VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The role of social behaviour of Reticulitermes flavipes, Kollar, Isoptera, rhinotermitidae, in defence against the fungal pathogen Metarhizium ansiopliae, Metschnikoff, sorokin, Deuteromycontina: hyphomycetes

The feasibility of using the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff), for the biological control of Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) was investigated. Individual termites were removed from their colonies and dusted with the conidia of M. anisopliae, then immediately returned among their nestmates. Termite interactions resulted in the dissemination of conidia through populations maintained in petri dishes, resulting in termite mortality. These interactions, however, were mostly antagonistic. It was observed that individuals carrying the conidia elicited aggressive behaviour in their nestmates. Additional studies revealed that termites are able to recognize individuals dusted with the conidia of M. anisopliae and prevent them from integrating into the colony. In a soil environment, dusted termites were frequently buried alive by their nestmates or groomed until no conidia remained on their cuticle. Further investigations showed that termite agonism is elicited by the presence of M. anisopliae on termite cuticle, but not by the symptoms associated with fungal infection.
Peripheral blood lymphocyte trafficking and natural killer cell cytolytic activity during prolonged, exhaustive aerobic exercise, a focus on cell adhesion molecules and ß-endorphin

The mechanisms through which acute physical exercise acts to modulate (i) changes in the peripheral blood's natural killer cell cytolytic capacity, and (ii) alterations in the concentration of peripheral blood leucocytes have not been well defined. To further this understanding, four separate studies were designed with the following objectives: 'Study 1': Six national-level male cyclists were examined before and after a 6 h, 250 km bicycle race to determine the effects on peripheral blood concentrations of leucocyte subsets and cytokines, 'Study 2': Ten recreationally-active men were examined during a double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to examine the effects of the opioid antagonist naltrexone on in vitro measured NKCA during and after 2 h of exhaustive moderate-intensity exercise (65% V¤O 2peak), 'Study 3': The placebo and control trials of ' Study 2' were examined to determine if the cell adhesion molecule profile of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets changes during and after exercise, and 'Study 4': Twelve recreationally-active men were examined during and after 40 min of exhaustive, moderate-intensity exercise (65% V¤O 2peak), to determine whether predominantly naive or memory <math> <f> <rm>CD4<sup>+</sup></rm></f> </math> and CD8hi T lymphocytes are mobilized to the peripheral blood during exercise. Data from 'Study 1' demonstrates that prolonged competitive cycling leads to significant alterations in the peripheral blood concentrations of phagocytic and cytotoxic cell populations and the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-Ã. Data from 'Study 2 ' demonstrates that ß-endorphin is not an important mediator of the acute augmentation of peripheral blood NKCC during prolonged, moderate- intensity exercise. Rather, much of the change in peripheral blood NKCC during prolonged exercise is mediated by concomitant changes in the peripheral blood concentration of NK cells. Data from 'Study 3' demonstrates that the varied expression of CD11a on lymphocyte subsets can account for their differential mobilization during exercise. Data from 'Study 4 ' demonstrates that a memory phenotype is an important determinant of the exercise-induced mobilization of <math> <f> <rm>CD4<sup>+</sup></rm></f> </math> but not CD8hi T cells.
Gender, space and linguistic practice in an Indo-Guyanese village

This is a study of language use and language socialization based on twelve months of field research in an Indo-Guyanese village between 1994 and 1996. The dissertation includes an historical account of the village, a description of the language varieties currently in use and discussion of fieldwork and methodology. A number of chapters are devoted to a consideration of gender and linguistic practice viewed from various theoretical paradigms. This includes a consideration of pronoun variability as well as analyses of several disputes. Finally, I consider the use of affective strategies basic to the process of language socialization. I examine two moments in the affective shaping of children's communicative bodies. In the first case, long before the child uses language productively, caregivers begin to inculcate a certain way of understanding the body. The values that I have labelled autonomy and age-graded/gendered solidarity are embedded and passed on through the very practices of holding and caring for children. With emerging linguistic skills comes exposure to a range of caregiver verbal strategies which more precisely direct children in community based moral and social education. In the second moment which I discuss, children move out of the position of dependents. This happens early for all children but has different consequences for boys and girls. All children develop peer groups but for girls the development of such relations tends to be restricted by the fact that early on they are expected to contribute to the household economy. For some this means a very rapid transition from dependent (up till age four) to caregiver (by age seven they may be caring for their siblings). For others it means contributing to household labour in other ways--for instance cooking and cleaning. Boys on the other hand are not expected to work in the same way. They are encouraged to engage in various semi-productive activities like fishing and birding. Between the ages of 7 to as old as 18 they experience a kind of personal autonomy and freedom that is unrivalled in the village. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the pervasive gendering of language and action in the community.
Cytoskeletal modulation of surfactant trafficking

Alveolar type II cells are responsible for synthesis, secretion, and reuptake of pulmonary surfactant. There is strong evidence that the cytoskeleton, primarily the actin filaments, is involved in surfactant trafficking. The purpose of our study was to examine the temporal relationship between cytoskeletal changes and surfactant secretion and uptake. Type II cells in primary culture were stimulated with agonists for different time periods. At the same time points, cells were pretreated with actin modulating agents, cytochalasin D (CD), a drug that prevents actin from polymerizing, thymosin $\beta\sb4$, a highly specific actin monomer binding protein, or control vehicle. CD, thymosin, and/or secretagogues increased secretion especially in the first five minutes. These findings were correlated with cytoskeletal changes. None of the agents modulated the uptake of surfactant-like liposomes under conditions of these experiments. We conclude that cortical actin is disrupted during secretion and that this may be an early requisite step in exocytosis.
Chromo-analyse des personnages dans La bête humaine d'Émile Zola

Cette étude sur les couleurs des personnages (et de la Lison) dans 'La Bête humaine' (1890) cherche à montrer comment les couleurs explicites et implicites contribuent à la facture du sens, racontant à leur manière une histoire cauchemardesque sur le crime, le système judiciaire et le chemin de fer sous le Second Empire. Afin de mieux dégager les problèmes intrinsèques d'une "chrono-analyse" romanesque, cette thèse examine d'abord quelques approches antérieures qu'elles soient de caractère biographique, comparatiste, informatisé, ou encore fondées sur l'indexation du réel ou du symbolique. Mon analyse se fonde en partie sur la superposition de passages comprenant des termes de couleur explicites et implicites (en appendices) et sur l'identification de codes extra-textuels (ex: codes des tempéraments, des criminologistes, du "sale/propre" etc.) qui sont transformés par le roman et finalement incorporés par Zola au code du masque et à son hiérarchie "Vie-Mort." En fait, chaque tempérament ("sanguin," "nerveux," "lymphatique"), par ses couleurs, se comporte comme un "bleu archi-textuel" qui détermine en partie le déroulement du récit, comme si "les couleurs agissent sur l'âme" (Goethe)--et vice-versa. Et, tout en exploitant certains stigmates criminels (avec leurs couleurs) empruntés aux écrits criminologistes qui visent à distinguer les criminels des non-criminels, Zola déconstruit en fin de compte ces théories "scientifiques" en démasquant comme criminel presque tout le personnel romanesque. Au moyen des structures diverses, mais surtout binaires et ternaires, jusqu'aux renversements de type héraclitéen, les couleurs du roman reflètent et créent du sens, de l'action, du suspense et même des paroles. Les couleurs participent à la représentation du crime (et de la fêlure), de la sexualité, des milieux, et à la mise en place des jeux lexicaux et sémantiques (ex: figuré/littéral). Elles révèlent aussi le mode de pensée et la vision du monde de Zola. Une telle étude remet en question les lieux communs qui disent que la description est statique ou qu'elle doit servir la narration, soit comme ornement, soit comme mimesis.
Evolution of elliptical galaxies

In the first part of this thesis early-type galaxies in Arp groups are examined to determine if any recent mergers have occurred. No unusual rotation curves are found to indicate a merger event in the four out of eleven early-type galaxies with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. Minor axis rotation is another sign of peculiar kinematics and it too is not detected in the four galaxies with strong rotation and for which the slit positions are aligned along the major and minor axes. The average velocity dispersion of this sample of Arp galaxies is 7 ± 4% lower than other early-type galaxies, but otherwise these galaxies appear to be indistinguishable from normal galaxies. The lack of strong emission lines indicates that these galaxies have not undergone recent star formation with the exception of two galaxies which are currently interacting with other members of their group. There is no strong evidence in these Arp groups of recent mergers. These results are in agreement with other authors who find that the occurrence of recent major merger events in compact groups is rare. The Fundamental Plane is a superior tool to either the Faber-Jackson or luminosity-size relation for the study of the luminosity and mass-to-light ratio evolution of early-type galaxies in clusters. Surface brightness selection effects will cause the Faber-Jackson relation to underestimate the luminosity evolution. These selection effects are clearly demonstrated for the cluster Abell 2390. Surface brightness selection effects will also affect the results derived from the luminosity-size relation but to a lesser degree. The Fundamental Plane analysis is insensitive to surface brightness selection effects and therefore produces reliable results. Comparing the Fundamental Planes of the Coma cluster, a nearby cluster, and Abell 2390, a distant cluster, we find the evolution in luminosity is <math> <f> <g>D</g>M<inf>B</inf><fen lp="par">AB<rp post="par"></fen>=-<hsp sp="-0.167"> 0.54±0.11</f> </math>. The mass-to-light ratios increase by <math> <f> 20<sup>+14</sup><inf>-<hsp sp="-0.167">13</inf>%</f> </math> between Abell 2390 ('z' = 0.23) and Coma (' z' = 0.023). This weak evolution in mass-to-light ratio favours high formation redshifts for early-type galaxies in clusters. These results are consistent with those found by other authors. The results of this thesis support the formation of early-type galaxies at redshifts greater than 2, and seems to rule out any significant formation at redshifts less than 1.
A statistical shrinkage model and its applications

Bridge regression, a special type of penalized regression of a penalty function <math> <f> <sum align="c"></sum><hsp sp="-0.167"><hsp sp="-0.167"><hsp sp="-0.167"> <hsp sp="-0.167"><hsp sp="0.167"><hsp sp="0.167">&mid;<hsp sp="-0.167"> <hsp sp="-0.167"><g>b</g><inf>j</inf><hsp sp="-0.167"><hsp sp="-0.167"> <hsp sp="-0.167"><hsp sp="-0.167">&mid;<sup><hsp sp="0.167"><hsp sp="0.167"> <hsp sp="0.167"><hsp sp="0.167"><hsp sp="0.167"><g>g</g></sup> </f> </math> with ã >= 1is considered. The Bridge estimator is obtained by solving the penalized score equations via the modified Newton-Raphson method for ã > 1 or the Shooting method for ã = 1. The Bridge estimator yields small variance with a little sacrifice of bias, and thus achieves small mean squared error and small prediction error when collinearity is present among regressors in a linear regression model. The concept of penalization is generalized via the penalized score equations, which allow the implementation of penalization regardless of the existence of joint likelihood functions. Penalization is then applied to generalized linear models and generalized estimating equations (GEE). The penalty parameter ã and the tuning parameter [lambda] are selected via the generalized cross-validation (GCV). A quasi-GCV is developed to select the parameters for the penalized GEE. Simulation studies show that the Bridge estimator performs well compared to the estimators of ridge regression (ã = 2) and the Lasso (ã = 1). Several data sets from public health studies are analyzed using the Bridge penalty model in the statistical settings of a linear regression model, a logistic regression model and a GEE model for binary outcomes.
Development of wisdom-related knowledge in adolescence and young adulthood

This study examined the development of wisdom-related knowledge over the transitional period extending from middle adolescence into early adulthood. Wisdom-related knowledge, as a form of "real-world" intelligence, was measured in two domains: (1) hypothetical scenarios about life problems of others and (2) one's own "real-life" problems. The sample consisted of 128 individuals distributed equally across four age groups (15-16 years, 17-18 years, 20-22 years, 25-27 years) which were balanced on the basis of gender, race (African-American and white), and social class (middle class and working class). Participants were administered a semi-structured interview in which they were asked to discuss (1) hypothetical scenarios about life problems of others and (2) their own stressful life events. Interview protocols were coded for level of wisdom-related knowledge. The coding system, which assessed general criteria (i.e., factual and procedural knowledge) as well as specific meta-level criteria (i.e., contextualism, relativism, and uncertainty) for wisdom, was adapted from Staudinger, Smith, and Baltes' (1994) wisdom coding system. Results of analyses revealed main effects of age and gender for both scenario and stressful life event protocols. The pattern of age effects for scenarios varied with the nature of the life problem. An important factor in the general age effect for stressful life events was an increase in "relativistic thinking" and "thinking about uncertainty" in the older age groups. Gender analyses indicated that wisdom scores averaged across scenarios and wisdom scores for Stressful life events were higher for females than males. This gender difference resulted mainly from (1) higher scores for females on the scenario about making friends and (2) a greater focus on "self-issues" by females when discussing their own stressful life events. No race or social class differences were found. A main effect of problem type was found with wisdom-related knowledge about one's own real-life problem exceeding wisdom-related knowledge about hypothetical life problems of others.
The relation between mothers' and children's understanding of rights

This study examined the relationship between mothers' and children's understanding of rights. The sample consisted of 141 children in grades six, eight, and ten and 107 mothers. Participants were presented with 4 hypothetical "rights" vignettes and were required to decide whether the story character should assert the right and provide a rationale for their decision. Several interesting findings emerged. Children did not differ in terms of their support of rights or reasoning responses. While mothers saw themselves as "nurturers", mothers of tenth graders regarded children as requiring less nurturance and more autonomy than mothers of younger children. Comparisons between mothers and children indicated greater support for nurturance rights by mothers while the opposite was found for children together. Separate analyses indicated greater concordance between tenth graders and their mothers as compared to the other two groups. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for balancing protection and autonomy rights.
The relationship between parental appraisals, children's appraisals, and patterns of emotionality in children

Narratives of 44 mothers and 24 fathers were scored for appraisals utilizing a model which was based on goal theories of emotion, and on attribution theory. Maternal fearful appraisals were found to be positively correlated with children's fearful appraisals and internalizing behaviour, while maternal and paternal anger appraisals were inversely related to children's internalizing behaviour. An unexpected inverse relationship emerged between paternal sad and fearful appraisals and internalizing behaviour of children. The frequency of emotion words and emotion appraisals used by mothers and fathers were found to be significantly correlated with one another. Mothers utilized both emotion words and total emotional appraisals to a greater extent than fathers. Further, mothers tended to make a relatively greater number of sad and fearful appraisals in their explanations, while fathers made more angry appraisals.
Conversations in counterpoint, a narrative inquiry into the professional knowledge landscape of female administrators at a board of education

This study discloses the impact of the social narrative between men and women on the educational system. Theoretically grounded in Clandinin and Connelly's landscape metaphor, it captures the complexity of the professional knowledge landscape of seven female administrators' lives during a period of political, economic and educational reform. The fundamental orientation of this thesis focuses on validating women's personal knowledge which is derived from their organizational experience in adult education. As an administrator in Adult and Continuing Education, I did not fully comprehend the influence of the board of education's structure. Contradictory ways of thinking and behaving in this institutional setting made me question how gender affected women's foundational concepts about theories of human nature, epistemology and ontology in a patriarchal environment. Over a two year period, I shared conversations with co-ordinators, principals and senior officials, individually or in a focus group. By naming the female experience, five feminist case studies were developed which offered us an opportunity to reconceptualize knowledge in organizations. Together, we began to construct a conscious sense of personal agency about our encounters with gender barriers. As these stories of disempowerment were told, the changing social narrative unexpectedly altered the relationship among these accounts. It shifted from issues of gender equity and authority to a theoretically analogous conflict between privileged day school teachers and marginalized Continuing Education instructors. Consequently, this work sketches an insider's view of adult education in transition, and its impact on the question of the fundamental purpose of a board of education. The most significant disclosure is the powerful commitment of these women in positions of responsibility, to the notions of equity, caring and community. By bringing gender to inquiry, their work narratives become valuable as a literature where women can read themselves into the narrative of administration and changing reforms. They expand the parameters of meaning in educational administration, as women's stories continue to modify the gendered construction of human experience.
Induction of freezing tolerance in jack pine seedlings: Changes in lipids, oxidation-reduction and antioxidant enzymes during cold acclimation

The freezing tolerance of jack pine seedlings ('Pinus bankisana ' Lamb.) was acquired following conditioning at 5°C and a short photoperiod. A 1-week conditioning period significantly increased survival after exposure to -5°C, but was less effective on seedlings exposed to -10°C. Conditioning periods of 2 and 4 weeks resulted in higher levels of survival following exposure to both -5 and -10°C. Changes in two root plasma-membrane-bound activities, H+-ATPase and NADH-dependent ferricyanide reductase, were studied. in plasma membrane enriched fractions during conditioning and after freezing. Cold conditioning inhibited these two enzyme activities. However, post-freezing activities of both enzymes were enhanced by conditioning. The changes in major polar lipids and their fatty acid compositions in jack pine roots and needles during cold conditioning were studied. After 4 weeks of cold conditioning, the proportion of phosphatidylchohne (PC) increased in root and needle tissues, while, in roots, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) was decreased during cold conditioning. The proportion of oleic acid (18:1) in roots and linolenic acid (18:3) in needles increased during cold conditioning. Following 4-weeks of cold conditioning, the resistance of root membranes to freeze-thaw stress and free radical attack increased as assessed by determining lipid peroxidation. Lower levels of lipid degradation were found in 4-week conditioned seedlings following a freeze-thaw event. Cold conditioning led to gradual increases in sulfhydryl (SH) concentration in soluble proteins and the GSH/GSSG ratios in jack pine roots. 'In vivo' and 'in vitro' freeze-thaw caused a decrease in SH content in microsomal proteins; a lower level of SH oxidation was found in the microsomes of 4-week conditioned seedlings. In this study, we show that GSH has protective effects on freeze-thaw induced inhibition of H +-ATPase activity. The specific activity of ascorbate regenerating enzymes gradually increased. The activities of the enzymes involved in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle in jack pine roots were regulated by cold conditioning. Our results suggest that these enzymes play a protective role following the exposure of the seedlings to freezing temperatures.