VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Coping With Capitalism: Monsters and the Spectre of Excess in Spirited Away, Onmyoji, and Tokyo Babylon

This thesis is intended to illustrate that monsters, as beings made of pure culture, embody social anxieties and can be deployed as a means of protest. Therefore this thesis examines monsters in Japanese anime, manga, and film that embody the excesses of capitalism. The first chapter examines Spirited Away and how capitalism’s excesses create monsters such as over consumption, greed, and loss of identity through the disintegration of social relationships. The second chapter examines modern onmyoji and why they are different from their ancient counterpart, especially with regards to the commodification of women and the alienation of others. By examining the societal ills that have created monsters we can determine if these representatives of capitalist excess can be managed.

Keywords: Onmyoji
Miyazaki
Spirited Away
Monsters
Anime
Advisor: Keirstead, Thomas
A Translation of Datsu-A Ron: Decoding a Prewar Japanese Nationalistic Theory

Fukuzawa Yukichi’s Datsu-A Ron is a relic of Japan’s modern nationalism. Since its’ publication in the year of 1885, arguably, it had been branded as the very seed that led Japan onto the war path in the Pacific War. Yet, this rather short and dense pre-war Japanese nationalistic theory contains complex layers that may easily complicate its readers’ comprehensions. The purpose of this thesis is to decode the key words that were used in this theory and dissect the layers of this theory’s intentions to the general public for a clear and objective understanding.

Keywords: Fukuzawa Yukichi
Datsu-A Ron
East Asia
Nationalism
Colonialism
Japan
Meiji
Prewar
Advisor: Kawashima, Ken
Kings Over an Empire of Hearts: Missionary Discourse in Korea at the Turn of the 19th Century

In the last decades of the 19th century an interdenominational missions group emerged from within Anglo-American Protestantism: the SVM. This organization sought to broadcast the gospel to the entire world and through this message establish a version of modernity based on Christian belief. This work examines the presence of this evangelical movement in Korea and will consider the implications of its brand of Christianity on the exchange between missionaries and Korean nationalist. Towards this end, this paper will examine missionary discourses produced by leading evangelicals within the church apparatus and consider the writings of James Gale, one of the organization’s missionaries stationed in Korea. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that, although outsiders to the Japanese colonial regime, the evangelicals' exchange with Koreans was still shaped by Orientalist assumptions and broader compromises made between the interlocking ideologies of Capitalism, Social Darwinism and Christian doctrine.

Keywords: missionaries
Korea
Advisor: Schmid, Andre
DREM: Architectural Support for Deterministic Redundant Execution of Multithreaded Programs

Recently there have been several proposals to use redundant execution of diverse replicas to defend against attempts to exploit memory corruption vulnerabilities. However, redundant execution relies on the premise that the replicas behave deterministically, so that if inputs are replicated to both replicas, any divergences in their outputs can only be the result of an attack. Unfortunately, this assumption does not hold for multithreaded programs, which are becoming increasingly prevalent -- the non-deterministic interleaving of threads can also cause divergences in the replicas. This thesis presents a method to eliminate concurrency related non-determinism between replicas. We introduce changes to the existing cache coherence hardware used in multicores to support deterministic redundant execution. We demonstrate that our solution requires moderate hardware changes and shows modest overhead in scientific applications.

Keywords: security
Advisor: Lie, David
Investigation of Protein Transduction Across the Cell Membrane

Protein transduction domains (PTDs) are short peptide sequences that can transport wide varieties of cargo across cell membranes. This study assessed the transduction ability of fusion proteins containing optimised variants of the PTD from HIV-1 transactivator of transcription (Tat). Uptake of Tat-PTDs was determined by fluorescent microscopy using the fluorescent protein Venus as a tag, and also by using fusion proteins containing caspase-7 and RhoA bound to Tat-PTD. Upon entering the cytosol the latter two induce apoptosis and the formation of cytoplasmic extensions, morphological changes easily observed by microscopy. It was found that PTDs with two, three or four sequential Tat-PTD domains could bind to the surface of two of the five cell lines tested. Fluorescent microscopy, however, indicated that the fluorescent constructs remained on the cell surface. As well, PTDs bound to caspase-7 or RhoA did not induce any visible morphological changes in the cells.

Keywords: HIV-1 Tat
Advisor: Truong, Kevin
Controlling Climate Change by Asia-Pacific Powers in APP and MEM

The problem of climate change is the major challenge to the world community. However, the full world community still fails to find an adequate solution to this problem. In such a situation, the mutual efforts of plurilateral institutions, such as the G8+5, MEM (now MEF), APEC and APP are major drivers of the successful solution to the problem of climate change. This study examines these informal plurilateral institutions’ role, their effectiveness in policy creation and implementation, and their potential impact on global or regional climate governance to show that the APP and MEF have been effective in inducing climate action by their members. This paper applies an analytic framework of the six dimensions of global government developed by John J. Kirton. The development of environmental initiatives of six Asia-Pacific countries(the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Korea and Russia) have been accompanied by the introduction of energy efficient technologies policies such as building and clean coal policies.

Keywords: climate change
Asia-Pacific
Advisor: Kirton, John
The Eeffects of Shaking on the Eye and Central Nervous System of Mice and Barbados Green Monkeys

Shaken baby syndrome is a clinicopathologic syndrome characterized by a triad of findings: subdural hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage and axonal injury. Although shaking is widely believed to cause the triad, it is not yet entirely clear if shaking without head impact can produce the triad. Initial attempts to test the effect of shaking in mouse pups were unsuccessful as neither controlled continuous vibration nor pulse acceleration caused any of the components of the triad. With no other convenient modeling system available, a pilot study with three adult subhuman primates was conducted. Although a conclusive statement cannot be made, manual shaking did not immediately cause hemorrhagic injuries to the primates’ brains and eyes. Future studies should test for delayed development of axonal injury. In addition, a comparative anatomical study should also be conducted to test the validity of the adult primate as a model system for human infant injuries.

Keywords: Shaking injuries
Neuropathology
Advisor: Pollanen, Michael S.
Fuel Load and Fire Behaviour in the Southern Ontario Tallgrass Prairie

Prescribed burning is an important management tool for the restoration and maintenance of tallgrass prairies. To improve fire behaviour prediction in tallgrass prairies, I assessed three different aspects of fire behaviour - heat of combustion, fuel load and rate of spread. Heat of combustion was found to vary amongst certain tallgrass species but the relatively small differences in means is unlikely to contribute significantly to fire behaviour. Average fuel loads in Ontario tallgrass prairie sites were found to be higher than current default value used in fire behaviour prediction. Three rapid fuel load assessment techniques were tested. Finally, the predictions of three fire behaviour prediction systems - the FBP System, BehavePlus and an Australian grassfire spread model, were compared with actual fire behaviour observations. The FBP System was found to perform poorly while both BehavePlus and the Australian model exhibited relatively strong relationships between observed and predicted rates of spread.

Keywords: tallgrass prairie
prescribed burning
heat of combustion
fuel load
grass fire spread prediction
Advisor: Wotton, Brian Michael
Martell, David Lee
Projective Space Codes for the Injection Metric

In the context of error control in random linear network coding, it is useful to construct codes that comprise well-separated collections of subspaces of a vector space over a finite field. This thesis concerns the construction of non-constant-dimension projective space codes for adversarial error-correction in random linear network coding. The metric used is the so-called injection distance introduced by Silva and Kschischang, which perfectly reflects the adversarial nature of the channel. A Gilbert-Varshamov-type bound for such codes is derived and its asymptotic behaviour is analysed. It is shown that in the limit as the ambient space dimension approaches infinity, the Gilbert-Varshamov bound on the size of non-constant-dimension codes behaves similar to the Gilbert-Varshamov bound on the size of constant-dimension codes contained within the largest Grassmannians in the projective space. Using the code-construction framework of Etzion and Silberstein, new non-constant-dimension codes are constructed; these codes contain more codewords than comparable codes designed for the subspace metric. To our knowledge this work is the first to address the construction of non-constant-dimension codes designed for the injection metric.

Keywords: Network Coding, Data Transmission, Multicast, Error-Control Coding, Rate, Adversary, Projective Space, Grassmannian, Communication Systems
Advisor: Kschischang, Frank R.
Scaling SAT-based Automated Design Debugging with Formal Methods

The size and complexity of modern VLSI computer chips are growing at a rapid pace. Functional debugging is increasingly becoming a bottleneck in the design flow where it can take up to 60% of the total verification time. Scaling existing automated debugging tools is necessary in order to continue along this path of rapid growth and innovation in the semiconductor industry. This thesis aims to scale automated debugging techniques with two contributions. The first contribution introduces a succinct memory model for automated design debugging that dramatically lowers the memory requirements for the debugging problem. The second contribution presents a scalable SAT-based design debugging algorithm that uses a mathematical technique called interpolation to divide the debugging problem into multiple parts across time which greatly reduces the peak memory requirements of the debugging problem. Extensive experiments on real designs demonstrate the benefit of this work.

Keywords: Debugging
SAT
VLSI
Formal Methods
Diagnosis
Debug
Advisor: Veneris, Andreas
On the Application of Random Linear Network Coding for Network Security and Diagnosis

Recent studies show that network coding improves multicast session throughput. In this thesis, we demonstrate how random linear network coding can be incorporated to provide security and network diagnosis for peer-to-peer systems. First, we seek to design a security scheme for network coding architectures which are highly susceptible to jamming attacks. We evaluate Null Keys, a novel and computationally efficient security algorithm, by studying its application in real-world topologies. Null Keys is a cooperative security based on the subspace properties of network coding. We then present a new trace collection protocol that allows operators to diagnose peer-to-peer networks. Existing solutions are not scalable and fail to collect measurements from departed peers. We use progressive random linear network coding to disseminate the traces in the network, from which the server pulls data in a delayed fashion. We leverage the power of progressive encoding to increase block diversity and tolerate block losses.

Keywords: Computer
Communication
Networking
Network Coding
Advisor: Li, Baochun
Chloride Channel 2 and Protein Kinase C Epsilon Protein Module in Ischemic Preconditioning of Rabbit Cardiomyocytes

Cardiac ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is defined as brief periods of ischemia and reperfusion that protect the heart against longer ischemia and reperfusion. IPC triggers Cl- efflux and protein kinase C epsilon (PKCe) translocation to the particulate fraction. Chloride channel 2 (ClC-2) is volume regulated and is a potential end effector of IPC. The goal of my study was to investigate the involvement of PKCε and ClC-2 protein module in IPC of isolated adult rabbit ventricular myocytes. Co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays on HEK 293 cells, transfected with ClC-2-Flag, confirmed that ClC-2 interacts with PKCe. Subcellular fractionation showed that PKCe/ClC-2 protein module is localized to the sarcolemma of cardiomyocytes. Lastly, ischemia/reperfusion injury was simulated in cardiomyocytes with 45min simulated ischemia (SI)/60min simulated reperfusion (SR) and IPC was induced by pre-treatment with 10min SI/20min SR. Co-IP after each time interval showed that IPC transiently enhanced PKCe/ClC-2 interaction. PKC inhibitor, GF109203X, abrogated the enhanced interaction.

Keywords: protein kinase c epsilon
chloride channel 2
Advisor: Wilson, Gregory J.
Improved Mouse Models for the Study of Treatment Modalities using Sulfur-containing Small-molecular-Weight Molecules for Passive Immune-mediated Thrombocytopenia

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody-mediated platelet destruction. To test the efficacy of novel sulfur compounds as alternative treatments for ITP, we used a mouse model of passive immune thrombocytopenia (PIT). Using this model, the platelet nadir could not be maintained, with platelet counts rising after day 4, despite daily anti-platelet antibody administration. We examined reticulated platelet counts by flow cytometry, and found increased thrombopoiesis in the bone marrow to be at least partially responsible for this platelet rebound. Consequentially, two improved mouse models of PIT were developed, where the platelet rebound is circumvented. The first model employs sublethal total body gamma-irradiation in combination with daily antibody administration, while the second model employs gradual escalation of the daily antibody dose. Finally, we show that none of the tested candidate compounds show efficacy in elevating platelet counts in vivo, likely due to their limited solubility.

Keywords: thrombocytopenia
immunology
auto-immune disease
ITP
mouse model
platelets
sulfur compounds
Advisor: Branch, Donald R.
The Efficacy and Toxicity of Methotrexate Monotherapy versus Methotrexate Combination Therapy with Non-biologic Disease-modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Objective to systematically review randomized trials that compared methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy to MTX in combination with other non-biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic Drugs (DMARD) and to compare the performances of PubMed versus MEDLINE (Ovid®) and EMBASE. Methods We performed a systematic review of randomized trials comparing MTX alone and MTX in combination with other non-biologic DMARDs. Heterogeneity was investigated and explored. The performances of Pubmed and MEDLINE were evaluated. The EMBASE unique trials were identified and investigated. Results A total of 19 trials were included and grouped by the type of patients randomized. Trials in DMARD naive patients showed no significant advantage of the MTX combination versus monotherapy. The recall was 85% vs. 90% for Ovid and PubMed, respectively, while the precision and number-needed-to read of Ovid and Pubmed were comparable. Only 23% of trials were EMBASE unique trials Conclusions In DMARD naive patients, the balance of efficacy/toxicity favours MTX monotherapy.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis
systematic review
meta-analysis
heterogeneity
database
search strategy
Advisor: Bombardier, Claire
A Study of Intermittent Buoyancy Induced Flow Phenomena in CANDU Fuel Channels

The present work focuses on the study of two-phase flow behavior called “Intermittent Buoyancy Induced Flow” (IBIF) resulting from the loss of coolant circulation in a CANDU nuclear reactor core. The main objectives are to study steam bubble formation and migration through the pressure tube and into the feeder tubes and headers, and to study the effect of pressure tube sagging on the two-phase flow behavior during IBIF. Experiments are conducted using air and water flow at atmospheric pressure to qualitatively examine the IBIF phenomena. The test showed oscillating periodic behavior in the void fraction as the air vents. In addition to this, a mathematical model based on a simplified momentum balance for the liquid and gas phases was formulated. The model was further solved and compared to the experimental data. The model predictions showed a reasonable agreement within the investigated range of void fractions.

Keywords: CANDU Reactor, two-phase flow
Advisor: Kawaji, Masahiro
Soot Fformation in Co-flow and Counterflow Laminar Diffusion Flames of Fuel Mixtures

In the formation process of soot in the flames of even-carbon-numbered fuels, acetylene and its derivatives are suspected to be dominant. The addition of an odd-carbon-numbered fuel into these flames introduces methyl radicals and/or C3 chemistries, which are believed to (de)activate certain chemical pathways towards the production of soot. The resultant soot formation rate of the mixture could be higher than the sum of the respective rates of the mixture components, i.e., synergistic eff ect. In this work, the mixtures of butane isomers, ethylene-butane isomers, and propane-butane isomers were studied on a co-flow and a counterflow burner. Chemical effects were isolated from those of thermal and dilution by mixing isomers and comparing the mixtures including one isomer to those including the counterpart. Line of sight attenuation (LOSA) and laser-light extinction techniques were used for measuring soot volume fraction. The results provide information on synergistic effects in soot formation for the fuels used.

Keywords: Combustion
Soot
Advisor: Gulder, Omer L.
Freedom of Religion and Canada’s Commitments to Multiculturalism: A Critical Analysis of the Rights-based Approach

This thesis argues that the current Canadian approach to freedom of religion is inconsistent with Canada’s approach to multiculturalism. It begins by placing Canada’s multiculturalism legislation into the broader intellectual context of the leading political theories on the governance of diverse populations. It then examines the Canadian case law regarding freedom of religion, arguing that the prevailing rights-based approach produces consequences inconsistent with Canada’s legislated commitments to multiculturalism. It posits that the individualism of rights-based analysis, the pressure to frame religion in pre-defined ways, and the tendency of courts to speak in the language of tolerance are all troublesome. Further, it argues that when disputes are framed in terms of rights, meaningful dialogue is less likely and compromises are difficult to achieve. It then proposes an alternative, “difference-based” approach to disputes involving religion, which provides a framework more consistent with Canada’s multicultural ideals.

Keywords: Constitutional Law
Freedom of Religion
Multiculturalism
Advisor: Shachar, Ayelet
Freshwater, Law, and Game Theory: Strategies for Navigating the Troubled Waters of a Canada / U.S. Bulk Water Export Conflict

The U.S. is facing a serious decline in its water supply and is likely to turn to Canada as its next major source of water. Under NAFTA, Canada may become legally obligated to allow American companies to begin selling Canadian water. If one province trades its water, Canada can do little to stop water exports nationally. Consequently, it is crucial that Canada takes steps now to legally ensure its water is protected. This paper portrays the Canada / U.S. bulk water export issue as a conflict, and proposes strategies that Canada could take to protect its freshwater. It applies a game theory perspective to the conflict, and illustrates the moves that each country might make to “win” the game and secure Canada’s water supply. The purpose of this application is to better predict future strategies and their consequences when two political allies legally battle over the world’s most precious natural resource.

Keywords: environment
law
Advisor: Green, Andrew
Access to Justice for the Masses? A Critical Analysis of Class Actions in Ontario

Judges and lawyers have embraced class proceedings as fulfilling an access to justice objective. In the more than fifteen years since the introduction of class proceedings legislation in Ontario, however, few have sought to evaluate whether or to what extent class actions have improved access to justice. The author begins to fill that void by first exploring various meanings of access to justice, and then examining in detail the initiation and settlement of class actions, and the controversial issue of counsel fees, using both doctrinal analysis and empirical data representing the class action practices of more than 75 plaintiff-side lawyers. She concludes that there are several aspects of class action practice and jurisprudence that fall short of advancing access to justice to its fullest extent, and calls for further socio-legal analysis to measure the impact, and evaluate the success, of class actions.

Keywords: class actions
access to justice
Advisor: Sossin, Lorne
Cooperative Relaying in Cellular Networks

We consider a system with a single base station communicating with multiple users over orthogonal channels while being assisted by multiple relays. Several recent works have suggested that, in such a scenario, selection, i.e., a single relay helping the source, is the best relaying option in terms of the resulting complexity and overhead. However, in a multiuser setting, optimal relay assignment is a combinatorial problem. We formulate a related convex optimization problem that provides an extremely tight upper bound on performance and show that selection is, almost always, inherent in the solution. We also provide a heuristic to find a close-to-optimal relay assignment and power allocation across users supported by a single relay. Simulation results using realistic channel models demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed schemes, but also raise the question as to whether the gains from relaying are worth the additional costs.

Keywords: Communication
Relaying
Cooperative
Cellular Networks
Decode and Forward
Resource Allocation
Advisor: Adve, Raviraj
Cross-cultural Differences in Meter Perception

The goal of the present study was to determine whether exposure to complex meters in one musical culture facilitates the detection of metrical changes in a foreign musical culture. Adults with exclusive exposure to Western music, and adults with exposure to non-Western as well as Western music were tested on their perception of metrical changes in foreign (Turkish) music with simple and complex meters. Those whose exposure was limited to the simple meters of Western music were only able to detect the metrical changes in Turkish music with simple meter. By contrast, adults with exposure to non-Western music with complex meters detected the metrical changes in Turkish music with complex as well as simple meter. The superiority of the bi-musical listeners on complex meters and the equivalence of bi-musical and mono-musical listeners on simple meters suggest that exposure to complex meters rather than bi-musicality was responsible for the performance differences.

Keywords: meter perception
musical enculturation
Advisor: Trehub, Sandra E.