McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1996

This thesis presents an up-to-date survey of results concerning laws of large numbers for sequences and arrays of random variables. We begin with Kolmogorov's pioneering result, the strong law of large numbers, and preceed through to Hu et al.'s, and Gut's recent result for weakly dominated random variables, for which we provide a simpler proof. We insist in particular on the techniques of proof of Etemadi and Jamison et al. Furthermore, analogues to the Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund theorem are given. This thesis illustrates the trade-off between the existence of higher moments and non i.i.d sequences and arrays of random variables to obtain …  Lire la suite

A three phase fluidized bed was constructed for microencapsulation. Smooth, spherical, small diameter nylon microcapsules and alginate microspheres were formed in the fluidized bed by the method of interfacial polymerization and emulsification/internal gelation respectively. The mean diameter of the microspheres ranged from 100 to 800 $ mu$m was controlled by varying emulsifier concentration, gas flowrate, emulsification time, dispersed phase viscosity, column height to diameter ratio and the dispersed phase concentration. Double stranded calf thymus DNA was encapsulated within alginate microspheres by the fluidization technique. A method of quantifying DNA recovery in the microspheres without requiring prior separation of the DNA …  Lire la suite

Consumers are demanding more and more value for each dollar spent on new electronic equipment. Built-In Self-Test (BIST) of electronic circuits and equipment will help to satiate the demand for self test, self diagnostics, and self repair. This dissertation explores a technique for a Mixed Analog Digital BIST (MADBIST) on a mixed-signal Integrated Circuit (IC). Specifically, on-chip tests for the Analog-to-Digital Converter and Digital-to-Analog Converter on the mixed-signal IC are developed. (The digital portion of the IC can be tested using digital BIST techniques). The tests implemented include Frequency Response, Signal-to-Noise Ratio, Gain Tracking, Inter-Modulation Distortion, and Harmonic Distortion. A …  Lire la suite

This thesis reports a novel route to molecular self-assembly based on simple acid-base hydrolytic chemistry involving the reactions of aminosilanes with organic species containing acidic protons. From detailed solution chemistry of trimethyl-, trimethoxy-, and triphenyl-chloro/amino-silanes, two general processes have been developed for the self-assembly of long alkyl chain terminated alcohols, thiols, and carboxylic acids on inorganic oxide surfaces i.e., glass, quartz and single crystal silicon. The first method involves three successive reactions with the surface moieties where the initially formed silylchloride layer is converted to a silylamine, which is then reacted further to give the organic monolayers. The second method …  Lire la suite

The first chapter of this dissertation uses a three-sector intertemporal general equilibrium model to examine the effects of various taxes and favorable depreciation rules on capital accumulation and the depletion of natural resources. We find that in a world of infinitely lived firms and households, under certain conditions, taxation causes the steady-state level of capital to be lower than the no-tax level. This divergence, however is reduced by lower capital gains tax rates and favorable depreciation rules. We also find that taxation causes the extraction rate of natural resources to be faster than the social optimum. Although this difference is …  Lire la suite

Philip Roth's parody of autobiography in the Zuckerman series is part of a larger debate concerning the problems of Jewish art. As Roth manipulates personal and personified autobiography, he both underlines and undermines Jewish traditions of reading and writing. To be sure, Zuckerman's struggle for artistic identity articulates a long-standing Jewish concern with the tensions of collective representation. It is from a culture consistently threatened by alienation and extermination that Roth finds his terms of reference. Zuckerman and his creator are subject to a whole discourse of Jewish textuality: to Jewish notions about the relationship between the individual and the …  Lire la suite

Food has a near-ubiquitous role in the fiction of Charles Dickens. From the action that does and does not take place, to the appearance and essence of the characters, and to the language and style in which they were written, virtually every aspect of Dickens's novels and short stories is, to some extent and at one time or another, connected with food. This thesis explores the nature and implications of food in Dickens and, in addition to its introduction and conclusion, it has been divided into three chapters: (a) Language, Style, and Subject/theme; (b) Plot and Setting; and (c) Characterization. …  Lire la suite

A new dynamic service model based on granular material rheology is presented. The service model is coupled to both a mixed-layer ocean model and a 1-layer thermodynamic atmospheric model which allows for an ice-albedo feedback. Land is represented by a 6-meter thick layer with a constant base temperature. A 10-year integration including both thermodynamic and dynamic effects and incorporating prescribed climatological wind stress and ocean current data was performed in order for the model to reach a stable periodic seasonal cycle. The commonly observed lead complexes, along which sliding and opening of adjacent ice floes occur in the Arctic sea-ice …  Lire la suite

The biocatalytic activity of mushroom tyrosinase was optimized in chloroform medium, using five selected phenolic substrates, including catechin (CT), vanillin (VA), chlorogenic acid (CA), p-aminophenol (pAP) and hydroquinone (HQ). The specific activity (SA) of tyrosinase determined as the change in absorbance at the selected wavelength per $ mu$g protein per sec ($ delta$A/$ mu$g protein/sec) in chloroform was much higher than that obtained in aqueous media. The optimal amount of enzymatic protein for tyrosinase biocatalysis in chloroform was found to be 44.0 mg protein/L for CT and VA, 31.6, 180.5 and 90.3 mg protein/L, respectively, for CA, pAP and HQ. …  Lire la suite

Lizotte, Y. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Among the considerable manuscript production of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Bible moralisee stands out by the number of miniatures and by the conception of the manuscript itself. The composition and many iconographical themes recall stained glass windows of contemporary cathedrals, such as Chartres, Sens, Bourges, or Canterbury in England. The manuscript of the Bible moralisee to which this study is partly dedicated, is located in the Treasury of the Toledo cathedral chapter in Spain. This study deals also with the duplicate copy which was realized soon afterwards. The interpretation and illustrations of the verses vary in number according …  Lire la suite

The first example of a stable triple-stranded helix consisting of exclusively T$ cdot$AT (reverse-Hoogsteen$ cdot$Watson/Crick) base triplets is reported. This approach to induce and stabilize the anti-parallel triplex involves the use of a branched oligonucleotide with two parallel dT$ sb{10}$ strands joined to riboadenosine via $2 prime$-$5 prime$ and $3 prime$-$5 prime$ phosphodiester linkages, i.e., rA$ rm sp{ lbrack 2 prime-5 prime-dT10 rbrack} sb{ lbrack3 prime-5 prime-dT10 rbrack}$ (underbar2.1). Triple helix formation by branched oligonucleotide underbar2.1 and dA$ sb{10}$ was investigated by thermal denaturation analysis, circular dichroism spectroscopy, PAGE retardation assays and fluorescent studies. A linear oligonucleotide with a loop …  Lire la suite

This thesis is a study of one aspectual construction, the "te-i(ru)" construction, in Japanese. This construction posed a serious problem for the study of Aspect in Semantics. That is, it seems to allow two contradictory interpretations: progressive and perfect of result. We argue that the the two distinct readings are the result of the syntactic interaction of the morpheme "te", the aspectual predicate, and the aspectual auxiliary verb "i-(ru)". Adopting the framework proposed by Travis (1991, 1994), we argue that the semantic operators, "BECOME" and "CAUSE", originally proposed by Dowty (1979), are actually generated in Syntax as the aspectual predicate, …  Lire la suite

This study describes a laboratory scale development of an in-situ bioremediation method, which uses a water table management system to supply nutrients to subsoil microorganisms, for biostimulation and subsequent biodegradation of pollutants such as fertilizer-nitrate and hydrocarbons (e.g., diesel oils), in the unsaturated zone of the soil. The study, which was divided into two parts: first nitrate bioremediation and secondly diesel biodegradation, was carried out on packed soil columns. For the nitrate study, different levels of glucose were introduced into packed soil columns, 1,000 mm long x 200 mm, diameter, via subirrigation in order to supplement the organic carbon levels …  Lire la suite

This thesis presents a first study of various aspects of $K sp0$ and $ Lambda$ production in neutral current deep inelastic scattering of 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data were accumulated with the ZEUS detector at HERA in the 1994 run period. The average multiplicities for the neutral strange particle production as functions of pseudorapidity $ eta$ and transverse momentum $p sb{t}$ have been determined in the kinematic range 10 $GeV sp20.04.$ The particle and energy flow with respect to the struck quark direction, as well as the dependence of the average production rate as function of …  Lire la suite

Two trials were conducted in order to assess the efficacy of microbial phytase supplementation in improving the bioavailability of certain nutrients in the diet of early weaned piglets. In trial I, a low-phosphorus, corn-soybean meal diet supplemented with phytase significantly improved the apparent digestibilities of phosphorus (P, p = 0.0004) and calcium (Ca, p = 0.04). The average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were also improved by supplemental phytase. In trial II, addition of acetic acid to the low-P plus phytase diet further improved the apparent digestibilities of P and Ca (gp = 0.01, p = 0.02, …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to discover whether the gymnasts' body shape affects the judging of gymnastics. The goal was to discover whether the judges' perceptions of the gymnasts' body shape related to the gymnasts' performance scores. A second goal was to discover whether performance scores differed when given by judges with two levels of experience (experienced and novice). Videotapes of compulsory routines performed by 16 gymnasts on bars, beam and floor were constructed to simulate a competition. Eighteen judges, nine novice and nine experienced, evaluated the routines. They were also required to rate their perception of the aesthetic …  Lire la suite

Injection molding is a cyclic process used for the fabrication of thermosetting and thermoplastic articles. The thermoplastic polymer is melted and injected into the cavity, where it is molded under pressure and ejected after solidification. The amount of polymer mass contained in the cavity is the part weight. The control of part weight is important to ensure quality injection molded parts. The part weight is determined by the state of the polymer at the time the cavity gate freezes. The bulk temperature and the peak cavity pressure at the gate are used to characterize this state. Measuring internal polymer temperature …  Lire la suite

The goal of this study is to improve knowledge about how cloud inhomogeneities affect the reflection of solar radiation. In particular, it addresses two main questions: what the processes through which inhomogeneities influence solar reflection are, and how this influence can be taken into account in albedo retrievals based on future satellite measurements. The first question is important, since present methods give numerical results only about the overall radiative effect of cloud inhomogeneities, but cannot determine the degree to which various mechanisms are responsible for this overall effect. This study establishes a theoretical framework which defines and evaluates the various …  Lire la suite

This study examines how prior knowledge influences future learning. Although it has been established that prior knowledge does have a strong impact on later learning, it is not clear how this effect manifests itself. Previous research suggests that one way to examine the effects of knowledge on learning is to compare subtasking, that is, dividing a task into subsets, to unstructured learning, or learning "all-at-once". Neural network simulations using the cascade-correlation learning algorithm predict that subtasking facilitates learning when it involves learning a function that is compatible (i.e., logically consistent) with the rest of the task, and hinders learning when …  Lire la suite

This study investigates the interaction between increased gain in the visual feedback loop and motor control of the periphery. Subjects were asked to maintain a constant finger position while utilizing magnified visual feedback. The accuracy of each trial was quantified by taking the standard deviation (trial-error) of the finger position. Trials performed under magnification have lower trial-errors than trials without magnification. The change in trial-error between trials with and without magnification proves greater than the difference between trials at any two magnifications. In contrast, the differences between individual subjects is often greater than the difference between performances at individual magnifications. …  Lire la suite

The human androgen receptor (hAR) is a ligand-activated, nuclear transcription factor. Mutations affecting the formation and/or action of the hAR cause androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS). The majority of mutations identified to date are within the DNA- and hormone-binding domains; very few have been identified in the transactivational modulatory domain, encoded by exon 1. This work presents an analysis of exon 1 and the 5$ sp prime$-flanking region of the hAR in a set of subjects whose AIS was believed to be caused by a mutation within these regions. Six of twelve strains had a nonsense or frameshift mutation in exon …  Lire la suite

Darling, G. D. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

On numerous occasions Ricoeur has characterized the goal of his philosophical analyses as the "exchange of the ego, master of itself, for the self, disciple of the text." Our investigation follows the development of this theme through careful examination of Ricoeur's phenomenological-hermeneutical philosophy. By way of contrast with Husserl's phenomenology we see how Ricoeur initiates a program of self-recovery that decenters consciousness from the immediacy of self-grounding radicality. Looking instead to the polysemic world of the text, Ricoeur chooses a path of indirect imaginative mediation as the route towards self-interpretation. The imagination, correlative with the works of culture (signs, symbols …  Lire la suite

Optimal utilization of microwave energy requires more basic knowledge of the dielectric properties of the material under investigation. The dielectric properties of materials subjected to microwaves are known to depend on moisture content, temperature and density of the material as well as the frequency of the applied microwave field. This thesis deals with the study of cavity perturbation technique and its feasibility to determine the dielectric properties of various agri-food materials. In the study, linear relationships between roots of the dielectric properties and density found in the literature were confirmed to be valid for pulverized grains tested with the cavity …  Lire la suite

Parallelizing irregular, dynamic data structures can be a very difficult problem. An efficient solution often demands that work on the data structure be divided up among processors, yet despite the large and growing number of such applications there has been little work done on general approaches to such situations. In part this is due to the extreme difficulty of ensuring enough generality to be useful, while still efficiently addressing each individual problem; irregular and dynamic problems can vary dramatically, and direct, efficient solutions simply do not exist. Most attempts have therefore either concentrated on problem-specific areas, where good results can …  Lire la suite

The history, culture and ethnic diversity of the Republic of the Indonesia make it a highly complex country. With an area as vast as the whole Europe, at the crossroads of the Indian and Pacific oceans, having abundant natural resources, a dynamic population which is the fourth in the world, Indonesia also benefits from a very resistant economy. Economic take off is supported by a strong political regime that has been led by President Suharto for thirty years now. Foreign investors are attracted by this new, very magnetic and promising market. Faced with a high demand for investments approvals, the …  Lire la suite

The zirconium/hafnium separation, as currently practiced, is mostly carried out by solvent extraction in which the aqueous chloride solution of metals is contacted with an immiscible organic phase containing a reagent that removes hafnium leaving zirconium in the aqueous solution. Hafnium is extracted as its thiocyanate complex using methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). There are environmental consequences of this system that were acceptable when the process was developed but should become a serious problem as legislation becomes more stringent. These problems are primarily the high aqueous solubility of MIBK and the potential for toxic gas generation. This work has tested four …  Lire la suite

In this thesis, I analysed the mating behaviour of the solitary-nesting American kestrel (Falco sparverius) in southern Quebec (Canada) and the colony-nesting lesser kestrel (F. naumanni) in Aragon (Spain). DNA fingerprinting of 26 families of lesser kestrels revealed that 3.4% of nestlings were extra-pair, which may have arisen through either extra-pair copulation or mate replacement. Two nestlings in two different nests were also the result of intraspecific brood parasitism. DNA fingerprinting of 21 American kestrel families showed that all the nestlings in two nests were extra-pair (10% extra-pair young overall), most probably due to mate replacement. I analysed the mating …  Lire la suite

This thesis explores how food communicates. In particular, it considers the historical context from which the gourmet rises and how "good taste" is communicated through the history of the gourmet. This finds particular expression in mass mediated society, specifically print culture, and reaches its apex in Gourmet: The magazine of good living. By disciplining base instincts such as civilizing the appetite, making distinctions from the masses, the everyday and the ordinary, "good taste" is standardized through the palate and acts as an index of the aesthetic quality of bourgeois sensibility. Gastronomic history, notions of restraint and delicacy from the French …  Lire la suite

Attending to the felt quality of experience, this work looks at how a community of Mexican campesinos go about thew life While cultivating coffee, trying to make sense of how villagers feel, know, and understand the world "on their own terms". The aim is to work through (and from) the plane of the body, a narrative strategy that seeks to convey some of the give an take of everyday life; the joy and salubrity that are often bounded in moments of good health, the sorrow and pain that poverty entails. But since "well being" is not "culture five" but guided …  Lire la suite

Environmental and industrial systems have been investigated using vibrational spectroscopy. These applications were chosen to demonstrate the potential of vibrational spectroscopy as a means of obtaining molecular information from either in-situ or model environments in a rapid, convenient manner requiring minimal sample handling. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) has been used to investigated two systems in the area of environmental chemistry. Using the characteristic CO stretching bands of the Mn(CO)$ sb3$ fragment, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), an additive to Canadian gasoline, was detected on soils treated with gasoline up to twelve months after exposure. Its longevity on and …  Lire la suite

Heat shock or stress proteins (HSPs), are a large family of phylogenetically conserved molecules that can be constitutively expressed at high levels under normal physiological conditions. These proteins are selectively synthesized following metabolic and environmental insult. This study was designed to determine whether cognate and/or inducible HSP production are altered in CD4-expressing lymphocytic cell lines concomitant with acute and chronic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-l) infection. Our findings indicate that in CEM.NKR cells, HSP27 production is selectively altered at early stages of acute HIV-infection (6-24h post-infection), subsequent to virus internalization but prior to synthesis of viral progeny. Levels of …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between international certification standards for ice hockey helmets. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and International Organization Standards (ISO) protocols were compared. Only the impact testing methods at ambient temperatures were examined. Four helmet models, currently available to consumers, were used for testing. No significant differences (p $<$ 0.05) were found between the standards in a rank order comparison. Further analysis of differences, with peak linear accelerations separated by impact locations showed significant differences (p $<$ 0.05) between all standards, at five of the …  Lire la suite

Remodelling of extracellular matrix (ECM) is a prominent feature of atherosclerotic lesions and contributes to lipoprotein retention as well as smooth muscle cell (SMC) activation. To gain further knowledge about ECM, certain ECM components and their degrading enzymes were studied in injury-induced arterial neointima, which shares features with early atherosclerotic lesions. It has been shown that synthesis of collagen and syndecan-1, a hybrid heparan/chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, is enhanced. In situ hybridization indicates that syndecan positive cells are restricted to the arterial neointima. These data confirm the importance of arterial SMC in ECM metabolism and indicate that increased synthesis contributes to …  Lire la suite

A prototype electrostatic imager has been developed for megavoltage portal imaging in radiation therapy. The imager utilizes amorphous selenium (a-Se) with a front metal plate as the imager receptor and a high resolution voltmeter probe for image readout. Imaging characteristics of a-Se have been investigated theoretically through Monte Carlo simulations, and experimentally by measuring radiation discharging curves and phantom tests. The results of this study have shown that the prototype imager has high sensitivity, good spatial resolution and low noise level. Our study also reveals the potential of electrostatic imaging with metal/a-Se in megavoltage imaging. Two computer algorithms have also …  Lire la suite

This thesis describes detailed studies of the upconversion dynamics of Er$ sp{3+}$:YAlO$ sb3$ (YAP), Er$ sp{3+}$:YAG, Tm$ sp{3+}$:Y$ rm sb2BaF sb8$ (YAB) and the avalanche upconversion dynamics of Tm$ sp{3+}$:YLiF$ sb4$ (YLF). Upconversion dynamics of Er$ sp{3+}$:YAP, and Er$ sp{3+}$:YAG are analyzed by a rate equation model which includes four energy transfer processes. It was found that good fits to the experimental data can be achieved only when the fourth power activator concentration dependent energy transfer terms (when the energy transfer is fourth order kinetically) are included in the rate equation. To study avalanche upconversion dynamics of Tm$ sp{3+}$:YLF measurements …  Lire la suite

The principles governing pattern formation in discotic nematic liquid crystalline fibers subjected to uniaxial extensional flows are established. Computational and analytical methods are used in conjunction with bifurcational techniques to simulate the structural characteristics of the orientational patterns that arise by stretching discotic nematic liquid crystalline materials. The analytical and numerical results are in excellent agreement with actual cross-sectional fiber textures obtained by melt spinning carbonaceous mesophases. This work reproduces the main structural features of the oscillatory zig-zag pattern commonly observed in mesophase carbon fibers, and identifies the process conditions that lead to this peculiar fiber texture. In addition, the …  Lire la suite

Apatite occurs as an accessory phase throughout the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC), Ontario, as well as in the overlying tuffaceous rocks of the Onaping Formation (OF). This investigation was designed to characterize the textural development and composition of apatite. Representative samples were taken from three traverses: the NW suite is the most pristine. Apatite is found primarily as a post-cumulus (or intergranular) phase, but becomes a cumulus mineral in the quartz gabbro. The apatite is F-rich; Cl and OH contents decrease from the base of the complex upward. Apatite in the OF has higher inferred levels of OH. In the …  Lire la suite

The degree of waste paper recycling has been increasing steadily in North America over the last decade. Flotation is a popular method for removing ink from fibres (deinking) and is traditionally performed in mechanical cells. Column flotation has been proposed as an alternative to mechanical cells. In this work, open and packed laboratory and pilot-scale columns were operated to determine their relative merits and how they compare to a circuit of mechanical cells. It was found that the type of sparger was critical for obtaining high flotation efficiencies. Fine porous stainless steel spargers (0.5 $ mu$m) produced flotation efficiencies which …  Lire la suite

The development of a framework for the automated analysis of inductively couple plasma atomic emission spectroscopy is present. Some of the research that lead to current state of this framework is presented. A small expert system that uses information about the current sample to generate a line search strategy which minimizes the number of emission lines which need to be measured, and avoids spectral overlaps when possible. A program is presented that evaluates the minimum number of spectral windows required to perform elemental analysis by ICP-AES, given a certain spectral window width. A method with the potential for rapidly ascertaining …  Lire la suite

The present study surveyed 644 (337 males, 306 females) high school students and found that social groups that were disidentified from schools, when compared to identified groups; (a) were perceived to be more distinctive, (b) were more sensitive to the number of competing outgroups, (c) had more closed and cohesive group structures, (d) were perceived to have more homogeneous memberships, and (e) were perceived to be more likely to enact behavioral sanctions against members who strayed from internal group norms. While members of school-identified groups had better self-esteem on average than members of disidentified (at-risk) groups, members of disidentified groups …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problem-solving strategies of students as they attempted to find a solution to a technological problem. Ten Grade 7 students, who had received no prior technology education instruction, were formed into single-sex dyads and provided with a design brief from which they designed and made a technological solution. The natural talk between the subjects was transcribed. A description of their designing-in-action was added to the transcript. Actions were coded using an empirically derived scheme grounded in both a general problem-solving model and theoretical models of the design process. Segments coded as designing …  Lire la suite

The World Wide Web provides the capability of delivering multi-media presentations to a wide audience. This thesis details the design and development of the site Psychoacoustical demonstrations and experiments at McGill University: it discusses site organization, selection of materials and development methods. In order to evaluate the utility of the site, site usage data, feedback from readers and data from experiments are analyzed and discussed. The thesis examines the success of the site in attracting a wide audience and holding its attention, as course material, in gathering data from psychoacoustical experiments, and in obtaining feedback from readers. Suggestions for future …  Lire la suite

The objective of this thesis was to construct general models to predict pollutant fluxes in limnoplankton by incorporating characteristics of the organism and the structures of the chemical. A two-compartmental pharmacokinetic model was used to quantify the pollutant uptake, depuration and intercompartmental exchanges. The model pollutants were phosphorus and 22 organic chemicals. The rate constants of phosphorus uptake, excretion and intercompartmental changes by algae and cladocerans decreased with cell volume or body size raised to a power close to $-$0.25, except the intercompartmental exchanges for cladocerans which showed more negative slopes. In contrast, uptake, excretion and internal exchange rates per …  Lire la suite

Drawing on the manuscript records of the Department of Crown Lands, its published reports, and case law, this thesis examines the illegal occupation of rural land, known as squatting in the Eastern Townships of Quebec in the period 1838 to 1866. By 1838, demographic pressure in the seigneuries, inflated land prices due to speculation, and inaccessible public land granting practices had made squatting a commonplace strategy for land acquisition. The responses to squatting of the Department of Crown Lands, the Legislature and the judiciary are analysed for what they implied about ideas of property in Lower Canada. While the Department …  Lire la suite

In this classroom-based study, the effects of input enhancement on the acquisition of a linguistic feature known to be problematic to francophone children learning English. were investigated. The research questions were: (1) Can L2 learners benefit from typographically enhanced input in their acquisition of third person singular possessive determiners? (2) Is typographically enhanced input more effective than unenhanced input? (3) Is typographically enhanced input more effective when combined with a book flood? To investigate these questions, three treatment conditions were implemented with Grade 6 ESL learners. Groups E and E+ received a typographically enhanced input flood. This did not include …  Lire la suite

This thesis examines whether scramble competition is associated with social learning. The question is explored via a comparative study involving two species of grassfinches, Amadina fasciata, and Taenopygia guttata. These finches vary in the degree to which they employ scramble competition while foraging, but are otherwise similar behaviourally and morphologically. General problems associated with the application of the comparative method to the testing of learning specializations are discussed. Functional improvements to previously employed approaches are proposed, and then implemented in a novel methodology and statistical approach to analysing the data, the Manova approach. The results of the study suggest that …  Lire la suite

Pennycook, B. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

This thesis will explore the various legal, administrative and ethical issues arising out of the situation in which nurse is HIV-positive or has AIDS. In contrast to the situation of patients suffering from AIDS or HIV, there has been little in the literature, whether legal or medical, on nurses who are infected. The rights and duties of these nurses, testing of nurses for the presence of HIV infection or AIDS and the issue of discrimination are among the matters discussed with reference to relevant legislation and ethical principles.  Lire la suite