VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Following Sayyida Zaynab: Twelver Shi‘ism in Contemporary Syria
Keywords: Syria
Islam
Shi'ism

Outsiders, such as Lebanese and Syrian Shi‘is often refer to Twelver Shi‘is in the Syrian shrine-town as ‘traditional,’ and even ‘backward.’ They are not the only ones. Both Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah ‘Ali Khamenei have called the bloody flagellation practices, which have only increased in popularity in Sayyida Zaynab over the past few decades, ‘backward’ and ‘irrational.’ Why do these outsiders condemn these Twelver Shi‘is and their Muharram rituals? Why are ‘traditional’ practices popular in the Syrian shrine-town of Sayyida Zaynab? What does ‘tradition’ mean in this context? This dissertation begins with the last question regarding the notion of ‘tradition’ and examines seminary pedagogy, weekly women’s ritual mourning gatherings, annual Muharram practices, and non-institutionalized spiritual healing. Two theoretical paradigms frame the ethnography. The first is Talal Asad’s (1986) notion that an anthropology of Islam should approach Islam as a discursive tradition and second, various iterations of the Karbala Paradigm (Fischer 1981). The concepts overlap, yet they also represent distinct approaches to the notion of ‘tradition.’ The overarching argument in this dissertation is that ‘tradition’ for Twelver Shi‘is in Sayyida Zaynab is not only a rhetorical trope but also an intimate, inter-subjective practice, which ties pious Shi‘i to the members of the Family of the Prophet. The sub-topics are changing patterns in religious pedagogy, the role of embodiment, self, and inter-subjectivity in women’s ritual mourning gatherings, and the applicability of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque (1984). Inspired by Frederick M. Denny (1985), who coined the term ‘orthopraxy’ to describe the importance of ritual practice in Islam, this dissertation refers to transgressive and carnivalesque religious performances as ‘heteropraxy.’ In particular, the emphasis on ‘heteropraxy’ is a critique of recent research on Arab Muslim women’s piety by Saba Mahmood (2005) and Lara Deeb (2006).
The Syntax of Functional Projections in the vP Periphery
Keywords: functional categories
left periphery
Agree

This thesis investigates the functional categories in the vP domain, including aspect, modality, and focus. For this research initiative, five constructions were examined: the Mandarin temporal adverbial, the Mandarin excessive ta, the Mandarin de/bu, the Turkish question particle –mI, and the Armenian auxiliary constructions. These constructions involve functional categories that are expected to appear at the C/IP periphery; however, they surface inside the vP domain. The existence of these low grammatical elements raises non-trivial questions such as how functional categories should be mapped out in the structure, and whether a unified structure can be proposed to account for the cross-linguistic phenomena examined in this thesis. The investigation of these constructions showed that there are cross-domain interactions between low and high functional categories. While Mandarin temporal adverbial constructions showed interactions between viewpoint aspect and lexical aspect via the distributions of the temporal adverbials and various co-occurrence restrictions, the other four constructions demonstrated interactions between the low and the high categories via intervention effects. I argue that low functional categories must be licensed by their counterparts in the C/IP domain, and that the licensing relation and the structural conditions imposed on this relation can be captured if an Agree relation is established between the functional categories in these two domains. The analysis also reveals that low functional categories are the result of feature lowering from v* to some functional projection below it, and the formal features of the low functional categories must assign their values to their counterparts in the C/IP domain via Agree to provide a meaningful input to LF. I propose a parallel analysis between CP and vP to account for the existence of the low grammatical elements in two respects: (1) C and *v, as phase heads, have an edge feature (EPP) and Agree features that need to be valued and/or checked at a functional projection lower than the each phase head; (2) the formal features of C can appear at *v if they are licensed by an associate feature present in the C/T domain for the purpose of Full Interpretation (Chomsky 1995, 2000).
Latvian Organ Music: A Performer’s Guide and Bibliography
Keywords: organ music
Latvia

Organ music in Latvia has a long history spanning over seven centuries of organ building and organ music making; however, national music traditions were not established until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The scope of this dissertation is to provide an overview of Latvian organ music, to define what features of the musical and social-historical contexts of the Republic of Latvia have contributed to the development of organ music in the country, and to provide practical information for organists and anyone interested in Latvian organ music. The research divides into four chapters. In Chapter One, “Latvian Organ Studies”, the existing sources of information on Latvian organ music such as books, research papers and scores are reviewed. Other sources of information such as library collections, Internet resources and organizations are listed. The second chapter, “The ‘Language’ of Latvian Organ”, explores the two key components of the voice of Latvian organ – Latvian organ music, both solo and collaborative literature, and Latvian organs. The third chapter is entitled ”A Performer’s Analysis of Selected Organ Compositions”. In order to establish the voice of Latvian organ music three major organ works are examined: Fantasia in g (1902) by Alfrēds Kalniņš (1879-1951), Variations on the Name B-A-C-H (1969) by Marģeris Zariņš (1910-1993) and Te Deum (1991) by Pēteris Vasks (1946). Each analysis begins with the composer’s biography, followed by information on the composer’s organ oeuvre and the piece. Structural and harmonic analysis, as well as performance suggestions that include registration, tempo and articulation issues are provided. Chapter Four, “Summary and Recommendations”, concludes the dissertation. Four appendices contain comprehensive lists of Latvian organ works, both solo and collaborative literature, and list additional resources.
Predicting Community-based Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) Outcome
Keywords: prediction
methadone
case based algorithm prediction of release outcome
maintenance treatment outcome forensic parole Correctional Service Canada urinalysis logistic regression AUC ROC predictor variables
treatment efficacy
risk
recidivism
classification
accuracy
offenders
illicit
opioid
revocation
harm
reduction
treatment
responsivity
Canada
logistic
regression
auc
roc
efficacy
institutional

This was a retrospective study of a community-based methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) program in Toronto. Participants (N = 170) were federally sentenced adult male offenders admitted to this voluntary program between 1997 and 2009 while subject to community supervision following incarceration. The primary investigation examined correlates of treatment responsivity, with principal outcome measures including MMT clients’ rates of: (i) illicit drug use; and (ii) completion of conditional (parole) or statutory release (SR). For a subset (n = 74), recidivism rates were examined after a 9-year interval. Findings included strong convergent evidence from logistic regression and ROC analyses that an empirically and theoretically derived set of five variables was a stable and highly significant (p <.001) predictor of release outcome. Using five factors related to risk (work/school status, security level of releasing institution, total PCL-R score, history of institutional drug use, and days at risk), release outcome was predicted with an overall classification accuracy of 88%, with high specificity (86%) and sensitivity (89%). The logistic regression model generated an R2 of .55 and the accompanying AUC was .89, both substantial. Work/school status had an extremely large positive association with successful completion of community supervision, accounting for > half of the total variance explained by the five-factor model and increasing the estimated odds of successful release outcome by > 15-fold. Also, when in the MMT program, clients' risk taking behaviour was significantly moderated, with low overall base rates of illicit drug use, yet the rate of parole/SR revocation (71%) was high. The 9-year follow-up showed a high mortality rate (15%) overall. Revocation of release while in the MMT program was associated with a significantly higher rate and more violent recidivism at follow-up. Results are discussed within the context of: (a) Andrews' and Bonta's psychology of criminal conduct; (b) the incompatibility of a harm reduction treatment model with an abstinence-based parole decision-making model; (c) changing drug use profiles among MMT clients; (d) a strength-based approach to correctional intervention focusing on educational and vocational retraining initiatives; and (e) creation of a user friendly case-based screening algorithm for prediction of release outcome for new releases.
Measurement of High-Q2 Neutral Current Cross-sections with Longitudinally Polarised Positrons with the ZEUS Detector
Keywords: Deep Inelastic scattering
DIS
neutral current
NC
electroweak
SM
High energy physics
positron
proton
structure function
physics
cross section
longitudinally polarised
lepton

The cross sections for neutral current (NC) deep inelastic scattering (DIS) in e+p collisions with a longitudinally polarised positron beam are measured at high momentum transfer squared (Q2 > 185 GeV2) at the ZEUS detector at HERA. The HERA accelerator provides e+-p collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 318 GeV, which allows the weak contribution to the NC process to be studied at high Q2. The measurements are based on a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 135.5 pb-1 collected with the ZEUS detector in 2006 and 2007. The single differential NC cross sections dsigma/dQ2, dsigma/dx and dsigma/dy and the reduced cross section are measured. The structure function xF3 is determined by combining the e+p NC reduced cross sections with the previously measured e-p measurements. The interference structure function xF 3^gamma,Z is extracted at Q2 = 1500 GeV2. The cross-section asymmetry between the positive and negative polarisation of the positron beam is measured and the parity violation effects of the electroweak interaction are observed. The predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics agree well with the measurements.
Evaluation of a Family of Elastin-like Polypeptide Coatings for Blood Contacting Devices
Keywords: biomaterial
elastin-like polypeptides
hemocompatibility
surface properties

Blood contacting devices are frequently limited by complications such as surface-induced thrombosis. This thesis investigated the feasibility of using a family of recombinant elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), namely ELP1, ELP2 and ELP4 that differ by molecular weight and sequence length, as potential thromboresistant coatings. The ELP coatings were prepared by physical adsorption onto the surface of Mylar, with surface modification confirmed by goniometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and chemical force microscopy (CFM). Both surface wettability and hydrophilic adhesion force increased as the ELP sequence length decreased. The ELP adsorption process monitored by using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) showed that the ELPs adsorbed within a monolayer. Additionally, ELP surface coverage was found to increase with the polypeptide sequence length. The QCM-D studies also revealed that the longer polypeptides (ELP2 and ELP4) exhibited higher specific dissipation values indicating that they established adsorbed layers with greater structural flexibility and associated water content compared to ELP1. Exposure of the ELP coatings to flowing reconstituted blood demonstrated that both the ELP2 and ELP4 coatings reduced the quantity of adsorbed fibrinogen (Fg), with the ELP4 coating resulting in the lowest levels of adherent platelets. Energy dissipation versus frequency shift plots obtained from QCM-D studies indicated that adsorbed Fg on the ELP4 coating maintained a softer, more flexible film then on the other ELPs. The ELP4 coating also demonstrated an altered binding activity for GPIIb/IIIa where only the AGDV motif in the adsorbed Fg gamma-chain appeared to be exposed and bioactive. Conversely, on the other ELP coatings both the AGDV and RGD motifs (found within the Fg alpha-chain) were available for binding, suggesting that a different Fg conformational state exists on the ELP1 and ELP2 coatings. Moreover, both the ELP2 and ELP4 coatings displayed minimal bulk platelet reactivity following extended whole blood shear exposure (up to an hour) compared to Mylar. This was not observed with the ELP1 coating. Overall, the results suggest that the structural flexibility and associated water content of the ELP coatings appear to be important criteria influencing their thrombogenicity, with ELP4 displaying the most favourable blood-material response compared to ELP1 and ELP2.
Inhibition of Mitochondrial Translation as a Therapeutic Strategy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Keywords: Leukemia
Mitochondria

Inhibition of mitochondrial translation as a therapeutic strategy for acute myeloid leukemia Marko Škrtić Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Medical Science University of Toronto 2012 Abstract Intro: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapies have remained unchanged for 20 years, and thus new therapies are needed. Objective: To identify FDA-approved agents with anti-leukemia stem cell activity, we performed a screen and identified the antimicrobial tigecycline (TIG). Methods: Primary AML mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll centrifugation from peripheral blood. Flow cytometry dye; JC-1, Carboxy-H2DCFDA, Mitotracker GreenFM. Leukemia stem cell activity was assayed by human AML engraftment in NOD/SCID mice. Results: TIG induced cell death in primary AML patient samples (LD50, 3-6μM n=14), preferentially over normal hematopoietic cells. Likewise, in colony assays, TIG (5μM) reduced the clonogenic growth of AML samples (n=7) by 93%, demonstrating an effect on leukemia progenitor cells, but not normal hematopoietic cells (34% reduction, n=5). A yeast genome-wide screen identified mitochondrial translation inhibition as the mechanism of tigecycline-mediated cell death in eukaryotic cells. TIG decreased the expression of mitochondrial peptides, enzyme activity and membrane potential preferentially in AML cells over normal hematopoietic cells. ShRNA knockdown of TuFM mitochondrial translation factor in leukemia cells reproduced TIG anti-leukemia target effects previously described. We discovered that primary AML CD34+/CD38- stem cells have greater mitochondrial mass (3-fold, n=5) than normal CD34+ cells (n=4). Higher baseline mitochondrial mass in primary AML samples was predictive for tigecycline sensitivity in vitro (r=-0.71, p<0.05). We assessed the effect of TIG on primary AML stem cells defined by their ability to initiate leukemic engraftment in vivo. NOD/SCID mice treated with TIG had decreased human AML engraftment (n=3 AML patients) compared to control. Conclusions: We identified mitochondrial translation inhibition as a novel therapeutic strategy for AML. Currently, a Phase I clinical trial of tigecycline in hematological malignancies is underway.
Teacher-centred Classrooms and Passive Resistance: Implications for Inclusive Schooling
Keywords: Discrimination in education
Cause of gun violence

This thesis is based on an ethnographic study conducted in a split grade five and six classroom in Toronto during the 1985/86 academic year. Data were collected through participatory observation, as well as through individual and focus group interviews. A group of eight activist African-Canadian high school students, as well as 26 Euro- Canadian “drop-backs” were also interviewed. The time during which I conducted the study was a period of intensive education activism of parents and the community in Toronto. I was interested in determining whether or not, and this activism was reflected at the school level, and if it was reflected, how. I also wanted to examine whether or not the historically supportive auxiliary role that parents played during this period was elevated to more substantive and meaningful active involvement in the education of their children during the last half of the 1980s. This study shows that activities in the classroom were driven by pre-packaged curriculum materials and were implemented with very few modifications. Coupled with teacher-centred practice, this closed the door for any diversifying opportunities that could have found their way into the classroom, not only from the homes of the children and the school community, but also from critics of the use of prepackaged material and, most importantly, from the students themselves. Furthermore, teacher-centred classroom discourse pushed students to develop a cynical attitude towards schooling. Having no say in what or how they were taught provided the children with few choices but to develop a coping mechanism of passive resistance. Their short-term survival strategies included appearing as though they were striding along, but not embracing their school experiences fully. By the same token, they were not challenged to think critically, to evaluate or to problem-solve. A link was also established between the students’ passive resistance at the elementary level with ‘fading out’ or ‘dropping out’ and successful resistance at the high school level.
Grassroots Governance: Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice Partnerships in an Immigrant City
Keywords: Domestic Violence Courts
Community Organizations
Immigration
Criminal Justice Partnerships
Post-colonial Feminism
Governmentality

My dissertation is a critical ethnography of grassroots feminist agencies and immigrant organizations involved in the governance of gender violence in Toronto, Ontario. Along with examining the agencies operating on the outskirts of the law, I also observe the organizations that contract directly with the provincial government to counsel abusers prosecuted through the city’s specialized domestic violence courts. Drawing on the methodological and theoretical insights of socio-legal studies, postcolonial feminism, and governmentality scholarship, my research explores the governance of domestic violence through the community. Specifically, I examine how the voluntary sector performs the state’s work of prosecuting domestic violence, punishing offenders and building citizens. My research reveals the significant influence that community organizations exert on the prosecution of gender violence and in defining the conditions of punishment for offenders. Through court observation of Toronto’s domestic violence plea court, I show how grassroots administrative workers transform into hybrids of the prosecutor and defense within governance networks. In addition, based on interviews with service providers delivering counseling to offenders, I document how non-profit organizational habits add distinctive flavors to the administration of punishment, materializing in governing regimes that emphasize care in some contexts and discipline in others. Finally, I also explore the dual constructions of immigrant counselors as both the experts and the “others” to the nation with regards to gender violence. In contrast to assumptions of ignorance amongst the immigrant “other” in the liberal imaginary, my findings indicate that the notion of women’s empowerment is nothing new or unfamiliar within Toronto’s diasporic communities; several of the immigrant anti-violence experts involved in this research credit their politicization and training “back home” as foundational to their involvement in feminist and the anti-violence movement. These findings challenge liberal assumptions of the East as a space devoid of the cultural material of women’s empowerment, which form the backbone of Western performances of modernity.
A Follow-up Study of Boys with Gender Identity Disorder
Keywords: Gender Identity Disorder

This study provided information on the long term psychosexual and psychiatric outcomes of 139 boys with gender identity disorder (GID). Standardized assessment data in childhood (mean age, 7.49 years; range, 3–12 years) and at follow-up (mean age, 20.58 years; range, 13–39 years) were used to evaluate gender identity and sexual orientation outcome. At follow-up, 17 participants (12.2%) were judged to have persistent gender dysphoria. Regarding sexual orientation, 82 (63.6%) participants were classified as bisexual/ homosexual in fantasy and 51 (47.2%) participants were classified as bisexual/homosexual in behavior. The remaining participants were classified as either heterosexual or asexual. With gender identity and sexual orientation combined, the most common long-term outcome was desistence of GID with a bisexual/homosexual sexual orientation followed by desistence of GID with a heterosexual sexual orientation. The rates of persistent gender dysphoria and bisexual/homosexual sexual orientation were substantially higher than the base rates in the general male population. Childhood assessment data were used to identify within-group predictors of variation in gender identity and sexual orientation outcome. Social class and severity of cross-gender behavior in childhood were significant predictors of gender identity outcome. Severity of childhood cross-gender behavior was a significant predictor of sexual orientation at follow-up. Regarding psychiatric functioning, the heterosexual desisters reported significantly less behavioral and psychiatric difficulties compared to the bisexual/homosexual persisters and, to a lesser extent, the bisexual/ homosexual desisters. Clinical and theoretical implications of these follow-up data are discussed.
Determination of Molecular Regulators of Anoikis Resistance
Keywords: Anoikis
Chemical Biology
Metastasis
Screening

As a barrier to metastases, cells normally undergo apoptosis after they lose contact with their extra cellular matrix or their neighbouring cells. This cell death process has been termed “anoikis”. Tumour cells that acquire malignant potential have developed mechanisms to resist anoikis and thereby survive after detachment from their primary site and while travelling through the lymphatic and circulatory systems. The understanding of the molecular regulators of anoikis resistance will allow for a better understanding of the metastatic process and the development of novel anti-metastatic therapeutics. To better determine the molecular underpinnings of anoikis resistance, we have used both chemical biology and genetic approaches. Using chemical biological approaches such as small molecule screens, we determined that both FLIP and Na+/K+ ATPase could modulate a cell’s response to anoikis. Through the use of a shRNA genome wide lentiviral screen we determined that ABHD4 was able to inhibit a cell’s response to anoikis. We also showed the importance of anoikis resistance in the ability of malignant cancer cells to survive in circulation. By decreasing a cell’s ability to resist anoikis, one is able to decrease the ability of a cancer cell to survive in circulation and form tumours in distant organs. Taken together, we have identified novel regulators of anoikis resistance and demonstrated the importance of anoikis in metastatic progression, which may lead to the development of novel treatments for metastatic cancers.