VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Theatre and community: case studies of four colway-style plays performed in Canada

Focusing on the four Colway-style community Plays produced between 1990–1995, this study documents the use of the Colway model in Canada and contributes to the analytical discussion of community-oriented forms of popular theatre by examining the practical problems and ideological issues raised by the Colway experience within specifically Canadian contexts. The sum of the individual case studies is used to evaluate the form's efficacy in term of social, cultural, and political affirmation and intervention, while each of the case histories is focused on one particular area in this regard and includes an examination of the technical means selected (or not selected) to achieve project goals. Material has been arranged in two parts. Following an introductory history of the Colway Theatre Trust, the first chapter establishes the social and theatrical traditions upon which the Colway style draws, and in terms of which its innovations, successes, and failures can be examined. The second chapter discusses the main aspects of the Colway form, and together this material comprises Part 1. Part II consists of a brief introduction to community play practice in Canada, followed by the individual case studies. The study ends with a brief chapter of conclusions.
Hypervisor-based intrusion detection

Unauthorized access by intruders to computer systems is a pervasive and seemingly worsening problem. This research explores the implementation of the Intrusion Sensing and Introspection System (ISIS). ISIS is an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) implemented in a hypervisor, which gives it the advantage of good visibility of events occurring in the operating system but also isolates it from the operating system so that if the operating system is compromised, the attacker cannot tamper with ISIS. ISIS uses this isolation to increase detection accuracy by watching for the symptoms of a successful attack rather than the attack itself. We introduce a symptom called a primary backdoor, which is the first interactive session that an intruder gains after a successful attack. In experiments with various exploits, as well as honeypot machines placed on the Internet, we were able to achieve detection of a variety of different attacks with very few false positives.
Analysis of sibling time series data: Alignment and difference detection

Many practical problems over a wide range of domains require synthesizing information from time series data. Two distinct, yet related, problems in time series data are those of alignment and difference detection. These tasks may be coupled together so that a solution to one is difficult without a solution to the other. We introduce a unified, probabilistic approach to the problems of alignment and of alignment with difference detection. This approach takes the form of a class of models called Continuous Profile Models for simultaneously analyzing sets of sibling time series---those which contain shared sub-structure, but which may also differ. In this type of generative model, each time series belonging to one class is generated as a noisy transformation of a single latent trace in the model. A latent trace can be viewed as an underlying, noiseless representation of the set of observable time series belonging to one class, and is learned from the data. If multiple classes of data exist, then one latent trace per class is learned, and these are aligned to each other during inference. The latent traces lie at the core of this class of models, and provide the basis for alignment and difference detection. We focus on Liquid-Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry proteomics data, for examination and demonstration of our methods, although our methods are not confined to this domain. Our approach to alignment has several benefits over traditional approaches. It provides a principled method for finding parameters in the model, such as the reference template and error/distance function, rather than specifying these in an a priori and/or ad hoc manner. It simultaneously aligns all data in one go, rather than aligning them in a greedy, incremental fashion. It corrects scaling of signal intensity while performing alignment. Additionally, the probabilistic framework allows us the option of using fully Bayesian inference, if desired, so that we may gauge uncertainty in our model parameters, integrate out model parameters, and avoid cross-validation, which can be problematic with limited data. Lastly, the CPM is the first model, to our knowledge, to tackle the simultaneous problems of alignment and difference detection.
Honest counsel: Institutional dialogue and the Canadian rule of law

This dissertation takes a fresh look at a stale metaphor---institutional dialogue---in order to re-evaluate its ability to articulate the Canadian project of building a democratic rule of law. Current political science and legal literatures limit the concept of institutional dialogue to interactions between courts and legislatures within Charter jurisprudence. In contrast, the thesis suggests that institutional dialogue can be applied to a descriptively broader institutional context and in a normatively deeper way. Four dimensions of institutional dialogue in the Canadian constitutional order are examined: two horizontal and two vertical. First, horizontal dialogue occurs among co-equal branches of government: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Second, horizontal dialogue also takes place among co-equal partners in the constitutional order: federal and provincial governments, the Crown, and, increasingly, Aboriginal peoples. Third, vertical dialogue occurs among superior and subordinate bodies in the constitutional order, such as between the judiciary and the bureaucracy. Fourth, citizens and the state engage in vertical dialogue through a variety of institutional processes, including public law litigation. Using public law cases involving shared institutional practices as examples, the thesis argues that one underappreciated function of courts is to enhance state responsiveness along all four axes. Institutional dialogue also privileges relationships and practices that seek to minimize systemic arbitrariness, thereby supporting the integrity of the constitutional order. An ethos of justification animates this institutional reconciliation: democratic decisions falling within the boundaries of reasonable disagreement should be respected by all institutional actors, including a restrained judiciary, and be accepted as non-arbitrary by citizens, including those who disagree with a particular decision. The thesis claims that the citizen who engages in litigation as a practice of lawful unruliness constitutes a linchpin between the rule of law and democracy. On this understanding, the legal system is a site of contestation in the service of democracy, while democracy is a site for accountability in the service of the rule of law. The re-cast metaphor of institutional dialogue, then, expresses the idea of democratic legality not only within and among state institutions, but also between citizens and the Canadian state.
Nanostencil patterning of metals on silicon(001)

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) nanostencils were used as a shadow mask to create sub micron and nanoscale metallic features on Si(001) by contact alignment. Si3N4 membranes were 100nm thick with nanoapertures created by FIB. Self-alignment of the nanostencil to the substrate was possible with a simple holder allowing semi-free rotation of the nanostencil. Patterns of 500nm diameter silver dots on Si(001) under low vacuum and less than 100nm features in UHV were successfully demonstrated. Feature spreading showed the nanostencil to substrate separation to be le;15mum according to deposition models. A gold coverage gradient created by the penumbra of the nanostencil edge was 200--250nm wide and was imaged with multiple STM images. Sub monolayer gold diffusion from the edge of the umbra region was observed over atomically clean Si(001). This diffusion (>500nm) could limit definition of small features on UHV clean surfaces.
Sustaining organizational change through faith-based leadership

Drawing on the leadership theories of Fullan (2001, 2005), Collins (2001), Senge (1990), Sergiovanni (1992) and Fry (2003)-with their emphasis upon moral imperatives-this study analyzes organizational sustainability practices within the context of leadership and systems thinking. For the purpose of this research, sustainability is defined as the capacity of an organization to survive as a viable institution and to demonstrate ongoing improvement practices. With this definition in mind, this study examines Christian leadership in two Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) schools as a means to explore their capacity to move beyond the survival stage of organizational change and to look ahead towards enduring practices. With respect to the challenge that private Christian schools face, this research concentrates on the sustainability of the organization as an entity through its capacity to engage in continuous change. Faith-based leadership is also studied for its impact on implementing such structural mechanisms for organizational sustainability. This is a qualitative descriptive case study in which two private Christian schools are analyzed to ascertain the impact that spiritual leadership has on their organizational change and sustainability practices. The research is guided by the following primary research question: In the perception of leaders and teachers, what role does Christian leadership play in sustained organizational change in Christian schools? This primary research question can be broken down into four components: (1) What do leaders and teachers of Christian schools see as indicators of sustained change? (2) How is sustained change characterized by leaders and teachers in Christian schools? (3) What strategies do leaders and teachers of private Christian schools use to sustain change? (4) What elements facilitate and/or constrain the organization's ability to sustain the change process in these private Christian school settings? To collect the data needed for this study, school leaders were interviewed individually while department heads and teachers were interviewed in focus group sessions. Based on analysis of the data collected, conclusions could be raised regarding the strategies used to sustain and perpetuate change within the two private Christian schools. My findings conclude that faith in leadership provides an intentional driving force as well as a determining factor in defining the overall organizational practices, cultural behaviours and responses to change at all levels of the school. This study also concludes that the strength of this driving spiritual force is inadequate for sustaining a school beyond its survival stage if other organizational elements are not in place, it is hoped that this study provides private Christian schools with strategies for applying theory to sustainable practices for long term improvement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Dance as social activism: the theory and practice of Franziska Boas, 1933-1965

This dissertation analyses the use of performance as a form of unlegislated, grassroots activism through the case study of Franziska Boas (1902-1988), an American dancer, teacher, choreographer, percussionist and theorist. Boas's commitment to social change and the diverse nature of her activities provide entry into some of the most radical twentieth-century ideas involving education, therapy, political affiliation, performance theory and practice, gender and race.

Keywords: Dance
Social activism
Studies of p53-dependent growth arrest and apoptosis in friend erythroleukemia cells

The p53 tumour suppressor promotes cell-cycle arrest or apoptosis in response to cellular stress such as DNA damage and oncogenesis. It is not clear why p53 induces only G1 arrest in some cells but apoptosis in others. This thesis aims at understanding the mechanisms that govern cell-fate determination after p53 activation. Murine erythroleukemia cells that lack endogenous p53 expression were transfected with a temperature-sensitive (ts) p53 allele. The erythroleukemia cells responded to p53 activation by undergoing G1 arrest, apoptosis and differentiation. Addition of a cytokine such as erythropoietin, c-kit ligand or interleukin-3 to the culture medium blocked p53-mediated apoptosis and differentiation but not p53-mediated G1 arrest. These observations indicate that apoptosis and G1 arrest can be effectively uncoupled through the action of cytokines acting as survival factors and are consistent with the idea that apoptosis and G1 arrest represent separate functions of p53. These experiments also demonstrate that the cellular environment plays an important role in the cell-fate determination after p53 activation. Further analysis of the EPO signalling pathways indicated that the EPO-mediated cell survival depends on JAK2 but independent of STAT5 and PI3′K. The function of p53 as a tumour suppressor depends, at least in part, on its ability to bind to specific DNA sequences and activate transcription of target genes. p21WAF1 is the primary effector in p53-dependent G1 arrest. The pathways through which p53 promotes apoptosis, however, are not fully understood. We identified a number of p53 responsive genes by using differential display to analyze global gene expression in the murine erythroleukemia cells before and after the is p53 was activated. One of the new genes, which we named PIDD, encodes a predicted protein with a death domain. Pidd mRNA was induced by ionizing radiation in a p53-dependent manner and the basal level of Pidd RNA was dependent on p53 status. Overexpression of Pidd inhibited cell growth in a p53-like manner by inducing apoptosis. Antisense inhibition of Pidd expression attenuated p53-mediated apoptosis. Our data suggest that Pidd is an effector of p53-dependent apoptosis.
Participatory governance: the role of student trustees on Ontario school boards

The study examines the experiences of student trustees in the governing process of Ontario district school boards. Data was collected from official school board meeting minutes, policies and interview with directors of education, elected trustees and former student trustees. Student trustees have been in place in 70 Ontario school boards since 1998. Their role is to provide advice to the elected trustees. They cannot vote and may not attend in-camera meetings. Student trustees' have established a provincial organization to advocate for effective student consultation and representation. Directors of education, board chairs and former student trustees related their experiences and recommendations to strength the selection and role of student trustees. The study found that the majority of student trustees are female, 17 years old, serve a one-year term and have parents who are employed by the school board. Most student trustees receive no comprehensive orientation and have little involvement in the development, review or implementation of board policy. The selection, role and responsibilities of student trustees were examined. The findings were that most boards do not have a democratic process for selection, and there is a lack of consistency and understanding of the participation of youth in political life. Suggestions are presented for action by school boards, the Ministry of Education and the Ontario Student Trustees' Association. Topics for further research are provided.

Keywords: Student participation in administration, Ontario
School board members, Ontario
School boards, Ontario
Analysis and design of serially concatenated turbo-coded systems

In this thesis, we develop two joint channel estimation and serial turbo decoding methods. Both of the methods have low computational complexity and excellent performance. Although they are pilot-symbol assisted, we propose a method of pilot insertion that does not result in bandwidth expansion. Simulation shows that our designs are better in the areas of computational complexity, flexibility, and performance compared to the noncoherent decoding system developed by Marsland and Mathiopoulos in 2000. The bit error rate (BER) of the serial turbo decoding systems cannot be determined directly from the Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart. Therefore, we propose a method to map the mutual information trajectory of the iterative decoding from the EXIT chart onto the BER characteristic of the outer convolutional code. In this way, the BER at each iteration can be determined without performing time-consuming iterative simulations, if the BER characteristic of the outer code is available.
Surface modification of lead sulfide nanocrystals with poly(acrylic acid) through a ligand exchange process

Lead sulfide (PbS) QDs absorb and emit light in the near-infrared region, making them potentially useful for telecommunication and biotechnological application. The PbS QDs with the highest photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) are normally prepared by an organometallic route. QDs as prepared are capped with oleic acid (OA) on their surface and not soluble in polar solvents. The challenge to transfer the QDs into polar solvents is overcome by a ligand exchange process after synthesis. My work shows that poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) can substitute the OA on the surface of the PbS QDs and transfer the QDs into polar solvents like methanol and water. PAA was synthesized by RAFT polymerization. The ligand exchange process was studied by various techniques including solubility tests, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and absorption and emission spectroscopy. I also explored the effects of pH on the absorption and emission of QDs in water.
Structure and function studies of skin-type antifreeze polypeptides from the winter flounder

Winter flounder produces both liver- and skin-type type I antifreeze polypeptides (AFPs). They are alanine-rich, α-helical polypeptides of similar length. However, the skin-type AFPs (wfsAFPs) have much less thermal hysteretic activity than the liver-type AFPs (wflAFPs), which might be due to the lack of ice-binding motifs (IBMs) that are present in wflAFPs. The IBMs have been postulated to enhance ice binding. Putative IBMs “-DT—K-”, “-K—DT-” and “-LT—N-” were thus introduced into wfsAFPs to see whether their activity could be enhanced. “-DT—K-” was tested by synthesizing wfsAFP analogues with 0 to 3 of such IBMs. “-K—DT-” was introduced into wfsAFP-2 by site-directed mutagenesis, followed by E. coli excretion expression. Although both studies failed to show any enhancement in activity, there is a direct correlation between helix stability and antifreeze activity. Introducing two “-LT—N-” IBMs into wfsAFP enhanced the activity about 15%, yet significantly decreased its helix stability. It was postulated that the effect of these IBMs could be more significant if the helical structures were stabilized. Recent studies suggested that hydrogen bonding is not the major driving force for type I AFP-ice interaction. However, there is still some controversy among different investigations regarding the role of hydrogen bonding in AFP-ice interaction. To solve this controversy, the Thr residues of wfsAFP-2 were replaced with Val, Ser, Ala or Gly. The results suggested that the hydrogen bonding of Thr hydroxyl groups has no role in type I AFP-ice interaction. These results also suggested the importance of surface complementarity for AFP-ice interaction. To verify the argument that the flat hydrophobic face, but not the amphipathic face of type I AFPs is responsible for ice binding, a Leu was introduced to either face of wfsAFP-2. The side chain of Leu caused steric hindrance at the hydrophobic but not the amphipathic face. Together with our finding that “-LT—N-” IBMs enhanced the activity of wfsAFP, and the fact that the Gln side-chain caused steric hindrance at the amphipathic face of wflAFP-6, we suggest that both the hydrophobic and amphipathic faces of type I AFPs are involved in the ice-binding process.
99mTc-DADS-digitoxigenin and 99mTc-DADS-digitoxin-potential Na+, K+-ATPase based heart imaging agents

Two digitalis-derived 99mTc-chelating ligands, digitoxigenin-DADS and digitoxin-DADS, were synthesized by the Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, as potential Na+, K+-ATPase based heart imaging agents. In order to develop these ligands into radiopharmaceuticals, it was necessary to examine whether they would localize in the heart in a manner similar to the digitalis. Gamma-ray scintigraphy was used to visualize the myocardium. Biodistribution study using guinea pigs yielded a heart/blood ratio of 0.578 ± 0.036 at 10 minutes after the injection. The administration of ouabain decreased it to 0.347 ± 0.039. The results of Na+, K+-ATPase binding assays suggested that both ligands bind to the same binding sites on the enzyme as the digitalis. Bmax values of [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted] and KD values of [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted] for digitoxigenin-DADS and digitoxin-DADS, respectively, were obtained. Non-specific binding was very significant for both ligands. This study showed that 99mTc-chelated digitalis derivatives have the potential to be developed into radiopharmaceuticals for imaging the myocardium in heart diseases.
Role of innate immunity and the replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV)

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can infect lymphocytes and hepatocytes and establish persistent viral infections causing chronic liver diseases that can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Difficulties in growing the virus in human and non-primate cell lines have been attributed to host cell factors and the innate immune system, the latter which the virus evades effectively to establish persistent infection. In this study, an attempt was made to establish subgenomic HCV replicons in mouse embryonic fibroblasts defective in components of the innate immune system, IRF-3 and IRF-9. Established clones were characterized for HCV replication and analyzed to further dissect the virus-host interaction. These studies will lead to cell and mouse models that support virus particle formation and replication. Such tools would be invaluable for the development of antivirals and vaccines. They may also allow us to manipulate the innate immune system in order to reduce viral loads in infected individuals.
Collision resolution in slotted ALOHA ad hoc networks

Conventionally in packet-oriented random access networks, the colliding packets are discarded and later retransmitted, resulting in decreased throughput performance. Collision resolution strategies help recover collided packets and subsequently increase network throughput. The ability to combat collisions makes DS-CDMA a promising modulation scheme to be adopted in wireless ad hoc networks. In this thesis, we will first introduce a novel spreading code scheme that is particularly adapted to decentralized random access ad hoc networks. Then we will discuss the active user identification module and multiuser detection module of the receiver, both implemented using subspace techniques. The active user identification module identifies the users trying to reach the receiver. And the multiuser detection module decodes these packets of interest by blindly rejecting unknown interferers. In addition, we will also investigate a few interesting subspace techniques that may enhance the active user identification capability when multiple receiver antennas are available.