VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Investigation of crack initiation under pure compression fatigue load

Fatigue is an exhaustion process of material's life through repeated stresses or strains. Various investigations have shown that more than 90% of all practical failures of load-bearing components are fatigue related. Furthermore, it is commonly accepted that fatigue crack initiates under tensile fatigue stress. However, practical examples such as the failures in landing gears, demonstrate that cracks may also initiate under pure compressive fluctuating loads. Knowledge of compressive fatigue is very limited. In this study, compression fatigue tests were carried out on multiple notched samples that have different stress concentrations. Results showed that cracks initiated under pure compressive fatigue load when a critical stress concentration was reached. In addition, this crack initiation process was associated with plastic deformation. The analyzed was the mechanism of plastic deformation and the crack directionality. FEA simulation was also conducted to verify the design of stress concentration factors and to analyze the experimental results.
Lessons at the threshold: loss and grief in mid-life

The study grew out of several personal and professional changes that seemed to challenge my conception of myself as a self sufficient person and my theoretical understanding of how to facilitate adult bereavement education. Specifically, my response to a sudden and unexpected marital separation in middle age left me feeling caught at the threshold between what to do and how to be. I knew that I could not return to what had been but I was uncertain about how to move forward. Adults remain dependent on one another throughout their lives. In the West, however, we tend to equate maturity with independence. One consequence of promoting self reliance is a preference for stoic responses to loss and grief. I believe that our silence interferes with the interrelated processes of grief resolution. In this thesis, my concern is how reflection, creativity, dialogue and action can help us to become more aware of the needs and values that influence grief resolution in mid-life. I called my experience core loss grief. Core loss grief is a sorrow for ourselves that may follow the loss of someone or something that has become entangled in our sense of who we are. It leaves us wondering about how we give meaning to our lives. To show how distinguishing between what we think should matter and what actually matters to us can help us to release the powerful, if painful, potential for personal and relational renewal that lies within sorrow itself, I draw from published theoretical and experiential accounts of loss and grief, holistic approaches to adult education and my own experiences of loss and grief in middle age.

Keywords: Grief
Loss (Psychology)
Separation (Psychology)
Midlife crisis
Middle age, Psychological aspects
Middle age, Social aspects
Adjustment (Psychology)
Life skills
Effects of surface characteristics on alignment of real and graphic objects in stereoscopic augmented reality environments

The purpose of this research is to investigate one's ability to align a graphic stereoscopic pointer with real stereo video objects containing curved surfaces and varying visual surface features in a stereoscopic Augmented Reality (AR) display. A conflict between occlusion and binocular disparity cues introduced by interactions between computer-generated graphic and real object images can introduce a perceptual ambiguity about the relationship between the location and orientation of graphic virtual objects and real objects, thus making accurate 3D measurement potentially difficult. A series of virtual pointer (VP) alignment tasks at designated probe points on the curved surfaces of a set of cylinders and hemispheres was carried out in a stereoscopic AR environment to investigate this problem. The objective was to evaluate subjects' perceptual sensitivity to texture density, target position on the surfaces, VP geometrical properties, VP orientation relative to the surfaces, and degree of binocular disparity. A psychophysical method of adjustment was used to measure the placement errors between subjects' estimated surface positions and the surface positions in the real scene. The angular differences between the estimated surface normals at designated targets and the real surface normals were also measured. The main findings are: (a) the fusion breakdown caused by the cue conflict may be used as an extra cue to detect the interaction of virtual and real objects, and thus can facilitate the decision about where real surfaces are; (b) texture density is a very important component of the “surface effect”, with highly textured surfaces up to a particular optimum facilitating alignment performance; (c) position of targets on a surface with respect to the camera line-of-sight affects alignment performance, with lowest errors generally obtained for centrally located targets along the line-of-sight; (d) the volumetric graphic cursor is subjectively the most favoured VP as it has more fusable 3D features; (e) the process of detecting the interactions between virtual and real object images when they occur has been modeled with two phases: the perceptual process of perceiving fusion difficulties and the cognitive process of weighting the fusion conflict cue off against judgment of relative binocular disparity.
Rumination and distraction as predictors of response and relapse following cognitive therapy or pharmacotherapy for major depression

The current study explored the clinical utility of Nolen-Hoeksema's (1991) Response Styles Theory of depression in predicting treatment response and relapse in a sample of 73 individuals with major depression treated with either pharmacotherapy (n=26) or cognitive therapy ( n=47). The research further examined whether the tendency to ruminate or use distraction to cope with depressive symptoms was modified depending on the type of treatment received. Results indicated that participants experienced similar reductions in rumination over the course of treatment as their mood improved, regardless of whether they achieved remission via medication or psychotherapy. A greater increase in the use of distracting activities in response to depressed mood was observed, however, in the cognitive therapy group compared to those receiving antidepressants. This finding might be attributed to the emphasis on behavioural interventions that are specific to cognitive therapy. The tendency to ruminate about depressive symptoms as a means of coping with low mood did not reduce the efficacy of treatment overall, and even very high levels of rumination were not found to be detrimental to recovery. Follow up data on remitted patients indicated that individuals who endorsed a high level of rumination at the start of treatment were at significantly greater risk of relapse over a twelve month period, even after controlling for other known predictors of relapse such as depression severity and number of previous depressive episodes. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Generation of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes by allogeneic platelets in vitro

Platelet transfusions commonly induce alloimmunization, a clinically significant adverse immune reaction in which alloantibodies mediate destruction of the transfused platelets. Platelets express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules but lack MHC class II expression and do not have the ability to co-stimulate T-cells. We hypothesized however that in the presence of T-cell help, which could be generated by donor/recipient leukocyte interactions, allogeneic platelets, could directly stimulate recipient CD8+ T lymphocytes. To test this, we employed a 7-day mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) in which responder lymphocytes were incubated with irradiated allogeneic stimulator cells and isolated leuko-free platelets from either the responder, stimulator or a third party donor were titrated into the MLR. Our results suggest that allogeneic platelets in the presence of T-cell help can directly stimulate the generation of CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells, which may play a role in modulating the humoral immune response against platelets.
Ezochi of northern Japan: From outer land to inner land

This dissertation explores the northern frontier of the Japanese state in the pre-Meiji periods in terms of both territory and frontier peoples. The thesis shows the process how the China-centered worldview was replaced by the modern notion of boundaries in late Tokugawa Japan. In other words, this study examines the process in which Ezochi (present-day Hokkaido) became a part of Japan. Today many Japanese think Hokkaido island has been an integral part of the country since ancient times, and Japan's master narrative of national homogeneity denies the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic minority group. However, before the modern notion of boundaries emerged, Ezochi, or Ainu land, was considered to be foreign "barbarian" territory outside Japan, based on the East Asian world order. A close investigation is made into the interrelations between Ainu and Wajin (Japanese) in the Tokugawa period, when much of the groundwork for the subsequent deprivation of the Ainu was laid. Ezochi became inseparable from the economy of the mainland as a production center of marine goods. The introduction of commercial capital into Hokkaido changed the Ainu from trade partners to fishery laborers. Lastly, I probe into the continuities and discontinuities between Tokugawa intellectuals' ideas on Ezochi and the subsequent Meiji policy toward the Ainu. The change from the traditional East Asian worldview to the modern notion of boundaries meant the transformation of Ezochi from iiki (foreign region) to a part of Japan, and the Ainu from "foreign" people to "Japanese."Matsumae domain needed foreign ethnicity of the Ainu for its survival. But with the Russian southern advance, the intellectuals of the day felt the necessity of defending the country against foreign countries. They thought the best way to keep Ezochi under the Japanese sphere of influence was to "develop" Ezochi and "civilize" its inhabitants. The bakufu's direct rule of Ezochi was launched in line with this logic. In other words, the direct rule was an effort to delineate a modern boundary with Russia in the northern frontier region.
A socio-historical study of the birth and adoption of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was invented in 1975 for the assessment of medical students at the University of Dundee. This examination was radically different from anything that had been utilized before. During OSCEs, students were observed interacting with a series of patients in fixed-interval "stations" and scored by observers on standardized measures. Some of the patients were actors called "simulated patients". Assessment with OSCEs and simulated patients represented a new direction in examination of competence that emphasized 'standardization' and 'objectivity'. The research reveals three discourses related to OSCEs: performance, psychometrics and production. Each discourse is associated with characteristic statements, modes of expression and models of legitimation; each has brought into existence specific roles for individuals to occupy; and each augments the power of different types of institutions. Analysis of these discourses reveals the extent to which they have become dominant, or conversely are resisted, at different times and in different locations. These differences in legitimacy are, in turn, related to larger socio-historical contingencies such the emergence of neo-liberal capitalism; the unequal distribution of power and opportunity on the basis of gender and ethno-racial origin; and the general adoption of governmental technologies of surveillance for social control. Subsequently, OSCEs were adopted by medical schools around the world and for national medical licensure in Canada and the United States. OSCEs were also adopted for midwives, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, police and massage therapists in North America and the UK and in Asia, South America and Africa OSCE projects were launched in order to 'meet international standards'. Why did this simple examination spread so quickly into every aspect of education and assessment? In the research presented here, a Foucauldian genealogy is undertaken to address this question. The objective is to identify different discourses that are linked to the legitimation and uptake of OSCE technology. The "archive" from which these discourses are sought includes over 600 published articles, interviews with 25 key informants in Canada, the UK and the USA and visits to institutions that have been central in promoting the use of OSCEs.

Keywords: Medical students, Examinations
Physicians, Training of
Medicine, Study and teaching
Education, Standards
Hope for a new vision: the emergence of global citizenship education in Ontario

This MA thesis researched the emergence of global citizenship education (GCE) in Ontario. Data was collected from a range of people in the field of education---originators of initiatives, government officials, significant teachers (and students in their schools), teacher educators, and educational representatives of non-governmental organizations---through semi-structured interviews and case studies. Analysis showed that critiques and tensions within the fields of citizenship education and global education have led to a confluence of developments that points to the possible blossoming of an Ontario version of global citizenship education.
Reliability-based structural optimization with fatigue crack initiation constraint

To implement the proposed probabilistic optimization method, two numerical examples are considered: the Cantilever Beam and the Scratch Drive Actuator (SDA), which is widely used in micro electromechanical systems (MEMS). Simulation results show that using the proposed optimization methodology significantly improves the accuracy of calculation. These results show that the difference between FOSM and FORM is growing by increasing the prescribed reliability for design. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the strain based fatigue approach is a more accurate design optimization criterion, in which both high cycle and low cycle fatigue life requirements, along with the local elastic-plastic analysis, are considered. The simulation results are also verified by Monte Carlo method or by existing data from the literature. This thesis presents a probabilistic optimization methodology for reliable design of structures with fatigue crack initiation constraint. A commonly used design optimization methodology for engineering systems comprises deterministic modeling. However, the existence of uncertainties in physical quantities, such as manufacturing tolerances, material properties, applied loads and fatigue life cycles, requires the probabilistic optimization technique. Moreover, very little research has been conducted to incorporate the fatigue life constraint into design optimization. To overcome this limitation in optimization techniques, a new reliability-based design optimization is proposed considering fatigue strength or fatigue life as a requirement in performance function. In this method, a multivariable objective function is constructed along with nonlinear probabilistic constraints. The probabilistic constraints consist of probability failure as well as fatigue failure criteria. The corresponding fatigue criterion is defined as the crack initiation phase in both stress- and strain-based models, respectively. The elements required for the probabilistic fatigue life calculations are also addressed. The first-order second-moment method (FOSM), first-order reliability method (FORM), and Monte Carlo method are adopted to assess the probability failure based on the concept of reliability indices. This concept is used to approximate the proposed fatigue life performance function about the most probable point. The sequential quadratic optimization technique is employed and a code is developed to solve the nonlinear optimization problem. The illustrative examples explain that the developed probabilistic optimization is not only more accurate and efficient, but it is also more realistic than the deterministic approach. Since reliability and fatigue failure are two important integrated parts in MEMS design, this proposed method can be applied in design optimization of these devices. This kind of methodology in design optimization is very practical and beneficial to industries, particularly in MEMS.
Development of a fuzzy-based methodology for GIS-based habitat modeling using the worm-eating warbler (Helmitheros vermivora) as a case study

Much of the effort towards habitat modelling has not taken advantage of the benefits of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic. These tools allow for the characterization of habitat quality along a gradient of membership. Furthermore, they neither rely on probability nor produce output in terms of probability, which may not be a logical way to measure habitat quality. The purpose of this study was to develop a fuzzy logic-based habitat model using empirical data on bird presence and geospatial data at a landscape scale. Methods developed by Dettmers and Bart (1999) were expanded to incorporate aspects of fuzzy logic. This allowed for expanded quantification of habitat relationships and the use of additional means of joining together the topographically derived ecogeographic variables used to characterize the landscape. Models joined with geometric averages performed best, and one such model showed a significant result in predicting habitat quality using an independent data set.
Design and construction of a high-speed particle detector for heterogeneous explosives experiments

Detonation of heterogeneous mixtures of solid particles and liquid explosive has gained recent interest because particles can change the energy released in a reaction and alter the blast wave. Much about these interactions remain unknown due to the lack of field instrumentation to detect sub-millimeter sized particles traveling at high speed. A through-beam detector, incorporating a 16-element infrared photodiode array lit by infrared LED's, was developed. The IR beams are collimated through 1 mm diameter channels in two 8 mm thick parallel plates. Particles passing between these plates can interrupt the beams. Simulation tests, using pulsed light, showed that the detector is sensitive enough to detect particles as small as 430 mum in diameter at speeds of up to 2 km/s. The system is intended for detonation trials with heterogeneous charges of condensed explosive, but can be adapted for high-speed particles in many other applications.
Memory page placement based on predicted cache behaviour in CC-NUMA multiprocessors

An important characteristic of CC-NUMA multiprocessors is the relative difference in latency between local and remote memory accesses. For many applications running on these systems, the amount of time spent stalled on remote memory accesses can make up a significant fraction of the total execution time. Previous work has shown that proper placement of pages in memory can reduce much of this time by changing remote memory accesses to local memory accesses. This work has also shown that such placement decisions are most effective when they are based on the caching behaviour of those pages. In this thesis, we present a new method of predicting such caching behaviour at allocation time, and making appropriate placement decisions based on these predictions. This method required minimal additions to the memory subsystem of the University of Toronto Tornado operating system, and no special hardware for monitoring the memory hierarchy. We also show that this method can result in improvements of up to 35% in total execution time over traditional placement policies such as first-touch placement when the data sets of the applications being run exceeds the size of a local memory node. These results hold for both single application and multiprogrammed workloads.
Chaperone-assisted protein disaggregation in the mammalian system

We show here that Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hsp104 mediates the refolding of previously aggregated firefly luciferase in conjunction with human Hsp70 together with either Hdj2 or Hdj1. Hsp104 produced from a transgene in mammalian cells is biochemically active in refolding model substrate in cell-free extracts of the transgenic cell lines and in both the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm of intact cells. Indirect immunofluorescence confirmed that Hsp104 was distributed to both the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm of mammalian cells. We did not, however, observe a robust contribution by Hsp104 to thermoresistance in the mammalian cells tested. Preliminary studies suggest that the soluble protein extract of liver derived from rats exposed to whole body hyperthermia may possess not only the ability, like Hsp104, to refold previously aggregated luciferase in cooperation with human Hsp70 and Hdj2, but also the ability to reactivate significant amounts of aggregates on its own.
MIMO multi-user precoding with and without channel estimation errors

In this thesis, we consider the problem of providing users with the rates that each of them requires, over a shared downlink flat fading channel, assuming that the channel is known at least partially at the transmitter. This problem has been previously solved for single-antenna receivers with perfect channel state information (CSI) at the base station. This system is based on Tomlinson-Harashima precoding and information theoretic as well as SNR gap to capacity concepts. The goal of this thesis is to extend this solution to cover imperfect CSI, and also multi-antenna receivers. Since each multi-antenna user may have multiple data streams, we propose a rate splitting algorithm to allocate an overall rate among multiple data streams for each user. The proposed algorithm is based on the theoretical analysis of the capacity region for the multiple access channel.
Development and implementation of nonlinear constraint relations for explicit finite element analysis

This thesis presents a unified novel technique for enforcing nonlinear beam-to-shell, beam-to-solid, and shell-to-solid constraints in explicit finite element formulations. The limitations of classical transition elements and multi-point constraint approaches are examined at length, particularly in the context of explicit solution schemes. Novel formulation of a generalised constraint method that ensures proper element coupling is then presented, and its computer implementation in explicit integration algorithms is discussed. Crucial in this regard is the accurate and efficient representation of finite rotations, accomplished using an incremental rotation tensor. The results of some illustrative test cases show the accuracy and robustness of the newly developed algorithm for a wide range of deformation, including that in which large rotations are encountered. When compared to existing works, the salient features of the current method are in evidence.