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In winter-cities such as Saskatoon there exists a significant potential to improve cold-weather walking conditions for most pedestrians. To realize the walkability potential of a winter-city downtown, by necessity automobile traffic must be reduced. However, when surface parking lots are permitted to operate in abundance, isolated and uncoordinated, and detached from overall planning and transportation policy, automobile traffic reduction downtown cannot be efficiently achieved. In many winter-cities, Saskatoon included, downtown parking lots in fact are oversupplied. Vital space for housing, employment and public space is thereby reduced and pedestrian winter exposure to wind chill and sidewalk ice is increased by breaks in the urban fabric. Systematic conversion of surface parking lots into mixed use would not only enhance incentives to walk, but simultaneously would reduce the incentive to drive. The question thus arises whether and how can we screen a large number of surface parking lots for a limited number of candidate-sites that could be earmarked for infill redevelopment. A screening methodology that prioritizes potential parking lot sites ought to account for a wide range of criteria that address urban design, development-potential, proximity, and microclimate. In a case study of parking lots in downtown Saskatoon, a screening methodology has yielded one priority site out of an inventory of twenty-four sites. Integrated within public transit policy the proposed methodology has generic applicability to downtown areas elsewhere, and can advance the goal of safety and higher residential density downtown.

NtdB is an enzyme encoded within the ntd operon in Bacillus subtilis. This operon is reported to contain a complete set of genes necessary for the biosynthesis of 3,3'-neotrehalosadiamine (NTD), a compound composed of two kanosamine subunits linked together by a 1,1'-(α,β)-linkage. Both NTD and kanosamine have reported antibiotic properties. The function of NtdB has been a matter of speculation, but has never been investigated in vitro. Using a phosphate assay and an array of substrates, NtdB was determined to be a phosphatase, specific to kanosamine-6-phosphate (K6P) (kcat = 32 ± 1 s-1, Km = 93 ± 7 µM). Site-directed mutagenesis of amino acid residues in the core and the cap domains of the enzyme identified residues important for the catalytic reaction and substrate specificity. These mutations confirmed the presence of four motifs, characteristic of members of the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily, and allowed identification of the substrate binding site of the enzyme. KabB, a homologue of NtdB from Bacillus cereus, showed notably lower activity with K6P than NtdB. This research defines the role of NtdB as a specific K6P phosphatase and challenges the previously reported NTD biosynthesis pathway by demonstrating a novel pathway for the production of the antibiotic kanosamine.

In recent years, a number of advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions have been developed to assist in the management of business processes and working environments. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging technology and mobile computing are two such technologies which have been adopted for use in hybrid systems because they can monitor and manage industrial health, safety and welfare activities.

This thesis looks at the ways in which performance can integrate participants and local context into the development of new devised work. This practice-led research is based on a methodology that grew out of three performance case studies completed in diverse international settings with a varied range of participants. The case studies are: Napoli Scorticata completed in 2007 in Naples, Italy; Youth Visions, completed in 2008 in Northeastern Ghana, West Africa; Triangulated City, completed in 2009 in Beirut, Lebanon. Within these diverse contexts the research questions the role of authorship when working in socially engaged practice, focusing on how practitioners can shift the focus from the artist to the body politic. Merging social engagement with a site-responsive approach, the research proposes that the artistic medium is the social system and as such argues that the modes of employment require a focus of appreciation on the generative process, context and product combined. The research is presented in two parts. Part I is an interactive DVD with images of the development process and final presentations as well as a video of each performance work. Part II is a written thesis that explores the modes of engagement, outlines the methods of development and structures a general working methodology that can be referenced by other performance practitioners. The thesis proposes Applied Live Art as a term to describe practices that include a hybrid of time-based media options, which include a social component as their primary focus. The research outcomes conclude with an analysis of place making and its importance when working with both site and society.

The aim of this thesis is to explore differences between consumer expectations of web site functionality in the context of online banking in terms of whether the task under consideration is information seeking or account access and whether the expectation is predictive or normative. The Internet has emerged as a new and distinct information source. Statistics show that the Internet is used extensively by companies for information provision and in general by consumers for information acquisition. The context of this study is the financial services sector where online service provision is increasing to meet consumer demand. Numerous studies into online banking seek to identify the attributes of successful financial services web sites but the focus of these studies has been on account management rather than information search activity. Yet, there is limited research into whether consumer evaluative criteria differ when deciding to adopt a bank’s web site as a source of information as compared to use as a channel for account access. Regardless of task focus, the rationale behind theory of adoption models is that, if after trial, web site performance does not match expectations then the consumer will decide that the web site does not contain features of value and will not continue to use it. Expectations are conceptually close to, but not the same as, beliefs and have been defined as both the anticipation of future outcomes (predictive expectation) and the desire for the occurrence of future outcomes (normative expectation). Since the only type of evaluation a consumer may hold about an untried technology is expectation, several technology adoption models use expectations as referent states however the focus of research to date has been on contrasting expectation with postadoption perception. This thesis follows an approach developed by Sirgy (1984) that utilises different levels of expectation. Normative and predictive expectations are used not only as a referent state but also as a perceived state thus providing an understanding of the expectation “gaps” of users and non-users. A two-phase methodology was used. First a preliminary study based on a convenience sample of 253 students was used to generate a range of expectation statements relating to online information search. Second a web-survey was administered to 10,000 Internet users to explore differences in normative (should) expectations and predictive (will) expectations across a set of system quality and information quality attributes in two task scenarios: information search and online bank account access. This thesis identifies differences and points of similarity across task scenario. It shows that across task scenario there are statistically significant and practically substantive differences in terms of attributes that reduce risk, enable two-way communication and the provision of product information.

Aromatic hydrocarbons are a prevalent constituent of crude oil. The refined products of crude oil such as petroleum and diesel can find their way into groundwater though oil-spillages and are also present in the oil and gas industry’s produced water. These aromatics are biorecalcitrant, however upon ingestion with water, may be metabolised to toxic intermediates that are carcinogenic or mutagenic in nature. Although some treatment technologies are available most of these are under development and are yet to be proven in the field. This illustrates the need for novel, economical and environmentally friendly technologies to be developed with a view to remediating aqueous systems that have been polluted with aromatics hydrocarbons. The supramolecular cyclodextrin molecule, with its hydrophobic interior and hydrophobic exterior seems to be an excellent molecule for the trapping of the pollutant molecules, however the inclusion complexes with this cyclic sugar are water-soluble therefore there is a need for the cyclodextrin to be rendered waterinsoluble. A study of the aqueous solubilities of some aromatic hydrocarbons that may be present in crude oil has been carried out and shows that the majority of these molecules have a degree of water solubility that may increase upon environmental weathering. The successful reaction between a solid-phase resin and the β-cyclodextrin molecule has been achieved, with the total dryness of the system being required including Soxhlet extraction of the resin with anhydrous acetone before the reaction. The reaction between β-cyclodextrin and a range of isocyanates proved unsuccessful, but a range of symmetrical aryl ureas were synthesised from their isocyanates with the influence that different activating or deactivating groups on the ring have on the propensity to form the ureas being shown. The successful alkylation between β-cyclodextrin and a series of haloalkanes has shown the effect of increasing chain length on the degree of alkylation. This reaction involved the deprotonation of the cyclodextrin by sodium hydride in anhydrous dimethyl sulphoxide followed by reaction with the alkyl iodide. Increasing the equivalents of hydride or iodide, or the reaction time did not have a noticeable effect on the degree of reaction indicating that steric constraints were limiting the degree of reaction. Testing several of these alkyl iodides gave an indication as to their tendency to uptake and remove several model pollutants that had been dissolved in water with the propylated β-cyclodextrin displaying potential for the remediation of aqueous systems that had been polluted. Several of these results were very promising leading to the conclusion that further derivatives of these alkylated sugars may be even more suitable for future research into the remediation of organically polluted aqueous systems.

Les protéines hnRNP A1 sont impliquées dans l'épissage alternatif. Un mode d'action proposé implique la formation d'homodimères entre molécules hnRNP A1 causant un réarrangement dans la structure de l'ARN pré-messager. Cette modulation de l'ARN permettrait le rapprochement de sites d'épissage 5' et 3' d'exons situés de par et d'autres d'un exon alternatif. Le domaine riche en résidus glycines est responsable, en grande partie, de l'interaction entre les deux protéines hnRNP A1. Comme la protéine hnRNP H contient aussi un domaine riche en résidus glycines, nous avons postulé que cette dernière pouvait moduler l'épissage alternatif de la même manière que hnRNP A1. Afin de vérifier cette hypothèse, nous avons utilisé un ARN pré-messager constitué de deux sites d'épissage 5' (distal et proximal) en compétition pour un seul site d'épissage 3'. En présence de sites de liaison pour hnRNP H, nous observons que le choix du site d'épissage 5' est déplacé vers le site distal. Nous avons confirmé le rôle des protéines hnRNP H dans la sélection des sites d'épissage 5' in vitro et avons déterminé que le domaine riche en résidus glycines (GRD) est important pour l'activité d'épissage de ce régulateur. Nous avons ensuite exploré la possibilité que des combinaisons de sites de liaison pour hnRNP H et hnRNP A1 puissent activer l'utilisation du site d'épissage 5' distal. Nous avons observé que des combinaisons hétérotypiques peuvent reproduire cette activité d'épissage. Finalement, nous avons utilisé la technologie BRET ("bioluminescence resonance energy transfer") pour démontrer que des interactions homotypiques entre protéines hnRNP H et hétérotypiques entre molécules hnRNP A1 et hnRNP H peuvent se former dans les cellules vivantes. Notre étude suggère que les protéines hnRNP H et hnRNP A1 peuvent changer la conformation de l'ARN pré-messager et affecter le choix du site d'épissage.

The Telescopio San Pedro Martir project intends to construct a 6.5m telescope to be installed at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional in the Sierra San Pedro Martir in northern Baja California, Mexico. The project is an association of Mexican institutions, lead by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica and the Instituto de Astronomia at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, in partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the University of Arizona's Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory. The project is currently in the planning and design stage. Once completed, the partners plan to operate the MMT and TSPM as a binational astrophysical observatory.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.