VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Phase-ordering kinetics on curved surfaces

I investigate phase-ordering kinetics on static curved surfaces, starting from a well-known time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation, known as model A and valid in flat two-dimensional systems, and generalizing this to apply on curved surfaces. I develop and implement an interface formalism for model A, valid in both curved and flat surfaces. This is based on an interface velocity equation explicitly showing how interface motion couples to local surface geometry. I discuss extensively both theoretical and numerical aspects of this formalism. I derive a coupled set of curvature equations and use them to obtain an approximate expression for the curvature autocorrelation function (CAF) in the flat case. This is compared for the first time to numerical simulation results and shows that the CAF provides dynamical information not readily available from the traditional order-parameter structure-factor, yet is far easier to compute than the latter. A dominant length-scale is observed for the first time, in the domain interface undulations, even in Euclidean model A dynamics. I discuss how this affects the interpretation of what is needed for a system to exhibit dynamical scaling. I look at the effect of surface Gauss curvature on the growth rate of domains and show that when the phase-ordering occurs on a corrugated surface, metastable long-range disorder may result. I show how these effects cause a break-down of dynamical scaling and power-law growth, how they bring about the elimination of the zero-temperature fixed point of Euclidean model A, and how phase-ordering in curved lipid-bilayer membranes should be affected. A new very-late stage regime appears for simulations of model A on sinusoid (i.e. egg-carton-like) surfaces. These features indicate that thermal noise should be included in future studies of phase ordering kinetics on curved surfaces. They also indicate that even 'before' the order-parameter is explicitly coupled to surface quantities such as the local mean curvature of the surface (found in other work in this field), the dynamics already exhibits characteristics not found in Euclidean model A, such as logarithmically-slow growth reminiscent of random-field Ising model kinetics.
Reversal and maintenance of claw asymmetry in the snapping shrimp Alpheus heterochelis

The snapping shrimps 'Alpheus heterochelis' have bilaterally asymmetrical claws. Loss of the snapper claw causes the contralateral pincer claw to transform into a snapper while a new pincer regenerates at the old snapper site resulting in asymmetry reversal. Paired simultaneous loss of the claws always results in them regenerating to their original configuration. No gross morphological differences were detected between early limb bud regeneration of the pincer and snapper, however the quantity of innervation remains higher on the snapper side, mimicking the pristine condition. Loss of first the pincer claw followed later by the snapper results in reversal of asymmetry if a stage 3 or higher stage limb bud is present at the original pincer site. Stage 3 limb buds have a well organized fibroblast network and show the beginning of segmentation. Loss of the snapper claw's dactyl may also induce pincer-to-snapper transformation occurring preferentially in males which have a more elaborate pincer claw and behaviourially are more defensive than females. Dactylotomy of the snapper claw is correlated to the loss of innervation to the snapper side which in males but not females now have fewer axons than the contralateral pincer (a condition not present prior to the manipulation), implying that it is the shift in axon numbers which triggers transformation. A manifestation of differences in innervation quantity between the claws may be a snapper-based inhibitory mechanism: a snapper or transforming pincer-to-snapper claw produces an inhibitory signal which limits the contralateral claw to a pincer Damage to the snapper may induce pincer-to-snapper transformation but will not allow another snapper claw to regenerate at the pincer site whereas damage to a transforming claw often does result in the regeneration of a contralateral snapper. Thus less inhibition is required to restrict a newly regenerating claw to a pincer than it is to arrest an existing pincer claw. These results and the observation that a regenerating snapper claw passes through a distinct pincer-like stage suggests that the pincer is an immature snapper limited in its development by the inhibitory presence of a contralateral snapper.
Drunkenness, degeneration, and eugenics in Britain, 1900-1914

This dissertation presents a reinterpretation of the early British eugenics movement. it focuses on a previously unrecognized "Lamarckian" style of eugenics that resembled the dominant approaches to improving racial health in countries such as France and Brazil, where eugenics was closely allied to the public health and social hygiene movements. This study further attempts to situate certain Edwardian eugenic discourses within the context of debate over the relative value of laboratory 'versus' statistical approaches to medical-scientific research. The main narrative addresses the history of scientific notions about how parental alcohol consumption could cause physical and mental degeneracy in offspring. These ideas found support from laboratory, clinical, and social studies carried out mainly by supporters of the temperance movement, and they were often conceived as an alternative soft hereditarian or non-hereditarian version of eugenic thought. The leading proponent of this "preventive" style of eugenics was the medical writer and temperance advocate Caleb Saleeby. Lamarckian eugenics and its scientific underpinnings were first seriously challenged in 1910 by the eugenist Karl Pearson's controversial statistical study purporting to show that parental alcoholism did not have deleterious effects on offspring. Pearson's alcoholism study represented one of many efforts made by his biometrical school to establish its new techniques of mathematical statistics as a research methodology and a scientific basis for social policy making. The 1910 alcoholism memoir led to a bitter dispute with medical professionals and social scientists representing Lamarckian eugenics, who championed their own solutions to the crisis of national degeneration and their own methods of scientific research. Yet hard hereditarian eugenics, Lamarckian eugenics, and public health reforms also exhibited significant ideological affinities, namely in their shared imperialist rhetoric, class and gender biases, and emphasis on reforming individual behaviour rather than environmental and economic circumstances. In accordance with recent historiography of eugenics in other national contexts, the current study suggests that in its less rigidly hereditarian incarnations this biologically based reform programme was more closely related to preventive medicine than to human genetics.
The oxidative burst in tomato plants induced by race-specific elicitors of Cladosporium fulvum

One of the intriguing features of plant disease resistance is an initial oxidative burst. The present study, using the 'Cladosporium fulvum '-tomato pathosystem, explored the oxidative burst in both leaf tissues and in cell cultures following treatment with race specific elicitors obtained from the fungus. The oxidative burst was detected by 2',7'dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA), a probe for detection of H2O2. A variety of tests, including the use of catalase, showed that the probe measured both intracellular and extracellular H2O2. Ile oxidative burst occurred within 1-2 hr in leaf tissues and within a few minutes in cell cultures, respectively, after elicitor treatment. In cell cultures, the oxidative burst was abolished by inhibitors of NADPH oxidase, suggesting that this enzyme is responsible for the generation of O2-, a precursor of H2O2. As well, O2- was detected 'in planta' by the Mn2+/diaminobenzidine technique. Prevention of increased cytosolic Ca2+ appeared to block the increased H2O2 generation. Studies with other inhibitors suggested that protein kinase(s) and phospholipase C were involved in the oxidative burst, supporting the possibility that the signaling mechanism leading to the oxidative burst in tomato cells is similar to that observed in neutrophils. Activities of antioxidant enzymes, e.g., superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione 'S'-transferase, were not changed in leaves undergoing an oxidative burst. Total peroxidase activity, including ascorbate peroxidase, increased in elicitor-treated leaves but the activity of ascorbate peroxidase decreased by 4 hr. Elicitor-induced necrosis in leaves was significantly delayed, but not completely inhibited, by catalase or by scavengers of active oxygen species (AOS). An oxidative burst was still induced at elicitor dilutions which caused no visible necrosis and only high concentrations (ca 1M) of H2O2 could mimic the visible leaf necrosis induced by elicitor. Growth of 'C. fulvum' germ tubes was inhibited in vitro by moderate levels of H2O2, suggesting a possible role for H2O2 in restricting colonization. A model is proposed which describes the relationship between AOS, generated from an oxidative burst, and the fate of both host cells and invading fungal cells.
Negotiating the boundaries of eldercare, the relationship between nurses and family caregivers

The major purpose of this study is to describe and explain the relationship between nurses and female family members caring for an older person in the home. Using a critical ethnographic method in a socialist-feminist framework, it is argued that ongoing negotiations between nurses and family caregivers occur in the "intermediate" domain, where public and private domains intersect. Separate in-depth interviews with 23 nurse-family caregiver dyads were conducted to illuminate their everyday activities of caring, the negotiations that determine that work and the relationships that develop between them, and the conditions and consequences of these negotiations. Study findings revealed that nurse-family caregiver relationships are complex and multifaceted, and can be understood according to three explanatory levels. First, family caregivers carried out "dirty" hands-on care while nurses provided the "clean" intellectual tasks of monitoring and assessment. Second, boundaries separating those domains were continuously crossed by both caregivers--by the transfer of caring work to the family caregiver, aimed at relationship termination, and by the development of personalized affective relationships. Over time, relationships shifted and oscillated between four inter-related types: nurse-helper, coworkers, manager-worker, and nurse-patient. And finally, while both family caregivers and nurses co-operated in and resisted existing caring arrangements, they engaged in an ongoing process of negotiating cultural assumptions of "private" and "public" caring. Nurses relied on ideologies of "familism", "fiscal restraint" and "choice" to transfer caring work between the "informal" and "formal" caring systems. Ideologic work by nurses constituted the most powerful but covert means of controlling the caring work of family caregivers. The results of this study demonstrate that the distribution of responsibility for eldercare between "public" and "private" caregivers is inequitable, which has important implications for health care practice, and long-term care policy. Careful examination of social inequities in caregiving and boundaries between public and private responsibilities and associated resource distribution is needed. Further theory development and research is necessary to understand the nature of professional-family caregiver relationships, including the linkage between informal and formal systems of care, and the mechanisms which promote inequitable exploitative relationships.
A comparison of the mineralization of xenobiotic compounds in uncontaminated and contaminated soils

Soils from various locations in Ontario, Canada, were taken and tested for their ability to mineralize several chlorinated aromatic compounds. Samples were taken from three forests and two agricultural fields. The compounds tested are pentachlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 4-chlorophenol, 3-chlorobenzoate, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate and atrazine. Results reveal that the ability to mineralize chlorinated organic compounds is commonly found in soils without previous direct exposure to xenobiotics. Natural compounds that are analogs of xenobiotics may explain why microorganisms can quickly mineralize them. 3-Chlorobenzoate and 2,4-dichlorophenol, appear to resemble natural compounds in forest soils to a greater extent than the other compounds, since the former are mineralized better in forest soils than in agricultural soils. The 2,4D degraders in the forest soils may belong to a recently isolated group of slow growing degraders ($\alpha$-Proteobacteria) that mineralize 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate via an unknown pathway.
Moral sense and the ontology of value

The thesis examines the ontology of value in the ethical theories of Shaftesbury, Hutcheson and Hume. These three philosophers jointly constitute the moral sense school, in eighteenth century British philosophy. Ethical objectivism and ethical subjectivism, as I will use these terms, are contrasting claims about the nature of value. 'Ethical objectivism' refers roughly to any theory according to which moral values are or are logically entailed by matters of fact which are independent of the evaluative responses of persons considering the character and actions of people, and of places and times. 'Ethical subjectivism' refers to any theory which claims that moral values are at least partly constituted by the responses of persons considering character and actions, or dependent on places and times. The thesis shows an interesting movement in moral ontology away from the objectivism of Shaftesbury to the subjectivist theory of Hume which effectively highlights some of the interesting differences between the three theories. The thesis is of historical interest since the demonstration of differences in moral ontology makes it less attractive to regard the three theories as a family.
Biofiltration of hydrophilic and hydrophobic volatile organic compounds using wood-based media

The biological degradation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), discharged in pulp and paper and wood products air emissions, was examined in two separate biofiltration experiments. Two identical bench scale biofilters were operated in long term experiments in order to study the removal of Ã-pinene, a hydrophobic VOC, and methanol, a hydrophilic VOC, separately and as a mixture. The biofilter media consisted of a mixture of wood chips and spent mushroom compost (50:50 vol-%) that was further mixed with either perlite, granular activated carbon (GAC), or small-size wood chips. The wood chip/compost mixture was added to the activated carbon or perlite in a ratio of 75:25 vol-%. A steady state model was also developed that considers the biofilm as an organic matrix and uses Monod kinetics plus inhibition. Under steady state conditions and at 40°C bed temperature, the biofilters performed similarly and treated up to 40-45 g Ã-pinene/m3 bed/h or 250 g methanol/m3 bed/h with percentage removals of more than 90-95% and gas retention times between 20 and 60 sec. For mixtures of methanol and Ã-pinene, the removal rate was measured based on the total carbon and was about 80-90 g carbon/m3 bed/h. The effect of GAC on the removal of Ã-pinene was significant only during the start-up period where the GAC biofilter achieved 100% removal due to adsorption. When the biofilters were subjected to step changes in the pinene loading rate, both biofilters experienced a period of lower performance and the GAC did not provide a buffering capacity to the biofilter. Unlike the initial start-up period, when the addition of Ã-pinene was restarted after three days of shutdown, no adsorption took place in the GAC biofilter because the GAC was fully covered by a thick layer of biofilm. For the treatment of mixed VOCs, the presence of methanol in the air stream significantly influenced the removal of Ã-pinene. The removal capacity for Ã-pinene per unit volume of the bed decreased linearly with increasing loading rates of methanol. The presence of methanol, a hydrophilic and easily biodegradable compound, suppressed the growth of the Ã-pinene degrading microbial community, thereby decreasing Ã-pinene removal capacity of the biofilters. Ã-Pinene degradation increased along the biofilter length while the concentration of methanol decreased. Unlike Ã-pinene, methanol was not affected by the presence of Ã-pinene, and was removed equally from the air stream under different Ã-pinene loading rates. The temperature of the biofilter significantly affected performance. The Ã-pinene removal rate decreased by 20-30% when the bed temperature decreased from 40°C to 30°C. For methanol, however, the temperature drop of 10 degrees did not change biofilter performance. The growth of the biofilm, coupled with bed compaction, increased the biofilter pressure drops from less than 200 Pa in the first few weeks to about 1500-3000 Pa after more than six months of biofilter operation.
Morphosyntactic variation in possessive constructions and the accusative in Old East Slavic texts

A new outlook is provided on morphosyntactic phenomena attested in variation in the original Old East Slavic texts of the 11th-14th centuries. Two sets of constructions manifesting various types of linguistic features are analyzed as mutually related. These include: (1) possessive constructions with a bare attributive modifier in the form of either a denominative adjective or the adnominal genitive of a noun; (2) accusative case forms syncretic with either nominative or genitive, and used as the direct object of a transitive verb or the object of a preposition. Only masculine singular nouns of the major masculine/neuter declension with genitive in -'a' involved in these constructions are examined. It is shown on the basis of the data that the selection of a particular morphosyntactic alternative in both sets of constructions is governed by the same complex of differently ranked lexical, morphological, referential and syntactic features. The hierarchy comprised of these features not only explains the synchronic pattern of attestations in both sets of constructions, but also reflects their diachronic development. Moreover, it establishes a previously unnoticed link between two concurrent processes of language change. The multi-faceted character of the hierarchy suggests that language production is best described as an integration of all the relevant linguistic features influencing the choice of a particular construction. It also accounts for the lack of invariant distribution rules, due to the simultaneous, interrelated effects of several features on the morphosyntactic outcome. The impossibility of drawing clear-cut borders between levels of the hierarchy (supported by the existence of exceptional or atypical attestations) suggests that language is regulated by tendencies, rather than strict rules. The gradual, synthetic character of this hierarchy reveals the essence of linguistic phenomena. The several planes simultaneously involved in the selection of a morphosyntactic alternative contribute to the hypothesis of the non-linear nature of language. Thus the main postulate of the dissertation concerns language structure and operation. Analysis of the data shows that the widely accepted division of language into discrete domains such as morphology, syntax or lexicon is unfounded, and can only be limitedly applied as a heuristic device.
The recollections of Encolpius, a reading of the Satyrica as Greco-Roman erotic fiction

While late nineteenth century scholars debated whether the 'Satyrica ' was a traditional or an original work in ancient literary history, twentieth century Petronian scholarship has mostly taken for granted that the author was a unique innovator and his work consequently a synthetic composition. Among the unfortunate consequences of this modern consensus have been the excessive emphasis on authorial intention and numerous studies of parts of the work, taken out of the larger context, which have tended to increase the already severe state of fragmentation in which the modern reader finds the ' Satyrica'. This dissertation attempts to counteract this latest trend in the almost two thousand years reception-history of the work by employing the ancient rhetorical theory of 'narratio' for the analysis of the narrative form. By this means we are able to present a reading of the 'Satyrica ' as the mimetic and "spoken-to-be-heard" (as opposed to "written-to-be-read") performance of the narrator Encolpius, involving multiple impersonations of characters, who often become subordinate narrators as well; and the use of various discourse types, including metrical speech. The textual presentation of the narrative of Encolpius as the "recollections" of the narrator requires a renewed effort at reconstructing the story told by this exiled Greek scapegoat with the education of a Roman aristocrat. Our reconstruction reveals a coherent travelogue with a formulaic plot and consistent characterization, delivered to an audience which is socially and morally superior to the comic narrator, who, besides relating his erotic suffering, practices satire and social criticism in the manner of popular philosophy. The nature of this moral satire and how it relates to the narrator's ideal audience is analyzed in some detail. Finally, we attempt to revise the 'Satyrica''s position in the context of Greco-Roman literary history, revisiting the arguments of German 'fin de siècle' philologist Karl Bûrger, whose historically eclipsed thesis is vindicated by recently discovered Egyptian papyri. To Bûrger's arguments we add an analysis of the linguistic and cultural layering in the 'Satyrica', and show that the work is most likely an adaptation of a specific Greek model, also written in a mixture of discourse types. As a result, we conclude that the 'Satyrica ' is best classified with the other "shameless" erotic fictions referred to in Roman sources as 'Milesiae', after Sisenna's early first century B.C.E. adaptation.
Testing of a 3-D shear wall under cyclic loading

The response of reinforced concrete structures subjected to monotonic loading conditions can be modelled and predicted fairly accurately in most cases. The task becomes more challenging if the structure is exposed to seismic actions. The problem lies in accurately modelling the effects of load reversals. In-house nonlinear finite element programs at the University of Toronto are currently being modified to incorporate arbitrary loading conditions. Among these are programs TRIX (2-D membranes) and SPARCS (3-D solids). Test data is required to corroborate these programs. This need has led to the testing of a 3-D shear wall under cyclic loading. The experimental program was based on imposing 1 mm cyclic displacements to the top slab of the specimen, along the axis of the web wall. The test results obtained will provide a database to corroborate the programs, and will also form the basis for formulating a post-peak ductility model for reinforced concrete.
Colouring a Lorentz gas

A colour label is introduced into a two-dimensional Lorentz gas system of three disks arranged in an equilateral triangle to represent chemical reactions. The microscopic level is studied systematically using an N-cylinder description where the exact dynamics is replaced by a symbolic dynamics which is a generating partition. The Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy and its finite and coloured varieties are discussed. These are then related to the coloured escape rate, a macrosopic property. Lastly, escape is eliminated by extending the three disk system to an infinite lattice, and the colour correlation function is explored. For large colouring regions the Poisson process rate law expression breaks down.