VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Criminal law on the aboriginal plainsthe First Nations and the first criminal court in the North-West Territories, 1870-1903

This study undertakes an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the First Nations and the criminal law in the 'Saskatchewan' region of the North-West Territories, taking as its temporal point of departure the creation of the Territories in 1870. Through data derived from criminal court records from Hugh Richardson's tenure on the territorial bench (1876–1903), this study analyses the role of Canadian criminal law in a watershed period of social and legal transformation in and for the lives of the First Nations. The dissertation critically engages with discourses of criminalization in the historiography and calls for greater precision in the use of 'criminalization', where distinctions between criminal law and other forms of law are recognized. Specifically, it argues that offences under the Indian Act offences did not criminalize but rather 'Indianized' the First Nations. They were prosecuted as "Indians" - not as criminals - for not conforming to the behaviour required of Indians by the Indian Act. The dissertation departs from a conventional approach to criminal law, as forms of Aboriginal participation, rather than legal categories, were used to identify themes. Through an analysis of the criminal cases where Aboriginal people were prosecuted for criminal offences, as opposed to offences under the Indian Act, and in cases where the relationship between Government Indian policy and the administration of criminal justice can be discerned, the dissertation demonstrates the importance of attention to the specificity of different legal forms and actors and the relationship between them. The study has also found that Richardson's court could be a site of resistance to government policy by different actors, including Aboriginal people and even Richardson himself, as he did not always acquiesce to the entreaties of government officials, even as he admonished the Aboriginal people before him. Aboriginal participation in the criminal court is also analysed through court records in which Aboriginal persons were informants, victims or witnesses in criminal prosecutions. The dissertation re-situates criminal law within the law-state relation and concludes that criminal law operated in complex and contradictory ways that included the mediation as well as enforcement of relations of inequality.

Keywords: Indigenous peoples, Criminal law
Indigenous peoples, Northwest Territories
Criminal courts, Northwest Territories
The mediation effect of student engagement on academic demands and school identification

Students' perceived academic demands, student success, and resultant school identification were investigated in this research study. Past research indicates that students' engagement and identification with school are positively associated with successful school completion. From the perspective of learning theory and contemporary education policy, finding a balance between the level of difficulty associated with curriculum demands placed on students, the resultant success or failure experienced by students, and students' engagement with their learning environment is not straightforward and fully understood. One the one hand, students who succeed academically might not perceive the curriculum as very intellectually demanding, that is, the lower the perceived academic demands the greater the success, and the greater the likelihood that students will remain engaged in school. Yet, on the other hand, student motivation to learn might be related to the perceived intellectual challenges of the learning opportunities presented in school, that is, a demanding curriculum might contribute to greater student motivation, effort, and academic success. One of the key factors associated with student engagement is a students' academic success. However, student engagement in school is not simply a function of academic success, but is influenced by other variables such as perceptions that teachers care and a sense of belonging that not only contribute to student retention in school, but also to academic persistence. Emotional and behavioural engagement factors were considered as mediating variables to determine what impact they had on students' perceived level of academic demands and school identification. The research findings suggest that the mediating variables play a far more important role for engaging students than did the difficulty associated with curriculum content. The mediating influence of value of school, student/teacher relationships, and classroom/homework participation were all significantly related to school identification while reducing the influence of curriculum/program demands to a minimal level. One of the continuing challenges for education policy makers and educators is how to maximize the potential for academic success and high school completion in terms of their scope and difficulty to adequately prepare all students for post-secondary and workplace destinations.
The missing link: the impact of low biliteracy skills on bilingual linguistic identity

Studies examining biliteracy have concentrated predominantly on the positive contributions biliteracy makes in maintaining the first language. However, very few studies have examined how not achieving a high level of literacy in the community language (CL) affects the identity of adult, second generation immigrant Canadians. This study involved individuals from three different language groups including Cantonese, Polish and Urdu and examined whether their literacy abilities affect their perceptions of being bilingual. Through interviews and focus groups, insight was generated into these individuals' definitions and perceptions of ethnicity, language and identity. The findings reveal that social, political and educational factors all play a role in the amount of CL literacy an individual has been exposed to. The majority of participants stated that a lack of biliteracy skills neither makes them feel less bilingual nor weakens strong ties to aspects of their ethnic identity.

Keywords: Bilingualism, Psychological aspects
Bilingualism, Social aspects
Identity (Psychology)
Ethnicity
Literacy
Evaluation of allatostatin pseudopeptide analogs and quantification of allatostatin expression in the cockroach diploptera punctata

YXFGLa-allatostatins (ASTs) were originally identified on the basis of their ability to inhibit juvenile hormone biosynthesis in vitro by corpora allata from the cockroach, Diploptera punctata. In the invertebrates, they are now known to be a ubiquitous, multifunctional family of peptides. Although ASTs have been shown to affect important physiological processes in vitro, they are susceptible to inactivation by peptidases in the haemolymph, gut and other internal tissue membranes. We designed and synthesized a series of D. punctata-AST derived pseudopeptides, in which sterically bulky components were incorporated into the active core region to block peptidase attack. Peptidase cleavage and bioactivity were investigated in these analogs and the results used to design and synthesize the first pseudopeptide analog of an insect neuropeptide resistant to degradation by both haemolymph and membrane-bound peptidases. Injection of this analog into mated female D. punctata significantly inhibited the endogenous rates of JH biosynthesis and growth of basal oocytes. It is likely that the biological activity of AST(b)&phis;2 is attributable, at least in part, to its resistance to degradation. Disruption of critical reproductive and/or developmental processes by AST-pseudopeptide analogs could provide novel and selective strategies for future insect pest management. The cloning of the Dippu-AST preprohormone provided the necessary information to study Dippu-AST expression. We have developed (and optimized) a sensitive and specific quantitative competitive reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (QC-RT-PCR) method to quantify Dippu-AST expression. Using this technique, we have quantified levels of Dippu-AST mRNA in the brain of females (mated and virgin) and males, and in the midgut of mated females during early adult life. Levels of Dippu-AST expression changed significantly in the brains of mated and virgin females and in the midgut. We have also used this technique to show, for the first time, Dippu-AST expression in both the common and lateral oviducts, in addition to the ovary, in adult female D. punctata. The quantification of Dippu-AST mRNA has yielded insights into the function of ASTs. Furthermore, the quantification of Dippu-AST expression under normal conditions, will provide a basis for comparison of Dippu-AST expression following various physiological manipulations.
Agency, liberty, autonomy

I have two arguments against these views. The first is that neither can make proper sense of our interest in independence. This is because both understand restrictions on freedom in terms of reductions in one's option set, and it is possible to subject a person to one's will without restricting her options (for example, by altering her preference set). The second is that both rely on the coherence of the idea of deep agency, which I show to be incoherent. (The negative view of liberty does not rely on the idea directly, but is driven to it in an attempt to answer the first argument.) Deep agency theorists are unable, I argue, to explain what they mean by 'deep agency' in a non-circular way. There are two freedoms: liberty and autonomy. Liberty pertains to an agent's range of options: the extent of an agent's liberty is a matter of the alternatives open to her. Autonomy pertains to an agent's independence from others: the extent of an agent's autonomy is a matter of his lack of subjection to the control of other agents. My dissertation defends the dual nature of freedom, provides accounts of its two parts, and gives reasons for rejecting two widely-held rival views. The first of these rivals is the negative view of liberty: the idea that freedom is reduced only by impediments to choice imposed by other agents. The second is the deep agency view of autonomy: the idea that freedom consists in having a 'real' self, consisting in one's 'true' or 'authentic' purposes and values, which rules over the rest of oneself and determines one's behaviour. The first of these arguments motivates my account of autonomy: if we are to capture properly our interest in independence, we require a concept devoted to it alone. The second motivates my account of liberty: if there is no deep agency, then the account must be shallow and simple. I argue that these two concepts exhaust our interest in freedom.
A politics of piety: the latent modernity of Calvin's Christian philosophy

The relation of Calvin's thought to a set of distinctively modern political commitments has long intrigued observers. While once accepted as close to self-evident, however, the idea that there should be a positive connection tends to be received with skepticism today. Nonetheless, the resilience of this idea is well-founded, and it would be dismissed, as this study shows, at a considerable loss to our understanding of Calvin's importance. In the economic realm, where Calvin's affinity to modernity continues to be most widely accepted, the great influence of Weber's seminal study on the Protestant Ethic has tended to obscure the dynamic by which a focus on life in this world—and thus a remarkable impetus for social organization and economic activity—follows directly from Calvin's understanding of piety. Rather than following Weber, whose interpretation presupposes a crucial reversal on central points of Calvin's teachings, this study demonstrates, in its first part, that Calvinist worldliness is only seemingly paradoxical even at its most orthodox. From this foundation, the study proceeds, in the second part, to discussing Calvin's more explicitly political conceptions. Thus chapters one and two explore the demands for limited government and conditional political obligation—and thence the right to resistance against tyrannical regimes—in relation to what Calvin had to say about the authority of government and its limits; chapter three traces the move towards an understanding of political community as contractually based; and chapters four and five examine the path leading the Calvinist saints into a new kind of militancy, fostering equalization and democracy within their ranks at the expense of a stark politicization of relations with those outside the bounds of their community. In all cases, this study finds Calvin opening the way to a new politics only to block further movement along a path he deemed too dangerous to pursue. At all these points, then, modernity appears to be little more than a step removed from where Calvin was treading—albeit a step that Calvin resisted vehemently, confirming by his very vehemence how strongly the momentum he initiated, in many ways inadvertently, tended in such a direction.
Human rights protection in Canada: A unique, multi-dimensional approach

This thesis explores the human rights model that exists in Canada from the perspective of an outsider. It argues that the existence of three distinctive features reflects the uniqueness of the Canadian model: a shared jurisdiction between federal and provincial governments over human rights, a plurality of human rights-protecting instruments, and a protection of basic rights and fundamental freedoms at the provincial level. It describes each of these features and highlights the fact that sub-national legislation protects people not only from the state but just as importantly, from private individuals. Accordingly, it suggests that the strength of the provincial protection of human rights lies on the support given by the community. It concludes that states currently strengthening their human rights systems could draw significant lessons from what Canada has achieved on this matter.

Keywords: Human rights, Canada
Human rights, Provinces
Human rights, Canada
Collaboration in high schools: understanding cultures and overcoming barriers

This doctoral study's aim was to examine the development of teacher collaboration in two high schools that were striving to become professional learning communities. Pounder (1998) identified five dilemmas which constrain collaboration. These provided a framework for understanding the barriers to collaboration. They were: the need for change vs. the need for predictability; resource gains vs resource costs; professional interdependence vs. autonomy and discretion; balanced involvement vs. over-contro/under-involvement; and shared influence vs. the need to be accountable. The study was conducted during a time of intensive curriculum change and labour disruption which inhibited the staff's ability to formally work together. The findings illustrate how school-wide and department cultures are affected by teacher sanctions and curriculum pressures. In one school where teachers enjoyed strong staff supported relationships and a student-centred focus, collaboration persisted. In the other school where these conditions did not exist, the pressures of curriculum change and union sanctions inhibited teacher collaboration.

Keywords: High school teachers, Ontario
High school environment, Ontario
High school teachers, Attitudes
High school teachers, Ontario
Educational change, Ontario
School management and organization, Ontario
Modeling and analysis of dynamic behavior of hybrid wind-diesel power plants

This thesis develops small-signal and large-signal models to investigate the dynamic performance of a hybrid wind-diesel energy system interfaced to a utility grid. The study system comprises a 3.5-MVA diesel-generator unit operating in parallel with a 750-kVA variable-speed, squirrel-cage induction generator, wind unit. The wind unit is interfaced to the power network through a back-to-back voltage-sourced converter system. The controllers of the machine-side converter regulate the mechanical torque and the shaft speed of the induction generator to obtain maximum power production under fluctuating wind-speed conditions. The controllers of the grid-side converter maintain the dc-link voltage and the ac-side converter terminal voltage within the specified limits and ensure delivery of the captured wind power to the network. The diesel-generator unit is equipped with excitation and governor systems to compensate for (i) output power changes of the wind unit due to the intermittent nature of the wind, and (ii) changes in the load demand. Based on small-signal (eigen) analyses in the MATLABRTM software environment, the controller parameters of the wind and the diesel units are selected to guarantee (i) minimization of transients due to switch over between two consecutive modes of operation, (ii) voltage/angle stability during islanded (autonomous) mode of operation, and (iii) local load requirements in terms of voltage and real/reactive power. The developed eigen analysis tool is structured to accommodate any network configuration, any number of wind-diesel units, and any variable-speed wind-unit technology. The results obtained from time-domain simulations, in the PSCAD RTM/EMTDCRTM software environment, demonstrate that proper adjustment of the controllers of the wind and diesel units promote "ride-through" capability in the event of (i) pre-planned transitions between different modes of operation, (ii) pre-planned islanding and re-connection of the units to the power network, and (iii) short circuits, accidental islanding and subsequent re-connection attempts to the network.
Supermode analysis of flexibility effects in aircraft structures

Current flexibility simulation techniques involve a compromise between solution accuracy and real-time simulation performance. Modal analysis is used to determine elastic deformations, and the limitations placed upon the number of admissible normal modes by the simulator's capabilities can cause poor solution convergence. This work presents an alternative modelling technique using supermodes, which represent linear combinations of normal modes. A simple vibrating cantilever beam is used to describe the procedure. A finite element model of the beam is constructed to obtain the normal modes which are then used to build the supermodes. Various construction alternatives are presented before the matrix of supermodes is assembled. The properties and limitations of the supermodes are discussed. The model's robustness is tested under various loading conditions: initial conditions, harmonic loading, step loading and ramp loading. The paper concludes with a discussion on modelling recommendations and a list of future work.
Voltage control of a matrix converter as the interface medium for a distributed generation unit

This thesis proposes and investigates application of a three-phase AC-AC Matrix Converter (MC), as an alternative to the conventional AC-DC-AC converter system, to interface a Micro-Turbine-Generator (MTG) unit as a Distributed Generation (DG) unit to a utility distribution grid. As compared with a conventional AC-DC-AC converter system, lack of storage elements in a MC results in a stronger coupling and interactions between the AC sides of the MC and thus necessitates more stringent control of the MC to prevent/mitigate such effects. This thesis develops a novel dynamic model of the MC to analytically investigate and quantify the interaction phenomenon and design controllers of the MC. This thesis introduces a novel voltage control strategy for the MC to enable operation of a MC-interfaced MTG (MTG-MC) unit in (i) a grid-connected mode, (ii) an autonomous (islanded) mode, and (iii) transition between the two modes. The control strategy also provides an inherent islanding detection method without non-detection zone, and disturbance ride-through capability. The proposed voltage controller is intended for operation of the MTG-MC unit under balanced grid/load conditions. The MC voltage controller is augmented with a negative-sequence current controller to enable the MTG-MC unit also to operate under unbalanced grid/load conditions as a DG unit. The studies reported in this thesis are based on eigen analyses of the overall system linearized dynamic model, in the MATLAB environment, and digital time-domain simulation studies of the system nonlinear model, in the PSCAD/EMTDC environment.
Application of DPCA to oil data pH model building and comparison of optimal CBM policies

This thesis builds Proportional Hazards Model (PHM) for Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) using covariates obtained from Dynamic Principal Component Analysis (DPCA) of oil data. DPCA covariates, derived from DPCA of the oil data, represent most of the variability in the original data with reduced dimension and little cross-correlation. This makes DPCA covariates ideal variables in maintenance modeling and decision making. The analysis is performed in two steps. Firstly, analyze the correlation in the original data and apply DPCA to the multivariate time series fitted to the data. Then, test the correlation of selected DPCA covariates, define their states as Markov process, and build the PHM. A case study using oil data obtained from monitoring heavy hauler trucks is developed. The maintenance policy using DPCA covariates appears superior to the one using original variables.
A critical analysis of public participation in health policy choice in Brazil

Participation of the community within health policy choice attempts at enhancing accountability to the citizenry in terms of transparency related to the processes within and outcomes of the system. Public participation occurs in the form of Health Councils. This thesis examines whether public participation in the form of Health Councils is really providing a meaningful voice to communities in health policy development. I argue that in reality, the organizational structure of the Health Councils is dominated by governmental choice coupled with professional expertise; and users have only a limited say and weak influence, which is filtered through organized interest groups1. To advance accountability in terms of transparency, this thesis suggests that patterns of the equal participation can be achieved through collaborative network of interdisciplinary organizational partnerships.1Perhaps those famous lines "Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right" by Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You" makes sense here.

Keywords: Medical policy, Citizen participation
Medical policy, Brazil
Health boards, Brazil
Medical laws and legislation, Brazil
Aspect-oriented middleware

This thesis proposes a new paradigm, Modelware, for reducing the complexity of middleware design and implementation. The Modelareware approach distinguishes between the core architecture design and the crosscutting architectural elements. The crosscutting elements are scattered around the entire middleware code base, can not be easily encapsulated through the traditional software decompostion model. Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) allows the different abstraction models to be superimposed on top of one another. By utilizing this capability of AOP, the Modelware approach successfully encapsulates the crosscutting features to coherent modules that matches the design specifications of these features. Both the core and aspect-oriented design in Modelware utilize the Model Driven Architecture methodologies to further reduce the complexity of middleware implementation. The Modelware Customization Framework, proposed in this thesis, ensures that the aspect-oriented features can be correctly composed together. To evaluate Modelware methodologies, two middleware systems, CORBA and JMS, are implemented in Modelware, as case studies.