VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Pichon and Sajous v. France: implications for Slovakia
Keywords: Reproductive health, Law and legislation
Women's rights
Conscientious objection

This thesis explores the issue of conscientious objection invoked by pharmacies and its impact on women's access to reproductive and sexual health care services. The right to conscientious objection has been recognized by several international and European experts as being derived from a right to freedom of religion, thought and belief. It is not, however, an absolute right. When its exercise is in conflict with other human rights and fundamental freedoms, a fair balance must be struck between a right to conscientious objection and other affected human rights and fundamental freedoms. Particularly in the reproductive health care context, states that allow for conscientious refusals must accommodate conscientious objection in such a way that its exercise does not compromise women's access to these procedures. This analysis of Pichon and Sajous v. France suggests a balanced approach that could be applied in conscientious objection cases involving reproductive health care.
Questioning authority: an inquiry into the professional status of women teachers in a boys' secondary school
Keywords: Women teachers, Attitudes
Women teachers, England
Boys, Education (Secondary)
Boys, England
Teacher-student relationships, England
Sexism in education, England
High school teachers, Attitudes
High school teachers, England
Sex discrimination against women, England

This thesis examines the issue of teacher authority in a boys' secondary school in London, UK on two distinct levels. The first draws attention to the ways in which women teachers' authority is questioned and challenged by their pupils and consequently undermines their professional status. The second level analyses these social relations by questioning how authority has been historically constructed and continues to be maintained through gender regimes and through masculinity more broadly. The gender regime at the research site is critiqued using a critical ethnographic method. The data analyses will reveal that a redefinition of authority would lend itself to legitimizing the professional status of women teachers as well as emphasizing the importance of positive pupil-teacher relationships to bring about social change in school communities and in a wider social sphere.
Gene regulation in growth plate chondrocytes by the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor and the beta2-adrenergic receptor
Keywords: Cytology
Pharmacology

The skeletal structure is an essential organ to our body. It supports our weight and provides attachment points for muscles and tendons allowing body movement. Endochondral bone development is the major process by which long bones develop and grow. This dissertation focuses on studying the signaling pathways that regulate gene expression in growth plate chondrocytes during endochondral bone development. I showed that both the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK)1/2 and p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases can mediate beta 1-integrin stimulation of two key marker genes for hypertrophic chondrocytes: Indian hedgehog (Ihh) and type X collagen in CFK-2 chondrocytes. In addition, I demonstrated that activation of the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R) by PTH can directly inhibit the expression of Ihh, which is mainly mediated by PTH inhibition of the ERK1/2 activity. Although PTH was able to stimulate the MAP kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) protein expression, PTH inhibition of the ERK1/2 activity was mediated by PTH inhibition of the c-Raf activity. Furthermore, I for the first time characterized the expression of beta-adrenergic receptor (AR) on primary fetal murine chondrocytes using RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and functional assays. beta2-AR is the only adrenergic receptor subtype expressed on primary chondrocytes, and isoproterenol activation of the receptor stimulated the adenylyl cyclase activity and CREB phosphorylation. Isoproterenol also transiently activated ERK1/2 activity and stimulated MKP-1 protein expression. Similar to PTH1R, beta 2-AR also inhibited the expression of Ihh and type X collagen in primary chondrocytes, and these effects were mimicked by forskolin, an adenylyl cyclase activator. This study demonstrated the essential roles that the MAP kinase signaling pathways and the adenylyl cyclase/PKA signaling pathway play during endochondral bone development. It highlighted the importance of the cell interaction with the extracellular matrix during chondrocyte hypertrophic differentiation. It also delineated the signaling pathway that mediates the PTH1R direct inhibition of the Ihh mRNA. It characterized for the first time the expression and function of beta2-AR in primary chondrocytes, which has opened up a new avenue of investigation of endochondral bone development by the sympathetic nervous system.
A study of one EFl pre-service program in Taiwan
Keywords: English language, Study and teaching
English language, Taiwan
Teachers, Training of
Teachers, Taiwan
English teachers, Taiwan
English teachers, In-service training
English teachers, Taiwan

The present study is designed to be a case study of one particular teacher education program in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Taiwan, where teacher education programs are centrally directed by the Ministry of Education. The aim of this study is to look into the nature and content of the newly developed elementary school EFL teacher education program from the perspectives of (a) pre-service teachers, (b) practicing teachers, and (c) teacher educators. I also attempt to illuminate their concerns about EFL teacher education programs at the elementary school level. In order to describe the content and form of the four-year elementary EFL pre-service teacher program, which was in its second year of implementation at the time of this study, it is necessary to understand how teachers and teacher educators conceptualized and utilized their experiences of formal teacher education programs as well as of their teaching practice (Freeman & Richards, 1996). Accordingly, twelve informants, four pre-service teachers, four practicing teachers, and four teacher educators were included in this study. Using empirical data gathered from (a) individual interviews with pre-service teachers, practicing teachers, and teacher educators; (b) focus group interviews; and (c) pre-service teachers' journals, the present study intends to gain insights into the experiences of EFL practicing teachers, pre-service teachers and teacher educators, and their thoughts about elementary EFL teacher education programs. Their perceptions of the usefulness of teacher preparation programs in EFL and the effectiveness in their teaching practices are explored. The findings of the present study show that the teacher educators, practicing teachers, and pre-service teachers had different perceptions of elementary EFL pre-service teacher education in Taiwan, and the suitability of the components in the present program remained a moot point. As well, the practicing and pre-service teachers perceived a gap between theory and practice in teacher education programs, and were uncertain about the role of formal pre-service teacher education in their learning to teach. It is also found that the practicing teachers emphasized experiential knowledge in the construction of teacher knowledge, while the pre-service teachers practical knowledge and applications of theoretical knowledge to actual teaching. Finally, viable implications for change in elementary EFL teacher education are discussed. It is an attempt to help to improve the implementation of elementary EFL teacher education programs in Taiwan in particular, and to contribute to the understanding and knowledge of EFL teacher education and teacher development in general.
Teaching methodologies and assessment strategies of Ontario grade 9 mathematics teachers
Keywords: Mathematics, Study and teaching (Secondary)
Mathematics, Ontario
Mathematics, Study and teaching (Secondary)
Mathematics, Ontario
Mathematical ability, Testing
Mathematical ability, Ontario
Education, Secondary, Methodology
Education, Secondary, Ontario
Mathematics, Study and teaching (Secondary)
Mathematics, Ontario
Educational tests and measurements, Research
Educational tests and measurements, Ontario
Questionnaires, Research
Questionnaires, Ontario

This study reviews Grade 9 Ontario Mathematics teachers' practices, teaching methodologies and assessment strategies, using responses to the Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics Teacher Questionnaire. Factor analyses found that the patterns of factors for the teaching methodologies were similar, and the patterns of factors for the assessment strategies were different, between teachers of the applied and academic program. Comparisons of composite scores based on the factors showed that the frequencies of use of teaching methodologies by teachers of the applied and academic program differ significantly.
Real-life working memory and inattention in a community sample of school-aged children
Keywords: Attention, Ability testing
Short-term memory, Ability testing
Memory in children, Ability testing

The objectives of this thesis were to (1) evaluate the relationship between performance on standardized measures of working memory (WM) and performance on a real-life measure of WM; and (2) examine the relationship between inattentive behaviour and both standardized and real life measures of WM. A community sample of 140 children aged 7--12 years completed three types of WM measures (standardized auditor verbal and visual-spatial WM, and real-life WM) in a naturalistic setting, while their parents completed questionnaires about their children's inattentive behaviour. Results indicated (1) performance on auditory-verbal WM and visual-spatial memory span tasks predicted performance on a real-life WM task; and (2) parent-reported inattentive behaviour predicted individual differences in visual-spatial and real-life WM, such that higher ratings of inattention were associated with poorer performance on both visual-spatial and real-life WM. It is concluded that WM abilities generalize to some extent across laboratory and real-life contexts, and are related to behavioural symptoms of inattention.
Bridging a cultural divide: strengthening similarities and managing differences in university-industry relationships
Keywords: Education, Higher
Science, History
Business and education

Many policy makers view universities as economic agents that drive the innovations responsible for increased productivity and economic growth. Initiatives to harness this potential currently focus on commercializing academic research by protecting, managing, and licensing intellectual property. However, many recognize that traditional academic norms and practices can impede these activities. Consequently, some view the cultural boundaries between universities and firms as obstacles to effective knowledge transfer and argue that universities should alter these boundaries by creating commercial incentives to support "entrepreneurial academics." To create the appropriate incentives, policy makers need to understand how academic culture influences the creation of useful knowledge and how the differences between universities and firms influence collaboration. This dissertation addresses this need by investigating how the cultural and physical boundaries between researchers at the University of Toronto and their industry partners influence knowledge sharing within three collaborative programs: the IBM Centre for Advanced Studies, the Nortel Institute for Telecommunications, and the Bell University Labs. This includes an investigation into the benefits that motivate collaboration and the mechanisms through which the partners create, sustain, and conclude partnerships. This study finds that firms and universities share a number of interests and practices. These similarities foster greater understanding and trust between the partners, which facilitates collaboration. Resource sharing strengthens these similarities and firms that invest personnel, knowledge, materials, and data in a partnership increase effective communication and knowledge exchange. This study also finds that academic and firm partners exhibit distinct interests and practices that strongly influence knowledge transfer. These differences are an incentive as well as an impediment to collaboration. Conflicting norms and practices can create tensions but they also promote the development of complementary resources. Universities and firms collaborate because each brings distinct, though complementary, resources into the partnership. Since the norms and practices of each partner shape these distinctions, attempts to diminish cultural differences may partially erode the incentives to collaborate. Overemphasizing commercialization within universities may also impede the valuable informal knowledge exchanges that take place between partners. Managing tensions through third-party mediation and more effective communication channels promotes knowledge transfer more effectively than minimizing cultural differences.
The efficacy of strategy in the competition for research funding in higher education
Keywords: Federal aid to higher education, United States
Research, Finance
Research, United States
Research grants, United States
Research, Economic aspects
Research, United States
Competition, United States
Universities and colleges, Finance
Universities and colleges, United States

This thesis is concerned with the strategic management of research in research intensive universities (RIUs). RIUs have a huge economic footprint and research is at their core. Competition for the funds that support research is fierce, and RIUs must increasingly engage in strategic activities to maximize their share of the available research funding. Widely accepted portfolio theories underpin a quantitative model that exposes the research strategies of a group of 39 RIUs and measures the results of their strategies in terms of the change in the share of federally funded research expenditures they performed during the decade that ended in 2000. It was determined that there was a .62 correlation between the RIU research strategies and the corresponding change in their share of federally funded research expenditures. A modified specialization strategy was most closely associated with the greatest gain in share, and any RIU that does not pursue this strategy does so at its peril. The ideal strategy is the most efficient in the sense that it represents a research portfolio configuration that generated the highest rate of growth in the value of research performed among the 39 RIUs. For the first time, an RIU can determine the exact dollar value of research that it should perform in each of its research portfolio components in order to achieve the ideal portfolio configuration. When all RIU portfolio configurations, or when a peer group of RIU portfolio configurations, are viewed, environmental opportunities or threats may become apparent. In addition, the new research-related performance indicators introduced in this thesis enhance the ability to measure research operations. Improved measurement capability enhances both research accountability and institutional accountability. This thesis contributes to the literature pertaining to the management of research in higher education and, more generally, to the literature related to the efficacy of strategy.
An analysis of the criminalisation of cartel activity in the United Kingdom
Keywords: Restraint of trade, Great Britain
Cartels, Criminal provisions
Cartels, Great Britain
Competition, Unfair, Great Britain
Antitrust law, Criminal provisions
Antitrust law, Great Britain

This thesis considers the criminalisation of individual participation in cartel activity in the UK under the Enterprise Act 2002. It presents an analysis of the relevant sections of the Act, considers the impact of criminalisation, and highlights problematic areas that the legislation invokes in this specialised and complex area of legal regulation.
Molecular approach to the inference of phylogeny, biogeography, and evolution of New World emballonurid bats
Keywords: Emballonuridae
Bats, Evolution
Bats, South America
Bats, Geographical distribution
Bats, South America

A molecular phylogeny of New World emballonurid bats is produced and used as a hypothesis of systematic relationships to estimate divergence times, and investigate biogeography and evolutionary patterns in morphology and behaviour. Unlinked loci are surveyed from the four components of genetic transmission found in mammals: mitochondrial (Cytb), autosomal (Chd1), X (Usp9x) and Y (Dby) sex chromosomes. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses gave well-supported and congruent topologies with monophyletic clades representing species and genera. The mitochondrial gene tree had significantly faster rates of substitution, higher levels of homoplasy, and greater degree of saturation, which contributed to a loss of phylogenetic signal at deeper branches. In contrast, the nuclear genes resolved higher-level relationships including a dichotomous split in the New World tribe, with one subtribe having a hard polytomy at its base, which was unresolved for all data partitions. Divergence times were estimated with a Bayesian relaxed clock approach. Primary diversification occurred in the Miocene including the appearance of all genera and most species. Optimization of areas suggest that the ancestor of New World emballonurids had its origin in Africa. Molecular dating was incorporated into a study of biogeography using phylogenetic analysis for comparing trees. The ancestral area at most nodes of the area cladogram was the Northern Amazon, and hypothesized modes of speciation included 2 peripatric, 10 vicariant, and 30 within-area events. There were two episodes of high diversification that were associated with tectonic activity in the Andes combined with fluctuations in temperature and sea level that produced a changing palaeoenvironment in South America. These taxon pulses are hypothesized as range expansions and contractions from a stable core area such as the Guiana Shield that resulted in micro-allopatric speciation within the Northern Amazon. Character optimization revealed novel associations of morphology and behaviour including an adaptation of camouflage for taxa with pale-coloured fur or dorsal stripes that also roost in exposed sites. Mapping of characters states indicated that wing sacs evolved in parallel within the subtribes and the hard polytomy in one subtribe suggests a phylogenetic predisposition for development of wing sacs whereby this structure arose independently within each of four genera.
Genetic parenthood: reconsidering the disposition of the cryopreserved embryos
Keywords: Fertilization in vitro, Human, Law and legislation
Paternity
Embryos

The practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) process may result in extra embryos. Generally, those embryos are cryogenically preserved for future usage. However, before they are further disposed, there may be contingencies, such as the divorce of the embryo progenitors. If there is no prior agreement dealing with such an event, conflicts may erupt. Moreover, even when there is such an agreement, the enforceability of the agreement is dubious, because the agreement seems to compel people to become genetic parents. In this paper, I will argue that the burden of becoming a genetic parent is not sufficient to void such an agreement. The agreement should be enforced to foster the autonomy of the progenitors and to reduce administration cost. However, if there is no agreement, the interests of both progenitors should be considered case by case to determine the disposition of the embryos.
Orientations to English academic language learning among Chinese high school students in a technology-supported learning environment in Canada
Keywords: English language, Study and teaching
English language, Study and teaching
English language, Canada
English language, Study and teaching
English language, China
Chinese students, Language
Chinese students, Canada
High school students, Language
High school students, Canada
Academic language, Study and teaching
English language, Computer-assisted instruction

This study identifies the orientation to English academic language learning among ESL students in a technology-supported learning environment, by investigating Chinese students' intuitive negotiation of the components of their ESL instruction that they considered most effective in the Canadian educational setting. Twenty-four Chinese ESL students and five ESL teachers in a high school in Toronto participated in the study. A mixed factorial design, with one between-subject variable (student groups) and three within-subject variables (time, conditions, test versions), investigated the impact of technology-supported scaffolding on vocabulary acquisition. Repeated-measures ANOVAs assessed the students' vocabulary learning in two reading conditions across two English proficiency groups. Descriptive and qualitative analysis of questionnaires, interviews with teachers and students, and classroom observations established students' strategy profiles. Students subconsciously adopted a resource-orientated functional approach in search of strategies to optimize vocabulary learning by taking advantage of available resources. They predominately used bilingual resources to compensate for the mismatch between their preferred learning strategies and those promoted within their classroom ESL instruction. The students acquired more vocabulary with technology-supported scaffolds that were congruent with their preferred learning strategies than they did under non-technology-supported learning conditions. The rate of students' vocabulary acquisition related to their L2 proficiency. Significant variations were found between students' understanding of word meanings in English and Chinese across conditions and groups. Further research is recommended to examine the distinction between generic learning strategy frameworks (such as that proposed by Oxford, 1990) and the specific culture-based strategies that students actually utilize. Such generic frameworks did not adequately capture important aspects of students' learning strategies in the present study. Also, it may be useful to explore the potential benefits of providing a structured set of obligatory scaffolds within a technology-supported environment as opposed to letting students choose from a variety of available scaffolds. The latter approach may work well for more advanced learners; for beginners a more structured tutorial route may be advantageous.
Pseudo-Linear Attitude Control and Estimation System (PLACES)
Keywords: Space vehicles, Attitude control systems
Kalman filtering

Design of small and midsize spacecraft is the focus of many future low-budget missions. Hence, the demand for an efficient and effective autonomous algorithm for attitude and rate estimation is more prominent than ever. This thesis investigates the performance of a Pseudo-Linear Kalman Filter (PLKF) with continuous-time dynamics for attitude and rate estimation. The PLKF differs from the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) with its continuous-time dynamics performing estimation using a pseudo-linear state-dependent dynamic model. Both quaternion-based and vector-based measurements have been considered and the dynamic model of the spacecraft accounts for external environmental disturbances. The theoretical background of the PLKF will be summarized. Using computer simulations, the designed filter is shown to overcome large initial errors and yield accurate estimates. The performance indices used for evaluation are based on robustness against plant, measurement and initial estimate errors, as well as rejection of different sensor noise levels. While the EKF remains more robust for some cases of angular velocity estimation, the PLKF, in general, outperforms the EKF in attitude estimation.