VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Addiction-specific Support Group Use, Personality Characteristics and Recovery Status in Substance Abusers, a Follow-up Study

This thesis is a prospective, three-month follow-up study of 228 of mixed-substance, mixed-gender sample of substance-abusing clients who entered a private addiction rehabilitation hospital for residential treatment. The goal was to try and predict recovery status and use of addiction-specific supports (aftercare and 12-step programs) at the three-month follow-up point, as half of all relapses occur within this time frame. The variables tested were psychological and social. Little is known about the psychological characteristics of those who maintain gains of treatment and of those who attend addiction-specific support groups following treatment. This study aimed at filling this void with useful and applicable findings. The psychological factors examined here were Alexithymia (difficulty in identifying and verbally describing feelings) as measured by the revised Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20); optimism, measured by the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R); and beliefs regarding the disease versus the free-will models of addictions, as measured by the Addiction Belief Scale (ABS). The use of support groups was used both as a potential predictor (of recovery status) and as an outcome variable. Recovery status and the level of use of support groups were assessed from data gathered at the three-month follow-up telephone interview. To assess recovery status, baseline information was compared to post-treatment level of substance use. Multiple sources of confirmation of clients' reports regarding post-treatment behaviour were used. The most striking finding of this study was the fact that 'all ' the clients who attended the aftercare program regularly or aftercare and 12-step groups combined, were in high recovery (abstinent or highly improved) during the first three months post treatment. Attendance in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups alone was also significantly associated with recovery status at three months. In addition, two of the three psychological variables (Alexithymia and Addiction Beliefs) were significantly associated with level of aftercare use. Additional analysis included an examination of demographic data as potential predictors of outcome and a gender analysis which was limited in scope by the small number of women in the study. An added outcome variable was the completion of the initial treatment program. The significant findings of all analyses are reported and discussed.
Electra after Freud, death, hysteria and mourning

This study considers the importance of the Electra myth for the twentieth century, and in so doing resurrects a theme which has been curiously neglected despite the proliferation of modern adaptations. The myth and its heroine are located at the intersections of history and the feminine, eros and thanatos, hysteria and melancholia. At the point of departure is Hugo yon Hofmannsthal's influential 'Elektra' (1903), which introduces two important twentieth-century innovations to the Electra myth, the heroine's death and hysteria. Walter Benjamin's reading of allegory in 'Der Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels' serves as a theoretical framework for a discussion of the significance of Electra's allegorical "Dance of Death" in Eugene O'Neill's 'Mourning Becomes Electra', Sartre's ' Les Mouche's and Heiner Miller's 'Hamletmaschine'. This is followed by a consideration of the uncanny similarities between Joseph Breuer and Sigmund Freud's case study of the hysterical "Anna O." and Hofmannsthal's Elektra, where it is demonstrated that the mythological heroine indeed subverts her hysterical diagnosis by playing analyst to her own author. A further chapter shows the complexity of the interrelations of language, music and dance in Strauss's operatic adaptation of Hofmannsthal's ' fin de siècle' play, and demonstrates that Elektra manipulates the Viennese waltz into an ironic reminder of naive frivolity, decadent decay, and omnipresent paternity. Ezra Pound's unconventional translation of Sophocles' ' Electra' in turn transforms the heroine from a grief-stricken hysteric into an angry defender of civic responsibility, whereby the mourning daughter's predicament parallels the poet's own incarceration. Finally, the poetic enactment of Electra's story is treated as the testimony of personal trauma in H.D.'s "A Dead Priestess Speaks" and Sylvia Plath's ' Ariel Poems', in which these manifestations of melancholia arguably constitute a "poetics of survival." Overcoming hysteria and mourning in an ecstatic 'Totentanz', this century's Electra ultimately triumphs through courage, strength and her fierce determination to act.
Kinematic calibration of a reconfigurable robot, RoboTwin

Kinematic calibration is the process of determination of actual robot parameters using the nominal geometric parameters of the robot and specific measurements made on the robot. For a new robot, kinematic calibration is essential for improving the end point accuracy. The RoboTwin is a modular, expandable and re-configurable robot system, designed and patented by Robotics and Automation Lab (RAL), University of Toronto. It can be configured in one of many configurations. Kinematic calibration of such a system possesses a new challenge as the calibration methodology has to be generic enough to be configuration independent. This thesis presents a calibration methodology for a re-configurable robot system (RoboTwin). The calibration methodology developed is implemented on the RoboTwin. A user interface is developed to guide the user through the task of calibration. The results of calibration for two RoboTwin configurations are presented. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Stability of an equatorial jet and the formation of cyclone twins

It has been observed that equatorial cyclone twins (ECTs), which may be a triggering factor for El Niño events, are usually preceded by powerful jet-like westerly wind bursts. These bell-shaped profiles are usually modelled (in a rather arbitrary manner) as being Gaussian or sinusoidal in shape. These types of profiles are generally barotropically unstable to infinitesimal perturbations in the most common linearized geophysical models, be they quasigeostrophic, shallow water, or Boussinesq, but the structures of the instabilities are very different from what would be required to trigger an ECT. A more generalized wind flow, however, can lead to growing modes with symmetric lows across the equator that are similar to ECTs. The instabilities may be understood in terms of the wave resonance theory, in which neutral waves (which may be induced by shear, background vorticity, gravity, or some other restoring mechanism) can phase-lock and grow in order to destabilize the flow.
DNA vaccination confers protection against coxsackieviral myocarditis

Myocarditis due to Coxsackievirus (CVB) infection has been tied to the development of heart failure and dilated cardiomyopathy. Currently, there is no Prevention against viral infection. The development of a genetic vaccine that could induce immunity could offer the protection needed against the virus. We cloned the VP1 fragment of two strains of CVB3 and one strain of CVB4 into a pCMV-driven vector system known for its high expression in muscle cells in vivo. The polyvalent vaccine (PV), was compared to the non-vaccinated (NV), scrambled placebo (Ctl), monovalent (MV), and killed (KV) vaccine in a standard CVB myocarditis model in A/J mice. In vivo results showed that both the PV and KV vaccines reduced the 10 day mortality to 45% (PV) and 37% (KV) respectively compared to 75% in the Ctl, 60% in the non-vaccinated (NV) and 52% in the MV groups. Pathology examination followed with the least degree of pathology seen in the PV group. Viral titering as expressed by pfu/mg of heart tissue showed a decrease in titers in the PV and KV compared to the NV and Ctl animal groups. Therefore both the polyvalent DNA-based vaccine and killed vaccine can be successfully generated in vivo against target proteins in CVB.
Multiple simultaneous specifications (MSS) control design method of a high-speed AC induction motor

A practical control system design may require that several different performance specifications be considered at the same time. Generally, a controller may be able to satisfy multiple conflicting performance specifications through manual gain tuning, however, when the specifications are stringent, finding suitable gains with this approach may be difficult. Therefore, there exists a need for a control design methodology to permit the systematic design of controllers to satisfy multiple simultaneous specifications. This thesis presents the application of a feedback control design method, referred to here as a Multiple Simultaneous Specification (MSS) control design method, which addresses the design of controllers to satisfy multiple simultaneous conflicting design specifications. The MSS control design method utilizes the convexity of common closed-loop performance specifications with respect to the closed-loop system transfer function to combine a set of "sample controllers", each tuned to satisfy at least one closed-loop performance specification, to formulate a single controller which satisfies all specifications. While control gain tuning is central to the design process, the tuning process is greatly simplified, when compared with the tuning exercise presented when a single set of control gains is adjusted to satisfy a set of multiple simultaneous closed-loop specifications. The proposed MSS control method is applied to a high-speed AC induction motor, with an inner-loop Flux Vector Controller applied, to design a position control system. Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of this method.
Sorption of strontium to bacteria, Fe(III) oxide and bacteria-Fe(III) oxide composites in relation to contaminant fate

Geochemical characterization of reactions at solid surfaces involving dissolved inorganic contaminants has emerged as a central topic of environmental geochemistry. The objectives of this work therefore were to quantify, in a comparative manner, the relative Sr2+ sorptive properties of bacteria, hydrous ferric oxide (BFO) and bacterial-HFO composite solid surfaces. The results showed that the bacteria have a higher affinity and sorb significantly greater quantities of Sr2+ than the IHFO. Additionally, sorption to the bacteria occurred at lower pH values compared to IHFO, but exhibited a strong dependence on ionic strength, indicative of an outer-sphere complexation. reaction. Conversely, sorption to IHFO was ionic strength independent or inner-sphere in nature. Of particular interest was the sorptive properties of bacterial-IHFO composite solids as mixed adsorbent solids have been shown to be nonadditive in their sorptive behaviour. Calculated distribution coefficients (log K d) demonstrated that Sr2+ partitioning to composite bacterial-IHFO solids was largely dependent on bacterial mass fractions.
The neurophysiological effects of aging on temporal processing in the visual cortex

Aging can produce a decline in the ability to process visual motion. This decline is due in part to a slowing in temporal processing, the locus of which may reside in the central visual system. This study used critical flicker fusion (CFF), or the frequency of flickering light required to produce an appearance of steady light, to compare temporal processing in visual cortical neurons in young (2-4 months) and old (24-28 months) Long Evans Hooded rats. It was hypothesized that a slowing in cortical temporal processing would result in decreased physiological CFF thresholds in old subjects. CFF thresholds were significantly reduced in old animals in both primary and secondary visual cortex and in simple, complex, and hypercomplex cells. This study provides the first indication of a neurophysiological difference in temporal processing speed in the aging visual cortex that may underlie behavioural observations of reduced CFF in elderly observers.
Brood parasitism and genetic parentage in Goldeneye ducks, an analysis using DNA fingerprinting

Despite the broad appeal of DNA fingerprinting there has been little evaluation of the accuracy of this technique. DNA fingerprints for a population of Barrow's Goldeneyes ('Bucephala islandica') and Common Goldeneyes ('Bucephala clangula') were prepared and optimum methods of scoring DNA autoradiograms to assign parentage and sibship were analysed. Scoring-by-eye using the 3 most intense DNA bands was the most accurate method to score individuals within a single blot. Scoring the transmission of the 6 most intense maternal bands was the most accurate method to determine patterns of parentage between individuals in separate blots. I then used DNA fingerprinting to examine the egg-laying behavior and reproductive success of individual females. According to DNA evidence, 36-40% of breeding females laid eggs parasitically in addition to establishing their own nest. These females had significantly higher reproductive success than females that did not act as brood parasites. Parasitic interactions occurred among females nesting on the same lake, but parasites did not necessarily choose neighbors as hosts. A confounding, but intriguing, pattern was that several females in the breeding population were related and may have laid eggs in the nests of close relatives.
Intercultural theatre: Two Beijing opera adaptations of Shakespeare

As major theories and praxis of theatrical interculturalism are disseminated from experiences in Euro-American theatre, contemporary Asian theatre is conscious of developing its own strategies and discourses on adapting foreign (particularly Western) theatrical elements into native traditions. Historically, intercultural theatre in Asia emerged as a result of Western dominance and Westernization which started in late nineteenth century. Since the nativist movement and nationalism spread in the 1970s, Asian artists have consciously used interculturalism to express their cultural subjectivity and to revitalize their declining traditions. Some even see it a vital means by which to take part in a larger, more universal "world culture." Thus the seminal issue which defines the task and goal of Asian theatrical interculturalism is how to achieve the equilibrium between borrowing Western playwriting and staging techniques, which gives social significance to modern audience, and preserving Asian forms and aesthetics, which provides cultural roots and a sense of continuity with the past. This thesis singles out two distinctive traditions--Beijing opera and Shakespearean drama--and examines their confrontation and reception. This process is surveyed from a historical angle, including: (1) the impact of Western cultural and theatrical models on China; (2) Beijing opera's adaptation of specific Western dramaturgical elements under various social and political environments; (3) Shakespeare productively received as a literary, cultural, and dramatic paradigm in China and Taiwan. Although the cross-cultural fertilization between the two proves to have been more sporadic than systematic, it indicates the beginning of a much more intense and sophisticated intercultural movement involving the adaptation of Western non-realistic theatre by Asian traditional forms. Through adapting Shakespeare, Beijing opera in late-1980s Taiwan has moved towards three major directions: to a form which requires little "preknowledge" of artistic conventions in the audience; to a form which balances musical perfection with scenographic expression; and to a literary theatre which emphasizes structural tightness, character complexity, and relevant themes. These shifts, along with the opera's newly-gained international significance in world tours, have released Beijing opera from its artistic conventionalism and political propagandism, and opened a new vista for future development.
The integration of information technology into the elementary school curriculum: Focus on Computer Contact Teachers

This study of a large Ontario school board focussed on the issues facing Computer Contact Teachers (CCTs) in their support of the use of information technology in elementary schools. In this Canadian baseline study, utilizing quantitative and qualitative data obtained from 108 CCT questionnaire responses received from 94 schools and 13 interviews with CCTs, principals, and board-level administrators, the needs for more time, training and technical support were heard frequently. To promote the use of technology in education, several issues of concern were identified. These included: discrepancies in wide-ranging CCT services offered; less tertiary computer education; the need for greater training, with a shift in focus; inequitable workloads; minimal staff development funds; inconsistent technical support; conflicts in technical training requests; significant increases in time commitment; frustration with fulfilling role; problems associated with the role's voluntary nature; lack of supportive documentation; and conflicts associated with the varying roles. Recommendations for CCTs, trainers, districts, and provinces include: the creation of a formal CCT job description; the provision of regular, accountable, in-school technical support; the redirection of technical expectations to the technicians to reduce the CCTs' time commitment, allowing a greater focus on curricular issues; an overall increase in CCT training, with limited CCT technical training and a shift from software introduction training to curricular integration of software; the provision of compensation for CCTs; the creation of provincial or district expectations for the use of computer technology; the promotion of networking among CCTs; the budgeting of 20% of information technology funds for staff development; the reduction of inequities in technology among the schools; and the promotion of CCT-teams in schools. These recommendations will help to offer the CCT greater success in the implementation of technology. The major implication for schools is that progress toward computer literacy and integration will be limited without proper support and training. While these issues have been identified a decade ago, they have not yet been resolved. It is not enough to purchase hardware and software without staff and students knowing what to do with them. The CCTs are a key to this resolution, but need greater support.
Canadian life and health insurance productivity evaluation using data envelopment analysis

The three-year average of technical efficiency scores, employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), are reported in this work as 0.82 and 2.02 based on the Canadian Life and Health insurers' production and investment performance, which is equivalent to $10.2 billion and $20.2 billion in savings, respectively. The evidence indicates that constant returns-to-scale technology operates in the Canadian insurance industry with a significant number of increasing returns-to-scale participants. Furthermore, the results show that firm efficiency is statistically related to their size as well as to conventional performance indicators. Efficiencies of alternative organizational forms, ownership types and distribution methods are investigated to conclude that insurer characteristics have no significant effects on DEA scores. The assessment of changes in efficiency and productivity over the 1996-1998 period using the Malmquist Index methodology indicates that insurers exhibited overall technical efficiency losses, technological progress and scale efficiency losses based on their production performance. However, only relatively minor improvements or deteriorations have taken place throughout the sample period in terms of the insurers' investment ability.
A qualitative inquiry exploring resiliency in six women in the process of transformation in their lives

The present research is a qualitative analysis of the life histories of six women undergoing life transition. Research questions explored participants' inner characteristics and supports around them contributing to resiliency, through reflection and articulating personal narratives. Questions also asked participants to reflect on the process of talking about resiliency and whether that changed their perceptions, and to reflect on what they believe constituted their own personal resiliency. Results revealed that there are a wide range of inner characteristics and supports in place for women who are resilient. The findings of this research are the influence of one key person, the ability to self-reflect, articulate experiences and as a result move to another level of development. Other commonalities are an independent spirit, and previously overcoming stress or conflict in an earlier age. The women in this study described resilience as "bouncing back." The literature reviewed for this research focussed on life change as well as adaptation to major life crises such as war, as well as other risk factors associated with trauma, mental illness or major socio-economic changes. It is questionable whether resilience literature dealing with severe trauma reflect the experience of women in this study.
In God's country: State, society and democracy in the Italian election of 1948

This thesis examines the role of the Italian parliamentary election of 1948 in the origins of the postwar Italian Republic. It tells the story of the re-birth of democracy in Italy after some twenty years of Fascist dictatorship through the lens of this election, the first of the Republican era. The 1948 election was not so much about "issues" as it was about "ideology," a clash between competing visions of Italian society--a conservative, Catholic, capitalist Italy envisioned by the governing Christian Democrats; and a revolutionary, secular, socialist Italy envisioned by the opposition Marxist Popular Front. This clash of visions left little room for any middle ground as each camp sought power through the ballot box. Although this election is widely acknowledged as a decisive moment in contemporary Italian history, there is still no comprehensive study of this crucial event. Most scholarly studies focus on one aspect or another of this controversial episode, and are often article-length. More generally, the historical literature on the topic is highly descriptive in nature, ignoring the relevance of the election to broader questions of postwar Italian political culture and behaviour, and the functioning of Italian democracy after Fascism. This thesis breaks new ground by providing a multi-layered analysis of a political event. It seeks to widen the conventional presentation of political history, weaving together the broad political and diplomatic narrative of 1948, with the social and psychological dimensions of the election at the grassroots. A central concern of the thesis is the evolution of a democratic political culture and institutions in Italy after 1945. Examining the transition from dictatorship to democracy, the cultural and institutional legacy of Fascism in the democratic transition, it also considers the 1948 campaign as a formative moment in the political socialization of Italians to the democratic process after two decades of Fascist rule. The thesis also documents the international context in which the vote took place. Italian events are placed in a broader European setting as the continent emerged from years of dictatorship and war. The wider Cold War context of the vote is also considered. Coming on the heels of the Truman Doctrine, and given Italy's strategic position in the middle of western Europe, and at the heart of the Mediterranean basin, the 1948 election can be seen as a prism through which the growing tensions of the nascent Cold War were refracted.