VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Can confederate characteristics limit modeling behaviour? Investigating the effects of normal- and overweight models on the eating behaviour of restrained and unrestrained eaters

Individuals have been repeatedly found to match their intake to eating norms provided by experimental confederates. This study examined whether confederate weight could alter the extent to which individuals would adhere to such norms. Participants ate cookies after being exposed to video stimuli depicting normal- and overweight models eating either large or small amounts of food. As predicted, confederate intake significantly affected participants' eating behaviour. Participants were found to eat more or less cookies when the confederates ate either a lot or minimally. Evidence of consumption stereotypes was also found as confederate intake differentially affected participants' perceptions of the models. Contrary to predictions, however, confederate weight had no effect on participants' intake but only influenced how the models were perceived. Neither confederate weight nor confederate intake was found to influence non-eating compliance.
Impaired autobiographical memory in a healthy person

We report the case of S.M., a healthy woman who is unable to re-experience her past. S.M.'s impairment has been present her entire life. Her development was normal with no evidence of trauma, psychiatric history or brain injury. We assessed S.M.'s memory using two tasks that separate the contribution of episodic and non-episodic processes, the Remember/Know paradigm and the Autobiographical interview. S.M.'s episodic memory is impaired while her semantic memory is relatively intact. S.M's syndrome does not affect other cognitive domains. Her intelligence is in the superior range and performance on standardized neuropsychological tests was normal. We also used structural brain imaging to assess possible brain pathology. While overall brain analyses did not indicate any specific pathology, volume loss was observed in regions that overlap with some of the functional neuroanatomy of autobiographical memory. S.M. represents the first known case of amnesia in a healthy person. The implications of this case are discussed.
Radiotherapy waiting lists in breast cancer: the relationship between patients' risk perceptions, willingness to wait for, and willingness to forego, radiotherapy

Purpose. To assess breast cancer patients': (1) perceptions of risk of recurrence and survival with various radiotherapy (RT) scenarios, (2) maximum acceptable waiting time for RT, and (3) lowest risk of recurrence at which they would forego RT. Methods. 102 patients completed a questionnaire consisting of a risk estimation scale, a time trade-off task, and a probability trade-off. Results. Patients overestimated the benefits of RT. Delay was perceived to increase recurrence and decrease survival at 5 years. Patients were willing to wait longer for RT when they learned delay did not harm survival, but were less willing to wait when told delay might harm recurrence. Lastly, 48% of patients were unwilling to forego RT. The remainder were only willing to forego RT once its benefits were very small. Conclusions. Patients misperceive the effectiveness of RT and the effects of delay. As patients' willingness to wait was influenced by the treatment information given, patient misperception may be responsive to education strategies. One proposed method of reducing RT utilization, not treating low-risk patients, would not be supported by the patients in our study, who wanted treatment for very small increments of benefit.
The limitations of ethnic humour: can ethnic humour function as an anti-racist discourse?

This thesis examines in what ways, if any, the use of ethnic humour can be used to promote anti-racist discourse. Presently, in Canada, ethnic humour is "in". As a result, comedians of minority backgrounds are being recognized and celebrated in the entertainment industry and, particularly, in comedy clubs. Among other comedians, East Indian-Canadian comic Russell Peters has articulated that he uses his comedy to draw out and break down the stereotypes that exist within our society. However, given the aggressive and unstable nature of stand-up comedy and the way its role and the role of comedians in Canadian society are positioned via the media and the war metaphor used to discuss it, it will become evident that a complex site such as a comic's stage is not as conducive to anti-racist work as many seem to believe.

Keywords: Ethnic wit and humor
Racism in popular culture
Microanalysis of lexical depth in a second language: the implicit and the expressible aspects of the definitional skill

The research found that, in terms of implicit deep word knowledge, the heritage language group, the content-based group, and the monolingual group performed similarly in English on the Word Association Test. In terms of English expressible deep word knowledge, the heritage language group and the monolingual group performed similarly and, in some cases, better than the content-based group on the English Word Definition Task. For Farsi expressible deep word knowledge, there was no difference between the content-based group and the heritage language group on the Farsi Word Definition Task. This research compares three groups of elementary-school children in Toronto by testing their deep lexical knowledge of specific words (implicit aspect) and grading their expression of such knowledge in a standard definition form (expressible aspect). This research concludes that for both aspects of lexical knowledge in children, length of residence in the L2 context and instruction in L2 may be more important than L1 literacy per se. This suggests that L1 literacy in a two-way bilingual education environment, and in combination with simultaneous L2 academic instruction, might have a stronger impact than mere L1 literacy on the development of academic skills and definitional knowledge. The research showed the important role of curricular L2 exposure (or language of instruction) in the development of students' deep lexical knowledge, and the weaker role of L1 academic skill, be it lack of knowledge or transfer, in providing definitions in the L2. In other words, although the findings demonstrate that longer length of residence in an L2 context and L2 schooling correlates with better performance on the implicit and expressible measures of L2 lexical depth, longer residence in Iran with some L1 content-based schooling does not correlate with higher definitional quality in Farsi. To compare the children's lexical depth, all were tested on a Word Association Test (in English) and a Word Definition Task (in English and Farsi.) Their degree of expressible knowledge was derived from the quality of the definitions produced which were analyzed in terms of linguistic and semantic content. Child participants were drawn from three groups of fifth and sixth graders: one monolingual group (English L1) and two bilingual groups (Farsi L1, English L2). These last were immigrant children with some formal content-based schooling in L1 (the content-based group) and immigrant children with basic L1 literacy through Toronto heritage-language schools (the heritage language group).

Keywords: English language, Study and teaching (Elementary)
Vocabulary, Study and teaching (Elementary)
Persian language, Vocabulary
Belief Identification in adolescence: development across age and domain

"Belief Identification" is the process of identifying certain beliefs as critical parts of the self. This construct has important implications in adolescence, as strong commitments may facilitate identity formation, yet may also inhibit open-mindedness during the belief forming process. This study examined three theoretical components of Belief Identification: Epistemological development, cognitive flexibility, and personal meaning. The primary goal was to determine whether the components varied by age (Grades 8 and 12) and/or by domain (academic, sociocultural and moral) and to explore interrelations among them. The secondary goal was to examine whether variation in the components could be explained by individual differences in cognitive ability (IQ), thinking dispositions, implicit theories of intelligence and/or self-concept. To address these goals, 80 adolescents completed an interview assessing the three components of Belief Identification. Epistemological development measured adolescents' stance toward the objective and subjective dimensions of their beliefs. Cognitive flexibility was measured by a debate task requiring adolescents to assume opposing perspectives on their beliefs. Personal meaning measured the strength of adolescents' conviction in their beliefs. Overall, the processes of Belief Identification functioned differently across the three domains. Regarding epistemological development, both age groups were more likely to judge their moral beliefs as absolute, relative to academic and/or sociocultural beliefs. While cognitive flexibility did not vary by age or domain, it was related to cognitive ability and individual dispositions toward open-mindedness. Moral beliefs elicited the highest personal meaning compared to academic and sociocultural beliefs. Significant interrelationships among components were found only in the moral domain. Specifically, adolescents showing the highest personal meaning in their beliefs clustered in two groups, at the highest and lowest levels of epistemological development. Although these groups were equivalent on age and IQ, the group higher in epistemological development showed more cognitive flexibility, whereas those in the lower group appeared more constrained. The findings have implications for both belief and identity formation, two critical aspects of adolescent development. The findings also have implications for education, for as adolescents encounter the differing perspectives of others, they must learn to value reflecting on their own beliefs.
Treponema denticola outer sheath protein (Msp) inhibits the binding step of collagen phagocytosis in fibroblasts

We examined a mechanism by which the major outer sheath protein (Msp) of Treponema denticola disrupts matrix remodeling mediated by intracellular digestion of collagen. The binding step of collagen phagocytosis was examined in human gingival fibroblasts and Rat-2 fibroblasts. Exposure to Msp induced a dose- and time-dependent decrease in cells that bound collagen-beads. Msp-treated fibroblasts remained viable but underwent actin reorganization. Shear force assays showed that Msp abrogated low affinity collagen binding interactions. Fluorescence microscopy and immunoblotting showed equivalent amounts of β1 integrin associated with collagen beads bound to Msp- and vehicle-treated cells. Photobleaching experiments found similar % mobile fraction of β1 integrins in the plasma membrane. In contrast, Msp-induced inhibition of collagen binding was reversed by β 1 integrin affinity-activating antibodies and by latrunculin B. We conclude that Msp inhibits the binding step of collagen phagocytosis in fibroblasts by inducing subcortical actin filament assembly and restricting affinity modulation of β1 integrins.
Identification of differentially expressed genes and proteins in the retinas of three models of inherited photoreceptor degeneration

The mechanisms responsible for initiating apoptosis in inherited photoreceptor degenerations (IPDs) are unknown. To identify changes in gene and protein expression characteristic of photoreceptors with an increased risk of death in IPDs, retinas were analyzed from the Rom1-/-, Rds+/- and Rho P347S models. Affymetrix microarrays and real-time PCR were used to compare the gene expression of Rom1-/- and Rds+/- retinas with wild-type, and ProteinChipRTM SELDI-TOF-MS was used to compare the protein expression of Rom1-/- and Rho P347S retinas with wild-type. Edn2 was dramatically up-regulated in Rds+/- (32-fold) and Rho P347S (14-fold) retinas, and SerpinG1, as well as Osmr, Stat3, Cebpd and A2m, which encode proteins that act in a pathway, were up-regulated in both of these models. The transcriptional increase in these genes points to novel mechanisms utilized by the retina to resist photoreceptor cell death, and implies that Rds+/- and Rho P347S retinas are undergoing oxidative stress and inflammation.
Morbidity and the 19th-century decline of mortality: An analysis of the military population of Gibraltar, 1818 to 1899

The decline of mortality and the transformation of human health, characterized by low mortality rates, increased longevity and higher global population, has been called one of the great themes of history, second only to the origin of life, and its patterns and causes have been a subject of controversy for over sixty years. Scholars have debated the causes of mortality decline, suggesting better nutrition, better sanitation, better medical care or more spacious dwellings as responsible. Researchers have depended almost exclusively upon mortality figures to set out the logic of their conclusions. This thesis uses evidence from the garrison of Gibraltar to investigate the role of morbidity in the 19th century decline of mortality. Based upon British army data, the study looks at the morbidity and mortality relationships of four groups, troops, officers, women and children, but focuses on the data for ordinary soldiers. Ratios of morbidity to mortality indicate that, throughout the 82 years of the study period, mortality decreased at a much greater rate than morbidity. Furthermore, categories of diseases did not fall in concert and, in some categories, morbidity rose as mortality dropped. Regression analysis highlights the categories of diseases that were most influential in the decline of morbidity and mortality. The data, coupled with analyses of reports by regimental medical officers, suggest that, in addition to sanitary improvements, changes in medical practice, broadly interpreted, were effective in reducing mortality of the men of the garrison of Gibraltar. Analysis of the large volume of 19th century army data required the development of a system within a relational database program that nested causes of death in linked tables. This allowed highly specific and sensitive disease data to be integrated with data that were less specific or used outdated terminology, permitting the use of mixed data for diachronic analyses. The thesis also includes a demographic study of the garrison population from a census taken in 1878 and a reconstruction of military medical care in the garrison of Gibraltar from 1818 to the advent of the germ theory in the 1880s.
Eight days a week: how union workload blocks women's leadership in the union movement

Unions have reduced the hours workers spend on the job. Ironically, many union leaders, in particular women, find union workload heavy and debilitating. Workload is a barrier to women's union leadership. Women are underrepresented in Canadian union leadership. The demanding workload of top union jobs results from the construction of unionism as men's work. The ideal union worker is an always-available, able-bodied white male. The organization of union work excludes women (and men) with primary responsibility for home/family or who have other life priorities in addition to work. Unions' approach to workload resembles that of employers, thereby compromising union goals. Workload limits union democracy by limiting participation in decision-making. How can leadership, participation, and commitment be reconceptualized and practised to reduce union workload and include more union members? How can workload be reduced to increase women's participation? Recommendations are made to attack the problem of union overwork.

Keywords: Labor unions, Officials and employees
Women labor union members
Discrimination in employment
Industrial relations
Learning distributed representations of relational data using linear relational embedding

This thesis introduces new methods for solving the problem of generalizing from relational data. I consider a situation in which we have a set of concepts and a set of relations among these concepts, and the data consists of few instances of these relations that hold among the concepts; the aim is to infer other instances of these relations. My approach is to learn from the data a representation of the objects in terms of the features which are relevant for the set of relations at hand, together with the rules of how these features interact. I then use these distributed representations to infer how objects relate. Linear Relational Embedding (LRE) is a new method for learning distributed representations for objects and relations. It finds a mapping from the objects into a feature-space by imposing the constraint that relations in this feature-space are modelled by linear operations. Having learned such distributed representations, it becomes possible to learn a probabilistic model which can be used to infer both positive and negative instances of the relations. LRE shows excellent generalization performance. On a classical problem results are far better than those obtained by any previously published method. I also present results on other problems, which show that the generalization performance of LRE is excellent. Moreover, after learning a distributed representation for a set of objects and relations, LRE can easily modify these representations to incorporate new objects and relations. Learning is fast and LRE rarely converges to solutions with poor generalization. Due to its linearity LRE cannot represent some relations of arity greater than two. I therefore introduce Non-Linear Relational Embedding (NLRE), and show that it can represent relations that LRE cannot. A probabilistic model, which can be used to infer both positive and negative instances of the relations, can also be learned for NLRE. Hierarchical LRE and Hierarchical NLRE are modifications of the above methods for learning a distributed representation of variable-sized recursive data structures. Results show that these methods are able to extract semantic features from trees and use them to generalize correctly to novel trees.
Whose right to what justice?: humanitarian intervention and the administration of justice in refugee camps

Under international law, host states have full legal jurisdiction over refugees and refugee camps located within their borders. In practice however, host states rarely devote many resources to the administration of justice in refugee camps. Instead, refugee communities have developed an extensive range of less formal dispute resolution mechanisms frequently based on traditional forms of justice. While the justice systems in refugee camps demonstrate the resilience and resourcefulness of refugee communities, they often fall short of meeting international human rights standards and fail to respect and protect the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly in cases of sexual and gender-based violence. This paper advocates a conception of humanitarian intervention that keeps each participant's dignity intact and proposes a human rights-based framework for the administration of justice in refugee camps that draws upon the strengths of both the host state's justice system and the refugee dispute resolution mechanisms functioning within the camps.

Keywords: Refugees, Legal status, laws, etc
Refugee camps
Humanitarian intervention
Dispute resolution (Law)
The growth paradigm in international relations

The following study focuses on 'economic growth.' This common phrase presents theorists and practitioners of international relations with both a puzzle and a challenge. It is puzzling because, despite the diversity of histories, levels of development, and strategic objectives among states, and despite the divisions and stratifications characteristic of international politics, all states, without significant exception---indeed all major international institutions and organizations, and domestic civil societies as well---endorse the pursuit of economic growth. For what reason(s) has the commitment to growth become so ubiquitous?Economic growth presents a challenge to practitioners of international relations too, because continuous and unlimited growth may be incompatible with the finite planetary ecosystem of Earth. This study, as well as seeking to resolve the puzzle expressed above, also seeks to re-engage the (currently sidelined) 'limits to growth' debate in order to renew discussion about the linkage between growth and environmental degradation. I adopt a neo-Gramscian variant of Critical Theory to examine these issues, primarily because this approach is sensitive to the discovery of deeply implicit sociocultural attributes of society that can, under certain circumstances, become hegemonic. The approach is also attuned to the class structure and normative foundations of hegemony, and to underlying tensions or contradictions inherent to it. I investigate whether those tensions may presage a transformational change to, perhaps, a new form of environmentally benign global governance. This study supports the conclusion that the ubiquitous commitment to economic growth as a policy priority---a commitment I refer to as the growth paradigm---must ultimately be understood with reference to multiple reasons drawn from structural, functional, and psychological points of view. The neo-Gramscian approach complements these reasons by offering an account of hegemony that illuminates its moral dimension. I show in this study that the dominance of the growth paradigm can be attributed in significant measure to its political malleability, and to the morally convenient solution it offers political leaders confronted by ethically contentious social and environmental problems.