VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Factors that Govern the Induction of an In vivo Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Response against a Tissue-borne Antigen
Keywords: dendritic cells
T-lymphocytes

In addition to their activity against intracellular pathogens, it is now clear that CD8+ T-lymphocytes also mediate anti-tissue responses. In order to manipulate these responses in the setting of tumor immunity or autoimmunity, it is necessary that we understand the parameters that promote CD8+ activation. In the first section of this thesis, a transgenic mouse model was used to explore the effectiveness of peptide/adjuvant-based and dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccination techniques at eliciting CD8-mediated anti-pancreatic responses. It was found that, while peptide vaccines were unable to stimulate autoimmunity, the transfer of DCs promoted autoimmune diabetes in a manner that was dependent upon the toll-like receptor (TLR)-based maturation of the DCs. Furthermore, the diabetes induction was dependent upon the engagement of the immunodominant CD8+ population and a second T-cell specificity, indicating that polyclonal responses may be required for effective tissue destruction. In the second section of this thesis, I explored the requirements for CD28-signaling during the activation of naïve self-reactive CD8+ T-cells. The transfer of mature DCs was insufficient to promote diabetes in CD28-deficient animals, whereas infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus could induce diabetes in the same animals. Anti-tissue responses were further explored in tumor-bearing mice following DC transfer and demonstrated that a critical determinant of the induction of anti-tissue immunity in the absence of CD28-derived costimulatory signals, was the persistence of antigen presentation. In the final section of this thesis, I explored the role of nuclear factor kappa B 1 (NF-κB1) in DC maturation using the DC transfer model described above. Surprisingly, NF-κB1-deficient DCs were capable of inducing diabetes without the need for external stimulation. Furthermore, the absence of NF-κB1 in unstimulated DCs was associated with dysregulated production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and this cytokine was required for the proper upregulation of the cytotoxic effector molecule granzyme B in CD8+ T-cells that infiltrated the pancreatic islets. This work therefore presents a novel model of autoimmune tissue destruction, in which defined genes and pathways that contribute to DC-T-cell interactions can be explored in an in vivo non-TCR transgenic setting.
Estimating Urban Scale Semi-volatile Organic Compound Emissions and Fate Using a Coupled Multimedia and Atmospheric Transport Model
Keywords: persistent organic pollutants
environmental fate modeling
fugacity
urban pollution

Cities are sources of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), to surrounding regions and beyond. A spatially resolved, (5×5 km2), dynamic contaminant fate model named Spatially Oriented or SO-MUM was developed by coupling the fugacity based Multimedia Urban Model (MUM) (Diamond et al., 2001; Diamond et al., 2010c) and the Boundary Layer Forecast Model and Air Pollution Prediction System (BLFMAPS) which was developed at Environment Canada (Daggupaty et al., 2006). MUM was updated to contain a revised surface film sub-model which takes into account the dynamic nature of surface films. SO-MUM was illustrated by application to the City of Toronto, Canada. Spatially resolved air emissions of Σ88PCB were estimated to be ~230 (40-480) kg y-1, 280 (50-580) g y-1 km-2, and 90 (16-190) mg y-1 capita-1 and Σ26PBDE were estimated to be 28 (6-63) kg y-1, 34 (7-77) g y-1 km-2 and 11 (2-25) mg y-1 capita-1. These emissions were back-calculated from measured air concentrations and spatial chemical mass inventories yielding emission rates per mass inventory of 0.4 (0.05-1.6) and 0.1 (0.01-0.7) g kg-1inventory y-1, for Σ88PCBs and Σ26PBDEs, respectively. Approximately 30% and 16% of PCB and PBDE emissions emanate from the city’s downtown. Air advection accounted for ~95% (PCB) and ~70% (PBDE) of total air emission losses with the remaining balance depositing to the city. The metric “Urban Travel Distance” or UTD was introduced for quantifying the extent of an urban plume resulting from spatially heterogeneous emissions. For PCBs and PBDEs the UTDs were ~25 and ~30 km. The updated surface film sub-model indicated that films “bounce” higher vapor pressure semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) back into the air but they act as a transient sink from air for lower vapor pressure SVOCs, thereby facilitating transport to surface waters. Model calculations suggest that if the PCB inventory is reduced, volatilization from near-shore Lake Ontario will become a net source of PCBs to air, but that neither near-shore Lake Ontario nor soil would become a significant volatilization PBDE source to air.
Towards A Poetics of Marvellous Spaces in Old and Middle English Narratives
Keywords: marvellous
wonder
medieval
landscape
geography
Faerie
Hell
Purgatory
Paradise
monsters
Beowulf
Sir Orfeo
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Mandeville
poetics
oral tradition
traditional referentiality
displacement

From the eighth to the fourteenth century, places of wonder and dread appear in a wide variety of genres in Old and Middle English: epics, lays, romances, saints’ lives, travel narratives, marvel collections, visions of the afterlife. These places appear in narratives of the other world, a term which in Old and Middle English texts refers to the Christian afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, even Paradise can be fraught with wonder, danger, and the possibility of harm. But in addition to the other world, there are places that are not theologically separate from the human world, but that are nevertheless both marvellous and horrifying: the monster-mere in Beowulf, the Faerie kingdom of Sir Orfeo, the demon-ridden Vale Perilous in Mandeville’s Travels, or the fearful landscape of the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Fraught with horror or the possibility of harm, these places are profoundly different from the presented or implied home world of the text. My dissertation investigates how Old and Middle English narratives create places of wonder and dread; how they situate these places metaphysically between the world of living mortals and the world of the afterlife; how they furnish these places with dangerous topography and monstrous inhabitants, as well as with motifs, with tropes, and with thematic concerns that signal their marvellous and fearful nature. I argue that the heart of this poetics of marvellous spaces is displacement. Their wonder and dread comes from boundaries that these places blur and cross, from the resistance of these places to being known or mapped, and from the deliberate distancing between these places and the home of their texts. This overarching concern with displacement encourages the migration of iconographic motifs, tropes, and themes across genre boundaries and theological categories.
The Culmination of Tradition-based Tafsīr: The Qurʼān Exegesis al-Durr al-manthūr of al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505)
Keywords: Qurʼān
Tafsīr
al-Durr al-manthūr
al-Suyūṭī
Exegesis
ḥadīth
al-Ṭabarī
Ibn Kathīr
al-Shawkānī
al-Ālūsī
Ibn Taymīyah
Ibn Taymiya
Muslim Tradition
Quran Commentary

This is a study of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī’s al-Durr al-manthūr fi-l-tafsīr bi-l-ma’thur (The scattered pearls of tradition-based exegesis), hereinafter al-Durr. In the present study, the distinctiveness of al-Durr becomes evident in comparison with the tafsīrs of al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) and Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373). Al-Suyūṭī surpassed these exegetes by relying entirely on ḥadīth (tradition). Al-Suyūṭī rarely offers a comment of his own. Thus, in terms of its formal features, al-Durr is the culmination of tradition-based exegesis (tafsīr bi-l-ma’thūr). This study also shows that al-Suyūṭī intended in al-Durr to subtly challenge the tradition-based hermeneutics of Ibn Taymīyah (d. 728/1328). According to Ibn Taymīyah, the true, unified, interpretation of the Qurʼān must be sought in the Qurʼān itself, in the traditions of Muḥammad, and in the exegeses of the earliest Muslims. Moreover, Ibn Taymīyah strongly denounced opinion-based exegesis (tafsīr bi-l-ra’y). By means of the traditions in al-Durr, al-Suyūṭī supports several of his views in contradistinction to those of Ibn Taymīyah. Al-Suyūṭī’s traditions support the following views. First, opinion-based exegesis is a valid supplement to tradition-based exegesis. Second, the early Muslim community was not quite unified. Third, the earliest Qur’ānic exegetes did not offer a unified exegesis of the Qur’ān. Fourth, Qur’ānic exegesis is necessarily polyvalent since Muslims accept a number of readings of the Qur’ān, and variant readings give rise to various interpretations. Al-Suyūṭī collected his traditions from a wide variety of sources some of which are now lost. Two major exegetes, al-Shawkānī (d. 1250/1834) and al-Ālūsī (d. 1270/1854), copied some of these traditions from al-Durr into their Qur’ān commentaries. In this way, al-Suyūṭī has succeeded in shedding new light on rare, neglected, and previously scattered traditions.
Developing Self-regulated Learning Skills To Overcome Lexical Problems in Writing: Case Studies of Korean ESL Learners
Keywords: second language writing
self-regulated learning
lexical knowledge

The study examined how 5 adult Korean learners of English developed self-regulated learning (SRL) skills to overcome lexical problems in their English writing. Empirical studies have consistently shown that many of the greatest problems for ESL learners in writing are lexical in nature. The goal of the present study was to help participants to address these problems, first through tutored assistance and then more independently by controlling their uses of strategies through planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes. The study involved two phases: Phase 1 was exploratory in nature, in which I attempted to identify typical lexical problems Korean learners of English encounter in writing. Phase 2 included an intervention in the form of one-on-one tutoring that followed the cyclic model of SRL proposed by Zimmerman, Bonner, and Kovach (1996). I worked with 5 participants through the SRL cycle individually as they wrote and revised 3 argumentative essays. The intervention lasted for 9 weeks, focusing on developing the participants’ SRL skills in writing through the use of various strategies that were devised in Phase 1 and refined throughout Phase 2. I analyzed the participants’ difficulties and uses of strategies, self-ratings on their essays, and several measures of essay quality to examine changes in their SRL skills, self-efficacy, and writing skills. The participants initially encountered various types of difficulties in their English writing and primarily relied on self-employed strategies to cope with their difficulties. Over the course of the intervention, the participants’ attention to their difficulties and uses of various linguistic resources became progressively more focused and specific. Initially, the participants largely depended on their L1 to write their L2 essays, being chiefly occupied with the grammatical encoding of their communicative intentions. Subsequently, the participants displayed unique patterns in developing their SRL skills, which exerted positive influences on building their self-efficacy beliefs as writers and on improving the quality of their essays. Based on these findings, I emphasize the growing need for L2 writing teachers to incorporate language-focused, vocabulary-centered, and corpora-based instruction into their teaching practices. In turn, students require individual support and untimed writing tasks to develop SRL skills in writing.
The Relationships Among Emotional Intelligence, Gender, Coping Strategies, and Well-being inthe Management of Stress in Close Interpersonal Relationships and the Workplace
Keywords: Emotional Intelligence
Coping
Gender
Stress
Interpersonal
Occupational
Well-Being

People with high levels of emotional intelligence (EI) seem to possess emotional skills that allow them to cope effectively with the challenges they face and promote well-being. Considering the role of EI in coping research may yield significant benefits for individuals because EI has consistently been linked with positive outcome measures, including life and work satisfaction, interpersonal functioning, healthy relationships, job performance, psychological well-being, physical health, and psychophysiological measures of adaptive coping (Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010). Although the theoretical significance of EI to coping has been recognized (e.g., Bar-On & Parker, 2000; Snyder, 1999), relatively few studies explore the relationships among these constructs. The current research explores and compares how emotional intelligence (EI) facilitates adaptive coping across both interpersonal and occupational contexts – two central areas of our lives. It provides evidence in support of an extended adaptational model contextualizing EI within the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). In general, results from an online survey (N = 300) showed that most participants (approximately 66%) did not cope adaptively with stress. Results are consistent with a model which suggests that EI and the coping strategies people use when dealing with interpersonal and occupational stressors have significant effects on psychological well-being. The findings linked EI with adaptive coping behaviour, exposing both similarities and differences in the types of coping strategies people implement across interpersonal and occupational contexts, as well as their relationships to well-being. In addition, the results demonstrated that certain coping strategies (i.e., social support, venting/self-blame, and alcohol/drug use) partially mediated the relationship between emotion skills and well-being in these two contexts. Finally, gender differences in both EI and coping strategies emerged, with the differences being mostly attributed to the socialization of gender role (i.e., the degree of agentic and communal traits) rather than sex (i.e., being male or female). Moderation models suggested that gender did not interact with EI to influence coping strategy choice (i.e., social support, venting/self-blame, alcohol/drug use) or well-being. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the therapeutic context, organizational policy, theoretical considerations, as well as future research directions.
Involvement of Th17 Pathway in Adverse Drug Reactions: Mechanistic Investigation of Drug-induced Autoimmunity and Drug-induced Liver Injury
Keywords: adverse drug reactions
T helper 17 cells

Clinical characteristics of idiosyncratic drug reactions (IDRs) suggest that they are immune mediated. Penicillamine-induced autoimmunity in Brown Norway rats was used as a tool for mechanistic studies of this type of IDR. It has been shown that T helper 17 (Th17) cells play a central role in many types of autoimmune diseases. This study was designed to test whether Th17 cells are involved in the pathogenesis of penicillamine-induced autoimmunity. In sick animals, interleukin (IL) 6 and transforming growth factor-β1, known to be driving forces of Th17 differentiation, were consistently increased following penicillamine treatment. IL-17 and IL-22, characteristic cytokines produced by Th17 cells, were increased in sick animals. Furthermore, the percentage of IL-17-producing CD4 T cells was significantly increased, but only in sick animals. Retinoic acid, which has been reported to inhibit Th17 cell development, made the autoimmunity worse, increased IL-6 production, and did not decrease the number of Th17 cells. An infiltration of CD8 cytotoxic T cells in the liver suggests that they may be the key player in causing liver toxicity induced by D-penicillamine. Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the major causes of morbidity, mortality, and drug candidate failure. Recently, it has been suggested that Th17 cells may play an active role in inflammatory human liver diseases. In a study of patients being treated with isoniazid, some patients developed mild liver injury. The percentage of Th17 cells in the blood of these patients significantly increased when the ALT increased, and this suggests that they play a role in the mechanism of this liver injury. Furthermore, IL-10-producing T cells also increased and this may have prevented the development of severe liver injury. In another study, two hours after treatment of mice with acetaminophen there was a significant increase in Th17 cells in the liver. This rapid response suggests that Th17 cells can be part of the innate immune response to liver injury. Our data provided evidence that Th17 cells are involved in both “toxic” and idiosyncratic liver toxicity. This pathway could be a new target for the therapeutic interventions to treat DILI.
Doing Technological Time in a Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit: A Ethnography of Children
Keywords: Children
Hemodialysis
Human Geography
Technology
Ethnography
Sociology of Children

Since the 1960s, hemodialysis has been a common intervention for children with end-stage renal disease. For weeks, months or years, children’s activities are disrupted because they must return to the hospital to be dialyzed about three times a week, for three or four hours. Their childhoods are characterized by on-going temporal disruptions, socio-spatial dislocations and intermittent technological dependence. Little is known about how children experience hospital-based hemodialysis. The study’s purpose was to describe and interpret the children’s embodied situatedness in the temporal, spatial and technological regimes and relations of a hemodialysis unit. Time, space and technology were viewed as significant interrelated aspects of the unit and the unit was conceived as nested in the broader life contexts of the children. The theoretical framework merged concepts of sociology of children, human geographical and temporal perspectives and philosophy of technology. A focused ethnography with 11 children who received maintenance hemodialysis was undertaken at a Canadian pediatric urban hospital. The dominant theme emerging from the study findings was the notion of the children doing technological time. The children’s temporal and socio-spatial positions were an effect of their technologically mediated embodiment and shaped their perspectives, evaluations and expectations. Their accounts revealed that the rituals and routines of the unit were experienced as long and boring. Their situatedness also was comprised of socio-spatial segregation and isolation due to being tethered to hemodialysis machines in the unit’s corners. Adaptations included resignation, resistance and waiting in the short and long term to be released from hemodialysis. Having negative and positive perceptions and responses, the children held multiple and conflicting meanings about the unit’s timespace. The findings suggest that crucial changes in practices and policies are essential to envision ways to create with children an overall positive place that merges and balances technological care with child focused care.
Bifunctional Systems in the Chemistry of Frustrated Lewis Pairs
Keywords: inorganic chemistry
main group elements
phosphine
borane
frustrated Lewis pairs
small molecule activation

Three classes of bifunctional compounds related to frustrated Lewis pair chemistry were studied. The first class, alkynyl-linked phosphonium borates, was strategically synthesized and the corresponding neutral alkynyl-linked phosphine boranes generated in solution. They were reacted with THF, alkenes and alkynes to undergo either ring-opening or multiple bond addition reactions, giving rise to zwitterionic macrocycles. In two select alkynyl-linked phosphonium borates, thermolysis resulted in unique rearrangements transforming the phosphino- and boryl-substituted alkynyl moieties into C4 chains. The alkynyl-linked phosphine boranes were further demonstrated to coordinate as η3-BCC ligands in Ni(0) complexes. The rigid nature of the coordination was confirmed by dimerization without cleavage of the Ni–B interaction upon the addition of acetonitrile or carbon monoxide. Moreover, reactions with Al-, Zn- and B-based Lewis acids prompted hydride transfer within the alkynyl-linked phosphonium borate and interesting functional group transfer reactions. The second class of the bifunctional systems, a series of gem-substituted bis-boranes, was subjected to reactions with tBu3P and CO2. The O-linked bis-borane was shown to coordinate the phosphino-carboxylate moiety with one B, while the methylene-linked bis-boranes were demonstrated to chelate the carboxyl group. The third bifunctional system class, vinyl-group tethered boranes, was examined to elucidate the mechanism of the frustrated Lewis pair addition reaction to olefins. Using a bis(pentafluorophenyl)alkylborane, the close proximity of the olefinic protons and the ortho-fluorine nuclei were evident by both NOE measurements and DFT calculations. Moreover, its reactions with phosphine bases suggested that an initial interaction between the highly electrophilic borane and the olefinic fragment precedes such frustrated Lewis pair addition reaction. Furthermore, a bis(pentafluorophenyl)alkoxyborane was synthesized and reacted with P-, N-, C- and H-based nucleophiles, demonstrating the wide range of Lewis bases that can be applied in olefin addition reactions with complementary regioselectivity.
Internationally Educated Teachers in Canada: Transition, Integration, Stress, and Coping Strategies
Keywords: internationally educated teachers
teacher stress
coping strategies
teacher education
employment
professional integration
community of practice
identity

This research investigates internationally educated teachers' (IETs) motivations to become teachers in Canada, learning in the initial teacher education programs, employment seeking experiences, as well as stress and coping strategies during their transition from the teacher education programs to the workplace. Twenty IETs from 12 different countries and areas participated in the study. Research data includes semi-structured interviews, field notes, short questionnaires, email, online chat records, and participants' writings. Narrative approaches (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Polkinghorne, 1995) were used to analyze interview and other qualitative data. In addition, I conducted descriptive analysis upon the questionnaires to triangulate the research findings. Research findings show that a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors motivated IETs to take up or return to the teaching profession in Canada. All of the IETs in the study considered their studies in the teacher education programs useful, but a number of them expressed the wish that the programs should include more practical aspects. Some IETs experienced difficulties during their practicum due to their language and accents, heavy workload, classroom management issues, as well as balance between work and life. A few IETs also experienced conflicts and tension with their mentor teachers. Due to the challenging teaching job market in Ontario, and the disadvantaged situation for IETs, finding a teaching position was not easy for IETs. The main challenge was to obtain eligibility for teaching positions with school boards. IETs were frustrated with their employment, underemployment and unemployment. Research data from the IET Stress Scale showed that the top five stress factors for IETs in transition included finding a teaching position, teacher identity construction, balance between work and family, being observed and assessed, and heavy workload. Similar themes emerged from the interview data. IETs utilized various strategies to cope with their difficulties and stress. Most of the IETs expressed their desire to stay in the teaching profession in Canada. However, two IETs were reluctant to look for teaching positions due to their frustrating experiences with their mentor teachers. Two other IETs stayed in nonteaching or looked for jobs in other professions due to their difficult job seeking experiences.