VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Tending the gardens of citizenship, child protection in Toronto, 1880s-1920s

Sparked by several high profile child deaths, Ontario's Child Welfare Reform at the turn of the twenty-first century has resulted in a restructuring of the child protection system. This dissertation uses historical analyses to develop a critical understanding of the Reform. The analyses are influenced by the Foucaultian governmentality approach. Specifically, it explores the transformation of conceptions of human identities, citizenship, and technologies of power, from the threshold of the "social" era to our present "post-social" era. The dissertation examines child protection ideas and practices during the period from the late 1880s to 1920s. It argues that preventing crime and immorality and building a useful and Christian citizenry were the main objectives of child protection. Gardening metaphors were used widely to construct a humanist identity for children as "future citizens" and to promote technologies of parental power which were primarily governmental in Foucault's sense. Cruelty and neglect deviated from the gardening mode of parental power. Child protection workers governed parents' cruelty or bad morals so that parents could in turn govern children properly. The study identifies a range of child protection technologies, also represented by gardening metaphors. Child protection connected the conduct of individuals with issues of societal importance. While the focus of child protection was on individuals' conduct, the "social" mode of thinking allowed a consideration of resource issues in other related areas. The analyses of the early history of child protection are used to understand the recent Reform. Instead of being considered as "future citizens," today children are constituted as the ideal citizens. The child-citizen discourse accentuates children's rights to personal safety and portrays parents as (potential) criminals. In contrast to the earlier period, the primary objective of current child protection is "keeping kids safe." This understanding severely limits the kinds of collective actions to be considered. New technologies of risk management and criminal punishment subsume child protection to criminality. These changes reflect the "privatization of citizenship." The dissertation challenges the tendency of reducing complex structural issues to a matter of children's personal safety.
A predictive model for survival in metastatic cancer patients attending an out-patient palliative radiotherapy clinic

'Aim'. To develop a predictive model for survival in a palliative radiotherapy clinic. 'Methods and materials'. Sixteen factors were analyzed prospectively by multi-variate regression. 'Results'. Six prognostic factors--primary site, site of metastases, KPS, fatigue, appetite and shortness of breath--provided a survival prediction score (SPS). Patients were divided into 3 groups. Group A (SPS <= 13) with survival probability at 3, 6, and 12 months of 83%, 70%, and 51% respectively; Group B (SPS = 14-19): 67%, 41%, and 20%; and Group C (SPS = 20-32): 36%, 18%, and 4%. Stratification was also performed by number of risk factors. Corresponding survival probabilities were: Group I (<=3 risk factors): 85%, 72%, and 52%; Group II (4 risk factors): 68%, 47%, and 24%; and Group III (>=5 factors): 46%, 24%, and 11%. 'Conclusion'. The model appears promising but requires validation.
The potential of two new inhibitors of mechanisms that regulate intracellular pH, cariporide and S3705, to inhibit tumour cell proliferation

Tumour microenvironment becomes acidic (mean pHe <math> <f> &cong;</f> </math> 7.0) as compared to normal tissues (mean pHe <math> <f> &cong;</f> </math> 7.4). This physiological difference between cancer and normal tissues might be exploited to develop treatments for cancer. Chapter 1 provides an overview of tumour physiology with particular reference to tumour acidity and its influence on the proliferation of cancer cells. Chapter 2 describes experiments that evaluate cariporide and S3705, two new agents that inhibit the regulation of intracellular pH, for their efficacy to inhibit their respective exchangers and their potential to inhibit the proliferation of cells in an acidic environment. Chapter 3 discusses preliminary experiments to evaluate the use of the agents to increase the cytotoxicity of melphalan, and to inhibit the proliferation of tumour cells between cycles of chemotherapy (repopulation). Finally, chapter 4 discusses future experiments that should be performed to evaluate the utility of such an approach in cancer therapy.
Characterization of a cruciferin-deficient mutant, ssp-1, of Arabidopsis thaliana

'Ssp-1' is a mutant deficient in the accumulation of a major seed storage protein, the 12S cruciferins. The mutation is caused by a G-A transition in the 'CRU3' gene, resulting in a premature stop codon. Ssp-1 seeds contain 20-27% less protein than wild type seeds. To determine if the level of expression of a transgene in this mutant background would be greater than that found in wild type, the mutant was transformed with the phytohemagglutinin (PHA) gene and PHA expression was quantified. The PHA transformants were also crossed to wild type so that each transgene would be in the same copy number and chromosomal context. PHA levels in seeds varied from 0.17% to 1.5% of the total seed protein. One of the transformants gave five times the level of expression compared to its backcross. Therefore a mutant such as 'ssp-1' may prove useful for overexpression of foreign proteins.
That's what they're for, social support in the adaptation to breastfeeding. a health promotion model

This study builds on the research that suggests the declining rates of breastfeeding are partly due to the weakening of informal systems (e.g., family networks) and the dependence upon non-supportive formal systems (e.g., hospital practices). Two research questions were addressed: (1) Are first-time mothers who wean early more likely to lack an informal social support network and be more influenced by the formal system than those who prolong breastfeeding? (2) At each of the five stages (preconception, prenatal, neonatal, postnatal, and post-discharge), who are the key supports and what is the nature of the social support utilized by first-time mothers to meet their breastfeeding needs? Eighty-six first-time mothers completed surveys, half of whom weaned at less than six months, and half of whom breastfed for at least six months. Six women from each group participated in semi-structured interviews. The survey data were analyzed first by a principal component factor analysis, followed by a regression analysis in which the support factors and demographic variables were used to predict the duration of breastfeeding. Findings from the study indicate that significant predictors in the prolonged duration of breastfeeding are the prolonged duration of marriage and hospital procedures. Women who wean early are more likely than those who prolong breastfeeding to lack an informal support system and to be more influenced by actions in the formal system that hinder the lactation process. To meet their needs, women who prolong breastfeeding are more likely to use informational support from breastfeeding clinics, instrumental and emotional support from their spouse/partner, and informational and emotional support from maternity nurses and medical doctors. Based on the results, the Social Support-Wellness Model was developed to promote breastfeeding. The model consists of four major components: identifying the five distinct stages in the breastfeeding process (preconception, prenatal, neonatal, postnatal, and post-discharge); identifying the sources of support in the informal and formal systems which impede as well as facilitate lactation at each of the stages; identifying the nature of the support; and identifying interventions for target groups at the specific stages. A more generalized form of the model is also presented for the development of health promotion strategies for other wellness behaviours. Implications for social policy, adult education and research are discussed.
Globalisation, countertrade and privatisation in the Arabian Gulf

This thesis asks two central questions: How are the states of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia pursuing economic development and why have they chosen countertrade polices to achieve this. By analysing the application of Offset ventures and Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) schemes, the thesis argues that countertrade marks an important phase in the state-society development of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. We are now witnessing the first stages of a move from the traditional 'allocation state' towards a 'production state.' Countertrade has become an elite-led political strategy to promote a gradual restructuring of rentier state-societal relations. It is a strategy that has developed over time. To observe and explain the shifting motivations of countertrade over the last two decades, the thesis employed three inter-linked hypotheses. (1) ' Hypothesis I' asked if countertrade was predominantly used to buttress the institutions of the rentier state under conditions of fiscal austerity. As the Gulf elite derives legitimacy from a welfare state created by the reallocation of oil revenues, countertrade was initially perceived as a tool to supplement redistribution and resist significant socio-economic change. This approach explains early moves toward countertrade, especially in Saudi Arabia. (2) 'Hypothesis II' investigated whether rentierism was being challenged from below. It shows the private sector to be politically active, seeking countertrade benefits that the rentier state can no longer adequately provide, (access to global markets/partners, technology transfers, education and training etc.). Such demands on the government can no longer be explained, or satisfied, in terms of a simple redistribution of rent. (3) 'Hypothesis III' provides the strongest explanation. It argues that countertrade must now been seen within the context of a wider "state-building" effort by the Gulf elite to restructure the relationship between state, society and the economy. Rentierism is challenged from above, with Offset and BOT ventures facilitating moves towards the eventual privatisation of the rentier state and a long-term future beyond oil. By exploring these questions and synthesising the findings of the hypotheses the thesis provides a critique of the rentier state model and offers a more accurate explanation of the political economy of the Arabian Gulf.
Evaluating the effect of word prediction and location of word prediction list on text entry with children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus

This study which used a single-subject alternating treatments design evaluated the effect of word prediction on rate and accuracy of text entry and compared the effect of location of word prediction list on rate and accuracy of text entry. Three locations (upper right corner, following the cursor and lower middle border) were used. In addition, user's perspectives related to the potential benefits of word prediction were explored. Three girls and one boy aged 10-12 with spina bifida and hydrocephalus participated in the study over a period of 20 days. Rates and accuracy of text entry were measured on a copy-writing task. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to evaluate participants' perceived performance and satisfaction with written productivity tasks. This study found that word prediction did not improve rates of text entry but did improve accuracy of text entry when the prediction list was placed in the lower middle border.
Incremental document classification in a knowledge management environment

This thesis studies document classification problem in a knowledge management environment. Most of the published studies of document classification focus on batch classifiers. Although these classifiers can have high performance, they require a batch training with a large number of sample documents. Such a requirement is usually unrealistic in a knowledge management environment. Moreover, these classifiers cannot improve performance or adjust themselves after the initial batch training, leading to low performance in a changing environment. The thesis proposes incremental classifiers as a solution. The batch naive Bayes (NB) and k-nearest-neighbors (kNN) classifier are adapted into incremental classifiers. Adapting published implementations for the batch NB and kNN classifiers, a series of experiments are designed to find an efficient implementation for the incremental versions.
Improvement in runoff parameterization for global climate modelling

Diagnosed runoff was estimated from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for an 8-year period from 1987 to 1994. Bonan's land surface model (LSM) was run for the same period coupled to NCAR's CCM3. Comparisons between the diagnosed and simulated runoff indicate that, the runoff parameterization in the original LSM cannot produce a reasonable diagnosed horizontal distribution of runoff, which is important to the model climate. One of the possible reasons is the exclusion of topographic effects in the original runoff parameterization. Therefore, based on previous research results on river re-distribution models, a modification on the original runoff parameterization was proposed and implemented in the original LSM. This modification has two aspects: firstly, the topographic slopes cause outflows from higher topography and inflows into the lower topography points; secondly, topographic slopes also cause decrease of infiltration at higher topography and increases of infiltration at lower topography. Then changes in infiltration result in changes in soil-moisture, surface fluxes and then in surface temperature. This mechanism is very clearly demonstrated in the point budgets analysis at the Andes Mountains vicinities. Analysis from a re gional scale perspective in the Canadian GEWEX basin, the Mackenzie River basin, shows that the modified runoff parameterization can generate an expected horizontal distribution of total runoff which is much closer to the horizontal distribution of the observed and diagnosed runoff, and which is much more consistent with topography and thus very easy to explain physically. This represents a significant improvement over the original LSM. More importantly, very detailed analysis from a global perspective shows many very encouraging improvements introduced by the modified model over the original model in simulating basic atmospheric climate properties such as thermodynamic features, precipitable water, net water exchange, and precipitation. The modified model somehow corrected some deficiencies evident in the AGCM. All of these improvements in the atmospheric climate simulation illustrate that the inclusion of topographic effects in the LSM can force the AGCM to produce a more realistic model climate. Analysis also shows that the modified model may improve the atmospheric 'CO '2 simulation which is very important to global environmental studies.
In-plane tunneling spectroscopy of d-wave superconductors

This thesis studies the tunneling spectroscopy of a pure d-wave BCS superconductor using a two-dimensional discrete square lattice model. The zero-temperature differential conductances of the junctions with three surface orientations: (100), (110), and (210) are calculated using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations and a scattering method. The idea of the surface-adapted Brillouin zone is introduced in this thesis. It provides a convenient way of obtaining which transmitted superconducting excitations that an electron from the normal metal will tunnel into. A different surface-adapted Brillouin zone must be used to describe the quasiparticle state of the superconductor for each surface orientation. In general, the surface-adapted Brillouin zone is rectangular and the Fermi surfaces are not necessarily isotropic; thus, the state can be a linear combination of more than two quasi-particle excitations of the same energy and the momenta with the same components along the surface. This thesis demonstrates that this complication has important implications for the interpretation of the tunneling spectrum. It is shown that the calculated tunneling spectra of junctions with orientations away from (100) and (110) contain gap-like peaks, whose positions are not at the maximum gap. The positions of these peaks are predicted to be related to the energy gap of the state with the momentum either parallel to the surface normal, or on the edge of the surface-adapted Brillouin zone. The magnitudes of the energy gaps of these states are found to be strongly dependent on the shape of Fermi surface. These findings open the way for the development of a new method of gaining information about the magnitude of the superconducting energy gap at different points on the Fermi surface.
Forest plant community response following clearcutting, fire, and simulated blowdown, in a boreal mixedwood forest in northwestern Ontario

The following study was undertaken to examine plant re-establishment following clearcutting, fire, clearcutting and fire, and blowdown and fire in relation to prior vegetation, soil characteristics, ash deposition, and fire severity. Immediately following the fire (May 1996), ash nutrient composition, organic duff reduction, and woody fuel consumption were recorded. In addition, vegetation cover was collected prior to treatment, and for two years following the fire. Using univariate and multivariate techniques, the response of emergent vegetation to the pre-disturbance vegetation, experimental disturbance type, fire severity, and ash and soil nutrient content are examined. Differences in species composition were evident among the burned, unburned and control treatments. At the plot level, the species composition was primarily explained by the type of experimental disturbance, prior vegetation, and fire severity. At the local level, post-fire vegetation was best explained by the post fire soil characteristics. Fire severity was found to be significantly different among the treatments.
Protein folding determinants and transition state analysis of the Fyn SH3 domain

In recent years, several studies on the folding mechanism of the Src and Ã-spectrin SH3 domains have found the folding transition state to be conformationally restricted and evolutionarily conserved. In both the Src and Spectrin SH3, it was found that the folding transition state structure was structurally polarized with the distal loop next to a hydrophobic cluster that is highly ordered in the transition state. In this study, the folding and unfolding kinetics of a large number of mutants at positions in the Fyn SH3 domain, that correspond to positions previously studied in the Src and Spectrin domains, have been examined. The kinetic importance of a buried polar interaction (E24 and S41), two positions in the distal loop (T44 and G45), and nine hydrophobic core residues has been assessed. Comparison with the Src and Spectrin SH3 domain indicates that the transition state in this protein family may be conserved.
Comparing dental care prescribed by private practitioners and by dental directors exposed to continuing education in evidence-based guidelines

This study attempted to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between the amount of care proposed by dental directors from four Ontario public health units and the amount of care provided by private practitioners, to children enrolled in the Children in Need of Treatment Program. We conducted a prospective cohort study of subjects recruited through the Ontario Children in Need of Treatment (CINOT) Program between October 1998 and March 2000. A total of 70 subjects were recruited in four public health units. Relative value units (RVUs) were used to measure the amount of treatment prescribed by dental directors in public health units exposed to continuing education in evidence-based guidelines, and the amount performed by private practitioners. Paired t-ests of the differences between the two were performed, as well as a stratified analysis by health unit and type of procedure. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Conventional and unconventional approaches to drug design and delivery

Compounds bearing two difluoromethylenephosphonic acid (DFMP) groups, which are non-hydrolyzable phosphate mimetics, were examined as inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a therapeutically significant enzyme. These inhibitors were prepared by electrophilic fluorination of benzylic phosphonates or by CuCl-promoted coupling of (diethylphosphonyl)difluoromethyl cadmium reagent to aryl iodides. Several of these compounds exhibited low micromolar IC50's with PTP1B, and were considerably better inhibitors than Ã,Ã-difluorobenzylphosphonic acid. In collaboration with Prof. Zongchao Jia at Queen's University, the crystal structures of two of these compounds complexed with PTP1B were obtained. These studies revealed that the additional DFMP group did not bind to a postulated second phosphate binding site in PTP1B. The selectivity of our best PTP1B inhibitors was also examined in collaboration with Merck-Frosst Canada. Generally, selectivity was modest to good when compared to receptor-like PTPases but poor when compared to cytosolic PTPases. The implication of these results concerning the utility of compounds bearing two phosphate mimetics as PTP1B inhibitors is discussed. The use of catalytic antibodies as activators of 'N'-methyl carbamate-based tripartate prodrugs was also examined. A tripartate prodrug was designed to spontaneously release a drug by a 1,6 elimination reaction after abzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of the 'N'-methyl carbamate moiety. Monoclonal antibodies were raised to a phosphoramidate transition state analogue resembling the transition state for the hydrolysis of the ' N'-methyl carbamate portion of the prodrug system. Several antibodies were found to hydrolyze a model monocarbamate substrate that resembled the ' N'-methyl carbamate portion of the prodrug. With this substrate, the most active of these antibodies, called ST51, exhibited a rate enhancement of 6500-fold and exhibited multiple turnover at pH 9.0. This is the first example of antibody-catalyzed hydrolysis of an 'N'-methyl carbamate, one of the most difficult hydrolytic reactions ever catalyzed by an abzyme on a carbonyl derivative. ST51 could also activate a model 'N'-methyl carbamate-based tripartate prodrug with a rate enhancement of 5000-fold with multiple turnover at pH 9.0. This is the first example of antibody-catalyzed substrate activation via a tandem hydrolysis/1,6-elimination process. The implication of these studies concerning the utility of 'N'-methyl carbamate-based prodrugs for antibody-catalyzed prodrug activation is discussed.