VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Trade secrecy in a knowledge-based economy

Knowledge production and distribution are increasingly recognized as key determinants of economic growth in what has come to be known as the "knowledge-based economy". Trade secrecy law confronts the tension between allowing skilled employees in high technology industry to freely utilize their knowledge, while at the same time protecting their former employers' investments in innovation. This thesis reviews the efficiency of trade secrecy law in the employment context in England and Canada. Some comparative perspective is added by an overview of United States law. An economic framework is developed to support the retention of trade secrecy protection. Special consideration is given to the objectives and insights of endogenous growth theory. Existing law is justified by the provision of incentives to innovate and the reduction of transaction costs associated with the protection, misappropriation and exchange of information. However, some modification to existing doctrine is suggested. In particular, this thesis advocates a shift in remedial focus from undivided property rules and injunctive relief, to liability rules and monetary relief. These shifts in focus ensure that constraints on the productive use of information and knowledge that are imposed in the employment context are limited to safeguarding incentives to innovate and do not unnecessarily stifle technological change and innovative growth.
Tracées de la résistance et traversée de la parole dans le roman caribéen

Cette étude explore les enjeux et les stratégies de la résistance et de la parole dans le roman caribéen contemporain, et principalement dans la production romanesque de la Martinique et de la Guadeloupe depuis la départementalisation de 1946. À travers l'analyse d'ouvrages de Patrick Chamoiseau, Maryse Condé, Françoise Ega, Édouard Glissant, Daniel Maximin et Simone Schwarz-Bart, il s'agit de montrer comment la littérature antillaise se veut à la fois la recréation d'une résistance historique authentique et la concrétisation d'un projet anti-colonial de libération par le biais de la prise de parole. Les romans choisis nous semblent représentatifs de cette volonté de la littérature de l'archipel de subvertir le discours dominant et de donner à entendre une voix profondément caribéenne qui offre une "vision interne" de l'histoire et du vécu antillais. Avant d'aborder les questions de résistance et de parole dans les romans à l'étude, le travail présente une vue d'ensemble de l'oppression et de la résistance dans l'histoire de la Caraïbe. Ce cadre historique--qui met aussi en lumière les multiples formes de la lutte anti-coloniale dans la région--permet de mieux saisir l'inscription de la résistance dans la littérature et de dévoiler certaines structures qui agissent sur l'écriture et donc sur la parole caribéennes. Ce schéma nous amène ensuite à une réflexion sur les liens qui existent entre l'histoire et la littérature dans le contexte caribéen, où les auteurs tentent de réécrire le passé de leur peuple à travers la fiction. Dans une sorte de bilan des études actuelles portant sur la résistance et la production littéraire aux Antilles, nous introduisons des donnée essentielles à l'étude de nos romans, telles la mémoire collective, la quête de l'identité (avec les notions de négritude, d'antillanité et de créolité) et la prise de parole. En examinant comment fonctionnent dans les romans le développement et la transmission de la mémoire, l'espace insulaire, la nomination, le corporel, l'écriture et la lecture, il apparaît que ces divers éléments renvoient aux pratiques de la résistance et de la parole, elles-mêmes fondamentales pour une récupération de l'histoire et l'élaboration d'une identité véritablement désaliénée. Il ressort aussi de cette analyse que la parole-résistance qui émerge des textes choisis est le signe d'une vision antillaise originale et inédite. C'est en effet une parole à la fois ouverte et plurielle, porteuse d'une pensée personnelle mais aussi d'un dialogue collectif à la grandeur de l'archipel, et révélatrice de la réalité caribéenne créolisée.
Experimental investigation of the wave-turbulence interaction at low reynolds numbers in a horizontal open-channel flow

The wave-turbulence interaction was experimentally investigated in an open-channel with a shear-free wavy surface using the photochromic dye activation (PDA) technique. In the experiments conducted, two-dimensional waves of different amplitudes, wavelengths and frequencies were superimposed on a turbulent open-channel flow via a mechanical wavemaker. Within the range of Reynolds numbers ($\rm\bar{Re}\sb{h}$ = 800-1600 based on liquid height) investigated, the results showed that waves decreased wall turbulence levels with increases in the wave amplitude and frequency in comparison with the wldisturbed flow. Flow visualization studies conducted indicated that the general qualitative appearance of turbulence in wavy flows is similar to those in non-wavy flows.
Role of cell adhesion molecules in melanoma transendothelial migration

Transendothelial migration is an important step in tumor cell metastasis. Using an 'in vitro' assay, I demonstrated the involvement of N-cadherin in melanoma transendothelial migration. Immunofluorescence labeling studies revealed that N-cadherin became concentrated in the heterotypic contacts. Inhibition of N-cadherin expression in WM239 cells led to ~30% inhibition on melanoma transendothelial migration. In contrast to adherens junctions, there was no preferential association of ß-catenin with N-cadherin in the heterotypic contacts where of N-cadherin was enriched. The potential involvement of gap junctions during transendothelial migration was also examined by immunofluorescence staining. Inhibition of gap junction function using 1-heptanol resulted in a substantial reduction in melanoma cell transmigration. These results suggest that N-cadherin may provide weak adhesive interactions between the two cell types during the transmigration process and that gap junctions may provide channels for the transfer of signals that induce the retraction of endothelial cells.
RocFall, a tool for probabilistic analysis, design of remedial measures and prediction of rockfalls

Accurate prediction of rockfalls is practically impossible. Variability in slope geometry, poorly defined initial conditions, uncertain material properties (especially coefficients of restitution) and an analysis method that is sensitive to minor changes in these parameters are contributing factors that make accurate prediction extremely difficult. Performing probabilistic simulation and statistical analyses has proven to be an effective and acceptable method for overcoming these difficulties and thereby enabling the production of rational engineering designs. The computer program RocFall is a tool to assist engineers with probabilistic simulation of rockfalls and the design of remedial measures. This thesis details the difficulties with rockfall analyses and explains how RocFall can be used to overcome these difficulties. This thesis presents the equations and the algorithm used by the program to simulate the rockfalls. Essential to the use of a computer program in engineering practice, this thesis also presents a thorough verification of the program's output.
Accident Risk Assessment Using Microsimulation for Dynamic Route Guidance

Dynamic route guidance systems (DRG) provide routing information to motorists based on current traffic conditions on a network. However, not enough attention has been given to the impact of such dynamic routing decisions on the overall safety of the network in terms of the predicted number of accidents. The objectives of this research are to investigate the variation of network-wide accidents caused by traffic redistribution subject to various levels of DRG market penetration, and to examine the potential of a new safety-enhanced route guidance system (SRG). A microsimulation model was developed and integrated with a set of accident prediction models (APM) for links and intersections. The accident estimates obtained from this APM-integrated microsimulation model were plotted against time to produce accident profiles that could explain the relationships between DRG or SRG market penetrations and the number of network-wide accidents.
Feasibility of B-scan ultrasound attenuation mapping to monitor tissue coagulation due to high-temperature thermal therapy

Previous work demonstrated that when tissues are heated above 65°C, the ultrasound attenuation increases due to coagulative necrosis. This study examines the feasibility of several ultrasound B-scan attenuation estimation methods to differentiate the attenuation levels of coagulated and native tissue. The first method analyses the change in amplitude of the signal. The second group of methods uses the frequency downshift of the ultrasound signal to infer the attenuation properties. It is shown that though all of the methods are able to estimate attenuation, at least to some degree in simulated and phantom systems, issues related to ultrasound "speckle" prevent the identification of a 2 cm diameter coagulated region in an 'ex vivo ' bovine liver model. Optimisations of the methods are suggested, and it is demonstrated (through simulations) that a higher contrast in the attenuation images may be achieved if imaging high-temperature thermal therapy of kidney rather than liver.
The role of glycoxidative stress in glutathione depletion in human erythrocytes, implications in diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease that is characterised by perturbed or abnormal blood glucose homeostasis and chronic hyperglycaemia. Furthermore, people with DM have increased risks to develop long-term, chronic complications, including retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy and macrovascular disease. Oxidative stress and elevated concentrations of Ã-oxoaldehydes have been linked to these complications, and to DM itself. The goal of this project was to study the effects of reducing sugars and their Ã-oxoaldehyde metabolites on the cellular antioxidant defence system: glutathione (GSH) levels. Healthy human erythrocytes, in addition to purified yeast and bovine enzymes, were employed as models in this study. It was found that Ã-oxoaldehydes were much more effective than reducing sugars at inducing erythrocyte GSH depletion, inhibiting L-lactate production, and inhibiting both glutathione reductase and peroxidase. These findings strongly suggest that a-oxoaldehydes may play an important role in contributing to high glucose-induced oxidative stress initiating and promoting diabetic complications.
Strange truths in undiscovered lands, Shelley's poetic development and romantic geography

During the Romantic period, when a constant stream of distant people entering into the home ground forced Britain to revise its cognitive map of the world, geographically constructed Others became extremely important in the (re)constitution of the British identity, and Romantic writers were drawn into a new kind of poetic space where they engaged geographical and cultural otherness on a scale that was different from the past. This dissertation traces Shelley's development of what I call a "Romantic geography," an alternative space whose geopolitics are created by the poetic imagination, backed by insight into the contemporary world. I consider the Shelley canon as a developing quest for "strange truths in undiscovered lands" and for an ideal place ("Alastor" 77). Encounters and interactions between the Self and Others lead to reflections on the new relationship between the two, discoveries of multiple truths in unfamiliar forms, and possibilities of visionary improvements of places. Shelley's poems create an alternative space, revaluing hitherto neglected categories--women, non-Europeans, dreams, marginality and hybridity--transforming a landscape devastated by Western expansion, and moving towards a fluid cosmic vision that revitalizes the margin by the union of European and non-European cultures and the resulting hybridization. The Introduction provides historical and theoretical background. The five chapters that follow examine specific geographical regions in his poems, showing how the figure of the imagination called the "epipsyche"--the soul within a soul--is geographically structured as the female Other in a marginalized space. Chapter 1 investigates the dynamic relationship between the centre and the zones of otherness in 'Queen Mab'. Chapter 2 looks at the germ of hybridity in the figure of the Eastern Other in "Alastor." In Chapter 3, Shelley encounters an absolute Other in Mont Blanc. Chapter 4 considers cooperations and interactions between the East and the West in ' Prometheus Unbound'. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation by tracing the African expedition and hybridizing activities of a female cross between Apollo and an African nymph in "The Witch of Atlas."
Phytoplankton community composition in relation to environmental conditions in urban lakes, ponds and reservoirs

Many taxa were recorded from the examination of phytoplankton assemblages in 27 urban waterbodies. However, relatively few taxa were reported at significant abundances across few sites, or even at low abundances across many sites. The majority of the common taxa had a wide trophic distribution. Only two groups displaying trophic affinities could be distinguished, i.e. meso-eutrophic and eu-hypereutrophic. The phytoplankton community response to increasing trophic conditions differed in deep and shallow systems. In deep sites, an increase in trophy was associated with an increase in Cyanophyta dominance, a decrease in the proportion of Chrysophyceae and small edible algae, and a decrease in the number of taxa contributing significantly to the total biovolume. In contrast, nutrient rich shallow sites were rarely dominated by Cyanophyta, and when they were, the taxonomic composition differed from nutrient rich deep sites. Cyanophyta dominance in shallow sites was related to water residence times greater than 7 to14 days. Euglenophyta were important contributors in many rapidly flushed shallow sites. Other algal groups, Cryptophyta, Bacillariophyceae, Dinophyta, and Chlorophyta showed no significant differences in relative abundance across trophic levels or in deep or shallow sites. A simple index of phytoplankton biotic integrity was effective in deep sites for monitoring year to year changes, and the effects of remedial actions. The application of the index is currently limited by a lack of understanding of the relationship between phytoplankton communities and ecosystem health, especially in shallow systems.
Outcome of non-surgical endodontic treatment

This historical cohort study examined the outcome of non-surgical endodontic treatment and the influence of various factors on the outcome. Patients treated by Graduate Endodontics students were re-examined after 4 to 6 years by an independent investigator. Outcome criteria were dichotomous--the periradicular tissues were classified as "healed" or "diseased". For Initial Treatment, 81% of the teeth were healed. The healing rate was 18% higher for teeth without pre-operative Apical Periodontitis than those with Apical Periodontitis (p < 0.01). For Retreatment, 71% of the teeth were healed. The healing rate for teeth with pre-operative perforation was 53% lower than for all other teeth (p < 0.001). In conclusion, Apical Periodontitis was the major factor that influenced the outcome of Initial Treatment, while a pre-operative perforation was the major factor that influenced the outcome of Retreatment.
Central chemoreception in the neonatal rat transverse medullary slice preparation

This study investigates several aspects of central chemoreception in the neonatal rat, transverse medullary slice preparation. I found that the frequency of bursting recorded from hypoglossal nerves changed significantly with step changes in pH produced by varying the CO2 of the bathing solution of the slice. I also found that application of 1 mM acetazolamide dissolved in DMSO to the slice preparation produced no significant alterations in these responses to CO2. However, acetazolamide application did provoke a significant and prolonged decrease in hypoglossal nerve burst duration. Although the pH sensitive fluorescent dye, BCECF-AM, performed satisfactorily in bench tests, when it was used to label transverse medullary slice preparations it exhibited a faster rate of decay in fluorescence emission. Furthermore, I observed no change in fluorescence emission when pH was varied in the slice, either globally or locally using a CO2 diffusion pipette. I concluded that (1) the transverse medullary slice does contain central chemoreceptors, which elicit a respiratory response; (2) the central chemoreceptor response to pH/CO2 variations is not dependent upon carbonic anhydrase, and (3) the pH sensitive fluorescent dye BCECF-AM is not suitable for assessing regional changes of pH in the transverse medullary slice preparation.
A multiplicative model of the transmission rate and its statistical inferences

The transmission rate--a key parameter in epidemic modelling--is formulated as the product of a sequence of conditional probabilities based on the pathogenesis of an infection. These conditional probabilities represent the effectiveness of the host defence mechanisms (susceptibility), the amount of pathogen released by an infective (infectiousness), and the contact pattern of a susceptible and infectives. With this formulation, an incidence process is derived as the product of the transmission rate, the number of susceptibles, and a power function of the number of infectives under a general assumption of the infectiosity of the pathogen. A martingale is constructed as the difference of the counting process that counts the number of infections and the integral of the incidence process (the compensator). This martingale is used to estimate the cumulative transmission rates at the observed infection times. The cubic spline method and the kernel method are used to further obtain an estimate of the transmission rate as a continuous function of time. To study population heterogeneity, two approaches are employed: (1) the martingale method is used to make estimation within each stratified population and (2) the Cox model is used to estimate the effects of various factors on the transmission rate.
The effects of fly ash and silica fume on alkali-silica reaction in concrete

The effects of silica fume and fly ash on reducing the risk of concrete damage due to alkali-silica reaction are presented in this thesis. One silica fume and twenty fly ashes of a wide range of chemical composition were investigated. The effect of the selected materials on expansion when used with high-alkali Portland cement and a siliceous limestone reactive aggregate (Spratt) was evaluated using the concrete prism and the accelerated mortar bar tests. Portland cement pastes and lime/pozzolan blends were prepared using similar combinations of materials used in the expansion tests. These samples were used to study the effects of fly ash and silica fume on the pore solution alkalinity and composition of hydration products. The study showed that the efficiency of fly ash in limiting the risk of deleterious expansion is linked to its efficiency in lowering the pore solution alkalinity. High-calcium and high-alkali fly ashes are generally less effective in this respect compared to low-calcium ash. Silica fume was found to be effective in reducing the pore solution alkalinity at early ages; however, the alkalinity was found to increase at ages later than 28 days. Combinations of moderate levels of silica fume (5%) and high-calcium fly ash (20-30%) were found to be effective in limiting the expansion even after three years. This was attributable to the high capacity of such combinations to achieve and maintain low pore solution alkalinity. The silica fume reduces the pore solution alkalinity at early ages and the fly ash maintained the low alkalinity at later ages. The study showed that, for low and moderate-alkali fly ash, the 14-day expansion in the accelerated mortar bar test could be used to predict the 2-year expansion of concrete prisms. The results from the lime/pozzolan blends confirmed that the hydration products of pozzolan play the dominant role in reducing the pore solution alkalinity of cementitious systems containing pozzolans. The two-year expansion of concrete prisms containing fly ash could be correlated reliably to the alkalis available from the ash as determined by leaching mature paste samples in leaching solution of alkali ion concentration of 0.25 moles per litre.
Application and assessment of sequential extraction for trace metal characterization of contaminated soil

The operational speciation of selected trace metals in several contaminated Toronto area soils was determined by a modified BCR sequential extraction procedure. These results were verified through the use of standard reference soils, and suggested potential approaches to remediation. For a fill material taken from downtown Toronto and sediment from Toronto Harbour, metal partitioning behaviour conformed with the theory and anecdotal evidence in the soil chemistry literature: Cd was highly mobile, while Cu and Pb were primarily associated with organic matter, and Zn was distributed across all soil fractions. Soil from an abandoned metals recycling operation had unusual physical characteristics, and the trace metals within were largely non-extractable. Using radiotracer techniques, redistribution of Cd and Zn during the sequential extraction was directly evaluated for the first time. Although measurable readsorption of these elements occurred, the phenomenon was not as extreme as previously suggested.
Learning with music, the life of a beach

This research study explores the nature of adult learners' experiences with selected music as background for home-implemented learning activities. Eight third year student nurses' and the researcher's experiences with music were explored. Four selected types of music were used as background for learning during a period of four to six weeks. The music chosen for the study includes selections of Baroque, New Age, and Steven Halpern's music, and Gregorian chants. The music was used as background for studying, planning projects and papers, and reflecting on clinical learning experiences while at home. Data were obtained by three interviews of each participant, a focus group meeting, and written recordings of participants I experiences with the music as background for learning activities. The findings reveal that the experiences with music vary and are influenced by the participant's individual uniqueness and distinct circumstances. The type of music which is most useful depends on the individual's unique nature, knowledge of music, experiences with music for learning, liking for the music, and the type of learning activity. Common themes are as follows: music helps to isolate oneself from distractions by the external environment and the personal critic; balance opposing forces; modify personal tension; gain control; motivate; refresh the mind; connect with experiences; and generate ideas. Baroque, New Age, and Steven Halpern's music were preferred for studying and planning of projects. Personal music selections were preferred for reflecting on, and writing about clinical experiences. From the participants' stories the image: 'The Life of a Beach ' emerged. A portrait of the experience of learning with music as the life of a beach is presented. This research supports the need for educators to learn more of music's potential to facilitate learning, and to participate in open dialogue with students to explore strategies useful to enhance the learning experience. The significance of the findings and suggestions for learners and educators are discussed. Suggestions for future research are included.