VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Experience of patients who receive brachytherapy for gynecological cancer, a phenomenological study

This study explored the experiences of ten women, ages 36-75 years, who had received brachytherapy for the first time for cervical and endometrial cancer. Phenomenological interviews were conducted approximately one week after the completion of brachytherapy treatment. Interviews were analyzed using Giorgi's (1975, 1985) methodology. Three themes that emerged from the data were: (1) Women's experiences with brachytherapy were embedded within the complete context in which treatment was given, shaped by personal, environmental and treatment related factors; (2) The discomfort that women experienced during brachytherapy was perceived as a totality of symptoms, including, but not limited to pain; (3) The brachytherapy experience was characterized by an intense focus on time, and tensions embedded in issues related to time. Different and unique strategies assisted women to get through treatment, including faith in God, focusing on the cure, support of families and friends, and open communication with caregivers. A general structural description of the experience of brachytherapy is presented. Implications for nursing practice and research are discussed.
Order statistics filtering of colour images, a perceptual approach

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate perceptual based order statistics filtering techniques applicable to colour images. Emphasis is given to visual image quality and fidelity. Various colour spaces are studied and their suitability to various image processing applications is described. Basic and adaptive order statistics filters are designed and implemented in various colour spaces. A two-stage vector order statistics filter is proposed for real-time TV signal processing. Experimental results indicate that the perceptually uniform colour spaces are the most appropriate for filtering and quantitative processing of colour images. Basic filters implemented in the uniform colour spaces preserved the image quality better than the basic filters implemented in the non-uniform colour spaces. Adaptive filters implemented in the uniform colour spaces performed better than the adaptive filters implemented in the non-uniform colour spaces. New perceptual based colour image quality evaluation measures were introduced and found to be better measures of colour image quality than the traditional measures.
Extending the preventive engineering paradigm to the analysis and design of discrete product manufacturing systems, the role of functional integration in the production of social and psychological outputs

In this thesis, the author distinguished between conventional and preventive approaches to the engineering, management, and regulation of modern technology. The preventive orientation of discrete manufacturing systems engineering was then assessed and found to be wanting. With the aim of extending the preventive engineering paradigm to discrete manufacturing systems engineering, relevant case studies were examined with a focus on which structural aspects of discrete manufacturing systems impacted the psychosocial conditions of work. Using a refined version of the demand-control model to interpret these findings, a design principle was formulated for the preventive design of manufacturing systems. The principle of functional integration, supported by a lengthening of work cycle times, parallelising of line flow, and the provision of goal-oriented information, was further developed using a set of methodological tools provided by Rasmussen's abstraction hierarchy and action-regulation theory. Implications for education, corporate planning and decision-making, and public policy were briefly dealt with.
ESL for nation-building, the origins of federally-funded ESL in Canada

The purpose of this thesis is to study the origins of federally-funded ESL in Canada and to argue that political elites played a definitive role in the introduction of the classes as part of a post-war nation-building strategy. Nation-building in Canadian history has consisted of the exclusion and marginalization of immigrants and the perpetuation of the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture. I show that ESL instruction was introduced in 1947 not as a tool for ESL fluency but to preserve Canadian "values," "norms" and "our way of life." Political elites regarded this form of instruction as a guarantee of national unity in the post-war era. Understanding the limitations of current federally-funded ESL programs necessitates examining the interconnections of ESL, citizenship and federal nation-building strategies. This thesis relies on a system for identifying covert racist discourse to analyze these interconnections.
Expression of RB1 during murine retinal development

Although RB1 inactivation causes retinoblastoma in infants, the role of RB1 during retinal development is poorly understood. RB1 expression in developing murine retina was examined using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. RB1 expression is first seen at embryonic (E) day 12.5 in presumptive ganglion cells migrating from the mitotic zone. At E15.5, expression is limited to the ganglion cell layer (GCL). By postnatal (P) day 4.5, RB1 is also expressed in the developing inner nuclear layer (INL), corresponding to known differentiation timepoints of cell types within the INL. RB1 expression is maintained in adult GCL and INL. Most photoreceptor cells differentiate between P5 and P12, corresponding to weak RB1 expression in the outer nuclear layer (ONL) from P5.5 to P13.5, which decreases after this time. Thus, RB1 is likely expressed in murine retinal cells as they assume a differentiated phenotype. Specific cell types may continue to require RB1 after differentiation.
Mercury dynamics in the Lahontan Reservoir, application of QWASI fugacity/aquivalence multispecies model

Multispecies steady- and unsteady-state models have been developed to describe mercury dynamics in the Lahontan Reservoir on Carson River, Nevada, using the QWASI aquivalence approach. The models describe the long term fate of mercury, effects of seasonality, and the dominant processes affecting mercury fate in the reservoir. The models were developed as steady-state slapshots of three times of the year and a time dependent version that integrates the snapshots. Model estimates that over 90% of mercury inputs are retained in the reservoir, the balance being lost through export. Annually, methylmercury is supplied by the Carson River with no significant production occurring in the Reservoir. Hg from deep sediments is hypothesized to enter the system through mixing caused by seasonal wet and dry cycles. The hypothesized Hg mixing in sediments results in Hg remobilization and maintenance of elevated concentrations in the reservoir.
Role of ceramide in induction of Fos, Jun, and collagenase in chondrocytes

Arthritis is marked by increased expression of collagenase, which is induced by IL-1. IL-1 is found at increased levels in arthritic joints, and stimulates mRNA expression of c-fos and c-jun, whose products comprise AP-1, a transcription factor necessary for IL-1-induced collagenase expression. Previous data also implicate IL-1 in sphingomyelin hydrolysis to the second messenger ceramide. IL-1 induced ceramide release in chondrocytes, and ceramide activated c-fos, and c-jun, but not collagenase expression. The induction of c-fos was specific, transient, and transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally regulated. Ceramide potentiated the effect of low IL-1 concentrations, indicating that ceramide is not solely a second messenger. Ceramide induction of c-fos was not accompanied by increased SRE binding, nor did it involve MAPK activation, or ROS as signalling intermediates, but did involve increased SRE transcriptional activity. Ceramide did not induce collagenase expression, but did increase AP-1 transcriptional activity. At high concentrations of ceramide, MMP induction was inhibited. Thus, ceramide appears to function separately from IL-1 through a MAPK-independent pathway that is sufficient to induce c-fos expression.
Crustacean zooplankton diapausing eggs, an examination of egg viability and density in three acid and three circumneutral lakes near Sudbury, Ontario

Zooplankton recolonization of lakes recovering from acidification may occur through hatching of dormant eggs in the sediments. This study investigated possible effects of pH on diapausing egg density and viability using eggs collected from three acidified and three circumneutral lakes near Sudbury, Ontario. Egg densities in circumneutral lakes ranged from 7,000 to 68,000 eggs m$\sp{-2},$ whereas densities in the acid lakes ranged from 1,000 to 9,000 eggs m$\sp{-2}.$ Hatching experiments at pH 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5 showed that there is no effect of pH manipulations within lakes, but suggests an effect of lake pH across lakes. Egg hatching ranged from 22-38% in acid lakes and from 12-15% in circumneutral lakes. This study suggests that egg densities are lower in acid lakes, but nevertheless egg banks exist. Eggs collected from the acid lakes remained viable during long-term exposure to low pH and are possible sources of recolonizing zooplankton in recovering lakes.
A partitioning algorithm for the Transmogrifier-2

Partitioning is the process of dividing circuit into subcircuits according to certain constraints and cost functions. In this thesis, new insights are drawn to relate partitioning results and circuit structure. Several new partitioning algorithms are introduced with 10-50% improvement over other published results. The proposed algorithm is integrated with several optimization techniques specific to the Transmogrifier-2 architecture, forming a top-to-bottom partitioning solution for the next generation field programmable system developed here at the University of Toronto.
Point estimates and bootstrap intervals of lead time in the National Breast Screening study

The Walter and Day lead time estimation methodology is applied to the National Breast Screening study (NBSS) to estimate the mean lead time; the underlying incidence rate of breast cancer in the population; and the false negative rate of screening test. This thesis is the first attempt to systematically evaluate the properties of estimated screening parameters, construct their confidence intervals and measure the associated biases of estimates using the bootstrap method. This thesis suggested that Walter and Day's lead time estimation methodology can be used as a tool in the evaluation of screening. Confidence intervals generated for the lead time and the incidence rate by the bootstrap method are relatively narrow, and therefore precise compared to wider confidence interval around the false negative rate. Future research is necessary as questions relating to the precision of the false negative rate estimated by Walter and Day's method remain.
Footprint-based quadruped motion synthesis

Footprints are data structures that specify the positions, orientations, and timing information for the feet of articulated figures. This thesis studies the use of footprints to generate animations or legged animals. After introducing several methods to generate footprints, we develop an algorithm that synthesizes realistic motions of animals from footprints only. Our method employs a hybrid physically-based/kinematic approach. We first perform a trajectory optimization on an underlying approximation of the animal, in order to determine its overall motion. Soft physical and kinematic constraints employed in the optimization functional ensure that the trajectory's motion is both physically plausible and visually pleasing. By utilizing the optimized trajectory information, the footprint positions, and a variety of animation techniques, we reconstruct the motion of the animal. Our results show that various motions can be synthesized with this approach, including walking, galloping, jumping, pushups, and skating motions. Finally, we summarize our contributions and discuss future directions.
Ontario educators' observations of the German system of education, 1834-1918

This thesis has as its object the recovery of a history of observations made by Ontario educators about the German system of education. From the time of the establishment of the Upper Canadian system of education under Ryerson during the 1840s to the beginning of World War I, the Prussian, and later, the German educational system often served as a model and a source of ideas and methods for people in Ontario. Many educators in Ontario initially looked to Germany in order to (1) construct a system of education, (2) raise the status of the province's educational system, (3) criticize it, and finally (4) improve the province's industrial development. By the end of World War I, Germany's educational system was condemned as a model of education, and the historical record of the influence of Germany on the development of Ontario's system of education was ignored.
Analysis of biological tissue with ex vivo and in vivo Raman spectroscopy

The Raman effect occurs when incident photons are inelastically scattered from a sample with a resultant change in energy that corresponds to specific vibrational modes within the molecules of the sample. In this thesis, the Raman effect is described in detail and biomedical applications from the literature are reviewed. The theory of Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy, the technique used for ex vivo tissue analysis, is described. Spectra, collected ex vivo, from a survey of normal hamster tissues are presented. Peak assignments are made, and unique features from different tissues are described. A new in vivo Raman system (IVRS) is described which can acquire spectra in vivo from tissue in less than 30 s. The system is compact and mobile, making it suitable for clinical applications. Major system components, such as the spectrograph, charge-coupled device (CCD) detector, laser diode and fiber optic probes, are described in detail. The methods of wavenumber calibration, intensity correction and baseline subtraction are outlined. Spectra which were collected in vivo are presented and major peaks are assigned. The performance of the IVRS is compared to that of an FT-Raman system. Planned system upgrades are discussed together with the anticipated improvements in system performance. Planned clinical trials are also outlined.
The interface concentration, a crystal dissolution rate study

Statistical Rate Theory has been previously proposed as a method for predicting the rate of molecular transport between thermodynamic phases. Herein, this theory is applied to formulate an expression for the steady state KAlum dissolution rate in a rotating disk apparatus. When this rate expression is combined with the application of a new solution to the steady state convection-diffusion equation, one finds that a prediction of the rate, and hence the concentration throughout the fluid phase, can be made. To evaluate these predictions, the imposition of equilibrium at the interface has been avoided. This has lead to the development of two new expressions: one for the interface concentration and the other for the diffusion layer thickness, both of which differ from those obtained by previous methods. The results demonstrate that the predicted interface concentration is lower than the saturation value, indicating nonequilibrium at the interface. It was also found that the interface concentration is (a) related to the molecular thermal speed and (b) decreases with increasing dissolution rate. Also, the predicted diffusion layer thickness was found to be a function of temperature for all rotation rates. The mathematical form of a new variable, the steady state exchange rate, was formulated and investigated. Its complete expression has been found to be a function of two constants: (a) the equilibrium exchange rate and (b) a fraction of the average fluid velocity at the entrance to the diffusion layer that the fluid still has when it is one mean free path away from the crystal surface. Finally, through nondimensional analysis, a new dimensionless similarity parameter has been defined. Except for zero rotation, this number implies that the non-linear interfacial transport rate is within an order of magnitude of the diffusion rate independent of temperature.
Basic reading skills in L1 and L2, a comparison of Croatian and English

The study reported here is concerned with the influence of first language (L1) word recognition in a shallow orthography on word recognition in a second language (L2) with a deeper orthography (English). It also compared L1 and L2 decoding skills and investigated the role of individual differences in word recognition component processes on text comprehension in L1 and L2. The participants were administered parallel L1 and L2 tasks focusing on text comprehension, naming letters, words, pseudowords as well as a lexical decision task. The results indicate that (a) the processes underlying word recognition in L1 and L2 share similarities; (b) attained reading skills in L1 correlate with reading skills in L2; (c) in spite of differences in orthographic depth between L1 and L2, there are similarities in reading processes; and (d) speed of naming may represent an underlying variable that is significant for word recognition and text comprehension in both languages.
Coherently enhanced optical Kerr effect, case study in a medium of N¦2

Coherently enhanced optical Kerr effect (CEOKE), introduced here, represents a novel approach to quantum control of the index of refraction. We present the theoretical development of CEOKE, as well as a case study of CEOKE in a medium composed of N$\sb2$ molecules. Various conditions and parameters are investigated to ascertain the range of control provided by CEOKE in this medium of N$\sb2$. It is found that a substantial control of the index of refraction is achieved in this medium. A brief survey of various other schemes producing a variation of the index of refraction is provided.
Air-Water Gas Exchange of Toxaphene in Arctic Regions

The Henry's law constant (H, Pa m$\sp3$/mol) of technical toxaphene was determined by the air stripping method over a temperature range of 10 to 40$\sp\circ$C. The relationship to temperature (K) was: Log H = $-$3209/T + 10.42. Air and water samples were collected in arctic and sub-arctic regions during July-September 1993-94 to determine the air-water gas exchange of chlorobornanes (CHBs, i.e. toxaphene). CHB concentrations in surface water increased with latitude from 26 pg/L in the Bering-Chukchi seas to 81-95 pg/L in the Central Arctic Ocean and western Eurasian Basin and Greenland Sea. Air and water concentration data were used with the Henry's law constant, wind speed and fractional ice cover to calculate the water/air fugacity ratio and net flux. CHBs were under-saturated in all regions (average fugacity ratio of 0.44), implying net deposition from air to water. The average net flux of CHBs was $-$0.87 ng/m$\sp2$d into the ocean.
Mechanisms of action of taxol involved in the inhibition of synoviocyte proliferation and metalloproteinase expression

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) are diseases which result in joint destruction. RA is characterized by "tumor-like" proliferation of synovial lining cells leading to formation of pannus tissue and subsequently destruction of articular cartilage. Taxol, a new, effective anti-cancer drug acting through microtubule stabilization, was previously demonstrated to have therapeutic effects on arthritic animals. The objective of the work overall in this thesis is to investigate, in vitro, possible mechanisms of action of taxol that are involved in this therapeutic effect. I first have demonstrated that taxol exerts selective toxicity on proliferating synoviocytes, but not on non-proliferating cells including synoviocytes and chondrocytes. I have studied the effect of taxol on the expression of two major matrix metalloproteinases, collagenase-1 and stromelysin by northern blot analysis, AP-1 activation by transient transfection of AP-1 CAT constructs, and AP-1 binding in primary cultured bovine chondrocytes. In this study, I have demonstrated that taxol selectively inhibited cytokine-induced c-Jun NH$\sb2$-terminal kinase (JNK) activation, without affecting the extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1 (ERK1) and p38 MAP kinase. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Proctolin's role as a cotransmitter at the oviducts of the locust Locusta migratoria

The oviducts of the locust Locusta migratoria provide an ideal system for studying neuromuscular transmission as it is innervated by a relatively small number of neurons and appears to be modulated by a few peptides and amines. In the present study, the locust oviducts were used to study the role of the pentapeptide proctolin (RYLPT) as a cotransmitter. Several proctolin analogues were assayed as potential agonists and antagonists of proctolin. Cycloproctolin was identified as a proctolin antagonist and used to further define proctolin's effects on neurally-evoked contractions. Proctolin was found to enhance basal tension, amplitude and relaxation rate of neurally-evoked contraction and the size of a post-contraction relaxation during the low stimulus regimes (1 and 2 stimuli). These responses of the oviduct muscle to the peptide proctolin were either significantly decreased or absent during the higher stimulus regimes (5 and 10 stimuli). The proctolin antagonist cycloproctolin was capable of inhibiting the proctolin-induced increase in neurally-evoked amplitude, basal tonus and post-contraction relaxation. The results of the present study support previous hypotheses in which proctolin was reported to act as a cotransmitter at the oviducts of Locusta.
Lineage- and stage-specific gene expression in human hemopoietic cells

This study describes the establishment of a system for mapping lineage- and stage-specific gene expression in human hemopoietic precursors, and demonstrates its ability to generate information relevant to mechanisms that control proliferation and differentiation during hemopoietic development. Two approaches were used to define patterns of gene expression at specific stages in hemopoietic differentiation. The first of these is global RT-PCR which amplifies all polyA$\sp+$ mRNA from a single cell. Hemopoietic precursors in different commitment states are phenotypically similar and cannot be separated from one another or purified to homogeneity using existing methods. The ability to study gene expression at the level of a single cell can provide an alternative approach to achieving homogeneity. The second strategy is sibling analysis, which identifies retrospectively the developmental potential of a cell subjected to PCR by analysis of the fate of its siblings. I was able to collect more than 200 cDNA samples from cells of different lineages and different stages of development. The set was then used to determine expression patterns of a wide panel of genes (RBTN2, CD34, fms, c-kit, HPK1, Bcl-2 family, p53, WAF1, RB, and WT) known to be involved in regulation of proliferation and differentiation of hemopoietic cells. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Opera through drama, an integrated approach for secondary school students

Opera combines music and theatre by combining the art forms of design, drama, dance, music and poetry. The opera education and outreach programmes in place at all of Canada's major opera companies focus on students in primary and elementary school. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using opera within integrated drama studies connected to the curriculum of senior years' students, and then examine how these classroom experiences effect secondary school students' responsiveness to opera. The students in this study are comprised of culturally diverse senior years' drama students from a major metropolitan centre in southern Ontario. Questionnaire and journal responses were collected from students during the study. The results of this study on the effects of using drama and opera to create an integrated secondary school unit could assist Canada's opera companies in designing their own integrated senior years' models.