VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Three biologically significant globotriasylceramide binding sites on the Verotoxin 1 B subunit, implications in toxin action, pathogenesis of disease and vaccine design

Gastrointestinal infection with Verotoxigenic 'Escherichia coli ' (VTEC) is a cause of hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). VTEC produce two AB5 toxin types, verotoxin (VT) 1 and VT2, comprised of a catalytic A subunit and a pentamer of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) receptor binding B subunits. Using oligonucleotide-directed site-specific mutagenesis, the significance of three B subunit binding sites (I, II and III) was examined. Mutant binding data revealed that the amino acid substitutions predicted to affect Sites I or II, caused reductions in VT1 binding affinity, binding capacity and cytotoxicity. A Site III mutation, despite markedly reducing the binding capacity, increased binding affinity and had only minimal effects on cytotoxicity. Our data suggest that the high affinity receptor binding most relevant for cytotoxicity occurs at Site I and/or Site II, while Site III, despite recognizing additional receptors with lower affinity has limited relevance to cytotoxicity. To study receptor binding and disease production, a Site I mutant, Phe 30 Ala, was intravenously administered to rabbits. When given at a dose equivalent to ten times the 50% lethal dose of VT1, Phe 30 Ala had a significantly longer serum half-life, failed to localize preferentially in target organs and did not produce clinical disease despite the observation of mild VT-related histologic changes in target tissues. Thus, receptor binding and more specifically, Site I binding, is important in VT1 mediated disease. As Phe 30 Ala may serve as a natural toxoid we studied its immunogenicity in three inbred mouse strains. While our results demonstrate that an antibody response to the VT1 B subunit is dependent on the strain's ' H-2' haplotype, they also suggest that a B-cell immunodominant epitope is formed partly by Phe 30. A potential role for the A subunit in providing the T-cell help necessary to overcome a deficient B subunit antibody response in 'H-2b' mice was also supported.
Constructing knowledge, purpose, and organization inside Ontario's Royal Commission on Learning, 1993-1995

In this dissertation I focus on Ontario's Royal Commission on Learning (RCOL), established on May 4, 1993 as an initiative of the New Democratic Party government. RCOL was mandated to study and make recommendations for a range of topics pertinent to publicly-funded education, for Kindergarten to OAC, including accountability, governance, program, and vision. With the release of its report to the Minister of Education and Training in January 1995, RCOL was "decommissioned." I examine and analyze this policy-oriented royal commission from three complementary perspectives, the construction of (1) knowledge, (2) multiple purposes, and (3) organization. Constructivist theory is used to examine how RCOLers actively built their individual and collective knowledge bases, developed the Commission to serve several public purposes, and how they established and maintained an instrument especially devised for these ends. A related purpose of this study is to compare the experience of policy-oriented commissions with that of RCOL. The main contribution of this dissertation is that it is the first, in-depth analysis of a policy-oriented royal commission that utilizes a multiple-perspectives conceptual approach with participant observation as the main research instrument. Document analysis and interviews are the other important means of gathering data for this qualitative case study. I broadly define the elements of knowledge construction to include political, social, economic, and policy contexts, as well as the mandate, the orientation period, public consultation, internal deliberations, and the writing process. The deliberation of public values is also part of knowledge construction. The discussion of multiple purposes addresses a number of important functions of this Commission, such as policy advice, evaluation, research, consensus-making, political instrument, and what I term the "cathartic bully-pulpit" function, the release of stakeholder tension and leading the debate on educational reform. The organizational perspective involves elements of the task environment, the nature of the tasks, coordinating mechanisms, roles, leadership, power, culture, and organizational type.
Carthusian policy and the Council of Basel

In its long struggle with Popes Eugenius IV (&dagger;1447) and Nicholas V (&dagger;1455) the Council of Basel enjoyed widespread support among regular and mendicant clergy throughout northern Europe. Such support was particularly strong among Carthusians, a number of whom became forceful advocates of religious reform under the aegis of conciliar authority. This thesis examines the response of the order and of prominent Carthusians to this struggle and its consequences, a subject that has attracted little more that notice and brief comment in the literature of conciliarism and reform. Chapters I-III attempt to reconstruct the history of Carthusian relations with the council by utilizing both the published contemporary records of the council and the order and certain heretofore unpublished materials (Appendices A-C). Of central importance is the decision of the 1440 general chapter to offer obedience to the council and its newly-elected pope, Felix V, formerly Duke Amedeus of Savoy (&dagger;1450). Several commentators have sought to dismiss this adhesion on the grounds that the proximity of the Carthusian motherhouse to Savoyard territory made it a political necessity to support Felix. Such an invocation of the 'cuius regio, eius religio ' principle is, however, unfounded. Rather the surviving documentary evidence clearly suggests that Carthusian recognition of the council and Felix V reflects the genuine inclinations of the order. Chapter IV, supplemented by two appendices (D and E) offering texts of previously unpublished tracts, seeks to break ground for the study of Carthusian conciliar and reform opinion as expressed in the writings, many unedited, of such notables as Bartholmeus van Maastricht, Denys van Rijkel, Jacob von Jûterbog, and Vincent von Aggsbach. These and others embraced the general council as a preeminent agent of reform, but within that broad agreement lie many peculiarities of thought that warrant further study.
Continuous learning, the connection between work, school, and adult education in the lives of female social service workers

This thesis examined the reasons why a group of female social services case workers returned to university to complete additional post secondary degrees, the meanings they ascribed to their experiences in the workplace, and the factors that influenced their decision. Data was generated using qualitative methods, specifically participant observation, semi structured interviews, and activity/reflection logs. The discussion was grounded in adult education, career development, and social work practice literature. Findings indicated that the decision to continue higher education was largely influenced by the women's experiences at work. The reality of the care they provided in a bureaucratic setting contradicted the notion of care that led them to the profession; thus, their jobs became a disappointment and a trap. Education was seen as the way to escape bureaucratic caregiving and their jobs as social service workers.
Certificates for undirected graphs

An isomorphism certificate (I.C.) for a graph is a set of labeled edges which in combination with an isomorphic copy of a graph allows its errorless reconstruction. Work by Rubinstein, an economist, on binary relations first motivated work on the minimum size of I.C.s for tournaments. This thesis marks the first work on I.C.s for undirected graphs. It provides a structure upon which all further work on I.C.s can be based. As well it introduces the concept of using edges which are in the complement of the graph (non-edges) to provide extra information. The bulk of the work done is on valid and optimal I.C.s for several graphs. We look at wheels, complete binary trees, complete k-ary trees, and grids. For the grid we were unable to prove our I.C. is optimal but an asymptotically correct upper bound was found on the size of the minimum I.C.
Playing Indian, a consideration of children's books by Native North Americans, 1900-1940

This thesis explores a previously overlooked segment of Native North American literature: children's books by Native North Americans which were published between 1900 and 1940. In chapter one I examine the book market of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the boom in children's books during this period, and the role that Indians played in popular and children's literature. I also examine a set of constructs which pre-date the period directly examined here, but which, I suggest contributed, for a variety of reasons, to the large number of Indian books made available to child readers: the Indian as child, and the child as Indian. Chapter two examines two books, Mourning Dove's 'Coyote Stories' (1933), and E-Yeh-Shure's ' I Am a Pueblo Indian Girl' (1939), in order to demonstrate the problematic influence of the children's book market on Native writing during this period. The final two chapters examine those books which were almost certainly intended for children by their authors. The third chapter, aside from a brief examination of the texts based in part on Western models of literature, focuses on collections of traditional stories by Zitkala-Sa, Charles Eastman, Arthur Parker, and Luther Standing Bear. By writing children's books, these authors could make the foundational stories of their cultures available to a wide audience which needed to know them. Drawing on Indigenous traditions of storytelling, and particularly storytelling for children, these authors created books which teach, in the most concise yet profound ways, non-Native children about Native ways. The fourth chapter considers the personal stories written by Charles Eastman, Luther Standing Bear and Francis La Flesche. Working from traditions in which personal narratives were respected as authoritative accounts of experience, these autobiographers tell the truth about Native life and life ways to an audience of readers inundated with fictional accounts of Indian life.
Environmental change and farmer response in the Forest-Savanna Transitional Zone of Ghana

Agricultural planners are divided over whether traditional farming methods can sustain or increase food production in regions like Ghana which are doubly disadvantaged as poor and situated in the lower latitudes where agricultural impacts of global environmental change are projected to be felt most. Using the FSTZ as a case study, this research explores the potential of the traditional farming methods to increase production vis A vis the trends of the main environmental variables--rainfall, temperature, soil, and vegetation cover--that influence agricultural productivity in the FSTZ. Since 1930 the average rainfall for the region has declined by 217 mm while the average temperature has increased by 1.1°C since 1953. Soil quality has not degraded significantly from their original conditions though with continuous cropping displacing the fallow system of farming, there is a felt need for fertilizers. Shortening fallow periods are causing the displacement of the forest vegetation with a drought resistant, fire-climax vegetation of an impoverished nature. The capacity of the farming system to alleviate the impact of these trends is discussed within the context of farmer-environment interaction. With increasing pressure on agricultural land due to rapid population growth rate, farmers have intensified land use by changing land use patterns, and adopting new farm management strategies. Farmers have also embarked on off-farm activities, and education of their children for off off-farm jobs to minimize the pressure on agricultural land. Contrary to expectation, food production in the FSTZ is increasing in the face of a rapidly growing population. Sixty-five percent of the farmers interviewed think they are better-off as a result of these responses. Though the adaptations strategies are saddled with formidable ecological and socio-economic problems, it is argued that food production in the region could increase further if agricultural planners build on, and complement the local technologies which have been selected by farmers' with appropriate modern technologies. Further, because socio-economic exigencies also influence farmer-environment interaction, farmers' responses to the environmental challenges must be expanded beyond farm level strategies and be placed within the broad socio-economic context which mediates agricultural adaptation to changes in the environment.
La refiguración metafórica del cuerpo de la mujer en cuatro novelas latinoamericanas

The objective of this thesis is to study the metaphorical refiguration of the female body in four Latin American novels: 'Like Water for Chocolate ', written by Laura Esquivel, 'Lonely Lover' by Cristina Peri Rossi, 'The Impenetrable' by Griselda Gambaro and ' The Passion According to G. H.' by Clarice Lispector. The epistemological framework that I shall use is Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic approach in relation to the study of metaphors. From a hermeneutic approach, the metaphor breaks away from the semantic reality of the text, thus creating a new metareality that promotes certain changes in the reader's perception. This refiguration condenses a paradoxical power of deconstruction and reconstruction that promotes a constant ontological questioning that affects the way we perceive. The metaphor can be understood as a reflexive process through which the reader can begin to recognize his or her own ontological reality: of being part of the other, in this case of being a part of these four novels. The reader can promote original signifying possibilities by providing multiple perceptions of the woman's body, not only throughout literature but also in society.
The effects of a humane education curriculum, involving The Great Ape Project, on the attitudes of fourth grade students

An experiment with a group of thirty-four fourth grade students in a private school was evaluated. A Humane Education unit of study, focusing on human and animal rights, was devised and facilitated by the teacher-researcher during class as part of the Social and Environmental Studies curriculum. This unit included the philosophies and perspectives of The Great Ape Project, an initiative that seeks to accord rights to apes. The experiment focused on changes in students' attitudes as a result of being exposed to the treatment (unit). Data was obtained through interviews, attitude scales, students' journals, teacher's journal, and written assignments. Statistical analysis of the attitude scales confirmed the experimental hypothesis that the humane education curriculum changed the attitudes of the fourth grade students in this study. Also, this change was proven to be stable over time, and the students' journals, interviews, and written assignments support the statistical findings. This experiment design is the first to expose junior students to the ideas and philosophies of The Great Ape Project.
Studies toward the total synthesis of (+)-ionomycin

This thesis describes an approach toward the development of an efficient, enantioselective, convergent total synthesis of the calcium binding ionophore, (+)-ionomycin. The C1-C23 acyclic portion, containing approximately three quarters of the carbon skeleton and 9 of the 14 asymmetric centers, was derived from a common meso [3.2.1] oxabicyclic precursor. This approach provided the opportunity to explore and perfect the utility of this easily accessible compound in asymmetric synthesis. The fourth fragment was synthesized in enantiomerically pure form from commercially available geranyl acetate. At the onset of this project, the elaboration of [3.2.1] oxabicycles into enantiomerically pure compounds had not yet been perfected, so efficient routes were developed to the three fragments in racemic form proving the viability of our approach towards the eventual goal. Recently, work from our laboratory has introduced two ways of producing enantiomerically enriched compounds using oxabicyclic chemistry. The first utilized the diastereoselective 4+3 cycloaddition of enantiomerically pure furan carbinols with oxyallyl cations to produce cycloadducts with high diastereoselectivities. The second involved the reductive desymmetrization of meso oxabicycles using DIBAL-H in the presence of a Ni/BINAP complex. Using these protocols, efficient asymmetric syntheses were developed for three of the four fragments. The final phase of the project dealt with the union of the four fragments. Initially two of the four pieces were coupled in order to study the stereoselective formation of the second of two tetrahydrofuranyl rings found in ionomycin. This goal was successfully achieved by application of a known variant of the Tishchenko reaction to produce the final stereocenter required for the synthesis. Chemistry to couple the third fragment and also stereoselectively form the trans olefin was then investigated. A known protocol involving a samarium iodide mediated elimination of a ß-hydroxy sulfone, although still somewhat problematic, worked best. Attempts to affect the coupling of the fourth fragment via an aldol coupling have so far been unsuccessful although work on this problem is ongoing.
Elementary inservice and preservice teachers' perceptions of the current mathematics reform movement

The purpose of this study was to examine elementary inservice and preservice teachers' perceptions of the current mathematics reform movement. The intent was to determine to what extent they understand and have opinions about mathematics reform initiatives, and outline differences between inservice and preservice teachers' knowledge, understanding, and opinions of the mathematics reform movement. Over 400 inservice teachers and over 200 preservice teachers volunteered to participate in this study. inservice teachers represented six boards in Southern Ontario. Preservice teachers represented faculties of education at University of Toronto and Brock University. To address issues of mathematics reform based on inservice and preservice teacher perceptions, a mathematics survey was completed. On Part I of the survey teachers were asked to respond to a total of twenty items measured on a scale ranging from (1) strongly agree to (5) strongly disagree in two ways. For the first response teachers were to circle the number that best described the mathematics reform movement's position, and for the second response teachers were to circle the number that best described their professional position. Open-ended questions that allowed teachers to give their input were included in Part II of the survey. Response patterns for the 20 items in Part I were examined for trends and inconsistencies. Division, gender and status responses were also reported and analysed in order to determine if any significant differences existed. Open-ended questions in Part II were analysed question by question. The analysis revealed that the majority of inservice and preservice teachers are not informed about the domains of the mathematics education reforms of the NCTM Standards (1989, 1991, 1995). At the same time, however, inservice and preservice teachers' professional position are aligned with reform initiatives. Results obtained in this research have implications for the teaching of mathematics in the elementary school. Each elementary school should have a copy of the NCTM 'Standards' (1989, 1991, 1995), preservice courses should explicitly connect reform initiatives to the NCTM reform documents, and school boards should provide professional development opportunities for teachers that will inform them of the current reform initiatives.
Re-casting Sylvia Plath, plath's poetry as cultural confession

"Re-casting Sylvia Plath: Plath's Poetry as Cultural Confession" provides a cultural critique of Plath's poetry, one that shifts focus away from recovering individualism or self-actualization to critiquing the formative fields of the social which rule subjectivity. Her late poems break from her early poems' fairy tale settings and preoccupation with self to a larger symbolic system which situates the self in the social. Most critics, however, fail to take seriously Plath's collective, social, and historical agenda. Instead they limit themselves to psychological, mythological, or biographical readings. It is precisely this refusal of Plath's to find refuge in traditional categories of individualism and the nuclear family which differentiates her from so many of those contemporaries with which she is regularly compared. The "confessional" poets, for example, examine how the psyche shapes our impressions of the world, whereas Plath, inversely, looks at how the outside world shapes the self. The dissertation, then, explores her poems as instances of dialogic process. The various voices in "'Three Women': A Poem for Three Voices" (March 1962) offer dimension and difference to counter the monotony and monologic of the world she inhabits, while "In Plaster" (18 March 1961) enacts a dialogue between the subject as a culturally created artifact and collective fantasies. Among these late poems, and most obviously in "A Birthday Present" (30 September 1962), individual identity is often unstable or shifting, threatening the surrounding illusions of self-containment. In such poems as "Daddy" (12 October 1962), "Lady Lazarus" (23-29 October 1962), and her series of bee poems (3-7 October 1962), Plath shows the invisibility of social forces, and the crushing effect of that invisibility, especially on women. Nevertheless, the poems do less to demonstrate the crushing of the authentic or "real" self by the patriarchal, than show the role of (social) fantasy in the construction of the subject.
Iron regulation in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes

Cardiac iron overload is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in iron-loading diseases. Iron-induced cardiac dysfunction can be mimicked in vitro using cultures of iron-loaded neonatal rat cardiac myocytes. In this study, the presence of the Iron Regulatory Protein (IRP) has been demonstrated in cardiac myocytes by mRNA expression and RNA-binding activity. Iron-induced changes in transferrin receptor mRNA expression and Iron Responsive Element (IRE)-IRP binding occurred as predicted by the IRP system of cellular iron control. In addition, an iron-induced dose-dependent increase in ferritin transcript levels and decrease in total IRP indicated that other iron-sensitive controls may exist in myocytes. Furthermore, increased GAPDH mRNA levels suggest that this transcript may be sensitive to changes in cellular iron status. Attaining a greater knowledge of iron regulation in cardiac myocytes will further our understanding of iron's toxicity in heart cells.