VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Exploring the effects of using distributed computational devices in secondary science

As a follow up to previous research by Collela (1998), this study explores the effects of using a new wearable computer technology, called Thinking Tags, in secondary science. Two questions were investigated: (1) ‘How does prior exposure to a formal scientific model affect the way that students make use of information displayed on the devices?’ and (2) ‘Does the way that students make use of the information affect their understanding of key scientific concepts?’ Two Grade 11 classes (one typical, one academically advanced) with no prior genetics instruction, and a typical OAC class that had studied genetics during the previous year, took part in a genetics simulation to explore the underlying processes of inheritance. Results suggest that students with some prior understanding of inheritance show an increased coordination of world 3 ideas with world 1 evidence, and that this coordination may be associated with an improved understanding of genetics concepts.

Keywords: Science, Study and teaching (Secondary)
Computer-assisted instruction
Educational change
The World Bank and Chinese higher education: The impact of the World Bank's programs, concepts, and strategies on Chinese higher education transformation

This thesis observes and speculates on the interaction between the Chinese government and the World Bank, and their concepts, strategies, policies as well as their behaviors. The study of the relationship between China and the Bank in the field of higher education reforms examines the theoretical and practical orientations of China and the Bank in such a field, to better understand the evolution of their higher education strategies and policies, and to realize how they function in each other's culturally, politically, and socially disparate environments. Moreover, the study explores what kind of roles China and the World Bank would play, both being powerful and independent actors, in the global higher education transformation. It is hoped that the study will be of some help to future cooperation between the World Bank and the Chinese government and China's higher education institutions.

Keywords: Education, Higher, China
Educational change, China
Genome-wide analysis of human peripheral leukocyte gene expression

Human peripheral leukocytes are the key operatives in the human immune network, mediating immune responses through both innate and acquired immunity. While much progress has been made to elucidate the mechanisms of leukocyte functions, our understanding of the genetic blueprint of leukocytes and the molecular basis of their functioning is far from complete. This project was started in 1997 and aimed to profile gene expression of human peripheral leukocytes and to identify novel leukocyte-specific genes. More than 15,000 ESTs were generated from an adult leukocyte cDNA library, representing over 7,000 unique genes—or approximately one-third to one-half of the total number of genes expressed in leukocytes. During this project, we identified a novel EST showing sequence similarity to members of the C-type lectin superfamily. Further characterization revealed that this gene, CLEC-6, was a leukocyte-specific gene located in the C-type lectin superfamily cluster at chromosome 12q13, and generated a saccharide-modified polymer that showed no mannose-affinity. In order to identify genes differentially expressed in leukocytes during the immune system maturation, we generated over 5,000 umbilical cord blood ESTs. Northern in silico revealed that genes involved in the synthesis and functioning of MHC I molecules, including four MHC I molecules and beta-microglobulin, were down-regulated in the umbilical cord blood. To expand the utility of our leukocyte-derived ESTs, we developed a “LeukoChip” containing nearly 6,000 unique genes. With cDNA microarray, we explored the differential expression profile of coronary artery disease leukocytes, identified the up-regulated expression of three leukocyte-secreted proteins, and suggested the potential role of peripheral leukocyte in systemic inflammation during atherogenesis. In summary, the present leukocyte gene-profiling project combines genomic, computational and conventional molecular biology approaches to provide a basic molecular foundation that will be important for understanding gene expression and regulation in leukocyte function, development and pathogenesis.
The Ituraeans: Challenging misconceptions and evaluating the primary sources

This dissertation focuses on reassessing primary and secondary sources that mention Ituraeans. The Ituraeans were a tribal group who formed a principality in the southern Biqa' Valley during the first century B.C.E. It is principally through the texts of classical writers that a people called Ituraean, and a principality named Ituraea was known to have existed. Recently archaeological research has contributed to the discussion, and presented many more questions and than answers. The textual evidence is both scant and subjective, often reflecting the author's viewpoint and own understanding of events past and present. Given the complexity of these texts, the assumptions and conclusions regarding origins and identity of the Ituraeans will be reassessed. The archaeological evidence, which forces us to reconsider and review the primary texts will also be discussed. One of the main questions to be addressed is just how far conclusions made by archaeologists can be accepted, particularly in light of the limited evidence. This evidence is based mainly on a single pottery type concentrated in the Golan. Coins bearing portraits of Ituraean rulers and a Greek legend provided further material evidence, yet they reveal only part of a much larger picture. The dissertation is aimed at challenging prior misconceptions and hasty assumptions made about the Ituraeans, and is directed at examining the evidence in a neutral framework. The question of ethnicity and identity is considered in light of a long accepted view that Ituraeans were an Arab tribe inhabiting the mountain ranges of the Anti-Lebanon, and known only for their apparent brigandage. Questions of identity and ethnicity may not be resolved through re-examination of the known evidence, however, it is important to address assumptions when they tend to label Ituraeans in such a negative light. There is a need to re-evaluate the known evidence, to reconsider conclusions drawn in the past, and to assimilate the information in the most constructive way possible. By so doing it may open up a more constructive path to understanding the Ituraeans as a people and the part they played in the history of the Near East.
Possibilities for critical TESOL in Korea: case study of an English village

Drawing on a year of participatory research and observations at an English learning facility in a suburban satellite city of Seoul, this thesis explores the possibilities for doing critical pedagogy in Korea's English language teaching industry. Through observing and participating in the introduction of a critical program at The Village (pseudonym), the author finds that the landscape of the industry inhibits progressive efforts but also creates spaces that can be used by critically inclined English language educators.
Infrastructureless data dissemination: a distributed hash table-based publish/subscribe system

Peer-to-peer networks can offer benefits to distributed content-based publish/subscribe data dissemination systems. In particular, since a peer-to-peer network's aggregate resources grows as the number of participants increases, scalability can be achieved without managing or deploying additional infrastructure. This thesis proposes an efficient algorithm for supporting publish/subscribe subscriptions that specify a range of interest. The algorithm is built over the Pastry distributed hash table and is completely decentralized. Load balance is addressed by subscription delegation away from overloaded peers, and a bottom up tree search technique that avoids root hotspots. As well, fault-tolerance is achieved with a light-weight replication scheme that quickly detects and recovers from faults. Simulations support the scalability and fault-tolerance properties of the algorithm.
The effects of reform-based mathematics classroom activities on situational interest and affect in a grade 10 applied mathematics class in Ontario

The effects of reform-based mathematics instruction on a grade ten applied mathematics class are investigated. A unit on proportional reasoning was designed and delivered using a series of reform-based instructional activities. These activities were intended to raise the level of situational interest in students and result in positive mathematics-related affect. The research questions were to identify the effects of the reform-based activities on students' levels of situational interest and mathematics-related affect, and then to identify whether these were related to student achievement. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using questionnaires, field notes, and student work. The reform-based activities were found to increase students' levels of situational interest and positive mathematics-related affect.
Identity formation in early adolescents with learning disabilities

This study examined the experiences of early adolescents with learning disabilities, specifically related to the impact of a learning disability on their developing sense of identity. Using the social model of disability and ecological theory as frameworks, 12 students participated in interviews. Data were analyzed using modified grounded theory methodology. The interviews captured the way in which early adolescents with learning disabilities talk about learning disabilities and the meaning and relevance of this label to the way they experience and describe who they are. A model describing identity formation in early adolescents with learning disabilities arose from the analysis. From four categories (1) 'problems', (2) 'strengths', (3) 'stigma' and (4) 'dealing', there emerged an over-arching core category named 'dis-association'. Dis-association includes themes of associating and distancing, understanding academic difficulties, recognizing strengths, getting help, and dealing with the omnipresent stigma that is associated with this label. The process of dis-association reflects assertion of agency on the part of the study participants and resistance to reject the negatively-loaded learning disability label, while accepting support and accommodations to address learning problems. The study's findings have implications for counseling early adolescents with learning disabilities, as well as for increasing public awareness about learning disabilities and challenging negative attitudes toward the learning disability label.
Effects of PP2a inhibition during ischemia/reperfusion on apoptosis in cardiomyocytes

Apoptosis following ischemia and reperfusion is a significant cause of cell death in cardiomyocytes. Protein Phosphatase 2a (PP2a) has previously been shown to activate proteins essential in the progression of apoptosis, and it was therefore hypothesized that inhibition of PP2a would result in decreased apoptosis following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). To test this hypothesis, neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were subjected to simulated I/R and one of two PP2a inhibitors, fostriecin or okadaic acid, were administered at the onset of both the ischemia and reperfusion phases. Following I/R, apoptosis was measured using Hoechst staining and Caspase-3 immunofluorescence. At 10nm and 50nm, okadaic acid caused a marked increase in apoptosis. Alternatively, PP2a inhibition by fostriecin resulted in decreased apoptosis at 3muM. At a concentration of 2muM however, fostriecin was found to increase apoptosis following I/R. The results indicate that PP2a inhibition using fostriecin at some concentrations may be useful in attenuating apoptosis resulting from UR injury.
Conditional over-expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in cardiac and arterial myocytes of transgenic mice

While nitric oxide gas (NO) and the endogenous constitutive NO-Synthase (NOS) enzymes are involved in the regulation of cardiac function and blood pressure, the specific effects of cardiovascular iNOS expression remain poorly defined. Interestingly, iNOS induction is a component of the immune response, and has been demonstrated in cardiac and arterial myocytes accompanying cardiovascular disease. To explore whether the consequences of such expression are adaptive or pathogenic, transgenic mice were generated conditionally targeting a human iNOS cDNA to either (a) myocardium or (b) vascular smooth muscle (SM). (a) Chronic cardiac-specific expression of iNOS in transgenic mice led to increased superoxide production, but no change in nitric oxide. In cardiomyocytes, this was associated with a mild inflammatory cell infiltrate, fibrosis, hypertrophy and dilatation. While iNOS over-expressing mice infrequently developed overt heart failure, they did not show decreased contractility. Interestingly, these mice displayed a high incidence of sudden cardiac death due to bradyarrhythmia, which was correlated with a down-regulation of Connexin 40 in the AV-node and major bundle branches. These data implicate cardiomyocyte iNOS over-expression as sufficient to cause bradyarrhythmia, cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death. (b) While there were no developmental or structural vascular defects, mice with chronic arterial SM iNOS over-expression had elevated blood pressure. Interestingly, temporal dissection of the hemodynamic effects due to arterial SM iNOS over-expression resulted in a biphasic response. Two weeks following transgene induction these mice had decreased blood pressure, while eight weeks or greater resulted in hypertension. Coincidental with the hypertensive phase, isolated mesenteric arteries from iNOS transgenic mice displayed normal development of myogenic tone, constrictions to phenylephrine and subsequent relaxations with sodium nitroprusside. However, hypertensive iNOS over-expressing mice had a dramatic impairment in acetylcholine dependent relaxation of pre-constricted mesenteric arteries. Since this dysfunction was reversed with tetrahydrobiopterin and L-arginine pre-treatment, a mechanism involving disruption of vascular endothelial eNOS substrate and cofactor balance is suggested. Collectively, these data are the first to implicate iNOS in the development of hypertension, and suggest the effects of arterial myocyte iNOS over-expression can modulate constitutive NOS via depletion of NOS substrates and co-factor.
Aboriginal women breaking the silence: beating the big drum

This research examines the narratives of eight First Nations female educators in terms of their experiences as students and/or as members of a faculty, to ascertain how Euro-Western educational practices contributed to, or interfered with, their learning process and their cultural beliefs. I add my own voiceprint to the 'First Voiceprints' of these First Nations women whose munificence in their narratives connects me to them. Each of their environmental and cultural experiences shapes and becomes part of the collective consciousness. By narrating these experiences, the First Nations women act as change agents toward the dismantling of the Euro-Western colonialist hierarchy. As my thesis journeys around the Sacred Circle—East, South, West and North—I conclude that the First Nations women's educational experiences are negatively impacted as a result of the biases and hierarchical positioning in the Euro-Western academy. It is also evident that the cultural misrepresentation and harmful stereotypical beliefs about First Nations People that permeate Euro-Western society are major contributing factors in these women being marginalized and oppressed. This thesis acknowledges how vital it is for First Nations women to continue to narrate their experiences. It is crucial that the storytelling, written and oral, be used as a vehicle towards correcting historical untruths, towards demolishing the systemic belief that the First Nations population is a vanishing race and towards restoring self-determination to all Aboriginal Peoples.
Enhanced sound localization

A new approach to sound localization, known as Enhanced Sound Localization, is introduced, offering two major benefits over state-of-the-art algorithms. First, higher localization accuracy can be achieved compared to existing methods. Second, an estimate of the source orientation is obtained jointly, as a consequence of the proposed sound localization technique. The orientation estimates and improved localizations are a result of explicitly modeling the various factors that affect a microphone's level of access to different spatial positions and orientations in an acoustic environment. Three primary factors are accounted for, namely the source directivity, microphone directivity and source-microphone distances. Using this model of the acoustic environment, several different Enhanced Sound Localization algorithms are derived. Experiments are carried out in a real environment whose reverberation time is 0.1 seconds, with the average microphone SNR ranging between 10–20 dB. Using a 24-element microphone array, a weighted version of the SRP-PHAT algorithm is found to give an average localization error of 13.7cm with 3.7% anomalies, compared to 14.7cm and 7.8% anomalies with the standard SRP-PHAT technique.
Globalization and the selective permeability of public policy-making: The case of K--12 education in Ontario, 1990--2003

This dissertation applies Hall's (1993) model of a policy paradigm to the case of education reform in Ontario for the purposes of exploring the validity of the "globalization thesis," the claim that the dominance of business interests in domestic politics has made the welfare state unsustainable. From 1990 to 2003, successive governments led by the social democratic New Democratic Party and the "New Right" (neoliberal and neoconservative) Progressive Conservative Party launched the most comprehensive reorganization of primary and secondary ("K-12") education since the 1960s. By the end of this period, it was commonly held that the welfare state model of the post-war era (1945-1990) had been replaced by the New Right model of "Outcomes-Based Education" (OBE). The rise of OBE was seen as proof of the demise of both: (1) partisan agency (the ability of governments to make policy not contradictory to their core beliefs about the role of government); and (2) electoral politics (the public's capacity to block unpopular reforms via the ballot).A review of the evidence disproves these two popular conclusions. First, Hall's conditions for policy change---a simultaneous shift in the three "orders" of policy ("goals," "programs," and "detailed settings")---were not met; rather, change occurred only at the programmatic and settings levels. While major policy adjustments were made during the thirteen year period, the welfare state goals of decommodification, destratification, and social solidarity were not appreciably diminished. Second, the left-of-centre preferences of the New Democrats were no more constrained than usual in the liberal market context of Ontario; and, contrary to globalizationist predictions, the Tories did not have "carte blanche" to remake education in the image of the New Right. Ultimately, in complex areas of social policy, proof of paradigmatic change and/or democratic nullification does not lie in surface-level evidence of programmatic adjustments. Instead, it is necessary to inquire into: (1) the ideas about government apparent in policy statements, the policy-making process, and final decisions; and, (2) the intentions of decision-makers themselves.
'Walking through your old way of thinking': the learning dimension of farmers' transitions to sustainable agriculture

Many farmers express significant concern about the chemical use on their farms---a common trait of North American agriculture. Nonetheless, most farmers continue to practise chemical agriculture. This dissertation focuses on farmers who have made a transition from chemical to sustainable agriculture in the province of Alberta. Sustainable agriculture, in the context of this dissertation, is an approach to farming that considers the farm as an ecosystem with interventions geared towards treating root causes rather than symptoms. This is contrasted with chemical agriculture. Within the context of this adult education thesis, farmers' transitions are conceived as an informal learning project. The central argument is that farmers' learning is transformative to the extent that it transcends acquiring new farming skills and knowledge to encompass an understanding of the chemical agrifood system as fundamentally socially unjust and environmentally destructive. The limited previous research into farmers' transitions focuses on the important ecological aspects of farm transition, often to the exclusion of social aspects. This thesis makes a contribution to understanding farmers' motivations for transition, the process of their informal transformative learning and the various forms of civic engagement that result. The data show that farmers followed one of four paths to sustainable farming practices: incomplete transformative learning; conscientization through sustainable agriculture; concurrent transformations; and closing a values-action gap. In all but the first of these, farmers had a counterhegemonic understanding of both their farming practices and their civic engagement. A major form of farmers' engagement is through the articulation of a sustainable agriculture standpoint---a vision for sustainable farming practices as part of a sustainable agrifood system. Farmers are also involved formally and informally in myriad other activities in their rural communities and beyond through business, non-profit, and state organizations. Situating the research in the province of Alberta gives an interesting insight into farmers' different forms of dissent because of the political realities of this context. The theoretical framework combines insight from the political economy of sustainable agriculture, hegemony and counterhegemony, feminist standpoint theory and transformative learning and conscientization. Data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with sustainable farmer families in Alberta.

Keywords: Sustainable agriculture, Alberta
Farmers, Attitudes
Farmers, Alberta
Life change events