VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Metaphor and Gender in Conflict: Discourse, the Bosnian War, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Chechen Wars
Keywords: Metaphor
Gender
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Rwanda
Russia
Chechnya
Bosnian War
Rwandan Genocide
First Chechen War
Second Chechen War

This study considers the ontological value of metaphor as a site of ceaseless interaction among multiple (gendered) subjects, drawing on the theoretical work of Max Black, Victor Turner, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricœur, George Lakoff, and Mark Johnson. Its focus is on the particular function of metaphor, locally and internationally, in three of the “new wars” of the twentieth century. The first chapter examines how the bridge metaphor, undergirded by cultural discourses on Mostar’s Old Bridge and Ivo Andrić’s The Bridge on the Drina, shaped knowledge of gendered experiences in the Bosnian War. The second chapter historicizes the cockroach metaphor, which features in many representations of the Rwandan Genocide, and identifies how “the cockroach” is gendered by metaleptic reference to ubuhake, or pastoral clientship—which gained metaphoric significance through populist movements in the 1950s, when Saverio Naigiziki published The Optimist. The third chapter explores depictions of female civilians, combatants, and suicide-bombers as “prisoners,” considering this metaphor’s gendered variations from Aleksandr Pushkin’s “Prisoner of the Caucasus” to discourses on the Chechen Wars. These three metaphors are of central importance to the production of knowledge about how and in what ways post-cold-war conflicts are gendered. Frequently, the international community objectifies “distant conflicts” through the same metaphors that, for local agents, articulate political self-identifications and enact gendered violence. Locally-initiated metaphors, thusly circulating among multiple discourses, produce interactive sites of semantic investment and imaginary exchange. Global and regional representations in metaphor of the Bosnian War, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Chechen Wars enter into common if asymmetrical networks of geopolitical and temporal interactions structured in part by human rights norms in the 1990s. By tracing the historical, cultural, and modal transformations of bridge, cockroach, and prisoner metaphors, this study investigates how fiction, poetry, journalism, memoir, testimony, film, and performance gender knowledge of the Bosnian War, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Chechen Wars.
Understanding Physical Activity from the Perspectives of Children with Complex Heart Defects, their Parents and their Cardiologists
Keywords: fontan
physical activity
children

Children with complex heart defects lead sedentary lives that limit involvement in peer activities, impact their growth and development, and jeopardize their long-term health. The goal of this research was to better understand the factors that influence daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), which is associated with physical and psychological health. The physical activity levels of 64 children (25 female, 5 to 11 years of age) with a single pumping chamber in the heart were measured by accelerometry. Fitness and gross motor skill measures and medical history information were analyzed to identify factors associated with MVPA participation. Increased activity was related to the use of antithrombotic medication, spring season of the year, better motor skill and male sex. Group and individual discussions further explored psychosocial influences on the children’s level of MVPA. The children indicated physical activity was primarily motivated by having fun and being with their friends, while other children being more skilled discouraged participation. Parents of children with complex heart defects had dramatically different perceptions. They believe their child’s activity is primarily influenced by the heart condition and report often feeling uncertain about which activities are appropriate for their child. Finally, sources of parental uncertainty were examined by comparing the physical activity advice provided by the cardiologist to parent reports of the child’s activity restrictions, a content analysis of published activity guidelines and interviews with paediatric cardiologists. Parent uncertainty about activity was supported by the lack of agreement between parent and cardiologist reports of medically necessary activity restrictions. Parent reports of vague or variable activity advice were reflected in the published literature and cardiologist perspectives on activity counselling. These results suggest enabling children with complex heart defects to achieve an active lifestyle may rest on ensuring that the child and parents have appropriate physical activity beliefs and expectations.
The Effect of Face-to-face Interactions on Chocie: The Role of Expressiveness
Keywords: Face-to-Face Interactions
Expressiveness
Compliance
Judgement and Decision Making
Consumer Research

This thesis examines the role of face-to-face interactions on individual choice. In particular, I explore the effect of face-to-face requests (compared to other forms of requests) on compliance. I propose that individuals expect facial feedback from their interactive partner in response to their decisions and behaviors in face-to-face interactions. In an effort to avoid anticipated negative feedback, people comply with the request. Drawing from literature on compliance, the face, face-to-face interactions, empathy, and anticipation, I develop and test this proposed theoretical account in five experiments. 1) Experiment 1 demonstrates the effect of face-to-face interactions on compliance with requests relative to other forms of making the requests and rules out some alternative explanations. 2) Experiment 2 replicates the effect in a real world setting, and shows that the effect can be moderated by sensitizing individuals to the face. 3) Experiment 3 shows that the effect can be moderated by facial expressiveness and sensitivity to face. Experiment 3 also shows that anticipation of feedback (rather than actual feedback) drives the effect. 4) Experiment 4 shows that the effect can be moderated by the expressiveness, timeliness, and consistency of facial feedback. It provides further evidence for the role of anticipated facial feedback. 5) Experiment 5 shows that individuals strategically choose different modes of interaction (i.e., face-to-face or impersonal) as a function of the feedback they expect to receive. Theoretically, this thesis provides a new understanding of how face-to-face interactions and facial expressiveness impact individual choice. In contrast to previous research, I examine the feedback mechanism that such interactions create, and the role of facial expressiveness. By providing an account in which the anticipation of feedback plays a role, this research provides a way of extending the effect of face-to-face interactions on individual compliance to faceless transactions. Moreover, I identify and test the effect of three dimensions of facial expressiveness on individual choice, thereby adding to marketing literature, compliance literature, and communication literature. The current research has managerial implications in personal selling, customer service, employee training, and online transactions.
Identification and Characterization of the Receptor for the Soluble Fibrinogen Like Protein 2 (FGL2)
Keywords: fibrinogen like protein 2
immunoregulation

The multi-functional FGL2 can be expressed as either a type II membrane-associated glycoprotein or a secreted tetrameric molecule. As an important effector of regulatory T cells, secreted FGL2 inhibits dendritic cell maturation and T cell proliferation. The mechanism of its immunomodulatory function remains unclear. The goals of this thesis are to identify receptor(s) of secreted FGL2, key biological functions and signaling pathways, and mechanism of FGL2 oligomerization. Soluble FGL2 was critical for all studies, and the production of recombinant FGL2 was compared in E. coli, insect cells and mammalian cells. Soluble and stable FGL2 was secreted only by mammalian cells, indicating the importance of post-translational modification. In flow cytometry and surface plasmon resonance assays, recombinant FcFGL2 and albumin tagged FGL2 fusion proteins bound to Fc gamma RIIB and Fc gamma RIII receptors expressed by antigen presenting cells (APCs), including lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated B lymphocytes, endothelial cells, thioglycollate-stimulated peritoneal macrophages, and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs). The binding of recombinant FGL2 to Fc gamma RIIB and Fc gamma RIII was specific, dependent on receptor expression and blocked by anti-Fc gamma RIIB/III antibody. FcFGL2 inhibited the maturation of BM-DC derived from fc gamma riib wild type mice but not from fc gamma riib knock out mice. It also induced apoptosis of the A20 mouse B cell line (Fc gammaRIIB+), but not the A20IIA1.6 cell line (Fc gamma RIIB-). The activation of caspases induced by FcFGL2 binding to A20 cells was confirmed by flow cytometry, Western blotting and analysis of DNA fragmentation. The role of Fc gammaRIIB in FGL2-mediated immunosuppression was confirmed in vivo. Infusion of FcFGL2 into fc gamma riib+/+, but not fc gamma riib-/- C57BL/6J mice (H-2b) inhibited the rejection of fully mismatched BALB/cJ (H-2d) skin and heart allografts. Studies on the mechanism of FGL2 oligomerization employed site-directed mutagenesis and revealed that cysteines at positions 94, 97, 184, and 187 were critical. Mutation of these cysteines resulted in secretion of monomeric FGL2. Computer modeling of FGL2 tetramers predicted an asymmetric arrangement that was similar to the structure of multimeric ficolin. The data presented in this thesis provide mechanistic insights into the immunosuppressive activity of soluble FGL2, and a foundation for the development of a novel and potentially highly effective immunosuppressive therapy.
Iphigenia at Aulis: Myth, Performance, and Reception
Keywords: Iphigenia
Euripides
Greek Drama
Awesome

When Euripides wrote his final play, Iphigenia at Aulis, depicting the human sacrifice of Agamemnon’s first child that allowed the sailing of the Greek expedition against Troy, he was faced with several significant mythographic choices. Of primary concern was the outcome of the sacrifice: there existed a strong tradition in early sources that mitigated the sacrifice by affecting a divine rescue by Artemis, usually with a deer being left in her place on the altar. The extremely troubled textual history of our script – the play was first performed posthumously, and we do not know in what state Euripides left the text – means that we cannot be certain which tradition Euripides actually chose to follow, sacrifice or rescue. Depicting Iphigenia as a willing victim, however, must have been Euripides’ own innovation. This dissertation explores the ramifications of that self-sacrifice and contextualizes this play within a tradition of mythographic evolution and reception. Chapter 1 surveys the history of criticism of the text, itself a mode of reception, and also examines trends in Euripidean criticism in the modern period, limited until recently by the textual issues. Chapter 2 considers instances of the Iphigenia legend before Euripides’ play. The parodos of Agamemnon, the first source to express the sacrifice in terms of human suffering, receives special attention. Chapter 3 seeks to understand audience reception at the moment of first performance through three different critical lenses: thematic (self-sacrifice was a recurring motif in Euripides’ work), socio-political (by considering the recurring Panhellenic sentiment deployed in the play’s rhetoric), and dramaturgical (by treating the spatial dynamics of the performance as a point of intertextual contact). Chapters 4 and 5 examine reception of the sacrifice story in antiquity (in the Hellenistic and Roman periods), a process which reveals much about the position of Greek tragedy in the popular imagination following the fifth century. The final chapter brings to bear considerations of adaptations of the play into new genres and new media since the advent of the printing press, all of which open up new possibilities for the creators of these adaptations and the story they wish to tell.
Salvator Rosa as 'Amico vero': The Role of Friendship in the Making of a Free Artist
Keywords: Rosa, Salvator
friendship
identity
performance
autonomy
academy
sociality
painting
printmaking
satire

The seventeenth-century Neapolitan painter and satirist Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), long regarded as a harbinger of the ideals of professional independence that characterize the artists of the Romantic era, is here returned to the social circumstances of his own time. This dissertation argues that Rosa’s personal and professional identity of autonomy and his pursuit of an original, distinctive persona were facilitated by male friendship. A key component of the philosophical ideal to which Rosa and his friends subscribed, friendship is defined by a standard of egalitarianism that permits its practitioners to be at once dependent and independent. In his adoption and cultivation of the rituals and discourses of friendship – especially academic friendship – Rosa found a strategy for navigating the obligatorily socially-delineated parameters of self-fashioning in seicento Florence and Rome. Friendship permeated the most vital elements of Rosa’s career: his early theatrical practice in Rome, his private academy in Florence, and his business tactics as a painter and printmaker in Rome. This dissertation aims to open up an area of insight into Rosa as both unique among and representative of his contemporaries, and to expand upon the existing scholarly knowledge of an artist on the cusp of an important development in the history of the visual artist’s identity.
Decision-making and Self-regulation from a Social-personality Neuroscience Perspective
Keywords: Decision-Making
Self-Regulation
Social Neuroscience
Personality
Delay of Gratification

Pitting long-term goals against short-term desires is among the most difficult tasks in human decision-making. According to behavioural and neuroeconomic theories of self-regulation, these decisions involve a competition between “hot” reward-focused impulses and “cool” cognitive control mechanisms. The current dissertation examines this topic from the perspective of social and personality neuroscience, exploring the cognitive and affective dynamics underlying the self-regulatory process. Chapters 1 and 2 explore how the “hot” system is dispositionally expressed in the personality trait of Extraversion, and the implications of this finding for decision-making behaviour. Turning to the “cool” system, Chapter 3 examines the role of effective performance monitoring in predicting real-world self-regulatory outcomes. Finally, Chapter 4 addresses the question of whether self-regulatory performance can be improved, reporting the effects of a goal-setting intervention on long-term decision-making. Results across the studies are discussed within an integrative model of self-regulation, situated within a social-personality neuroscience framework.
Application of an Endothelialized Modular Construct for Islet Transplantation
Keywords: Vascularization
Tissue Engineering
Islet Transplantation
Endothelial Cells

Successful survival of large volume engineered tissues depends on the development of a vasculature to support the metabolic demands of donor tissue in vivo. Pancreatic islet transplantation is a cell therapy procedure to treat Type 1 diabetes that can potentially benefit from such a vascularization strategy. The treatment is limited as the majority of transplanted islets (60%) fail to engraft due to insufficient revascularization in the host(1, 2). Modular tissue engineering is a means of designing large volume functional tissues using micron sized tissues with an intrinsic vascularization. In this thesis, we explored the potential of endothelialized modules to drive vascularization in vivo and promote islet engraftment. Human endothelial cells (EC) covered modules were transplanted in the omental pouch of athymic rats and human EC formed vessels near implanted modules until 7 days when host macrophages were depleted. Rat endothelial cells covered modules were similarly transplanted in the omental pouch of allogeneic rats with and without immunosuppressants. When the drugs were administered, endothelialized modules significantly increased the vessel density. Moreover, donor GFP labelled EC formed vessels that integrated with the host vasculature and were perfusable until 60 days; this key result demonstrate for the first time that unmodified primary endothelial cells form stable vessels in an allograft model. Transplantation of islets in such endothelialized modules significantly improved the vessel density around transplanted islets. Donor endothelial cells formed vessels near transplanted islets in allogeneic immunesuppressed recipients. Meanwhile, there was an increase in islet viability with transplantation of endothelialized modules in syngeneic recipients but this difference was not significant. In summary, endothelialized modules were effective in promoting stable vascularization and improving transplanted islet vascularisation. Future work should promote faster maturity of donor vessels and modulate the host immune and inflammatory responses to significantly improve transplanted islet engraftment.
Characterization of Inositol Transporters as a Method for Drug Delivery to the Centra Nervous System
Keywords: Neuroscience
Alzheimer's disease

A challenge in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases is the transport of drug candidates into the brain. Inositol stereoisomers have show promise as therapeutic agents for CNS disorders. scyllo-Inositol was an effective prophylactic and therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in TgCRND8 mice, a model of AD. This suggests inositol stereoisomers have excellent CNS bioavailability. They enter the brain through inositol transporters, of which there are three: one hydrogen myo-inositol transporter (HMIT) and two sodium myo-inositol transporters (SMIT1, SMIT2). HYPOTHESIS: Given the high CNS bioavailability of inositol stereoisomers, it may be possible to use inositol transporters to shuttle other compounds into the CNS. OBJECTIVES: 1. To confirm the CNS bioavailability of the two main inositol stereoisomers, myo- and scyllo-inositol, in both TgCRND8 and wild-type mice. 2. To examine inositol transporter expression in the brains, as a function of time and disease pathology, in both groups. 3. To evaluate the flexibility of the inositol transporters for transporting compounds by determining the substrate structural features required for active transport. RESULTS: myo-Inositol and scyllo-inositol accumulated in the brain following oral administration. Disease pathology did not alter baseline inositol levels or uptake. Brain subregional transporter expression was unaltered as a function of age or disease pathology. In vitro cell culture experiments found HMIT inactive and therefore not a contender for drug transport. In contrast SMIT1 and SMIT2 were both active and competitive transport assays, revealed distinct criteria for active transport through each system. However, both were stringent in the substitutions to the structure of myo-inositol possible to maintain active transport. CONCLUSION: Active transport through the inositol transporters is very sensitive to changes in the structure of myo-inositol and only conservative changes are possible. Therefore, these transporters would not make effective shuttling systems for drug transport into the brain.
Textual Integrity and Coherence in the Qur'an: Repetition and Narrative Structure in Surat al-Baqara
Keywords: Qur'an, Quran, Koran, Islam, Coherence, Surat al-Baqara

This study addresses the riddle of al-Baqara’s internal organization, utilizing new insights from literary theory and Biblical Studies to identify the sura’s structure and unifying themes. It also explores the possible added value in approaching al-Baqara as a whole compositional unit, as opposed to a conglomeration of isolated verse-groups. The dissertation begins with a historical overview of coherence-related approaches, commencing with the classical naẓm- and munāsaba-discourses as observed in the writings of Jāḥiẓ, Bāqillānī, Biqā῾ī and others, and extending to the modern period and the work of scholars such as Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, ῾Abd al-Muta῾āl al-Ṣa῾īdī, and Matthias Zahniser. This overview is followed by a discussion of methodology, locating this study within the reader-oriented, synchronic, intertextual approaches, and showing methodological parallels with Biblical Studies. A new reading framework for the sura is developed, utilizing in part some of the theories of the Russian literary theorist and philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin. The sura’s structure is identified by means of analyzing its distinctive repetitions, a known structuring device in oral texts. Incremental inclusios, alternations and chiasms delineate al-Baqara’s compositional subunits. The overall structure of the sura emerges as chiastic, following the pattern ABC/B’C’A’/C’’B’’A’’, where A is a section having the character of a test, B a section containing instructions and C a story portraying primeval origins. The repetitions are of increasing length, the general escalating character of the devices focusing attention on the last panel (C’’B’’A’’). In a first reading, the central theme is identified by means of the sura’s Leitwort, a leading keyword distinguished by its special location, high concentration and even distribution within the sura. Reading the sura for what it reveals about the deity, the Leitwort, ‘guidance’, indicates a common theme of ‘God as guide’. In a second reading, the sura is read for its pedagogical content and the central theme becomes ‘first lesson in the new religion’. The added value in approaching the sura as a whole, as a totality, is in seeing how each theme is progressively developed and elaborated by every one of the sura’s various panels and how these themes hold the sura together as a unit.