McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 2005

The concurrent biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and transformation of heavy metals by redox reactions has been demonstrated by several studies. The mechanisms and reactions that result in heavy metal transformation in such systems is, however, poorly understood. This study explored the role of metabolic intermediates, metabolic end-products, and microbial chelators generated by a PAH-degrading microorganism, Pseudomonas putida ATCC 17484, in reducing or transforming Cr(VI). This study investigates the role of 1,2-naphthoquinone to serve as potential redox mediators in the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III). Laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the extent of Cr(VI) reduction in the presence …  Lire la suite

This study evaluates the life history responses of yellow perch to mass removal and the potential for population recovery. We removed approximately 94% of a perch population from Nepawin Lake, a 35 hectare oligotrophic lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, as part of a study designed to enhance the recruitment success of brook trout. Several response variables were examined both before and after mass removal: (1) condition, which includes growth, diet and overall condition responses, and (2) reproduction, which includes size at maturity and fecundity. We examine the question of whether compensatory life history responses in the yellow perch will …  Lire la suite

The nature of protein-protein interactions was explored through the design of polypeptide ligands targeting specifically human a-thrombin. Design strategies ranged from isolation of binding fragments from natural proteins, conformational stabilization using structural scaffold, to bivalent linkage of library-selected components. The interaction of thrombin with a 28-residue polypeptide from the sixth-epidermal growth factor-like repeat of human thrombomodulin (hTM-EGF6) was characterized in solution by use of NMR spectroscopy. The thrombin-binding region was identified and the thrombin-bound structure of the binding region was determined. The thrombin-bound structure of this fragment of thrombomodulin was then used as a basis for the design of peptide …  Lire la suite

Ubiquinone (UQ) is a lipid found in all cellular membranes. It is involved in multiple cellular processes, either directly or through its effect on the redox status of the cell. clk-1 encodes a highly conserved hydroxylase required for UQ biosynthesis. In C. elegans, mutations in clk-1 result in the accumulation of an UQ precursor, DMQ, and a pleiotropic phenotype in the mutants characterized by the slowing down of development, behaviors and aging. Additionally, in the absence of dietary UQ, clk-1 mutants also show a transient growth arrest and are sterile. Mutants that can suppress both sets of phenotypes in the …  Lire la suite

Acid sphingomyelinase (ASM), a member of the saposin like protein (SAPLIP) family, is a lysosomal hydrolase that converts sphingomyelin to ceramide. The deficient activity of ASM causes a variant form (i.e., type A/B) of the inherited disorder Niemann-Pick disease. The lysosomal targeting mechanism of ASM has not been conclusively identified. Previous studies suggested that ASM could use another membrane-associated receptor as well as M6P receptor to target lysosomes. Sortilin, a type I transmembrane glycoprotein, belongs to a novel family of receptor proteins. Both the luminal domain and the cytoplasmic domain of sortilin show structural features typical of receptors involved in …  Lire la suite

My dissertation is concerned with two central issues: analysis of theory-practice gaps in aesthetic theories applied to avant-garde musics, and problems of visibility and respect in theorizing across cultures. In the first chapter, I examine a case study, John Coltrane's successive improvisations on "My Favorite Things," under two different theories in order to show how theories shape our view of the practices we are trying to explain. In the second chapter, I take up Coltrane's practices and their relations to theories once again but, in a reversal of the previous chapter's focus, I show how examining theories through practices can …  Lire la suite

Let Ei, i = 1, ..., n, be all the supersingular elliptic curves over Fp up to isomorphism. The modules of isogenies Hom(Ei, Ej), equipped with the degree map, are quadratic modules that give rise to theta series of level p. The space of modular forms of weight two for Gamma0(p) is thus spanned by the theta series coming from supersingular elliptic curves in this fashion. We generalize this classical result to Hilbert modular forms by showing that for totally real fields L of narrow class number one, the space of Hilbert modular newforms of parallel weight 2 for Gamma0( …  Lire la suite

In the current work, the distinction between priming for associatively-related (AR) and unassociated semantically-related (SR) words is examined. Specifically, whereas associatively-related words demonstrate strong and robust priming effects when presented within the context of lexical-level tasks, generation of significant SR priming appears to require execution of an explicitly semantic task. This apparent levels-of-processing effect, if reflected in the neural-level implementation, would suggest that the mechanisms underlying priming may be localized to spatially and functionally distinct cerebral regions. In the first part of the thesis, an artifactual decision task (ADT) is developed and refined, which proved capable of producing strong immediate …  Lire la suite

In many countries around the world, municipal sewage and industrial wastewaters are typically treated, or sometimes only partially treated, prior to their discharge into surface waters. A major anionic surfactant, Linear Alkyl benzene Sulfonate (LAS), and a degraded product of a non-ionic surfactant, Nonylphenol (NP), are frequently found in municipal wastewaters. When wastewater containing such surfactants and their degraded products is used for irrigation, it can have an effect on the sorption/desorption and movement of pesticides in soils. Therefore, a lysimeter study was conducted, in summer 2004, to assess the effect of LAS and NP on the movement of agricultural …  Lire la suite

The result of formal and thematic research undertaken by the author in the1880s, Maupassant's Le Horla (1887), owing to its originality, became a fantastic literature classic. Constituted from the recycling of several passages of independent texts among which La Lettre d'un fou (1885) and Le Horla published in 1886, the tale, built by recoveries and variations, offers a completely relevant exploratory way for genetic research. By studying the differences between the Horla manuscript (1887) and short stories which present themselves as genesis elements of the text, we will perform the genetic rise of the famous text in order to refine …  Lire la suite

Vitalism is an underappreciated and often misunderstood idea. This thesis seeks to explore the historical origins and meanings of vitalism in 19th century France; tracing the transition from medical vitalism in the Montpellier School in the late 18th and early 19th century to a largely philosophical vitalism in the late 19th century, emblemized by Henri Bergson. I argue that the decline of medical vitalism was brought about by the rise of scientific medicine, the experimentalism of physiologists like Claude Bernard and the growing influence of positivism in late 19th century France. I see the seminal moment of this transition from …  Lire la suite

Prolactin is a key mammary gland differentiation factor. However, the contribution of prolactin (PRL) to breast carcinogenesis is less clear. Accumulating evidences indicate that in established breast carcinomas autocrine/paracrine PRL can enhance growth/viability of breast cancer cells. Still, it is not known whether the ascribed pro-oncogenic activity of PRL describes fully the role of PRL in regulating breast carcinogenesis. On the other hand a critical role for Ras-Erk1/2 and TGF-beta (Transforming Growth Factor beta) pathway in breast cancer progression has already been established. Our results indicate that blocking PRL signal leads to activation of Ras-Erk1/2 pathway and TGF-beta pathway, two …  Lire la suite

Many liver diseases such as Alcoholic Liver Disease and Hepatitis C are associated with the production of autoantibodies. One of these autoantibodies is Rheumatoid Factor (RF), which binds to IgG and can aid in host defense. Since little is known about the role of RF in liver disease, we characterized the production of this autoantibody in three murine models of liver damage using alcohol, anti-Fas antibodies and carbon tetrachloride. RF was induced in response to chronic alcohol consumption as well as intraperitoneal injection of anti-Fas antibodies. RF was not produced in response to treatment with carbon tetrachloride for four weeks. …  Lire la suite

Tissue eosinophilia is a prominent feature of allergic inflammatory diseases that may be in part mediated through the regulation of eosinophil survival at inflammatory site. T helper 2 type cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-5, Granulocyte Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF), are the important mediators of allergic inflammation leading to prolonged survival of eosinophils. Due to the proposed central role of eosinophils in asthma and other allergic airway diseases, there is considerable interest, to determine the mechanisms that regulate eosinophil functions and accumulation. IL-12 and IL-18 attract considerable attention for their immunomodulatory roles on T helper cell subsets, and their potential …  Lire la suite

Aircraft engine emissions from civil aviation cause several adverse effects to the atmospheric environment. These emissions are among the known major contributors to changes in atmospheric chemistry and global climate change. One way in which the international community has responded to the problem has been the adoption of several international treaties, generally dealing with subjects such as protection of the ozone layer, long-range transboundary air pollution, and global climate change. The other way in which the problem has been dealt with is the adoption of an industry-specific international regulatory regime for controlling aircraft engine emissions from civil aviation. In this …  Lire la suite

Clients involved with child protection systems due to issues of neglect are known to have multiple needs. The issues that they confront are personal, situational, and social in nature. The emphasis on risk reduction in many jurisdictions within North America has meant that needs have been given less priority. The aim of the exploratory study was to gain a better understanding of both the nature of needs and risks in cases of child neglect in Ontario, as well as the similarities and differences in the views of clients and child protection workers. It is posited that through the acquisition of …  Lire la suite

Seventy-five years ago the provincial governments of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta signed a series of Natural Resources Transfer Agreements (NRTAs) with the federal government. These agreements provided the answer to a contentious debate known as the 'Natural Resources Question'. Before the NRTAs, the three prairie provinces did not have control over their public domain lands and did not share equal constitutional status with the other Canadian provinces. In the early 1920s, Prime Minister King recognized the validity of the provincial arguments for constitutional equality and no longer wanted the federal government to be responsible for the administration of provincial natural …  Lire la suite

As we enter the third decade of a devastating worldwide epidemic, much has been done to stem the flow of HIV/AIDS, in particular within North American and Western European urban centres. Successful prevention campaigns in the 1980s had the immediate impact of lowering the rate of HIV infection among gay men, and anti-retroviral drug therapies in the mid-1990s have literally brought thousands of gay men back from the brink. However, by the middle to late 1990s, epidemiological and anecdotal evidence has strongly suggested that gay men have begun to move away from the safer sex orthodoxy of the 1980s. Forty …  Lire la suite

This study explored the relationship between psychotherapists' personality and choice of theoretical orientation. A total of 493 participants (274 practitioners and 219 students) completed a web-based survey. Personality was assessed using the HEXACO Personality Inventory (HEXACO-PI; Lee & Ashton, 2004) while theoretical orientation preference was assessed using a modified version of the Theoretical Orientation Profile Scale-Revised (TOPS-R; Worthington & Dillon, 2003). In the practitioner sample, the Humanistic/Existential scale was found to be significantly correlated with the Openness Unconventionality scale (r = .34). Results further revealed that practitioners' theoretical orientation preference differed based on the Conscientiousness and Openness personality dimensions. In …  Lire la suite

This thesis discusses the background, contents and airpolitical consequences of the so-called 'Horizontal Agreements ("HA"),' concluded by the European Union ("EU") with third countries to give effect to the European Court of Justice's ("Court"/"ECJ") decision of November 2002 in the 'Open Skies' cases brought by the European Commission ("EC"/"Commission") against certain EU Member States. The Court's decision outlaws the nationality or 'ownership and control' clause in the bilateral ('Open Skies') agreements concluded with the United States by those Member States. As this clause is a standard provision in all bilateral air services agreements, the Court's decision actually obliges the Member …  Lire la suite

This thesis explores the relations between the Druze emir Fakhr al-Din II Ma'n and three successive Medici Grand Dukes between 1605 and 1633. Eschewing traditional historiographical concerns with the origins of Lebanese nationalism and the cultural encounter between East and West, I have sought first and above all to locate relations between this powerful emir and the Court of Tuscany within the broader context of Mediterranean history. I suggest that the actions of Fakhr al-Din and of the Medici Grand Dukes have to be understood in relation to broad, long-term trends in the economic and social history of the Mediterranean. …  Lire la suite

Progranulin (PC-cell derived growth factor, acrogranin, granulin-epithelin precursor) is a secreted glycoprotein with growth promoting activities for diverse cell types and is the precursor for the 6 kDa granulin peptides. These peptides were initially identified in inflammatory cells i.e. neutrophils; and this led to the hypothesis that the grn(granulin ) gene and its products may be regulated during, and function in, wound repair. In response to tissue injury, the grn gene is induced in endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Expression was observed in epithelial and inflammatory cells with higher expression in the inflammatory cells in the early phases of wound healing. …  Lire la suite

Introduction. Research into medications for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is primarily conducted in drug trials, were efficacy is assessed by changes in score on established outcome measurement scales. However, physicians' and caregivers' perspectives on efficacy, along with their perspectives on other factors that may influence prescribing (e.g., adverse effects), remain largely unexplored. The objective of this thesis is to examine these perspectives to gain a broader understanding of the factors that can influence the use of medications in AD. Methods. Two studies were conducted. The first involved all of the Province of Quebec's geriatricians, neurologists, and psychogeriatricians, as well as a …  Lire la suite

This thesis analyses Huatulquenos (1991) and Samahua (1997), by the Mexican author Leonardo Da Jandra. The goal of this study is to examine the interaction between literature and society. For this reason, three elements have been tackled: the referent that inspired the novels, the texts and their reception. The referent, the county of Santa Maria Huatulco (Mexico), has been studied from a socio-political perspective. The text analysis, on the other hand, not only focuses on style and content of the texts, but it isolates the implicit discourses articulated in both novels. Finally, the study of the reception explains the different …  Lire la suite

The developmental trajectory of basic numerical skills and sequential processing was systematically investigated among a sample of 5 to 11-year-old typically developing boys. Performance was defined in terms of reaction times and error rates during novel computerized tasks that measured sequential and numerical concepts related to cardinality and ordinal knowledge. Analyses revealed that fast and accurate performance was attributable to children at older ages. At younger ages, task manipulations exclusively related to ordinal relationships demonstrated a significant influence over error rates. Furthermore, nonverbal intelligence predicted a significant amount of the variance related to an understanding of the ordinal properties of …  Lire la suite

"Books are books, and can suffer the same fate as men. They too can be killed in battle," wrote Georges Bernanos in Francais, si vous saviez. Bernanos' work thus demands to be read through the optic of his battle against the modern spirit. If the polemical focus is clear in his political writings, criticism of his work has never fully recognized its deployment throughout his novels. It is therefore when Bernanosian fiction renounces any expression of its intention, eluding any dimension of rhetoric---when it is dramatically demobilized---that it is meant to be its most scandalous. What is the mission of …  Lire la suite

New digital communication applications, such as multimedia, require very powerful error correcting codes that deliver low error rates while operating at low to moderate ratios (SNRs). Turbo codes have reasonable complexity and can achieve very low error rates if a proper interleaver design is in place. The use of well-designed interleavers result in very low error rates, especially for medium to long interleavers where turbo codes offer the greatest potential for achieving high minimum distance (d min) values. The reliable determination of a code's error performance at very low error rates using simulations may take months or may not be …  Lire la suite

Free braided pivotal categories are equivalent to free strict monoidal categories on a graph with relations. This is important in the study of knot invariants in that new invariants can be constructed simply by finding suitable strict monoidal categories. This is demonstrated by developing the formal language of strict monoidal categories on a graph with relations, creating categories with relations corresponding to the Reidemeister moves of knot theory and finally showing that these categories are in fact free braided pivotal categories and further equivalent to the categories of link diagrams from knot theory.  Lire la suite

This dissertation comprises three essays that study three distinct derivative contracts. The first essay proves, in a model-free framework, that early exercise of futures-style options on futures, whether calls or puts, is suboptimal. The result is robust to transaction costs, liquidity constraints and collateral requirements. Assuming a frictionless market, three additional model-free results are obtained: (i) put-call parity, (ii) equality of time values of puts and calls with the same strike and expiration, and (iii) positivity of time value before expiration. The second essay develops a new invoice price formula for Treasury bond futures contracts as a more effective alternative …  Lire la suite

This study investigates the supranational policy engagement of Turkish migrant associations in France and Germany in EU immigration policy process from a comparative perspective. It seeks the answer to the following question: What explains similarities and differences in terms of forms and levels of participation by migrant associations in different national contexts as they engage in the EU immigration policy process? In addressing this question, it analyzes the forms and levels of migrants' supranational engagement by focusing on the combined impact of emerging macro-level political opportunity structures (EU institutional context and EU) and micro-level (collective action problems of nationally organized …  Lire la suite

Schizophrenia research over the years has documented evidence of structural neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the hippocampus and functional aberrations at the level of the prefrontal cortex. Rats with neonatal ibotenic acid lesions in the ventral hippocampus (nVH) mirror some of these disruptions and it is believed that these lesions may lead to structural and/or functional reorganization within cortical circuits (Lipska et al., 1993; Flores et al., 1996). Our laboratory has provided evidence of increased cortical alpha-1 adrenergic receptors in nVH lesioned animals. To further assess the possible role of these receptors in amphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion exhibited by nVH lesioned animals, the effect …  Lire la suite

Early Drosophila development is a coordinated series of temporal and spatial events leading to specific localized gene expression. The maternally expressed gene Bicaudal-C (Bic-C) encodes a KH-domain RNA binding protein required in the developing oocyte for anterior-posterior patterning and follicle cell migration. The dominant heterozygous phenotype results in the development of embryos with bicaudal and head defects. A two-hybrid screen using BIC-C as "bait" identified the novel protein ANTIMEROS (ATMS) and the SH3-domain containing protein MILE END (MILE). ATMS is highly conserved between humans and mice, its expression is almost entirely female-specific, and is limited to certain developmental stages. Mutant …  Lire la suite

This study explores how to integrate faculty-initiated Internet-facilitated international academic partnerships into their local university environments. Recently some faculty have begun initiating international partnership activities which carryout their university's research, teaching, and service missions. These partnerships (including courses, projects, or entire programs) are considered by their initiators to benefit both faculty and student development. Faculty see the Internet as enabling them to construct interactive and collaborative virtual forums where disperse student and faculty bodies can co-engage in exciting international research, teaching, and learning opportunities. This study aims to encourage the development of Internet-facilitated international academic partnerships so that more faculty …  Lire la suite

The T cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 complex consists of a TCRalphabeta heterodimer and invariant CD3gamma, delta, epsilon and zeta chains. CD3 components play a critical role in T-cell development and function. Thymocyte development is impaired at the CD4-CD8- double negative stage in CD3gamma-, epsilon-, or zeta-deficient mice, whereas CD3delta deficiency impairs thymocyte maturation at the CD4+CD8 +double positive stage. However, the stoichiometry of CD3gamma and CD3delta chains on the surface TCR/CD3 complex has not been determined. In the present study, transgenic mice expressing a truncated form of CD3delta and CD3gamma that lacked the whole cytoplasmic domain were employed to show that …  Lire la suite

In this thesis, resource allocation problems relevant to multicarrier DSL environments are considered. The resources in a multicarrier DSL environment are bandwidth (i.e., subcarriers), the power allocated, the bits loaded and possibly the coding scheme used on each subcarrier. The major impairments in DSL environments are crosstalk and external noise . Crosstalk (predictable and controllable) is the interference caused by other DSL users sharing the same medium. External Noise (unpredictable and uncontrollable) consists of relatively high energy bursts due to electromagnetic interference from physical phenomena, electrical switches, motors and home appliances which are invariably present in the close vicinity of …  Lire la suite

INTRODUCTION: Des études récentes suggèrent que les rétinoïdes 1,2 et RAR1323 ont des effets à la fois bénéfiques et néfastes dans le cancer. Peu est connu vis-à-vis des mécanismes d'inactivation du promoteur de RAR132 dans le cancer, et vis-à-vis du rôle de RAR132 dans les cellules cancéreuses ayant gardé l'expression de RARI32. OBJECTIFS: Analyser les patrons de méthylation du promoteur de RAR132 et leur transmission mitotique; déterminer si cette méthylation est affectée par un biais allélique; et analyser les effets de la diminution de l'expression de RAR132 sur la croissance et le profil d'expression ARNm dans le cancer. MÉTHODES: Le …  Lire la suite

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was first recognized in Guangdong Province, China, in November 2002. Subsequent to its introduction to Hong Kong in mid-February 2003, the virus spread to more than 30 countries infecting over 8,000 individuals across five continents. Toronto was particularly affected and SARS's outbreak there resulted in the emergence of five ethical issues in the following areas: isolation and quarantine, privacy and personal information, professional duty of care, collateral damage and the WHO's SARS-related Travel Advisory for Toronto. In what follows each of these issues will be explored in depth.  Lire la suite

Background. Congestive heart failure (CHF) and depression, two leading problems in the community, are independently known to result in significant functional impairments, deterioration in quality of life and high mortality. While depression has been found to be a significant predictor of cardiac events and cardiac mortality, the importance of concurrent depression in patients with CHF has only recently been addressed. Studies of adjustment to chronic illnesses suggest that patients' beliefs about their illness or illness perceptions are important factors that may not only explain variations in patients' response to the same level of disease severity but may also influence more …  Lire la suite

Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) is used as a physical blowing agent in the manufacture of plastic foam and as a plasticizer to reduce melt viscosity during processing. Pressure is also an important variable for processing, and the combined effects of dissolved SC-CO 2 and pressure on rheological properties must be known to achieve optimum processing conditions. However, until recently there was no method to measure these effects accurately. A high-pressure sliding plate rheometer in which the shear rate, temperature, pressure, and CO2 concentration are uniform, was used in the present study. The effects of CO2 and pressure on the viscosity, …  Lire la suite

The differentiated cell types of the mature pituitary gland are defined on the basis of the hormone that they synthesize and secrete. The temporal appearance and spatial localization of terminally differentiated cell types in the developing chick anterior pituitary gland were characterized using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to identify the presence of pituitary hormone transcripts and protein, respectively. Corticotropes expressing ACTH were detected at embryonic day 7 (E7), melanotropes expressing MSH and gonadotropes expressing FSHbeta/LHbeta were detected at E8, thryotropes expressing TSH were detected at E10, somatotropes expressing GH were detected at E12 and lactotropes expressing prolactin were detected …  Lire la suite

This thesis is a thematic examination of two primary texts from the Second-Temple period of Judaism. 1st and 2nd Maccabees, two "histories" which cover the same political events from diverging perspectives, were examined exhaustively for their depiction of women. These depictions were catalogued and analysed, resulting in the creation of seven original categories which organized the results. The results were compared with contemporaneous depictions of women, and it was decided that the literary treatment of women was, in both works, in keeping with a patriarchal Greco-Roman Jewish status quo, with some noteworthy exceptions.  Lire la suite

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is caused by mutations of the PKD1 or PKD2 genes. Cyst cells exhibit sustained expression of fetal genes such as PAX2. Normally, PAX2 is involved in kidney development and is rapidly downregulated after birth. Overactivity of the canonical beta-catenin signaling pathway has also been linked to the formation of renal cysts. To determine whether beta-catenin activity is linked to the level of PAX2 expression in vivo, we created a transgenic mouse overexpressing PAX2 in mature proximal tubules of the kidney. Here we report that the canonical beta-catenin signaling activity is increased in mice bearing …  Lire la suite

In order to work toward right relationships among humanity and all other things, what is required is an ethical theory that concerns itself with interests that include but are not limited to the human. James M. Gustafson's theocentric ethics, which centres value on God, can accomplish this in the religious sphere. Gustafson's ethical theory also has the potential to work within nontheistic secularism as a way of construing all things as interrelated and interdependent. Underlying Gustafson's theology and value theory is a commonsense ontology, which appreciates evidences from the sciences, affective orientation, and resembles certain webs of beliefs held by …  Lire la suite

Antisense oligonucleotides (AON) offer a rational approach for drug design. The specificity of AONs towards a complementary messenger RNA (mRNA) target via Watson and Crick base pairing as well as their ease of synthesis render this technology very attractive. RNase H-degradation of mRNA via formation of a AON/mRNA hybrid is crucial to mainstream antisense technologies. Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of the AON's structure and conformational flexibility for efficient induction of RNase H activity. However the precise mode of action and substrate specificity of the RNase H are not fully understood at present. Our Laboratory recently discovered that incorporation …  Lire la suite

An autonomous navigational system for a mobile robot was developed based on a Laser-Range-Finder-based path planning and navigational algorithms. The system was enhanced by incorporating collision avoidance algorithms using data from a sonar sensor array, and further improved by establishing two virtual regions in front of the robot for obstacle detection and avoidance. Several virtual detector bands with varying dimensions were also added to the sides of the robot to check for rotational clearance safety and to determine the direction of rotation. The autonomous navigational system was tested extensively under indoor environment. Test results showed that the system performed satisfactorily …  Lire la suite

Is it possible, indeed, is it legitimate to write about the Shoah when one is born after the war, when one hasn't experienced the horrors of concentration camps, and when survivors themselves are questioning the representability of the genocide? Which idioms can one use, what language can one invent in order to speak of this tragic event when it is necessary to do so, because it defines one's Jewish identity? By its density and its specificity, Patrick Modiano's work answers these difficult questions. In a confrontation with collective history, which is at once strange and familiar to them, his narrators …  Lire la suite

Vitamin A deficiency and intestinal parasitism coexist in developing countries. This study evaluated whether a national program of vitamin A supplementation (200,000IU retinyl palmitate every 6 months), if combined with deworming (400mg albendazole), slows reinfection with Ascaris . A baseline survey of 595 indigenous preschool children in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama showed high rates of stunting (61%) and nematode infection (Ascaris 79.5%, Trichuris 19%). All children were dewormed and 328 were included in the 5 month follow-up study. Of these, 106 children received vitamin A supplementation through the Ministry of Health (Vit A S+) and 222 children …  Lire la suite

In order to further the comprehension of the electron beam (EB) processing of polymers and composites, it is necessary to better understand the development of residual stresses during processing. In-situ measurement of stress development during EB irradiation is a challenging task. The instrumentation has to be adequately shielded from the high-energy electron beam. In this work, a special fixture was designed specifically to measure the warpage of a specimen throughout the EB curing process. The specimen consisted of a thin layer of epoxy resin (Tactix 123 or CAT B) embedded in a layer of glass scrim cloth, sandwiched between layers …  Lire la suite

Productivity in large areas of the world's oceans is limited by low concentrations of dissolved iron in surface waters. Phytoplankton have adapted to persist in these environments by reducing their requirements for iron (Fe) in key metabolic pathways, in some cases by replacing Fe-containing catalysts with their iron-free functional equivalents. This thesis examines the requirements and biochemical roles for copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn) in Fe-limited centric marine diatoms. A major finding of my research is that diatoms have elevated requirements for Mn and Cu when grown in Fe-deficient seawater. Iron deficiency induces oxidative stress and increases the cellular concentrations …  Lire la suite

This thesis, by reviewing a human rights project implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), a South African based non-governmental organization (NGO), seeks to address the ongoing discussion regarding the role of international human rights NGOs in promoting socio-economic rights, adding a local perspective to this debate. It argues that international human rights NGOs working on socio-economic rights issues need to evaluate their approaches to promoting socio-economic rights, including their methodologies and strategies, and to engage more substantively with local NGOs concentrating on these issues. Namely, this thesis reviews a recent article written by Kenneth Roth, the …  Lire la suite