VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The value of languages in an élite English-French bilingual school
Keywords: Education, Bilingual, Social aspects
Education, Bilingual, Ontario
Bilingual schools, Canada
Multilingualism, Social aspects
Multilingualism, Ontario

Drawing on Bourdieu's (1999) theory of language and symbolic power, this thesis examines the distribution and valorizations of linguistic resources in an élite English-French bilingual school in Toronto, Canada. Focusing on observations of classroom and non-classroom interactions, interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, and documentary analysis, the study analyzes the type of educational provision offered by the school and the participants' perceptions of the school's language policy and linguistic practices. The research findings showed that the school provides its students with two kinds of highly valued symbolic capital, English-French bilingualism and internationally recognized educational credentials, and thus, prepares them to enter an international élite job market. The school functions primarily in the interests of anglophone and English-speaking allophone students. It promotes a strong interest in multilingualism in European dominant languages, with a special emphasis placed on Spanish. English remains the dominant language of the school.
Novel mechanisms of hepatic CYP2C11 regulation by aromatic hydrocarbons
Keywords: Molecular biology
Toxicology
Pharmacology

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) mediates most of the toxic and adaptive responses elicited by aromatic hydrocarbons. These chemicals suppress the transcription of the growth hormone-regulated, male-specific rat hepatic cytochrome P450 2C11 gene (CYP2C11) via an unknown mechanism. I hypothesize that the promoter and 5'-flanking region of this gene mediate suppression following aromatic hydrocarbon treatment. Extended lengths of the CYP2C11 5'-flank were cloned into a promoterless luciferase plasmid. Suppression of CYP2C11 constructs was not observed upon treatment of transfected rat 5L, BP8, or mouse Hepa-1 cells with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p-dioxin (TCDD) or 3-methylcholanthrene (MC). In human HepG2 cells, a construct containing 10.1-kb of the 5'-flank displayed a pronounced 6-fold induction by TCDD, which was blocked by α-naphthoflavone, an AHR antagonist/partial agonist. Deletion analysis identified a region between -1.8 and -1.3-kb, which contains a dioxin-responsive element (DRE) previously demonstrated to bind the AHR, that contributes to the paradoxical induction. A critical role for the DRE was confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. The CYP2C11 constructs were studied in living rats, where an intact endocrine system and the full complement of transcription factors needed for suppression of the endogenous gene are present. Using hydrodynamic-based injections to deliver plasmid DNA to the liver of live rats, we studied the MC-responsiveness of luciferase constructs containing 10.1-kb, 5.6-kb and 2.4-kb of the CYP2C11 5'-flank. MC suppressed CYP2C11-luciferase activity of the 10.1-kb and 5.6-kb constructs to below 50% of vehicle levels by 24 h and 72 h. Luciferase activity of the 2.4-kb construct was decreased to 63% of vehicle levels 24 h after MC treatment, but no suppression was detected by 72 h. This suggests that negative regulatory element(s) responsible for CYP2C11 reporter suppression by MC exist in the first 2.4-kb of this gene; however, additional cis-acting elements located between -5.6 and -2.4-kb mediate persistent reporter suppression. CYP2C11-luciferase constructs display a potentially misleading cell-specific paradoxical induction in vitro that is AHR-dependent and DRE-mediated. This is the first demonstration of aromatic hydrocarbon-mediated suppression of a CYP2C11 -luciferase construct, suggesting that the 5'-flanking region and promoter mediate down-regulation of this gene in the intact rat.
Discovering new paths for global citizenship education in Brazil: three casestudies
Keywords: Citizenship, Brazil
International education
Multicultural education
Education and state, Brazil
Globalization

In the last two decades, citizenship education has expanded its vision as it absorbed global perspectives on education. These perspectives have shaped many educational initiatives around the world whose positive impacts can, in turn, illuminate the global education field. This thesis seeks to discover how global citizenship education has manifested itself in Brazil from the beginning of the nineties onwards. It explores the genesis of global citizenship initiatives found in non-formal and formal settings in Brazil, in the light of three concrete case studies. Qualitative research was conducted in order to provide insights in assessing the field of global education in Brazil. The research illustrates that global citizenship education in Brazil has been manifested under different titles such as environmental and peace education initiatives. They have been implementing holistic concepts of global education mainly in non-formal education settings.
Protectionist legislation and the export of laws offshore: a legal analysis of U.S.'s attempts to restrict offshore outsourcing
Keywords: Contracting out, United States
Offshore outsourcing, Law and legislation
Offshore outsourcing, United States
Protectionism, United States
Labor market, United States
Globalization, Economic aspects

The global phenomenon of offshore business process outsourcing has been blamed for the loss of American jobs to developing countries such as India and the Philippines. This has led the U.S. legislators at both the federal and state levels to introduce protectionist legislation restricting offshoring to protect the American labor market. This thesis will argue that under the principles of U.S. domestic and international law, the attempts to restrict offshore outsourcing will riot withstand legal scrutiny. It will contend that U.S. can export its regulatory laws offshore only within the limits of "reasonableness" as prescribed by U.S.'s Restatement of Foreign Relations Law and within the standards set by prevailing case law on choice of law questions. Finally, it will analyze the legal implications of a hypothetical scenario where U.S. attempts to apply its regulatory laws extraterritorially to cover non-citizens working overseas for service providers controlled by U.S. companies.
Classification of non-simple C*-algebras: Inductive limits of splitting interval algebras
Keywords: Mathematics

This thesis is a contribution to the classification program for C*-algebras. In a recent paper of Ciuperca and Elliott--that relied on previous work of Thomsen--a classification of all inductive limits of interval algebras was obtained using the Cuntz semigroup as the classification invariant. It is shown in this thesis that the Cuntz semigroup may be used to classify a broader class of C*-algebras: the inductive limits of interval algebras with splitting points at the endpoints. It is shown that any isomorphism between the Cuntz semigroups of two such algebras that preserves a suitable scale may be lifted to an isomorphism between the algebras. The non-Hausdorffness of the spectrum of the splitting interval algebras raises new difficulties that were not present in the interval case. In proving the Isomorphism Theorem just stated, a number of results of interest in their own right are obtained, e.g., a computation is obtained of the Cuntz semigroup of all splitting tree algebras. A homomorphism theorem is also obtained.
Cultural variations in parenting: Examining the relationship between parenting and child mental health outcomes
Keywords: Child rearing
Parenting
Child mental health

This study explored cultural differences in parenting behaviours (harshness/control/consistency and warmth), child outcome (internalizing and externalizing behaviours) and the relationship between parenting behaviours (i.e. harshness/control) and child outcome in a nationally representative sample of Canadian 4 to 11 year olds from Asian-Canadian, Native-Canadian, African-Canadian and Euro-Canadian families. Multivariate analyses of covariance and analyses of covariance with gender, socioeconomic status (household income and years of education), family structure (single vs. intact), and child age as the covariates indicated cultural variations in parenting behaviours and child outcome. However, contrary to theoretical predictions, it was found that the relationship between harsh/controlling parental behaviours and internalizing and externalizing symptoms are consistent across cultures. These results are discussed in light of theory on cultural context and meaning.
A study of the holistic scoring behaviours of experienced and novice ESL instructors
Keywords: English language, Study and teaching
English language, Spoken English
English language, Ability testing
English language, Instruction and study
Teachers, Rating of

This study was conducted to analyse the holistic scoring behaviour of experienced and novice English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors and to develop a conceptual framework that describes strategies and criteria used in holistic scoring of ESL compositions. Six Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Test of Written English (TWE) benchmark essays were used for the study, and the markers were 5 experienced ESL instructors and 12 newly trained ESL instructors. Each marker performed two scoring tasks: paired comparison and holistic scoring to determine: (1) the aspects of essays the markers paid attention to when reading; (2) the criteria they used to distinguish between different levels of writing abilities; (3) the decision making strategies they used to determine the score of an ESL composition on a holistic scale; and (4) the extent to which novice and experienced markers were able to use a holistic scoring rubric to successfully score ESL compositions with minimum training. The main reading styles observed from analyses of markers' verbal protocols were: (1) identifying and/or correcting errors (mechanical, grammatical, syntactic); (2) understanding the text; (3) evaluating the content; and (4) evaluating structure and format. The novice markers were mainly preoccupied with understanding the text and determining whether or not the writer had addressed the question in the essay prompt. Hence, they focused mainly on language and content. The experienced markers, on the other hand, focused on a broader range of criteria including organization and logic in addition to language and other content-related factors. Both novice and experienced markers experienced difficulties matching essay characteristics to the scale level descriptors. This resulted in different individual interpretations of the rating scale and a low inter-rater reliability. There is potential for holistic scoring to be effective in scoring ESL compositions; however, extensive group training, practice and experience are required to achieve reliable and consistent results with a holistic rating scale. The findings from this study lead to a general descriptive framework of decision-making processes that could be used for training purposes.
Socio-legal and human rights dimensions of child marriage in India
Keywords: Child marriage, Law and legislation
Child marriage, India
Child marriage, Social aspects
Child marriage, India
Children, Legal status, laws, etc
Children, India

This thesis explores socio-legal and human rights dimensions of an age-old problem of child marriages of young girls in India. Right from the 19th century efforts were made by social reformers to raise the age of marriage for girls. However, the problem still stands unresolved on a large scale. By using the social science data, the thesis documents the extent of problem in India and critically analyses how the patriarchal social structure supports the practice of child marriage in the name of culture and tradition by suppressing women's life experiences. Child marriage adversely affects health, particularly the reproductive health of young girls. It denies them the right to education and development. It makes them live the rest of life in servility. The law regulating the age of marriage though was enacted in 1929 in India, by and large it remains unimplemented. There are many substantive and procedural lacunae in it. There are contradictions between it and the religion-based marriage laws, guardianship laws, and the rape law. Besides, the judiciary has not interpreted these laws dynamically. The result is millions of girls are married off when they are young. Based on the feminist theory ‘asking the woman question’ the thesis argues that the young girls are discriminated by the law, culture, and society against their counterparts on the basis of sex, gender and age when they are married off before they attain the legal age. The thesis argues that child marriage is a form of slavery and it violates number of human rights of the young girls. It explores those human rights and pleads that the Indian State is under obligation to protect, respect and fulfil human rights of the young girls as it has ratified the relevant international human rights treaties. It suggests several strategies at national and international level that would help prevent child marriages in future and in turn would provide opportunities to those girls to live in dignity. The human rights approach in the feminist framework adopted in this thesis attempts to offer a pragmatic and holistic solution to the social problem of child marriages of the young girls.
Sustainability development: a review of Canadian foreign aid
Keywords: Economic assistance, Canadian
Sustainable development

This thesis is a study of Canada's foreign aid policy and an examination of the government agency responsible for its delivery, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This work focuses on the influence of both the Sustainable Development (SD) paradigm and a management review of CIDA, the SECOR Report, have had upon foreign aid policy. A detailed discussion and analysis of culture is presented in order to outline and define a cultural dimension which could be incorporated into a sustainable paradigm as well as into the extant aid policy. The purpose of this discussion is to explore the limits of Canadian foreign aid given the bias of the neo-classical economic development paradigm. A secondary consideration is the investigation into the possibility of expanding or changing the economic and political motivations for aid into priorizing a humanitarian approach towards development.
Synthetic phonics in kindergarten classrooms: effects of size of phonological unit, type of phonics unit, and amount and timing of phonics instruction on literacy outcomes
Keywords: Phonetics
Reading, Phonetic method
English language, Phonetics
Reading (Kindergarten)

Two studies evaluated the effectiveness of a particular commercially-available synthetic phonics program, Jolly Phonics, in developing phonemic awareness and alphabetic-coding skills at the small phonological unit (SPU) level. The main study involved 5-6-year-olds who received Jolly Phonics instruction in senior kindergarten. A subsidiary study involved 4-5-year-olds who received Jolly Phonics instruction in junior kindergarten. Children in the experimental groups in both studies were given brief sessions of Jolly Phonics instruction in their regular kindergarten classrooms 3-5 times a week for 6-7 months of the school year. Children in the main study had varying amounts of Jolly Phonics instruction: a 2-years group (n = 71) was taught with Jolly Phonics during 2 school years-in junior and in senior kindergarten; a 1-year group (n = 64) was taught with Jolly Phonics during 1 school year in senior kindergarten, but not in junior kindergarten; and a 0-years group (n = 82) received no systematic phonics instruction in either junior or senior kindergarten. In the subsidiary study, the 1-year group (n = 65) was taught with Jolly Phonics during 1 school year-in junior kindergarten. The 0-years group (n = 3) received no systematic phonics instruction in junior kindergarten. The focus of the main study was to investigate the effect of SPU knowledge (1) on small and large (LPU) phonological unit literacy tasks and (2) on visual (i.e., using letter cues) blending and deletion tasks vs. auditory equivalents of the same tasks. (3) The main study also examined the effects of amount of phonics instruction (e.g., 2 years vs. 1 year vs. 0 years). (4) The subsidiary study examined the issue of timing of phonics instruction in order to determine the effectiveness of introducing Jolly Phonics in junior vs. senior kindergarten. Results indicated that: (1) SPU knowledge was effective on both SPU and LPU literacy tasks; (2) children performed better on auditory-only blending tasks and visual-only deletion tasks; (3) the 2-years group outperformed the 1-year and 0-years groups on both SPU and LPU literacy tasks; and the 1-year group outperformed the 0-years group on most tasks; and (4) junior kindergarten children benefited from Jolly Phonics instruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Management of post-mortem pregnancy
Keywords: Pregnant women, Legal status, laws, etc
Fetus
Brain dealth

In my thesis I deal with the legal and ethical aspects of maintaining a brain-dead pregnant woman on “life-support” by the successful delivery of her fetus. First, I analyze post-mortem pregnancy through discussing abortions-law, the law regulating general bodily interventions in pregnant women's life style and physical condition, and the legalizing of medical interventions in dead patients. I also examine the legal framework of pregnancy clauses in advance directive legislation, and probe the pregnant woman's ethical obligation toward her fetus. Next, I deal with specific issues that rise in the context of maternal brain-death. On the one hand I examine how the moral and legal status of the fetus and its gestational age affect the dilemma whether to maintain a brain-dead pregnant woman “alive”. On the other hand, I look at the moral, legal, psychological, religious, and physical aspects of interfering with dead patients, the pragmatic and legal obstacles to such an intervention, the rights of next-of-kin and friends of the deceased, and the physician-patient relationship. Finally, I incorporate a relational feminist analysis and conclude my research with practical guidelines for managing post-mortem pregnancy.
Toronto newspapers, 1798-1845: a case study in print culture
Keywords: Newspapers, History

The time has come for new scholarship in book history, given the development of the discipline and the current national project for the History of the Book in Canada/Histoire du livre et de l'imprimé au Canada. Although a research infrastructure exists, there is no sustained analysis of newspapers, which were one of the most accessible genres of print in early nineteenth-century Upper Canada. This thesis begins to fill the gap with a case study of Toronto newspapers from 1798 to 1845, that is, from the time of the first press to mid-century when eleven newspapers were being published in the city. In its analysis of newspapers the present study draws upon the approaches of analytical and historical bibliography and those of social history. In order to understand the methods of newspaper production and distribution, it gathers physical evidence from the newspapers' format—the form, size, paper, typography and illustrations—and from published announcements from proprietors/editors. This information is complemented by documentation from archival sources, such as printers' memoirs and correspondence, shop account books and ledgers, and publications of the provincial government. The study contributes to book history scholarship by a quantitative and qualitative analysis of newspaper content to determine the kinds of information newspapers provided, their function in the circulation of news, and their role in the advancement of print culture. Between 1798 and 1845, thirty-two newspapers were launched in Toronto, fifteen of which endured for five or more years. The proprietors of these newspapers worked within a network of colleagues, which facilitated the exchange of information and the use of common techniques in newspaper production and news presentation. As a result, in this period the newspaper evolved from a government-controlled organ carrying official announcements and news from abroad to an instrument of readers, providing them with information they wanted and needed about the world, their province and their community, while at the same time uniting them by publishing common interests and concerns. By thus fostering a readership, newspapers emerged as a very significant factor in the advancement of print culture in Upper Canada.
Keeping Iran's nuclear programme civil: the legality of using force against Iran in respect of its nuclear activities
Keywords: Nuclear weapons, Iran
Nuclear power plants, Iran
Intervention (International law)
Self-defense (International law)

The current dispute over Iran's nuclear programme has triggered, and indeed been aggravated by, reports of planned military strikes against both its nuclear and military installations. This paper considers the legality of an armed attack. It examines whether military intervention could be justified under the UN Charter as an exception to Article 2(4)'s general prohibition on the use of force i.e. as where authorised by the Security Council or as an act of self-defence. The paper then considers if anticipatory or preventive self-defence could be lawfully applied. It discovers that even if anticipatory self-defence is lawful, the factual context does not lend itself to its application. In direct contrast, the facts at hand correlate with the operating criteria of preventive self-defence but the fact that it has not yet been absorbed into customary international law impedes its legal praxis.
The Ontario school curriculum: a critical overview
Keywords: Education, Curricula
Education, Ontario
Discrimination in education, Ontario
Racism, Ontario

Educational reforms have been introduced by the Ontario government since 1995, including a new standardized curriculum. This thesis examines the Ontario elementary curriculum for what and whose knowledge is being legitimized in schools. Using a critical anti-racism perspective, this study interrogates racialized power relations. A combined content and critical discourse analysis explores how the language of the curriculum is exclusionary, how Eurocentricism and Whiteness are propagated through the content, and how the history and knowledge of racial minorities is rendered inconsequential. This study finds that White bodies are privileged in schools while racialized bodies are disempowered and thus disadvantaged. Recommendations for curriculum reform are made, alongside broader action strategies for the inclusivity and empowerment of all students.
Promoting equitable schools: the role of equity policies in Toronto-area schools
Keywords: Educational equalization, Ontario
Educational change, Ontario
Discrimination in education, Ontario
School improvement programs, Ontario

The central goal of this thesis is to investigate the development and implementation of an equity policy in a major, urban school board in the Greater Toronto Area. This study engages in a document analysis of this board's equity policy to examine its merits and possible deficiencies. Further, this study utilized semi-structured interviews with policy writers, superintendents, principals, and teachers to describe challenges faced in creating and implementing an effective and all-encompassing policy. The intent of this study is to explore what types of changes school boards need to make (if any) in order to enable marginalized students to achieve success in Ontario schools. Findings suggest that adequate resources and leadership have not been provided for proper policy implementation, a lack of knowledge of the policy exists, and discomfort is present in implementing equity among the Board's stakeholders. Recommendations for effectively implementing equity directives and achieving equitable schools are provided.