VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The "Problem" of Immigration and Contemporary Spanish Detective Fiction
Keywords: Novela Negra
Immigration
Spanish Detective Fiction
Immigration in Spanish Mass Media
Novela Detectivesca
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Juan Madrid
Manuel Quinto
Jorge Martínez Reverte
Yolanda Soler Onís
Lorenzo Silva
Antonio Lozano
José Javier Abasolo
Andreu Martín

“The Problem of Immigration and Contemporary Spanish Detective Fiction” examines the viability of the detective genre as a forum to dispute the commonly held perception of contemporary immigration to Spain as a problem. Focusing first on popular series of the Transition and Disenchantment periods that followed the death of Francisco Franco, I identify the detective novel, and in particular the hard-boiled variety on which the Spanish tradition is based, as an ideal space for discussions of otherness. In the 1990s, as large-scale immigration to Spain became an increasing reality, North Africans, Latin Americans, and Eastern Europeans joined minority groups already marginalised within Spain and became the focus of well-known authors such as Jorge Martínez Reverte, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and Andreu Martín and relative newcomers Yolanda Soler Onís, José Javier Abasolo, Lorenzo Silva, and Antonio Lozano. All use the conventions of the detective genre––suspense, pursuit, intrigue––to address misconceptions about immigration and to reveal that the ultimate culprits in these stories are ill-willed traffickers, corrupt security agencies, and the widespread apathy of parts of the Spanish population and its government. Through the twists and turns of their storylines, these politically committed authors show that while immigrants may be forced to inhabit Spain’s underbelly, they are not single-handedly responsible for Spanish society’s perceived demise. My dissertation is informed by a multi-disciplinary approach that draws on media, cultural, socio-anthropological, and postcolonial studies. The connection between crime literature and the mass media is especially intriguing given the latter’s power of influence over the conceptualisation of immigration. The detective texts juxtapose the media of the post-modern electronic information age, which is by definition frontier-less, with a nation designing ever-stronger borders. While analysing the various borders that divide a national and global society in the entangled tale of immigration to Spain, and the discursive roles they play within the codified genre of crime fiction, I argue that these authors use the conventions of their medium to provide internal views of the process of immigration as an alternative to the voyeuristic daily reporting that otherwise threatens to desensitise the Spanish public to the topic altogether.
The Labour Supply of Unpaid Caregivers in Canada
Keywords: home care
unpaid caregivers
health services research
labour force participation
regression
secondary data analysis
General Social Survey
Canada
labour supply
wages
hours of work
informal caregiving
health policy
systematic review
work life balance
family policy
gender
primary caregivers

The Labour Supply of Unpaid Caregivers in Canada, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Meredith Lenore Lilly, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 2008. As medical care increasingly shifts from the hospital to the home, responsibility for care has also shifted from the state and paid care, to the family and unpaid care. Unpaid caregivers are family members and friends who provide homecare services to recipients in their place of residence without financial compensation, as a result of their close personal relationships. This research tests the multiple hypotheses that unpaid caregiving has an impact on (1) the probability of labour force participation (LFP); (2) hours of labour force work; and (3) earnings by caregivers in Canada. We analyzed the 1996 and 2002 General Social Surveys, applying multivariate probit, logistic, and OLS regression analyses to four equations: 1) the probability of labour force participation; 2) the hourly wage; 3) weekly hours of labour market work; and 4) the probability of being an unpaid caregiver. Results indicate that unpaid caregiving was negatively associated with labour force participation; however, the impact on hours of labour market work and wages was uncertain. Women and men caregivers were impacted differently: only caregiving men in 1996 had significantly lower wages than non-caregivers, and only women in 1996 worked significantly fewer hours in the labour market. When caregiving was defined broadly, only men in 1996 were significantly less likely to be employed than non-caregivers. Yet when we controlled for caregiving intensity in 2002, both male and female primary caregivers were much less likely to be in the labour force than non-caregivers, while secondary caregivers were no less likely to be employed than non-caregivers. We conclude that when caregiving responsibilities are relatively small, individuals seem able to balance both caregiving with employment. Yet when caregiving commitments become heavy, it becomes increasingly difficult to balance employment with caregiving. We make a number of policy recommendations ranging from improving caregiver access to financial supports, formal care and respite services, particularly for primary caregivers. We also encourage the development of workplace legislation and caregiver friendly workplaces for the majority of caregivers who remain in the labour market.
The F-box protein FSN-1 Functions in an SCF-like Ubiquitin Ligase Complex to Regulate Synapse Formation
Keywords: 0369
0306

The chemical synapse is an asymmetric structure consisting of presynaptic and postsynaptic terminals in direct apposition to each other. Synapses function to mediate the transmission of signals between neurons and their targets. The formation of synapses is a tightly regulated process requiring the interaction of many genes and molecular pathways. I am interested in identifying genes and signaling pathways that are required for proper synapse formation. Using the GABAergic neuromuscular junctions of C. elegans as a model system, I have identified fsn-1 (F-box synaptic protein), a gene required for the control of synaptic growth. fsn-1 mutants exhibit a synaptic defect characterized by both synaptic over differentiation and under differentiation. FSN-1 is an F-box protein with a SPRY (SPla and RYanodine receptor) domain that functions cell-autonomously in neurons to regulate synaptic growth. I have shown that it functions in an E3 ubiquitin ligase-like complex with the RING-H2 finger protein RPM-1 (Regulator of presynaptic morphology), SKR-1 and Cullin. The composition of this complex is similar to SCF (Skp1, Cullin, F-box) E3 ubiquitin ligases. We hypothesize that this complex controls synapse formation by down regulating synapse promoting factors through an ubiquitin mediated process. We have identified two receptor tyrosine kinases that genetically interact with fsn-1, the Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase homolog SCD-2 (Suppressor of Constitutive Dauer) and the C. elegans insulin receptor DAF-2 (abnormal DAuer Formation). Loss of function mutations in scd-2 or daf-2 partially suppress the synaptic differentiation defects of fsn-1 mutants, suggesting that they participate in signaling pathways whose activities are normally inhibited by FSN-1 during synapse formation. Unlike FSN-1 that functions in GABAergic neurons, I found that SCD-2 and DAF-2 have cell non-autonomous functions at GABAergic neuromuscular junctions. SCD-2 is required in the nervous system in the RID interneuron where it could modulate synapse formation through ligands present on the motoneuron cell surface. The DAF-2/insulin pathway functions in postsynaptic muscle cells to regulate FSN-1 dependent presynaptic growth likely through a retrograde or feedback mechanism. I propose a model where FSN-1 regulates synapse formation by attenuating signals that converge upon the presynaptic terminal to stimulate or inhibit synaptic growth.
Development of an On-line Planning and Delivery Technique for Radiotherapy of Spinal Metastases
Keywords: Bone metastases
Radiation oncology
Cone-beam CT imaging
Image processing
Dosimetry
Inftra-fraction motion

The objective of this work is to develop an on-line planning and delivery technique for palliative radiotherapy of spinal metastases using a linear accelerator capable of cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging. This technique integrates all preparation and delivery steps into a single session equivalent to an initial treatment session. The key technical challenges pertaining to the development and implementation of this novel treatment technique are related to CBCT image performance, efficient system integration, development of on-line planning tools and design of novel quality assurance (QA) phantoms and processes. Hardware and software image corrections were first implemented to make CBCT images suitable for target definition and planning. These corrections reduced CBCT non-uniformity and improved CBCT-number accuracy. The on-line treatment technique workflow and the integration of all the subsystems involved in the process were assessed on a customized spine phantom constructed for the study. The challenges related to the routine QA of the highly integrated on-line treatment technique were addressed with the construction and validation of an integral test phantom. This phantom, which contains point detectors (diodes) allows for real-time QA of the entire image guidance, planning and treatment process in terms of dose delivery accuracy. The integral test phantom was also effective for the QA of high-dose, high-precision spinal radiosurgery. Simulation of the on-line treatment technique on patient data showed that the planning step was the one of the most time consuming tasks due predominantly to manual target definition. A semi-automatic method for detection and identification of vertebrae on CBCT images was developed and validated to streamline vertebra segmentation and improve the on-line treatment efficiency. With a single patient setup at the treatment unit, patient motion during the on-line process represents the main source of geometric uncertainty for dose delivery. Spine intra-fraction motion was assessed on CBCT for a group of 49 patients treated with a palliative intent. The use of surface marker tracking as a surrogate for spine motion was also evaluated. Finally, the complete on-line planning and delivery technique was implemented in a research ethics board (REB) approved clinical study at the Princess Margaret Hospital and 7 patients have been successfully treated at the time of this report with this novel treatment approach.
The Influence of Human Disturbance on Avian Frugivory and Seed Dispersal in a Neotropical Rainforest
Keywords: Ecology
Tropical Biology
Conservation Biology

Habitat loss and disturbance due to human activity are major causes of global biodiversity decline. Beyond outright species loss, one potential outcome is modification of species interactions that are integral to ecosystem functioning. To investigate this possibility, I asked whether human activity influences avian frugivory and seed dispersal, bird-fruit interactions that facilitate plant reproduction. On Tobago (West Indies), I compared patterns of frugivory in three adjacent rainforest habitats along a gradient of increasing disturbance: primary forest in a reserve, unprotected intermediate forest outside the reserve, and nearby forest that was moderately disturbed by subsistence resource use. I assessed plant and bird community composition, seedling species, fruit removal, and bird fecal samples, to estimate human effects on seed dispersal and plant recruitment in this ecosystem. Disturbed forest had different species assemblages than primary forest, characterized by more light-demanding plants, more birds, and a shift in the relative abundance of avian feeding guilds: insectivores and frugivores declined, while nectarivores and omnivores increased. Canopy cover declined with disturbance; along with plant abundance, this explained much of the variation in bird species composition. The rate of avian fruit consumption in removal experiments varied considerably but tended to be highest in primary forest. Fecal samples showed that fruit composition of avian diets also varied with disturbance; birds captured in disturbed forest consumed more seeds from light-demanding plants. Seeds in the samples provided evidence of some seed transfer between habitats—from disturbed forest into the reserve and vice versa. Seedling composition was consistent with plant species fruiting in the same study plots, and illustrated some successful recruitment of light-demanding plants in primary forest and shade-tolerant plants in disturbed forest. Notably, the plant community of intermediate forest was more similar to disturbed than primary forest. This suggests that habitat adjacent to areas of human activity can be susceptible to ecological change, even though it does not experience the same direct disturbance. In summary, the unprotected portion of Tobago’s rainforest has a markedly different plant and bird community than the forest reserve, and my results indicate that avian frugivory and seed dispersal can be influenced by moderate human activity.
Diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Type IV Pilins and Identification of a Novel D-arabinofuranose Post-translational Modification
Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa
type IV pili
adhesion
bacterial protein glycosylation
arabinose
Mycobacteria
cystic fibrosis
diversity
mass spectrometry
TfpW

The opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses type IV pili (T4P) for adherence to, and rapid colonization of, surfaces via twitching motility. T4P are formed from thousands of pilin (PilA) subunits. Two groups of P. aeruginosa pilins were described previously (I and II), distinguished by protein length and sequence. PilA_I was glycosylated with an O-antigen subunit through the action of PilO/TfpO, encoded downstream of pilA_I. To determine if additional pilin variants existed, analysis of the pilin locus of >300 P. aeruginosa strains from a variety of environments was conducted. Three additional pilin alleles were discovered, each of which was invariantly associated with a unique, previously unidentified, downstream gene(s): pilA_III+tfpY, pilAIV+tfpW+tfpX, pilA_V+tfpZ. This survey also revealed that strains with group I T4P were more commonly associated with respiratory infections than strains with other pilins, suggesting that glycosylated T4P may confer a colonization advantage in this environment. The newly identified group IV pilin, represented by strain Pa5196, migrated aberrantly through SDS-PA gels, suggesting it was also glycosylated, a hypothesis confirmed by periodic acid-Schiff staining and mass spectrometry (MS) analyses. Disruption of Pa5196 O-antigen biosynthesis did not prevent the production of glycosylated pilins, demonstrating that these pilins were modified in a novel manner, unlike group I pilins. Using MS, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and site-directed mutagenesis, the Pa5196 pilins were shown to be uniquely modified with homo-oligosaccharides of mycobacterial-like α-1,5-D-arabinofuranose at multiple locations. Residues Thr64 and Thr66, located on the αβ-loop region of the protein, appear to be the preferred, but not exclusive sites of modification, each being modified with up to four D-Araf sugars. This region of the pilin is partially surface-exposed in the pilus, therefore modification of these sites may influence the surface chemistry of the fibre. Residues Ser81, Ser82, Ser85 and Ser89, located in the β-strand region, were also modified, mainly with mono- and disaccharides. Bioinformatic analyses and mutagenesis of TfpW suggest that this novel protein is an arabinosyltransferase necessary for PilA_IV modification. This research has increased our understanding of the complexity of this virulence factor, and may aid in development of new therapeutics for P. aeruginosa and mycobacterial infections.
Design Guidelines for Reducing Redundancy in Relational and XML Data
Keywords: Databases
Design
Relational Databases
XML
Redundancy
Normalization

In this dissertation, we propose new design guidelines to reduce the amount of redundancy that databases carry. We use techniques from information theory to define a measure that evaluates a database design based on the worst possible redundancy carried in the instances. We then continue by revisiting the design problem of relational data with functional dependencies, and measure the lowest price, in terms of redundancy, that has to be paid to guarantee a dependency-preserving normalization for all schemas. We provide a formal justification for the Third Normal Form (3NF) by showing that we can achieve this lowest price by doing a good 3NF normalization. We then study the design problem for XML documents that are views of relational data. We show that we can design a redundancy-free XML representation for some relational schemas while preserving all data dependencies. We present an algorithm for converting a relational schema to such an XML design. We finally study the design problem for XML documents that are stored in relational databases. We look for XML design criteria that ensure a relational storage with low redundancy. First, we characterize XML designs that have a redundancy-free relational storage. Then we propose a restrictive condition for XML functional dependencies that guarantees a low redundancy for data values in the relational storage.
Household Food Insecurity in Canada: An Examination of Nutrition Implications and Factors Associated with Vulnerability
Keywords: food security
nutrition
poverty
housing

Household food insecurity, defined as "the inability to acquire or consume an adequate diet quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so”, affected almost one in ten Canadian households in 2004. Responses have been dominated by community-based food initiatives with little attention paid to potential policy directions to alleviate this problem. The lack of impetus for policy responses may stem from the paucity of evidence documenting the nutrition implications of household food insecurity. Further, the development of policy interventions is hindered by a lack of understanding of the factors that influence vulnerability to food insecurity. This thesis comprises three studies aimed at providing stimulus and directions for policy responses to household food insecurity in Canada. The first study, an analysis of data from the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey, documents poorer dietary intakes and heightened risk of nutrient inadequacies among adults and adolescents in food-insecure households, providing evidence of the public health implications and public policy relevance of household food insecurity. The second and third studies are examinations of household-level factors associated with vulnerability to household food insecurity. Analysis of data from the 2001 Survey of Household Spending demonstrates the relevance of housing costs to household food access. Among lower-income households, as the proportion of income allocated to housing costs increased, the adequacy of household food spending declined significantly. Receipt of a housing subsidy was associated with an improvement in food spending but mean food spending adequacy fell below the cost of a basic nutritious diet even among subsidized households. The final study comprises a cross-sectional survey of 464 low-income Toronto families, two-thirds of whom were food insecure over the preceding 12 months. Analysis of predictors of severe food insecurity highlights the centrality of income and housing costs and raises serious questions about current definitions of housing affordability and the adequacy of current housing subsidy levels. This work provides a public health imperative for action and points to the urgent need for social policy reform to ameliorate problems of household food insecurity in Canada.
Exercise Training Attenuates Pancreatic β-cell Decompensation and Hepatic Inflammation in the Male Zucker Diabetic Fatty Rat
Keywords: Diabetes
ZDF
Inflammation
JNK
Beta-Cells
Pancreas
Hepatic
Oxidative Stress

We hypothesized that with exercise training and the subsequent attenuation of hyperglycemia, β-cell adaptation to worsening insulin resistance would be maintained. Also, because classical stress-activated systems and oxidative stress are involved in hepatic insulin resistance we examined if exercise would be associated with improvements in hepatic markers of oxidative stress and inflammation. Exercise maintained fasted hyperinsulinemia and preserved normoglycemia in male Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. β-cell function calculations indicate prolonged β-cell adaptation in exercised animals. Such improved β-cell function was associated with increased β-cell mass. Hypertrophy and replication contributed to expansion of β-cell mass; exercised animals had increased β-cell size and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation rates versus controls. Furthermore, we observed augmented β-cell-specific immunohistochemical staining of GLUT2 and Akt/PKB in exercised versus sedentary controls. We also observed large cytoplasmic ubiquitinated structures which form in response to oxidative stress in pancreatic tissue samples from hyperglycemic ZDF rats. In the exercised groups such aggregate numbers were reduced to numbers compared to those seen in younger non-diabetic basal ZDF animals and age-matched lean Zucker rats. With respect to the liver we investigated whether exercise alters kinases such as c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and IKKβ (as evidenced by IκBα levels) and related insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) serine phosphorylation which are associated with hepatic insulin resistance in obesity. On average, exercised animals ran 5250m/day which improved insulin sensitivity based on the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) calculations, and maintained fed and fasted glucoregulation and glucose tolerance. Ten weeks of running decreased whole-body markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in the blood and in the liver. Exercise lowered circulating interleukin-6 (IL-6), haptoglobin, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and protein oxidation in the liver. Exercise reduced phosphorylated JNK (pJNK) indicating decreased JNK activity; in accordance serine phosphorylated IRS-1 was reduced in exercised rats. In conclusion, improvements in glucoregulation were associated with increased β-cell compensation at least in part due to a reduction in oxidative stress. Furthermore, we show exercise attenuates development of hyperglycemia in ZDF rats in association with decreases in plasma and hepatic markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, JNK activation, and serine phosphorylation of IRS-1.