VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Novel approaches to generating cytotoxic T lymphocyte target structures

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) are important effectors in the immune response against viral infections and tumors. CTL function is critically dependent upon the recognition of a specific molecular target: a class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule with bound peptide antigen. Considerable effort has been focused on elucidating the structure, biochemistry, and cell biology of class I molecules. This information has provided a solid foundation for understanding antigen presentation, a basic process central to cellular immune recognition. In addition, an intimate knowledge of CTL target structure formation is proving useful for the development of new vaccine and immunotherapy strategies. This thesis describes two novel approaches for generating class I MHC/peptide complexes, which share the common feature of coupling MHC and peptide antigen. They were undertaken within the framework of developing new tools for probing class I antigen presentation and devising unique strategies for consideration in disease prevention and treatment. In the first approach, the biosynthesis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) translocation of MHC and peptide were transiently coupled by inserting a CTL epitope into the signal sequence of a class I MHC heavy chain. It was speculated that such an integrated peptide would be liberated by ER enzymes and preferentially form CTL target structures. Although the signal sequence-incorporated epitope could be presented by its restricting class I molecule, this presentation was unexpectedly observed to require TAP (transporter-associated with antigen processing) transport. This result indicated a cytosolic origin for the signal sequence peptide, and suggested a lack of ER processing. The second strategy achieved a more permanent peptide-MHC linkage by covalently coupling CTL epitopes to the class I light chain, beta 2-microglobuhn (ß2m). Such peptide-ß2m proteins could efficiently form CTL target structures when expressed endogenously or added to cells exogenously. Importantly, covalent linkage to ß2m enhanced the MHC stability and antigenicity of suboptimal class I epitopes. This strategy, therefore, offers the potential to generate high levels of stable, defined class I MHC/peptide complexes, which could be valuable in vaccine and immunotherapy design.
Analysis of planar antennas using FDTD

In this thesis, a generic FDTD code utilizing the new Berenger Perfectly Matched Layer was developed and used to study the behaviour of various microstrip antennas, including standard patch geometries, as well as non-homogeneous substrate patches. The code was extended such that active elements and wire structures could also be integrated into the simulation. The FDTD technique has been shown to be an intuitive, robust, and accurate full-wave technique capable of modeling complex geometries, and yielding wideband results during a single computation run. The high computational run-time requirements of the method can be significantly reduced through parallelization of the FDTD algorithm.
Church decoration and the politics of reform in late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century Bergamo

The relationship between religious reform and the arts during the later sixteenth century has long been debated by historians. One model for understanding the course of tridentine reform is one of simple opposition between the invasive authority of Rome, and local churches dedicated to defending their historical prerogatives. This view risks reducing Rome's dependencies to homogeneous communities, unified in their opposition to reform. Through a case study of three churches in the north Italian city of Bergamo (the cathedral of S. Vincenzo, S. Maria Maggiore and S. Alessandro in Colonna) I examine the process by which reform was transposed into the terms of local interests, traditions and conflicts. Tridentine initiatives were advanced by groups when they conformed with other problems and ambitions of longer standing. Chapter one examines a situation of direct and open antagonism: the attempts to rebuild S. Vincenzo following the 1561 demolition of the city's second cathedral, the 'basilica alessandrina'. The conflict that resulted in opposition to one of the agendas of reform was between two groups of cathedral canons fighting for primacy within the context of the city. Chapters two and four address painted decorative cycles commemorating local saints. Although no doubt devoted to their respective saints, I argue that the two groups of canons at the cathedral, as well as the rulers of S. Alessandro in Colonna, tried to channel the new importance of Early Christian saints that had developed around that time into the effectuation of their own particular goals. Chapter three discusses S. Maria Maggiore, engaged at this time in a patronage strategy aimed at consolidating its position as the city's most popular church. Ruled by a lay confraternity and exempt from episcopal control, its rulers nonetheless oversaw a comprehensive redecoration that conformed closely with the ideals of Carlo Borromeo. S. Maria Maggiore also became a powerful symbol of Bergamo's residual autonomy under Venetian rule. Its redecoration was devoted to articulating themes related to its important symbolic role as civic representation.
Reform and humanism in the sermons of Richard Fleming at the Council of Constance (1417)

The thesis examines six Latin sermons delivered in 1417 at the Council of Constance by Richard Fleming (1385-1431), an Oxford theologian who had been an active proponent of reform and opponent of heresy (Wyclifism/Lollardy) before he went to the council and who later, as bishop of Lincoln (1420-31), founded Lincoln College, Oxford (1427) to train theologians to counter heresy. The reform of clerical abuses is the primary concern in five of these sermons, and in two of them--his Epiphany sermon and his eulogy for William Corff, his former mentor in the Oxford theology faculty--Fleming treats the threat of heresy within a discussion of reform, implying that the response to heresy should include the reform of clerical abuses and the improvement of the 'cura animarum'. Although there was a significant movement of orthodox reform in early 15th-century England, there is no other known statement by a reformer that heresy was a motivating factor, presumably because it might seem sympathetic to the criticisms raised by the heretics. It is argued that Fleming served as a quasi-official spokesman for the English 'natio' during the most critical stage at Constance, when the council was divided into two opposing camps over the issues of reform and papal election, the so-called priority conflict. It has long been known that his eulogy for Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, served to announce a shift in the English position by proposing a compromise which would end the stalemate occasioned by the priority conflict; the examination of Fleming's first two sermons reveals that it was Fleming who originally announced the English policy. Fleming's last known sermon is a eulogy he gave for Francesco Zabarella, cardinal of Florence and patron of the circle of Italian humanists at Constance. Drawing especially upon Cicero and Macrobius, Fleming argues that Zabarella has defeated death because he will live on in the memory of men for his deeds of public service; this treatment of earthly fame is the earliest known instance of an Englishman expressing the values of Italian humanism. The thesis includes new editions of four of Fleming's sermons.
Hydrogeologic behaviour of the Northern till aquitard near Toronto, Ontario

Glacial deposits cover approximately 13 million km2 of North America (50% of the landmass) including many large population centres and frequently constitute a major groundwater source for domestic and industrial purposes (Stephenson et al., 1988). The relatively less permeable facies, such as fill and clay, are considered to protect underlying aquifer units from surficial pollutant sources such as landfills, industrial spills and agricultural chemicals. These fine-grained units also control the quantity of recharge to lower aquifers. Much of the hydrogeological work within glaciated terrain has focused on the permeable aquifer units and their hydraulic interaction on a regional scale. The prevalent assumption is that aquitards transmit little water, and therefore play an insignificant role within the groundwater flow system. This assumption is based on relatively small-scale, localized studies of aquitards. Given the stresses placed on groundwater resources, even small quantities of leakage through an aquitard can have an important control over the regional flow system. Non-matrix structures, if present within an aquitard, can increase this leakage and groundwater flow velocities dramatically. In order to understand the hydraulic behaviour of an aquitard, it is necessary to determine whether flow is dominated by matrix characteristics or affected by non-matrix processes ("leaky"). This thesis has tested and proven the hypothesis that the Northern till is a "leaky" aquitard. Through the use of environmental isotopes, regional water balance estimates, natural hydraulic head fluctuations and response to groundwater pumping, it has been established that the quantity of groundwater flow through the Northern till aquitard is 30 to 40 mm/a. The matrix hydraulic conductivity of the fill ranges from 1 * 10 -11 to 1 * 10-10 m/s. Structures present within the till enhance the bulk vertical hydraulic conductivity to approximately 5 * 10-10 to 5 * 10-9m/s. The presence of tritiated waters at depth within the till indicates that some structures or connectivity of structures must exist throughout the entire thickness of the aquitard and be in hydraulic communication with the underlying aquifer. The findings of this study have important implications for land use planning in general and specifically for recharge, aquifer interaction and contaminant transport of point and nonpoint sources.
Nonlinear observer synthesis and error linearization

Systems described by nonlinear ordinary differential equations that admit an observer with linear error dynamics, termed integrable systems, rarely arise in practice. However, any nonlinear system can be expressed as the sum of non-integrable and integrable parts. We find coordinates where the size of the system's non-integrable part is minimized uniformly over a compact operating region. Provided the control-affine, multi-input, multi-output system's non-integrable part satisfies a relatively weak structural condition, the design coordinates can be used to obtain an observer with approximately linear, locally stable error dynamics. The synthesis is constructive, and we perform the optimization numerically using an algorithm implemented in Mathematica. The procedure is generalized to the reduced-order case. Examples illustrate the constructive nature of the design method and its relatively low gains compared with a high-gain design. The second part of this thesis considers the industrial application of estimating the span tension of a web processing machine using observers. After presenting the dynamic equations of a web machine, their structure is exploited to design a reduced-order, nonlinear observer with linear time-varying error dynamics. The stability of the error dynamics is discussed for the nominal model, and the design is generalized to multi-span web machines. The observer is compared with three other designs in three performance tests. In particular, the nonlinear observer's robustness to tension disturbances is compared to that of a sliding-mode design. The performance of the observers is experimentally verified on a real two-span web machine.
High voltage circuits for short loop SLICs in a low voltage submicron BiCMOS technology

This thesis deals with the integration of short loop subscriber line interface circuits (SLIC) using a low voltage submicron BiCMOS technology. The high voltage front-end of the short loop SLIC was implemented in a 5V, 0.8[mu]m BiCMOS process. The use of a low voltage process allows the implementation of the SLIC's high voltage functions on the same chip with the rest of the high-density low-voltage circuits at much lower cost while achieving higher performance. 0The short loop SLIC front-end presented includes all the required high voltage building blocks such as differential preamplifier, line drivers and power switch. Using a novel high voltage common-mode feedback circuit, the fully differential 30V preamplifier provides a wide bandwidth (more than 30MHz) with a power dissipation of only 10mW and an area of 0.1 mm2. Three different line drivers were also presented in this thesis, all capable of driving more than 3OmA loop current while operating at supply voltages as high as 3OV. The first line driver uses a pure CMOS process based on a quasi-current-mirror (QCM) class AB output stage and provides a bandwidth of 2 MHz with a power of only 25mW and an area of 0.3 mm2. A BiCMOS process is used in the second line driver resulting in improved performance and lower sensitivity to process variations. This line driver exhibits a bandwidth larger than 3MHz with 30mW power and 0.24 mm2 area. A floating-current-mirror (FCM) PMOS output stage is used in the third line driver. This design is robust with respect to hot-carrier problems in NMOS devices and provides a very well controlled quiescent current. A bandwidth of 3.8 MHz is achieved with only 18 mW of power and 0.34 mm2 of area.
Learning patterns of landscape and life, towards a learning framework for environmental adult education

Using a historico-contemporary case study methodology based on document analysis this study delves into that "important body of experience" noted in the quotation above. Through an examination of 42 documents produced around the world from 1972 to 1997 under the auspices of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and the Learning for Environmental Action Programme (LEAP), this study identifies essential elements which collectively provide some of the seeds necessary to begin to construct a learning framework for environmental adult education. This study examines the work of particular prominent theoreticians and/or adult educators and highlights some of the inherent anthropocentric biases their ideas contain. Therefore, while the learning framework for environmental adult education developed in this study maintains its base in many of the principles and important issues of adult education such as gender inequities, racism, literacy and knowledge of critical adult, popular and feminist adult education, it challenges the anthropocentric bias of the field, broadening its aims or goals and adding new elements to re-conceptualise the landscape of adult learning. Learning is not neutral, rather it is informed by values. New values in the learning framework for environmental adult education include nature's intrinsic value and ecofeminist values of nurturing, caring and different ways of living, learning and being with the rest of nature. The content and context of the learning framework is broadened to include human/Earth relations, ecological knowledge, nature/culture interactions, the challenges of consumerism and development, and fear, powerlessness and green fatigue. The inequities of class, race and gender are discussed within a broader ecological context. The broader strategies of the learning framework include learning in, about, and with 'place', the role of the rest of nature in the learning and teaching process, nature as a partner in building partnerships for change, understanding the Earth's processes, and ecological adult literacy. New tools and praxis are ecological storytelling, listening to the rest of nature and outdoor sensory learning. Although this learning framework offers new ecological conceptualisations of content, context, values, strategies and tools for adult learning, further inquiry and theorisation are required if the field is to be a space where people learn to live and live to learn with the rest of nature.
A dynamic systems perspective on the development of coping in the second year of life

Investigations of coping in early life have tended to focus either on normative changes associated with the rapidly expanding repertoire of infant developmental capabilities or on stable individual differences in infant coping styles and their relationship to later psychopathology. This study explored both these aspects of infant coping by utilizing a novel methodology based on dynamic systems principles. Dynamic systems approaches to emotional development suggest that behavioural change and stability self-organize from repeated associations among lower-order elements (e.g. components of cognitive appraisals) within a complex psychological system. Repeated couplings of cognitive elements are associated with behavioural stability, while a reorganization among these elements is associated with behavioural change. In this study, an underlying reorganization in infant behaviour during emotion-eliciting events was expected to be related to points of global developmental transition and to periods of emotional change. Twenty-four infants were videotaped in their homes once each month from 14 to 25 months. In each month infants were exposed to four consecutive emotion-eliciting episodes involving a frustrating toy. Mothers were present, but instructed not to provide assistance. The second-by-second levels of infant attentional engagement to both the mother and the toy during each toy episode were coded and mapped onto a 5-by-5 grid representing the behavioural repertoire as a dynamic system (i.e., a state space map). Monthly levels of infant distress were also recorded for each toy episode. An unexpectedly large amount of spoiled and missing data made it impossible to evaluate individual differences in infant behaviour while controlling for toy episode. However, developmental reorganizations of infant response to the emotion-eliciting events were explored by examining changes in the series of grids (for two toy episodes) corresponding to each of the three developmental profiles of distress. Results showed a reorganization of infant behaviour occurring around the time of the hypothesized stage transition, but only when there was a decrease in distress (i.e., evidence of coping) beginning at roughly the same age. In addition, the reorganization of infant behaviour was unrelated to the content of infant response to the emotion-eliciting events. These results were discussed in relation to coping development in early life.
An organizing principle of thalamic plasticity

Three dimensional reconstructions of thalamic (ventroposterolateral nucleus; VPL) sensory maps were used to detect somatotopic reorganization in the thalamus. Hindlimb input was removed (>60%) by nucleus gracilis lesions in adult rats (control (n = 8); acute (n = 6); 1-week post-lesion (n = 8); 1-month post-lesion (n = 8)). The removal of hindlimb input by nucleus gracilis lesions revealed a focal zone of reorganization within the VPL (300 <math> <f> <g>m</g></f> </math> m thick) at times 1-week and 1-month post-lesion. Shoulder sensory maps in the thalamus were found to increase in total volume by 25% as early as 1-week post-lesion (p < 0.001). From this finding the "hot spot model" was postulated, which predicted that such zones were manifested at other levels of the nervous system and independent of the form of neural trauma. In the second study, nerve transection of the hindlimb was performed to see if a similar outcome was obtained (sham (n = 6); nerve-transection (n = 8)). Despite numerous differences between nerve transection and nucleus gracilis lesions, the same focal zone of reorganization in the VPL was observed. This latter finding further underscored the importance of this focal zone and the validity of the hot spot model. Finally, it was asked if higher levels of brain organization contribute to plasticity at lower levels of the nervous system. Cortical aspiration of the forelimb somatosensory cortex was performed the same day as nucleus gracilis lesions (n = 8). Remarkably, the removal of the forelimb somatosensory cortex blocked all thalamic somatotopic reorganization (n = 7) when compared to nucleus gracilis lesioned animals (n = 7; p < 0.05). Cortical lesions alone had no effect on the volume of thalamic sensory maps (n = 6, p > 0.05). Importantly, if cortical lesions were performed after thalamic reorganization had occurred, thalamic plasticity was unaffected (n = 6; p < 0.05). 'In conclusion', 'there is a focal zone of somatotopic plasticity in the thalamus that appears to be independent of the form of deafferentation, which requires the presence of an intact cortex for the induction of somatotopic reorganization', but not its maintenance.
The political public and difference, the case of Nigeria

From the late 1940s to the present Nigeria has negotiated various constitutional arrangements with a view to meeting group claims to difference and equality. The dissertation identifies and evaluates the arrangements using principles derived from the theoretical arguments of Michael Walzer, Charles Taylor and Will Kymhcka, and prescriptions drawn from the empirical arguments of Donald Horowitz, Donald Rothchild, Crawford Young and Eric Nordlinger. It offers a detailed account of the constitutional devices that have been used to accommodate ethnic difference and evaluates them in light of the normative and empirical arguments. The evaluation reveals that some of the arrangements were morally defensible in the very circumstances in which they were negotiated, but were either not deep enough to make for adequate political inclusion or were not combined with some strategies that would have minimised problems of group proliferation and institutional instability. There were some that either generated tension among groups or were driven by strategic considerations for power, but were morally defensible. There were others that were pragmatic at the very period they were negotiated, but not morally defensible. The most important theoretical claim of the dissertation is that, where there are multiple non-immigrant groups in a country, as in the case of Nigeria, constitutional structures that express difference have the prospect of generating social instability. However, structures that deny difference promise intense conflict and lesser stability than those that give it recognition do. Thus, recognition does not generate fundamental tension between justice and stability; rather recognition has to be carefully worked out to ensure unity between justice and stability.