VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Bertha Wilson: postmodern judge in a postmodern time

Bertha Wilson emigrated from Scotland in 1949. She was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1982 at a propitious moment in Canadian legal history shortly before the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Her enormous body of judgments initiated the current Supreme Court standard of contextual analysis. This authorized intellectual biography draws on interviews conducted in Scotland and Canada with Madame Justice Wilson and with her friends, relatives and colleagues from childhood, the church, law school, practice, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and two post-judicial projects to trace Wilson's story through many contexts from her birth in 1923 to the present. The sister of two professional philosophers and the wife of an exceptionally learned Presbyterian minister, Wilson was steeped in Scottish Enlightenment philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. But long before her immigration Canadian social institutions had been disproportionately shaped by our Scottish heritage. The characteristic contextuality of Canadian legal postmodernisms is informed in part by that Scottish common sense tradition. Wilson embraced the modernist traditions of judicial neutrality and objectivity but revised them to accommodate the fragmentation and multiplication of legal subjects, facts, texts, adjudicative tribunals and even sovereign entities generated by the complex, multicultural and postmodern society Canada has become. In Wilson's opinion, methodologies condition judgments; there is no bright line between procedural and substantive law. A survey of her judgments, memos and academic writings (many yet unpublished) helps demonstrate the integration of modernist analysis and principled contextuality she considers essential to the process of decision-making. Law and social consensus continually modify each other. The Charterâ€”a postmodern constitutionâ€”was inevitable; it required precisely the kind of contextual interpretation Wilson could offer. But although Wilson has been called â€œa perfect judge for her timeâ€ , judging was only one facet of her fascinating life. With warmth and generosity Wilson has shared numerous personal anecdotes which illuminate her multiple public roles and contributions to Canadian society.
A theoretical and numerical description of diffraction-based sensing

Recent development of a diffraction-based sensor has created a need for a thorough theoretical understanding of diffraction sensing. This work addresses that need by developing an exact solution for diffraction by lamellar gratings in the Fraunhofer regime. Simulation of this solution using Interactive Data Language has been applied to address specific questions, including (1) explaining the unexpected efficiency and sensitivity of the diffraction-based sensor, (2) developing improvements in the experimental system and in the gratings used in order to improve sensing, and (3) correlating experimental results to surface changes in order to quantify protein binding. The programming architecture developed in this work is general and can be applied to a variety of potential applications; some potential applications are discussed herein.
Discovering and using semantics for database schemas

This dissertation studies the problem of discovering and using semantics for structured and semi-structured data, such as relational databases and XML documents. Semantics is captured in terms of mappings from a database schema to conceptual schemas/ontologies. Data semantics lies at the heart of data integrationâ€”the problem of sharing data across disparate sources. To address this problem, database researchers have proposed a host of solutions including federated databases, data warehousing, mediator-wrapper-based data integration systems, peer-to-peer data management systems, and more recently data spaces. In the Semantic Web community, the solution to the problem of providing machine understandable data for better web-wide information retrieval and exchange is to annotate web data using formal domain ontologies. A central issue in all of these solutions is the problem of capturing the semantics of the data to be integrated. This dissertation describes our solutions for discovering semantics for data and using the semantics to facilitate the discovery of schema mappings. First, we develop a semi-automatic tool, MAPONTO, for discovering semantics for a database schema in terms of a given conceptual model (hereafter CM). The tool takes as inputs a relational or XML database schema, a CM covering the same domain as the database, and a set of simple element correspondences from schema elements to datatype properties in the CM. It then generates a set of logical formulas that define a mapping from the schema to the CM. The key is to align the integrity constraints in the schema with the semantic constructs in the CM, guided by standard database design principles. Second, we extend MAPONTO with a semantic approach to finding schema mapping expressions. The approach leverages the semantics of schemas expressed in terms of CMs. We present experimental results demonstrating that MAPONTO saves significant human effort in discovering the semantics of database schemas and it outperforms the traditional mapping techniques for building complex schema mapping expressions in terms of both recall and precision. The development of MAPONTO provides a suite of practical tools for recovering semantics for database-resident data and generating improved schema mapping results for data integration.
Supporting variable bit-rate streams in a scalable continuous media server

Variable bit-rate encoding of motion video has been shown to generate streams of considerably smaller size than constant bit-rate encoding of equivalent quality. Therefore, efficient support for bit-rate variability in continuous media servers has the potential to significantly reduce the requirements for disk storage space, disk bandwidth, server buffer space, and network bandwidth. Nonetheless, such flexibility has been previously discouraged due to system design complications and excessive expectations from technological progress. In this thesis, we describe the design of a distributed media server architecture and the implementation details of a prototype. Variable bit-rate streams are striped efficiently across multiple disks with deterministic quality of service guarantees. In contrast to results of earlier studies, the number of concurrent playbacks supported is shown to increase almost linearly with the number of disks. Several factors contribute to this conclusion, including the performance evaluation method and the resource management policies that we use. New approaches are introduced for scheduling the playback requests and disk transfers, organizing the memory buffers, allocating the storage space, and structuring the stream metadata. We justify several of our decisions with comparative performance measurements using both synthetic benchmarks and actual experiments with variable bit-rate streams. High variability in stream resource requirements can lead to reduced utilization of system resources. Previous smoothing techniques tried to address this problem by prefetching stream data into buffer space of the client device. Thus, the maximum transfer bandwidth can be reduced depending on the memory configuration of the individual client. Instead, we introduce a new smoothing algorithm that can decrease the maximum required disk bandwidth by prefetching stream data into server buffers. We show that the algorithm has optimal smoothing effect under the specified constraints, and can be successfully applied to streams striped across either homogeneous or heterogeneous disks. Experiments with our prototype server demonstrate considerable improvement in the disk bandwidth utilization, and the number of streams supported at different system scales.
Category verification: Towards combining connectionist attractor network and random walk accounts of human data

This thesis presents the results from two category verification experiments and proposes a computational model to account for these results. This task has been widely used in the semantic memory literature, but the current experiments are novel in that they provided the most detailed control over confounding variables to date. Experiment 1 showed a non-significant typicality effect, which was likely due to the sample's high English proficiency variability. Confirming this possibility, Experiment 2 showed the typicality effect in a sample of proficient English speakers. I propose a combination of a connectionist attractor network and a diffusion model that can run simulations of these data. This is beneficial in that the exact same items will be used in the behavioral studies and simulations. This will be the first attempt to apply this model to this task, and is a promising extension of the attractor network approach to semantic cognition.
Droplet size distribution for jets in crossflows at high temperature and pressure

An experimental study of liquid jet injection into subsonic air crossflows is conducted. The aim of the study is to relate the droplet size distribution to flow parameters, including jet and air velocities, pressure and temperature. Furthermore, the aim is to find a useful expression that would summarize the general behavior of the spray. Therefore, an experimental setup is developed, which could withstand high temperatures and pressures such as those experienced inside gas turbine engines. A TSI Phase Doppler Droplet Analyzer is used to measure droplet size and velocity distributions in two directions. Sixty four different experiments are performed at 30 and 55 psia and 300°C with two nozzle diameters of 0.018" and 0.0225" with L/D of 15. The collected data is used to show the effects of various breakup mechanisms on atomization. Finally, a correlation is derived that relates global mean droplet size to the flow variables.
Curiosity killed the cat: animals in nineteenth-century British culture

This dissertation examines the place of animals in nineteenth-century British consumer culture, focusing on pet-keeping practices, zoological exhibitions, popular taxidermy and animals in literature. I show how Victorians interacted with animals in direct and tactile ways, often transforming them into objects of commerce. In the Victorian period, every aspect of the animal, including its capacity to breed, was offered for sale. As consumer goods, animals (alive or dead) could be bartered and exchanged, exhibited and represented. Pet animals were animate commodities and integrated into the routines of daily life; exotic beasts were taken from the wild and encountered across the bars of cages; dead animals were anatomized, sold, used as furniture and as scientific specimens; and creatures described in fiction were visualized and dramatized in abstract ways. These interactions with animals were important articulations of how Victorians understood their society and the forces which shaped it. The animals that were invited into the confines of Victorian society were assigned meanings redolent of major concerns regarding the maintenance of proper gender, social and racial hierarchies, as well as attitudes towards science and death. Relations with animals also exposed the seamy side of Victorian culture and were rife with anxieties. Animals, being feral and alive, rarely conformed to expectations, and even pet-keeping involved discipline and sometimes abuse. Struggles to control animals could undermine their symbolic potential and reveal the cracks and fissures of the Victorian worldview. In exploring Victorian relations with animals, this dissertation connects the histories of consumerism, sentiment, material culture and popular science, and contributes to scholarship on the social and cultural history of nineteenth-century Britain. Animals in nineteenth-century Britain inspired the imagination and bore directly on how Victorians understood their society and the times in which they lived.

Keywords: Ethnology
Merchants missionaries: Patenting life, competing international obligations and the proselytization of a Realistic Utopia

Canadian patent legislation was recently amended to reflect a commitment in trade instruments to public health by providing developing countries access to essential medicines. Canada failed to take this opportunity to respond to the patent-human rights debate manifested in the patenting of life. Universal minimum standards for patent protection are now required of all WTO Members. This thesis considers how seemingly discordant rules under the trade and human rights regimes can be reconciled domestically and internationally in order to maximize regulatory and cultural diversity while minimizing state liability to citizens, patentees, and foreign states. A principled blend of historical, doctrinal, and interpretative textual analyses support the argument that states should not be discouraged by the threat of trade sanctions in giving human rights obligations priority over trade in domestic law and policy. A bi-furcated framework for appropriate state agency is provided. Patents have been extended to life and its building blocks by judicial fiat and administrative inertia rather than deliberate democratic parliamentary processes involving public participation. Two Supreme Court of Canada decisions obfuscate rather than clarify legal issues. A comparative examination of the Canadian context results in the first branch of the prescribed framework wherein domestic regulatory responses enabling governments to prioritize human rights consistent preferences for health over industrial policy are outlined. An anticipated international approach is necessary to complement national strategies in case of a resulting trade dispute and constitutes the second branch. The recognition of an equitable conduct defence (ECD) by WTO decision-making bodies is a necessary legal mechanism to protect a state's right to self-determination. This defence enables states to meet their human rights obligations and fulfill duties owed to citizens while removing any real or perceived international impediments to state action in the patenting life debate. Modernity has made all measures trade-related; the future existence and legitimacy of the WTO requires the organization to act as steward of broader social values that are consistent with its own institutional history and instruments but also with political ideals of a Realistic Utopia. The Millennium Development Goals demand no less from our merchants and missionaries.
Traditions in a colonized world: two realities of a First Nation

Set on the rugged south shore of the Island of Newfoundland against a backdrop of ongoing colonial oppression by church and state and despite all odds, Miawpukek First Nation at Conne River, NF, is the only Mi'kmaq Band in the province to achieve federal Status. In less than 20 years, the Chief and Band Council have taken community life from subsistence level to a place where every member is engaged in work and living conditions that are typically mainstream Canadian. This critical ethnography traces their Mi'kmaq historical roots in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and provides a history of more than a century of life from the perspectives of the People. This researcher spent more than a year living in the community and participating in ongoing daily activities, special celebrations and sacred ceremonies. It became profoundly evident that Miawpukek First Nation is, as are most First Nations peoples, caught between two worlds: the Eurocentric world of surviving in the 21st Century and their traditional culture which is based on a spiritual relationship with the land. The question is posited about whether Canada's religious freedoms are being denied as Aboriginal peoples' lands are systematically usurped. Although the nature of housing, education and livelihood has changed for Miawpukek First Nation, there is a spiritual crisisâ€”as evidenced by ongoing alcoholism, abuse, and suicide. Most have lost a traditional understanding of how their universe works and their place in it. However, there is increasing interest among some community members to regain traditional knowledge, language and practices in order to encourage sacred values. To further this endeavour this dissertation includes a brief outline of some traditional philosophy and practices and a listing of plant and animal medicines. A discussion of healing, religion, and traditional understandings which are based on principles of balance and relationships rather than universal laws has important implications for virtually all First Nations peoples. Efforts to achieve healthy individuals in healthy communities can incorporate, but must go beyond, the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion which does not consider the unique cosmology and needs of Canada's Aboriginal peoples.

Keywords: Micmac Indians, Social conditions
Micmac Indians, Newfoundland and Labrador
Micmac Indians, Health and hygiene
Micmac Indians, Newfoundland and Labrador
A Modern Constitutional State for Chile: The role of judges

The 20th century shaped a new model of political organization known as the Modern Constitutional State, which was considered a revolution by attempting to subordinate politics to constitutional law. The purpose of this thesis is to link the explanation about the Chilean judicial mindset - rooted in the Civilian Law Tradition, the Spanish heritage and the codification process under French influence in the 19th century--and the constitutional design of the judiciary with the features of the Modern Constitutional State in order to propose how this model could provide a means to overcome the Latin American patrons of unstable democracies; thin conceptions of constitutionalism, instrumental use of the rule of law and judicial independence understood as an isolation from the political and social life. The core finding is the role of judges to uphold the existence of fundamental constitutional principles that must be respected by every exercise of state power.

Keywords: Constitutional law, Chile
Judicial power, Chile
Towards mechanomyographic control of multifunction upper-limb prostheses

Muscle vibrations, known as the mechanomyogram (MMG), have been used in a limited manner to control upper-limb prostheses. MMG is dependent on the recruitment and firing rates of muscle motor units during contraction. It was thus hypothesized that MMG signals would reflect distinctive patterns of muscle activation during the grasp of differently shaped objects. This thesis investigates this hypothesis, specifically focusing on forearm muscles. To this purpose, an innovative data collection methodology and vision-driven MMG segmentation algorithm are proposed. With seven able-bodied participants, MMG signal transients from three sites could be differentiated among three classes of forearm muscle activity with 78.6 +/- 13% accuracy using wavelet packet-derived features and a linear classifier. Furthermore, steady-state characterization indicated significant differences in stationarity test statistic values among MMG signals corresponding to different grasps (p
Development and testing of an audio-visual aid for improvement of infant oral health through primary caregiver education

Conclusions. The AV aid is an effective tool in providing anticipatory guidance for IOH in high-risk populations. Unlike already existing educational materials, this AV aid provides a comprehensive, self-directed, evidence-based approach for the promotion of IOH. Widespread application of this prevention protocol is expected to result in greater awareness, increased utilization of dental services and a reduced incidence of preventable oral disease in the target populations. Results. Significant lack of knowledge about IOH (41%) was noted in the pre-test. Significant improvement in knowledge 32% (range -3 to 57%; P
Palliative care in multicultural communities: A phenomenological study exploring the lived experiences of nursing staff

The purpose of this study was to better understand and describe the lived experiences of the nursing staff at a large palliative care facility in Toronto when working with terminally ill patients from diverse ethno/racial background. A phenomenological approach was chosen. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with twelve nurses. The themes identified were: the importance of a patient's culture at end-of-life, the challenges of cross cultural palliative care, the skills to meet those challenges, the relevance of education and training in this setting, and the nurses' personal feelings of comfort with culture. The interrelated themes illustrated the nurses' experience of caring for culturally diverse patient populations. Implications for social work and nursing practice are found in the importance of role comprehension for interdisciplinary team functioning. Implications for future research include the need to study the experiences of each team member to foster a more comprehensive depiction of cross-cultural palliative care. The study was limited by its sample size and in the inexperience of the researcher. However, this phenomenological study should be seen as a contribution to the ongoing effort of understanding the lived experiences of palliative care professionals.
Development and characterization of a soft tissue construct for myocardial repair

In order to recreate a structure more similar to that of the native heart, the polyurethane was shaped into three-dimensional porous scaffolds by means of thermally induced phase separation. Methods for controlling porosity and pore size were optimized to produce scaffolds that were easy to manipulate and supported cell adhesion. In addition, the large-scale culture of embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes was achieved through the use of an Applikon bioreactor. Characterization of cardiomyocyte seeded constructs indicated that cells were preferentially found at the scaffold surface with few cells in the bulk of the material. The majority of cells retained a rounded cell morphology, although a small number of cells were observed elongating along the pores of the material. In addition, the expression of the contractile protein sarcomeric myosin was detected. Interestingly, despite the rounded morphology, ESC-derived cardiomyocytes retained their contractile activity. Following in vitro characterization, the model was modified to include the presence of endothelial cell secreted growth factors by means of an indirect coculture model. The addition of endothelial cells to the culture system did not significantly alter ESC-derived cardiomyocyte morphology. No significant difference in either the excitation threshold or the maximum capture rate of cardiomyocytes was observed between the two culture conditions. In this work, a segmented biodegradable polyurethane was investigated as a potential scaffold for cardiac tissue engineering applications. The material was solvent cast into thin films, coated with various extracellular matrix proteins and seeded with embryonic stem cell (ESC) derived cardiomyocytes. The potential for each coating to promote both cellular adherence and synchronous beating was evaluated using various assays. A significant increase in adherent cells was found when films were coated with either laminin or collagen IV.