A Transportation Safety Planning Tool for the City of Ames, August 2011

The historically-reactive approach to identifying safety problems and mitigating them involves selecting black spots or hot spots by ranking locations based on crash frequency and severity. The approach focuses mainly on the corridor level without taking the exposure rate (vehicle miles traveled) and socio-demographics information of the study area, which are very important in the transportation planning process, into consideration. A larger study analysis unit at the Transportation Analysis Zone (TAZ) level or the network planning level should be used to address the needs of development of the community in the future and incorporate safety into the long-range transportation planning process. In this study, existing planning tools (such as the PLANSAFE models presented in NCHRP Report 546) were evaluated for forecasting safety in small and medium-sized communities, particularly as related to changes in socio-demographics characteristics, traffic demand, road network, and countermeasures. The research also evaluated the applicability of the Empirical Bayes (EB) method to network-level analysis. In addition, application of the United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP) protocols at the local urban road network level was investigated. This research evaluated the applicability of these three methods for the City of Ames, Iowa. The outcome of this research is a systematic process and framework for considering road safety issues explicitly in the small and medium-sized community transportation planning process and for quantifying the safety impacts of new developments and policy programs. More specifically, quantitative safety may be incorporated into the planning process, through effective visualization and increased awareness of safety issues (usRAP), the identification of high-risk locations with potential for improvement, (usRAP maps and EB), countermeasures for high-risk locations (EB before and after study and PLANSAFE), and socio-economic and demographic induced changes at the planning-level (PLANSAFE).

Multicontrast connectometry: A new tool to assess cerebellum alterations in early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Cerebellar pathology occurs in late multiple sclerosis (MS) but little is known about cerebellar changes during early disease stages. In this study, we propose a new multicontrast "connectometry" approach to assess the structural and functional integrity of cerebellar networks and connectivity in early MS. METHODS: We used diffusion spectrum and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) to establish the structural and functional cerebellar connectomes in 28 early relapsing-remitting MS patients and 16 healthy controls (HC). We performed multicontrast "connectometry" by quantifying multiple MRI parameters along the structural tracts (generalized fractional anisotropy-GFA, T1/T2 relaxation times and magnetization transfer ratio) and functional connectivity measures. Subsequently, we assessed multivariate differences in local connections and network properties between MS and HC subjects; finally, we correlated detected alterations with lesion load, disease duration, and clinical scores. RESULTS: In MS patients, a subset of structural connections showed quantitative MRI changes suggesting loss of axonal microstructure and integrity (increased T1 and decreased GFA, P < 0.05). These alterations highly correlated with motor, memory and attention in patients, but were independent of cerebellar lesion load and disease duration. Neither network organization nor rs-fMRI abnormalities were observed at this early stage. CONCLUSION: Multicontrast cerebellar connectometry revealed subtle cerebellar alterations in MS patients, which were independent of conventional disease markers and highly correlated with patient function. Future work should assess the prognostic value of the observed damage. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1609-1619, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Validation of plant dynamic model by online and laboratory measurements – a tool to predict online COD loads out of production of mechanical printing papers

COD discharges out of processes have increased in line with elevating brightness demands for mechanical pulp and papers. The share of lignin-like substances in COD discharges is on average 75%. In this thesis, a plant dynamic model was created and validated as a means to predict COD loading and discharges out of a mill. The assays were carried out in one paper mill integrate producing mechanical printing papers. The objective in the modeling of plant dynamics was to predict day averages of COD load and discharges out of mills. This means that online data, like 1) the level of large storage towers of pulp and white water 2) pulp dosages, 3) production rates and 4) internal white water flows and discharges were used to create transients into the balances of solids and white water, referred to as “plant dynamics”. A conversion coefficient was verified between TOC and COD. The conversion coefficient was used for predicting the flows from TOC to COD to the waste water treatment plant. The COD load was modeled with similar uncertainty as in reference TOC sampling. The water balance of waste water treatment was validated by the reference concentration of COD. The difference of COD predictions against references was within the same deviation of TOC-predictions. The modeled yield losses and retention values of TOC in pulping and bleaching processes and the modeled fixing of colloidal TOC to solids between the pulping plant and the aeration basin in the waste water treatment plant were similar to references presented in literature. The valid water balances of the waste water treatment plant and the reduction model of lignin-like substances produced a valid prediction of COD discharges out of the mill. A 30% increase in the release of lignin-like substances in the form of production problems was observed in pulping and bleaching processes. The same increase was observed in COD discharges out of waste water treatment. In the prediction of annual COD discharge, it was noticed that the reduction of lignin has a wide deviation from year to year and from one mill to another. This made it difficult to compare the parameters of COD discharges validated in plant dynamic simulation with another mill producing mechanical printing papers. However, a trend of moving from unbleached towards high-brightness TMP in COD discharges was valid.

Desire and the paths of recognation [sic] in Hegel's intersubjectivity

This thesis poses two fundamental issues regarding Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity. Firstly, it examines Kojeve's problematic interpretation of Hegelian intersubjectivity as being solely rooted in the dialectic of lordship and bondage. It is my contention that Kojeve conflates the concepts of recognition {Anerkennung) with that of desire (Begierde), thereby reducing Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity to a violent reduction of the other to the same. This is so despite the plenary of examples Hegel uses to define intersubjectivity as the mutual (reciprocal) recognition between the self and the other. Secondly, it examines Hegel's use of Sophocles' Antigone to demonstrate the notion of the individual par excellence. I contend that Hegel's use of Antigone opens a new methodological framework through which to view his philosophy of intersubjectivity. It is Antigone that demonstrates the upheaval of an economy of exchange between the self and the other, whereby the alterity of the other transcends the self Ultimately, Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity must be reexamined, not only to dismiss Kojeve's problematic interpretation, but also to pose the possibility that Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity can viably account for a philosophy of the other that has a voice in contemporary philosophical debate.

Career paths of educational administrators

Ten superintendents~ 5 male and 5 female~ were randomly selected from a possible 33 males and 9 females in the Niagara and Hamilton regions. The participants were interviewed through a guided interview process coupled with an accounting of their educational and career histories. They were asked to discuss significant aspects of their careers such as the support they had received from families, from mentors and from involvement in networks. The data collected were then analyzed for similarities and differences both within and between the two gender cohorts. Upon analysis, it was found that the female and male administrators possessed differences in their personal backgrounds as well as their career and educational histories. Differences were also found in the perceived role of mentors, and networks. The ways in which the female administrators experienced their careers were found to be quite different from the ways in which the male administrators experienced their careers.

Dialogue journal writing: a tool for critical reflection in the adult ESL learner

This study attempted to determine whether or not dialogue journal writing encouraged critical reflection in the adult ESL (English as a Second Language) learner. According to research in adult education and anecdotal evidence, the process ofdialogue journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the adult learner. However, little research has been conducted to examine whether or not journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the second language learner. As a result, ten low-intermediate level adult ESL students from Brock University's Intensive English Language Programme participated in a dialogue journal writing programme in their writing class. The participants wrote journal entries over a 10-week period, and were interviewed once throughout the process to determine their perceptions ofthe journal writing experience. They also were observed by the researcher throughout the journal writing sessions to establish whether any behaviours or intrusions might affect the participants' writing processes. After the content ofthe journals and the interviews, and the observations made by the researcher were analysed, it was confirmed that, for these participants, dialogue journal writing did not necessarily encourage critical reflection. Moreover, the participants' perceptions ofjournal writing were that it helped them to practise the syntax, vocabulary, and rhetorical patterns ofEnglish; nevertheless, it did not foster critical reflection or thinking.

Histogram filtering as a tool in variational Monte Carlo optimization

Optimization of wave functions in quantum Monte Carlo is a difficult task because the statistical uncertainty inherent to the technique makes the absolute determination of the global minimum difficult. To optimize these wave functions we generate a large number of possible minima using many independently generated Monte Carlo ensembles and perform a conjugate gradient optimization. Then we construct histograms of the resulting nominally optimal parameter sets and "filter" them to identify which parameter sets "go together" to generate a local minimum. We follow with correlated-sampling verification runs to find the global minimum. We illustrate this technique for variance and variational energy optimization for a variety of wave functions for small systellls. For such optimized wave functions we calculate the variational energy and variance as well as various non-differential properties. The optimizations are either on par with or superior to determinations in the literature. Furthermore, we show that this technique is sufficiently robust that for molecules one may determine the optimal geometry at tIle same time as one optimizes the variational energy.

Ties From My Father: Personal Narrative as a Tool for Engaging Teenagers and Social Service Practitioners

The purpose of this project is to provide social service practitioners with tools and perspectives to engage young people in a process of developing and connecting with their own personal narratives, and storytelling with others. This project extensively reviews the literature to explore Why Story, What Is Story, Future Directions of Story, and Challenges of Story. Anchoring this exploration is Freire’s (1970/2000) intentional uncovering and decoding. Taking a phenomenological approach, I draw additionally on Brookfield’s (1995) critical reflection; Delgado (1989) and McLaren (1998) for subversive narrative; and Robin (2008) and Sadik (2008) for digital storytelling. The recommendations provided within this project include a practical model built upon Baxter Magolda and King’s (2004) process towards self-authorship for engaging an exercise of storytelling that is accessible to practitioners and young people alike. A personal narrative that aims to help connect lived experience with the theoretical content underscores this project. I call for social service practitioners to engage their own personal narratives in an inclusive and purposeful storytelling method that enhances their ability to help the young people they serve develop and share their stories.

AutoFACT: An Automatic Functional Annotation and Classification Tool

Affiliation: Centre Robert-Cedergren de l'Université de Montréal en bio-informatique et génomique & Département de biochimie, Université de Montréal

SCaFoS: a tool for Selection, Concatenation and Fusion of Sequences for phylogenomics

Affiliation: Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal

Development of a Chinese version WHO Self-Assessment Tool for Evaluating Health Promotion in Hospital

[Support Institutions:] Department of Administration of Health, University of Montreal, Canada Public Health School of Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Mass spectrometry as a tool to dissect the role of chromatin assembly factors in regulating nucleosome assembly

L'assemblage des nucléosomes est étroitement couplée à la synthèse des histones ainsi qu’à la réplication et la réparation de l’ADN durant la phase S. Ce processus implique un mécanisme de contrôle qui contribue soigneusement et de manière régulée à l’assemblage de l’ADN en chromatine. L'assemblage des nucléosomes durant la synthèse de l’ADN est crucial et contribue ainsi au maintien de la stabilité génomique. Cette thèse décrit la caractérisation par spectrométrie de masse(SM) des protéines jouant un rôle critique dans l’assemblage et le maintien de la structure chromatinienne. Plus précisément, la phosphorylation de deux facteurs d’assemblage des nucléosome, le facteur CAF-1, une chaperone d’histone qui participe à l'assemblage de la chromatine spécifiquement couplée à la réplication de l'ADN, ainsi que le complexe protéique Hir, jouant de plus un rôle important dans la régulation transcriptionelle des gènes d’histones lors de la progression normale du cycle cellulaire et en réponse aux dommages de l'ADN, a été examiné. La caractérisation des sites de phosphorylation par SM nécéssite la séparation des protéines par éléctrophorèse suivi d’une coloration a l’argent. Dans le chapitre 2, nous demontrons que la coloration à l’argent induit un artéfact de sulfatation. Plus précisément, cet artéfact est causé par un réactif spécifiquement utilisé lors de la coloration. La sulfatation présente de fortes similitudes avec la phosphorylation. Ainsi, l’incrément de masse observé sur les peptides sulfatés et phosphorylés (+80 Da) nécéssite des instruments offrant une haute résolution et haute précision de masse pour différencier ces deux modifications. Dans les chapitres 3 et 4, nous avons d’abord démontré par SM que Cac1, la plus grande sous-unité du facteur CAF-1, est cible de plusieurs sites de phosphorylation. Fait intéréssant, certains de ces sites contiennent des séquences consensus pour les kinases Cdc7-Dbf4 et CDKs. Ainsi, ces résultats fournissent les premières évidences que CAF-1 est potentiellement régulé par ces deux kinases in vivo. La fonction de tous les sites de phosphorylation identifiés a ensuite été évaluée. Nous avons démontré que la phosphorylation de la Ser-503, un site consensus de la DDK, est essentielle à la répréssion transcriptionelle des gènes au niveau des télomères. Cependant, cette phosphorylation ne semble pas être nécéssaire pour d’autres fonctions connues de CAF-1, indiquant que le blocage de la phsophorylation de Cac1 Ser-503 affecte spécifiquement la fonction de CAF-1 aux structures hétérochromatiques des télomères. Ensuite, nous avons identifiés une intéraction physique entre CAF-1 et Cdc7-Dbf4. Des études in vitro ont également demontré que cette kinase phosphoryle spécifiquement Cac1 Ser-503, suggérant un rôle potential pour la kinase Cdc7-Dbf4 dans l’assemblage et la stabilité de la structure hétérochromatique aux télomères. Finalement, les analyses par SM nous ont également permi de montrer que la sous-unité Hpc2 du complexe Hir est phosphorylée sur plusieurs sites consensus des CDKs et de Cdc7-Dbf4. De plus, la quantification par SM d’un site spécifique de phosphorylation de Hpc2, la Ser-330, s’est révélée être fortement induite suite à l’activation du point de contrôle de réplication (le “checkpoint”) suite au dommage a l’ADN. Nous montrons que la Ser-330 de Hpc2 est phopshorylée par les kinases de point de contrôle de manière Mec1/Tel1- et Rad53-dépendante. Nos données préliminaires suggèrent ainsi que la capacité du complex Hir de réguler la répréssion transcriptionelle des gènes d'histones lors de la progression du cycle cellulaire normal et en réponse au dommage de l'ADN est médiée par la phosphorylation de Hpc2 par ces deux kinases. Enfin, ces deux études mettent en évidence l'importance de la spectrométrie de masse dans la caractérisation des sites de phosphorylation des protéines, nous permettant ainsi de comprendre plus précisement les mécanismes de régulation de l'assemblage de la chromatine et de la synthèse des histones.

The environment as a tool for health towards a definition of the individual boundary process = L'environnement comme outil de santé vers une définition du processus de gestion des frontières personnelles

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Advances in therapeutic risk management through signal detection and risk minimisation tool analyses

Les quatre principales activités de la gestion de risque thérapeutique comportent l’identification, l’évaluation, la minimisation, et la communication du risque. Ce mémoire aborde les problématiques liées à l’identification et à la minimisation du risque par la réalisation de deux études dont les objectifs sont de: 1) Développer et valider un outil de « data mining » pour la détection des signaux à partir des banques de données de soins de santé du Québec; 2) Effectuer une revue systématique afin de caractériser les interventions de minimisation de risque (IMR) ayant été implantées. L’outil de détection de signaux repose sur la méthode analytique du quotient séquentiel de probabilité (MaxSPRT) en utilisant des données de médicaments délivrés et de soins médicaux recueillis dans une cohorte rétrospective de 87 389 personnes âgées vivant à domicile et membres du régime d’assurance maladie du Québec entre les années 2000 et 2009. Quatre associations « médicament-événement indésirable (EI) » connues et deux contrôles « négatifs » ont été utilisés. La revue systématique a été faite à partir d’une revue de la littérature ainsi que des sites web de six principales agences réglementaires. La nature des RMIs ont été décrites et des lacunes de leur implémentation ont été soulevées. La méthode analytique a mené à la détection de signaux dans l'une des quatre combinaisons médicament-EI. Les principales contributions sont: a) Le premier outil de détection de signaux à partir des banques de données administratives canadiennes; b) Contributions méthodologiques par la prise en compte de l'effet de déplétion des sujets à risque et le contrôle pour l'état de santé du patient. La revue a identifié 119 IMRs dans la littérature et 1,112 IMRs dans les sites web des agences réglementaires. La revue a démontré qu’il existe une augmentation des IMRs depuis l’introduction des guides réglementaires en 2005 mais leur efficacité demeure peu démontrée.