VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Strategic transnational practices: Social implications and family relationships in an Indian community

Main findings indicate firstly that men and women in both the first and second generation are mobilizing transnational networks to meet their domestic needs. Secondly, the act of migration, the country of settlement, and the relationships maintained across countries of origin and settlement are deliberate on the part of migrants. They help broaden social networks, facilitate marriages, reproduce family, meet daily care needs, and create a sense of self within the context of migration. Transnational family relations have therefore emerged as a strategic site for domesticity in terms of migration decisions, daily homemaking, facilitated marriages and the formation of identities. This dissertation uses migration narratives gathered from Indian transmigrants to delineate the structure of transnational family networks. Access to the homeland and close ties to family members who are contained within its borders are growing options for migrants, and this research answers questions about the strategic ways Indo-Canadian migrants forge and maintain transnational family relations. Fifty-three first and second generation Indo-Canadian migrants living in the Great Toronto Area were interviewed to determine the ways migrant families mobilize flows of people, goods, and information across national borders to meet their domestic needs. The research objectives are to determine the role of transnational networks in the daily domestic lives of migrants, how transnational networks influence the process of migration, the gender differences in transnational relations, and the cross-border connections that second generation migrants forge across national borders. In examining these issues, this project focuses on informal transnational practices occurring within the institution of the family. The implications of this strategic transnational space are firstly that transnational flows are necessary for the maintenance of family. Family resources, relationships, and growth are made possible through networks linking Canada and India, and many of these networks are sustained by female migrants. Secondly, these transnational flows impact the larger transnational community. By deliberately migrating to a country where their family is not yet represented, and then developing networks across multiple localities, these migrant families are altering the structure of their transnational community. Subsequent generations of migrants will therefore feel the trickle-down effects of this strategic transnational space.
Analytical and biochemical aspects of wine constituents that affect human health

I have developed and evaluated improved methods with excellent analytical characteristics permitting: (a) the simultaneous quantitation of 17 pesticides from the families of organochlorines, organophosphorus and carbamate compounds in wine by GC-MSD, which I employed to investigate the potential role of clarifying agents in the removal of pesticide residues during wine production and their effects upon wine quality, and to survey more than 3000 unfermented grape juices and raw wines for their pesticide residue content; (b) the simultaneous assay of nine biogenic amines by HPLC, using precolumn derivatization and fluorescence detection, which I utilized to study cultivar-related differences in wines from Ontario; (c) the routine assay of concentrations of OTA in wines and beers by GC-MSD and BPLC-PDA, used to survey the concentrations of OTA in >1000 wines and beers from around the globe; and (d) the simultaneous assay of TCA and TCP in wine and corks by GC-MSD, which I applied to elucidate the potential cause of cork taint from natural and artificial corks in wine, and to survey 2400 commercial wines from around the globe. Utilizing a previously-developed assay for the multiresidue analysis of polyphenolic compounds, I investigated the kinetics of polyphenol release into wine must during fermentation of different cultivars, to determine optimal conditions for polyphenol enrichment. I developed an ultrasensitive assay for the analysis of catechin, quercetin and trans-resveratrol and their conjugates in biological fluids utilizing GC-MSD and, along with the usage of trans-resveratrol radiolabeled with [ 3H], I studied the absorption of these polyphenols in rats and humans, demonstrating that they are present systemically almost exclusively as conjugates. The putative anticarcinogenic properties of the wine constituents catechin, quercetin, trans-resveratrol and caffeic acid were investigated. They showed poor ability to modulate p53 expression in three human breast cancer cell lines and one human colon cancer cell line. Employing a two stage CD-1 mouse skin cancer model using DMBA as initiator and TPA as promoter, I compared the anticarcinogenic activities of catechin, quercetin, trans-resveratrol and gallic acid; quercetin was the most effective. Finally, I demonstrated that a previously utilized rabbit model was misleading as a guide to the relative efficacy of different alcoholic beverages in preventing atherosclerosis, because of uncontrolled interference with nutrition.
The role of the slow component of cardiac delayed rectifier potassium current in ventricular repolarization, fibrillation and proarrythmia

The contribution of the slow component of the cardiac delayed rectifier K+ current (IKs) to ventricular repolarization, fibrillation and proarrhythmia is not fully understood. We investigated the rate-dependent interactions of IKs with the rapid component of delayed rectifier (IKr), the sodium window current and the inward rectifier K+ current (IK1), and studied the role of IKs activation in ventricular fibrillation and during beta-adrenergic stimulation. Furthermore, we investigated whether IKs block can induce Torsades de Pointes (TdP) during drug-induced action potential (AP) prolongation, and evaluated the relationship between the extent of drug-induced AP prolongation and TdP incidence. IKs is a latent current that contributes little to ventricular repolarization during the basal state, but contributes more significantly during prolongation of the plateau or early phase 3 repolarization; such prolongation was induced by IKr block (where adding IKs block increased reverse rate-dependence) or slowing of sodium channel inactivation, in perfused rabbit hearts. IKs was not activated when the late portion of phase 3 repolarization was prolonged by IK1 block. IKs was activated during beta-adrenergic stimulation by isoproterenol in perfused rabbit hearts, and IKs block by HMR 1556 lowered the defibrillation threshold in rabbits in vivo. In bradycardic perfused rabbit hearts with drug-induced AP prolongation (through combined IKr block by dofetilide and slowing of sodium channel inactivation by veratridine), spontaneous TdP was induced. Despite no further AP prolongation, subsequent addition of IKs block promoted TdP, likely mediated by an increase in dispersion and beat-to-beat variability in ventricular repolarization. When AP duration was prolonged by combining veratridine and increasing concentrations of dofetilide, TdP appeared at moderate AP prolongation but not during extreme prolongation. Subsequent moderate shortening of the AP by isoproterenol (which activates IKs) and pinacidil (which activates ATP-sensitive K + current) re-induced TdP. In summary, IKs is a "reserve current" which protects against TdP development. Although IKs blockers may be antifibrillatory, they may promote TdP when the AP is prolonged by drugs, genetic mutations or heart failure. There is a biphasic relationship between TdP incidence and AP duration---there exists a "Torsadogenic Zone" which defines the AP duration at which TdP occurs.
Beyond silence: Taking young people at their own word

This research examines concepts of power and voice as related to the experience of Canadian children in government care. This case study tests a theoretical model in order to illuminate complex power relations. The study posits that theory can be used to make power relations visible, to facilitate understanding of institutions and to make visible the influence these have on the development of children in government care. It seeks to provide insight and to theorize by applying an analytical model for understanding issues of: power, voice, institutional and interpersonal relations within a regulated care system. The young people in this study are extremely articulate and voice their opinions eloquently. They adopt the posture of a knower and participate in the discourse as full citizens. This study confirms that young people do indeed have a voice and that we need to provide opportunities for them to use it. This model represents one method of highlighting multiple meanings which may help us listen to youth and indicate directions in which we can act on what we have heard. The central question was: What do the voices of youth in regulated settings tell us about power and voice as related to language, interpersonal relations, institutional relations and disciplinary practices?Three key findings emerged across the analytical cells: a regulated reality, a disposable life, and a stained identity. The model shows youth's bilingual abilities and their fluency in 'system speak', and more generally at bringing out the bilingual tendencies of oppressed groups. It provides a useful analytical framework through which to examine multiple meanings of text and spoken word. The transcripts of a Canadian youth-led and designed advocacy initiative aimed at sensitizing social workers to the needs of youth in care serves as a case to apply the conceptual model. Four approaches to analysis were utilized in this nested methodological approach: (1) thematic analysis, (2) gender analysis, (3) frame analysis and (4) critical discourse analysis. The analytical approach highlights the multiplicity of meanings in these youths' statements. The use of secondary data, verbatim quotes from youth in care, permitted the application of this conceptual map to the illumination of complex concepts.
Learning from "the Known": historical and cultural factors influencing the position of women in two Australian Aboriginal societies

This research examines historical and cultural factors affecting the position of women in two Australian Aboriginal societies. Two contributing factors are introduced: the "mission syndrome" in the case study of Yolngu women of North-Eastern Arnhem Land, and the "stolen generation syndrome" in the case study of Kija women of the East Kimberley region. This project explores social and cultural mechanisms that led to a similar development of women's social roles in those two, otherwise dissimilar, regions, and delineates the perimeters of women's social and cultural knowledge which is presently a vital, active component in the process of (re)defining women's Aboriginal identity. It is also proposed that, although the methods of assimilation and subordination used by white officials and white missionaries were seemingly different in the two contexts, in both cases they were intended to marginalize women's roles, destroy their cultural and social domains, restrict their social mobility, and create and/or accentuate inequalities within Aboriginal communities. A cognitive social learning theory of learned helplessness, and of internal versus external locus of control is discussed in the context of social identity formation and reactivity to historical and social forces influencing inter and intra group relations in an Aboriginal context. It is concluded that, because of the dialectical interplay of many cultural and historical factors, women were able either to retain (in case of women from East Arnhem Land) or re-direct (in case of women from the East Kimberley region) their internal locus of social control which, in turn, significantly decreased their negative emotional responses to a variety of social stressors, and increased their sense of social and cultural competence. Findings of this research indicate that the extensive forced exposure of Aboriginal women to the white hegemonic system strengthened and reinforced their capacity for social resolution and social action. From all the conflicting cultural meanings that women were forced to internalize, they were able to create a new modus operandi to resolve the tensions inherent in the task of formulating new social and cultural identity during a time of change and possibility.
Siblings of children with autism: an investigation of sibling and parent characteristics contributing to positive and negative psychosocial outcomes

For several decades, families of children with autism have been of interest to practitioners and researchers, with a growing body of literature focusing specifically on the psychosocial functioning of the healthy siblings in the family. Although there have been mixed findings across existing research studies examining the impact children with autism have on siblings, a number of studies have reported that siblings of children with autism experience greater psychosocial adjustment difficulties, thereby suggesting they are a group at risk for maladjustment. The current study examined the variability in siblings' psychosocial adjustment and prosocial behaviour with factors found to be important in the general population and developmental disability field. Furthermore, factors believed to be more specific to having a brother or sister with autism were explored to help determine those siblings at greater risk for psychosocial adjustment difficulties, in addition to those siblings demonstrating more prosocial behaviours. Participants included 72 siblings of children with autism between ages 7 to 14 years, as well as their parent and classroom teacher. Preliminary analyses confirmed variability in the functioning of siblings of children with autism, although the majority of siblings in the present study appeared to be well-adjusted. A minority of siblings were demonstrating substantial internalizing and/or externalizing behaviour problems, and low levels of prosocial behaviour. An analysis of variables predicting siblings' externalizing behaviour problems revealed different factors emerged as salient for parent versus teacher reports. While siblings were reported by parents to display fewer externalizing behaviour problems in the presence of lower levels of parental distress and higher levels of academic achievement, only siblings' global self-worth emerged as a significant predictor for teacher reports. For autism-specific variables, siblings' perception of the frequency of autistic and related behaviours was an important predictor for both parent and teacher reports of siblings' externalizing behaviour problems. None of the sibling or parent variables examined in the current study predicted parent or teacher reports of siblings' internalizing behaviour problems or prosocial behaviour. These findings are discussed with respect to their clinical implications, and directions for future research are presented.
Appetite regulation in institutionalized seniors with and without Alzheimer's Disease

This thesis tested the hypothesis that energy intake regulation in response to fat and protein ingestion changes with aging and becomes increasingly dysfunctional in seniors with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Two studies examined appetite responses to fat and protein ingestion at meals or as high-fat and high-protein pre-loads before meals. Under free-feeding conditions, cognitively intact and cognitively impaired elderly responded differently at dinner to lunch fat or protein ingestion. Following consumption of high-fat and high-protein pre-loads, the magnitude of compensation for the pre-loads was qualitatively similar in young, healthy males and cognitively intact elderly subjects. Nevertheless, compensation associated with body weight and composition in young subjects and with fasting leptin in older subjects. Seniors with AD failed to compensate for either pre-load with fasting insulin, disengagement and body weight associating with measures of compensation. The dominant signals controlling appetite change with age and appetite responses are absent in seniors with AD.
Diagnosis of combinational logic circuits using Boolean satisfiability

Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solvers are being used to solve an increasing number of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) problems. This trend is largely due to significant advances in SAT solving algorithms in recent years. SAT has already been shown to be a powerful and flexible tool for solving many existing EDA problems. However, no SAT-based solution has yet been proposed for the problem of diagnosis. This thesis presents a novel SAT-based framework for performing diagnosis of combinational logic circuits. An algorithm is described which can be used for model-free design error and fault diagnosis, and for model-based fault diagnosis using several common fault models. Several heuristics are analysed that improve the runtime and reduce the memory requirements of the algorithm.
"A simple and unsophisticated life" rural development policy in Vashisht, India: women, simple commodification and the transition to capitalism

Recent tragic events have led to the effective closing down of Kashmir's tourist industry, while prompting an economic boom for parts of Himachal Pradesh. This has provided a financial base for the increased diversification within the family farm enterprises that make up the village of Vashisht. This newly energised economic activity has combined with the traditional strengths and weakness of Pahari life to form an exciting and individualistic contemporary rural economy. Among the resources available to contemporary enterprises in Vashisht, are the development incentives delivered by various governmental agencies. These aim to provide ‘engines of change’ in rural India, adding financial, human and social capital to the traditional rural resources of land and labour. The result is a growing package of inputs from which the family farm enterprises can allocate resources, but the package is quite volatile. This study traces the linkages from the introduction of these development initiatives into the economy of Vashisht as various constituencies in the village population actively create ways of managing the volatile socio-economic changes. Their actions are characterised by multiple economic involvements and combinations of strategies dependent on intra-familial inequalities. The very diversification strategies that are proving initially successful in Vashisht may threaten the sustainability of development, as well as the well-being of some of the individuals involved.
A critical feminist analysis of the marginalization of immigrant women engineers: subtle semantics, redundant assessments and conflicting jurisdictions

As more racialized professionals have immigrated to Canada, the contradiction between recruiting immigrant professionals for specific labour market needs and recognizing them as such has become more evident. For racialized immigrant women with expertise in male dominated professions the barriers are profound. Using available data, this study has estimated that 12,077 women engineers have immigrated to Canada since 1978 yet there has been no research on issues of immigrant women's access to engineering or the economic integration of immigrant women engineers. This thesis examines the critical role that both regulatory bodies and racism in immigration policy play in the marginalization of immigrant women engineers. Within the literature, issues of gender and race have been conceptualized independently. There has been little focus on the ways in which gender and race interact as relational processes in shaping access to professional engineering. This theoretical thesis concludes with implications for policy and future research.

Keywords: Women engineers, Certification
Women engineers, Canada
Women immigrants, Canada
Women engineers, Employment
Women engineers, Canada
Women immigrants, Employment
Women immigrants, Canada
Race discrimination, Canada
Sex discrimination against women, Canada
A critical analysis of Cirque du Soleil, 1987-2001

Cirque du Soleil originated in 1982, in Baie St. Paul, Quebec. The New Circus genre does not use animals in its performances, nor does it present death-defying acts, instead, it presents theme-based circuses. As an example of the New Circus form Cirque du Soleil presents heavily stylized performances, which contain complex ideas and images. This thesis has three major goals: (1) to interpret the signs and symbols found in a Cirque du Soleil performance; (2) to explain how balance, energy, equivalence, and other aspects of ‘theatre anthropology’ aid in the understanding of the morphological elements (lighting, costumes, sound, etc.) found in a Cirque du Soleil production; and (3) to examine how the various performers within Cirque du Soleil have (or have not) evolved out of traditional circus archetypes such as the clown, ringmaster, and acrobat. A basic semiotic model is employed in the interpretation of the signs and symbols located within a Cirque du Soleil production. This semiotic paradigm begins with the assumption that the circus performance has a message to convey. Logically it follows that it is the responsibility of the circus artist to communicate meaning to the spectator whose task it is to decode or interpret the performance. Theories on the use of the body developed by Eugenio Barba and Nicola Sarvarese in A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology are utilized to assist with the reading of signs in the circus ring. As well, through an analysis of the symbols within the Cirque du Soleil ring, circus acrobats, clowns, and ringmasters that have evolved from archetypes found in the traditional circus can be identified. This thesis is also an historical text, which documents details of a number of Cirque du Soleil performances and acts.

Keywords: Circus, Québec (Province)
Femtosecond electron diffraction studies of strongly-driven structural phase transitions

The new technique of femtosecond electron diffraction is developed and applied to the study of an ultrafast structural phase transition. A combination of numerical and analytical modeling is used to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the space-charge dominated propagation dynamics of high number density femtosecond electron pulses and to design a novel photoactivated electron gun. This electron source, capable of producing sub-500 femtosecond electron pulses with sufficient brightness to allow the study of even irreversible structural dynamics, is employed to investigate the strongly driven, laser-induced solid-to-liquid phase transition in polycrystalline aluminum. We are able to see, in real time, the loss of the long-range order present in the crystalline phase and the emergence of the liquid structure where only short-range atomic correlations are present; this transition occurs in 3.5 ps for thin-film aluminum with an excitation fluence of 70 mJ/cm2. The sensitivity and temporal resolution was sufficient to capture the time-dependent atomic pair correlation function as the material evolved from the solid to liquid state. These observations provide an atomic level description of the melting process in which the dynamics are best understood as a thermal phase transition under strongly driven conditions.