VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The inactivation of Bacillus subtilis spores using repetitive cycles of pressurization/de-pressurization

High static pressure (up to 400 MPa) has been used for food sterilization but not for pharmaceuticals. Lower pressures are mild on systems being sterilized and are technically easier to achieve. This investigation studies factors that may increase the low-pressure inactivation of the spores of a model contaminant--B. subtilis. The hypothesis is that repetitive cycles of pressurization/de-pressurization may destroy spores more effectively than a static pressure. Therefore, the rate of spore inactivation as a function of frequency of repetitive pressurization/de-pressurization cycles and temperature was measured and compared with a static pressure treatment. An application of 250 MPa of static pressure to the spores over 48 hours showed bi-phasic kinetics. Constants such as the activation energy and rate constants are consistent with germination being a rate-limiting step involved in spore inactivation by pressure. With the repetitive pressurization/de-pressurization process, the rate of inactivation increased with temperature. An increase from 15$\sp{\circ}$C to 30$\sp{\circ}$C changed the rate constant from 1.54 $\times$ 10$\sp{-4}$ to 4.9 $\times$ 10$\sp{-4}$ s$\sp{-1}$. The activation volume of the spores was negative and on the same order of magnitude as the activation volume of pressure germination of spores. Spore inactivation using a repetitive process was slightly more efficient than a static pressure, with the benefit of having the system exposed to the maximum pressure (250 MPa) for a shorter duration of time.
Ancestor worship, just who is worshipping whom?, theoretical and methodological reflections on power and knowledge about Africa

This thesis reflects on conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues pertaining to the study of African knowledge systems, with a particular focus on Spirit mediumship in Zimbabwe. Utilizing various texts of historiography and ethnography, the study reflects on the following issues: (a) power and the knowledge production processes; (b) what is history in Africa and who defines it? (c) the rituals of literature reviews and the ordering of (African) knowledge in academia; and, (d) gender, language and research methodology as technologies of power in African history. Key arguments are: (i) studying African phenomena, like Spirit mediumship and Ancestor worship using Western paradigms and languages is itself a form of Western Spirit possession and Ancestor worship; (ii) theoretical and Western language choices exclude the vast majority of continental African people from meaningfully engaging in and contributing to historical knowledge production; and, (iii) the challenge of demystifying and de-colonizing academic knowledge theories and methodologies used in the study of Africa.
Selective inhibition, lifespan development, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and effects of stimulant medication

A modification of the stop-signal procedure was used to investigate selective inhibition. Subjects performed a visual choice reaction time task and attempted to selectively inhibit their response to this task when hearing one of two randomly presented tones (1000 Hz, 250 Hz). Normal development of selective inhibition was assessed in a community sample of 317 subjects, aged 6 to 82 years. Selective inhibition was also measured in a group of 59 children with ADHD and compared to community controls. Lastly, the effects of stimulant medication (MPH) were investigated in 28 of the children with ADHD in an acute, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover trial with three fixed doses of MPH. Findings are discussed with regards to the maturation and decay of selective inhibition across the life span, the consistency of purported inhibition deficits in ADHD and the impact of MPH on this unique and highly cognitively demanding construct in children with ADHD.
Lateral superjunction power MOSFETs

Power semiconductor devices play a crucial role in the efficient control of power used in electronic systems. There is a great need for the reduction of the power losses during switching and on-state conduction of such devices. In this thesis a novel lateral power MOSFET compatible with CMOS on SOI technology and using the superjunction concept is proposed. The superjunction (SJ) concept, requires the use of a drain drift region consisting of alternate n- and p-type, highly doped regions. These regions are fully depleted in the current blocking mode of operation to ensure a high breakdown voltage. The implementation of the SJ concept in lateral power MOSFETs in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology combines the reduction in onstate power losses with complete suppression of substrate currents and latchup, easy integration of a wide range of power and small signal analog and dense CMOS active devices on the same chip, increased packing densities, fast switching speed and low leakage currents. A method of fabrication of the device is proposed, using selective area growth (SAG) to implement the SJ structure in the drift region of the SOI LDMOS transistor. Process and device simulations are carried out. The novel SJ Power LDMOST exhibits a specific on-resistance of 1.65m[Omega]cm 2 for a 150V class and breaks the silicon limit. By comparison to conventional LDMOST SOI devices, the proposed structure offers an improvement of over 60% in specific on-resistance and in the gate charge on-resistance figure of merit (Qg.Ron = 0.23[Omega].nC) thus reducing power losses during device switching and on-state conduction.
Teachers' Choice Music Program, theory, design, and implementation in primary and junior grades in Ontario

Society has entered into a mindset that evaluates performance based on the expedience, rather than the quality of gratification. By directing teachers, parents, and students to focus on only the measurable outcomes outlined in 'The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: The Arts' (1998), there exists the risk that much of the emphasis will be placed on product rather than process; a concept that is fundamentally against everything for which music education stands. The main areas of focus are as follows: (a) to examine music education as it exists in Ontario today. (b) to examine what music education should be; presented through the research base on which the 'Teachers' Choice Music Program' was constructed. (c) to examine the efficacy of the 'Teachers' Choice Music Program' through a pilot study. Chapter one begins with an examination of the existing problems in music education and the need for a comprehensive music program that can satisfy the needs of both generalist and music specialist teachers in Ontario elementary schools. Chapter two is an examination of literature dealing with arts pedagogy, the roles of the participants (i.e. both educator and learner), and the implementation of curriculum within the context of a holistic/phenomenological perspective. These findings serve as the foundation on which the 'Teachers' Choice Music Program' has been constructed. Chapter three outlines the methodology and design of the study by examining demographics of both the teachers and students who were involved in the study. As well, excerpts from the ' Teachers' Choice Music Program', are examined with respect to philosophy, overview, musical integrity, theoretical design and method of delivery. Chapter four analyses the data gathered from the implementation stage and chapter five concludes by responding to the preliminary thesis questions posed in the first chapter.
Code compaction for VLIW instructions

The VLIW architecture is modular and scalable which makes it suitable for implementing application-specific programmable processors. However, the large instruction storage and bandwidth requirements have prevented VLIW architectures from being used in cost-sensitive systems. This thesis builds upon a novel instruction packing and fetching mechanism developed by previous University of Toronto researchers, by exploring ways to achieve code compaction via improved packing techniques, stack restructuring and register allocation. The improved packing techniques involve transforming an instruction into a more compact-able equivalent instruction and are able to achieve 100% memory utilization and an average of 2.4% size reduction. Stack restructuring focuses on minimizing the unique stack-related constant operands, which in turn minimizes the number of unique operation patterns, leading to a maximum of 16.8% memory size reduction. Finally, live-range recoloring techniques are developed, targeting on minimizing the total unique operation patterns. Unfortunately, there are no significant reductions achieved. Two of the three aspects examined in the thesis are able to further reduce the instruction storage requirement without affecting the execution speed of the program.
Non-stationary analysis of synaptic transmission at a central synapse, comparing the quantal sizes used in evoked vs. spontaneous release

The postsynaptic response to neurotransmitters released from a single synaptic vesicle is the smallest amount of possible signal transmission in the nervous system, called quantum. Release of synaptic vesicles can occur spontaneously or due to an action potential. One of the assumptions of the quantal hypothesis is that the quanta involved in evoked events are indistinguishable from those occurring spontaneously. We apply variance-mean analysis, desynchronized release in strontium (Sr2+), and unitary quantal release in cadmium (Cd2+) at single axosomatic glutamatergic synapses, to show that the average quantal size underlying evoked excitatory synaptic current (eEPSC) is significantly larger than those involved in spontaneous release (sEPSC). This increase in average size may indicate a preferential selection of certain quanta in evoked release out of all the quanta available. Our data may be important to refine the quantal theory on neurotransmitter release and the current view of synaptic transmission at mammalian central synapses.
Gifted education in the regular language arts classroom, do all students benefit from methodologies aimed at the gifted?

Subject enrichment, subject acceleration, project-based learning, career guidance, and the use of mentors in the classroom are all methodologies that have been recommended for teaching gifted students. This paper reports an investigation where these strategies were used with all members of an all-boys Grade 8 language skills class in the context of a Writing Workshop. The purpose of this study was to discover whether all students would benefit from an approach to teaching language skills that was designed for gifted learners. Students' achievement was measured by grades, Canadian Achievement Test scores, timed and untimed writing samples; their engagement was measured by semi-structured interviews and a writing questionnaire. Quantitative data regarding achievement were inconclusive; qualitative data, however, showed significant improvement in achievement for all learners. Quantitative data regarding engagement showed that all students benefitted from gifted methodologies in terms of their attitude towards writing.
Rethinking the reasonable person, custom, equality and the objective standard

Although the reasonable person has been the central figure in the law of negligence at least since 'Vaughan' v. 'Menlove',he continues to provoke as many questions as he answers--questions that have become increasingly pressing given recent challenges to the reasonable person as inherently male, privileged and otherwise oppressive as a behavioural standard. This work addresses the defensibility of the standard in light of such challenges. The thesis begins by analysing the operation and justification of the standard in the treatment of the mentally disabled and of children, an analysis which reveals that the standard of reasonableness is deeply indebted to conceptions of what is normal or ordinary. The thesis goes on to examine the role of conceptions of the 'normal', not only for the mentally disabled but also for women and those disadvantaged on other grounds including race and class. It turns out that because of the discriminatory implications of reliance on the 'normal', the treatment of various groups under the objective standard raises profound concerns about equality and ultimately about the rule of law. The thesis then asks whether, given these difficulties, the objective standard is worth saving. Although plagued by its own contradictions, the feminist debate is invaluable here: it explicates the strengths and weaknesses of the standard and highlights constitutive tensions between equality, custom and the rule of law. And feminist analyses lead us to conclude that under certain conditions the objective standard is actually invaluable for equality-seekers. This debate also affords the most concrete illustration of how one might go about reformulating the standard to ensure that it lives up to its promise of equality. The thesis concludes that a reformulated objective standard--more attentive to normative failings, widely shared or not--is not only defensible but in fact crucial to any meaningful conception of equality.
Role of the 5' and 3' untranslated regions in translational control of apolipoprotein B mRNA

Molecular mechanisms governing translational control of apolipoprotein B mRNA are unknown. Computer analysis revealed that apoB 5' and 3'UTR sequences have potential to form secondary structure. Biological activity of the putative RNA motifs was assessed by transiently transfecting HepG2 cells with constructs containing the apoB 5 'UTR and/or 3'UTR sequences linked to a luciferase (LUC) reporter gene. We observed statistically significant increases in LUC activity for the 5'UTRpGL3 and 5' /3'UTRpGL3 constructs. LUC mRNA levels were not altered, suggesting that increased LUC activity was post-transcriptional in nature. When RNA isolated from transfected cells was translated in vitro, parallel increases in translatable LUC activity were observed. Metabolic studies of transfected cells treated with insulin and thyroid hormone did not exhibit any significant differences in LUC activity. Our data suggests that putative 5'UTR motifs are important for optimal translation of apoB mRNA and may involve potential cis-trans interactions with RNA binding proteins/translational factors.
Appropriate technologies for double fortification of salt

Techniques for double fortification of salt with iodine and iron suitable for implementation into developing countries were investigated. The technology's simplicity, cost efficiency and versatility will be important. The basic premise of the work was that encapsulation will protect iodine and iron from reactions with each other and with moisture and impurities that are normally present in the salt. Cocrystallization and agglomeration followed by encapsulation were employed in producing premix particles. With cocrystallization there was little control of iodine content, particle size, and reproducibility. Agglomeration yielded positive results and premix particles of similar size to that of salt with required iodine and iron content, and acceptable colour were achieved. Pilot scale studies on agglomeration were performed successfully. The best formulation for double fortification retained more than 90% iodine over 3 months at 40°C and 100%RH. The stable formulations consisted of potassium iodide or iodate dispersed within a dextrin matrix and encapsulated with soy stearine or polymethyl methacrylate. As little as 20% soy stearine and 6% polymethyl methacrylate encapsulation level were found to be sufficient.
Bodies re-presenting the past, Japanese women and the tea ceremony after World War II

This thesis examines the meaning of the tea ceremony for women, who constitute the majority of tea ceremony practitioners in Japan after World War II. It focuses on 'temae,' that is, minute rules of body movement that every tea ceremony practitioner must learn. It asks specifically: What message women practitioners want to send to society and to themselves by presenting formalized body movement of a particular kind. I hypothesize that 'temae' for contemporary female tea ceremony practitioners is a means of obtaining symbolic-cultural capital that matches their husbands' cultural (educational) and economic capital. Participant observation and interviews with five different groups of women tea ceremony practitioners in the Tokyo area and historical research led me to two major findings. First, the tea ceremony, since its birth in the sixteenth century, has always been a means for nondominant social groups to obtain symbolic-cultural capital, because 'temae' enabled nondominant groups to acquire a type of self-discipline normally associated with socially superordinate groups. Moreover, commoners in various historical times legitimated their activity by creating myths of the ceremony's origins in prominent historical figures and in religious and philosophical theories. Through the myths, performers of 'temae' came to be associated with these glorious "ancestors" of the tea ceremony as well as with profound metaphysics, Second, in the postwar period, the "nondominant social group" was women. In this period preoccupied with the economy and education, most women were pushed into the status of urban housewives, and expected to support their husbands' and (male) children's success in these domains rather than to pursue their own. A lot of women who had fulfilled these family duties return to the tea ceremony, in search for the meaning of life. Although performing 'temae' in their younger days was a part of bridal training and was a means of subjecting them to the male-dominant society, 'temae' in later stages of their lives could have just the opposite function. Now it could be a means of matching cultural (-educational) capitals unequally distributed to the men who had power over them.
Effects of exposure to thin media images, evidence of self-enhancement among restrained eaters

It is a commonly held belief in the eating disorder literature, as well as in society at large, that the media's focus on slimness contributes to eating pathology. However, previous research on the relation between media exposure and eating disorder symptomatology has produced dramatically mixed findings. The effects of viewing media-portrayed idealized body images on eating behaviour, self-esteem, body image, and mood among restrained and unrestrained eaters were examined in three experimental studies. Study 1 found that restrained eaters (i.e., chronic dieters), but not unrestrained eaters, reported feeling ' thinner' following exposure to slim models. Restrained eaters rated both their ideal and current body sizes as smaller and ate more following exposure to idealized body images. It is suggested that restrained eaters are susceptible to a "thin fantasy" brought about by viewing ideal body images. Study 2 found that strengthening thinness-attainability beliefs further enhanced the "thin fantasy" exhibited by restrained eaters following exposure to idealized body images. It appears that, following exposure to ultra-slim models, restrained eaters feel inspired by such images and experience a shift toward feeling thinner. The perception of thinness as attainable (through dieting) may facilitate inspiration by thin, idealized body images, thus explaining the observed differences between restrained and unrestrained eaters. Study 3 found that after receiving threatening weight-related information from the experimenter, restrained eaters rated their current body size, ideal body size, and the discrepancy between the two measures as smaller. In conclusion, the present set of findings suggests that dieters self-enhance after looking at thin media images due to inspiration. However, there may be other reasons why restrained eaters self-enhance, including defensiveness when negative feedback can be discounted. These results are considered in the context of literature on restraint theory, social comparison, body image, and eating disorders. The complexities of the media's role in the development and maintenance of body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviour are discussed.
Influence of cracks on chloride ingress into concrete

Exposure of concrete to chloride ions is considered to be the main cause of premature corrosion of steel reinforcement. Cracking is an inevitable characteristic of reinforced concrete structures. Although, it is generally recognized that cracks promote the ingress of chlorides in concrete, a lack of sufficient knowledge on this subject does not yet allow reliable quantification of their effects. In the current study, the influence of artificially created, parallel-wall cracks with widths ranging from 0.06 to 0.74 mm on chloride ingress was examined. The effect of crack wall surface roughness was also evaluated. Based on the results of the chloride bulk diffusion test and SEM/EDX analysis, it was concluded that chloride diffusion in concrete was independent of either crack width or the crack wall roughness for the ranges studied. The transecting, parallel-wall cracks were found to behave like a free concrete surface, resulting in a case of two-dimensional diffusion and greatly promoting chloride ingress. A 2D simulation approach was proposed for predicting the chloride concentration profile in this case. It was also found that coarse aggregate contributes to chloride transport, likely due to percolating interfacial transition zones. A relationship between the depth of chloride penetration and time for both cracked and uncracked concrete was studied, as well.
FOCL, a probabilistic character layout strategy for mobile text entry

There is an increasingly strong demand on mobile communications devices, such as pagers and cellular phones, to support full-fledged text-entry. In providing text-messaging features, manufacturers have, thus far, failed to consider the unique restrictions of the mobile domain, in particular its limited input and output bandwidth and limited physical space. The result is that interaction is crude and demanding of the user. In one technique, the user moves a cursor around an on-screen character set and selects letters one at a time. This research focuses on improving entry speeds with this technique. By applying statistical data of English to the task of rearranging the character layout after each character entered, we achieved a significantly superior result compared to a fixed layout, after two design iterations. The successful design is one whose layout is partly fixed, and partly fluctuating, combining the advantages of both. It is thus dubbed a hybrid layout. The general technique is called the Fluctuating Optimal Character Layout strategy, or FOCL.