McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 2001

This study investigates the expression and repression of desire in four 20th-century German-language lesbian prose texts. I examine in chronological order three novels and one novella: Der Skorpion (1919) by Anna Elisabet Weirauch; Lyrische Novelle (1933) by the Swiss author Annemarie Schwarzenbach; Der Schlachter empfiehlt noch immer Herz (1976) by Margot Schroeder; and, finally, Bilder von ihr (1996) by Karen-Susan Fessel. While not concentrating on any single literary work, the excursus on texts from the period between the Third Reich and the Second Feminist Movement in Germany provides a brief analysis of the (lack of) lesbian literary developments during this …  Lire la suite

A dense nonaqueous phase liquid, o-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB) was removed by surfactant-enhanced electrokinetic remediation from saturated bentonite clay. The surfactant was Antarox BL-236, a nonionic surfactant with a solubilization capacity of 0.052 g DCB/g surfactant. The 9 cm long bed, which initially contained 10 wt % bentonite and a dispersion of o-DCB (2910 or 5821 ppm) in water, was placed in a horizontal cylinder (5 cm ID) and held at each end by a supported filter paper. Carbon disk electrodes were located in compartments at each end of the bed. Surfactant solution or distilled water was fed to the anode compartment …  Lire la suite

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) plays an important role in angiogenesis and wound healing. The major cell type involved in angiogenesis are microvascular endothelial cells. Endoglin, a transmembrane glycoprotein, is highly expressed on vascular endothelial cells and has been shown to bind TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3 and inhibit TGF-beta-induced responses. Mutation in the endoglin gene has been implicated in hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia type 1 (HHT1), a dominantly inherited vascular disorder. The role of endoglin in regulating TGF-beta function in the microvasculature is not well understood. The initial interactions on the cell surface between endoglin and the TGF-beta receptors may be an important …  Lire la suite

This study examines the relativistic aspects of Arnold Schoenberg's harmonic and aesthetic theories in the light of a framework of ideas presented in the early writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, the logician, philosopher of language, and Schoenberg's contemporary and Austrian compatriot. The author has identified correspondences between the writings of Schoenberg, the early Wittgenstein (the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, in particular), and the Vienna Circle of philosophers, on a wide range of topics and themes. Issues discussed include the nature and limits of language, musical universals, theoretical conventionalism, word-to-world correspondence in language, the need for a fact- and comparison-based approach to art criticism, …  Lire la suite

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has gained much attention recently due to its beneficial health and biological effects on animals and humans. However, the CLA-forming enzyme system has not been studied in details. Six strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus L11, L12, L14, L15, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus reuteri were used to study the growth conditions and the production of CLA-forming enzyme in MRS media containing linoleic acid concentrations at 37°C. The purification and characterization of a CLA-forming enzyme were reported for the first time. The results showed that this enzyme has a molecular mass of 72 kDa, and is composed of two …  Lire la suite

The online newsmagazine, by incorporating and extending the capabilities of traditional media, poses a challenge to the conventional notion of both the newsmagazine and the time-based nature of news. In examining the online newsmagazine as an abstract construct as well as a physical form of media, issues of time, space and interactivity can be redefined in terms of the online environment. Using samples culled from the web and the print versions of Maclean's, Newsweek and Time, this thesis considers issues such as layout and tactility, temporality and its effect on the concept of the newsmagazine, and the changing role of …  Lire la suite

Since there exist drawbacks for linear models such as those based on regression techniques, which have been the basis of traditional statistical forecasting models, neural networks are used in this thesis to train and test the input data. This thesis presents a feedforward backpropagation neural network approach to univariate time series analysis. Real world observations of foreign exchange rates in twenty currencies against U.S. dollars have been applied as a study in this experiment. Feedforward connectionist networks have been designed to model daily exchange rates over the period from January 4, 1999 to October 20, 2000. The values of the …  Lire la suite

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of 209 chemical congeners that are toxic and persistent organic contaminants that have been present in the environment for several decades. It has been estimated that some 11 million tons of PCBs have contaminated soil, sediments, vegetation and animals. About 300 million tons of PCBs, that remain in use in North America, represent a potential source of contamination that can further deteriorate the environment. [...]  Lire la suite

An analytical and experimental investigation was conducted to study the design of three different types of aerobars for a composite bicycle. A Finite Element Analysis software was used for the analysis of the aerobars. Maximum tensile and compression stresses were found in the aerobars that were subjected to three kinds of static load. A laboratory fabrication method for the aerobar bar-ends was developed, and some sample aerobar bar-ends were made for experimental verification of the analytical results. The Bicycle Components Test Device was used to perform static tests on the sample aerobar bar-ends under two static load conditions. Combining the …  Lire la suite

Nguyen, Van-Thanh-Van (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Pandolfo, Massimo (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

SHP-1, a SH2 domain-containing protein-tyrosine phosphatase, plays a critical role in regulation of cell signal transduction. SHP-1 is expressed not only in cells of hematopoietic lineages, but also in many non-hematopoietic cells under the control of a tissue-specific promoter, P1. In the first part of this thesis, the activity of the P1 promoter was analyzed in a region spanning 3.5 kb upstream of the major transcription start site in non-hematopoietic MCF-7 cells. An upstream Sp1 element (-126 to -118) positively regulated this TATA-box-lacking promoter. Two inverted CCAAT-elements (-332 to -328 and -66 to -62) played the important, but opposite roles, …  Lire la suite

The chemisorption, organization and dynamics of fatty acid self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) were investigated. Three types of fatty acid SAMs were studied: (i) alkane phosphonates, (ii) alkanoic acids and (iii) hydroxy carboxylates. The samples were produced by adsorbing the surfactants on the metal oxides and were characterized primarily by solid-state NMR techniques. Mixed monolayers were produced by co-adsorbing two different types of fatty acids, one of which was perdeuterated. The degree of miscibility was assessed by 1H-2H cross-polarization magic-angle-spinning (CP/MAS) experiments. Whereas phase separation in bulk fatty acid mixtures could be qualitatively detected, chain end intercalation in the case of mixed …  Lire la suite

Carbonaceous mesophases are discotic nematic liquid crystals that are spun into high performance carbon fibers using the melt spinning process. The spinning process produces a wide range of fiber textures and cross-sectional shapes. The circular planar polar (PP), circular planar radial (PR), ribbon planar radial (RPR), and ribbon planar line (RPL) textures are the most frequently observed in industrial fiber making. This thesis presents, solves, and validates models of mesophase fiber texture formation based on the classical Landau-de Gennes theory of liquid crystals, adapted here to carbonaceous mesophases. The model captures the microstructure and the formation of the four (PP, …  Lire la suite

In cell cycle checkpoint control, the Chk2 family protein kinases play a central role in mediating the cellular responses to DNA damage or DNA replication block. However, at the beginning of this project, there was no evidence for a Drosophila homologue of Chk2. loki was identified in a screen for serine/threonine protein kinases that are expressed in the ovary. Using a phylogenetic analysis, I showed that loki is a Drosophila chk2 orthologue. To characterize the checkpoint function of loki in Drosophila development, we created a loki null mutant and generated anti-Loki antibodies. Under normal laboratory conditions, loki null mutants display …  Lire la suite

Relatively little is known about psychological and social factors as potential determinants for developing cervical cancer. Health related beliefs and detailed sociodemographic information were compared among women with different stages of cervical cancer precursor lesions, and among women with HPV infections from a high-risk area for cervical cancer. Both cytology and cervicography were used to obtain cervical lesion status of women, and HPV DNA detection was done by a polymerase chain reaction-based protocol (MY09/11). For cervical cancer precursor lesions, three different groups of women were compared to women remaining cytologically normal (N = 841) throughout four years of follow-up: (1) …  Lire la suite

In order to utilize biomass as an alternative fuel, biomass pelletization and the fundamental combustion behavior of biomass pellets were studied. The physical and chemical characteristics of biomass powder were also investigated. The pelletization of biomass powder was optimized in order to obtain strong pellets, which can be easily injected to a reactor and burn efficiently without slagging and fouling. Biomass pellets were subjected to a slow heating process using a Thermogravimetric Furnace (TGF) coupled with a Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR). The mechanism of biomass pellets during combustion and the evolution of combustion gases from the solid residues were identified. …  Lire la suite

The Ribonuclease H (RNase H) family of enzymes selectively degrades the RNA strand of DNA/RNA hybrids. Using a sense strand which contained the minimum natural RNA gap requirement, the kinetic rates of degradation of a series of heteroduplex substrates containing 2'F-ANA antisense oligonucleotides of variable flexibility were examined. Results from these studies implicate flexibility of the antisense oligonucleotides as a major requirements for RNase H catalytic efficiency. In addition to the above, physicochemical studies have revealed the thermal stabilities and relative conformations of these modified heteroduplexes under physiological conditions. All of the above findings offer further insights into the physical …  Lire la suite

The long time relaxation behavior of linear and long chain branched (LCB) metallocene polyethylene (mPE) is very important for understanding their flow properties. One linear and four LCB mPEs were studied in shear creep and recovery measurements. All the mPEs have similar molecular weight and molecular weight distribution but different levels of long chain branching. A technique was developed to eliminate the effect of non-ideal start-up at the beginning of creep experiment and the small residual stress that exists during the creep recovery period. It is found that the existence of long chain branching is responsible for the increasing of …  Lire la suite

While the use of microbial model systems in experimental evolution has made great contributions to our understanding of evolutionary processes, technological limitations and the problems of transparency they cause continue to inhibit their use in understanding even the most basic evolutionary phenomena. Conventional mathematical models are too constraining in that the range of genotypes and fitnesses must be designated at the outset, and so such models cannot be used to describe truly open-ended systems. In this thesis, I use Artificial Life technology to investigate patterns and mechanisms of evolution over short and long periods of time in a simulated chemostat-type …  Lire la suite

Introduction. Preliminary studies found that discordance between the patients' and physicians' assessments of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) exists. We investigated the factors associated with discordance and explored the impact of discordance on medication adherence and complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) use. Methods. Part I investigated the factors associated with discordance, defined as the patient visual analog scale (VAS) minus the physician VAS for global disease activity. Data were extracted from the Montreal General Hospital Lupus Registry. Potential covariates included the Medical Outcomes Studies SF-36, the Systemic Lupus Activity Measure (SLAM), and a lupus damage index. The first visit data …  Lire la suite

This PhD. dissertation consists of three essays to fill some gaps in the recent research in international trade and endogenous growth theory. The first essay explores the dynamic effect of interaction of research and development (R&D) activities among countries on endogenous economic growth. It attempts to fill the gap between the current endogenous growth research focused on independent R&D activities and decision-making in the international competition and the interdependent R&D competition in reality. This paper finds that the growth rates, welfare, and investment on R&D in the world do differ between independent R&D activity and interdependent R&D activities among countries. …  Lire la suite

In this thesis we use a novel refinement-based technique to formally verify data transfer in an asynchronous timing framework. Novel data transfer models are proposed to represent the implicit relationship between clock and data validity events. We construct comprehensive implementation models for a previously published GALS architecture for on-chip systems [MVK+99]. Applying our techniques on this claimed to be hazard-free architecture, we find several hazards, and other dangers, together with additional delay constraints to avoid some of the detected dangers. We further exam re-design issues of an existing GALS system as compact design, internal structure optimization and reduced power consumption. …  Lire la suite

This study aims to identify and quantify injury diagnoses, locations, mechanisms, and trends for a Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) male ice hockey team between the 1984--85 and 2000--2001 seasons. Injury rates were assessed by type, position, period, zone, game type, and time loss. Also described are the interactions between injury location and diagnosis, as well as the relationships between time loss, injury location, and diagnosis. This study was based on injury reports provided by the ice hockey staff, which followed a standard injury reporting protocol over the last 17 years. The injury rate of 18.9 injuries per 1000 player …  Lire la suite

This thesis examines the identity of the students at the Montreal Hoshuko and the factors that affect the way in which they identify themselves as Japanese, drawing upon a framework of political economy and concepts of globalization and transnationalism. It also explores how Japanese identity is changing in this globalized world. The fieldwork demonstrates that the identity of the Hoshuko students is somewhat commoditized based on Japanese popular culture such as Pokemon. It suggests that increasing communication and contact with external forces has changed and will further change the way Japanese people understand their own culture, identity, and themselves. It …  Lire la suite

Franco, Eduardo (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The mechanical behavior of fractures in geological media is important to geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. Considerable investigations have been conducted on, firstly, the characterization of the fracture topography and secondly, on the assessment of the influence of fracture topography on the mechanical behavior, particularly the dilatancy of the discontinuity. The studies of the mechanical behavior of fracture surfaces have invariably been concerned with the examination of the mechanics of the contact surfaces, to the virtual exclusion of the progress of failure zones into regions adjacent to the contacting fracture surfaces. This thesis conducts a computational assessment of the role of …  Lire la suite

E-commerce is a new way of doing business. It is becoming increasingly important to everybody. The objective of this thesis is to compare various design approaches and to find out the best solution for small businesses. Some commonly used technologies in developing e-commerce systems are introduced in the first three chapters. The topics covered are from Web standards and protocols to Web planning and design, from Web servers to server side programming, and most importantly, Java technology and IBM's WebSphere. Based on these technologies, two solutions are presented: building from scratch with Java servlets and building with IBM's WebSphere. We …  Lire la suite

Drew, R. A. L. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

This thesis examines the lifeworlds of Somali returnees in Ethiopia. Their experience of flight and return is distinctive, shaped by the history and culture of the Somali people and the political and economic conditions of this part of Africa. In emphasizing this distinctiveness, this thesis is an implicit critique of recent efforts by academics and aid agencies to homogenize the experience of refugees in this region and elsewhere. In Ethiopia, "development" and humanitarian aid, in interaction with political contests at many levels, provide the context for interpreting refugee experience and action. Globally, the most powerful of the reductionist accounts is …  Lire la suite

Rationale. Potent serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors are the only drugs that consistently exert a therapeutic action in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Given that some hallucinogens were reported to exert a persistent anti OCD effect outlasting their psychotomimetic action, possible modifications of neuronal responsiveness to 5-HT by LSD were examined in two rat brain structures: one associated with OCD, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and another linked to depression, the hippocampus. Methods . The effects of concurrent microiontophoretic application of LSD and 5-HT were examined on neuronal firing rate in the rat OFC and hippocampus under chloral hydrate anesthesia. In order to …  Lire la suite

The dystroglycans, alpha and beta-dystroglycan, form the functional core of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex in skeletal muscle. beta-dystroglycan is associated with dystrophin inside the cell, and alpha-dystroglycan binds to laminin outside the cell, thus dystroglycan serves as a transmembrane linkage between the intracellular cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix. In the central nervous system, however, the role of dystroglycan is unknown. It is expressed by astrocytes, epithelial cells of blood-brain barrier, Purkinje cells of cerebellum and in the outer plexiform layer of retina. Many questions remain unanswered, such as: Does dystroglycan have any role in neuronal synapses as in neuromuscular junctions? …  Lire la suite

In the soybean nitrogen fixing symbiosis, suboptimal root zone temperatures (RZTs) inhibit the inception and development of nodules, leading to reduced nitrogen fixation and soybean yield. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the effects of selected with potential low temperature tolerant strains, originating from the northern areas of the USA, and mutants made from Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110, on soybean nodulation, nitrogen fixation and yield in a short season area with cool spring conditions. Among the 40 B. japonicum strains evaluated, only USDA 30, USDA 31, 532 C and USDA 110 grew well at 15°C. USDA 30 and …  Lire la suite

The enzyme mechanism, nucleotide interactions and active site residues in the Vibrio harveyi aldehyde dehydrogenase (Vh-ALDH) have been examined. The Vh-ALDH differs from other aldehyde dehydrogenases in its high affinity for NADP+. The binding of NADP+ appears to arise from the interaction of the 2'-phosphate of the adenosine moiety of NADP+ with a threonine (T175) in the nucleotide recognition site just after the betaB strand. By mutation of this single threonine residue, the nucleotide specificity of Vh-ALDH has been changed from NADP+ to NAD+. The active site of Vh-ALDH contains the usual suspects of a cysteine (C289), two glutamates (E253 …  Lire la suite

This thesis describes a system that retrieves exchange-traded option quotes on stocks, which are specified by the user, from the website www.moneynet.com. The data obtained from the Web is analyzed to determine the "breakeven" stock prices. A breakeven stock price is the expiration-date stock price for call or put options, in order for the call or put holders as a group to break even. This information is very useful as it helps us to understand the stock markets and the opinions of stock traders. It is useful for expectation analysis as well. The system is written in Excel 2000 and …  Lire la suite

"Good faith", as a technical legal term, has been recognized in many legal systems around the world as a general principle of contract law. However, in Canadian common law of contract, the doctrine still has not been explicitly recognized due to some doubts cast on the doctrine. This thesis will first deal with various criticisms presented by the doctrine opponents. Next, the effect and utility of the doctrine and the relationship between "good faith" and concepts in equity and corporate law will be examined. It will be finally concluded that explicit recognition of good faith would help form a more …  Lire la suite

Often, in cross-sectional-follow-up studies, survival data are obtained from prevalent cases only. This sampling mechanism introduces length-bias. An added difficulty is that in some cases the times of onset cannot be ascertained or are recorded with great uncertainty. Such was the situation in the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, a nation wide study of dementia conducted by Health Canada during 1991 and 1996. This thesis proposes methods to estimate the survival function nonparametrically, when the data are length-biased and only partially observed. By using the "forward recurrence times" only, we show how one can overcome the difficulty caused by …  Lire la suite

We survey the computational assumptions of various cryptographic schemes, and discuss the security threat posed by Shor's quantum algorithm. One-way functions form the basis of public-key cryptography. Although we have candidate hard problems that are believed to be one-way, none has been proven to be so. Therefore the security of the corresponding cryptographic schemes depends on the intractability assumptions of these problems. Two major species of such problems, factoring and discrete logarithm, are widely believed to be intractable, and serve as the basis of many popular schemes. However, these two problems turned out to be polynomial-time solvable on a hypothetical …  Lire la suite

Asynchronous Learning Environment (ALE) has the capability of providing learning to people anywhere and at any time for both to secure degree and to engage in continuing education throughout their lifetimes. The advance of communications and information technology will make students choose to purchase and enroll in open market, widely available networked courses regardless of institutional affiliation. Research results have found that success factors for asynchronous learning include whether students felt part of the online learning group, immediate feedback from instructors, automatic self-test, and indicating student's performance and progress in the course. These findings present basic requirement for the design …  Lire la suite

Negulescu, Radu (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The purpose of this research was to examine the assessment process in clinical psychology using an ecologically valid design. By capitalizing on the methodologies of cognitive science and adapting data analytic techniques borrowed from the medical decision-making literature, the clinical assessment behaviours of psychology undergraduate students, clinical psychology graduate students, and professional psychologists were compared. The results demonstrate that professional psychologists took longest to develop their diagnostic formulations, divide their questioning evenly between close and open-ended questions, provide more information to the patient, provide diagnoses that are fully consistent with the clinical data, and demonstrate an increase in diagnostic accuracy …  Lire la suite

Recent technological advances (such as digitization) and economic shifts (such as privatization and liberalization) have radically changed the telecommunications landscape. Internet Telephony is one of the most important developments that has resulted from digitization. It raises several legal-regulatory issues at both domestic and international levels. This thesis analyzes the existing legal-regulatory framework for Internet Telephony in Latin America, and examines its implications and potential developments in the region. In order to provide a more solid foundation for this analysis, the first chapter provides an overview of the traditional regulatory framework, and describes the technological and economic underpinnings of Internet Telephony. …  Lire la suite