VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Genetic risk and phenotypic variation in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Genetic factors play a major role in the etiology of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as is evident from family, twin and adoption studies. Molecular genetic research has implicated a number of genes as risk factors for ADHD. Despite solid evidence the mode of genetic transmission has been elusive. The difficulty in identifying genes for ADHD may be, at least in part, a reflection of the complex relationship between the causative genes underlying the disorder and their phenotypic expression at the behavioural level. Objective: The immediate goal of this thesis was to investigate specific behavioural traits and potential cognitive endophenotypes in relation to three candidate genes of ADHD; the dopamine transporter (DAT1), dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4), and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25). Rather than relying on ADHD as categorical diagnosis of affected or unaffected, inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity are investigated independently as continuous traits to determine the relationship with the specific genetic risks for ADHD. Different informants were investigated independently by evaluating symptoms reported by parents and by teachers across the two behavioural dimensions. Inhibitory control and working memory were evaluated to determine the relationship with the genetic risks and argued as potential cognitive endophenotypes. Results: The 4-repeat allele of the 48 bp repeat located in the third exon of DRD4 was linked with lower parent-reported symptom scores of inattention. No significant results were found for teacher reported behaviours. Better inhibitory control was linked with the 4-repeat allele. Inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity as reported by parent, by not teacher, were linked with a risk haplotype of DAT1. No relationship was found between inhibitory control and DAT1. SNAP-25 was linked with higher ratings of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. No relationship with deficits in verbal working memory was found for any of the genes investigated. In contrast, better working memory was linked with DAT1. Conclusions: The relationship between behavioural and cognitive traits showed variation across the candidate genes investigated, as was broadly predicted. Differentiation of the relationship of traits across genetic risk factors was evident for behavioural dimensions and for informant. The study findings support inhibitory control as a genetically informative endophenotype for ADHD. Overall, these results highlight the potential of quantitative approaches for the elucidation of genetic traits, and underlying genes, in ADHD.

Keywords: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Genetic aspects
Phenotype
Discourses of contradiction: Politicizing the 'Beneviolence' of racism

In great contradiction, political and corporate institutions often reproduce the same racism they purport to be dismantling. The dedication to maintaining a 'politically correct' public perception held by many 'progressive' institutions compromise the acknowledgment of accountability and need for drastic reforms. Political denials of systemic racism create contradictory discourses that disguise and justify institutional racism's function--Beneviolence--enabling devices of racism to be extremely effective while simultaneously invisible. Utilizing discussion of racialized subjectivity in conjunction with theorization on biopolitical racism, this thesis will examine the nature of these contradictions as they appear in popular discourses. Critically examining the historic and contemporary relevance of contradictory racist discourses in current events, news media and film, this project will deconstruct racism as a political device with severely criminalizing and destructive consequences.

Keywords: Racism, Political aspects
Racism in popular culture
Constructions of home: the city as a site of spatial history and post-settler identity in four Commonwealth novels

As a high place of history, culture, and memory, the city bears witness to its past and serves as a record, artefact, and memorial par excellence. Within twentieth-century literary fiction, the spatio-temporal network of the city provides a model for the relativistic nature of identity and historical knowledge. With reference to four postcolonial Commonwealth novels---David Malouf's Johnno (1975), Ian Wedde's Symmes Hole (1986), Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion (1987), and Anne Michaels's Fugitive Pieces (1996)---this study focuses on the "chronotopic" image of the city in relation to post-settler and immigrant constructions of "home" in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Two distinct attitudes toward urban culture, revealing different models of nationhood and identity, emerge in these works. In the context of multiculturalism, the cosmopolitan city is predominantly treated as a space of tolerance and belonging. Ondaatje and Michaels figure immigrant Toronto as a site of self-discovery in which the bounds and bonds of community are constantly subject to renegotiation. In contrast, disaffection for the modern metropolis is expressed in Symmes Hole and Johnno. This distinction can be framed in terms of a modernist resistance to---as opposed to a postmodernist celebration of---fragmentation, indeterminacy, and heterogeneity. From this perspective, postindustrial urban culture signals the loss of an "original," "authentic" connection to place and hence a severing of the roots of identity. For Wedde, the dystopia of the simulacrum city is a consequence of capitalist imperialism. Malouf likewise laments the superficiality and uniformity of the contemporary urban landscape, however his nostalgia for the unique city of his childhood is arguably founded less in a critique of neocolonialism than in a psychic longing for plenitude and unity. While these urban portraits foreground a number of marginalized voices, there are two main problematic areas of representation. Indigenous spatial history tends to be either excluded or appropriated due to the focus on the "newcomer's" homecoming. Furthermore, space is frequently gendered---such that the female body is made to bear the weight of representing domestic and intimate zones---reflecting the conflation of "home" and the "maternal" in these masculinist quest narratives.
The interplay between characters, places, and cinematic techniques, in Caro Diario, Lamerica, and Nirvana

This thesis examines three major films of the 1990s made by three important Italian directors: Caro diario (1993) by Nanni Moretti, Lamerica (1994) by Gianni Amelio, and Nirvana (1997) by Gabriele Salvatores. The intent is to express a view and gain insight into the social, historical, and artistic concerns and trends facing Italians in the 1990s as pictured by three key works of its contemporary cinema. The introduction places the directors within the context of the history of Italian cinema and each film within the development and body of work of each artist. The following three chapters are dedicated to a through analysis and interpretation of each film's “whats” and “hows.” The latter terms are posited respectively as a strategic enquiry of the films' stories and discourses. Following chiefly André Bazin's theoretical approach, to reach the essence of what the film intends to communicate, I proceed to analyse ‘its existence first,’ that is, the design of each key sequence and subsequently interpret its meaning. In my title I call this dynamics the ‘interplay between characters, places, and cinematic techniques,’ and refer to it as cases of ‘form and function.’ Notwithstanding the fact that the films selected are quite different from each other, they ultimately offer a reasonable overview of the key trends in recent Italian filmmaking. The thesis ensuing arguments are that: Moretti himself and his personal expression constitute the thematic centre of the film, and in Caro diario his vicissitudes as a filmmaker as well as a protagonist of our times become a film and a fitting lesson on contemporary society; Amelio reminds us of the dependability of good old values, tradition, and style, and in Lamerica his retrieval of neorealist paradigms gives a picture of a topical event of the nineties while interweaving into it a moral lesson, based on a universal principle of solidarity; Salvatores makes a creative effort to investigates entirely untraditional directions, and in Nirvana the search for meaningful change and fulfillment is enacted by the main characters' motivating forces of friendship and love, and epitomized by Salvatores' unconventional making of a science fiction film.
What are you?: influences on identity of mixed-race youth, a Canadian perspective

This study explored the influences on identity of mixed race (black and white) youth from a Canadian context. Research questions emerged following a review of the literature identifying the ways in which views of self; family, peers and society impact youth and their racial identification. Eight in-depth interviews employing the Long Interview Method were conducted and were transcribed and coded to determine themes. Peer debriefing, subjectivity through cultural review and evidence through quotations were among the techniques used to ensure trustworthiness of the data. Findings indicated that the social constructions of race in society are exclusionary, failing to recognize people of mixed race, contributing to feelings of marginalization and complicates attempts to “fit in”. In recognition of this, from a Canadian context, mixed race discourse is critical in understanding the experiences of people of mixed race. These findings have multiple implications for social work practitioners working with this underrepresented population.
Population genomics of drug resistance in the pathogenic yeast Candida Albicans

The widespread deployment of antimicrobial agents in medicine and agriculture is nearly always followed by the evolution of resistance to these agents in pathogens. The goal of the studies initiated in this thesis is to understand the evolutionary process of the emergence of drug resistance in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. I have studied both natural and experimental population samples at genomic scales ranging from small-scale interactions of primary resistance mutations with one or a few genes, to large-scale interactions with many genes. First, I genotyped a natural population sample of C. albicans from HIV-infected patients based on both an assay of nucleotide polymorphisms at 16 loci and DNA fingerprinting. If variation in drug resistance is due to inherent differences in strains of C. albicans, a predominantly clonal organism, then correlation between multilocus genotypes and drug resistance would be expected. Multilocus genotypes were not predictive of resistance to the antifungal drug fluconazole, suggesting that resistance is gained or lost too quickly to be predicted by linkage with neutral markers. Second, I established twelve replicate experimental populations of C. albicans to study the dynamics, fitness consequences, and molecular mechanisms of adaptation to fluconazole. The experimental populations were founded from a single drug-sensitive cell; six populations were evolved with inhibitory concentrations of fluconazole and six were evolved without drug, over 330 generations. While all populations evolved with fluconazole adapted to the presence of drug, they followed strikingly different trajectories, with distinct overexpression patterns of four genes implicated in azole resistance. The experimental populations diverged in fitness, measured in direct competition between each evolved population and the ancestor. I measured changes in genome-wide gene expression that became entrenched during adaptation and persisted in the absence of drug, using DNA microarrays. I profiled four populations that evolved with drug at generation 330 and for two of these populations, I also profiled earlier time points. Cluster analysis of the 301 genes with significantly modulated expression identified three patterns of adaptation to drug. These three patterns of gene expression were also detected in fluconazole-resistant clinical isolates and must represent common transcriptional programs of adaptation to fluconazole.
Interaction and organization of proteins involved in the structure of ccm-carboxysomes from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803

In Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, the ccm-carboxysome components were found to form a multi-protein complex that included CcaA, CcmM, CcmK, CcmL, and CcmN. Yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation analyses revealed that CcmM was the central focus of this multi-protein complex. The gamma-CA like domain of CcmM was required for protein-protein interaction with CcaA and CcmN, as well as formation of CcmM multimeric complexes. Two-hybrid and mass spectrometric analyses demonstrated that a short region of the CcaA C-terminus was necessary for interaction with an additional CcaA monomer and with CcmM, as well as for maintenance of CA catalytic activity. The association of CcmM and CcaA with the pelletable carboxysome shell fraction indicated that the CcmM multi-protein complex was localized exclusively to the carboxysome periphery. Collectively, these findings indicated a new and emerging carboxysome model where the shell-localized CcaA catalyzes the formation of CO2 then directing this substrate to RuBisCO for fixation.
Missing voices in music education: music students and music teachers explore the nature of the high school music experience

This study provides a qualitative examination of the Canadian high school music experience. Using narrative inquiry (the "retrospective meaning-making" [Chase, 2005, p. 656] that people engage in when they tell their personal stories), and an interpretive, constructivist approach (developing analytic interpretations of participants' worlds that offer challenges or extensions to current practice), I sought to understand the meaning that 32 former high school music students make from their school music experiences. Seven experienced music educators dialogued with me about key challenges in music education practice. Debating the questions what does it mean 'to know' in music?, what should we do with the musical knowledge students bring to our classes?, whose repertoire should we teach?, and are we creative or only re-creative in our music teaching?, these teachers shared their views and made clear the complexities, uncertainties, and joys of teaching high school music. Two theoretical frameworks were especially helpful in interpreting the former student interviews. Figured worlds (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998, develop this framework from the theories of Bakhtin) and communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) provided rich structures for data analysis. The extent to which high school music is a self-making and community-making experience is much greater than I imagined. Music-making is a vehicle for authoring both self and worlds. It is a particularly potent vehicle because of its collaborative, embodied, temporal, non-discursive, playful, sensual, and occasionally transcendent nature. I consider ideas from writers on happiness, embodied cognition and spirituality, in tandem with insights from a variety of education and music education scholars and from the "missing voices" of former students and practising teachers to develop suggestions for expanding secondary school music education practice. I examine issues affecting teacher professional growth in order to articulate impediments to changing practice. Systemic issues of schooling create formidable barriers to effective, transformational professional development. I identify two kinds of professional growth experiences that evade these impediments by circumventing institutional constraints, putting professional development in the hands of small groups of music educators. Empowered and affirmed music educators are better positioned to transform practice.
Ælferic's life of Saint Basil and its Latin background

Individual saints' lives from Ælfric's collection of Lives of Saints have received relatively meagre attention. Yet their study is likely to reveal a wealth of information on their circulation and transmission and on their author's use of the available sources. The present thesis is concerned with an analysis of the Life of Saint Basil, translated from the Latin into Old English by Ælfric of Eynsham as part of a larger collection, and offers a critical edition of the Old English text and a working edition of the Latin original. 1. The Latin background. The Latin Life of Saint Basil was translated from the Greek and soon became a popular text circulating in cultural circles within the Kingdom of Charles the Bald. Its circulation and the origin of the earliest witnesses of the Latin Life of Basil suggest a transalpine origin for this text. 2. Basil in Anglo-Saxon England. Knowledge of Basil in Anglo-Saxon England is not limited to the Latin Life; Basil's own writings also circulated both in their Latin translations and, it seems, also in Greek, at least around the seventh and eighth centuries. Likewise, Ælfric's knowledge of Basil extends beyond the saint's life. 3. The Old English translation. Ælfric's version of the Life of Basil is not a literal translation of the Latin, and his work presents numerous original traits. The abbot of Eynsham intervened in the text in order to provide a more cohesive structure, eliminating superfluous sections, or passages that he did not think fit for his audience. In addition, he adapted the text to his alliterative rhythmical prose introducing several sophisticated rhetorical patterns, such as alliteration, paronomasia and chiasmus. 4. The texts. I provide a new critical edition of the Old English text collating the only complete witness against the surviving fragments, one of which was unknown to the previous editor. I also provide a working edition of the Latin Life, primarily for the purpose of comparison with the Old English text.
How rural directors facilitate change through integrated school-linked services for students at risk

Rural education provides unique opportunities for directors of education. The rural environment also poses numerous challenges. One challenge for directors is to deal purposefully with the increasing numbers of students who are at risk in rural school divisions. This research investigates the leadership practices and strategies used by rural directors of education in effecting change in the rural communities in which they work by exploring the implementation of a specific government policy (The Integrated School-Linked Policy , Saskatchewan Education Training and Employment, 1994) intended to support students at risk. In implementing the policy, the directors function as facilitative leaders. Facilitative leaders effect change for students at risk by initiating processes rather than by dictating change through directives. These processes, the functions, of facilitative leadership, engage and empower others by facilitating communication, educating, and by enabling educators to build relationships and find resources.

Keywords: Problem children, Education
Educational leadership
School-linked human services
School improvement programs, Planning
Educational planning
Synthesis of photochemical switches for the control of peptide conformation

Photochemical switches can be used to control the secondary structure of peptides and proteins. For this purpose, we studied three classes of photosensitive compounds. To induce a reversible change of conformation, two photoisomerizable cross-linkers were synthesized. First, a methane thiolsulfonate azobenzene derivative was designed and synthesized. This reagent was then incorporated via cysteine residues into a short peptide and shown to lead to reversible photocontrol of peptide helical structure. Second, several hemithioindigo derivatives were designed and synthesized. This class of compounds proved more challenging from a synthetic point of view. Routes used toward the synthesis of this new class of compound will be discussed. Finally, to achieve irreversible photo modification of peptide structure, a bis (2-nitrobenzyl) ester cross-linker was synthesized. Preliminary studies of the photocleavage of the derivative attached to glutathione peptides were performed.
Rhythmic and synchronous firing of thalamic bursting cells in awake patients

Thalamic cells fire in tonic and burst mode. The burst mode is recorded when the T-type Ca2+ channels are de-inactivated as a consequence of membrane potential hyperpolarization. Succeeding depolarization causes the low-threshold Ca2+ spike (LTS). Usually observed during slow wave sleep, recently the LTS has been reported in awake patients, and associated with neurological disorders where it should be rhythmic and synchronized. The aim of the present studies was to investigate the rhythmicity and the synchronization among pair of bursting thalamic cells. 212 neurons were recorded in the anterior, medial and lateral thalamus of patients suffering from chronic pain, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy. 34% of the cells were rhythmic, and 4% of the pairs showed coherent activity. The low incidence of rhythmic and synchronous firing fails to strongly support the hypothesis of synchronous activity among pairs of bursting cells in the thalamus of patients with neurological diseases during wakefulness.
Coming home as resistance: an anti-colonial process

I seek to reveal how processes of racialization in Canadian society perpetuate and sustain colonialism and relations of domination and subordination between Indigenous Peoples and dominant society. The theoretical and methodological frameworks that I employ allow me to actively engage in the anti-colonial process. They empower me to reaffirm my location and my identity as a woman of Indigenous ancestry in academia and also within dominant Canadian society. I discuss representation, identity, culture and spirituality, and offer examples of how these concepts have served as colonial tools, while also seeking possibilities for refraining these concepts towards decolonization. I highlight the importance of sovereignty and self-determination for Indigenous Peoples, reflected in the concepts of "claiming voice" and "coming home". This research project is a journey in anti-colonial thought, which I hope may contribute to an on-going dialogue of decolonization for and by Indigenous Peoples throughout the Americas.

Keywords: Indians of North America, Colonization
Indians of North America, Canada
Racism, Canada
Decolonization, Canada
L1 in the L2 classroom: framing Brazilian teacher beliefs and practices

While many Brazilian English as a foreign language schools prohibit or restrict first language use, research points to the benefits of both teachers and students using the first language as an effective tool in the second language learning process. This study explores the issue of why teachers include or exclude the first language in the adult English as a foreign language classroom. This study investigates non-native English-speaking teacher beliefs and practices regarding first language use and ultimately makes connections between teacher belief formation, pedagogical practice and the market demand surrounding first language/target language use. Two private EFL schools in Northeastern Brazil provide the sites for this triangulation mixed-methods research. Findings include a comprehensive list of reasons teachers include/exclude the first language, a list of main factors contributing to teacher beliefs on first language use, and an asymmetrical power relationship between non-native English-speaking teachers with experience abroad and those without.

Keywords: English language, Study and teaching
English language, Study and teaching
English language, Brazil
English teachers, Attitudes
English teachers, Brazil
Native language and education, Brazil