This study sought to determine the relationship of motor creativity, tap dance skill, and experience in tap dance choreography to the ability to choreograph tap dances.

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Cette thèse présente les résultats d'une étude du milieu interstellaire local basée sur les mesures de rougissement dû aux poussières (excès de couleur E(B-V)), de l'émission thermique des poussières à 353 GHz (épaisseur optique des grains tau353), du rayonnement diffus γ produit par l'interaction des rayons cosmiques avec le gaz, de l'émission free-free du gaz ionisé et des raies d'émissions des atomes HI et des molécules CO. Ces traceurs permettent de sonder la quantité totale de gaz ainsi que celle dans les différentes phases du milieu interstellaire. L'objectif de cette étude est de tester la capacité de ces traceurs à estimer les quantités de gaz, de chercher des effets d'environnement et de comparer les tendances observées aux prédictions des modèles théoriques. Nous avons étudié plus particulièrement la région de l'anticentre galactique. L'information sur la vitesse du gaz apportée par les raies d'émission HI et CO a été utilisée pour séparer dans l'espace position-vitesse six complexes de nuages locaux et pour les séparer de l'arrière-plan galactique. Ces complexes incluent les nuages bien connus de Taurus-Auriga, California et Perseus / This thesis presents the results of a study of the local interstellar medium based on several tracers: the dust reddening (color excess E(B-V), the dust thermal emission of dust at 353 GHz (optical thickness of the grains tau353), the diffuse γ-ray emission produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with gas, the free-free emission of the ionized gas and the emission lines of HI atoms and CO molecules. These tracers probe the total quantity of gas as well as the quantity of gas in the different phases of the interstellar medium. The main objectives of this study are to test the capability of these tracers to estimate gas quantities, to search for environmental effects and to compare observed trends with the predictions of theoretical models.We have studied more specifically the region of the Galactic anticenter. The information on the velocity of the gas provided by the HI and CO emission lines was used to separate six local cloud complexes in the longitude-latitude-velocity and to separate them from the Galactic background. These complexes include the well-known clouds of Taurus-Auriga, California and Perseus

Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) proteins are responsible for the presentation of intracellular protein fragments on the cellular surface and are thus the primary method for the broader immune system to recognize and respond to intracellular deformity or infection. A successful immune response against intracellular pathogens relies upon effective epitope presentation by MHC-I and recognition of this epitope by cytotoxic cluster of differentiation 8 positive (CD8+) T cells. Although MHC-I mediated immunity is a powerful mechanism which might resist infection by pathogens, many such pathogens have evolved methods of eluding or suppressing MHC-I mediated immune responses and are thereby able to persist within our cells. Close study of the fine details of the functionality of the MHC-I mediated antigen presentation system may yield important clues about how to best move forward in the quest to eliminate these problematic diseases. Although diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and cancer may differ in many fundamental ways, it has become clear that the future of treating these elusive pathogens must involve utilization of the tools provided in the human immune system.

Tap water supply is an essential resource for human societies. However with increasing water use and global warming, this resource needs to be monitored and managed sustainably. Here we use stable isotopes to identify potential issues associated with tap water resources in Canada. We analyze isotopes of 576 tap water samples collected from across Canada and classified them based on their supply sources including groundwater (TapGroundwater), river (TapRiver) and lake (TapLake). We found, isotopic values in tap water correlate strongly with those predicted in local precipitation across Canada, suggesting precipitation is the parent source of tap water. However, this correlation is stronger for TapGroundwater and TapRiver than TapLake. To explain this difference, we constructed a series of water balance models to predict isotopic values of surface water across Canada validated against Canadian rivers isotopes data. We then compared the tap water isotopic values to those predicted in local surface water, which improved the predictability of TapRiver and TapLake but not TapGroundwater. We suggest, TapGroundwater usually reflects isotopic values of annually averaged precipitation whereas TapRiver and TapLake reflect post-precipitation processes. We used the residuals between our observed and predicted isotope data to assess regional sources and processes influencing tap water isotopes across Canada. Regionally, snow/glacier melt from the Rockies contributes to groundwater recharge across Western Canada as well as to some rivers and lakes in Alberta and British Columbia. Also, tap water are highly evaporated across Western Canada irrespective of their sources. Across the Great Lakes and East Coast regions, lakes undergo high evaporative losses. Also, many localities in the East Coast pump and store groundwater in small lakes or ponds exposing them to evaporation. Our data and models provide a baseline for isotope monitoring of tap water resources and isotope forensic studies across Canada.

In May of 2006, the Hrubec group suddenly began to observe neural tube defects (NTDs) in embryos of untreated control mice. Unintentional exposure to a teratogenic agent in tap water was identified as the cause. We aimed to identify the contaminant, but first we demonstrated that the NTDs were pathological being present on both gestational day 9 and 10. We also found that a second species, rats, developed NTDs when exposed to tap waters. Disinfection by-products (DBPs) arise when natural organic matter in municipal water sources reacts with disinfectants used in the water treatment process. Purge and trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (PT GC-MS) and animal exposure studies were used to determine if the teratogenic contaminant was a DBP. Since the distribution pattern of DBPs did not match the distribution pattern of NTDs, we concluded that a DBP was not likely to be responsible for the observed malformations. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products have emerged as ubiquitous contaminants of ground and surface waters, and have been detected in drinking water. In order to analyze for these compounds, we submitted different water samples to a commercial water analysis lab (AXYS Analytical Services, Sidney, BC, Canada). Several pharmaceuticals were identified in a number of samples, including a known teratogenic drug used to treat mood disorders and seizures: carbamazepine. Further analysis for carbamazepine was conducted in-house. Carbamazepine was found in several ground, surface, and tap waters, at various concentrations. To establish whether or not carbamazepine was responsible for NTDs in our mice, we conducted 2 dosing studies. Carbamazepine was provided to mice at concentrations detected in tap water, as well as approximately 2 x and 1000 x that concentration. Both studies found no significant differences in NTD rates among the dose groups. As no dose effect was observed, we concluded that CBZ was not directly responsible for the malformations. The identity of the teratogenic contaminant is not known at this time, but is unlikely to be a DBP or low concentrations of the pharmaceutical carbamazepine. / Master of Science

ITC/USA 2015 Conference Proceedings / The Fifty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2015 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / Digital data distribution systems are widely used in Aerospace and Defense products to allow devices to communicate with one another. In many cases it is desirable to monitor the data traffic flowing between two points in a copper or fiber based Operational or Onboard Network System (ONS) for Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) purposes because these ONS systems may carry important data which can be used without duplicating/installing a specific FTI data acquisition system to receive this data. The two types of network taps that can be used are Inline Network Taps and network end-point taps. This paper examines the usage of Inline Network Taps for FTI applications and how they can support network access strategies and objectives. An Inline Network Tap is a hardware device which allows access to data flowing across a network. These devices are typically active/powered and have a number of ports: a first tap port, a second tap port, and one or more mirror ports. An in-line network tap inserted between the first and second tap port passes all data traffic through unimpeded but also copies that same data to one or more mirror ports. Some Inline Network Tap devices may also pass packets when the tap is not powered or a malfunction is detected on the device via an integrated by-pass function. If the Inline Network Tap device goes offline the unit automatically bypasses the tap connection and data traffic is directed through the bypass directly to network devices. This capability is crucial for inline usage on mission critical network segments that cannot afford the risk of losing the network connection. An in-line network tap can either be based on copper or fiber technology and as a "filterable" network tap can also provide advanced packet filtering capabilities. These filterable network taps can selectively pass data, e.g., based on VLAN ID or other parameters, to a mirror port for deep analysis, monitoring and recording. Another advanced tap function that is presented in this paper is the support for inserting time stamps at the tap level in monitored packets which provides a reference time when the data content of a given packet was generated at a data source. This capability is a significant feature for FTI applications as most ONS systems do not provide time stamped data.

ITC/USA 2011 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Seventh Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2011 / Bally's Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada / Switches are a critical component in any networked FTI data acquisition system in order to allow the forwarding of data from the DAU to the target destination devices such as the network recorder, PCM gateways, or ground station. Commercial off the shelf switches cannot meet the harsh operating conditions of FTI. This paper describes a hardware implementation of a crossbar switching architecture that meets the reliability and performance requirements of FTI equipment. Moreover, by combining the crossbar architecture with filtering techniques, the switch can be configured to achieve sophisticated forwarding operations. By way of illustration, a Gigabit network tap application is used to demonstrate the fundamental concepts of switching, forwarding, crossbar architecture, and filtering.

This thesis examines tap dance practice and performance in England. The study is based on a multi-sited ethnography of two tap dance communities in Manchester and London. Participants in the communities ranged in ages from eighteen to eighty and were from a variety of social backgrounds. The investigation focusses on the tap jam, an informal performance event that showcases improvised tap dance to live music. Many individuals disclosed that they joined the tap communities despite possessing limited knowledge and experience of tap improvisation. Improvisation in tap dance is traditionally studied within the context of performance technique and the historical evolution of tap practice in the United States. American tap practitioners and historians such as Hill (2010), Knowles (2002), Frank (1994), and Stearns and Stearns (1968) state that tap improvisation contributes to unique performance styles but do not clarify how these identities are achieved by tap dancers. In order to understand how performance styles are generated, a symbolic interactionist approach is applied to the act of tap improvisation in the two communities. Viewing tap improvisation through a symbolic interactionist framework revealed that the tap jams are a shared social process that does not limit participation based on dance training or socio-cultural background. The improvised performances at the tap jam created performance identities that focussed on the individual rather than on an English interpretation of tap dance. The thesis delivers an analysis and discussion of how the tap community members cultivate these identities within a social context, exploring how tap dance is evolving beyond American identity and practice.

Les Maladies Inflammatoires Chroniques de l’Intestin (MICI) regroupent la maladie de Crohn (MC) et la Rectocolite Hémorragique (RCH), deux maladies qui se caractérisent par l’inflammation de la paroi d’une partie du tube digestif, source de lésions destructrices (ulcérations). Ces pathologies complexes sont influencées par de multiples facteurs génétiques et environnementaux. D’une part, de nombreux gènes de susceptibilité pour ces maladies ont été identifiés, mais ils ne permettent d’expliquer qu’une fraction mineure du développement des MICI. D’autre part, certaines études montrent qu’un dysfonctionnement du processus de prise en charge des xénobiotiques dans la muqueuse digestive peut jouer un rôle dans l’initiation et/ou la progression des MICI. Notre travail a consisté, dans un premier temps, en l’étude du profil d’expression de gènes codant pour des protéines impliquées dans le métabolisme et le transport des xénobiotiques. Une stratégie de RT-PCR quantitative en temps réel, permettant l’analyse simultanée de l’expression de 377 gènes, a été utilisée. Cette analyse a été réalisée sur des échantillons de muqueuse intestinale de sujets témoins et de patients atteints de MC, ainsi que sur cinq lignées de cellules épithéliales intestinales.Cette étude a permis d’identifier les systèmes de prise en charge des xénobiotiques présents dans la muqueuse intestinale saine. Des profils d’expression différents ont été mis en évidence entre les tissus intestinaux sains et inflammatoires, mais également entre les tissus intestinaux et les lignées cellulaires intestinales, ce qui suggère des différences majeures dans les processus de prise en charge cellulaire des xénobiotiques, et, par conséquent des différences de susceptibilité à l’effet des composés toxiques exogènes. Dans un second temps, la petite protéine G, Rac1, a été étudiée. Cette protéine est impliquée dans la réparation des ulcérations de l’épithélium intestinal et a récemment été identifiée comme la cible des métabolites actifs des médicaments thiopuriniques, largement prescrits dans le traitement des MICI. La nature et l’étendue de la variabilité de la séquence nucléotidique du gène Rac1 a été évaluée, chez des volontaires sains et des patients atteints de MICI, à l’aide d’une stratégie basée sur le couplage de l’analyse du polymorphisme de conformation de fragments d’ADN simple brin générés par réaction de polymérisation en chaine (PCR-SSCP) et du séquençage. Des études in silico et in vitro des conséquences fonctionnelles des polymorphismes d’intérêts ont ensuite été effectuées dans des lignées cellulaires intestinales (HT29 et Caco-2) et lymphocytaires (Jurkat). Cela nous a conduits à mieux caractériser le promoteur de Rac1 par une analyse de délétion séquentielle et par des techniques de ChIP et d’EMSA.Cette étude nous a permis de démontrer pour la première fois l’existence de polymorphismes génétiques fonctionnels de Rac1 et d’identifier son promoteur minimal, ainsi que des facteurs de transcription à l’origine de la régulation de cette protéine. / Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC) are chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) of the gastrointestinal tract. These are multifactorial polygenic diseases with probable genetic heterogeneity. An emerging concept suggesting that dysfunction(s) of the processing of xenobiotics in the intestinal mucosa may be an important event in the initiation and progression of IBD has been discussed. Firstly, in this study, a precise and reliable characterization of the global expression profile of genes which code enzymes, transporters and nuclear factors involved in the processing of xenobiotics has been performed in intestinal epithelium of controls or patients with IBD, and in 5 intestinal cell lines. A quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis using TaqMan Low Density Arrays (TLDA) was performed to simultaneously measure the expression of 377 genes.This work has identified genes encoding proteins that are involved in the metabolism and the disposition of xenobiotics in the healthy intestinal mucosa. Different genes expression profile between healthy and inflammatory intestinal tissues and between healthy intestinal tissues and intestinal cell lines were found. These tissues will consequently display distinctive susceptibility toward environmental chemicals and their toxic effects.Secondly, the small G protein, Rac1, which regulates cutaneous and mucosal intestinal wound healing and is identified as a target of active metabolites of thiopurine drugs, used in the treatment of IBD, has been studied. We searched for sequence variations by analysing the nucleotide sequence of the promoter and the coding sequence of Rac1 in genomic DNA from healthy volunteers and patients with IBD, using a PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) strategy and sequencing. The functional consequences of variations, that have been identified, were then analysed in silico and in vitro, in human intestinal cell lines (HT29 and Caco-2) and leukemia T-lymphocyte cell line (Jurkat). Via various deletion constructs, a putative regulatory region was identified and characterized further by chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assays.This work provides the first evidence that a functional genetic polymorphism of Rac1 activity exists. Furthermore, this study characterizes the proximal promoter of Rac1 gene and demonstrates the presence of consensus binding sites for numerous transcription factors, which could influence gene expression.