period which lasted from the Sixth to the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasties and is dated from ca. 2200 B.C. to ca. 1500 B.C. Conflicting interpretations of C-Group socioeconomic conditions are inevitable since no systematic analysis of the data resulting from the excavations of Middle Nubian cemeteries has ever been undertaken. …  Lire la suite

Apatite is an early crystallizing phase in Proterozoic potassic alkaline and shoshonitic magmas, and is used here to model and further the understanding of the source regions, and magmatic and hydrothermal processes of 1.08 Ga potassic plutons in the southwestern Grenville Province, Mont-Laurier area, Quebec. Apatite chemistry and $ sp{87}$Sr/$ sp{86}$Sr ratios were documented in the shoshonitic and potassic alkaline intrusive facies of the Kensington pluton, and in the potassic alkaline series of the Sainte-Veronique pluton; the two plutons are separated by 70 km. Potassic magmas in the belt were derived from separate, although similar mantle regions, while the shoshonitic …  Lire la suite

Daneshmend, Laeeque K. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Hassani, F. P. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Marvelous Realism is a continuous source of debate in the world of research. Restricted to latino-american literature for ones, open to all literatures for others, this style suffers from a lack of unanimity. This is the reason why I have chosen to begin my thesis with a panoramic view of this style and identify its founders. Subsequently, I will try to establish the distinctions between Magic and Marvelous Realism through the thesis of Charles Scheel and Ook Chung. Those precisions made, I shall analyse the presence of Marvelous Realism in Ferron's Contes with the stylistic and/or structural traits of Mary-Ellen …  Lire la suite

Menstruation is all at once a cultural, social, historical, and biological process. Intertwined, these forces create menstrual experiences which are neither fixed nor universal, but rather adaptable and transformable not only between cultures, but from within cultures as well. How these factors interrelate, what menstrual discourse they create, and how that translates into women's everyday lives, becomes the focus of this research. Structured around the relationship between prescription and reality, this study examines the interplay of those who defined the menstrual discourse: doctors, mothers, and the sanitary napkin industry, and those who experienced it. Listening to the lives of twenty-four …  Lire la suite

This qualitative study explores how older adults, who are retired or contemplating retirement, make choices regarding their non-formal educational experiences. This national study collected data from 154 Elderhostel participants, aged 42 to 85 and, consistent with Moustaka's five phases of phenomenological analysis, triangulated the data from 17 focus groups, 10 in-depth interviews, and a demographic questionnaire. The choice of Elderhostel as an educational venue for learning, and the specific course selection, were found to be influenced by 14 factors: location, travel, program, course content, accommodations, cost, dates, negotiation with travel partner, social, sites, personal requirements, escape, information, and the policies, …  Lire la suite

Two number fields having the same Dedekind Zeta function need not have isomorphic class groups. However, the p-parts of these class group are isomorphic except possibly for a finite number of exceptional primes p. These exceptional prime numbers divide the degree of the normal closure of the number field. In this thesis we extend this result to etale algebras having the same Dedekind Zeta function. These algebras consist of direct sums of a finite number of number fields. We apply this to the study of the class groups of subfields of normal extensions having Galois group isomorphic to GL$ sb2$(F$ …  Lire la suite

The aim of this work was to develop a viable solvent-extraction based system for the separation of rhodium (Rh) from aqueous chloride solutions. Ultimately, two different systems were developed. Kelex 100, a commercially available derivative of 8-hydroxyquinoline, was used as the extractant reagent in both of these systems. One of the systems involved the supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction of Rh. In this system a very thin microporous "Gore-Tex" polymer sheet, impregnated with an organic solution of Kelex 100, served as the SLM. The other system involved the conversion of the chlorocomplexes of Rh to bromocomplexes prior to their solvent …  Lire la suite

Bakery products are important sources of nutrients in our diet. However, spoilage occurs shortly after baking. After microbial spoilage, the main spoilage problem is staling. Therefore, methods to control staling are of great importance to the bakery industry since staling results in millions of dollars annually in lost revenues. Initial studies using a one variable at a time approach showed that enzymes, guar, algin and pectin gums and high fructose corn syrup could delay staling and resulted in an organoleptically acceptable product. Subsequent optimization studies using a Response Surface Methodology (RSM) approach show the appropriate levels of enzyme (Novamyl), guar …  Lire la suite

This thesis analyzes the text of Genesis Rabba, one of the largest and most important of the rabbinic midrashim. It pays particular attention to its use of the term miyyad ("immediately"). Two specific patterns of usage are identified. Through these patterns, the thesis demonstrates how Genesis Rabba's midrash is simultaneously a work of narrative and of exegesis, and comments on some aspects of these two functions. It also traces the lexical evolution of the word miyyad in Hebrew.  Lire la suite

The autonomous calibration of a manipulator is considered with respect to both dynamic and joint sensor properties. Using methods based on adaptive control, a new formulation is introduced such that bench calibration of the robot joint sensors and actuators is no longer necessary. When adaptive control is used in identification, inaccuracies caused by various sources of noise are averaged out because the identification takes place on-line, this is in contrast to static methods which rely on a limited number of input data. This method is unique because the joint calibration is done with respect to invariant forces due to gravity …  Lire la suite

In this thesis, the concept of an intelligent system for the design and planning of electric power systems is developed. Such a system serves to preserve the vast body of power system design knowledge by identifying, structuring and consolidating it into one easily accessible source. The intelligent system can then be used to support experienced power system planners or for training purposes. The main planning and design activities considered include the design of a complete power system or of specific subsystems such as a substation or a transmission corridor. The principal features and main components of this general intelligent system, …  Lire la suite

The objectives of this thesis are to identify key safety concerns related to the introduction of automated underground mining machines. Second, a synthesis of existing standards, and guidelines is required to identify what existing safety standards or parts of standards could apply to mining machine automation systems. Finally, a framework is required for the development of a safety standard or guideline for automated mining machine systems. Two workshops were organized and facilitated by the author to document as many identified safety concerns as possible from a range of parties with a vested interest. Workshop participants included mine operators, automated mining …  Lire la suite

As water depth increased, fourth instar larvae of the mosquito Aedes aegypti required progressively more time to reach the pupal stage, more individuals died or were disabled and the resulting adults were significantly smaller. Water depth affected females more severely than males and the developmental time of larvae was affected more than adult mass. Time spent by fourth instar female larvae in the feeding zone during the first five hours predicted the time to subsequent pupation. Thereafter, mean feeding time was a determining factor of subsequent adult mass. With increasing water depth, both the prepupal resting period and mean time …  Lire la suite

The work describes the results obtained following the development and testing of a new device used to measure ventilation efficiency for indoor air quality (IAQ) in office buildings. The method uses concentration data obtained by the repeated injection of CO$ sb2$, used as a tracer gas simulating human respiration. The device measures the efficiency of the ventilation in reducing and evacuating pollutants. Ventilation efficiency was measured in a test chamber and was demonstrated in an office building. The method was tested to determine if it responded well to the effect of air flows, air velocities, air temperatures, number of diffusers …  Lire la suite

Bounding contours of physical objects are often fragmented by other occluding objects. This creates the need for perceptual grouping, or the association of those fragments corresponding to the same object. Perceptual grouping is currently a bottleneck to computer vision, since previous approaches either were heuristic, assumed the object belonged to restricted classes in order to exploit geometric invariants, or hypothesized boundary continuations. I introduce an alternative by invoking the principle that those fragments should be grouped whose fragmentation can be accounted for by a virtual occluder, and introduce the gap skeleton as a representation of this occluder. Properties of gap …  Lire la suite

In this research, the feasibility of using parallel discrete-event simulation techniques to run logic-level circuit simulations on general purpose distributed memory architectures is investigated. After studying the characteristics of VLSI models, we introduce Clustered Time Warp (CTW), a novel approach to parallel discrete event simulation. In CTW, the logical gates of a circuit are partitioned into clusters and the synchronization algorithm makes use of an optimistic approach between the clusters and a sequential approach within the clusters. We also present a new family of three space-based checkpointing algorithms for use with CTW. Results show that each checkpointing algorithm developed for …  Lire la suite

Data were collected on 24 traits to characterize and classify 35 white floury corn (Zea mays L.) landraces collected on native reserves in Ontario. Several landrace x landrace and landrace x inbred crosses were evaluated. Test crosses were made to determine whether the landraces carry the floury-l (fl$ sb1$) allele. Most traits examined exhibited considerable variation among the landraces. Variation was also observed within many of the landraces for ear and cob colour, for endosperm texture and row number. The landraces were grouped into 10 clusters by centroid clustering analysis. Significant heterosis over the mid-parent value was observed in the …  Lire la suite

Orlowski, J. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The liver parenchyma is the major target organ enriched in EGF and insulin receptors. Following the administration of a receptor saturating dose of EGF, there was a rapid internalization of receptor coincident with its tyrosine phosphorylation. In the endosome, the adaptor protein SHC was recruited to and tyrosine phosphorylated by the EGF receptor. GRB2 and the Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factor, SOS, was primarily associated with the EGF receptor in endosomes. This is believed to contribute to a cytosolic pool of a complex of tyrosine phosphorylated SHC-GRB2/SOS. The activation of these molecules lead to the initiation of the mitogenic Ras-MAPK …  Lire la suite

The textures of two IF steels and a high purity $ alpha$-iron were determined after deformation in torsion over the temperature range 20-840$ sp circ$C. The three characteristic bcc torsion fibres are described in detail and the locations of some important ideal orientations are identified on the $ {110 }$ pole figure. At room temperature, these are the F(110)(001), J1 (011) (211), J2 (110) (112), D1 (112) (111), D2 (112) (111), E1 (011) (111) and E2 (011) (111). At elevated temperatures, the conditions were chosen so that dynamic recrystallization (DRX) took place in the ferrite and that static recrystallization was …  Lire la suite

Les monocouches auto-assemblees de n-alcanethiols sur des surfaces d'or, d'argent et de cuivre ont ete tres utilisees pour modeler les surfaces organiques et modifier les proprietes des surfaces metalliques. Cependant, a cause du caractere monomoleculaire du recouvrement et de la petite surface des substrats m'etalliques, la caracterisation des monocouches auto-assemblees n'est possible que si des techniques amplifiant le signal sont utilisees. Par consequent, les facteurs-cles tels que la nature de l'interaction metal-soufre, l'arrangement des chai nes hydrocarbonees et le diagramme de phase des especes adsorbees sur les surfaces metalliques restent a etre definis. La caracterisation des proprietes thermotropiques des monocouches …  Lire la suite

The object of this thesis is to analyze the provisions of the Act respecting protection of personal information in the private sector in an attempt to foresee their impact on the use of medical information by insurance companies. This thesis contains a brief review of elementary principles related to the fundamental right to privacy, as well as their application in the medical context. This review is followed by a study of the historical context and the legislative evolution having led to the adoption of the Act. Legal principles concerning access and use of medical information by insurance companies are studied …  Lire la suite

This thesis describes an environment in which two angiographic methods, Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), can be objectively compared and analyzed. Such an environment requires that both angiographic projections be displayed from the same view-point and with the same projection geometry. The two angiograms are displayed side by side and several points on the vascular structure are identified in both modalities. These points are used to estimate, using a Least Squares Minimization, the Homogeneous Transformation Matrix (HTM) characterizing the projection of the DSA image. The resulting HTM is used to generate a corresponding Maximum Intensity Projection …  Lire la suite

This thesis proposes a legal regime for the environmental protection of outer space. The proposed regime aims to avoid the shortcomings of current environmental protection practices based on human self-interest by placing emphasis on respect for all of nature. Chapter I describes the physical parameters of human space activities, with an emphasis on near-Earth space, the Moon, Mars and Venus. Chapter II proposes the biocentric (life-centred) moral perspective as a rational basis for international environmental law on Earth and in outer space. Chapter III deals with four basic principles of international environmental law, which are analysed in order to develop …  Lire la suite

Andrews, Mark P. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

A climate controlled, dynamic chamber was used to measure carbon dioxide (CO$ sb2$) and methane (CH$ sb4$) exchange on an ombrotrophic peatland. The study periods were July to early November 1995, and early May to July 1996. Five sample sites, showing ecological and hydrological contrast, were investigated. Measurements of Net Ecosystem Exchange showed peak photosynthetic capacity (GP$ sb{ max})$ ranging from 0.52 $ pm$ 0.04 mg C m$ sp{-2}$ s$ sp{-1}$ (June 1996) to 0.03 $ pm$ 0.02 mg C m$ sp{-2}$ s$ sp{-1}$ (early November 1995). Dark respiration measurements ranged from $-$0.21 $ pm$.02 mg C m$ sp{-2}$ s$ …  Lire la suite