VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Economic fluctuations in Canada, 1867-1897

This thesis examines short-term fluctuations in interest rates, cotton manufacture, and business cycles in Canada from Confederation to the end of the late nineteenth century 'Great Depression'. Motivated by the business cycle methodology of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the analysis proceeds inductively through comparison of time series to establish relationships between variables. Several previously unavailable time series are presented, including a monthly series for the Montreal call loan rate and the Montreal/New York exchange rate from 1871 to 1897; a monthly series for Canadian railway traffic receipts from 1864 to 1897; and annual series for prices, costs, output, and investment in Canadian cotton manufacture from 1865 to 1897. "The Montreal call loan and Montreal/New York exchange rate, 1871-97" addresses the puzzling variation between Montreal and New York call loan rates prior to World War I. Dick and Floyd (1992) argued that investors must have assessed risk differently because arbitrage, given the gold standard, prevented manipulation of the Canadian money supply by banks as suggested by Viner (1924) and Goodhart (1969). Comparison of the Montreal call loan and exchange rate series indicates that exchange risk as a variant of the "interest parity condition" is an explanation, since the excess of the New York over the Montreal call loan rate was never greater than the maximum potential loss on New York currency, measured as the difference between the Montreal/New York exchange premium and the Montreal gold import point. The Montreal call loan rate and the railway traffic receipt series, respecified imports, exports, money supply, and failure liabilities series, and existing total bank loans, price index, and bank stock index series provide the quantitative indicators and contemporary comments the qualitative evidence to date business cycles in "A Revision of Canadian Business Cycle Turns, 1867 and 1897". These peaks and troughs accord with those of E. J. Chambers (1964) for the most part, even though his estimates are weakened by nested financial and export series. There are some significant differences, though, particularly in the depiction of a weak revival during the 1870s depression and longer recessions in the mid 1890s. "Canadian Cotton Manufacture and the National Policy Tariff" reconstructs the economic history of Canadian cotton manufacture between 1860 and 1897 to question the accepted view that the National Policy Tariff of 1879 was responsible for the investment explosion of the early 1880s and recessions of the later 1880s. These chapters demonstrate that expansion and investment during this period of import substitution was primarily a function of profits expectations from sales and the impact of fluctuations of the foreign price of raw cotton and cotton cloth on per unit profits independent of the tariff.
Glycemic regulation of glucose transport in perfused skeletal muscle

Glucose is known to regulate its own uptake in certain tissues, independent of insulin. Adaptive changes to acute hyperglycemia in muscle take place at least at the level of glucose transporter translocation. The effect of insulin-independent hypoglycemia on muscle glucose transport has not been investigated. The effects of acute hypo- and hyperglycemia per se on muscle glucose transport were investigated in situ using rat hindquarter perfusion. Hypoglycemia induced an insulin-independent adaptive upregulation glucose uptake and plasma membrane (PM) GLUT4 content in muscle. In contrast, hyperglycemia downregulated both muscle glucose uptake and PM GLUT4. The effects of glycemia on glucose uptake were quantitatively similar in oxidative and glycolytic muscle fibers. It is concluded that glycemia regulates glucose transport in muscle independent of insulin, partially via changes in PM GLUT4. Hyperglycemia downregulates PM GLUT4, while hypoglycemia upregulates glucose transport in muscle in compensation for reduced glucose availability, which may trigger/accentuate subsequent hypoglycemia in insulin-treated diabetic patients.
Redress for female victims of sexual violence during armed conflict, security council responses

The problem of how to assist women affected by armed conflict is one of the most pressing concerns facing the world today. This thesis addresses one part of the problem, namely the recovery of women subjected to sexual violence during armed conflict. My aim is to determine the extent to which the international legal system has responded to this problem through an examination of action taken by the Security Council. In particular, I am concerned with the extent to which the Security Council has recognised the importance of prosecuting perpetuators of sexual violence, and providing compensation to female victims. I look at the international responses to sexual violence committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. I also examine the provision of compensation to victims of sexual violence by the United Nations Compensation Commission, and the ad-hoc criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
A study of the usefulness of facilitated communication with autistic individuals

Facilitated communication (FC) is an approach in which a facilitator provides physical assistance to a communicator in accessing an augmentative communication system. Although this technique has been widely used to aid individuals with communication deficits, its use remains controversial. The goal of this study was to examine the linguistic and pragmatic characteristics of the communications elicited through FC in a natural environment, comparing these with communications produced by the same individuals through other modes. Subjects for the study were three autistic individuals who regularly use this technique. Although FC tended to be the most common mode of communication in the classroom, speech, sign, and non-verbal were the communication modes used most often outside of the classroom. In the classroom, teachers took most of the turns and, while turn taking was more reciprocal in the social setting, rates of communication were very low. The clients in this study used a larger vocabulary with FC than with other communication modes; however, the overall benefits to communication varied by client.
Adsorption Studies of Tin Chalcogenides

Over the past few years, one of the main goals of this group has been to synthesize and characterize a new class of porous framework materials called tin chalcogenides. Designated SnS-x, where x can be 1-4, these structures are structurally interesting because they are layered and possess pores within the layers. The pores are about 10A in diameter and are therefore, in theory, able to adsorb various adsorbate gases such as N$\sb2,$ Ar, H$\sb2$O, and CO$\sb2.$ This is important from the catalytic standpoint where the ability of a material to adsorb gases is crucial. These materials also display molecular sieving capabilities, a property characteristic of zeolites. Once prepared, the tin chalcogenides do not show tremendous adsorption properties in view of the fact that they contain charge-balancing and void-filling counter ions which usually reside within the pores and/or the layers of these materials. The main goal of this thesis work was to attempt to remove the charge-balancing cations from these framework materials without destroying the integrity of the material and then, through adsorption, ascertain how much porosity has been generated. The adsorption experiment was conducted by a gravimetric technique using the McBain balance. CO$\sb2$ adsorption results indicate that micro and/or mesoporosity was created by removing quinuclidine from (QUIH)$\rm\sb2Sn\sb3S\sb7.$ CO$\sb2$ adsorption results also show that the TMA$\rm\sb2Sn\sb3S\sb7$ structure has a significant pore volume even with the TMA$\sp+$ present within the framework.
Program integrity in primary and early secondary prevention, preserving what works across diverse settings

I reviewed the extent to which program integrity (i.e., the degree to which programs are implemented as planned) was verified and promoted in evaluations of prevention programs published between 1980-1994, and examined reported effects of integrity and dosage (i.e., participant attendance) on program outcome. Reductions in adherence (i.e., the extent to which program components were delivered as prescribed) appeared to compromise efficacy, whereas dosage effects were inconsistent. A minority of 162 outcome studies examined specified procedures for monitoring or promoting integrity. These omissions, especially of measures of adherence, may compromise the internal validity of outcome studies in the prevention literature. In a second study, interviews and observations were conducted at sites using select social-skills and parent-education programs, to examine degrees of program fidelity, perceived obstacles to program delivery, and ways of addressing them. Flexibility in program delivery can be balanced with integrity to the critical features of a program.
Termites as bioconversion organisms, effects of laboratory rearing conditions and food type on the vigor and consumption by Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Lignocellulosic material is the most abundant organic material on the globe, and therefore represents a huge under utilized renewable resource. Termites represent an efficient conduit, able to convert these lignocellulosic materials into animal biomass. This has sparked interest into their potential utilization to benefit humanity. However the long term laboratory culture of termites has largely been unsuccessful. The primary factors controlling termite survival, and more importantly termite reproduction, must be better understood. This study will investigate three dominant environmental conditions: watering regime, soil type, and wood to soil ratio to determine their effect on the survival and frequency of reproduction of the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. The consumption potential of R. flavipes on a range of lignocellulosic materials is also needed. Therefore, the ability and rate at which R. flavipes can consume and survive on a range of wood, paper, and paper wastes products will also be investigated.
Extension of transiently evoked otoacoustic emission measurements to cover the entire audiometric frequency range

In this work, we developed methods which extend the range of transiently evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) measurements to cover the entire audiometric range (up to 8 kHz). Currently, TEOAE measurements are limited to frequencies below approximately 5 kHz. The presence of a stimulus artifact in each TEOAE recording is the primary cause of this limitation. Current methods of removing this artifact yield poor signal to noise ratios for high frequency TEOAE components. We developed a method based on adaptive wavelet packet based subband decomposition of TEOAE recordings. This new method proved better than current methods at cleanly separating high frequency TEOAE components from stimulus artifact contamination. Inadequate high frequency stimulation of the auditory system is a secondary cause of this limitation. To correct this, we designed and implemented a new stimulus design procedure which was based on estimating parameters in a system model prior to each TEOAE measurement session.
Measuring the respiratory chemoreflexes in man

In the present investigation, a modified rebreathing technique was compared to a traditional rebreathing technique and a dynamic end-tidal forcing technique to measure to ventilatory response to carbon dioxide mediated by the central chemoreceptors. After this comparison, the modified rebreathing technique was used to measure the effect of hypoxia on the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide. In the first study, I measured the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide with and without hyperventilation prior to rebreathing. The mean central-chemoreflex sensitivity did not significantly differ between rebreathing with and without hyperventilation. In the second study, I measured the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide using the modified rebreathing method and the dynamic end-tidal forcing technique. The mean central-chemoreflex sensitivity did not significantly differ between the modified rebreathing technique and dynamic end-tidal forcing. In the final study, I used rebreathing with prior hyperventilation to measure the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide at iso-oxic partial pressures of oxygen of 100, 80, 60, 40 mmHg. I found that carbon dioxide must exceed its peripheral-chemoreflex threshold before hypoxia can effectively increase ventilation.
A study on the particularities of government contracts

The purpose of this study is to show that although the private law of contract forms the basic legal framework of government contracts, such contracts are fundamentally different from contracts concluded between private parties as they feature a strong inequality between the parties. This demonstration is made through the analysis of the conflicts between the principles of administrative law, which mainly relates to the unique powers of the State and to its special characteristics, and those of the law of contract. Attention is also paid to the numerous statutory requirements which are imposed on the conclusion of government contracts and to their impact on the validity of the contract.
The state-administered Higher Educational Examinations for Self-Taught Students in China

Based on a review of the available literature in Chinese and in English, this thesis gives an overview of China's Higher Educational Examinations for Self-Taught Students (HEE), an innovative aspect of China's system for post-secondary adult education. The HEE is viewed as a pragmatic response to a need for post-secondary training within China's long traditional value of selection by centralized external exams. Given the severe national financial limits available, the HEE has optimized the relatively high cost of building an infrastructure while meeting the current training needs of China's adult populace. The mechanism of this nationwide examination system and its rapid development over 15 years is detailed in terms of its administrative structure; examination operations; examination subjects available; profile of students; and academic assistance methods and technologies. The HEE system is critiqued within China's social development, and its shortcomings in relation to the training needs of China's vast rural population and other problems associated with the practice of the HEE are highlighted.
WebOQL: Exploiting document structure in Web queries

The widespread use of the Web has given rise to several new data management problems, such as extracting data from Web pages and making databases accessible from browsers, and has renewed the interest in problems that had appeared in other contexts before, such as querying graphs, semistructured data and structured documents. Although several kinds of systems have been proposed to deal with each of these Web-data management problems, none of them addresses all the problems from a unified perspective. Many of these problems essentially amount to data restructuring: we have information represented in a certain structure and we want to construct another representation of (part of) it using a different structure. In this thesis, we present the WebOQL language, which provides a general framework for performing several forms of data restructuring in the context of the Web. WebOQL overcomes a common limitation observed in query languages for the Web, namely the lack of support for exploiting the internal structure of documents; it also synthesizes ideas from query languages for semistructured data and for website restructuring. This thesis formally specifies the syntax and semantics of WebOQL, gives a bound on the complexity of query evaluation and describes the current prototype implementation.
A comparison of volumetric and circumferential penile plethysmographic methods, the effect of response magnitude on method agreement

Penile circumference and penile volume measurements are valuable methods of assessing sexual preferences. Following a preliminary investigation confirming the equivalency of circumferentially recorded penile base and midshaft measures, the volume and circumference methods were compared simultaneously. Forty-two volunteers were assessed using a standard test for pedophilia. Test outcome profiles between methods agreed highly when penile response was at least 2.5 mm circumferential increase (10% full erection; $r>.80).$ However, among subjects responding below this level, agreement dropped precipitously (mean r = $-$.15). ANOVA indicated subjects responding at least 2.5 mm discriminated relevant stimulus categories with either method; however, among lower responders the volumetric method was clearly superior. It is concluded: (1) 10% FE, or 2.5 mm increase should the minimum circumferential response criterion, and (2) because of the large number of low responders, volumetric plethysmography is superior for assessing the most cases.
New methods to estimate average annual daily traffic using data from permanent count stations

The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) uses a specific method to estimate average annual daily traffic (AADT) of a road section. Based on an examination of MTO's methodology, eight research questions were asked. The answers to the first five of these questions lead to the development of a new and more efficient method. This method uses hourly traffic counts for each direction of travel separately, instead of using the normal practice of sum of daily counts from both directions of travel together. Using AADT residuals as evaluating tools, MTO's method was compared to the new method. It was concluded that the new method performs better in estimation of AADTs. Using this new method, the precision of AADT estimates using fewer than 13 count-days was also examined in this dissertation.
Genetic variation in freezing resistance of some Populus and Salix clones

Nineteen (19) clones of Salix and twenty-one (21) clones of Populus were examined for their genetic variability in freezing resistance. A series of laboratory freezing tests were conducted, using visual assessment and electrolyte leakage to detect freezing injury and survival. Clones were tested at predetermined levels of freezing stress and during seven (7) phenological stages: dormant, early spring, spring, flushing of terminal buds, new axillary growth, growing and early-fall stages. Significant clonal variation in freezing resistance was detected at (4) stages: spring, flushing of terminal buds, axillary new growth, and early fall stage. During winter dormancy and early spring, when freezing resistance was greatest, no significant differences in clonal survival were detected. At the growing stage in which clones exhibited the highest susceptibility to freezing stress, only Salix clones showed significant differences in the estimated index of injury which, however, accounted for only a small proportion (2%) of the total variation in index of injury. At the early fall stage, the proportion of within genus variation in index of injury attributable to clonal differences alone, was 22% for Salix and 24% for Populus. The significance of within clones ranking differences from stage to stage and with respect to freezing injury was dependent on the individual clone. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients for clonal rankings between stages were significant, except in the case of the correlation between the spring and early fall stages. Finally, the use of electrolyte leakage was found to provide a simple and rapid screening method for assessing the likely survival and freezing resistance of Populus and Salix clones.
Prostate-specific antigen utilization in Ontario, a feasibility study

This thesis examines the utilization of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in Ontario in three phases. Phase I documents, by means of responses to a questionnaire, an exponential rise in PSA testing in Ontario laboratories, which performed over 300,000 tests in 1996. One-third of these PSA test data, together with patient identifiers, are computerised and accessible for additional study. Phase II examines, in two laboratory databases, the proportion of PSA testing in three patient groups identified through record linkage with the Ontario Cancer Registry. Among those tested in these two laboratories, 8.5% had prostate cancer, 5.7% had cancer other than prostate cancer, and 85.7% were without cancer. These data are analysed with respect to testing frequency among the diagnostic groups and by patient age at time of testing; and with respect to PSA concentration in relation to time of diagnosis. These analyses reveal statistically significant differences, some of which are of clinical importance. Phase III of this study examines, by means of responses to a self-administered questionnaire sent to attending physicians of patients undergoing PSA tests, the reasons for those tests. The PSA records were from a random sample of patients without prostate cancer as determined by Phase II. A 55% response rate was achieved, revealing that 64% of PSA tests were for screening for prostate cancer; 40% were for investigating symptoms of prostatism; and 33% were for following up other procedures, mostly digital rectal examination. Of those tests requested for screening, 64% were initiated by the patient. Most responses indicated multiple reasons for testing. Limitations of the study are identified, and the results are discussed in the context of the feasibility of a province-wide study, and how they may affect public policy on PSA testing.
Conflicts between the accommodation of disabled workers and seniority rights

The purpose of human rights legislation is to ensure equality of opportunity without discrimination. For disabled workers, this means that employers (and trade unions) are required to accommodate their disability-related needs in the workplace, unless doing so would cause undue hardship. Workers seek seniority provisions in collective agreements to reduce the potential for managerial arbitrariness in the allocation of scarce work opportunities. When these two principles designed to enhance employees' work opportunities conflict which should prevail? In this thesis I argue that when the accommodation of a disabled worker requires interference with the seniority provisions of a collective agreement, the interference with the seniority principle in and of itself, should not bar the requested accommodation. However, when the actual impact on the affected workers' wording conditions and social and financial well-being is significant, the limit of undue hardship has been reached.
Expressing effect-estimates of predictors of return to work

In the literature addressing the important problem of work injuries, there are wide variations in the analytic statistical methods applied, as well as in the reported effect-estimates. In this study effect-estimates mainly from the health and the economics literature, for some traditionally reported predictors of return to work (such as age), were transformed into one metric (relative risk) in order to allow comparison. Moreover, all of the frequently used analytic methods were applied to one Ontario WCB dataset (of 1845 injured workers), in order to determine the differences/similarities in the effect-estimates which result from the choice of analytic method only. From this study it was evident that ignoring inter-subject variation in Follow-Up and censoring, by failing to utilize survival analytic approaches, may result in a less precise effect-estimates. Also, a misleading effect-estimate may result when no attention is given to a possibly changing relative risk over time i.e. the time-dependency nature of certain predictors. Moreover, in the future, researchers have to be careful in the way they report their effect-estimates, and make explicitly justified choices between one single simple effect-estimate and a more accurate but complicated changing estimate over time.