VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Comparative Analysis of Copyright Enforcement in the Cloud under U.S and Canadian Law: The Liability of Internet Intermediaries
Keywords: Copyright Enforcement in the Cloud
Liability of Internet Intermediaries

Through an empirical comparison between U.S and Canadian copyright law, this paper examines how lawmakers in both countries should deal with copyright liability issues in the cloud while maintaining a proper balance between content owners and Internet intermediaries. This paper proposes to answer this question throughout the study of the liability of Internet intermediaries. Drawing on copyright statutory provisions, case law and scholars articles, this paper examines the issue of online piracy, defines cloud computing and identifies the copyright liability issues posed by the cloud. It then compares U.S and Canadian copyright laws and discusses the new reform proposed in both countries in relation with the liability of Internet intermediaries. It concludes that new statutory reform might not be necessary except for clarification purposes. Indeed current copyright laws deal efficiently with copyright liability issues in the cloud while maintaining a proper balance between content owners and Internet intermediaries.
The Consequentialist Scale: Elucidating the Role of Deontological and Utilitarian Beliefs in Moral Judgments
Keywords: Moral judgment
Moral beliefs

In previous research, measurement of deontological and utilitarian beliefs relied on responses to classic moral dilemmas. While use of these dilemmas has proven fruitful they are fraught with potential confounds. This thesis describes the construction and validation of the Consequentialist scale, a tool designed to directly measure the endorsement of both utilitarian and deontological beliefs. The Consequentialist scale was tested against variables previously associated with moral judgments, namely emotional reactivity, Machiavellianism, intrinsic religiosity, and political conservatism. Results indicate that the Consequentialist scale provides added explanatory power that helps to elucidate cornerstone processes involved in moral judgments.
A Newborn Sex-related Response to Hyperoxia
Keywords: Hyperoxia
Hemodynamics
sex-difference

Exposure to hyperoxia has been shown to have detrimental effects on newborn hemodynamics and antioxidant activities in males. These effects are unknown in the newborn female, despite clinical data showing that in children undergoing surgery females have poorer outcomes. This thesis explored whether newborn females respond worse than males to hyperoxia, specifically in hemodynamics and antioxidant activity. Hemodynamic results showed continual decreases in DBP and MAP, increases in HR, decreases in SBP, and increases in PP, which were experienced earlier and to a greater degree in the female. Additionally, reduced antioxidant activity seen in newborns was worse in females in both the heart and skeletal muscle. These results suggest that in response to hyperoxia, newborn females are at a hemodynamic disadvantage when compared to males, which may be a contributing factor for why female children are at a higher risk during surgery or medical management involving hyperoxia.
Intraperitoneal, Continuous Carboplatin Delivery for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer
Keywords: Chemotherapy
carboplatin
ovarian cancer
continuous

Ovarian cancer remains the deadliest gynecologic malignancy. Current treatment has low efficacy in the long term, leading to low 5-year survival rates of 20-40%. Treatment-free periods between cycles of chemotherapy are accepted in standard treatment. These periods lead to accelerated tumor cell proliferation, angiogenesis and drug resistance development. Studies presented herein show advantages of continuous carboplatin dosing schedule over conventional intermittent regimen, both administered intraperitoneally. Continuous carboplatin therapy blocked acceleration of cell proliferation observed during treatment-free period of intermittent therapy. Moreover, continuous carboplatin led to 57% inhibition of SKOV3 tumors grown intraperitoneally in SCID mice, a significant advantage over the 33% tumor suppression observed with intermittent carboplatin. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed continuous carboplatin led to greater tumor cell death while suppressing tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis when compared to intermittent administration. These results show that the suppression of tumor growth with carboplatin can be enhanced by the elimination of treatment free periods.
Evaluation and Control of Pirssonite Scale Formation in Green Liquor Systems of the Kraft Process
Keywords: Pirssonite
Green liquor Scale
Calcium carbonate
CaCO3
Scale
Deposition
green liquor
Pirssonite solubility
kraft mill scale
Na2Ca(CO3)2∙2H2O
selective dissolution
incongruent dissolution
OLI

Scaling in green liquor handling systems is a persistent problem in many kraft mills. Scaling is commonly believed to be the result of pirssonite (Na2Ca(CO3)2∙2H2O) deposition. In this work, scale characterization was performed by analyzing 12 scale samples obtained from 10 kraft mills. Only 4 samples were identified as pirssonite while the remaining consisted of CaCO3. The predominant presence of CaCO3 in the scale samples was found to be the result of selective dissolution of Na2CO3 from pirssonite scale, leaving CaCO3 behind. Experimental studies were also conducted to study pirssonite solubility under green liquor conditions. Results obtained from these studies were used to create and validate a database for pirssonite in the OLI Systems® software to predict its formation. This database was used to generate a family of pirssonite solubility curves that can be used by the kraft mills as operational guidelines to prevent pirssonite precipitation.
State-based Control of Discrete-event Systems with Observational Abstraction
Keywords: Discrete-Event Systems
Observational Abstraction
State-based Control

The state-based approach plays an important role in modeling and control of Discrete-Event Systems (DES). Based on previous work, state feedback control of DES with nonblocking is thoroughly investigated; a general construction method for memory and the corresponding predicate is also specified. Two examples are provided in illustration. Also presented is state-based control of DES with observational abstraction. Based on the existing idea of quasi-congruence, quasi-observer, as a kind of observational abstraction, is developed; its advantages and limitations are discussed by means of simple examples. Imposing an observational partition on the state set also leads to observational abstraction. On this basis, the state-feedback controller design is introduced; in particular, the notion of high and low modeling levels for DES is proposed, based on which reachability and controllability are further discussed and compared. Finally, two simple applications are provided to show the advantage of observational partition in DES analysis and control.
Serotonergic Responsiveness in Hypothalamic Neurons
Keywords: physiology
cellular biology
molecular biology
hypothalamus
neuroendocrinology
feeding behaviour
serotonin
neuropeptide expression
transcriptional regulation
obesity
immortalized cell lines
signal transduction
paraventricular nucleus
neuroscience
real-time PCR
calcium signaling
neuronal activation
secretion

Serotonin (5-HT) has been implicated in energy homeostasis. There is growing evidence that 5-HT, acting through the 5-HT1BR in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), is important to this regulation. To investigate the cellular events underlying 5-HT1BR action, a PVN neuronal cell model was established. The mHypoA-2/30 cell line expresses a complement of markers and neuropeptides specifically localized to the PVN. 5-HT induces neuronal activation in a dose-dependent manner as determined by an elevation in cFos mRNA levels. As 5-HT exerted limited transcriptional control, the integrity of 5-HT signaling machinery was assessed. 5-HT signals through cAMP and calcium secondary messenger systems by suppressing cAMP and elevating intracellular calcium, effects that are mimicked by activating the 5-HT1BR and that are attenuated in the presence of inhibitors. These findings support the use of this novel PVN cell model for delineating components involved in direct 5-HT action in PVN neurons.
Enhanced Bioactivity and Sustained Release of NT-3 and Anti-NogoA from a Polymeric Drug Delivery System for Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury
Keywords: Drug release
Spinal cord injury

Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and anti-NogoA have shown promise in regenerative strategies after spinal cord injury; however, conventional methods for localized release to the injured spinal cord are either prone to infection or not suitable for sustained release. To address these issues, we have designed a composite drug delivery system that is comprised of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles dispersed in an injectable hydrogel of hyaluronan and methyl cellulose (HAMC). Achieving sustained and bioactive protein release from PLGA particles is a known challenge; consequently, we studied the effects of processing parameters and excipient selection on protein release, stability, and bioactivity. We found that embedding PLGA nanoparticles in HAMC results in more linear drug release due to the formation of a diffusion-limiting layer of methyl cellulose on the particle surface. Co-encapsulated MgCO3 was able to significantly improve NT-3 bioactivity, while trehalose + hyaluronan was able to improve anti-NogoA bioactivity and release.
Investigations into the Significance of the Evolutionary Descent of Prion Genes from Ancestral Zip Transporter
Keywords: Prion
ZIP
ZIP5
ZIP6
ZIP10
LIV1
PrP
Endoproteolysis

The conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) to PrP scrapie (PrPSc) is a hallmark of prion diseases [1]. The cellular role of PrP and the mechanism of PrPSc neurotoxicity remain largely elusive. Therefore, the identification of new prion-like proteins can assist in revealing the function of PrP. A recent study identified a sub-branch of ZIP (Zrt-, Irt-like protein) metal transporters, including ZIP5, ZIP6 and ZIP10, to be evolutionarily related to PrP. This thesis attempts to understand the functional relevance of this relationship between PrP and ZIP transporters with regard to PrP pathobiology. Preliminary observations indicated that PrP, ZIP6 and ZIP10 underwent endoproteolysis in scrapie-infected mouse brains. PrP and ZIP10 processing mimicked the proteolysis which occurs in cell culture during zinc-deficient conditions, suggesting that scrapie infection may be associated with zinc deficiency. More work is needed to uncover whether ZIPs can contribute to the propagation of prion diseases.
Effects of Aberrant HGF/MET Signalling on Cerebellar Development and Medulloblastoma Pathogenesis
Keywords: medulloblastoma
brain tumour
HGF/MET signalling
transgenic mouse

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour. Similar to other tumours, medulloblastoma pathogenesis involves abnormal regulation of several developmental growth pathways. As my thesis project, I studied the effects of aberrant HGF/MET signalling on medulloblastoma formation in two ways. In my first objective, I investigated the role that mutations play in activated HGF/MET signalling in medulloblastoma by searching for mutations in HGF/MET pathway genes, SPINT1, SPINT2, and MET, within primary medulloblastoma specimens. This screen identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two novel variations, one in each SPINT1 and SPINT2 genes. In my second objective, I generated a transgenic mouse model with cerebellar-specific aberrant MET signalling. These mice developed extensive cerebellar abnormalities but formed no tumours. These results indicate that mutations in the HGF/MET pathway components alone are not sufficient to initiate medulloblastoma formation and must coincide with additional genetic insults to promote tumour formation, maintenance, and progression.
Immunoglobulin G: A Potential Immuno-modulatory Therapy for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury
Keywords: Spinal Cord Injury
Inflammation
Immunoglobulin G
Therapy

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition that causes its victims to experience functional deficits. Inflammation plays a complex role in the progression of SCI. While some inflammatory cells attenuate further damage to the spinal cord tissue, other inflammatory mediators exacerbate the damage. Attenuating the detrimental aspects of inflammation after SCI is an attractive neuroprotective strategy that could potentially lead to significant functional improvement. In this regard, intravenous immunoglobulin G (IgG), which has many proposed immuno-modulatory mechanisms, is a potential treatment candidate. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective properties of IgG by examining its effects after SCI at the molecular, cellular, and neurobehavioral levels. We observed that IgG treatment after SCI is associated with significant reduction in pro-inflammatory mediators and significant improvement in neurobehavioral recovery compared to the control. The results of the study suggest that IgG could potentially be used as an immuno-modulatory therapy for SCI.
Quantitative Classification of Pediatric Swallowing through Accelerometry
Keywords: dual-axis acceleometry
swallowing
dysphagia
classification

Abstract Background: Dysphagia or swallowing disorder negatively impacts a child's health and development. The gold standard of dysphagia detection is videofluoroscopy which exposes the child to ionizing radiation, and requires specialized clinical expertise and expensive institutionally-based equipment, precluding day-to-day and repeated assessment of fluctuating swallowing function. Swallowing accelerometry is the non-invasive measurement of cervical vibrations during swallowing and may provide a portable and cost-effective bedside alternative. In particular, dual-axis swallowing accelerometry has demonstrated screening potential in older persons with neurogenic dysphagia, but the technique has not been evaluated in the pediatric population. Methods: In this study, dual-axis accelerometric signals were collected simultaneous to videofluoroscopic records from 29 pediatric participants (age 6.8 ± 4.8 years; 20 males) previously diagnosed with neurogenic dysphagia. Participants swallowed 3-5 sips of barium-coated boluses of different consistencies (normally, from thick puree to thin liquid) by spoon or bottle. Videofluoroscopic records were reviewed retrospectively by a clinical expert to extract swallow timings and ratings. The dual-axis acceleration signals corresponding to each identified swallow were pre-processed, segmented and trimmed prior to feature extraction from time, frequency, time-frequency and information theoretic domains. Feature space dimensionality was reduced via principal components. Results: Using 8-fold cross-validation, 16-17 dimensions and a support vector machine classifier with an RBF kernel, an adjusted accuracy of 89.6% ± 0.9 was achieved for the discrimination between swallows with and with out airway entry. Conclusions: Our results suggest that dual-axis accelerometry has merit in the non-invasive detection of unsafe swallows in children and deserves further consideration as a pediatric medical device.
CD31(-) HipOps - A Highly Osteogenic Cell Population From Mouse Bone Marrow
Keywords: mesenchymal stem cell
osteoprogenitor
osteoblast
MACS
magnetic bead cell sorting
cell sorting
osteogenesis
CD31
platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule
PECAM
cell culture
negative selection
cell marker
bone marrow stromal cell
BMSC
HipOp
highly purified osteoprogenitor population
bone marrow
vascular endothelial cell
limiting dilution analysis
accessory population
CD73

Multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), found in many adult tissues, may be useful for regenerative medicine applications. Their identification and purification have been difficult due to their low frequency and lack of unambiguous markers. Using a magnetic micro-beads negative selection technique to remove contaminating hematopoietic cells from mouse bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), our lab recently isolated a highly purified osteoprogenitor (HipOp) population that was also enriched for other mesenchymal precursors, including MSCs (Itoh and Aubin, 2009). To further enhance enrichment, we positively selected BMSCs and HipOps for CD73, a putative MSC marker, which resulted in no significant additional enrichment for osteoprogenitors when the population was tested in vitro. However, we also found that HipOps were enriched in vascular endothelial cells, and that removing these cells by further negative selection with CD31/PECAM resulted in a CD31(-) HipOp population with higher osteogenic capacity than HipOps in vitro and in vivo.
High Glucose-induced ROS Production is Mediated by c-Src in Mesangial Cells
Keywords: Diabetic nephropathy
Src
Reactive oxygen species

The pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains incompletely understood. In previous studies, we observed the activation of Tyr kinase Src by high glucose (HG) and showed that Src is required for MAPK activation and synthesis of collagen IV in cultured rat mesangial cells (MCs). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also important mediators of DN, and our present study aimed to investigate the role of Src in HG-induced ROS generation. In MCs, we found that HG led to ROS accumulation that was blocked by Src inhibitors or Src-specific siRNA. Downstream of Src, Vav2 was phosphorylated/activated leading to Rac1-dependent NADPH oxidase activation. Long-term HG exposure resulted in Src-dependent Nox4 protein induction. Nox2-specific siRNA abrogated ROS production only in short-term HG, while Nox4-specific siRNA blocked ROS production only in long-term HG. Taken together, our data indicate Src to be important in mediating ROS generation from both Nox2- and Nox4-containing NADPH oxidases.
The Effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 on Cytokines/Chekmokines and Prostaglandins in Human Amnion Cells
Keywords: pregnancy
preterm birth
cytokines
prostaglandins
probiotics
amnion

The incidence of preterm labor has risen over recent decades and preventative antibiotic treatment is ineffective. Associated with a 40% increased risk of preterm birth, bacterial vaginosis is characterized by a decrease in lactobacilli and increase in pathogenic bacteria in the vaginal flora. Ascent of bacterial products to the intrauterine environment stimulates cytokine and prostaglandin secretion from invading immune cells and gestational tissues. Probiotic lactobacilli modulate the immune responses in mouse macrophages and human placental trophoblast cells. The focus of this thesis was to determine the influence of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 (GR-1) on cytokines and prostaglandins which are part of the activated pathway in infection and/or inflammation mediated preterm labour. GR-1 increased amnion chemokine and reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine release. GR-1 elevated prostaglandin E2 release that was paralleled by an increase in mPGES2 expression. It is possible that t that GR-1 may enhance the host defense barriers of the amnion to pathogenic bacteria.
A Comparative Study of the Impact of Sustained and Intermittent Docetaxel Chemotherapy in Brain in a Mouse Model
Keywords: Docetaxel
Chemotherapy
Cognitive impairment
Neurotoxicity
Autophagy
Astrocyte
Apoptosis
Neuronal Calcium Sensor-1

Title: “A comparative study of the impact of sustained and intermittent docetaxel chemotherapy in brain in a mouse model” Ji Zhang Master of Science Graduate Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toronto November, 2011 Abstract A subset of patients suffers cognitive impairment during or long after chemotherapy. This may result from chemotherapeutic agents crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB). This thesis examined the effects of docetaxel (DTX) on brain toxicity, and the effects of different dosing schedules on brain DTX concentrations and neurotoxicity. Examination of DTX treated mice (total dose of 32mg/kg) revealed appreciable amounts of DTX crossed the BBB after either intermittent (four weekly doses) or sustained (one injection of DTX-PoLigel) administration despite differences in peak drug concentrations and overall exposure profiles. Measurements of autophagy and astrocytes activation not only provided evidence of DTX caused neurotoxicity in the central nervous system, but also revealed a link between dosing schedule and neurotoxicity. Furthermore, the discovery suggested connections between DTX brain exposure, diverse biological events (such as BBB permeability and reactive oxygen species activity), and the microenvironment at synapse-neuron junctions, which should be further explored.
The Role of Chloride Channels in Remote Ischemic Preconditioning of Ventricular Cardiomyocytes
Keywords: remote preconditioning
cardiomyocytes
chloride channels
volume regulation
IAA-94

Sarcolemmal chloride channels and associated cell volume regulatory pathways have been shown to be important in local ischemic preconditioning (IPC) induced protection against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. Similarities between intracellular pathways in remote (rIPC) and classic IPC suggest that these mechanisms may also play an important role in rIPC. rIPC protected cultured rabbit ventricular cardiomyocytes against necrosis caused by 75 minutes simulated ischemia followed by 60 minutes simulated reperfusion. The protective effect was abolished by chloride channel blockade using 50 μM indanyloxyacetic acid 94 (IAA-94). rIPC also reduced peak cardiomyocyte swelling during exposure to 200 mOsm hypo-osmotic buffer. The reduction in peak swelling was also abolished by IAA-94. These results suggest that the protective effect of rIPC is achieved, at least in part, by enhancing cell volume regulation and that this effect is dependent on the availability of chloride channels in a similar fashion to local IPC.
The Coevolutionary Genetics of Medicago truncatula and its Associated Rhizobia
Keywords: mutualism
legume
rhizobia
QTL mapping
Nod factor signaling
coevolution
genotype by genotype
Medicago truncatula
Sinorhizobium meliloti
G x G

Contrary to the predictions of numerous theoretical models, variation in partner quality continues to persist in mutualisms, including in the symbiosis between legumes and rhizobia. One potential explanation for the maintenance of this genetic diversity is genotype × genotype interactions, however it is unknown which genetic regions might underlie these interactions. To investigate this question, I performed a quantitative trait loci mapping experiment with two different rhizobium strains to locate potential regions of the genome influencing genotype × genotype interactions between the legume Medicago truncatula and its symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti. I found no evidence for genotype × genotype or QTL × rhizobium interactions, however some of the QTLs colocalized with genes involved in the symbiosis signaling pathway, suggesting variation in these genes could potentially affect plant performance and fitness traits. These findings have important implications for the evolutionary interactions between legumes and rhizobia, and the genetic architecture of Medicago truncatula.