VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The indifferent smile on the faces of oppression: an expansion of Iris Marion Young's theory of oppression

This thesis enlarges Iris Marion Young's theory of oppression by offering a reading of the function of Privileged Social Group indifference in oppressive North American group relations. In four chapters, I conduct an incremental philosophical analysis that links together Privileged Social Group indifference and oppression. In the first chapter, I develop a theoretical framework consisting of useful elements from Larry May's and I.M. Young's work on group structures. In the second chapter, I employ parts of this framework to explain the three major features of the Privileged Social Group. Chapter three consists of a discussion about how the Privileged Social Group is implicated in each of Young's five forms of oppression. Finally, in the fourth chapter, I explain Privileged Social Group indifference and argue that it is a social imperative for the operations of oppression.

Keywords: Oppression (Psychology)
Elite (Social sciences)
Power (Social sciences)
A study of photo-oxidized poly(acrylic acid) luminescence

When irradiated with ultraviolet light at 254 mn, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) became luminescent. It is thought that this luminescence comes from main chain carbonyl groups that appear during photo-oxidation [94]. Three molecular weights of PAA were irradiated: 2,000 Mw (2K), 100,000 Mw (100K), and 1,000,000 Mw (1Mil). 2K PAA showed peak fluorescence at 410 nm, while 100K and 1Mil PAA both showed peaks at 435 nm and 495 nm. UV-Visible spectroscopy showed 3 transitions increase in intensity during irradiation. The transition at 275 nm was assigned as the n pi* of main chain carbonyl groups. The fluorescence seen was not attributable to this transition because the peaks in the excitation spectrum are lower energy. Fluorescence lifetimes were measured as 2.7 ns, 4.6 ns and 4.9 ns, respectively; using time correlated single photon counting. The photo-oxidized polymer deposited in multilayer films when deposition pH was 4, verified by atomic force microscopy.
The transmission and reception of "The Cloud of Unknowing" and the works of the "Cloud"-corpus

This thesis traces the history of the Middle English contemplative treatise The Cloud of Unknowing from the present to the time of its writing. Together with six other works this treatise forms the Cloud-corpus, a textual body meant for the instruction of a select audience. How these works have come down to us, and their fortunes in the intervening centuries are the subjects of this study. Using evidence for readership, editorial practice, and authorial strategy, this dissertation argues through a series of episodes in the text-reception of the Cloud-group that its success has depended on its ability to attract readers eager to share and develop its themes. Chapter One reviews the criticism of the Cloud-corpus, highlighting a critical fixation on the author's identity. It suggests that the writer's anonymity can be understood as a trope meant to protect the discourse. Using Ulysses as a narrative model, it describes the usefulness of anonymity as an approach to an ineffable subject. Chapter Two argues that the career of Augustine Baker, whose work with the recusant English Benedictines resulted in the first printed edition, was perhaps the seminal moment in the Cloud's transmission. Chapter Three re-examines the corpus manuscripts as witnesses to the first manuscript edition. Adding new material from the Dublin manuscript, it shows that even the earliest copies bear marks of an editorial plan. Chapter Four describes the Cloud-author's method of creating devotional images, demonstrating the function of these images in an apophatic tradition. The pattern of these images reveals the Cloud-author's intent to recreate a Dionysian corpus in his Middle English work. Finally, the Conclusion takes up the author's identification of the reader as a "parcener", showing that the text anticipates a potential readership that reaches beyond the exclusively religious context of the original discourse.
The development of diagnostic criteria for carpal tunnel syndrome

Diagnosis is a fundamental activity of health care professionals however methods for establishing diagnostic labels that are reliable, valid and meaningful are highly variable. The objective of this study was to take a rigorous methodologic approach to defining diagnostic criteria for carpal tunnel syndrome. The study was conducted in three phases: item generation from a literature search, focus groups of clinicians and key informant interviews; item reduction using a novel panel of experts participating in a Delphi process; weighting and validation of the final list of diagnostic items using clinicians rating a series of clinical scenarios containing the most highly ranked items. The weighted criteria showed a correlation of 0.60 with the opinions of expert diagnosticians.
Prognostic modeling of upper-extremity soft tissue disorders

This study modeled the prognosis of upper-extremity soft tissue disorders with respect to three outcomes; pain (impairment), function (activity limitations) and role limitations (participation restriction). Secondary analyses were performed on 403 upper-extremity cases from an inception cohort of nearly 2000 injured workers with lost-time workers' compensation claims. Information was gathered on a range of potential predictors (demographics, symptoms/function, nature of workplace, workplace-psychosocial and expectations) at baseline, 4, 10, 16 and 52 weeks. The 16-week outcomes of pain, function and role limitations were measured by the Acute Pain Grade, modified American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scale and the Short-Form-36 role-physical subscale respectively. Multiple linear and logistic regression techniques were used for modeling. Pessimistic recovery expectations and worse function at 4 weeks were associated with higher pain levels, worse function and presence of role limitations at 16 weeks follow-up. The results indicate the importance of patient perceptions in determining health outcomes.
Applying Panofsky's theories of iconographical analysis to graffiti art: implications for access to images of non-representational/abstract art

This study examined the applicability of Panofsky's model of iconographical analysis as a classificatory framework for non-representational/abstract art images using the example of graffiti art. Graffiti art was selected because of its abstract nature and its connection to an iconographic tradition, defined as the presence of, and documented interconnection between, what Panofsky termed primary and secondary subject matter. The study had two phases. First, a faceted classification system for graffiti art styles was developed. The classification system was designed to enable cataloguers to identify the style of a graffiti art piece (secondary subject matter) by distinguishing certain visual characteristics (primary subject matter). This classificatory process mirrors the process of iconographical analysis, where the identification of secondary subject matter depends upon accurate primary subject matter description. To create the classification system, data about the visual characteristics of graffiti art styles were collected from experts in this field using a series of questionnaires. The data formed the basis of the system's two main components: (1) definitions for 13 facets and 41 foci that were relevant across examples of graffiti art, and (2) descriptions of 14 different styles of graffiti art. The classification system functioned by linking each style description to specific primary subject matter elements in the facet and foci definitions. In the second phase of the study, image cataloguers with no prior knowledge of graffiti art tested the functionality of the facet and foci definitions. Each cataloguer was asked to select foci for each of the 13 facets in the classification system within the context of 10 images representing unique styles of graffiti art. Cataloguers had a basic understanding of most of the concepts encompassed by the facet and foci definitions, although their ability to identify particular facet-focus combinations varied among images. Nonetheless, cataloguers' success in identifying different facet-focus combinations shows that Panofsky's theories as a process model may be applied to the identification of subject matter in graffiti art images. This suggests the potential applicability of this model to other types of non-representational/abstract art that are part of an iconographic tradition.
Gender truths: disordered identity reproductions in a gender identity clinic

This ethnography explores the production of a biomedical and cultural category of gender in the psychiatric assessment and diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder. The focus of inquiry is the clinical encounter between Canadian psychiatric and psychological practitioners and patients, which includes parents and their children who are considered to have a non-conforming gender identity. In the frame of critical-interpretive medical anthropology, this research describes the scientific processes by which a certain kind of medicalized knowledge of gender identity is preserved despite the presence of divergent ideas about the foundation and function of gender in the patient population. How clinical practices around Gender Identity Disorder themselves reiterate and constitute the cultural conditions for the gender disorder to exist is illustrated. This project also considers the relationship between the cultural categories of sex, gender, and sexuality as it is enacted in the clinical setting and as it is significant to notions of social and moral personhood. How are these categories connected in the psychiatric model and for whom are these connections useful? Clinical interviews between parents of children with intersex conditions (i.e. congenital disorders of sexual ambiguity) and gender clinicians further reveal the social and political criteria by which categories of persons are granted legitimizing cultural status. The role that biomedicine plays in such a value-laden process more generally is explored.
Exploring wounding: The experiences of a Jewish educator

School leaders face numerous ethical dilemmas. While attention has been given to the process school leaders go through in order to respond to these dilemmas, little attention has been given to the emotional impact of ethical dilemmas on school leaders. This study explores wounding experiences of a Jewish educator in a Jewish supplementary school. Wounding refers to the emotional wound that occurs when a leader is faced with dilemmas that expect or demand responses that are counter to his or her values and beliefs. This study reveals that the supplementary school environment is complex and dilemma filled, and that wounding is pervasive in the leadership lives of Jewish educators. Specifically, the primary cause of wounding is the existence of a community culture that does not support the expression of the educator's values and beliefs. Educators regularly make choices that are in conflict with their values and compromise their personal integrity.

Keywords: Jewish educators, Psychology
Jewish educators, Attitudes
Distress (Psychology)
Educational leadership
Client perceptual processing in cognitive behavioural therapy and process-experiential therapy for depression

The current study investigated how clients' perceptual processing changes over the course of therapy and how clients' perceptual processing at the late stage of therapy relates to outcome by comparing two types of therapy for depression, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and process-experiential therapy (PET). Data was drawn from the Watson, Gordon, Stermac, Kalogerakos Steckley (2003) archival database, wherein sixty six clients were diagnosed with major depression and received 16 weeks of treatment; 33 clients received CBT and 33 clients received PET. Three sessions for each client were selected, one from the early, middle, and late stages of therapy. Selection was based on clients' highest rating on the Client Task Specific Change Measure - Revised. The middle twenty minutes of each selected session were rated on the Levels of Client Perceptual Processing measure (LCPP; Toukmanian, 1986, 1992; Toukmanian Gordon, 2004). Clients' perceptual processing levels were examined over the course of therapy (three stages) and in relation to depressive symptoms, self-esteem, dysfunctional attitudes, interpersonal problems, general symptom distress, and problem-focused coping at posttreatment and follow-up. Results indicated that clients in both therapies became more reevaluative and integrated new perspectives over the course of therapy. Clients in CBT engaged in more differentiation with analytic focus to make meaning of their experiences than clients in PET while clients in PET engaged in more differentiation with internal focus to make meaning of their experiences than clients in CBT. Clients' use of reevaluative statements at the late stage of therapy was related to a decrease of depressive symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes, interpersonal problems, general distress, suppressive coping, and reactive coping, and to an increase in self-esteem, at posttreatment and at follow-up for clients in CBT and for clients in PET. Clients' use of integrative statements at the late stage of therapy was related to a decrease in dysfunctional attitudes, suppressive and reactive coping, and to an increase in reflective coping at posttreatment and at follow-up for clients in CBT and for clients in PET. Implications for clinical work and future research are discussed.

Keywords: Cognitive therapy
Emotion-focused therapy
Depression, Mental, Treatment
Depressed persons
Psychotherapy patients
Perception
The role of Bazooka (PAR-3) in regulating apical microtubule organization in the early Drosophila embryo

Adherens junctions (AJs) are cell adhesion complexes that maintain epithelial structure. Actin and microtubules (MTs) help coordinate AJs. Although AJs and cytoskeletal components must be closely linked to maintain cell and tissue integrity, it is unclear how they work together. Thus, I examined AJ interactions with MTs and actin during early Drosophila development. I found that during gastrulation the MT network rearranges to form a planar polarized apical meshwork in the vicinity of AJs. Over-expression analyses revealed that the apical cue Bazooka (Baz) recruits MTs at the AJs, forming abnormal rings of MTs. Prior to gastrulation, MTs are largely unaffected by Baz over-expression. However, actin disruption coupled with Baz over-expression, caused MTs to form abnormally extended bundles in the apical domain during cellularization. This suggests AJ-MT-actin crosstalk in the control of epithelial structure, and further implicates a role for Baz in regulating apical MT organization.
Mutation in the essential splicing factor gene PRPF3 linked to retinitis pigmentosa type 18 impairs interactions within the U4/U6 snRNP complex

Mutations in PRPF3, a gene encoding the splicing factor Hprp3p, have been identified in patients with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa type 18 (RP18). RP18 patients have a single amino acid substitution, either Pro493Ser or Thr494Met, at the highly conserved Hprp3p carboxyl-terminus. Pro493Ser occurs sporadically whereas Thr494Met is observed in unlinked families. To explain how a house-keeping gene causes a retina-specific disease, I first hypothesized that PRPF3 might be essential only in photoreceptor cells. Therefore, other factor(s) may compensate for the reduced PRPF3 function, due to the mutation, in non-photoreceptor cells. To examine this possibility, I utilized a novel method to test for essential gene function in mammalian cells. To this end, I employed a helper-dependent adenoviral (HD-Ad) vector to synthesize small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) to knockdown the expression of the endogenous PRPF3 in multiple non-photoreceptor cell lines by targeting PRPF3 untranslated regions. The vector simultaneously expresses exogenous HA-tagged-PRPF3 or Thr494Met cDNAs. Significant cell death occurred upon silencing PRPF3 suggesting PRPF3 essential role for cell viability. The normal phenotype was completely rescued by simultaneously expressing exogenous HA-tagged PRPF3 but was only partially rescued by the Thr494Met-cDNA. Since numerous mutations causing human diseases change pre-mRNA splice sites, I investigated whether Thr494Met substitution affects the processing of PRPF3 mRNA. I found that Thr494Met does not alter PRPF3 mRNA processing, indicating that the mutation may exert its effect primarily at the protein level. I next examined the consequences of Thr494Met mutation on Hprp3p molecular interactions within the U4/U6.U5-snRNP complex. Substitution of Thr494Met abrogates one of the potential CKII phosphorylation sites on Hprp3p. I confirmed that the C- but not N-terminal region of Hprp3p is phosphorylated by CKII in vitro and in cells. Moreover, CKII-mediated Hprp3p phosphorylation was significantly reduced by Thr494Met mutation. Consequently, the Hprp3p C-terminus is partially defective in its association with itself, Hprp4p, and U4/U6 snRNA. These findings provide new insights into the biology of Hprp3p and suggest that the loss of Hprp3p phosphorylation at Thr494 deregulates essential interactions required for the assembly of the U4/U6 snRNP complex and that this is likely linked to the RP18 phenotype.
Sinfonia, for symphony orchestra [Original composition]

Sinfonia is a single movement composition for large orchestra. This work has three main objectives: first, to compose a work in which the form is structured under rigorous proportions. Second, to use material which encompasses a wide variety of harmonic and melodic ideas. And thirdly, to write an orchestral work which is both virtuosi and engaging for the players and audience. All of the instruments of the orchestra a featured in soloistic manners as well as sections which are more chamber like. They are grouped in both choirs (brass or woodwind or string or percussion), and are also used in mixed formats, displaying a wide variety of orchestral colour. The form of Sinfonia is created by three different techniques. First, the work is divided into three major sections. A Sonata Allegro form is sandwiched between a chordal based section. The opening choral, spanning from measures 1 to 33 is restated to end the work beginning at measure 272. This restatement is in retrograde, and at 3 times the tempo. The second form of Sinfonia is that the entire work can be characterized by a continuous acceleration. At each major point of formal division, the tempo is increased. Lastly, the form is divided into sections that are strictly governed by the Golden mean. The A theme of the Sonata section lasts from measures 38 to 64. This theme is characterized by the use of a non-octave-transposing mode over the pedal note C. The B theme is stated in a solo bassoon from measures 68 to 79, and is defined by the use of a 26-note tone row. The harmonic material of the first part of the choral (m.m. 1-18) is the result of six inner lines which move in regular stepwise motion, and the outer two voices outline symmetrical patterns. The second part of the choral (m.m.19-33) is an expansion of a 12-note chord.
The role of early experience, HPA and executive function in maternal behavior

Parenting is determined by a multitude of factors. One line of evidence suggests that early life experiences affect subsequent parenting and these experiences are transmitted across generations. Animal studies investigating mechanisms of transmission have focused on biological factors, whereas research in humans has primarily emphasized learning, cognitive and psychosocial factors. This thesis attempts to examine neuropsychological and physiological factors as intervening mechanisms between early life adversity and current parental behaviors. Specifically, I propose a model linking retrospective reports of maternal early adversity to present maternal sensitivity through hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and executive function. The relations between these four main constructs are examined across three studies. In the first study, postpartum women completed several retrospective reports assessing adverse early life experiences (maltreatment and consistency of care). HPA function was assessed through salivary cortisol collections over two consecutive days for measurement of the cortisol awakening response and diurnal cortisol rhythm. Women who reported experiencing one or both types of adverse early experiences exhibited higher levels of awakening cortisol compared to women who reported no adverse early life experiences. These higher awakening cortisol levels were sustained throughout the morning in the groups who experienced early adversity with all groups exhibiting the typical diurnal decline. In study two, the relation between HPA and executive function was examined. The same women assessed in study one were administered the Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Test Battery (CANTAB) measuring a number of executive processes including attentional set-shifting, spatial working memory and sustained attention. Higher levels of diurnal area under the curve (AUC) cortisol were significantly related to poorer cognitive flexibility and spatial working memory strategy. In study three, the proposed model was tested. A series of path analyses indicated that adverse early experiences were indirectly related to maternal sensitivity through HPA function, which in turn was directly related to maternal sensitivity and was indirectly related through executive function. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that adverse early experiences may be associated with current parenting difficulties via physiological and neuropsychological mechanisms. An understanding of mechanism is essential to the development of interventions targeted at disrupting maladaptive trajectories of parenting.