VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The relationship between dieting outcome expectancies and behaviours: challenging false hopes

Three studies examined the influence of expectancies about rewards from thinness (RFT) on dieting attitudes and behaviours. Study 1 assessed peer influence on RFT expectancies by pairing participants (N = 64) with a confederate who spoke about either the benefits or costs of her own weight loss (positive- and negative-expectancy conditions, respectively). Condition had an indirect influence on RFT expectancies, but did not influence dieting behaviour, and restrained eaters had higher RFT expectancy scores compared to unrestrained eaters. Only restraint and concern about shape predicted interest in or likelihood of enrolling in a diet. A more powerful intervention or a more ecologically valid measure of dieting behaviour may be necessary to observe a correspondence between attitude and behaviour change. Study 2 used a more robust manipulation by having undergraduate S's (N = 62) participate in an experimenter-led discussion about either the benefits or costs of dieting and write an essay consistent with the group message. Compared to controls, participants in the negative-expectancy condition had lower RFT expectancy scores, fewer and less stringent dieting intentions, made more liberal choices in a food-selection task, and rated photos of thin women as less attractive. Participants in the positive-expectancy condition displayed the opposite pattern. Study 2 also replicated the finding that restrained eaters had higher RFT expectancy scores than did unrestrained eaters. Study 3 tested the generalizability of these findings by testing the negative-expectancy intervention on a population of school-aged girls. Grade-8 participants (N = 46) took part in either an experimenter led 'dieting-inoculation program' about the detrimental effects of unhealthy dieting, or a delayed-treatment control group. Results showed that intervention group participants had significantly fewer RFT expectancies, and reported dieting less often at follow up compared to delayed-treatment control participants. The results of these studies suggest that (1) Positive thinness outcome expectancies are important in one's decision to diet; (2) Compared to non-dieters, dieters have elevated RFT expectancies; (3) RFT expectancies are amenable to change through persuasion; and (4) Modifying RFT expectancies can cause shifts in dieting attitudes and behaviours.
Towards a democratic news media and society: creating and navigating our information society for a sustainable future

This dissertation provides an up-to-date interdisciplinary analysis of the state of our global news media system (with particular emphasis on the Canadian/North American scene), the implications and possibilities of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), and a positive vision for a more democratic news media and society, while introducing new theoretical concepts and policy recommendations. The investigator utilized, and adapted, an illuminative evaluation (qualitative) approach in which a diversity of media professionals (primarily from alternative/progressive media) and communications scholars were interviewed for their opinions on the state of our news media, the impact of ICTs (primarily the Internet/World Wide Web), and their insight into how we can improve our old and new media culture for a sustainable and democratic future. These illuminations, derived from semi-structured interviews and augmented by response-based literature reviews and reflection, allowed the investigator to garner an in-depth, and fresh, analysis of the key developments, issues, challenges and opportunities facing our global information society as we begin the 21st Century. Among the various illuminations and proposed solutions contained in this study are two primary findings. The first finding, or illumination, involves the investigator's development of a new information model/media literacy tool, which the author calls the Information Quality Continuum (IQC), to serve as a conceptual instrument to help guide citizens, news media providers, communications scholars, educators and policy makers to create, navigate and shape a more democratic news media and society—a democratic “information society” that provides citizens with a wealth of what the researcher calls Vital Human Information (VHI), as opposed an undemocratic “information economy” that primarily provides consumers with a superfluous flood of Trivial Consumer Information (TCI). The researcher also operationally tests the IQC (via a quantitative Internet news archival search) to further clarify, and elaborate on, its theoretical and practical usefulness. The second major illumination involves a proposal for a new breed of public journalism, which the author calls “People's Journalism” (based on the Popular Education traditions of Paulo Freire and the principles of Participatory Research), that would serve to significantly democratize and improve our existing news media system. Taken together, these two illuminations, as well as other insights derived from this investigation, offer hope and prescriptions for achieving viable and democratically informed 21st century society.

Keywords: Democracy
Information resources
Mass media
Press
Media literacy
Journalism
Political participation
Social participation
The role of protein kinase C-epsilon (PKCepsilon) in ischemic preconditioning cardioprotection induced by enhancement of cell volume regulation

Enhancement of cell volume regulation is a key mechanism of cardioprotection induced by ischemic preconditioning. The specific role of PKC egr; in modulating IPC protection against necrosis via an enhanced volume regulatory mechanism was addressed using a combined molecular and pharmacological approach in primary culture of adult rabbit cardiomyocytes. It was found that (1) PKC egr; protects against ischemic cell death in a pathway that includes Cl - channel activity downstream, (2) PKC egr; limits the extent of ischemic cardiomyocyte swelling with Cl- channel activity downstream of PKC egr;, (C) PKC egr; is involved in normal cell volume regulation in oxygenated cardiomyocytes, and Cl- activity is downstream of PKC egr; in this response. The findings of this study support the hypothesis that the mechanism of PKC egr; - mediated cardioprotection includes the activation of potent cell volume regulatory mechanisms, which delay ischemic cell swelling and cell death and involve the activation of volume regulated Cl- channels.
Nindoodemag: Anishinaabe identities in the eastern Great Lakes region, 1600 to 1900

Anishinaabe peoples of North America's Great Lakes region include people known as Algonquin, Chippewa, Ojibwe, Mississauga, Potawatomi and Ottawa or Odawa. These labels reflect imposed European categories of political organization such as nation or tribe. This dissertation argues that a more nuanced political history of the region is possible by making use instead of indigenous ontological categories for socio-political organization, and indigenous terms of collective identity. While Anishinaabe is a general term that describes people who speak a common language and share a common cultural tradition, the region's political history becomes more sharply defined with attention to the role of the patrilineal kinship networks that represent the very heart and soul of Anishinaabe identity: nindoodemag . This dissertation explores the centrality nindoodem identity in Anishinaabe political tradition over three centuries and the role that this significant cultural institution played in shaping indigenous responses to contact, missionization, changing material relations, encroaching settlements and colonization. ...
Interculturalism as a tool for cross-cultural equity: education for indigenous communities in Chile and Argentina

This thesis examines the influences of asymmetric cross-cultural relations, between indigenous communities and the dominant society, in the intercultural discourse in education in Argentina and Chile since the end of dictatorship rule in the 1980's. It analyzes changes in the legal framework and in official and grassroots programs for intercultural bilingual education, taking into consideration the role of indigenous communities and organizations, non-governmental organizations, Nation-State governments, international institutions, and regional/international trends in interculturalism. I argue that the intercultural discourse is influenced by these actors in different and sometimes contradictory ways that do not necessarily contribute to more equitable cross-cultural relations. However, there exist possibilities for strengthening democratic forms of interculturalism within this context, in which the role of the local communities is of particular importance. This study also engages in a conceptual discussion of the meaning of the generally ambiguous term "interculturalism," particularly in relation to formal education.

Keywords: Education, Bilingual
Intercultural communication
Race relations
Discrimination in education
Indigenous peoples, Chile
Indigenous peoples, Argentina
Educational equalization, Argentina
Ethnic relations
Educational equalization, Chile
Internal dynamics of galaxy clusters in the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey

We compute the global dynamical properties of the clusters in our survey, such as velocity dispersion and mass, and use them to explore the properties of RCS clusters as functions of total cluster mass. In particular, we first examine the optical richness as an inexpensive proxy for mass. The calibration of this relation is an important ingredient in the construction of the cluster mass function, which is used to constrain cosmological parameters. Our relation and scatter are consistent with self-calibrated cosmological parameter results. We also study the cluster mass-to-light ratios, and how they scale with mass. We compare our results to other observations and to structure formation models. Although the scatter in this relation is large, we find agreement among remarkably different types of galaxy clusters and groups; however, current structure formation models do not accurately reproduce the variation of M/L with mass. We present a spectroscopic survey of clusters of galaxies, designed to explore the distribution of matter, and its relation to light, in these massive systems. Our sample is drawn from the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (RCS), and is composed of 33 clusters with a wide range of optical richness and a moderate range of redshift. We obtained spectra of 56 to 529 objects per cluster, which yielded over 3500 redshifts of which 1014 are cluster members. To account for survey incompleteness due to sparse sampling, we constructed several empirical corrections so that our redshift catalogue is suitable for use in dynamical analysis. To boost statistics and allow us to perform a more detailed dynamical analysis of clusters, we stack our data into "ensemble" clusters. Cosmological simulations predict a roughly universal density profile for dark matter haloes over many scales, and a relation between halo mass and the concentration of the profile. We analyse the ensembles using the jeans equations, and recover density profiles for several ensemble clusters of different masses. Although the sampling of our data at small radii is insufficient to constrain some quantities of interest such as the inner core slope of the density profile, we can constrain the concentrations and orbital anisotropies for the ensemble clusters. We find they agree with predictions and previous observations: namely, that galaxies in clusters follow roughly isotropic orbits, and the concentrations of cluster density profiles are consistent with the prediction one would obtain from their masses. We also estimate the variation of concentration with redshift, finding a slightly stronger evolution than expected.
State consent, investor interests and the future of investment arbitration: reanalyzing the jurisdiction of investor-state tribunals in hard cases

While the international investment regime has enjoyed an extended period of enthusiastic subscription, this euphoria has begun to recede in some quarters. Although sovereign consent to waive immunity is at the heart of investor-State arbitration, many States feel that this consent has been illegitimately expanded. In this regard, this thesis examines the degree to which the interpretive approach taken to state consent to arbitration can affect whether an investment tribunal will assert jurisdiction over an investment dispute. Investor-State tribunals often confront 'hard cases' where their authority to decide a dispute is vigorously contested by respondent host states. This thesis examines the degree to which investment tribunals have an obligation to adopt a cautious, state-centered approach to the interpretation of state consent to arbitration in such cases. It then considers the different means available to States to further impose such an obligation on investment tribunals as a matter of international law.

Keywords: Investments, Foreign, Law and legislation
Arbitration and award
Consent (Law)
Capitalists and financiers, Legal status, laws, etc
Jurisdiction (International law)
Validation of a novel approach to voltage sourced converter control for MicroGrid applications

A novel approach for the control of voltage sourced converter (VSC) interfaced distributed energy resources (DERs) in a single-source MicroGrid environment is validated. The control approach is designed to operate in both grid-connected and islanded modes of operation, as well as the transition between the two. Control over real and reactive power in grid-connected mode is exercised through variation in the relative phase and magnitude, respectively, of the VSC terminal voltage. In islanded mode the controller becomes passive and operates to maintain nominal operation based on load characteristics. Validation is achieved through the analysis of: linearized model of the system, results obtained from the construction of a scaled down prototype system, and further results from simulations of a system with more realistic parameters. The strategy is directly compared with a well known approach for DER control in all areas of investigation for further emphasis of its viability.
Ancient Wolastoq'kew landscapes: settlement and technology in the lower Saint John River valley, Canada

Although mobility has been integral to the Wolastoqiyik in the recent past, the nature of pre-contact mobility in the lower Saint John River remains unclear. Mobility and settlement, while articulated as a theme in regional cultural history, are unevenly described in terms of archaeological data. Furthermore, we have rarely explored the link between mobility and technology, transportation and communication. This set of loosely integrated ideas forms the conceptual substrate for this research. Although it may be unrealistic to expect to weave such broad themes into a congruous whole, I will explore connections between these ideas and archaeological patterning in the Maritime Peninsula. Key to this exploration is a critical and frank evaluation of mobility and space. How can we explore the notion of territories and catchments? What is the relationship between the construction of spatial units, archaeological patterning, and actual groups of people in the past? How did people move within these units of space? How did these movements through space constrain or interact with other aspects of the archaeological record? How permeable were the edges of these units, and how did people, ideas and objects move through them?Recent archaeological approaches have expanded on notions of mobility. Most of these expansions involve pursuing the imagined implications of mobility for other aspects of material behaviour. In particular, mobility is thought to be particularly influential on the intensity of the extraction of particular suites of resources, and the technologies that are developed to carry out these tasks. As a result, many archaeologists have explored models that weigh possible costs and benefits of tool size, flexibility and labour requirements. This focus on material behaviour, however, has been at the expense of social and ideological behaviour. While we might equally envisage the impact of greater or lesser local (intra-territorial) mobility on regional (or inter-territorial) mobility, considerably less time has been devoted to contemplation of what these mean in behavioural terms. Although these questions are germane to the whole of the Maritime Peninsula, and indeed to the archaeology of the greater Northeast, I will explore them in the context of a series of sites and components in the lower Saint John River valley. These offer a chronologically and spatially circumscribed data base with which we can test our expectations about hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement in a refined and explicit manner. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).
At the edge of possibility: rethinking teaching practices with the adolescent learner

A school-based action research project implemented in two stages over four years began as a collaboration between a grade 8 teacher committed to her students' meaningful engagement in and understanding of the substantially increased curriculum, and a university-based drama expert, committed to supporting the praxis of teachers at a time of vast change. Stage one explored the potential of integrating drama into the teaching of the intermediate history curriculum. In stage two, the teacher, on her own, as reflective practitioner, deepened her understanding of drama and liberatory practices and considered the voices of five students four years later as they reflected on their grade 8 experience and its enduring impact. The inquiry provided increased understanding about student learning within an integrative drama/history approach. However, upon critical reflection four years later, it revealed previously 'unseen' opportunities for learning by an inexperienced teacher of drama, unfamiliar with the concept of 'liberatory practices'---pedagogy that builds inclusive and democratic communities (Gallagher, 2003). Important implications about adolescence as it pertains to the middle school experience and preservice teacher education programs emerge from an analysis of the students' voices as they reflect on their grade 8 experience during this critical period of early adolescence.
Spectroscopic investigations in the Orion Nebula

All observed fluxes are affected by extinction, mostly from the foreground "veil", and so it is essential that they be corrected accurately before further analysis and interpretation. An analytic expression for the wavelength dependence of the extinction is developed which when normalized for a given line of sight provides a solid basis for the extinction correction from the ultraviolet through to the infrared. We are engaged in a comprehensive program to find reliable elemental abundance, in and to probe the physical structure of the Orion Nebula, the brightest and best-resolved H II region. This thesis assists in the fulfillment of this goal by analysing, in detail, deep echelle spectra and HST spectra (FOS, STIS) of various lines of sight in the nebula. Ionic abundances can be derived from permitted and forbidden lines with knowledge of the dominant line formation mechanism. However, for a given ion, the derived abundances are not consistent. Temperature fluctuations within the nebula have been invoked to reconcile these differences. From temperature measurements rising long-slit STIS spectra we find that actual temperature fluctuations in the plane of the sky are minimal. Applying our new analytic extinction correction to ground- and space-based spectral observations, we are able to confirm---for the first time---a number of the theoretically-expected deviations from He I case B recombination theory. Furthermore, we show that CLOUDY models that include radiative transfer effects provide a remarkable quantitative agreement between theory and observation. The nebula is home to a number of velocity systems, both within the nebula's primary ionization front and elsewhere. Our high-resolution ground-based echelle spectra allow for the isolation of many of these velocity systetus, including the distinctive velocity-shifted spectrum associated with a Herbig-Haro object, HH 529. By modeling its emission lines, we determine a gas-phase abundance of Fe that is consistent with the depleted (relative to solar) abundance found in the Orion Nebula---evidence for the presence of dust. We also exploit the nebular velocity structure to show that it is necessary to modify the ground configuration energy levels of O+. Using planetary nebulae and our Orion Nebula observations of the [O II] forbidden lines, we publish new laboratory wavelengths for these same lines.
Legitimating the use of force in international politics: A communicative action perspective

The main objective of this thesis is to examine the conditions under which the decision to use force can be reckoned as legitimate in international relations (IR). To this end, the study argues that existing legal and moral theories of legitimacy fail to effectively address the tension between the level of observation and the level of action proper, which define how legitimacy is assessed and exercised respectively. This tension arises from the fact that a theory of legitimacy informed by a sharp distinction between values and facts risks downgrading the concept of legitimacy to the level of blind compliance. On the other hand, a normative model of legitimacy revolving around universalistic and abstract standards can deprive the concept of any practical value. In short, a clear understanding of the legitimacy of a military intervention requires a conceptual tool that addresses not only the textual basis of legal and moral provisions, but also the deliberative framework within which interpretations of these principles are articulated, contested and eventually adjudicated. Drawing on Habermas' theories of communicative action and discourse ethics, I argue that the concept of deliberative legitimacy, understood as the non-coerced commitment of an actor to abide by a decision reached through a process of communicative action, offers the most appropriate framework for discriminating between legitimate vs. illegitimate decisions to use force. The value-added of the concept is twofold: from an analytical perspective, it explains how meanings associated with the decision to use of force are produced and naturalized through argumentation by the relevant interpretative community; from a normative perspective, it offers a moral platform on the basis of which actors' justifications to resort to force can be ascertained and validated. In short, deliberative legitimacy offers a moral-practical form of reasoning that brings together a universalistic aspiration for moral justification and a contextualist framework of practical application.
Examining inhhibition[sic] of return with onset and offset cues in the multiple-cuing paradigm

Three experiments examined inhibition of return (IOR) with onset, offset, and on-off cues in a multiple cuing paradigm. In the first two experiments, cues either appeared and remained present (onset cues) or disappeared and remained absent (offset cues). With placeholders present (Experiment 1), onset and offset cues produced similar declines in IOR from the most recently cued location. With placeholders absent (Experiment 2), however, no IOR was found for either onset or offset cues. Experiment 3 used the more typical on-off cue, but this time placeholders were either present or absent. With placeholders present, IOR declined from the most recently cued location, and no IOR was observed with placeholders absent. Overall, the results suggest that onset and offset cues produce similar patterns of IOR in a multiple cuing paradigm. Furthermore, these experiments suggest that when multiple locations are cued sequentially they must be marked by placeholders for inhibition to occur.