VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Fateful Decisions: The Polish Policemen and the Jewish Population of Occupied Poland, 1939-1945

This dissertation analyzes the activities of the Polish police during the Second World War with particular attention paid to their triangulated relationship with the German authorities and Jewish population. To properly situate their activities, the interwar period is also covered, as it forms the historical antecedent of their creation. The position of the dissertation is that the participation of the Polish police enabled the Germans to be more successful in their implementation of the Holocaust in Poland. Alongside this contention, evidence supporting the attempts of some Polish policemen to help and assist the Jewish population is also presented. This complex and multilayered portrait is articulated while maintaining that there is sufficient evidence to challenge conventional historical views that have downplayed the Polish policeâ s involvement in the murder of Polish Jews. The evidence presented throughout the dissertation is distinct from previous research into the activities of the Polish police as the policemenâ s actions against the Jewish population have not been subject to thorough research. In comparison with the only available book on the Polish police, which minimizes their role in implementing the Holocaust in Poland, this dissertation draws extensively on archival sources that were not previously accessed such as post-war trial records and eyewitness written and oral testimony. This dissertation is organized chronologically and its structure reflects the stages of the Polish policeâ s involvement in the persecution of Polish Jews. The tasks of the Polish policemen depended on the current German policies against the Jews in the General Government. Gradually, they expended from guarding ghettos and preventing the movement of people and products in and out of ghettos to securing the perimeters of ghettos during liquidation actions and searching for those who attempted to avoid transports to killing centres. The Polish policemen, often in cooperation with the rural population, played a significant role in the last phase of the Holocaust. It was at this stage that they discovered and killed many Jews in hiding. In those cases, the policemen were autonomous as a significant number of the killings were carried out without the orders or knowledge of their German superiors.

Keywords: Collaboration
Complicity
Holocaust
Polish (Blue) Police
Second World War
Advisor: Wr贸bel, Piotr J.
Identifying the Functions and Regulatory Mechanisms of Shikimate Dehydrogenase Homologs in Bacteria

The shikimate pathway is required for synthesis of the aromatic amino acids as well as other aromatic compounds in bacteria. The prototypical member of the shikimate dehydrogenase (SDH) enzyme family, AroE, catalyzes the fifth step in this pathway; the reduction of dehydroshikimate to shikimate. In addition to AroE, four other SDH family members have been identified: YdiB, Ael1, RifI, and SdhL. However, the metabolic functions of Ael1, RifI, and SdhL are poorly characterized, and few studies focus on the regulation of SDH enzymes. This thesis investigates the biological functions of the SDH family of enzymes, and explores the systems that govern their expression in bacteria. We use Pseudomonas putida to investigate the functions of the SDH family of enzymes, as it has one representative homolog of each family member. The differences in expression profiles observed among these SDH homologs in P. putida, along with existing kinetic data, suggest that each homolog performs a distinct biological role related to the shikimate pathway. Additionally, we identified multiple novel metabolic disturbances due to SDH disruptions in P. putida that allow us to propose putative roles for the SDH enzymes in bacterial metabolism. The quinate utilization operons in Listeria monocytogenes encode two SDH proteins among other enzymes that act in the quinate/shikimate utilization metabolic pathway. These operons are activated by a LysR Type Transcriptional Regulator (LTTR), called QuiR1, in response to shikimate. The structure of the QuiR1 effector binding domain with shikimate bound reveals overall LTTR structural conservation as well as the architecture of the shikimate binding site. This work sheds light on the mechanism of transcriptional regulation of the genes encoding enzymes involved in metabolism of the plant derived compound quinate, as well as shikimate, in L. monocytogenes. This intricate regulation may allow for an optimized metabolic response to changing environmental conditions.

Keywords: bacteria
LTTR
metabolism
quinate
shikimate
transcription
Advisor: Christendat, Dinesh
Characterization of novel GH115 Îą-glucuronidases for enzymatic tailoring of xylans

Xylans represent abundant renewable resources for developing applications ranging from prebiotics to plastic-replacing packaging materials. Accessory hemicellulases can be used to tailor the side-group chemistry of xylans to thereby control properties such as nutrient value, rheology, solubility, adsorption behavior, as well as barrier characteristics of xylan-based films and coatings. Glucopyranosyluronic acid (GlcA) and (methyl)-glucopyranosyluronic acid (MeGlcA) are common substituents of the major forms of xylan in hardwood and coniferous softwoods as well as many cereal grains. α-Glucuronidases from glycoside hydrolase family GH115 have the potential to tailor high-molecular-weight xylans, because they are the only known enzymes that can target GlcA/MeGlcA from both internally and terminally substituted regions of xylans. Two family GH115 enzymes (SdeAgu115A from the marine bacterium Saccharophagus degradans 2-40T and AxyAgu115A from alkaliphilic bacterium Amphilbacillus xylanus) were selected for characterization. Both enzymes demonstrated activity towards glucuronoxylans and oligomers thereof with preference towards internally substituted residues. The first five-domain crystal structure of a GH115 enzyme was also reported, which comprised an additional insertion C+ domain likely to participate in substrate binding. Consistent with the natural habitats of the source organisms, AxyAgu115A demonstrated better performance in alkaline condition compared to other reported GH115 α-glucuronidases, whereas salt activation was only observed for SdeAgu115A. Unlike SdeAgu115A, AxyAgu115A displayed similar activity towards beechwood glucuronoxylan and the more highly branched spruce arabinoglucuronoxylan. The ability of AxyAgu115A to accommodate comparatively complex xylans was consistent with conclusions that could be drawn through docking analysis. Synergistic action between SdeAu115A and AxyAgu115A, and two α-arabinofuranosidases from families GH51 (E-AFASE) and GH62 (SthAbf62A) towards spruce arabinoglucuronoxylan was identified, suggesting that MeGlcA and Araf could sterically hinder α-arabinofuranosidase and/or α-glucuronidase activity. Finally, AxyAgu115A was applied herein to recover xylan-derived oligosaccharides extracted from mixed hardwood chips through liquid hot water extraction. As part of this study, an LC-MS/MS method was developed to facilitate label-free characterization of diverse xylooligosaccharides.

Keywords: alpha-glucuronidase
biomaterials
LC-MS/MS
synergism
xylan
Advisor: Master, Emma R
Offshoring International Law? Australia and the Right to Seek Asylum

For many years now, liberal democracies have pursued controversial asylum and border control practices to prevent and deter potential asylum seekers from accessing their in-country asylum systems. Australia is arguably the most extreme and visible proponent of this broader trend in its response to boatpeople arrivals. How can we explain Australia’s shift from implementing and supporting an onshore asylum and border control system (1950s to late 1990s) to one in which those practices are carried out offshore (2001 to present)? Understandably, most observers evaluate this development using arguments about domestic politics and self-interest to explain Australia’s shift in practices. Others maintain that these states actually acknowledge international law, but only because of its instrumental and strategic value. Finding prevailing accounts incomplete and unsatisfying, my dissertation takes a different approach. I use a longitudinal assessment of the relationship between the legal norm governing the right to seek asylum and Australia’s response to boatpeople over time. I argue that the legal norm both shaped and was shaped by Australia’s response to boatpeople. By straddling the divide between domestic and international levels of analysis and treating legal norms as dynamic, I find that Australia’s response to boatpeople can be more accurately explained using a constructivist theory of legal norms.

Keywords: Border control
Global Governance
International Law
Migration
Refugees
Advisor: Triadafilopoulos, Phil
Synergistic Nanoparticle Formulations against Multi-drug Resistant Breast Cancers

Current breast cancer treatments lack specificity, leading to dose-limiting cardiotoxicity, which is often coupled with multi-drug resistance (MDR), and thus severely impedes efficacious cancer treatment. Current efforts to utilize chemotherapeutics and MDR inhibitors have failed in the clinic due to low efficacy, off-target toxicities, and altered pharmacokinetics. Synergistic nanoparticles (NPs) offer spatiotemporal control of therapeutics from the injection site to the tumor site. Synergistic NPs co-encapsulate two or more drugs, whereby the co-encapsulated drugs exhibit anti-cancer activity greater than the sum of the anti-cancer activity exhibited by the single-drug loaded NPs. This thesis demonstrates that doubly-loaded NPs are more efficacious against multi-drug resistant (MDR) breast cancer cells in vitro, relative to each drug alone or combined, singly-loaded drug NPs. The NPs, comprising poly(D,L-lactide-co-2-methyl-2-carboxytrimethylene carbonate)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol)-azide (P(LA-co-TMCC)-g-PEG-N3), were used to co-encapsulate two therapeutics and evaluate their synergistic cytotoxicity of MDR cancer cells: vitamin E succinate modified with octahistidine-octaarginine (VES-H8R8) and a pH-responsive prodrug of doxorubicin (pDox). The mechanism of the anti-cancer activity of VES-H8R8 comprised MDR efflux inhibition, mitochondria depolarization with inhibited bioenergetics, and induction of reactive oxygen species, apoptosis and G1 cell cycle arrest. When VES-H8R8 was co-encapsulated with pDox in NPs, synergistic anti-cancer activity against MDR breast cancer cells was observed, but only when co-encapsulated NPs were administered. Work towards NP-mediated delivery of siRNA targeted against an essential protein, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit B (eIF3B), is also presented; however, limitations associated with endo/lysosomal accumulation terminated the use of NPs comprising P(LA-co-TMCC)-g-PEG-N3. This thesis provides the groundwork to study synergistic anti-cancer activity against MDR breast cancer in vivo.

Keywords: Cancer
chemotherapeutics
Mitochondria
Multi-drug resistance
Nanoparticles
Synergistic
Advisor: Shoichet, Molly S.
In-situ Measurement of Ventilation and Impacts of Filtration on IEQ and Energy use of Residential Buildings

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) impacts of filters in residential HVAC systems is a strong function of many HVAC system- and building-specific parameters. Furthermore, the energy consequences of filters can be important, and the magnitude and the sign of these energy impacts are system-specific as well. These system- and building-specific parameters can vary not only over different residential buildings, but also over the lifetime of a filter in a given building. A primary building-specific parameter that varies greatly over time is outdoor ventilation air change rate (ACR). ACR is not only an important particle removal mechanism, and a source of variations in filter IEQ performance, but it also is an important contributor to energy use in buildings. This work first critically reviews the existing literature on filtration and then presents an integrated evaluation of the overall IEQ and energy performance of higher efficiency residential filters. It also further develops the understanding of how ACR varies over time and how it influences filtration performance in residences. Yearlong measurement results from particle removal performance analysis of four different high efficiency filters placed in 21 residences in Toronto, Ontario showed that there was more variation in filter performance between the same filter in different homes than there was between different filters in the same home. In addition, increasing system runtime (ontime fraction) could also lead to higher particle removal impacts of filters. Study of energy consequences of the same filters in the same homes showed that fan energy consequences of high efficiency filters are negligible and because HVAC runtimes were generally low (median = 9.6%) in this sample of homes, the difference between energy consumption of different types of motor fans at typical runtimes was small (less than 10 kWh per month). Yearlong ACR measurements showed that ACR is a temporally dynamic parameter with timescales of minutes that varies considerably over long-term periods (e.g., geometric mean = 0.47/h, geometric standard deviation = 3.44 in one of the residences studied). Overall, this dissertation provides new methods and data for assessing the ventilation performance and impacts of filtration on IEQ and energy use of residential buildings.

Advisor: Siegel, Jeffrey A
Expansive Learning in Technology Startup Organizations: An Activity-theoretical Analysis

This study examines the complex, and sometimes conflicting dimensions of learning dynamics in highly innovative, rapidly transforming startup organizations, from an activity-theoretical perspective. Given the pivotal role startups play in the innovation economy, it is important to better understand these dynamics and associated tendencies in development by conceptualizing learning as both a socio-culturally mediated, collaborative and contradictory process, situated in times of rapid change. To examine these dynamic relations, the study draws upon key concepts from the Cultural Historical Activity Theoretical (CHAT) tradition, which are applied and extended to develop an expansive view of learning in startup organizations examined. The study is designed to address two overarching objectives. First, by developing a greater understanding of mediation/boundary crossing/contradiction (MBCC) dynamics in startup organizations in the process of development - area which I will demonstrate has not been effectively examined in Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) literature - this study will contribute to an understanding of conditions and relations shaping the processes inherent in distinct and divergent trajectories of tendential development in relation to knowledge creation in organizations examined. Second, central to the activity-based approach adopted in this study is a robust examination of the potential for expansive learning (PfEL) in startup work, conceived as a function of a contradiction/resolution/synthesis (CRS) dynamic, grounded empirically. Research findings provide original and valuable contributions not only to CHAT research but also to the field of IKM and adjacent domains of adult education and entrepreneurship learning, broadly conceived. It is argued that the focus on everyday work practices of startup organizations provides a foundation in understanding tendential development and learning in startup work, complementing existing approaches to conceptualizations of learning in IKM literature.

Advisor: Sawchuk, Peter
Design of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Cardiac Microtissue-based Platforms for Functional Screening

The improved ability to study heart development, disease, and drug response using high-content engineered heart tissue models would expedite the advancement of strategies to overcome heart disease. To meet this challenge, we created microfabricated platforms to guide the design of aligned and functional 3-D human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived cardiac microtissues. Tissue properties could be tuned using input cell composition, specifically, screening a range of hPSC-derived cardiac cells to stromal cells ratios identified an optimized formulation that yielded enhanced structural and functional properties. We demonstrate the utility of the optimized platform in a tachycardic model of arrhythmogenesis, an aspect of cardiac electrophysiology not previously recapitulated in 3D in vitro hPSC-derived cardiac microtissue models. We then used the identified design variables to innovate a next-generation platform capable of measuring contractile force, a function parameter that is an important assessor of cardiac function and health. We employed a high-resolution 3D printer to construct custom next-generation 96-well tissue culture plates featuring deflectable elastomeric microcantilevers which can be used to formulate, culture, and assay microtissues. We show the utility of our platform by conducting a central composite design experiment to determine an optimal formulation of cardiac microtissues based upon new input cell identities. We then conduct a cardiotoxicity screen of a selection of cardiotropic compounds that demonstrates both adverse and positive effects on contractile force. Finally, we construct mixed tissues with hPSC-derived epicardial cells and hPSC-derived CM to test the combined effect on contractile force. We aim to have this platform set a new gold-standard in the functional screening and validation of cardiac-associated drugs.

Keywords: Bioengineering
Cardiac tissue engineering
Drug screening
Microfabrication/3D printing
Stem cell biology
Advisor: Zandstra, Peter W
Radisic, Miilica
Robotic Manipulation and Selection of Single Sperm for In Vitro Fertilization

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the standard clinical treatment for infertility, which is a growing global health issue with psychological, social, and economic implications. DNA fragmentation of the sperm used in IVF treatments deterministically lowers the fertilization rate, causes embryo arrest in development, increases the miscarriage rate, and results in genetic disorders in the offspring. Current clinical practice of sperm selection either destroys the sperm for invasive DNA assessment or assumes that sperm motility and morphology are correlated with sperm DNA integrity. However, this correlation has never been proved due to the lack of single-cell manipulation and characterization techniques. Targeting non-invasive selection of high DNA integrity sperm, this thesis focuses on (1) developing enabling robotic manipulation techniques for pick-place of single sperm for subsequent DNA analysis, and (2) establishing, for the first time, the correlation between sperm motility and morphology parameters and the same sperm's DNA integrity. Closed-loop visual servo control algorithms were developed to adjust sperm position and orientation, based on which robotic immobilization of motile sperm were achieved via two approaches: tapping the sperm tail with a micropipette or firing laser pulses to ablate the motor proteins on the sperm tail. Computer vision algorithms were also developed to non-invasively measure sperm motility and morphology parameters in real-time. The same sperm, with its motility and morphology characteristics recorded, was transferred for DNA integrity analysis. These robotic techniques not only free human from tedious labor operation, but also bring state of the art population-based sperm analysis to the single-cell level. Experimental results confirmed the long-hypothesized correlation that sperm with normal motility and normal morphology have low DNA fragmentation. Finally, based on the established correlation, a set of quantitative criteria was formulated for automated, objective, and non-invasive selection of sperm with high DNA integrity.

Keywords: Automation
Biomedical Engineering
In Vitro Fertilization
Robotics
Sperm
Advisor: Sun, Yu
Listening to the State: Radio and the Technopolitics of Sound in Mao’s China

My dissertation argues that radio played vital roles in state building and social integration in the 1950s and 1960s China. Radio as a technological infrastructure brought about a series of radical changes that fundamentally affected the state’s self-perception as well as its agenda in transforming everyday life. My dissertation demonstrates that the acoustic state heavily utilized the senses and techniques of hearing and listening. The state incorporated listening techniques into government bodies during the management of everyday life to inform, educate and mobilize the masses and to modernize the country. The techniques of speaking and their institutionalization in return signaled the state’s efforts to search for and naturalize a voice for its presence in daily life. The dissemination of the voice further gave birth to a new type of state-agents, the radio operators, who carried radio sets with them to areas beyond the reach of electricity. As radio became integral to listeners’ work and life, it triggered further political and social changes, one of which was that listeners learned to circumvent local authorities and contact the higher-level radio stations for solving their concerns. Listeners also became not only selective in listening to state-sanctioned programs but also curious enough to transgress the state’s acoustic boundary to listen to radio programs from abroad. Radio also played a crucial role in drawing the boundaries between enemies and people, which was crucial to the creation and maintenance of the socialist regime. Such transgressive listeners prompted the state to perceive sound as sovereign territory and consequently led it to territorialize sound to defend itself from the sonic invasion of capitalist countries. To conclude, radio not only equipped the state with new techniques of governance but also fundamentally changed the way the state interacted with the masses, reshaping socialist modernity and subjectivity.

Keywords: China
Politics
Radio
Socialism
Technology
Advisor: Chen, Li