McGill University Thèses et mémoires par auteur commençant par M

Society's attitudes toward criminal offenders changed dramatically over the nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century the system of handling offenders in Montreal was highly institutionalized and based on sex- and age-specific treatment involving the Catholic Church, civic and legal authorities, and Protestant reform organizations. A thematic study of the relationship of female offenders, concerned organizations, and the criminal justice system at the height of industrial capitalism shows that as the economy expanded and the city grew, there were increasing opportunities for women to break the law. Women's crimes were largely determined by their socio-economic status in Canadian society, often …  Lire la suite

Tree classifiers partition the feature space into regions based on simple binary decisions called splitting rules. It can be shown that many splitting rules are not universally consistent, meaning that they may not converge to the optimal solution. This thesis introduces a method for growing decision trees grown with a consistent splitting rule, using random jumps and local optimizations to avoid an otherwise computationally expensive task. The tree classifier is tested on synthetic and natural data, showing comparable performance with other machine learning methods. In addition, a new data set is introduced to perform automatic classification of underwater mines from …  Lire la suite

The aim of this thesis is to answer the following question: Did the saying about disciples, outsiders, and the mystery of the Kingdom of God originate with Jesus; and if so, what did he intend by it? Phrased in another fashion, this inquiry concerns the authenticity and meaning of Mark 4:11-12. In reality there are two questions, but the latter grows out of the former if the former receives an affirmative answer. Even if the question about authenticity were to receive a negative answer, the investigator would find it necessary to account for the saying, its meaning, and intention, though …  Lire la suite

La segmentation d'images médicales est un domaine d'étude très développé avec de nombreuses applications. Cependant, il existe plusieurs cas où le but n’est pas d’obtenir une bordure précise autour des lésions, par exemple, la détection ou le comptage de lésions chez les personnes atteintes de SEP ou d'Alzheimer. Dans ces contextes, l'entraînement d'un modèle de segmentation est non seulement inefficace au niveau des étiquettes, cela impose plusieurs biais relatifs au bord et aux tailles des lésions. Dans cette thèse, nous développons des stratégies d'optimisation directe pour les tâches primaires de comptage et de détection des lésions. Tout d'abord, nous développons …  Lire la suite

Mining projects have the potential to significantly affect Indigenous Peoples and their health in myriad ways, both in the short term and across generations. During the approval stage for new extractive sites, a projects’ anticipated impacts on Indigenous Peoples’ health and wellbeing are evaluated using a process called environmental assessment (EA). However, EA is a technocratic process that relies on and advances a very specific and narrow understanding of health— one based in Western colonial cultural understandings and assumptions that can be inappropriate and even harmful for Indigenous communities.This thesis sought to answer two key research questions: how can extractive …  Lire la suite

Repeated time series single case experiments were used to test if attachment-related interventions added to the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for treatment-resistant obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in two insecurely attached individuals. We developed a method for formulating cases with respect to attachment, and delineating specific, attachment-related interventions. The baseline treatment phase consisted of standard CBT and the intervention phase featured the addition of attachment-related interventions. Clinically significant change was assessed using Jacobson's method, and times series data was analyzed using overfitted ARIMA modeling. Both participants improved symptomatically with standard CBT. Attachment-related interventions did not add to efficacy of …  Lire la suite

Le Sri Lanka a réalisé des progrès remarquables en matière d'égalité des sexes, notamment par des taux élevés de participation électorale des femmes, des dirigeantes féminines au niveau du premier ministre et des avancées dans les domaines de la santé et de l'éducation pour les femmes. Malgré ces succès, la représentation des femmes dans les institutions politiques formelles reste étonnamment faible. Cette étude examine les raisons sous-jacentes de cette disparité en analysant trois principales explications de la sous-représentation des femmes dans la politique sri-lankaise : les facteurs socio-économiques, culturels etinstitutionnels. L'analyse révèle que bien que tous ces facteurs contribuent à …  Lire la suite

John R. Searle asks the following fundamental question at the beginning of Speech Acts: "What is the difference between saying something and meaning it and saying it without meaning it?" This dissertation demonstrates that Chaucer is interested in this same question and that his answer to it is essentially "modern." I show in a number of Chaucer's works, but primarily through a reading of the Friar's Tale, that Chaucer understands the intentional structure of all signs, based on the paradigm of language; that is, that signs are always simultaneously mind-related and world-related, that they possess what is called today a …  Lire la suite

Studies of cerebral vasospasm were performed using two different experimental models. The duration and degree of constriction of the cat’s basilar artery produced by several different substances was examined. Topical applications of fresh whole venous blood, autogenous platelet-rich plasma and rupture of a branch of the basilar artery were used. There was a suggestion that platelet-rich plasma produced more long lasting spasm than the other spasmogenic methods, but in all other respects the constriction produced was similar. Intravenous administration of acetazolamide failed to prevent or reverse the vasospasm. In the second group of experiments, the effects of cisternal infusion of …  Lire la suite

Kaartinen, Mari Tuulia (Supervisor1)  Lire la suite

This thesis develops, validates and applies the Least-Squares Axis of Rotation (LSAR) method, a new method for estimating the position and orientation of a moving axis of rotation (AOR) of a three dimensional joint motion. The LSAR estimation method, which is more accurate and robust than previous methods, minimizes the sensitivity to measurement noise by using rigid-body motion constraints, multiple data samples per estimate and sound numerical methods. Results of simulations and in vitro experiments demonstrate that the LSAR method provides better results than the popular Reuleaux and helical axis methods. Furthermore, the parameters obtained with the LSAR method accurately …  Lire la suite

Emerging wireless communication systems strive for very high data rates, increased coverage and good quality of service. To achieve these goals under harsh conditions on many wireless channels (e.g., due to fading, multipath interference, power constraints and bandwidth limitations), both antenna diversity schemes and channel coding should be utilized. This thesis focuses on achieving reliable transmission over a class of multi-input multi-output Rayleigh faded channels at very low Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs). The transmitter and receiver designs are based on turbo coding, multiple transmit/receive antennas and turbo equalization. Simulation studies were performed for systems with different coding rates, numbers of antennas …  Lire la suite

Future wireless communication systems will have to support large uplink/downlink data rates within the allocated frequency spectrum in order to support emerging multi-media applications. Recently explored multiple antenna or multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems have the potential of achieving large increases in wireless channel capacities and spectral efficiencies. However, powerful channel codes and sophisticated signal processing techniques are required to achieve these increases for low signal-to-noise ratios and in the presence of multipath fading. Motivated by the third generation wire-less standard and efforts towards fourth generation systems, this dissertation explores turbo-coded uplink transmission over Rayleigh faded MIMO channels, when channel state …  Lire la suite

Need for Study—A predominant majority of the population of Pakistan is Muslim, that la , it comprises those who call themselves Muslims1, and profess Islam as their religion. There is, however, no single interpretation of Islam that is universally followed throughout Pakistan, or, for that matter, throughout the Muslim world. The Muslims in Pakistan are subdivided into several groups, but no survey, official or unofficial, seems ever to have been made to assess or estimate the numerical strength of the different religious sects. Nevertheless, it may be safely ventured that the single major sect is the Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jama’ah, or …  Lire la suite