VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A study of holistic thinking in an agricultural leadership development program using asynchronous computer conferencing

The primary goal of this qualitative case study was to investigate the nature of holistic thinking in the context of an asynchronous computer conference. Holistic thinking was defined as a constellation of higher-order thinking skills to include content/basic, critical, creative, and complex thinking. In addition, this study examined the utility of the Integrated Thinking Model (1989) as a conceptual framework for investigating such phenomena. A central tenet of constructivism applied to the design of online learning environments is these ought to facilitate processes whereby learners build and integrate complex representations of knowledge into patterns that are personally meaningful. A potential outcome of these processes is a "deeper" learning, one where "the learning exchange seems to go deeper than normal, when a certain aliveness and engagement falls upon us, capturing our minds and hearts." Facilitating the activation and use of holistic thinking in collaborative online learning environments is seen as key to the realization of this goal. For this reason, contextual factors (e.g., design of the online learning environment) and process factors (e.g., collaboration, facilitation) were seen as significant considerations worthy of investigation. Results of this study indicated that the case study participants did appear to be thinking holistically about the issues under discussion and demonstrated particular configurations of holistic thinking skills as described by the model used. Also, the conceptual framework used for this study has great utility for analyzing the presence or absence of a range of holistic thinking indicators. Potential areas of weakness include the range of thinking skills addressed by the model, resulting in a research tool that is perhaps too unwieldy for general use. Design features of the learning environment, specifically those constructivist principles embedded within the small group learning project, were thought to positively impact the demonstration of holistic skills by participants. Process factors such as the emphasis on collaboration, active peer facilitation, and effective project/information management were seen to confirm the assertion that these are important considerations in the design and delivery of online learning facilitative of holistic thinking and deep learning. This case study examined four adult learners' experiences and interactions within a particular collaborative on-line learning environment incorporated as part of the larger context of participation in a unique Canadian agricultural leadership development program. Using the asynchronous computer conference transcripts and other data sources generated by this group, this study describes the dimensions of the presence or absence of various indices of holistic thinking as operationally defined by the Integrated Thinking Model (ITM).

Keywords: Technology, Moral and ethical aspects
Learning
Computer conferencing
Education, Computer network resources
Internet in education
Study skills
Frequency sub-carrier based adaptive technique for OFDM systems with antenna arrays

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is gaining considerable attention and is a viable candidate in future broadband wireless communication systems. However as more devices become wireless in a limited frequency environment, high powered co-channel interference suppression techniques become increasingly important. In this regard adaptive arrays have been incorporated into OFDM schemes to further increase capacity and-robustness of the overall system. We introduce here a new method to extend spatial processing techniques to mitigate high powered co-channel interference in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system. The proposed algorithm uses optimal weights determined from classical methods, and known frequency information, to formulate adaptive weights specific to each sub-carrier. Performance improvements are investigated through computer simulations. These simulations in near-far scenarios illustrates the importance of such a technique.
The effects of the 1997 Ontario Secondary School Reform on human capital accumulation, the youth labour market, and academic grading policies

In this thesis, I study the effects of the abolition of Grade 13, following the 1997 Ontario Secondary School Reform, focusing on three different areas: students' human capital accumulation, the youth labour market, and academic grading policies. In Chapter 1, I investigate the impact of an extra year of schooling on students who will attend university, using the abolition of Grade 13 as an instrument. I construct a flexible factor model allowing for identification and consistent estimation of the return to Grade 13. For these high-ability students, I find that the return to schooling is smaller in magnitude than estimates from the previous literature, providing clear evidence that there is substantial heterogeneity in the return to an additional year of high school, in the direction suggested by the literature on discount rate bias. Chapter 2 looks at the effect of increased competition in university classrooms on students' performance, following the abolition of Grade 13. The abolition of Grade 13 created a double cohort of high school graduates, drastically increasing the number of university applicants in 2003. Given the limited number of places available in universities, the quality of accepted students was significantly higher in that year than in previous years, increasing competition in the classroom. Comparing university grades from 2001 and 2003, I find that, after controlling for ability, students were awarded lower grades in 2003, and that the effect is stronger for lower-ability students. Overall, results indicate that the link between academic ability and GPA was significantly distorted by the increased competition. Finally, in Chapter 3, I examine the way that the youth labour market absorbed the large number of new high school graduates arising from the double cohort year. I quantify the effect of the sudden supply shock on inexperienced workers using triple-difference estimation and multiple control groups. Results suggest that the double cohort had a large adverse effect on hourly earnings of inexperienced high-school graduates regardless of the control group, though some caution must be used in interpreting the results as the estimates are fairly imprecise.
The protection of the right to life in non-international armed conflicts: what the ECtHR and the IACtHR should learn from one another

International law supports the complementary application of HRL and IHL for the protection of the right to life in non-international armed conflicts. Only HRL treaties provide victims with an effective avenue to obtain justice for violations suffered. However, they limit the mandate of the human rights courts to the application of HRL, preventing in principle such courts from applying IHL. This creates an inconsistency between the theoretically complementary applicability of HRL and IHL for the protection of the right to life in non-international armed conflicts--as recognized by international law--and the mandate of the human rights courts. This paper examines how the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights have respectively dealt with such inconsistency when dealing with cases concerning right to life violations in non-international armed conflicts and, on the basis of these findings--what they can learn from each other.

Keywords: Right to life
War victims
Comparative advertising: a comparative study of trade-mark laws and competition laws in Canada and the European Union

When advertisers seek to promote their product at the expense of another in terms of quality, performance, sales, price or other attributes, they face not only a public cautious of their claims, but also a broad spectrum of legal rules. These include trade-mark law and competition law statutes, common law torts and self-regulatory mechanisms. This thesis illustrates the variety of legislation and jurisdiction surrounding comparative advertising in both Canada and the European Union, and, within the latter, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Keywords: Advertising laws, Canada
Advertising laws, European Union countries
Trademarks, European Union countries
Trademarks, Canada
Antitrust law, Canada
Antitrust law, European Union countries
A comparative study of the hero in medieval Ireland, Persia, and England

The epic hero of the ancient and medieval world is a problematic character: he simultaneously embodies the bright dream of a protective and courageous aristocrat, and the brutal fact of a violent man with a talent for killing. This dichotomy is often found in the characters of Indo-European heroes, who are at once both responsible for the protection of their society/state and its stability, yet by virtue of their capacity for violence, are bound to exist on the margins of society---they are never fully accepted as trusted members of their community. The hero has several complex functions within epic literature: he serves as a mediator between the mundane and supernatural worlds; he serves to protect his society, but is sometimes the bringer of social chaos; he supports the monarch, yet often this relationship is fraught with tension. Curiously, the biographies of the medieval Irish and Persian heroes Cuchulainn and Rostam demonstrate a number of analogous episodes. This thesis examines these heroes' genesis episodes, boyhood deeds, filicide episodes, heroic duels, Otherworld raids, and death tales; in addition, it finds significant thematic parallels between Old English Beowulf and the Persian Haftkhan-i-Rostam from the epic Shahnameh. These analogous episodes are used as a framework to see how Irish, Persian, and Old English literature deal with such concepts as loyalty, honor, fame, uncontrolled rage, the Otherworld---and the above all---the heroic code. This thesis then considers of the potential modes of narrative transmission (oral and literary) that would explain the occurrence of these analogues, and questions whether the analogues are evidence of a common Indo-European heroic tradition, or rather of early intercultural contact between Celtic and Iranian (including Scythian) tribes. Finally, the conclusion suggests new avenues of study and comparison between Eastern and Western branches of the Indo-European heroic tradition.
Determination of piezomagnetic properties for a magnetostriction-based EMAT

New methods were devised and developed to measure two key parameters needed for numerical modeling of magnetostrictive EMAT's used for non-contact ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation: reversible permeability, and a piezomagnetic coefficient as a function of frequency and bias field. For both cases, an experimental measurement is compared with a theoretical model to extract the pertinent property's value. This method was applied to a specimen of SAE1018 carbon steel. The impedance measurements plus the new theoretical model enabled the reversible permeability to be determined in the presence of bias field levels ranging from zero to 48,000 A/m, and frequencies ranging from 350 kHz to 1 MHz. For the determination of a piezomagnetic coefficient, experimental measurements and numerical modeling were utilized to determine the ultrasonic pressure caused by an EMAT at a specific point inside a specimen. By comparing the results of the measurement and the model, e15 was determined. This effort also led to a better understanding of the ultrasonic generation mechanism of an EMAT, and a systematic approach to model the entire nondestructive evaluation system. The new approach was applied to a SAE1018 carbon steel specimen. The e15 coefficient at 1 MHz was determined as a function of bias field (0 to 48000 A/m), and the results used to provide guidance on how EMAT's should be designed and evaluated. For the determination of reversible permeability, a new model was developed to predict the impedance of a rectangular eddy-current coil when placed in proximity to a ferromagnetic specimen; inputs to this model are geometry of the coil, frequency, permeability and conductivity of the specimen.
Ecotourism in Mexico

Ecotourism is a branch of alternative tourism that has increasingly become an important source of income for countries that take advantage of their natural attributes. Although ecotourism has the potential to create positive impacts for the environment and the society, unfortunately it can be even more harmful than the traditional tourism if it is not properly done. It is therefore indispensable to have adequate regulation that promotes the development of the activity while meeting the environmental and social goals it ought to accomplish. This thesis discusses the legal situation of ecotourism in Mexico and proposes regulation of the activity in a way which is consistent with its environmental goals.
Culture, civilization, and the social construction of discipline-based art education

This thesis is a critical analysis of discipline-based art education, (DBAE), an approach in which art education content is drawn from the four “parent” disciplines of studio production, art criticism, art history, and aesthetics. My concern is with how DBAE has been socially constructed around discourses of “excellence” and “cultural literacy” and, in accordance, celebrates and affirms the notion of art as something “good for” society: a measure of “civilization” and a form of useful knowledge which must be acquired in order to participate effectively in democratic society. I look at the mechanisms and processes by which DBAE has come to occupy a dominant position within American art educational discourse and I reveal how this emergent discourse, aided by liberal notions of democracy, has its social origins in a nineteenth-century doctrine of art as the embodiment of middle-class and Christian moral values. Above all, I examine the “discipline-ness” of DBAE, that is, its disciplinary organization of discrete and bounded knowledge(s), and call into question what is thought to constitute “relevant” cultural/artistic knowledge, for and by whom it is considered to be relevant, and why it is thus considered.

Keywords: Art, Study and teaching
Art and society
Culture, Study and teaching
Neonatal and childhood cerebral sinovenous thrombosis: Recanalization rates and outcomes

Background. Safety of anticoagulants (ACTs), recanalization rate and effect of recanalization on clinical outcome in childhood cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT) have not been well studied. Methods. Consecutive children (birth-18years) with radiographically confirmed CSVT from January 1992-January 2005 were studied. Clinical features, treatment (based on standardized institutional protocols), radiographic data at presentation, and follow-up were analyzed. Predictors of recanalization and clinical outcome were selected a priori for statistical analysis. Results. One hundred forty-five children had CSVT. Bleeding complications occurred in only six percent of the ninety-seven treated patients. Maximum recanalization rates were achieved by three-months after diagnosis in neonates and by six-months in non-neonates. Younger age at CSVT (p=0.0004) and non-occlusive initial CSVT (p=0.032) independently predicted better recanalization. Older age at CSVT (p=0.0003), extent of recanalization (p=0.0016) length of follow-up period (p=0.0183) independently predicted better clinical outcome. Conclusions. ACTs are safe in childhood CSVT. Neonates recanalize faster than older children. Extent of recanalization predicts clinical outcome. Clinical outcome is better in older children than in neonates.
A 5.8 GHz CMOS low noise amplifier for WLAN applications

The proliferation of mobile computing devices has fueled the demand for wireless local area networks (WLANs). Consumer demands require WLAN devices that are cheap, compact, and have a long battery life. Traditionally, radio transceivers have used CMOS DSP for the back-end and bipolar or gallium arsenide for the analog front-end. If the analog front-end can be implemented in a fast enough CMOS process, there would be considerable economic and functional advantages in integrating the analog front-end with the digital functions on a single chip. This work deals with the design, implementation and testing of a 5.8 GHz CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA), a crucial front-end component, for the next generation of WLANs in the 5-GHz band. The LNA was designed in a standard 0.18-μm CMOS technology using a cascode inductive source degeneration (CISD) topology, and occupies an area of 0.32 x 0.6 mm2. The experimental results at 5.8 GHz show a gain of 16.7 dB, a noise figure of 1.4 dB, and an IIP3 of −2.6 dBm while dissipating 4.5 mW from a 1.8 V supply. Compared to previously reported designs, the implemented LNA exhibits good noise figure as well as higher gain and higher linearity at a fraction of the power dissipation. This is attributed to the use of the constant noise figure/gain (CNG) design methodology developed in this work.
Modelling bus transit network evolution

This dissertation develops a modelling framework that aims to simulate the behaviour of public transit agencies when they make changes to periodic transit services. The purpose of this model is to predict bus transit network evolution in future time steps. The explicit treatment of changes in the supply of transportation (highway and public transit infrastructure) is currently missing from the urban/transportation simulation frameworks. For this reason, this research project was initiated to develop a model component to the ILUTE urban/transportation simulation framework that represents the evolution of transit bus networks. This model, also, is a useful tool for the transit planners to support their decisions when they apply a change to their networks or to test different strategies and project alternatives they plan to apply. The approach for developing such model was multi-phased, starting with an empirical analysis of the relationship between network changes and various factors. Statistical and econometric models (multiple regression and system of simultaneous regression equations) were built to relate the supply of transit networks with a group of socioeconomic, demographic, and route-specific variables. These variables include transit demand, population density, employment and connection to the rapid transit network. Time and demand/supply interactions were taken into consideration in the simultaneous equations models that describe the evolution of supply along with demand. The second and main phase aimed to develop a decision support system model in a GIS platform. This model is a function of several factors such as ridership and land-use, and is influenced by the guidelines that are followed by transit agencies and included in their service standards. This model, known as PREMOTRANE---"Prediction Model of Transit Network Evolution", is a simulation framework that models the periodic actions pursued by public transit agencies to perform service changes."PREMOTRANE-Minor Changes" "PREMOTRANE-GIS" are the two main modules of the developed model. Tests showed that "PREMOTRANE-MC" is generally successful in finding the bus routes with poor performance and routes that were overcrowded. Results also indicated that "PREMOTRANE-GIS", the GIS based module, is a promising tool in building new bus lines, especially, when new rapid transit stations are available.
A double-shearing constitutive model and application to particulate material modeling

The vast majority of constitutive models for solids implemented in available finite element and finite difference codes are based on “elliptical” mathematical formulations. Particulate materials exhibit strain localization that requires mathematical treatment based on “hyperbolic” formulations. This thesis presents further development of a Double-Shearing model based on the concept of shearing along stress characteristics, and demonstrates its numerical application to geotechnical boundary value problems. The corotational coordinate system is selected to represent the Cauchy stress tensor. This allows greater generality for future modeling of inherent and induced anisotropy, and it is not prone to spurious stress oscillations such as can occur with the more commonly used Jaumann-type objective rate. The Cyclic Jacobi Method of eigensystem solution was determined to give the most accurate solution of principal stresses and their corresponding principal directions. The careful choice of corotational coordinate system, the use of Cyclic Jacobi Method of eigensystem solution, and the mathematical structure of the constitutive model appear to be the reasons why the current numerical implementation is capable of predicting the initiation and evolution of shear banding, without using fictitious weak elements or seed points in the model. While the inherent simulation of shear band initiation and evolution is perhaps the strongest contribution of this thesis, a complete explanation of this capability will require subsequent effort. Representing particulate behaviour in a Critical State context (i.e., “loose” and “dense” states relative to a “critical void ratio”) requires evolution laws for void ratio and friction angle. A recently proposed evolution law for void ratio was found to work well except in simple shear, for which a spurious mode exists. This law is therefore reformulated on the basis of a mass balance relation, the spurious mode is eliminated, and the results are shown to appropriately represent hardening and softening behaviour associated with real particulate systems. Several large strain, large displacement boundary value problems are analyzed in order to provide insights into the importance of properly formulated geometrically nonlinear boundary conditions, and in order to objectively evaluate the evolution of shear band mechanisms associated with some classical geotechnical problems.
Thin vs. fat dichotomy in the narratives of adolescent girls

This qualitative inquiry uses life history approach for exploring narratives related to body weight, eating, and dieting in the interviews of 12 adolescent girls, ages 12 to 14. Six major categories emerged in a theme analysis of the interview data: dieting, eating, health, weight, messages, and contradictions. Results suggest that girls might be more sensitive to anti-dieting and positive health messages and more resilient to weight-related pressures than it is suggested by existing research. Girls also seemed to internalize contradictory messages to which they have been exposed in their social environment, such as stating that looks do not matter concurrently with espousing the benefits of adhering to the thin ideal. This inquiry has implications for health promotion in terms of messages that are likely to make a difference in the girls' attitudes and behaviours as well as for the prevention of unhealthy weight control behaviours.