VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Social and environmental accounting: the Expanded Value Added Statement

The Expanded Value Added Statement (EVAS) makes a significant contribution to the field of accounting by highlighting hitherto invisible dimensions and integrating them into a single accounting statement. This, in turn, helps to tell a much richer performance story of organizations and opens up new possibilities for organizational and social change. The EVAS recognizes established traditions in the field of accounting, but at the same time pushes the envelope aiming at viable changes in accounting practices that nurture a more sustainable society. It provides a considerable advance in social accounting by integrating economic, social and environmental factors in a format that is applicable to different organization types, time dimensions, and contexts. The EVAS has four main influences: mainstream accounting, critical accounting, social accounting, and sustainability. Mainstream accounting, particularly the progressive practice of value added accounting, highlights the wealth created (or destroyed) and distributed through the results of labour and capital in transforming external goods and services. Critical accounting contributed with two insights: that accounting is not a neutral activity, and that accounting practices are shaped by and can in turn can shape social reality. Social accounting, especially the subfield of integrated social accounting, has provided a significant precedent for the EVAS by broadening the range of items included in accounting statements to take into account externalities. Finally, the concept of sustainability provided the conceptual and normative framework that guided the selection of variables included in the EVAS. In this manuscript-based dissertation, the EVAS is applied to three case studies. The first looked at the value added of volunteer work and un-reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses in ARNOVA, a non-profit scholarly association. The second case study, a construct of 33 sustainable buildings in the USA, shows the costs and benefits of building in sustainable ways versus using traditional building techniques. The third case, based on a master-planned community in Vancouver, includes an economically targeted investment, a non-profit community police centre, a non-profit neighbourhood house, and municipal government agencies, and shows how the EVAS can integrate economic, social and environmental impacts and help to make investment decisions that support sustainability.
The role of the school district in influencing school improvement

A mid-sized Ontario school district was considering actions it might take in order to influence school improvement as it was launching a district-wide improvement initiative focused on literacy. In this study, focus groups were conducted with teachers, school administrators and district office staff in order to try and capture the tacit and explicit understanding of school improvement and to identify the obstacles and opportunities for successful school improvement initiatives. The research explored dimensions that included participant orientation to school improvement and school effectiveness, control and commitment and the role of data in school improvement. It also explored perceptions about the status of, the formation of, and the support for learning communities as a key capacity building activity in the district. It then connects the findings with the literature on school improvement and makes suggestions to inform the future directions of the school district.

Keywords: School improvement programs, Ontario
School districts, Ontario
School management and organization, Ontario
Facilitation of physiotherapy for patients suffering from myalgia using botulinum toxin type-A

The effectiveness of Botulinum Toxin Type-A (BTX-A) injections was compared with lidocaine injections for the management of head and neck myofascial pain. Following injection, eighteen female subjects performed daily exercises and received a multi-week course of physical therapy. Recall appointments occurred at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. A significant reduction in VAS pain intensity scores was noted in both groups (BTX-A 43.9% decrease, lidocaine 51.6%), but there was no difference between groups. BTX-A subjects reported decreases across all sub-categories of the McGill Pain Questionnaire and one Pain Disability Index sub-category. No differences were noted between groups in muscle tenderness scores, compliance with home exercises, or amounts of analgesics required. BTX-A subjects reported more adverse events. Trigger point injections followed by physiotherapy appear to be effective in reducing pain intensity scores for head and neck myofascial pain. BTX-A may have added benefits in modulating qualitative aspects of the pain experience.
The adapter protein ParvB inhibits ILK oncogenic signaling and potentiates PPARG1 activation in breast cancer cells

Integrins are the major transmembrane receptors that bind to the extracellular matrix (ECM). Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a 59 kDa serine/threonine protein kinase which interacts directly with the cytoplasmic domains of both (31 and (33 integrins. Beta-parvin (ParvB) is an ILK-binding protein comprised of two calponin-homology (CH) domains, linking integrins to the actin cytoskeleton. ParvB is a member of a sub-family of adapter proteins called Parvins, implicated in the regulation of integrin-mediated cell adhesion, migration, and spreading. Microdeletions near the PARVB locus on human chromosome 22q are associated with human breast cancer, suggesting dysregulation of ParvB expression in certain cancers. We analyzed breast cancer cell lines and patient tumor tissues for ParvB protein expression by Western blot analysis. We found that ParvB was downregulated in breast cancer cell lines and tumor tissues, relative to normal mammary epithelial cells. Furthermore, transfection of ParvB into breast cancer cells, promotes adhesion to ECM, suppresses ILK signaling, anchorage-independent growth and matrigel invasion. The clinical relevance of ParvB and its related family members, alpha-parvin (ParvA) and gamma-parvin (ParvG), was examined in a protein expression study consisting of twenty-two breast cancer patients with advanced tumors. Western blot analysis revealed significant downregulation of ParvA and ParvB and a concomitant upregulation of ParvG in breast carcinomas, relative to normal tissues. We also found that ParvB levels correlated with estrogen receptor status, independent of breast tumor lymph node metastasis. Confocal microscopy and cellular fractionation studies indicate ParvB is expressed in the nucleus and cytoplasm of mammalian cells. Site-directed mutagenesis of a putative nuclear localization signal (NLS) within the N-terminus inhibits ParvB accumulation in the nucleus and increases ILK-ParvB association in the cytosol. Using microarray analysis we identified three targets of ParvB: peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARG); Histone Deacetylase 3 (HDAC3); and ParvA. Western blotting confirmed HDAC3 and ParvA levels are significantly reduced in ParvB cells, compared to vector controls. Expression of a ParvB NLS mutant potentiated PPARG-mediated suppression of nuclear beta-catenin, PARP, and SNAIL levels, resulting in decreased breast cancer cell proliferation. These findings suggest ParvB plays a role in tumor suppression and maybe a novel prognostic indicator for breast cancer.
The effects of maternal deprivation and maternal experience on the production of new cells in the 'maternal circuit'

Maternal memory is characterized by the long-term retention of maternal responsiveness as a result of an animal's prior experience with her offspring. The present study examined the effects of early experience, namely that of complete maternal deprivation, on adult neurogenic capacity associated with experience during the postpartum period. Maternal experience increased the number of BrdU labeled cells one month after maternal experience in the nucleus accumbens shell, an area implicated in maternal memory. This increase was primarily in mother-reared animals. No such increase was seen in artificially reared animals. Similar trends in the effects of experience were found in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Possible mechanisms that mediate these effects are discussed.
Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPS) in hepatic regeneration and tissue homeostasis

TNFalpha is released from cell surfaces by the metalloproteinase, TNFalpha converting enzyme (TACE). Deletion of the murine Timp-3 gene resulted in increased TACE activity and constitutive release of TNFalpha culminating in hepatic lymphocyte infiltration also seen in human chronic hepatitis. This pathology was prevented when loss of Timp-3 was combined with TNF receptor 1 deficiency. Further, in a liver regeneration model that requires TNFalpha signaling, Timp-3-/- mice succumbed to liver failure. Timp-3-/- hepatocytes completed the cell cycle but subsequently underwent cell death due to sustained TNFalpha activation. This hepatocyte cell death was completely rescued by a neutralizing anti-TNFalpha antibody. This dysregulation did not occur in Timp-1 null mice. These data establish TIMP-3 as a critical innate negative regulator of TNFalpha, both in tissue homeostasis and tissue response to injury. Overall, extracellular proteolysis presents a key mechanism for modifying growth factor/cytokine activity and hepatocellular proliferation. Liver regeneration depends on timely restoration of cellular mass and is a powerful tool to study cell proliferation. Induction of the key molecules, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), causes quiescent hepatocytes to proliferate. These factors are made immediately available by proteolysis resulting in their release from the extracellular matrix (HGF) or the cell surface (TNFalpha). Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) are known to regulate ECM turnover, and more recently, the processing of growth factors and cytokines. Comprehensive real-time RT-PCR analyses of regenerating livers revealed significant inductions in the mRNA of TIMP-1, TIMP-3, TIMP-4, MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-13, MMP-14 and MMP-24. Induction of TIMP-1 occurred during the peak of hepatocyte DNA synthesis. Studies using genetically altered mice revealed that TIMP-1 loss-of-function accelerated hepatocyte cell cycle progression while TIMP-1 gain-of-function delayed this event. This was demonstrated by altered cyclin D1, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and phosphorylated histone H3 expression that mark the G1 to S transition, S and M phase, respectively. MMP activity was increased in the absence of Timp-1. Active HGF levels were elevated in Timp-1 -/- livers along with increased phosphorylation of Met, and a downstream effector, p38, demonstrating that TIMP-1 is a novel negative regulator of HGF activity.
Biogenic amines and their respective receptors in visceral muscles of the locust, Locusta migratoria

The biogenic amine serotonin is an important neuroactive chemical believed to play both central and peripheral roles in many insect species. The distribution and association of serotonin with the alimentary canal of the locust were investigated by immunchistochemistry, HPLC and physiological assays. Serotonin-like immunoreactive processes were present throughout the alimentary canal including the foregut, midgut, gastric caeca and hindgut. Serotonin-like immunoreactive processes were also found to be entering the ventricular ganglion, arborizing and exiting the ganglion and innervating various regions of the alimentary canal. HPLC analysis coupled to electrochemical detection confirmed the presence of serotonin and indicated that the highest content of serotonin was in the midgut followed by the foregut, hindgut, and then gastric caeca. Serotonin reduced the tonus and inhibited proctolin-induced contractions of the midgut circular muscles in a dose-dependent manner. Pharmacological studies using a selection of serotonergic compounds revealed that alpha-methylserotonin and mianserin were the most potent agonist and antagonist respectively. These studies indicate that the action of serotonin on the midgut is presumably mediated via a 5-HT2-like receptor subtype. The activities of all biogenic amines are mediated by a group of transmembrane proteins, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). In order to isolate GPCRs from the locust visceral muscles, two cDNA libraries were constructed based on the midgut and oviduct tissues. Screening of these libraries resulted in the isolation of several partial receptor cDNAs. Further characterization of one of the cDNAs resulted in the isolation of a putative octopamine/tyramine receptor with sequence similarities to biogenic amine receptors particularly to a previously cloned tyramine receptor from the locust. Comparison of the genomic and cDNA sequences indicated that the gene is intronless. Expression analyses using RT-PCR and Northern blot indicated the presence of receptor transcripts throughout the brain, ventral nerve cord, midgut and oviduct. In situ hybridization resulted in the expression of the receptor mRNA in a small number of cells likely to be midgut endocrine-like cells and in a number of spindle-shape cells located on the common oviduct. Molecular biology and physiological studies on the locust oviduct raise the possibility that this receptor is likely to be a tyramine receptor subtype.
Dynamic modelling of household automobile transactions within a microsimulation framework

The primary objective of this dissertation was to develop a dynamic model of household automobile transactions within an integrated land-use, transportation, and environment (ILUTE) modelling system framework. A market-based decision making process and a transaction approach were applied for this project due to their consistency with the actual processes followed by a decision maker in a real world. The proposed framework has a nested tree with transaction choices (adding new vehicle to fleet, disposing one vehicle, trading one of the vehicles in fleet, or do-nothing decision) in the upper level and class and vintage choices in the lower levels. Different approaches to operationalize such a model were employed including hedonic price, regression, multinomial logit, nested logit, artificial neural networks, and random parameter logit models. The vehicle class and vintage choices, given that a transaction has occurred, are modelled using a well-developed form of discrete choice modelling technique, the nested logit model. The same decision process has been also modelled in a multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network in order to investigate the applicability of this technique to the household vehicle choice problem. The comparison of the results of both techniques confirmed the robustness of machine learning algorithms and showed that these types of models can generate better prediction results than the traditional discrete choice methods. Understanding and predicting the complex activity of individuals' behaviour to become active in the market was another aspect of this investigation in which the dynamics of transaction behaviour were modelled. A limited-information nested logit model estimation approach was used to incorporate the vehicle type choice model into the main dynamic transaction choice model. An exponentially smoothed weighted average of past transactions choices was introduced to account for state-dependence and a random parameter logit model was employed to account for heterogeneity across decision makers. The result of random parameter logit model estimation indicated that heterogeneity is not a significant factor in the dynamic model developed here.
Giving meaning to women teachers' life histories and political commitments in the classroom

The focus of the present research on teachers' life histories and teaching practices or the personal and professional connections in teaching, sets out to study how ‘teachers as intellectuals’ or ‘transformative educators’ are working toward emancipatory/transformative practices in the classroom. Transformative pedagogy aims to redress the experience of marginality which students of colour experience in mainstream school curriculum which overlooks or undermines the histories of people of colour. Transformative teaching approaches include critical pedagogy, critical multicultural education, critical literacy, culturally response pedagogy and democratic processes in teaching and learning. Transformative educators place the study of marginalized communities at the center of the curriculum in order to counteract student marginality and disengagement. While traditional studies of teachers' lives and the genre of making explicit personal and professional links have reproduced the dominant North American conceptualization of ‘a good teacher’ as connoting someone who is ‘usually white’ and ‘middle class,’ current focus on teachers' lives and ethnography in today's contemporary classrooms, takes on a different approach by reflecting the changing ethnicity of teachers. Similarly the present research ethnography takes an interest in understanding how on one hand, teachers' awareness of their social locations (or their race, class and gender) and their political ideological commitments with the other, influence curriculum choices and teaching practice that contribute toward counteracting inequalities in the school system. The narrative texts of two teachers' life histories and teaching practices are analyzed using feminist interpretive theories that represent conversations across social differences and racial identities which includes South Asian Indo-Canadian and Euro-Canadian ethnicities. The classroom ethnography with the two teachers, who are identified as ‘transformative educators’ working toward social change, took place in a multi-racial, low socioeconomic elementary school community in the Greater Toronto Area. The community itself underwent fundamental demographic changes over the past twenty years, from a largely blue collar working class Portuguese/Italian community to the present largely South Asian (Indian, Sri Lankan) and Caribbean blue collar working class and underclass community. The research was carried out between March 1999–August 2000.

Keywords: Teaching
Women teachers, Rating of
Critical pedagogy
Teachers
Education, Aims and objectives
Does pattern matter?: spatio-temporal modelling strategies to predict grassland productivity dynamics, Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan

Environmental models allow scenario testing and experiments that are impossible to address in the field or laboratory, and are therefore important tools in environmental management. The simplification of real-world processes creates inherent uncertainty in the predictions, however, and it is important to include assessment of sources, propagation, and management of this uncertainty in modelling. This research demonstrates advantages of various models, and recommendations to reduce uncertainty, focussing on models of net primary productivity (NPP) in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. First, I examine the sensitivity of productivity to climate change, using the CENTURY model. Stability of NPP, which is more ecologically relevant than individual annual predictions, is predicted to decrease if there are more than small increases to the variability of precipitation in future climates. However, changes to precipitation variability also markedly increased the uncertainty of the NPP predictions. This uncertainty could be reduced with spatially distributed predictions, and a finer temporal resolution. Second, I adapt a spatially-explicit modelling framework (RHESSys) from forestry to work in grasslands. Changes were made to treatment of soil moisture, phenology, and photosynthesis to successfully predict grass NPP. Uncertainty introduced by the spatial framework could be reduced through better understanding of the role of spatial partitioning. Third, I address the partitioning issue by using alternate landscape representations with RHESSys and comparing their ability to create homogeneous modelling units. Grids, shifted grids, quadtrees, and hillslope partitions are compared to select an intelligent choice. Recommendations are made on how such modelling could be used in a less research-intensive environment. Fourth, I examine light use efficiency (LUE) models, which can be adapted very quickly for management purposes. The effects of drought on LUE need to be incorporated to obtain realistic predictions. This allows spatially extensive estimates of NPP driven by satellite images, and can assist with management decisions for the region, and monitor their effects. Together, this work covers a wide range of modelling and geographic information management with very different data and setup needs. The combination of science and technology allows a range of different questions, and I present recommendations for their appropriate use.
Achievement values and the adolescent self: A developmental analysis of personal meanings and motivations

This study explored developmental differences in the personal meanings to the self and motivation orientations that adolescents have for their achievement-related values. A total of 32 adolescents in Grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 explained the importance of being a person who is "hard-working" or "intellectual-likes to learn." The analyses revealed that adolescents described the personal meaning of these values at three developmental levels that exhibit a stronger sense of self and connection between the value and the self with each increasing level. Age differences revealed that younger adolescents responded at Levels 1 and 2 while older adolescents responded at Levels 2 and 3. The adolescents expressed either intrinsic, extrinsic, or both of these motivation orientations towards having their achievement-related values. Age differences revealed that younger adolescents expressed more extrinsic motivation, whereas older adolescents expressed more intrinsic motivation. The theoretical and educational implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords: Academic achievement
Teenagers, Attitudes
Preteens, Attitudes
Values
Values in adolescence
Self in adolescence
Self in children
Noradrenergic modulation of airway-related muscle activity across the sleep-wake cycle

Skeletal muscle tone is potently suppressed during natural sleep. Understanding the physiological mechanisms that regulate muscle activity during sleep is important as dysregulation of these processes underlies a number of major sleep disorders including the potentially lethal, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The neurophysiological mechanisms that regulate sleep-related changes in muscle activity are currently unclear. It is hypothesized that withdrawal of excitatory, noradrenergic inputs onto motoneurons reduces muscle tone during sleep. Accordingly, using the microdialysis technique, this study investigated the role of the noradrenergic system in regulating trigeminal motoneuron (TMN) excitability and hence airway-related masseter muscle (MASS) activation across the sleep wake cycle. Results provide evidence for the presence of a noradrenergic drive to TMNs that activates basal MASS activity during wakefulness, but not during NREM or REM sleep. Consistent with this finding, sleep related decreases in MASS activity were counteracted by the addition of noradrenergic inputs back onto TMNs.