VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Aproximaciones Literarias a la Memoria, Historia e Identidad en la Literatura Contemporánea de Guinea Ecuatorial
Keywords: Equatorial Guinea
Memory
Trauma
History
Contemporary Literature
Identity

Esta tesis examina cómo las narrativas de María Nsué Angüe, Joaquín Mbomio Bacheng, Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, y Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel re-escriben la historia de Guinea Ecuatorial. Los autores articulan un discurso contestatario a las construcciones sociales afincadas por el discurso homogéneo colonialista. Los análisis textuales se realizan tomando en cuenta la vigencia cultural española en el discurso político nacional inmediato a la independencia del país en 1968. Las obras cuestionan la definición de la identidad guineana con respecto a la implementación de los valores culturales, históricos, lingüísticos, religiosos, y políticos en el territorio guineano. Las indagaciones, los rechazos, las condenas, y las rupturas que se analizan las representaciones literarias son posibles mediante el acercamiento teórico de la memoria. A partir de esta interacción discursiva literaria surgen nuevas interpretaciones que permiten entender la experiencia histórica del sujeto guineano.
Beauty, To Kalon, and Its Relation to the Good in the Works of Plato
Keywords: beauty
plato

Despite the evident importance of beauty (τὸ καλόν) in Plato, the precise relation between beauty and goodness (τὸ ἀγαθόν) has yet to be specified. Part of the reason for this seems to be the belief that καλός should not be translated ‘beautiful,’ because it has a broader sense and application than our word ‘beautiful.’ A better translation, on this view, would be something like ‘fine.’ But it is difficult to see the difference between fineness and goodness, and it is perhaps for this reason that determining the relation between the two has not been felt an urgent task. In the first chapter we shall investigate the use of the Greek word καλός in some of the major authors prior to and contemporary with Plato in order to determine the strength of the evidence for translations of καλός other than ‘beautiful.’ It will be argued that the evidence for translations of καλός other than ‘beautiful’ is weak, and thus that the word should generally be translated ‘beautiful.’ When we turn to Plato’s understanding of τὸ καλόν, we find that he often seems to associate the concept closely with goodness, and yet there are also passages which suggest a difference between the two. Thus the first question to ask is whether beauty and goodness are at least coextensive for Plato? In the second chapter it will be argued that despite some apparent evidence to the contrary, he does seem to think they are coextensive. In the third chapter we argue that Plato identifies goodness and unity, and that the coextension of goodness and beauty is explained on the model of the necessary connection between certain forms, or immanent characters, in the Phaedo. But it does not follow from this that goodness and beauty are identical. In the fourth chapter we will argue that, though beauty and goodness are connected in concrete particulars, qua forms they are distinct, i.e., there are two separate forms, the form of the good (which is identical to the one) and the form of beauty. Finally, a theme which runs more or less throughout this work is that, contrary to what one might expect, Plato seems to discover what is good by asking what is beautiful. This may seem counterintuitive, because there are passages, like Republic 452d-e and 509b, where it seems that goodness determines or in a way causes beauty, but it seems that when trying to discover what is truly good, Plato always settles on what is beautiful. It may be agreed, even by those who disagree about what goodness is, that things like justice and courage are beautiful, and it is these that Plato always thinks constitute the human good.
Analyzing Tension and Drama in Beethoven’s First-movement Sonata Forms
Keywords: Beethoven
tension
drama
sonata form
analysis
style

Dramatic, in the sense of “highly intense,” is a quality we often associate with the music of Beethoven, but no theory has attempted to define drama in any systematic manner. This study therefore explores the idea by constructing a theory that distinguishes between dramatic and non-dramatic passages. At the core of the theory is the notion that drama is the result of several types of tension occurring simultaneously. Dramatic passages have a “High” tension level, whereas non-dramatic ones have a “Low” level. Individual tension types are divided into two categories: rhetorical and syntactical. Rhetorical tension types include such features as a loud dynamic, a fast rhythm, and a thick texture, which need no musical context to be expressed. By contrast, syntactical tension types include such features as chromaticism, metric irregularity, and phrase expansion, which always require a comparison of events to be expressed. Only tension types from the same category may combine to form drama. Because this study examines the relationships between drama and sonata form, the analysis of form is a key issue that receives a separate chapter and additional thought throughout. The methodology combines aspects of William E. Caplin’s theory of formal functions and James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory, and is applied to all of Beethoven’s first-movement sonata forms, a total of eighty-seven movements. Each formal unit is analyzed as one of six dramatic “archetypes” that describe a basic outline of High and/or Low tension levels. These archetypes constitute the dramatic structure of the piece. Percentage frequencies of the archetypes were calculated for each formal unit in the movements as a whole, and as grouped by the categories of key, mode, genre, and style period. The greatest distinctions in dramatic structure occur among the three style periods of early, middle, and late, the early works showing a sectional approach with contrasting tension between phrases and the middle to late works gradually becoming more continuous, maintaining the same tension levels between units. A concluding analysis of Beethoven’s String Trio, op. 3, demonstrates the theory’s ability to enrich the interpretation of an individual work.
From Collectives to Connectives: Italian Media Activism and the Repurposing of the Social
Keywords: grassroots media
activism
co-research
Telestreet
differential accumulation
Autonomia

The dissertation develops the concept of repurposing as a means for thinking with activists and the issues they confront. It moves alongside pirate television collective insu^tv as they draw on a variety of histories, traditions and technological resources for their practices. Repurposing functions on multiple levels and at multiple scales, from the recycling of materials and spaces to the harnessing and relaying of encounters and events within an ever-expanding field of social relations. When seen as a way of connecting activist groups and communities, the repurposing of media contributes to strengthening an often fragmented and conflicted activist field. Indeed, insu^tv’s use of information and technology brings to the fore the value of media activism for the creation of social assemblages in which the “media” literally mediates between individuals and among individuals and their environment, instituting and developing an ontogenetic relation (Simondon, 1989). Yet, rather than simply making sense of insu^tv’s practices, the concept of repurposing also provokes a discussion regarding the ethics of connection. For insu^tv, this connective ethics can be understood as a set of rules and principles that facilitate the evaluation of actions, communication, and thought according to an immanent mode of collective existence (Deleuze, 1988; Simondon, 1989). For the author, herself a member of insu^tv and an academic researcher, this immanent position helps challenge traditional models of knowing and envisioning social change and instead proposes alternatives that attend to the singularity and relation among new political movements, and to the political potential of research methods that focus on process and fold activism into academia. The methodology is inspired by the militant research methods of the Italian Autonomia movement (conricerca or inchiesta), as developed and performed by activists themselves. While attending to the complexity of social struggles, the concept of repurposing enables an approach to research and experimentation as modes of sociability, where these modes are themselves repurposed through an ethics of connection. This line informs the relation between ethics and subjectivation, as well as between ethics and micropolitics, facilitating the emergence of new modes of political action through the repurposing of the social field itself.
A Critical Exploration of Contingent Workers' Training and Access to Information and Communication Technology
Keywords: immigrants
contingent Workers
digital divide
adult education
Information and Communication Technology
social capital
community
ruling relations
critical theory
exclusion
access to training

In the late 1990s, many Western governments introduced policy programs to make information and communication technology (ICT) accessible to all. More than a decade later, however, such universal access is far from a reality. Between 2002 and 2005, in response to a request from a group of contingent workers who felt excluded from effective access to ICT training, a university research group on contingency conducted an applied research project in the form of a series of basic ICT courses. This qualitative dissertation both critically examines the training process and treats it as a case study for exploring broader issues of exclusion and resistance in the context of access to ICT. Specifically, it explores: (1) the symptoms of exclusion as they relate to ICT, social capital, and the community; (2) possibilities for resistance that can alleviate the conditions of exclusion; (3) the assumptions, theories, knowledge construction, policy methods, and processes that underlie the symptoms of exclusion; and (4) alternative assumptions, strategies, and activities that offer possibilities for resistive action. The case study provided an environment in which exclusionary and resistive experiences with access to ICT and training were examined from the perspective of excluded contingent workers, as supported by a university research group. A key finding is that generational behaviour in the domestic sphere erects barriers that contribute to the silencing and exclusion of immigrant contingent women; these barriers then reinforce similar patterns of exclusion in institutionalized ICT training. Another major finding is the need for alleviating the barrier that limited English skills create for ICT learning; addressing this issue must be part of any recommendations for curricular change. Guided throughout by a critical approach that focuses on the concept of ruling relations, this dissertation marshals critical knowledge gained from below in support of change by policymakers, educators, and community practitioners.
Polymer Conformational Changes under Pressure Driven Compressible Flow in Nanofluidic Channels
Keywords: multiparticle collision dynamics
polymer
tangles
knots
nanofluidics
microfluidics

A hybrid molecular dynamics/multiparticle collision dynamics algorithm was constructed to model the pressure-driven flow of a compressible fluid through a nanoscopic channel of square cross-sectional area, as well as the effect of this flow on the configuration of a polymer chain that was tethered to the surface of this nanochannel. In the process of simulating channel flow, a new adiabatic partial slip boundary condition was created as well as a modified source/sink inlet and outlet boundary condition that could maintain a specified pressure gradient across the channel without the large entrance effects typically associated with these algorithms. The results of the flow simulations were contrasted with the results from a series solution to the Navier-Stokes equation for isothermal compressible flow, and showed excellent agreement with the results from the series solution when slip-boundary conditions were applied. A finitely extendible non-linear elastic spring and bead polymer chain was used to simulate the effect of flow on the polymer chain configuration under poor solvent and θ solvent conditions. Under θ solvent conditions, the cyclical dynamics that have been previousy observed for tethered polymer chains in pure shear flows were noted, however they were restricted to the end of the polymer chain. Under poor solvent conditions, the polymer adopted a metastable helix configuration as it collapsed to a globule state. The study also examined interchain and intrachain entanglements in polymers using the granny knot and overhand knot. The mechanisms by which these tangles untied themselves were determined. At low flow rates, the tangles unravelled by the end of the chain migrating through the loops of the tangle. At high flow rates, the tangles behaved like an entrained object as they reptated towards the end of the chain.
Characterization of CD109
Keywords: molecular biology
haematology
cell biology
platelets
phylogenetics
CD109
macroglobulin

CD109 is a 170kD glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein expressed on subsets of fetal and adult CD34+ haematopoietic stem cells, endothelial cells, activated T cells, and activated platelets. Cloning of the CD109 cDNA by our group identified the molecule as a novel member of the alpha2M/C3/C4/C5 family of thioester containing proteins. Curiously, CD109 bears features of both the alpha2M and complement branches of the gene family. Additionally CD109 carries the antigenic determinant of the Gov alloantigen system, which has been implicated in a subset of immune mediated platelet destruction syndromes. In this thesis, the status of CD109 in the evolution and phylogeny of the A2M family has been clarified. First, I elucidated the evolutionary relationships of CD109, and of the other eight human A2M/C3/C4/C5 proteins, using sequence analysis and a detailed comparison of the organization of the corresponding loci. Extension of this analysis to compare CD109 to related sequences extending back to placazoans, defined CD109 as a member of a distinct and archaic branch of the A2M phylogenetic tree. Second, in conjunction with collaborators, the molecular basis of the Gov alloantigen system was identified as an allele specific A2108C; Y703S polymorphism. Utilizing cDNA and genomic sequence we then developed methods to accurately and precisely genotype the Gov system. Finally, the expression kinetics of platelet CD109 was elucidated, in order to obtain basic information regarding its expression and subcellular localization, and to resolve discrepancies in reported platelet CD109 expression. Quantitative flow cytometry demonstrated that CD109 was expressed on the surface of activated platelets at very low levels in most healthy volunteers. In resting platelets, CD109 was localized to the OCS and intracellular storage granules. CD109 displayed differential agonist induced expression in comparison to GPIIb/IIIa epitope unmasking, and surface expression of CD62P and CD63. CD109 was rapidly expressed on the cell surface in response to low doses of both strong and weak agonists. This early expression is likely the result of CD109’s proximity to the plasma membrane in resting platelets. As such, CD109 is positioned to participate at early stages of primary haemostasis.
The Effects of Tribes Training in a Beginning-teacher-education Program
Keywords: Beginning-Teacher-Education
Tribes Learning Communities

Research is emerging that documents the use of the Tribes process in elementary and secondary schools. Inquiry into the use of Tribes in beginning-teacher-education programs has not been conducted. This study investigated teacher candidates’ perceptions of the effectiveness of Tribes training in enhancing their learning, their concerns about implementing the Tribes process, and their levels of use of Tribes during the beginning-teacher-education program and their first years of teaching. A mixed-method research design was employed to collect data to determine the value of Tribes training during the beginning-teacher-education program. The Concerns Based Adoption Model provided a conceptual framework to measure, describe, and explain the process of change experienced by teachers implementing Tribes in their classrooms as well as how that change process was affected by the leadership and collegial support in the schools. The findings describe a belief in Tribes that was developed during the training in the beginning-teacher-education program. This belief in the value of Tribes and the importance of creating learning communities helped to solidify the teacher candidates’ belief systems about teaching and provided them with a vision of their future classrooms and a framework for their philosophies of education. The findings reveal that the knowledge and skills gained during the training in the beginning-teacher-education year were transferred into the practice of all graduates. The interviews and the questionnaires indicated an array of concerns. The data revealed that high-intensity informational and personal concerns were most evident in the profiles of the newest graduates. The profiles of the some of the most experienced teachers indicated lower self and task concerns, and increased impact concerns. All groups identified collaboration concerns related to resistance from colleagues and a perceived lack of leadership for change. The findings from the interviews revealed that all but two teachers were using the Tribes process with their classes from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 Calculus. Participants highlighted the importance of school culture as well as leadership style and behaviours as important factors in the implementation of Tribes.
Living with Loss: Mapping Derechos Humanos on the Landscape of Public Remembrance of the 1976-1983 Dictatorship in Argentina
Keywords: cultural memory of state violence, public remembrance and pedagogy, human rights, Argentina

The Argentine landscape is marked by countless sites of remembrance of the 1976-1983 dictatorship drawn by human rights groups in Argentina, producing a seemingly infinite command to remember the violence of this period and the 30,000 who were disappeared. Though this landscape can seem chaotic, this impression discounts the context of loss on which it is constructed as well as the deeply affective and contested political issues that motivate its construction. This study thus maps the ways demands for human rights mobilized through public remembrance of the dictatorship articulate a continual learning to live with loss. Investigating the specificities of loss in Argentina, I explore how human rights claims are made in the name of the disappeared who, neither dead nor alive, are at once everywhere and nowhere. I draw largely from my conversations with members of human rights groups to illuminate how the demand for derechos humanos is articulated in particular ways to address present-day social injustices and to affirm the living’s relationship with the disappeared. The study aims to contribute to an understanding of public remembrance as a continual process of teaching and learning about the past that is intended to motivate the formation of a public committed to constructing a better present and future.
Role of Molecular Chaperones in the Biosynthesis of Anion Exchanger 1
Keywords: membrane
glycoprotein
transporter
chaperones
biosynthesis
anion exchanger 1
disease
treatment

Mutations in the SLC4A1 gene result in misfolding and trafficking defects of the human erythroid (AE1) and kidney (kAE1) forms of the anion exchanger 1 glycoprotein. This affects the amount of functional protein at the cell surface, resulting in hematological and renal diseases. In this thesis, the role of the quality control system of molecular chaperones (cytosolic and ER) was examined during the biosynthesis of wild type and mutant AE1 in different cellular models. The hypothesis to be tested is that molecular chaperones are responsible for the intracellular retention of AE1 mutants. Chaperones were found to interact with AE1 and kAE1 in vitro and in vivo (HEK-293, K562, MDCK cells). Disruption of the calnexin-AE1 interaction in K562 cells did not affect the cell surface levels of wild type or mutant erythroid AE1. AE1 also trafficked to the cell surface in mouse embryonic fibroblasts completely deficient in calnexin or calreticulin. In contrast, in MDCK cells, disruption of the calnexin-kAE1 interaction allowed functional dominant (R589H, R901stop), but not misfolded kAE1 mutants (kSAO, G701D), to escape the ER and traffic to the cell surface. Calnexin is therefore not required for the cell surface expression of erythroid AE1, but can be responsible for the intracellular retention of certain kAE1 mutants in cells with the complete complement of molecular chaperones. Components involved in membrane glycoprotein folding and quality control (calnexin, ERp57, Hsc70, Hsp70), were lost at later stages during the differentiation of CD34+ erythroid progenitor cells. This suggests that the loss of molecular chaperones may facilitate the massive production of red cell glycoproteins, allowing erythroid AE1 mutants to escape quality control, traffic to the plasma membrane, and be present in mature red blood cells. These studies demonstrate that the role chaperones play varies, depending on cellular context. By understanding the cellular context and factors involved, therapeutic strategies may be tailored to deal with protein misfolding diseases, and in the case of kAE1, rescue the cell surface trafficking of misfolded, but functional, transport protein using pharmacological modulators.