VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The multimedia urban model: development and application of a screening-level ecological risk assessment model

A screening-level ecological risk assessment model was developed to support evaluations of the ecological risk associated with exposure to contaminants. This method employs exposure and ecological risk assessment models coupled to a multi-media fate and transport model. The coupled model is applicable to non-point source emissions of organic contaminants and metals in urban environments, and is general to most aquatic and terrestrial adult and juvenile receptors. From modelled abiotic contaminant concentrations, the exposure module calculates a receptor's daily contaminant exposure via air, water, soil, sediment and diet. The risk associated with the estimated exposure is assessed using literature-derived toxicity benchmarks for a suite of different receptors. The model and its utility are illustrated using the case-study of Minneapolis/St. Paul Twin City area, Minnesota, USA and contaminants emitted from the transportation sector.
Gain-of-function analysis of traffic jam, a transcription factor expressed in Drosophila and mouse gonads

The gene traffic jam (tj) encodes a soma-specific, large Maf transcription factor, required for gonad morphogenesis in Drosophila. My gain-of-function analysis of tj in adult ovaries revealed both, defects in cell specification and cell behaviour. The ectopic expression of tj during oogenesis produced follicles with ectopic polar cells, missing inter-follicular stalks and stalk cells, absent or non-migrating border cells, non-migrating centripetal cells and defective stretch cells. These tj gain-of-function phenotypes mimic the phenotypes found in Jak-Stat signalling pathway mutants. My data suggest that TJ may normally be involved in cell specification, and may interact with the Jak-Stat signalling pathway. It was also found that two of the mouse homologues of tj, MafB and c-Maf, are expressed in somatic tissues of adult mouse gonads, suggesting that the role of tj in gonad development and gametogenesis may be evolutionarily conserved.
Cartilage tissue enhances proteoglycan retention by nucleus pulposus cells in vitro

Degeneration of the nucleus pulposus has been implicated in the pathogenesis of low back pain and it has been shown that abnormalities in the cartilage endplate can lead to IVD (intervertebral disc) degeneration. This led us to hypothesize that the cartilage endplate (CEP) may have an anabolic effect on the nucleus pulposus (NP) and enhance tissue formation. Co-culture of NP with in vitro-formed cartilage resulted in increased proteoglycan accumulation. This was likely due to the upregulation of aggrecan and collagen type II gene expression for aggrecan and collagen type II, as well as decreased expression of the degradative enzymes MMP-3, MMP-13 and ADAMST-5. Age did not affect responsiveness as NP cells obtained from older animals also displayed enhanced proteoglycan accumulation in the presence of cartilage. As these molecular changes can be seen following Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) exposure and as this cytokine has been implicated in the pathogenesis of disc degeneration, we examined for alterations in TNF-alpha and its related signaling molecules. TNF-alpha and TNFalpha-converting enzyme (TACE) gene expression levels were decreased when NP was cultured with cartilage and this correlated with decreased TNF-alpha protein levels, suggesting that chondrocytes may produce a soluble factor(s) that inhibits TNFalpha production. This study raises the possibility that NP degeneration may be influenced by loss of the CEP that can occur with aging.
Anchoring and adjustment in software estimation

Software estimation research is normally concerned with designing models and techniques that help estimators reach accurate effort calculations. However, since software estimation involves human judgment, we should also consider cognitive and social factors that have been observed in psychological studies on judgment. A potentially relevant factor is the anchoring and adjustment cognitive bias. It takes place if, when attempting to respond a complex question, the respondent is given a possible---though quite likely incorrect---answer. The respondent adjusts it internally to reach a more plausible answer, but the adjustment is frequently insufficient. This thesis presents the results of an experiment about anchoring and adjustment in software estimation. Results show that anchoring and adjustment changes the outcome of software estimation processes. They also suggest that estimators tend to have too much confidence in their own estimations.
New renewal approximations for autocorrelated processes in delay systems

In this thesis, we first propose a new three-parameter renewal approximation for auto-correlated streams with limiting index of dispersion less than unity. The superposition of independent processes and the splitting of an autocorrelated process are studied. The proposed approximation performs well on predicting the mean delay in a single server queueing system receiving autocorrelated processes. In the second part, we propose using a new renewal approximation technique to capture the autocorrelation in service time data while modeling single server queueing systems. The accuracy of the proposed approximation is demonstrated by calculating the mean waiting time in some numerical examples with autocorrelated service times. Furthermore, we design two make-to-stock queue problems to demonstrate the performance of our proposed approximation in capturing the system size distribution of the original system with autocorrelated service times and finding the optimal base-stock level.
Decolonization and First Nations control of education

Decolonization is a concept that echoes across Indigenous communities around the world and is the focus of this body of research. The importance and significance of this work is best described as a magnificent slice of life from a First Nation community. The significant qualities of First Nation communities, families and people are acknowledged and recognized in this work along with the current tensions created by subtle and overtly imposed processes of colonization. This research utilizes ethnographical techniques in order to describe the depth of perception of the First Nation experience. Data is uniquely drawn from the heart of a First Nations community as the ramifications of colonization processes are broadly and specifically explored. There are many contributing factors resulting in the current state of crisis that many First Nation communities are challenged with. The theory of communicative action sets the framework for this study and illustrates that this state of crisis is indicative of colonization of the lifeworld imposed on the First Nation community. To address the external political and economic pressures created by colonization, communicative action can be implemented as a method of reversing these external pressures. Education, viewed by many First Nation people as a passport to better living, is the crucial focus of this thesis. Education systems modeled on Eurocentric paradigms have generally proved unproductive in First Nation communities. The future interests within and among First Nation communities requires an emerging sense of balance across social, educational, political and economic spheres. Self-determination and reorganization within First Nations communities lead by their own members' reveals a mixed bag of successes and failures. As this thesis ultimately illustrates, decolonization of these systems is paramount if the processes of external domination are to be derailed. It is with these challenges in mind that this thesis attempts to engender understanding about the processes of colonization and decolonization. Communicative action is poised as a means to assist in the re-establishment of language and retention of culture along with a focus on healthy and unified First Nation communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Desialylation of cell surface insulin and IGF-I receptors differently modify the proliferative response of skeletal myoblasts to insulin

Previous data from our laboratory show that neuraminidase-1 (a subunit of the elastin receptor) can desialylate beta-subunits of the adjacent insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors (IGF-1R) on fibroblasts and arterial smooth muscle cells (SMCs), thereby diminishing the mitogenic signals induced by insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II). Our recently acquired data indicate that neuraminidase-1 also desialylates the cell surface insulin receptors (IR) on skeletal myoblasts and arterial SMCs. In the present studies, we utilized Clostridium perfringens neuraminidase (cPNase), which displays similar substrate specificity and partial homology to human neuraminidase-1, to achieve a potent experimental model for studying the proliferative effects associated with desialylation of the plasmalemma-residing sialoglycoproteins IGF-1R and IR in cultures of rat skeletal myoblasts (L6WT) and arterial SMCs. Obtained results indicate that: (1) Insulin stimulates proliferation of L6WT cells in a dose-dependent manner (10 to 100 nM) but does not induce a proliferative response in rat arterial SMCs. (2) In contrast to an inhibitory effect on cellular proliferation observed after desialylation of IGF-1R, removal of terminal sialic acids from IRs of L6WT cells leads to a more potent metabolic and proliferative response of these cells to a low dose (10 nM) of insulin. (3) The proliferative response of L6WT cells to a high (therapeutic) dose of insulin (100 nM) is not transduced through the IR, but through the IGF-1 receptor, and can be quenched after desialylation of this receptor in cultures preincubated with cPNase. (4) The heightened proliferation of arterial SMCs induced by IGF-II can also be decreased after preincubation with cPNase, inducing inhibition of the IGF-1R-dependent signaling pathway. We therefore conclude that treatment with exogenous cPNase, which mimics the physiological effect of endogenous neuraminidase-1, causes desialylation of multiple sialoglycoproteins, including IR and IGF-1 receptors, differently modulating their physiological actions induced by different doses of their polyvalent ligand, insulin.
In-line monitoring of colour and composition during extrusion cooking

For colour monitoring a model have been developed to predict the kinetic of colour changes from the operating conditions and the residence time distribution (RTD) assuming that the flow inside the extruder could be approximated by the segregated flow model (SFM).A fiber optic equipped spectrometer capable of scanning both the visible and the near infrared (NIR) wavelengths was successfully interfaced to a twin screw extruder through a specially designed interface inserted between the screws and the die plate in order to monitor the hot melt in-line. Several non-linear models were also implemented to predict the final product characteristics from in-line spectra preprocessed with multiplicative scattering correction (MSC) and second derivative (d2). Among the data preprocessing methods the implementation of Orthogonal Signal Correction (OSC) and wavelet data compression prior of PLS modeling showed good prediction results with a small number of latent variables. The continuum regression (CR) approach also used a small number of parameters and it helped to understand the properties of the various linear regression models: Partial Least Squares (PLS), Principal Component Regression (PCR) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) that are more suitable to model the data. While colour of the hot melt in the extruder was determined in real time from the visible spectra the degree of gelatinization (DG), WAI and WSI in the final product had to be experimentally determined off-line and correlated to the NIR spectra. With this system both visible and near infrared spectra were collected in-line and were correlated through multivariate calibration models to some final product characteristics: colour, degree of gelatinization (DG) and two functional properties in the cooked product: Water Absorption Index (WAI) and Water Solubility Index (WSI). The residence time distribution was measured in-line and off-line by stimulus-response technique and both approaches gave comparable results. For NIR monitoring different linear multivariate calibration models for predicting the degree of starch gelatinization, WAI and WSI in real-time were assessed and compared. It was shown that data preprocessing was fundamental for removing undesired effects such as additive and multiplicative light scattering.
Ion homeostasis and salinity tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana: roles for the vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter, AtNHX1

Na+/H+ antiporters play a major role in pH and ion homeostasis of cells throughout the biological kingdom. At the plant vacuolar membrane, these antiports use the energy available in the electrochemical gradient of protons to regulate the steady-state ion distribution between the cytosol and the endomembranal compartments. This ion distribution and the concomitant ion homeostasis are essential for the regulation of key physiological processes such as cell expansion and the regulation of cytosolic pH. This thesis describes the cloning and initial characterization of a family of Na +/H+ antiporters in Arabidopsis thaliana. Experiments using overexpression and T-DNA insertional mutants of one of the members of this family, AtNHX1, confirmed the paramount role of vacuolar Na+ compartmentation in the tolerance of plants to salinity and enabled the in planta characterization of AtNHX1 activity. For example, the accumulation of Na+ in plants overexpressing vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporters was greater than that in wild-type plants, which was in turn, greater than that shown in nhx1 plants. The severe reduction of AtNHX1 function appears to have an effect on leaf development, which is also related to cell expansion, the maintenance of turgor, and K+ homeostasis. Moreover, the dramatic reduction in K+-dependent H+ efflux in vacuoles isolated from nhx1 leaves confirmed the role of AtNHX1 as the dominant cation/H+ antiport in leaves.
The Indian "act": postmodern perspectives on native Canada theatre

Since the explosion of theatrical activity by Native artists in Canada since the 1980s, Native playwrights and performance artists have written and performed challenging representations of identity, representations in which irony, self-conscious manipulations of form, and investigations of subjecthood play a large part. It is of value to understand these works as contingent constructions, ones which foreground their own ontological premises the better to subject them to scrutiny. Native performance intervenes in representation by reminding us of its formal constraints. In its playful manipulation of form and identity, it can be seen to have both sympathies with and divergences from the aesthetic/philosophical discourses know collectively as â€œpostmodernâ€ . The conjunction of postmodernism and Native performance permits a mutual transformation of means and ends, where the ideological agendas advanced by Native theatre make use of the tools of deconstruction to reinvent a â€œnewâ€ (yet immanently â€œtraditionalâ€ ) conception of Native subjecthood. Similarly, this project calls into question whether the tropes of power implicit in postmodern theory are contingent or necessary. This thesis explores the ways in which postmodern theory selectively illuminates aspects of Native theatrical expression. Chapter 1 outlines the relative strengths and weaknesses of postmodern theory as an affirmative tool for Native explorations of identity. Chapter 2 begins a discussion of the potential ways Native theatre is perceived by an audience, and the tactics employed by Native performers to subvert the process of reification. Chapter 3 focuses upon the body in plays written by Native women, and how its materiality is both constituted (in part) and threatened by dominant discourse. Chapter 4 explores the affinity between postmodern ideas of history and the synchronic formulation of the past in Native performance. Chapter 5 extends the concept of trickster discourse to examine Native plays that interrogate the ideological underpinnings of narrative form.
An examination of dysphoria in children with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

This dissertation is comprised of two studies that investigated whether Learning Disabilities (LD), Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), social, and academic skills are associated with higher risk for depressive symptoms (dysphoria) in 9 to 15-year old children. The Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992) was used to measure dysphoria. The results of this thesis suggest that in children with LD, comorbid ADHD places them at risk for dysphoria. Results further showed that of the two dimensions of ADHD it was the inattentive dimension and not the hyperactive/impulsive dimension that placed children at risk for dysphoria. Future research should examine the biological basis of the link between inattention and dysphoria as well as other variables (e.g., oppositionality/aggression, parenting) that may mediate this link. In Study 1 I investigated whether the higher levels of dysphoria previously found in children with LD compared to children without LD are associated with co-occurring ADHD. This ADHD comorbidity hypothesis was tested in 287 participants (53 LD; 31 ADHD; 75 LD/ADHD, and 128 typically developing comparison children). A higher level of dysphoria was found to be associated with ADHD and not with LD. In Study 2 I further explored factors that may account for the link between ADHD and dysphoria. More specifically, I examined which ADHD dimension (inattentive or hyperactive/impulsive) is associated with dysphoria. I further examined whether social and academic skills mediate the relationship between these dimensions and dysphoria in accordance with the Social Skill Deficit (Lewinsohn, 1975) and the Dual Failure (Patterson et al. 1990, 1991) models of depression. The two models were tested in 146 children (86 children with a previous diagnosis of ADHD and 60 non-diagnosed children). Social and academic skills were measured using standardized tests. The major finding was that inattentive symptoms predicted dysphoria, social and academic skills when hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were controlled for whereas hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were not predictive when inattentive symptoms were controlled. Social and academic problems did not mediate the relationship between inattentive or hyperactive/impulsive symptoms and dysphoria.

Keywords: Depression in children
Learning disabled children, Psychology
Attention-deficit-disordered children, Psychology
Hyperactive children, Psychology
Experiences of class among migrant domestic workers in Toronto

This thesis explores the experiences of class among migrant domestic workers by drawing on semi-structured interviews with seven women of varying nationalities employed in the Greater Toronto Area. Drawing on feminist theory on the experience of class and my interview data, I argue that domestic workers occupy contradictory class positions. These contradictions are founded in the disjuncture between their class positions as domestics, juxtaposed with their envisioned future occupations and lifestyle possibilities. Though women expressed some ambivalence with their current lifestyle, there was a general sense of impermanency to their present occupation. Women employ specific strategies to reconcile some of the daily contradictions in class that they face in the domestic workplace, and to affirm the value of their class positioning within their working environment, including adhering to predominant stereotypes of race, class and nationality, confrontations with employers, quitting, maintaining privacy, and adapting to being a domestic worker.

Keywords: Household employees, Ontario
Women immigrants, Ontario
Women foreign workers, Ontario
Subordinate-level categorization of human faces by 6-month-olds

Six-month-old Caucasians' ability to categorize human faces based on race was examined. Infants were familiarized with either eight different East Asian faces paired with different objects or eight different Caucasian faces paired with different objects then shown two faces from the novel racial category paired with different objects. Infants familiarized with East Asian faces showed a significant decline in looking across familiarization trials, whereas, infants familiarized with Caucasian faces showed no evidence of habituation. Infants familiarized with East Asian faces also showed a novelty preference for the Caucasian faces at test. Infants familiarized with Caucasian faces, however, showed no preference for the novel East Asian faces at test. This asymmetry in categorization is consistent with previous findings of asymmetries in infants' categorization of form, animals, and facial expressions. A number of speculative explanations for infants' asymmetry in categorization are discussed.
Compact linear metamaterial phase shifters for broadband applications

A compact one-dimensional fixed phase shifter is presented in this thesis. The proposed phase shifter comprises metamaterial unit cells that consist of a host transmission line loaded with lumped-element capacitors and inductors, arranged in a dual high-pass configuration. Through periodic dispersion analysis, an effective propagation constant is derived, and design equations are presented for determining the lumped-element parameters for an arbitrary phase shift. Various phase shifters are fabricated and tested in coplanar waveguide technology at 0.9 GHz. It is demonstrated that the metamaterial phase shifters offer some significant advantages over conventional delay lines: they are more compact in size, they still exhibit a linear phase response around the design frequency, they are significantly more broadband, and they can incur a phase lead or lag as well as a 0° phase. The phase shifters are well suited for broadband applications requiring small, versatile, linear phase shifters.