VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Transport and degradation of hydrophobic pollutants in biofilms in biofilters

This research focuses on understanding the transport and reaction mechanisms taking place in biofilms in biofilters treating hydrophobic pollutants. The objectives of this study were to experimentally determine partition and diffusion coefficients of a model hydrophobic compound (alpha-pinene) through natural and artificial biofilms. This was done by setting up bench-scale biofilters to generate biofilms to use in partitioning and transport experiments. Batch partitioning experiments indicate that alpha-pinene has a higher degree of partitioning into biofilm than into water due to the presence of solids (two orders of magnitude). A diffusion cell has also been designed and built to study the transport of alpha-pinene through various artificial biofilms. The average diffusion coefficient of alpha-pinene through agar, which has the same partitioning properties' as water, was found to be 3.4 x 10 -6 cm2/s (S.D.: 1.2 x 10-6 cm2/s, n = 12). Transport experiments performed with alpha-pinene using inactivated biofilm, previously grown on methanol and alpha-pinene, immobilised in agarose indicate that initially sorption takes place within the film but after this initial lag phase, the transport rate is not significantly different from agar, indicating the ratio of the diffusion and partition coefficient of the mobile phase is the same. Therefore, at steady state we expect the transport rates of hydrophobic pollutants through biofilms to be the same as through water. A new explanation of high degradation rates was put forth whereby a biologically mediated transformation is taking place with alpha-pinene being oxidised into a more soluble compound. A simple model based on zero-order kinetics was developed that fit results seen in the diffusion cell using active a-pinene leachate immobilised in low melting point agarose. The proposed identity of this more soluble by-product, is cis-2,8-p-menthadien-1-ol, a menthadienol, a novel metabolite of alpha-pinene degradation. By extension, this model fits biofiltration data collected from Raschig ring biofilters treating alpha-pinene.
Exploring a multi-integrated model of gay male partner abuse

The study of partner abuse has been documented in the literature over the past 30 years. However, it is only in the last decade that studies have started to focus on partner abuse in gay male relationships. Most of the quantitative research has focused on prevalence and incidence rates. Although correlates of gay partner abuse has been studied it has not been guided by theory. Most of the theories about gay partner abuse have been based on heterosexual partner abuse models. Recent trends in theory development have suggested that a number of theories be combined to create a multi-integrated model of partner abuse. The current study tested this trend by surveying 155 men across North America (i.e., Canada and the United States) on a variety of variables established or hypothesized by the literature to influence gay male partner abuse. These variables acted as indicators to four factors that this study has suggested will act in concert to influence partner abuse in gay men. These four factors that were studied were: Clinical, Socio-Political, Orientation-Specific, and Previous Social Learning. The Clinical Factor concerned itself with indicator variables that were related to personality features and alcohol use, while the Socio-Political Factor focused on indicators of perception of power and satisfaction. The Orientation-Specific Factor had indicator variables related to minority stress and attitudes towards myths of same-sex partner abuse, while the Previous Social Learning Factor was concerned with experiencing child abuse or exposure to domestic violence. This study analyzed whether these factors had an effect on Partner Abuse via Structural Equation Modeling. This analysis found that the Clinical, the Orientation-Specific and the Previous Social Learning Factors had a direct effect on Partner Abuse. Additionally, the Previous Social Learning Factor not only had a direct or proximal effect on Partner Abuse, it also had an indirect or distal impact via Orientation-Specific Factor. The Socio-Political Factor did not have a significant effect on Partner Abuse, but Previous Social Learning had an effect on Socio-Political. The relationships between these factors and their effect on Partner Abuse were delineated. Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Alteration in the metabolism of [alpha]-synuclein leads to aggregate formation in dementia with lewy bodies

The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in the solubility of alpha-synuclein (α-S) contribute to the development of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Brain homogenates from DLB and a healthy control were subjected to glycerol gradient separation and analyzed by immunoblotting. The results showed that α-S is present in native complexes in both DLB and healthy brains. However, α-S doublets were observed in DLB only, a sign that disease is present. Subsequently, brain homogenates from DLB and controls were sequentially fractionated by solubility and analyzed by immunoblotting. The results revealed that α-S monomers are soluble in Triton 100-X and that the accumulation of α-S aggregated species occurs solely in DLB cases of both sodium-dodecyl sulfate and urea fractions, an indication of their pathogenicity. In conclusion, the soluble α-S undergoes progressive transition to insolubility, which may promote aggregation via a nucleation-dependent mechanism in DLB brains.
High urinary calcium excretion and familial aggregation of hypertension, kidney stone disease, obesity, excessive weight gain and type 2 diabetes in patients with calcareous stones

Associations between kidney stone disease (KSD), hypertension, obesity, excessive weight gain and type 2 diabetes suggest the possibility that susceptible individuals share a common genetic background and are influenced by similar environmental factors. To test this hypothesis, this thesis examined (1) the aggregation of these conditions in families of KSD patients with hypercalciuria, and (2) the combined effect of dietary potassium (K+), measured by its urinary excretion, and hypercalciuria on the familial risk of these conditions. Consecutive KSD patients, aged 18-50 years, were recruited from a population-based Kidney Stone Center and collected a 24-hour urine sample. The first-degree relatives of eligible subjects (n=333) and their spouse were interviewed by telephone to collect demographic and health information. Familial aggregation was assessed using Generalized Estimating Equations. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (OR) revealed significant associations between hypercalciuria in patients and hypertension and KSD in first-degree relatives and specifically in siblings (OR and 95% confidence interval for hypertension = 2.9, 1.4-6.2 and for KSD = 1.9, 1.03-3.5). No significant associations were found in parents or spouses, or in patients with hyperuricosuria. Similarly, no aggregation with other conditions was observed. When examining the effects of urinary K+, relatives of low K+ excretors had a higher frequency of obesity and excessive weight gain, but not hypertension, KSD or diabetes, than those of normal excretors. In hypercalciuric patients, however, low K+ excretion predicted hypertension (OR = 3.3, 1.5-7.4) and KSD (OR = 2.9, 1.1-7.3) in first-degree relatives, and diabetes in siblings (OR = 4.1, 1.1-15.6). No conditions aggregated in spouses. In a validation study, increased 24-hour urinary K+ was associated with a progressive increase in diet quality score, the intake of foods recommended by current dietary guidelines and a lower BMI, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. While an environmental effect cannot be fully excluded, the findings suggest that the disturbance in calcium metabolism in hypertension and KSD has a genetic basis. Furthermore, the combination of a low K+ diet, an environmental factor, and hypercalciuria, a suspected inherited trait, identified a subset of patients with an apparent common pathway for the development of KSD, hypertension and possibly diabetes.
Are PCBs really legacy POPs? A spatial evaluation of PCBs in Toronto, Canada

Cities are reservoirs of large stocks of materials, of which a very small fraction is persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances (PBTs). This paper describes a study of the use in, and release from urban infrastructure of PCBs, perhaps the most infamous PBT. An assessment of PCB stocks in Toronto shows that most PCBs are contained in building sealants. Lesser stocks are contained within in-use transformers, the largest cluster of which is in large, electricity-intensive office towers. To support the estimate of high levels of PCBs in urban areas, soil and sediment samples were collected from ten riverside sites in the GTA. Sediment and soil concentrations of SigmaPCBs show 10-fold and 30-fold urban-rural gradients, respectively. The gradient of increasing concentrations from rural to urban areas peaks in downtown Toronto, and mimics the pattern of the stock of PCBs in building sealants and electrical equipment.
The characterization of Fgl-2 activities in rodent xenotransplantation. In vivo and in vitro studies

Xenotransplantation, specifically organ transplantation from pig-to-human, offers a solution to the shortage of human organs for transplantation. Acute vascular rejection (AVR), the second and currently problematic stage of rejection, is mediated by endothelial cell (EC) activation and thrombosis. Fibrinogen-like protein 2 (Fgl-2) has been shown to be a unique pro-coagulant that directly cleaves prothrombin to thrombin. We also examined the effect of fgl-2 deficiency in accommodation induction and immunosuppression withdrawal. Fgl-2 may have multiple functions, including coagulation and immunomodulation. Following immunosuppression withdrawal, fgl-2 +/+ grafts underwent an acute mixed xenograft rejection, that was predominately vascular in nature. Fgl-2 -/- grafts underwent a rejection most resembling acute allograft cellular rejection. These studies also indicated that accommodated fg/-2 -/- grafts and their recipients underwent immunomodulation following immunosuppression withdrawal including a reduction of both xenoantigen expression on the vascular EC surface and anti-donor xenoantibody production found in the recipient bloodstream. Therefore, the phenotype was modified from acquired humoral to acquired cellular rejection. Previous findings from our laboroatory indicated that porcine kidney xenografts undergoing AVR showed induction of Fgl-2 on graft vascular ECs in conjunction with thrombosis following pig-to-primate xenotransplantation in vivo. We first examined whether targeted deletion of the fgl-2 gene in the donor would ameliorate thrombosis in a cardiac mouse-to-rat xenotransplantation model. Fgl-2 was required for the thrombosis associated with AVR but the fgl-2 deficiency lead to a novel accelerated cellular rejection mediated by macrophage infiltration and cardiomyocyte and EC apoptosis. Therefore, the phenotype of rejection was modified from innate humoral to innate cellular rejection. Another series of experiments suggested that Fgl-2 may have negative regulatory activity for endothelial-monocyte interactions, where its deficiency on the donor graft lead to severe recipient macrophage adhesion, subsequent infiltration, and graft loss. Collectively, these studies indicate Fgl-2 is an active pro-coagulant with potential immunoregulatory functions in a rodent xenotransplantation model and that its absence modifies the rejection phenotype from humoral to cellular, which may be more amenable to treatment with clinically available immunosuppression. Thus, manipulation of fgl-2, at least in part, in combination with other interventions, may prevent AVR and allow clinical xenotransplantation.
The sphere melting technique: Mathematical modelling and experimental measurements

In order to calculate the dimensionless heat transfer coefficient in a liquid metal, a procedure is developed using the results that can be obtained using the sphere melting technique. Dimensionless correlations for natural and forced convection are obtained from results from the numerical model and from the experimental measurements carried out for this investigation. A comparison between the results obtained and from other authors proves that the heat transfer coefficient must be measured in a material with similar Prandtl number. The buoyancy parameter that limits the influence of natural convection in the solution is calculated from the experimental measurements. The present investigation focuses on the application of the sphere melting technique to the measurement of velocity and the measurement of the Nusselt number in high temperature liquid metals. When a metallic sphere is immersed in a bath of the same composition as the sphere, the melting time depends on the sphere's material, size, and the bath's temperature and flow condition. To find the relationship between these parameters, a mathematical model is developed. The present investigation focuses on the application of the sphere melting technique to the measurement of velocity and the measurement of the Nusselt number in high temperature liquid metals. When a metallic sphere is immersed in a bath of the same composition as the sphere, the melting time depends on the sphere's material, size, and the bath's temperature and flow condition. To find the relationship between these parameters, a mathematical model is developed. There is no established method to measure the velocity in high temperature liquid metals. The total melting time of a metal sphere immersed in a bath can be correlated with the velocity and temperature of the bath. This can be used to infer the magnitude of velocity inside the bath. An experimental apparatus is constructed to measure the melting times of Aluminum and AZ91 spheres as a function of the bath's temperature and velocity. In order to measure the direction of velocity in a liquid metal, a special device with several melting probes is designed, developed and constructed. The applicability of the method in different liquid metal systems is analyzed.
Generation of doxycycline-inducible cell lines expressing zinc finger transcription factors AJ18 and Krox26

AJ18 and Krox26 represent novel zinc finger transcription factors involved in osteogenesis. To identify downstream targets of these genes, cell lines were created from the osteogenic MC3T3-E1 line where target gene expression could be regulated by Doxycycline (Dox). While no inducible lines were obtained for Krox26, two clonal cell lines with inducible AJ18 expression were isolated. Since these lines proved to be unstable, RNA for the Affymetrix array studies was prepared from parental MC3T3-E1 cells that had been transiently co-transfected and incubated with or without Dox for 3 and 8 hours. Analyses of the resulting hybridization profiles revealed that 25 genes (16 increased, 9 decreased) and 99 genes (26 increased, 73 decreased) had a 2-fold or greater change at the 3 hour and 8 hour time points, respectively. Further studies into the expression profiles of these genes will aid in illuminating the role of AJ18 in the osteogenic pathway.
Beliefs and practices of visual arts and aesthetics by non-specialist primary art teachers

This study explores how non-specialist primary art school teachers' beliefs and practices emerge in their teaching of visual art and aesthetics in the classrooms. A literature review suggests that very little research exists in this area. In order to contextualize how teaching may be influenced by art and aesthetic knowledge views are presented of aesthetic philosophy literature, as well as the theoretical models of Walker and Parsons, and the curriculum orientations perspectives of Eisner and Vallance. The three data sources are lenses that interact to inform the interpretations of the problem. Theory triangulation applies to the interpretation of the case studies that are contextualized by the literature review and the interviews with the arts educators. Three cross-case analyses are created to interpret the case studies of the non-specialist primary art teachers: personal experiences and self-images in art, beliefs in art, and practices in teaching art and aesthetics. There are contrasts and similarities among their beliefs and practices of art. The interactions among personal experience, curriculum, and practice are explored throughout the interpretations. School culture emerges as important in shaping their collaboration and teaching practices in art. Very few of the teachers had an awareness of literature that might inform their practices of teaching art. Experiences in their teacher education was a factor in determining their motivation for the teaching of art. It also provides suggestions for further research to improve non-specialist primary art teachers' practices based on the exploration of the non-specialist primary art teachers' art experience and how it influences their teaching. Several different sources of data and methods are used as lenses to inform the problem. The three procedures are: (1) A review of government educational documents: The Formative Years (1975), The Common Curriculum (Revision, 1995) and the predominance of the Ontario Curriculum (1998). (2) Interviews with three arts educators. (3) Case-study analyses using interview and observational data of four non-specialist primary art teachers. This study has implications for changes in teacher education programs because most teachers do not have art backgrounds.

Keywords: Art, Study and teaching (Primary)
Art, Ontario
Art teachers, Attitudes
Art teachers, Ontario
"Da befiel sie Furcht und Angst": Zur Funktion von Geschlecht in den Judith-Dramen de 19. Jahrhunderts

The study focuses on the apocryphal figure of Judith, the man-killer. Dramatic texts about Judith are of great interest for cultural scholars for three reasons: first, they belong to the genre of dramatic representations of fear and anxiety, which provide an opportunity to experience these amorphous emotions in a playful way. Second, they represent the female Jew, and in so doing exemplify how the voyeuristic appropriation of fear and anxiety is related to the construction of gender and race. Third, these Judith dramas function as containers for fantasies of both desire and fear. In other words, Judith dramas elucidate how gender models contain the repressed Other in a culturally acceptable form in order to domesticate it. German dramas of Judith in the early 19th century represent prototypical examples of different strategies of containment ...
Differential parenting by mothers and fathers

This study focused on the comparison between mothers and fathers and the amount of differential parenting exhibited towards the siblings within the family. I was also interested in the extent to which these differences between parents are affected by characteristics of the sibling dyad (i.e., age and gender composition) and the degree of stress in the parenting context. The sample was derived from the PSID-CDS sample consisting of 238 sibships between 3 and 12 years of age. Gender dyad compositions consisted of same sex and mixed sex dyads. Results found that mothers showed higher rates of differential treatment than fathers and were affected by the age gap between siblings. Periods of high marital conflict demonstrated differential treatment to be greater. Low marital conflict showed more paternal differential treatment than high marital conflict. Suggestions for future studies are given with main focus on fathers during periods of marital conflict.

Keywords: Father and child
Parenting
Parent and child
Mother and child
Parental influences
A matter of fat: an analysis of feminist theories of the fat body

This work is a poststructural feminist analysis of a genre of feminist theory called ‘fat theory.’ In the thesis, I divide feminist fat theory into ‘early’ (fat theory from the 1970's and 1980's), and ‘contemporary’ feminist fat theory. I demonstrate how theories from both time periods are closely linked to the feminist theories from which they burgeoned. By naming and describing three lines of discourse running through feminist fat theory—the discourse of health, the discourse of fat oppression, and the discourse of identity—I surmise the ways in which feminist fat theory ‘calls for’ resisting fat subjects. In studying who ‘the fat woman’ is in feminist fat theory, and how she is discursively organized, I show that feminist fat theory is not divorced from the very unequal and oppressive relations of power the theory exists to counter.

Keywords: Overweight women, Mental health
Obesity in women, Social spects
Feminist therapy
Discrimination against overweight women
Self-acceptance
Essays in Virgilian intertextuality: text, culture, context

The project of this dissertation is to provide a more holistic model of intertextuality than those current in studies of Latin literature. The introductory chapter pinpoints three shortcomings of modern research. First, a restrictive focus on the role of poetic intertexts results in the neglect of prose sources, subliterary documents, and even material remains. Second, critics largely overlook the cultural implications of intertextuality. Third, the definition of what constitutes an intertext remains excessively circumscribed. Using the Virgilian corpus as a case-study the essays presented here aim to address these methodological gaps. The analysis of the proem to the Third Georgic in Chapter Two notes that critics traditionally have sought models for this passage in the works of Virgil's poetic predecessors. Yet discussion reveals that closer parallels are to be found in prose and epigraphical texts and cultural practices of the late Republic. This situating of the proem more directly within its contemporary context exposes the passage as a site of intracultural contestation over contributions to the respublica. Chapter Three argues that viewing friendship in the Aeneid, particularly that between Nisus and Euryalus, within the context of the depictions of heroic dyads common in other societies provides key insight into how Virgil's modifications represent a response to shifting cultural paradigms. Comparison with prose texts reveals that the specific changes Virgil makes can be traced to contemporary concerns. The final essay begins with an analysis of the status of memory in the first century. Discussion of the texts of Cicero, Livy, Sallust and others reveals that during this turbulent period many Romans felt extreme unease over the functioning of memory in the respublica. Turning to the Bucolics, I argue that Virgil's presentation of memory in the collection is in many ways intertextual with its appearance elsewhere in Roman culture. Interpretation through such a framework not only helps to explain the often problematic nature of memory in the pastoral world, but also further demonstrates the embeddedness of the poetry-book within the contemporary cultural environment.