VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Characterization, leachability and acid mine drainage potential of geothermal solid residues

A solid waste is classified as hazardous if it contains sufficient leachable components to contaminate the groundwater and the environment if disposed in a landfill. Solid residues from three geothermal fields (Bulalo, Philippines, Cerro Prieto, Mexico, and Dixie Valley, USA) containing S, Cu, Zn, and Pb at levels above earth's crustal abundance were studied for their leachability. Several procedures were used to assess the potential mobility of the elements--protocol leaching tests, sequential chemical extraction, and acid mine drainage potential test. In addition, whole rock analysis, optical and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, radioactivity counting, and toxicity testing were also performed. The geothermal residues are mostly silica (70%) with trace elements and have varying crystalline and amorphous character. All the samples tested can be classified as nonhazardous since their leachate quality is below the regulatory limits. Toxicity tests were negative and radioactivity counts were within norm. Sequential extraction indicated the potential for metal release into the environment but only under extreme conditions (pH $\le$ 2, 85-175$\sp\circ$C). Batch kinetic tests identified that leaching of Pb in the presence of oxygen is diffusion-controlled with a rate equation, r = $\rm4.6\times10\sp{-6}\ \alpha\sb{c} t\sp{-1/2}+1.1\times10\sp{-4}\ \alpha\sb{f}t\sp{-1/2}\ mol.L\sp{-1}.h\sp{-1}.$ A batch reactor technique (AMDP test) using the iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, was developed for geothermal wastes to predict their acid mine drainage and bioleaching potential. It was observed that almost 100% of Cu and Zn in the Mexican scale and less than 2% in the Philippine scale and sludge were released. Despite a significant Pb content, only $<$6% leached from the Mexican scale. Geochemical thermodynamic modelling using MINTEQA2 showed that much heavy metal content must be inaccessible to the leach medium. The hazard and risk involved from geothermal residues were assessed to be very low for the Mexican sludge and drilling mud and the American scale. However, a low but manageable risk was attributed to the Philippine scale and sludge. The fine sized Mexican scale was found to have medium risk that will require special handling prior to landfill disposal.
Identification and characterization of interferon and double-stranded RNA signal transduction pathways

IFNs are cytokines that mediate antiviral and antiproliferative effects in many cells. A potent inducer of IFN is the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) motifs found in many viruses. Since the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-activated IFN-induced protein kinase (PKR) is activated by binding dsRNA, we reasoned that PKR may be acting as a signal-transducer, transducing the signal from dsRNA to transcription factors through a phosphorylation event. These activated transcription factors translocate to the nucleus and induce transcription of their cognate genes which mediate IFNs antiviral and antiproliferative effects. We show that in response to dsRNA, PKR activates transcription factors NF-$\kappa$B and IRF-1. DSRNA-dependent activation of NF-$\kappa$B and IRF-1 is ablated in PKR-deleted mouse embryo fibroblasts and in Hela cells that have been depleted of PKR using anti-sense PKR oligonucleotide. PKR has been previously implicated in dsRNA dependent translational regulation through the phosphorylation of translation factor eukariotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2). Here we expand the role of PKR as a regulator of transcription.
The changing woman, reflections at menopause on the meaning and experience of sexuality

This investigation explored the meaning and experience of sexuality viewed from the vantage point of menopause. The methodology evolved from a heuristice-interpretive inquiry situated within a feminist framework and reflected through a social constructionist lens. Three in-depth, dialogic interviews formed the basis of the data connection process in which seven women examined the meaning of their experiences of sexuality and menopause. The interplay among the physiological, psychosocial and political variables influenced the expression of these experiences and resulted in critical implications for the women. The presentation of individual stories and the group narrative facilitated comprehension of both the unique experiences and the experiences for the entire group and determined how the collective voice challenged the socially constructed bio-medical narrative. An over-arching theme emerged, The Body as the Arena for Social and Political Control. Certain societal conditions generated a body process experienced by all the co-researchers that culminated in an embodiment of the self: societal silence about sexuality and the body caused alienation from the body; repressive sexual regulations resulted in an initial surrender of the body and its reclamation that promoted personal and sexual growth; and, the invisibility experienced by older women lead to an integration of their objectified bodies. A relationship existed between sexual and personal development. The social construction of menopause and sexuality served to control the co-researchers' bodies. Contrary to the medical perspective, they characterized themselves as healthy, willing to adjust their lifestyles to their changing bodies, concerned about maintaining their personal growth, and optimistic about their future. The co-researchers rejected narrow definitions of sexuality that objectified sexuality and women's bodies and emphasized expressive, integrated, and contextualized dimensions of sexuality. Five co-researchers challenged the notion of compulsory heterosexuality and proposed a sexual continuum to replace the heterosexual-homosexual dichotomy. Socially constructed gender-roles and society's expectations circumscribed their behaviour, curtailed their sexual and personal potential and supported men's dominance and women's subordination. Heterosexuality objectified their bodies and shaped their roles and their personal identities. The co-researchers' definitive sexual experiences epitomized their sexual and personal evolution. I address implications for female sexuality, women's health issues, and therapy.
Structure-function relationships of the cytoplasmic domains of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a chloride channel, located in the apical membrane of wet epithelia. Mutations in the gene coding for CFTR result in cystic fibrosis (CF) either by disrupting the biosynthetic processing of the protein or through the production of a functionally impaired channel. When studying CFTR, the molecule traditionally has been dissected into three functional units: (i) the dodecahelical transmembrane pore that forms the ion conductive pathway, (ii) two cytoplasmically located nucleotide binding folds which hydrolyze ATP to open as well as to close the channel, and (iii) a cytoplasmically located R-domain, the phosphorylation of which is required to put CFTR into an activation competent form. The major kinase phosphorylating CFTR is the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Upon hormonal induction, PKA phosphorylates several sites within the R-domain, thereby allowing a graded response to various levels of stimulation. Thus far, only the importance of perfect dibasic consensus sites for potential interactions with PKA has been investigated in this mechanism. The present study demonstrates that PKA-mediated phosphorylation under limiting conditions also occurs on monobasic consensus sites and contributes to CFTR activation. Additional phosphorylation is shown to be accepted by sites that lack a positively charged residue in close physical proximity. To obtain an initial idea of associations between the three functional units of CFTR, this thesis also addresses the importance of the previously uninvestigated cytoplasmic loops (CLs) that connect the transmembrane helixes on the cytoplasmically exposed side of the pore-forming unit. Reconstruction of CF-associated point mutations in all four CLs illustrates that many of the amino acid substitutions inhibit maturation of CFTR, suggesting that correct folding of the loops may be critical for achievement of the correct overall conformation of the protein. In addition, the CLs contribute to CFTR function since mutations in both CL1 and CL3 significantly alter the open probability of the chloride channel. However, the loops are functionally distinct since CL1 mutations modify the mean closed time of the channel, whereas CL3 alterations mainly affect the mean open time. The fact that mutations in the loops influence the gating of CFTR, rather than its conductance, may suggest that despite their proximity to the pore entrance, the importance of the CLs lies in relaying regulatory stimuli to the pore as opposed to an involvement in actual ion movement.
Learning and the changing police role, from patrol officer to chief executive officer

The primary focus of this study pertains to how society should better go about selecting the right chief of police who possesses the skills, knowledge, experiences, and abilities to provide the best police service possible to the residents of the Province of Ontario. This study addresses knowledge factors, learning and training issues, rather than testing procedures and selection methods. In addition, it addresses the role of chief of police and what makes it different philosophically from that of the members of the "rank and file." Important differences exist not only in terms of duties, obligations, and responsibilities but also in working relationships, affiliations, and personal values. Chiefs in Ontario started their careers as police constables and through various career activities and by their own initiative became chiefs. With few exceptions, formal levels of education, certification, or specialized training did not play a major part in the selection process. In this study, the chiefs were asked three key questions: (1) "What did you think you needed to know to become a chief?" (2) "How did you learn it?" and; (3) "What advice would you give to someone who had the ambition to become a chief in the future?" Their answers were compared with the literature pertaining to issues of executive development, leadership, and the administrative practices of successful police and business organizations. How today's changing society impacts on policing is also discussed, along with recommendations for improving the chief selection process. Comment is provided about the most important subjects that should be addressed in police executive training, including attendance at the various police colleges, executive programs at universities, and self-directed reading programs. During their careers those who wish to be chiefs should work and become proficient in at least two of the major areas of policing: "patrol," "investigations," or "administration." "Would-be" chiefs should take advantage of opportunities to work at an executive level, in areas outside policing, and take leadership positions with volunteer agencies. They should read widely and if possible visit police agencies in other countries. Early career training should include material pertaining to the philosophical and theoretical aspects of policing.
A study of the self-directed learning activities of faculty members of a postsecondary proprietary educational institution in Ontario

Much of the literature on adult learning suggests that adults generally prefer to learn in ways that allow them to maintain control over the learning process. They want to determine the content, the methods used, and the ways in which their learning activities will be assessed. The literature also suggests that organizations expect their professional educators to be self-directed and independent in their efforts to remain current in their area of expertise, and be responsible for their own professional development. This study considers the question: what role does self-directed learning play in post-secondary teachers' efforts to maintain both personal and professional growth during their career? Growing out of the primary question, are the following: what self-directed learning activities did the educators participate in over the past twelve months? what reasons did they give for engaging in these activities? what methods did they use to learn? what did they perceive as inhibiting them from becoming more active in their learning? what personal characteristics either enabled them or limited their ability to participate in self-directed learning? and, what resources did the educators use to meet their learning needs? In order to answer these questions, the researcher interviewed twenty-eight members of a post-secondary faculty of a proprietary institution in Ontario using a semi-structured interview protocol. The individual taped interviews lasted approximately one hour each. The findings suggest that by a significant margin, this group of educators were active learners who preferred the self-directed approach for both their personal and professional learning. They engaged in a breadth of learnings, many of which were of a personal nature rather than job-related. The educators, however, were often able to apply some benefit from a learning to their own teaching context. The study suggests that self-directed learning does play a significant role in post-secondary teachers' efforts to maintain both personal and professional growth during their careers. Professional development activities, therefore, might be more effective if they were designed to accommodate the self-directed learning tendencies and perceived needs of those who are to be "developed."
A history of the University of Toronto School of Social Work

This thesis examines the University of Toronto School of Social Work from its inception in 1914 until 1970. Research is based on articles, books, and other documents published by the School's faculty and students; personal interviews with faculty, retired faculty, and former students; newspaper and journal articles referring to the School or individuals associated with it; private papers, correspondence, and other manuscript sources; university documents related to the School; Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Council of Social Work Education, and American Association of Schools of Social Work accreditation materials; unpublished materials at the National Archives of Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto City Hall Archives, the University of Toronto Archives, and the Social Welfare History Archives in Minnesota, among other repositories. Social work is not seen as a coherent unity inclusive of academic and field contexts, contrary to the findings of most studies (Wenocur and Reisch, 1989; Polsky, 1991). The School was divided over whether to concentrate on social advocacy versus remedial intervention, and research versus practice; there was internal disagreement, and disagreement with members of the profession, on theoretical conceptions of casework, research, and policy development, as well as on different conceptions of social work clients and their needs, and on competing curriculum priorities. These divisions were reinforced by gender divisions between faculty, wherein men dominated the School. The study emphasizes the School's ambivalent context as a graduate discipline within an academic milieux, on the one hand, and as a training institution with obligations to the field of social work practice, on the other. It traces the attempts to meet the distinct, and sometimes conflicting needs of each; and its uneasy relationship with such professional associations as the CASW, CSWE and OAPSW, and with the growing social work profession after World War II, in Canadian universities and in the field of practice. The School's ambiguous success in responding to social problems is analysed in light of traditional research topics of economic disadvantage versus the response to such emergent post-war social concerns as "new Canadians", "disability" and gender construction in particular. Emphasis is given to the influence of patriarchy and ideology upon social work training, research, teaching, and professional development.
Realities of participation in a secondary school advisory council

Since the early 1990s, public attention in Ontario has focused on parent participation in education; the formation of school councils represents the Ontario government's attempt to involve parents and the general public more directly in educational reform. This suggests that parents, students, community members, and business representatives will join with teachers within a formal structure at the local school level to advise principals on issues related to educational policy and programs. This qualitative study describes the advisory process, an aspect of participation in education that has not received attention. The study draws on theories of participation and advisement to form a conceptual framework to describe the participation of parents and community members with teachers as advisers to a school principal. Informants are members of a school advisory council, administrators, and members of constituency groups. The assumptions of the informants present images of the advisers, what they do, and the consequences of their agency. Data were derived from semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and observations made during school council meetings, district council meetings, and during attendance at conferences devoted to the theme of school councils. The findings show that advisers were linked by two motivating forces: the desire to improve the educational environment for all students and the need to understand the potential of parent and community participation within the formal structure of an advisory group. The findings also show that members had extensive expertise in business and finance and that, within their advisory role, they performed the tasks of executors, educators, friends, informants, critics, and advisers. Positive benefits of the advisory process included personal development, overcoming alienation, and maintaining legitimacy of the system. The findings show, however, that counter forces threatened to weaken the zeal of the advisers. These are discussed as problems related to issues of adjustment and inaction. Findings show that policy makers were unaware of the existence of such forces. The findings have relevance for administrators with the task of defining the advisory role and for those who must design programs and policy to facilitate this form of participation. They also have application in educational contexts where researchers seek a framework to study the participation of parents and community members in the advisory experience.
Negotiating cultures, modes of memory in novels by African women

The dissertation examines the transmission of cultural values in a selection of African women's texts, written in English and published between 1966 and 1986. Focusing on a range of works by Kenyan, Nigerian and South African women, the study explores modes of memory and examines the way writers represent, reaffirm and re-position cultural authority during post-colonialism. The dissertation examines autobiographies, histories and fictional narratives, modes by which memories of the past are formally and consciously structured and recorded, but the study also examines the way in which language, customs and traditions convey cultural values and attitudes, often beyond the conscious control of the writer. The welter of African and Western cultural influences of both past and present provokes an on-going interaction through which the writers in this study interrogate the contesting of cultural authorities. Since women's roles are largely dictated by cultural expectations, the dissertation includes examination of the writers' attitudes to those customs relating to marriage, polygeny and child-rearing, and analyzes their solutions regarding these issues. The works of Charity Waciuma, Grace Ogot, Flora Nwapa and Rebeka Njau, discussed in Chapter One, depict the difficult process of renegotiating the authority of cultural memories, an on-going process in any society, but one intensified by the imposition of Western colonial influences. Their works reflect and question, to varying extents, the cultural expectations imposed on women, while simultaneously advocating the benefits of readjusting and/or reaffirming established customs. By contrast, the selected works by Buchi Emecheta, examined in Chapter Two, depict an abrupt confrontation of cultural influences, and reject established or traditional customs as being stultifying to women, hindering self-development. Chapter Three examines the challenge the works of Miriam Tlali and Bessie Head pose to the cultural authority of the apartheid system. While Tlali finds solutions in the public arena, and calls for collective, political action, Head suggests that solutions may be found on the personal level, through relationships, self-analysis and self-acceptance. The study also examines how the works of Miriam Were, Tlali and Head advocate the need for men to change their cultural attitudes towards women.
Mathematics teachers' needs in dynamic geometric computer environments, in search of control

The study sought to understand the needs of experienced teachers who, for the first time, are teaching geometry in a computer-based exploratory environment rather than in the traditional environment of textbook, straight-edge and ruler. Insights into these needs were obtained through a qualitative case-study, in which data was collected by observation, as well as from interviews with teachers and students and from participant journal entries. Analysis of the data showed that the four teachers participating in the study experienced an initial loss of control due to the new environment, in three categories: (1) Management control (they believed the new environment impaired their ability to maintain discipline), (2) Personal control (they were unable to determine their own expectations of the students and to assess students' achievement), and (3) Professional control (they felt they no longer had all the answers). As the teachers learned to use the new tools, however, they gained confidence in their ability to teach effectively with the new methods, and were even moved to reflect upon their previous teaching practices. Despite the apparent lack of discipline, the absence of specific expectations, and the changes in their professional role, they came to recognize and accept that in the new exploratory environment the students were learning geometry and enjoying it. The implication for teacher education is that preservice and inservice teachers should be given a mentor or coach to help them accept a temporary loss of control in the classroom as part of the change process. The teachers will emerge from this experience with increased confidence in mathematics and it will help teachers understand the issues present as they introduce dynamic geometric software packages into their classrooms. The implication for mathematics education is that students thrive in dynamic geometric software environments when teachers maintain control over the management of learning, over their own personal expectations, and over their role as a professional.