VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Between the door of the unknown and the book of old plots, ambivalence, femininity and identificatory practices

This thesis is an ethnographic investigation into the complex, contradictory and textured structure of the discourses available to girls through which to negotiate their identities. My interest is in exploring the social and discursive practices through which girls can (or cannot) become "knowable," recognizable, identifiable and acknowledged as subjects within discourses of femininity. These include those discourses and practices defining female sexuality, embodiment, relationship to self and other, material culture, use of social space, and cultural-political agency and power. Woven throughout the thesis and integral to the project is a second area of concern relating to the way in which ethnographic writing as a discursive practice is also implicated in the production and signification of social identities. The study took place over a two and a half year period, where I met weekly with a group of girls, of diverse racial backgrounds, in grades 5-8 in a Toronto public school. As a group we produced a magazine, in the first year, and a video in the second. Using feminist post-structuralist theories of subjectivity, power and agency, I analyze the finished products and the process of their production. I ask: through what regulatory norms and practices is gendered experience materialized in the video's narratives so that a character becomes intelligible as a position that makes sense within available discourses of femininity? Once materialized, how does a given gender formation regulate identificatory practices such that certain fantasy positions are deemed desirable and others are disavowed? Within the matrix of gender relations how do both desired and disavowed positions work together to produce and define the "self"? And within the array of identificatory sites that femininity might offer, what are the possibilities for disrupting normative femininity? The thesis raises questions about the consequences for girls in having to position themselves within discourses that are internally contradictory and have conflicting expectations and pressures. Finally, it suggests that these irresolvable contradictions may be potential sites of disruption of hegemonic forms of femininity engendering alternative identificatory possibilities.
Toward an ecology of being, earth, spirit and education

Few would disagree that the Earth is experiencing severe ecological disruption. I contend that the multitude of problems are systemic, and superficial adjustments to societal thought and behaviour are not sufficient to avert disaster. What is called for is a profound transformation, in both individual and collective thought and action. But what form should such a transformation take? And is such a paradigm shift realizable? These questions are at the heart of this dissertation. In chapter two, I look at competing research paradigms, and argue for a holistic/integrativist approach. In chapter three, I explore the global ecological crisis, by examining the following dimensions: overpopulation, consumption patterns, resource depletion and militarism. The second part of this chapter provides an overview of different scholars' analyses of the problematic. In chapter four, I examine radical ecology, both historically and in its present forms. The bulk of this analysis is directed towards deep ecology; I also address some of the major critiques made of this relatively new philosophy. Chapter five is devoted to an exploration of spirituality as transformation. I draw a clear distinction between esoteric and exoteric aspects of religion. I stress that in the esoteric, mystic traditions, there are copious examples of profound personal transformation. I provide an overview of the lives of three mystics who lived transformative lives: Milarepa, Eckhart and Ramakrishna. The second half of this chapter is concerned with a contemporary manifestation of spirituality, i.e. transpersonal psychology, as expressed in Ken Wilber's work. In chapter six I draw together ecology and spirituality within the framework of what I have termed an 'ecology of being', which expresses a balance between the physical, affective, intellectual and spiritual dimensions of our lives. Chapter seven is concerned with education as transformation. After providing an overview of contemporary mainstream education, in which I emphasize how thoroughly it is embedded in a reductionistic and self-centred worldview, I examine alternative curricula: those expounded by Selby and Pike, O'Sullivan, Miller, Off and Bowers. I close the chapter with my own personal reflections on new, transformational approaches to education. Chapter eight contains a summary and conclusion.
Fibre-reinforced expansive concrete

An innovative concrete material has been developed that utilizes highly expansive cement with deformed fibres to create an effective internal prestressing force within the concrete. This system is referred to as Fibre Reinforced Expansive Concrete (FREC). This research program studied FREC by firstly varying the constituents of FREC in an attempt to optimize the system. Tests were then conducted on the optimum FREC mixes and compared to results from plain concrete and fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) tests in order to determine the merits of FREC. The results of this testing were inconclusive in that the optimum FREC systems chosen did not exhibit net expansion and therefore were unlikely to be in a state of prestress. Furthermore. the compressive strengths of the different concretes varied widely, making direct comparisons difficult. It is still felt that the theory of FREC has merit and that it possesses great potential in the area of concrete repairs.
Examining the relationships among age, sex, parenting, and children's mental health outcomes in remarried and intact families

This study investigated the relationships between age, sex, parenting, and children's externalizing and internalizing behaviours in a nationally representative sample of Canadian 4 to 5 (N = 3154) and 10 to 11 (N = 2886) year-olds living in remarried and intact families. Age was found to be a moderator of the relationship between family type and children's outcomes. Child reports indicated that girls in remarried families were showing levels of externalizing similar to boys and levels of internalizing greater than boys in remarried families. This was not found in parent reports. The parenting practices of hostility, consistency, and positive interaction were analyzed as potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between family type and children's outcomes. Mediating effects were not found. Certain moderating effects were found. In 10-11-year-old children, parent reports identified hostile parenting and positive interaction as moderators and child reports identified consistent parenting as a moderator.
Children's perceptions of student-teacher relationship in an interactive situated learning context

Although children's experience of student-teacher relationships is inextricably linked to the social, emotional, cognitive and academic development of the child, the research methodologies employed to date to study children's perceptions of student-teacher relationship have been limited to rating scales and questionnaires. By developing interactive open-ended tasks designed to gain a more thorough understanding of what bright and gifted eight and nine year old children perceive about relationships between students and teachers, this study makes a significant methodological contribution to the body of research investigating the social and emotional knowledge used by participants in student-teacher relationships. Structured interview and story completion tasks were administered using an interactive teaching approach that allowed for dynamic responsivity and in-depth probing. The findings suggest that the participants were able to spontaneously describe their knowledge of student-teacher relationships in behavioural, interaction-oriented terms, and when in-depth interviewing was employed they also demonstrated a rich knowledge of emotional components and dynamics inherent in teacher-student relationships. The centrality of emotions in learning, particularly as lived out and developed within student-teacher relationships is discussed in relation to educational practice and policy, as well as to directions for future research.
Monitoring the integrity of concrete using stress-waves

Concrete setting was monitored using both penetration resistance and stress-wave testing. Although velocity is increasing exponentially, there is no distinct change at the time of final set. Concrete strength development was monitored over a period of 28 days and equations were developed between strength and various characteristics of stress-waves. The equations were validated by casting new concrete and monitoring it over a period of 90 days. The accuracy of the estimate was found to be within 5% using the combined method of velocity and 'Q'-factor for ultrasonic through-transmission and within 6% using only velocity for impact-echo technique. In monitoring deterioration due to alkali-silica reaction and alternate freezing and thawing cycles, the attenuation indices (except transmission frequency shift) showed little sensitivity with deterioration. However, velocity and transmission frequency shift both showed sensitivity to deleterious expansion. For large field-exposed concrete blocks, all 4-analysis indices showed sensitivity with expansion.
Learning to parse images

Segmentation and recognition are important subtasks of image interpretation. The general approach to statistical image interpretation tries to solve each separately. This introduces various problems as segmentation and recognition are interrelated. These problems can be avoided by solving segmentation and recognition simultaneously. This is achieved by viewing segmentation and recognition as subtasks: of finding the correct parse tree of the image, and viewing image interpretation as a search in the space of parse trees. Credibility networks are an instantiation of this idea. They are graphical models which describe a probability distribution over all possible parse trees with the leaves corresponding to pixels. The parameters of a credibility network can be learned and inference can be achieved using mean field approximations. During inference, the results of segmentation and recognition are iteratively improved upon. Simulations showed that credibility networks can perform interesting toy problems, for example hand-written digit classification and segmentation.
Deconstructing whiteness, pedagogical implications for anti-racism education

Multiculturalism has been a theory used within our Canadian schools for several decades now, and it has become a site under extreme scrutiny by many educators. In this thesis, I take on the political project of exploring the identity development of white bodies through histories of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism, and how this process of identity development continues today through multicultural discourses. Hidden within the multicultural paradigm are the historical legacies and racial imageries of our past that continue to perpetuate systems of power and domination within our educational institutions. I discuss the need for a decolonizing project for white teachers in order to implement an anti-racist praxis into our existing educational system. Without this process I feel that white teachers can not teach in an anti-racist framework, for racism and institutional racism are so embedded into what it means to be white, that we has white people need to decolonize ourselves and create a white identity based on equity and social responsibility. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
The use of hypertonic preconditioning in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury

'Hypothesis'. We hypothesized that hypertonic saline (HTS) might alter expression of cytokines responsible for adhesion molecule expression and thus minimize PMN-mediated injury. 'Methods'. An ' in-vivo' model of rodent warm partial hepatic I/R m which rats were pretreated with HTS or normal saline was used to test our hypothesis. Liver injury was assessed by serum AST. DNA fragmentation and TUNEL staining were used to assess hepatic apoptosis. Hepatic PMN sequestration was measured by myeloperoxidase assay. Hepatic ICAM-1, VCAM-1, TNF-Ã, and IL-10 mRNA were assessed by northern blot and hepatic TNF-Ã protein was measured by ELISA. NF-[kappa]B activation was measured by EMSA. IL-10, HO-1, HSP-70, p38, JNK and STAT3 proteins were assessed by western blot. Activated EC (HUVECs) were used to determine the effect of hypertonicity (HT) on EC ICAM-1 ' in-vitro'. Peritoneal macrophages (PEMs) were used to examine the ability of HT to modulate macrophage cytokine production.
Influence of chronic cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin exposure on brain dopamine D1 receptor levels: Human and experimental animal studies

Supersensitivity of dopamine D1 receptor-mediated intracellular signalling in the nucleus accumbens has been hypothesized as a mechanism underlying drug craving. In this regard, Schering-Plough Corp. (Madison, N.J.) is currently developing a D1 dopamine antagonist in an effort to diminish the use of cocaine in chronic users of the drug, and prevent drug relapse. The objective of this study was to measure levels of the D1 receptor protein in post mortem human brain of chronic users of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and matched controls. Based on the evidence of D1 receptor supersensitivity in animal studies, my tentative working hypothesis was that an increase in the number of striatal (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens) dopamine D1 receptors would be observed. In order to measure the D1 receptor with increased specificity and potentially measure homoligomers, a quantitative immunoblot technique was developed. For comparison, I examined the effects of chronic methamphetamine administration on D1 receptor protein levels in rat brain under controlled conditions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Epistemologia subversiva, el discurso mistico de Teresa de Jesus y Clarice Lispector

The search for a voice within the structures of patriarchy has been a constant of women's creative process. To acquire a voice is only as successful as it is important for it to be heard. Mysticism has offered both an intellectual and a linguistic space from which the female subject has been able to configure itself as a speaking-subject from within the absences, desires, and bifurcations in the process of meaning. Both Theresa of Jesús and Clarice Lispector contribute to the development of feminist discourse. Within its own historiography each discourse looks at displacement, chaos, the tumultuous and exquisite search which incites the writers to experiment with words to form a new language: a language of women and for women. Despite the distances--historical, literary, linguistic and aesthetic--both women choose to shape their cosmogony by using language as a basis that allows them to articulate the horizons from which and to which their poetic and philosophical universe moves. It is not surprising that such languages transmit a certain instability as the reader's historical, cultural and psychological beliefs are subverted. Theresa's writings explore the shifts in knowledge away from the theological rationalism of religious discourse. Lispector's transgressions challenge the process of cognitive acquisition by the subject. She destabilizes the liberal Humanist tradition of transmission of knowledge. This new configuration of the acquisition of knowledge results in an epistemological crisis as it remakes the constitution of the subject and embodies knowledge as a profound experience of the unknown.
Bankruptcy as lived experience compared to attributive models

The purpose of this study is to explore a new source of bankruptcy data, the voice of lived experience, not in order to make sweeping statements about all bankrupt persons, but rather to expose the folly of doing so. Data garnered from one hundred and twenty-four surveys and ten personal interviews is compared to the models which have been developed to explain the act of resorting to personal bankruptcy. Even though references to misfortune's role in debt default exist in legislation dating back as far as the 4th century, yet explanations of this phenomenon invariably catalogue undesirable attributes assumed present within bankrupt persons or their families. The earliest model, the economic, supposes the bankrupt person to be either calculating or reckless. The social work model typifies bankrupt persons as inadequate or incapable, lacking life skills and forethought. The latest variation on this theme was developed in Canada and explains the need for bankruptcy in terms of a family pattern of compulsive behaviour. All of these models have been reflected in bankruptcy law, the latest being the basis for the mandatory counselling legislated in the 1992 Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. To ascertain the accuracy of the representative nature of these portrayals, the supporting research has been reviewed. Unpublished documents containing the hypotheses and research methodologies used to develop "The Bankruptcy Cycle" (Clare, in Forbes Anderson et al., 1996) are examined and the subsequent development of mandatory counselling is compared to Ryan's 1971 work, 'Blaming the Victim'. Data from lived experience, if analyzed with reference to learning theory pertaining to the limits of cognition, suggests a distinctly different conceptualization from those presently in use. This thesis proposes that the need to resort to bankruptcy is rooted not in personal deviancy, but rather in the difficulty of accurately predicting future events. Where this inability is combined with debt and external events that interrupt or over-strain predicted income flow, the need for bankruptcy may occur. The decision to declare bankruptcy is further assured by aggressive collection action on the part of creditors. This model, reversing previous conceptions, emphasizes the normality of those involved and characterizes their circumstances as exceptional. It is concluded that the mandatory counselling presently in force in Canada, with its assumptions of irresponsibility, addiction and the need for referral to community resources, is based on inadequate and unrepresentative assumptions about the lives and characters of bankrupt persons and not on an accurate assessment of their learning needs.
Preconditioning responses of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive provenances of Acacia tortilis (Forsk.) Hayne to high salinity

Growth and nutrient responses to NaCl preconditioning treatments were studied in two seed provenances of 'Acacia tortilis' (Forsk.) Hayne from saline (Sigor) and non-saline (Kitui) areas of Kenya. Seedlings were exposed to NaCl preconditioning treatments at 15, 21, and 28 days after germination. Subsequently, all seedlings were exposed to 200 millimolal NaCl for a further 39 days to test the efficacy of the different preconditioning schedules in hardening seedlings of different ages to high salinity. Nutrient analysis showed that Sigor initially partitioned a greater proportion of total Na+ uptake to roots than shoots. Both provenances had similar contents of macronutrients and Na+ by the final harvest of the experiment. However, all ions were more concentrated in Kitui than Sigor, probably as a combined result of Kitui's lower growth and less efficient partitioning of Na+. Multivariate ordinations confirmed the sensitivity of leaf abscission and shoot growth as variables associated with salt-tolerance, and suggested that the effects of Na+ were felt as much through disturbances in nutrient metabolism as they were through direct-ion toxicity. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
A measurement of the polarization of J/Psi mesons produced in high-energy proton-antiproton collisions

This dissertation presents an analysis of the polarization of ' J'/<math> <f> <g>y</g></f> </math> mesons produced in 'pp¢' collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 1.8 TeV. The collisions were produced by the Fermilab Tevatron collider, the world's highest energy particle accelerator. The data were recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab during Run 1 of the Tevatron in 1992-1995. The 'J'/<math> <f> <g>y</g></f> </math> meson consists of a charm quark and its antiquark, and is the best-known type of quarkonium, the bound state of a heavy quark-antiquark pair. The measurement of the production polarization of 'J'/<math> <f> <g>y</g></f> </math> mesons and other quarkonia provides a test of quarkonium production models. The study of quarkonium production is important for understanding the strong nuclear force between quarks. The strong force is one of the four known fundamental forces, being responsible for binding quarks into hadrons and holding atomic nuclei together. The polarization of centrally produced 'J'/<math> <f> <g>y</g></f> </math> mesons has been measured over the transverse momentum range 4-20 GeV/'c', using an analysis of the angular distribution of their decays to [mu]+[mu]-. Decay length measurements made by CDF's silicon vertex detector allowed the promptly produced ' J'/<math> <f> <g>y</g></f> </math> mesons to be separated from those produced in ' B'-hadron decays. The prompt and 'B'-decay polarization parameters, Ã'P' and Ã' B', have both been measured. The measured value of Ã' P' is positive at intermediate 'PT', but is consistent with zero above 12 GeV/'c', in apparent disagreement with predictions of the NRQCD factorization formalism.
A review of dispersion modelling and particle trajectories in atmospheric flows

Atmospheric and turbulence modelling, boundary layer parameterization, and current dispersion modelling techniques are reviewed. Dispersion models for atmospheric flow conditions include the K-Diffusion model, Gaussian Plume model, and Lagrangian particle tracking techniques (Gaussian Puff model), and their applications in CALPUFF (a commercial software package) are described. Studies of Gaussian Plume and Puff models in stable, neutrally stable, and unstable boundary layers show that the puff method reproduces acceptable plume model results in simple flow cases. The influence drag and gravity forces have on the motion of pollutant particles are investigated by means of derivation and analysis of the equations of translational motion. Incorporation of the drag and gravity forces into the Gaussian Puff dispersion model shows that the effect these forces have on the growth of a pollutant plume depends on the magnitude and frequency of the turbulent flow-field fluctuations. The Gaussian Puff model is flexible in that it can be applied in complex flow conditions; however, the assumption of the Gaussian distribution of pollutants does not account for particle deposition.
Cranial anatomy of the Late Permian dicynodont Diictodon, and its bearing on aspects of the taxonomy, palaeobiology and phylogenetic relationships of the genus

A study of the Late Permian dicynodont 'Diictodon' confirms suggestions that only one species, 'D. feliceps', can be presently recognized. The genus is characterized by features such as a palatal notch, a large dentary table with a medial cutting blade, and the absence of postcanine teeth. Numerous anatomical variations exist within 'Diictodon', but many appear biologically insignificant. However, there is a clear distinction between specimens having canine tusks and those lacking them, as tusked specimens are generally larger and more likely to develop a pineal boss. This probably reflects sexual dimorphism, with the tusked sex almost certainly being the male. A phylogenetic analysis of dicynodonts indicates that previous analyses are correct in identifying 'Robertia' as the sister-group of ' Diictodon' and 'Dicynodon' and 'Aulacephalodon ' as close relatives of 'Lystrosaurus'. However, the results suggest that 'Endothiodon', rather than 'Eodicynodon ', may be the most basal known dicynodont.