VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Cultural and individual differences in rational thinking

Previous studies of cultural differences in cognitive style have generally found that European Canadians demonstrate greater fluency than many Asian groups in the cognitive styles practiced in the West. Recently, however, studies have suggested that although dialectical thinking is similarly promoted as an optimal way of thinking in both Eastern and Western cultures, Chinese people tend to demonstrate better performance on tasks involving dialectical information. Dialectical thinking is defined as the development of thought through the movement of thesis and antithesis to a synthesis of these contrasting positions. To date, cultural differences in preferences for dialectical information have been attributed to disparities in the basis and meaning of dialectical thinking in the East and the West. However, given that preferences for dialectical information were examined in these past studies, rather than actual reasoning performance, it remains unclear whether dialectical thinking is a more culture-specific or universal tendency. The purpose of the current study was to examine dialectical reasoning performance in a sample of 196 Chinese Canadians and European Canadians. Participants completed two tasks specially created to examine differences in dialectical reasoning, in addition to completing a reasoning task requiring dialectical thinking skills. To help elucidate the universal versus culture-specific aspects of dialectical thinking, the role of cognitive ability and thinking dispositions was examined. Variance in the role of cognitive ability and thinking dispositions in dialectical thinking across the groups would be suggestive of a culture-specific interpretation, while invariance in the contribution of these factors would be indicative of a more universal interpretation. Overall, findings revealed no differences between the cultural groups in dialectical reasoning ability. Consistent with this, cognitive ability and thinking dispositions were found to relate to task performance similarly for both groups. The current findings suggest that dialectical thinking skills may be more universal, while the tendency to display those skills may be more culture-specific. In light of limited cultural differences between the groups, despite the ethnic difference, further research involving less acculturated Chinese Canadians is needed to clarify the question of universality.
CC-chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) tyrosine phosphorylation: an obligate requirement for poxviral infection

This report provides evidence for vaccinia virus engagement and activation of CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5). The importance of CCR5 for vaccinia replication is shown by reconstituting CCR5−/− cells with intact CCR5 and demonstrating that vaccinia replication is inhibited by the CCR5 antagonist, TAK-779. Evidence is provided for the phosphorylation of signaling effectors, including Jak2, IRS-2, Erk, and Grb2. Also infection of CCR5-expressing cells is blocked by herbimycin A and the Jak2 inhibitor, tyrophostin AG490, but not by pertussis toxin, suggesting that G-protein coupled events are not essential for vaccinia replication. The importance of tyrosine phoshorylation of CCR5 is emphasized by co-expression of a CCR5 mutant in which all the intracellular tyrosines are replaced by phenylalanines in cells expressing an intact CCR5, that reduces vaccinia virus replication. Furthermore, CCR5 tyrosine-339 is implicated as critical for mediating viral infection, since overexpression of a Y339F mutant in NIH3T3.CD4.CCR5 cells results in a dominant-negative effect on viral replication.
Which way to insight?: a special educator's search or an ethical praxis in an era of liminality

Written in the space between the postmodern age and that as yet named region of the future, this thesis is an exploration of the complex connection between the theories and practices which mediate the author's work as a special educator. Specifically, it examines the discursive structures, challenges and benefits of three goals of theory; each of which is commensurate with a particular basic epistemology. The first goal belongs to the instrumental theories of the empirical-analytic sciences, and it is to allow for a measure of control and prediction (Habermas, 1971, p. 308); the second goal is owned by a critical social science, and it is emancipatory in nature, meaning the creation of a form of knowledge that leads to an overcoming of old modes of thought, affect, and action (p. 310); and the third goal is derived from Patti Lather's (1991) addition of the theories she names “poststructural” and “postmodern” and it is to “deconstruct”. The examination of each of these three theories is embedded in the author's memories of teaching a child who was identified as behaviourally exceptional and the complex web of social and institutional factors which mediated their relationship. The intent of this study is to generate the necessary insight (Sloan, 1983) for constructing an ethical pedagogical praxis, that is one which considers the “kind of person one must become in order to develop a nonviolative relationship to the Other” (Cornell, 1992, p. 13). Through this consideration of who the special educator is to be, the notion of identity formation becomes primary, as too does the necessity of understanding the dominant milieu in which these identities get negotiated. Consequently, this thesis discusses the historical and contemporary configurations of special education in terms of theoretical allegiances, practical allocations of occupational roles and distribution of power. The culmination of the thesis is a five-featured version of a hopeful, ethical pedagogical praxis which holds at least five interrelated and interdependent features. They are: (1) It juxtaposes a variety of theories and practices. (2) It deconstructs the general, special-education duality while challenging functionalist approaches to behavioural differences on several fronts. (3) It understands its historical context. (4) It has a decisive anti-sexist, anti-racist and anti-classist mandate which constructs the teacher as an action-oriented educational worker who strives to alleviate people's material suffering. (5) It attempts not to replace one authoritative discourse with another.

Keywords: Special education teachers
Special education
Ethics
Teaching
Minimizing the influence of sampling variation in ordination and in the field for lake fish communities

Sampling variation was studied from two perspectives. First, using simulated communities, I examined the effects of sampling error and gradient length on five ordination methods. I found that correspondence analysis and principal component analysis using presence-absence data were most robust to the influence of sampling error and gradient length. Second, I examined how variance is apportioned in lake fish communities, using four intensively sampled lakes selected from an extensive dataset. I compared how accurately five gears measured the proportional abundance of individual fish species, and I resampled the dataset to determine the combination of gears that most accurately sampled each community (i.e. sample richness was closest to actual richness). I found that gear choice has important effects on variance, gear or gear by lake contributes most to variance estimates, and recommend the use of 5 trapnets and 25 plastic traps to obtain the best estimate of richness while minimizing effort.
Class Oriented P2P Networks infrastructure

The Class Oriented Peer-to-Peer Networks (COPs) infrastructure is a flexible and general P2P infrastructure that enables the creation of classes of peers that meet a set of requirements or have certain characteristics in common. These classes are known as Service Classes. The parameters to create a Service Class are known only by its members, which increases its security by making it difficult for malicious peers to guess the information that has to be propagated in order to be accepted into the class. The mechanisms to build Service Classes are effective heuristic algorithms. The evaluation results suggest that a strong emphasis on the lifetime of the peers improves remarkably the performance of the Service Classes, independent of the other elements used to rank the peers. Finally, the infrastructure simplifies the implementation and maintenance of flexible Service Classes, thus facilitating the deployment of distributed services with different operation requirements.
Do kindled seizures cause hippocampal cell loss?

Conclusions. Kindling to 30 stage 5 seizures does not cause significant cell loss or neurodegeneration. Increased Bax mRNA levels suggest apoptosis may be occurring. Possible explanations and implications are discussed. Background. Whether brief seizures cause hippocampal damage is not presently clear. Kindling is an animal model of epilepsy characterized by brief seizures. The previous studies on kindling and hippocampal cell loss have reported contradictory results. Results. (1) No significant differences in total cell numbers were found. (2) No neuro-degeneration was evident. (3) Bax expression was significantly up-regulated, whereas BCI-xL expression was not. Methods. Rats were amygdala-kindled to 30 stage 5 seizures. Hippocampal tissue from kindled and control subjects were compared for: (1) cell loss, by estimating cell numbers using the optical fractionator method of stereological counting; (2) neuro-degeneration, using fluorojade-B staining; and (3) apoptotic stress, by measuring Bax (pro-apoptotic) and Bcl-x L (anti-apoptotic) mRNA levels via in-situ hybridization.
Some algorithmic and complexity results for monotone Boolean duality (hypergraph transversal)

Let y be a monotone CNF formula and let 4 be a monotone DNF formula. The problem of determining in polynomial time in the size of y and 4 whether y uharr;a=4 uharr; a for all assignments alpha (known as DUAL) has been a longstanding open problem. We show that two popular families of algorithms for DUAL (Berge's Sequential Method and Fredman and Khachiyan's Algorithm A) are really restrictions of the DPLL class of algorithms which has long been studied in relation to SAT. We also present super-polynomial lower bounds for DPLL on two classes of read-once formulae. Finally, we present DPLLCache, DPLL with memorization, and show that DPLLCache is strictly stronger than DPLL and therefore also the Sequential Method and Algorithm A. In fact, we show that DPLLCache can solve all read-once formulae using polynomial size decision trees.
Managing polarities: the 'bias for action versus reflection' interplay in start-up technology firms

The research examines the mechanisms by which the Founder/CEOs of a group of Ottawa-based start-up software firms manage the dynamics of the action/reflection polarity. It specifically examines two aspects of the issue. The first explores how the founder/entrepreneurs conceptualize and discuss reflection/action at an individual level and how industry changes in the past thirty-six months have affected their stated views. The objective was to understand if, and how, the study participants integrate reflective activity into their busy personal and organizational lives; how they cope and reflect on a major unplanned event; and to what extent those reflections have the effect of altering their views on the value of reflective activity. Second, the research looks at reflection as an adaptive, organizational mechanism level by examining the extent to which reflective practice is intentionally, or unintentionally embedded in the organizations' processes. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with a group of ten founder/entrepreneurs of Ottawa based software companies who shared certain common characteristics. The data were analyzed and results reported. The study found that a large number of environmental and cultural factors, dominated by the capital funding system, impels the entrepreneurs to be overwhelmingly action-biased. Furthermore, this orientation was largely unaffected by the industry meltdown. The study found that reflective activity was evidenced at the individual level only when environmental changes threatened the very livelihood of the entrepreneurs. The study also found some evidence of reflective activity built into the processes used by the companies in question as well as a direct correlation between the drive for predictability in the business and the increased reliance on said organizational processes. Finally, in light of the findings, the study evaluates the analytical usefulness of the polarity management framework. It concludes by proposing an alternative theoretical framework, one based on recursive feedback loops, as a more effective means by which to introduce reflective practice into organizations.

Keywords: Organizational behavior, Ontario
Computer software industry, Ontario
Chief executive officers, Attitudes
Chief executive officers, Ontario
Reflection (Philosophy)
From mother, doctor, lawyer to ... glorified babysitter? The gendered nature of Ontario's welfare work reforms

This paper examines the gendered nature of welfare reforms in Ontario, Canada. It situates the reforms within ideologically driven changes to legislation, administration, and technology required to delivery welfare services. It reports on findings of the Working IT project, which conducted interviews with front line women welfare workers to understand the impact of new Information Technology (IT) implemented within the context of a public-private partnership. It shows how women paid the price of these reforms---as welfare clients and as front-line welfare workers. It utilizes feminization of labour thesis and standpoint theory to identify a feminization of work phenomenon within welfare offices, where jobs are routinized, tasks sped up, and quality of work life diminished. It shows how front line women's expertise was devalued. Yet it also shows how women were not mere passive receptacles of technology but, rather, active agents making a complicated IT system work for their clients.

Keywords: Technological innovations, Social aspects
Technological innovations, Ontario
Public welfare, Ontario
Women, Economic conditions
Women, Ontario
Sex discrimination in employment, Ontario
Women, Services for
Women, Ontario
Women, Employment
Women, Ontario
Free amino acids in arctic salt-marsh coastal sites and plant nitrogen acquisition

The importance of free amino acids as a source of plant nitrogen was examined in an Arctic coastal salt-marsh. Concentrations of inorganic nitrogen in salt-marsh soils were low relative to those reported for most temperate soils, whereas soluble organic nitrogen concentrations of salt-marsh soils were relatively high; the median ratio of free amino acid nitrogen as a proportion of ammonium nitrogen was 0.36 and amino acid concentrations exceeded those of ammonium in 24% of samples. Growth of the salt-marsh grass Puccinellia phryganodes on glycine in a continuous flow hydroponic medium was similar to growth on ammonium ions at an equivalent concentration of nitrogen. Furthermore, in short-term excised root uptake experiments, rates of glycine uptake were equal to rates of ammonium and nitrate uptake combined when roots were provided with all three nitrogen substrates at equal concentrations. Amino acid uptake relative to ammonium uptake was favoured at high temperatures, high salinity and low pH. Free amino acids turned over rapidly in the soil, with half-lives in the soil solution ranging from 8–23 h for glycine, compared with ranges of 6–15 h and 6–16 h for ammonium and nitrate ions, respectively. Plant incorporation of 15N tracer injected into soil cores was 56, 83, and 68% of incorporation by soil microorganisms for glycine, ammonium and nitrate ions, respectively. The simultaneous incorporation of 13C and 15N into plant roots following injection of 13C15N-glycine into soil cores indicated that at least a portion of this amino acid was absorbed intact. In a model of the dynamics of nitrogen movement in an Arctic salt-marsh grazed and grubbed by geese, the direct uptake of organic nitrogen by plant roots was required to obtain rates of mineralization consistent with empirical estimates. Overall, these results indicate that free amino acids are likely a substantial contribution to plant nitrogen nutrition in Arctic coastal marshes.

Keywords: Plants, Nutrition
Plants, Effect of nitrogen on
Plant-soil relationships
Amino acids
Salt marsh plants
Salt marshes
Identifying the targets of protein phosphatase-1cgamma2 in the mouse testis

Reversible phosphorylation has been implicated in many developmental processes. Dephosphorylation is mediated by several families of phosphatases, including type I serine/threonine phosphatases (PP1). Our lab demonstrated that loss of the murine PP1cgamma gene causes male infertility due to impaired spermatogenesis. A range in abnormalities is suggestive of pleiotropic effects. Homozygous mutant males display reduced germ cell numbers, increased aneuploidy, abnormal sperm, and dysmorphic seminiferous epithelial structures. However, the details of PP1cgamma2's involvement in spermatogenesis are still unknown. Since a phosphatase has been removed from the mutant mouse, we hypothesize that the direct downstream targets of PP1cgamma2 will be hyperphosphorylated in mutant testes. Using a whole tissue proteomics approach to identify dephosphorylation targets of PP1cgamma2 through MudPIT and two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE), we identified 64 hyperphosphorylated proteins in the PP1cgamma null testis several of which are factors known to be important for spermatogenesis, such as HSP70-2, tranferrin receptor 2 and tubulin.
The anatomy of reward: The neurobiology and neurochemistry mediating systemic morphine reward in the tegmental pedunculopontine nucleus

These results provide positive evidence for a GABA and glutamate synapse in the TPP which mediates systemic morphine reward and suggest that a serial pathway for morphine reward in the TPP is unlikely. Possible alternative pathways are discussed. The tegmental pedunculopontine nucleus (TPP) of the midbrain is critical in mediating the acute rewarding effects of opiates. However, the circuitry and neurochemistry underlying this effect has not been determined. In this thesis, I identify receptors and cell types involved in systemic morphine reward and suggest an anatomical and neurochemical model for reward in the TPP. I report that TPP-administered NMDA and GABA-B receptor antagonists while having no motivational effects on their own, blocked systemic morphine reward as measured by conditioned place preference. A NMDA receptor agonist on its own produced reward.
Measuring thermal contact resistance under an impacting droplet of molten metal

An experimental investigation was performed on the thermal contact resistance values between molten metal droplets and metal substrates. Droplet impact was photographed and substrate surface temperature variation under the impacting droplet was measured using ultra fast temperature sensors that were developed especially for the purposes of this research. The thermal contact resistance during the first few milliseconds of impact was obtained by matching measured surface temperature variation with an analytical solution of the 1-D transient conduction equation. The process was repeated for different surface roughness, different impact velocity and different surface contaminations. An analytical model was developed in order to predict the contact resistance values by estimating the true area of contact between liquid metal and a rough solid. The test results agreed well with the analytical model predictions. Thermal contact resistance increased moderately with an increase in surface roughness, decrease in contact pressure and the presence of surface contaminations.
Empirical analysis of Solution Guided Multi-Point Constructive Search

Solution Guided Multi-Point Constructive Search (SGMPCS) is a constructive search technique inspired by local search algorithms that guide search from multiple viewpoints. SGMPCS consists of a series of resource-limited backtracking searches: each starting from an empty solution or guided by one of a set of high quality, elite solutions encountered earlier. The thesis of this dissertation is that SGMPCS works, in part, because of two factors: the benefit of revisiting the areas near good solutions, and through the exploitation of heavy-tails. We provide a detailed analysis of the various parameters of SGMPCS on a variety of constraint satisfaction problems. We show evidence of heavy-tailed distributions for only the sets of problems where SGMPCS performs well. We show how performance is correlated with how well the evaluation of guiding solutions predicts actual distance to a solution. Finally, we explore various static cost models of SGMPCS performance.
Secret sharing for color images

Digital data security and integrity preservation are important issues in modern communication systems. The confidentiality of the transmitted visual data over digital communication networks is usually obtained by encryption. However, the main disadvantage of the encryption frameworks arises from their dependency on the utilized key. In this thesis, we will investigate practical methodologies to solve these challenges regarding secure visual data transmission over communication channels. Secret sharing schemes have been employed for storage and transmission of visual data. The primary motivation of this work is to propose novel secret sharing schemes for color images which can be considered as cost effective candidates for transmission of color images over communication channels. We present Secret Sharing for Visual Data (SSVD) schemes which are followed by algebraic operations to preserve the input image content. They are capable of transmission of color images over bandwidth limited communication channels.
The liberal education of democracy: a study of Tocqueville's Democracy in America

I examine Tocqueville's assessment of our historical situation---the inevitability of a ubiquitous equality of conditions---seeking to find the standard by which he judges "democracy." This standard, which I argue is a conception of human happiness including greatness, is revealed in his subtle comparisons of the laws, mores, and ideas that predominate in American and French democracy as opposed to those he recalls from "aristocratic times." It comes to the fore in his advice to legislators and moralists, whom he teaches to know the penchants of the present "social state" in order to steer it towards the "unmoving goal" that is natural to the human race itself, a goal that Tocqueville closely associates with the sublime needs of the human soul. I attempt to explicate Tocqueville's conception of human nature and the types of human flourishing it makes possible, including philosophic, religious, and political virtues; and I demonstrate how his concern for the promotion of these forms of human greatness links together salient features of Democracy in America, including Tocqueville's idiosyncratic treatment of political rights, his fear of majority tyranny and administrative despotism, and his emphasis on political decentralization and the role of religion in maintaining liberal democracy. I try to show that the central intention of Tocqueville's political philosophy is to promote true human greatness by outlining the kind of greatness and happiness proper to democratic times.