VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Human neutrophil peptides induce endothelial-monocyte interactions and accelerate foam cell formation

Introduction. Atherosclerosis involves the coupling of inflammatory responses and dyslipidemia, but the underlying mechanisms by which inflammation contributes to atherosclerosis remains unclear. Human neutrophil peptides (HNP) released from activated neutrophils have demonstrated immune modulating effects. Hypothesis. HNP induce endothelial-monocyte interactions and accelerate foam cell formation. Methods. Human pulmonary artery endothelial cells were stimulated with HNP to assess adhesion and migration of monocytes in co-culture. THP-1 derived macrophages were stained for intracellular lipids after exposure to HNP and native low density lipoprotein. Results. HNP increased expression of inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules in all cell types studied. These were associated with an increase in adhesion, migration, and foam cell formation, which was abrogated using the reactive oxygen species scavenger super oxide dismutase. Conclusions. HNP can activate endothelial cells that leads to endothelial-monocyte interactions, and HNP induce foam cell formation through oxidative stress.
Impacts of process upsets and transient water quality events on UV disinfection performance at Ontario water treatment facilities

The effectiveness of UV disinfection at two Ontario drinking water facilities during sub-optimum water quality conditions was studied. The disinfection performance of a pilot-scale low pressure UV reactor, delivering a reduction equivalent dose of 60--90 mJ/cm2, was not negatively impacted by either pre- and post-filter water quality conditions experienced at the two treatment facilities. Enmeshment of coliforms within particles, resulting in reduced inactivation levels did occur in samples of raw water from one facility that were coagulated with alum and alum+polymer at turbidities>6 NTU and exposed to low UV dosages ( le;10 mJ/cm2). No evidence of coliform enmeshment was observed in tests that examined raw water coagulation with STERNPACRTM/activated silica/sand/LT27A. No conclusive evidence was observed that would relate changes in inactivation efficiency as a result of bacterial enmeshment to turbidity or particle count data.
Morphological and genetic analysis of the endometrium in relation to embryo implantation and the window of receptivity

Background. For successful implantation to occur both the embryo and the endometrium must reach a synchronized level of maturation. Specifically the embryo must reach the blastocyst stage and the endometrium must become receptive to embryo implantation in response to hormonal cues. Several speculative molecular and morphological markers of endometrial receptivity have been proposed. One morphological marker is pinopodes. There is dispute in the literature as to the validity of pinopodes as markers of receptivity. Results. In contrast to previous literature we have shown that pinopodes are poor markers of endometrial receptivity. Our results demonstrate that pinopodes in mice and humans are constituently expressed during the pen-implantation period and are therefore not a good indicator of a receptive endometrium. Our results also reveals that both LIF and HOXA10 null mice, which have secondary infertility due to implantation failure, both express equal numbers of pinopodes in comparison to ICR mice suggesting again that these markers are not indicative of receptivity. The final work of the thesis, seen in Chapter 6, sheds light on the effects of peritoneal adhesions on embryo implantation rates in the rat. While a great deal of research has gone on in this area in the human little to no work has been conducted in the rodent concerning the effects of adhesion formation on subsequent embryo implantation rates. Endometrial adhesions in the rat peritoneum cause a proximal decrease and distal increase in implantation sites in relation to the site of adhesion. This was particularity apparent when adhesions were in contact with the female reproductive tract. We therefore unsuspectingly found that a common procedure performed in the rat to access the uterus may have effects on implantation site preference. Conclusions . The contradictory results found here suggest that the use of pinopodes as a morphological marker of receptivity in humans is of little to no value in assessing endometrial receptivity. We have also uncovered a novel macromolecule transport mechanism in the stromal portion of the endometrium in the rat and highlighted the effects of peritoneal adhesions on embryo implantation rates in this same animal model.
Wider stakeholder interests in reorganization: policy considerations and comparative approaches in U.S. and Canadian law

In this study I research the theoretical rationales and the literature on the policy considerations of social stakeholders' influence in reorganization proceedings. I argue that there are reasonable foundations for the courts to adhere to the principle of interpretation that maintains that, while secured creditor's fundamental rights can be safeguarded, social entitlements must also be taken in consideration, in insolvency proceedings. I present what these 'social entitlements' are and also what are the reasons for the expansion of their prerogatives within bankruptcy law. After the theoretical discussion, I exemplify in the Canadian and U.S. case law how this principle has already been employed in court reasoning. I propose that the rule of considering social stakeholders in reorganization proceedings can satisfactorily balance the Interests of traditional creditors and of social stakeholders.

Keywords: Consolidation and merger of corporations, Law and legislation
Consolidation and merger of corporations, United States
Consolidation and merger of corporations, Law and legislation
Consolidation and merger of corporations, Canada
Stockholders, Legal status, laws, etc
Stockholders, United States
Stockholders, Legal status, laws, etc
Stockholders, Canada
Cerebral potentials evoked by balance perturbations

To investigate the role of the cerebral cortex in human compensatory postural control, electroencephalography was used to record perturbation-evoked cerebral potentials (PEPS). Previous studies have identified a large negative cerebral potential termed the N1 response (peak latency being 100-200 ms with respect to the perturbation onset), which was accompanied by a positive cerebral potential termed the P2 response (peak latency being 200-500 ms with respect to the perturbation onset). As these studies provided a limited understanding of the role of PEPS in compensatory postural control, the main thesis goals were: (1) to further explore N1 and its relation to sensory processing of the postural perturbation, and (2) to determine whether P2 represented sensorimotor events associated with the control of the postural response. N1 and P2 responses were examined in four interconnected studies which involved: (1) determining whether N1 represented sensory inputs related to the perturbation or sensorimotor events related to the control of evoked balance responses, (2) determining the influence of altered attention on N1 by comparing conditions that featured the presence and absence of a concurrent cognitive task, (3) examining the influence of stimulus predictability on N1, and (4) altering the later components of balance responses in order to establish influence over P2. Based on these studies, there were several important findings that have led to a better understanding of these potentials. Firstly, N1 appeared to represent sensory events related to the perturbation that were independent of ankle automatic postural reactions (APRs). Secondly, N1 appeared to be modulated by altered attention. Thirdly, as opposed to a simple reflection of sensory volume or perturbation intensity, N1 appeared to represent a 'mismatch event detector' that alerted the CNS to unpredictable changes in the perturbation. Lastly, P2 did not appear to represent sensorimotor events related to ankle APRs, suggesting that the control of ankle APRs could mainly reside within subcortical structures. Future work will determine whether the cerebral cortex uses sensory information about the perturbation in order to influence immediate or future postural reactions. Future studies will also examine whether P2 responses might reflect cognitive events associated with postural control.
Effects of impurities on deuterium retention in single crystal tungsten

The role of impurities in the retention of deuterium in single crystal tungsten implanted at room temperature has been investigated. To avoid the effects of air exposure, the D+ implantation and the subsequent D retention measurement using thermal desorption spectroscopy were performed in the same vacuum system without breaking vacuum. For fluences of 1 x 1023 D/m2 prominent desorption peaks were observed during TDS, one at sim;400 K and one at sim;600 K. The use of liquid nitrogen cooling of the ion beam aperture led to a reduction of the background gas impurities (O and C containing molecules) in the vacuum chamber, which consequently almost completely eliminated the post-irradiation TDS peak at sim;400 K. Reduction of these gas impurities by sim;50% has led to a reduction of sim;20% in the total deuterium retention. Furthermore, weakly bound deuterium in the W specimens was released when the vacuum system was mildly baked to sim;360 K before TDS, resulting in an approximately 50% reduction in the total amount of retained D. It was also found that post-implantation time delay before performing TDS leads to a significant loss of the implanted deuterium; sim;25% of the implanted deuterium escapes from the W specimens during the first 24 hours and sim;55% after about eight weeks.

Keywords: Nuclear fusion
Deuterium
Tungsten
Retrospective self-reporting methods and response bias in the measurement of change

Despite of the superiority of retrospective pretest over the pretest-posttest design in attenuating response-shift bias, researchers are alarmed with the pressing issue that the use of retrospective self-reporting methods can be even more vulnerable to validity threats. This study was designed to investigate the influence of response bias using three types of retrospective self-reporting methods to measure change experienced by participants in an educational training program. Results indicate that the measurement of change varied among the three types of retrospective self-reporting methods. The perceived change method produces the highest increase in reported change, followed by the post+perceived change method, and the post+retrospective pretest method with the smallest amount of change. The post+retrospective pretest was found to have greater susceptibility to response bias influences than perceived change and post+perceived change methods, including recall bias, hindsight bias, and effort justification. A discussion of results focuses on methodological implications to measurement and evaluation.
Information brokers and technology use: a case study of a high-tech company

Despite the recent interest of managers, consultants, and scholars on how social networks contribute to the flow of information in organizations, there is little understanding about the positions of actors in these networks and their contribution to information flow. The aim of the study has been to identify actors who occupy central positions in the information network, referred to as the information brokers, and to determine the characteristics of these individuals in terms of their demographic attributes, use of information sources, social contact, and use of technology. A case study of a high-tech company was conducted and two groups within the company were compared: software development and client services. A multi-method data collection approach was employed that included a web-questionnaire, interviews, observations, and documentary sources. Although workers used human and documentary sources to the same extent, individual human sources were ranked among the most frequently used. Particularly, colleagues in the work group and organization were pivotal in providing advice. Furthermore, network analysis was used to identify individuals who were critical for the flow of information---information centrals. Individuals in the software development group were more likely to be information centrals. Generally, they obtained information faster than the client services group because members were connected to more actors and had stronger ties to these actors. Managers in the client services group were more likely to be information centrals and to play a role in the information flow both within and across groups. The influence of formal structure depended on the group structure, the tasks, and the cultural milieu. What distinguished information brokers in the client services group was the greater use of both human and documentary sources. All workers accessed sources primarily online. However, information brokers showed greater use of email and instant messaging for acquiring information within the group and organization. Although information centrals and peripherals socialized equally, centrals participated more in informal exchanges such as face-to-face encounters, technical discussions, and group meetings. The findings provide insights into the workings of high-tech companies and underscore the relevance of information brokers for information flow.

Keywords: Social networks
Business communication
Analysis of the advanced intelligent network vendor-telco-customer supply network using mathematical programming models

In the North American telephone system, applications such as toll free, calling name number delivery as well as other enhanced telephony services are offered via the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) architecture. The industry is characterized by vendors with different production costs and capabilities and regions operated by single and multiple telcos. In this thesis, we shall develop mathematical models to study the AIN supply network where vendors sell software applications and service-creation-tools to telcos to deliver services to residential/business end-users and queries to enhance service providers. Each vendor and telco will behave as to maximize their own profits and the problems of each firm are solved simultaneously via a complementarity problem procedure using the software GAMS and PATH solver to obtain a set of Nash equilibrium outputs and prices for the firms. Our results show that some of the insight gain from our AIN models cannot be seen from just solving models adopted from the existing literature.
Ventricle- and sex-specific differences in newborn heart metabolism and response to global myocardial ischemia

In this thesis, I hypothesized that in the newborn heart, the LV vs. RV, and females vs. males will have a greater glycolytic potential which during ischemia will result in greater lactic acidosis associated with lower energy levels. Baseline and ischemic (15, 30, 45, 60 minutes) LV and RV biopsies were taken from anaesthetized male (n=7) and female (n=13) newborn piglets. The LV demonstrated significantly higher activities of CK, GP, and PFK, and significantly lower activities of HAD and CS compared to the RV. During ischemia, the LV accumulated a greater amount of lactate and H+ which was not associated with lower ischemic ATP levels. No differences in enzyme potentials were noted between sexes, however, females demonstrated greater accumulation of lactate and H+ during ischemia which was associated with lower ischemic ATP levels. These results demonstrate that both ventricle- and sex-specific differences in energy metabolism exist in the newborn heart.
The effect of emotional stimuli on flexibility during task switching in young children

Most 3-year-olds have difficulty switching between tasks as examined with the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS), a widely used task measuring flexibility and executive function in preschoolers. The current study investigated whether emotional stimuli can facilitate 3- to 4-year-olds' (n = 243) flexibility during the DCCS. Study 1 investigated whether affect conveyed through emotional faces influences flexibility in children. Facial stimuli with happy, sad, or neutral expression were used in the DCCS paradigm to create an Emotional Faces version, a Happy Faces version, a Sad Faces version, and a Neutral Faces version. In Experiment 1.1, children in Canada and China performed significantly better on the Emotional Faces version than on the Standard version of the DCCS. Experiment 1.2 showed facilitation in the Happy Faces version but not in the Sad Faces version or the Neutral Faces version. Study 2 investigated whether other positive non-facial stimuli can improve children's performance. Candies were used to induce positive mood and pictures of candy were used to maintain this mood state. A Mixed Candies version, a Clean Candies version, and a Dirty Candies version were designed. Experiment 2.1 showed that children performed better on the Mixed Candies version. Experiment 2.2 showed the facilitative effect of candies disappeared in the Clean Candies and Dirty Candies versions. Study 3 investigated whether the facilitative effect of positive affect conveyed through happy faces would disappear when happy faces were irrelevant to the ongoing task. A Happy Faces Flanker version was designed where happy faces were used as the flankers of neutral objects. There was no evidence of facilitation. Together, these findings suggest that when positive affect is relevant to the tasks on which children are working, positive emotional stimuli can increase flexibility during task switching in preschoolers. Results are consistent with the suggestion that positive affect promotes cognitive flexibility, perhaps by making children take a global perspective and increasing children's working memory efficiency, and perhaps by increasing dopamine levels in children's prefrontal cortex. Thus, the current study extends the literature on the interaction between affect and executive function.
Radiation-efficient unidirectional printed slot antennas and arrays using phase cancellation techniques

In this thesis, novel approaches have been developed to design printed slot antennas with unidirectional radiation patterns and high radiation efficiency. First, a unified approach is developed for computing the radiation efficiencies from arbitrarily shaped slot type antennas on dielectric substrates backed by a ground plane. In this approach, different classifications of the surface-wave modes in the literature are linked together in a unified manner. The developed theory is then applied for investigating the surface-wave/parallel-plate mode characteristics of printed slot antennas and arrays. It has been found that high radiation efficiency can be achieved by using twin slots with proper dimensions and spacing through phase cancellation. Subsequently, microstrip corporate-fed slot arrays printed on electrically thin substrates with a back-reflector and CPW series-fed slot arrays printed on electrically thick substrates are designed for suppressing the parallel-plate and surface-wave modes, respectively. To eliminate both the parallel-plate and surface-wave modes and simultaneously achieve smaller element size, a novel twin arc-slot element has been developed. Unwanted lateral-wave phenomena have been linked to operation close to the cutoff frequency of a surface-wave mode. These effects have been rigorously explained using the modified saddle-point method. A compact element with simultaneous surface-wave, parallel-plate mode and lateral-wave reduction has been successfully designed and tested. Such a compact antenna element can be used for phased array applications.
Transition metal-catalyzed bond formations: an expansion of the utility of organotrifluoroborate salts and organoboronic acids

This thesis is a summary of the research conducted since September 1999 at the University of Toronto in the laboratory of Dr. Robert A. Batey. This manuscript is divided into four chapters. Chapter one provides a general introduction to the nature and reactivity of organo trifluoroborate salts. Their preparation from organoboron or organohalide precursors, as well as their use in a variety of synthetic transformations is reviewed. The preparation of novel tetra- n-butylammonium organotrifluoroborate salts within our own laboratory is also described. Chapter two provides an overview of the classical copper-mediated Ullmann Reaction for carbon-carbon bond formation between aryl halides, as well as modern variations of the Ullmann-Goldberg Condensation for carbon-oxygen bond formation. Our contributions to this area of synthetic chemistry are described, including the copper-catalyzed cross-coupling of potassium aryl- and alkenyltrifluoroborates with unactivated alcohols and phenols, which were achieved in good to excellent yields by utilizing copper acetate monohydrate as catalyst under an atmosphere of oxygen in the presence of 4A molecular sieves. Recent work into the copper-mediated/catalyzed cross-coupling of potassium organotrifluoroborate salts with activated carboxylate salts is also described. Chapter four describes our efforts in the investigation of the mechanism of the cross-coupling. The various stages of the catalytic cycle are examined with particular focus upon the oxidation state of the copper species involved. The role of molecular sieves in the transformation is also explored, as experimental observations have suggested that they play a greater part than just as desiccant in the reaction. Finally, the result of a short study on the phenomenon of the deactivation of the catalytic transformation by the presence of quaternary ammonium species is also presented. Chapter three describes modern approaches to carbon-nitrogen bond formation through the Ullmann-Goldberg Condensation of organometalloid species with nitrogen-based nucleophiles. The result of an investigation into the stoichiometric copper-mediated cross-coupling of potassium organotrifluoroborate salts and anilines is presented. In addition a novel reaction protocol for the ligandless and base free copper-catalyzed arylation of aliphatic amines is presented. The cross-coupling was found to work equally well with both potassium organotrifluoroborate salts and organoboronic acids.
In vitro and in vivo characterization of a novel injectable polymer lipid formulation for the sustained delivery of taxanes

Purpose. To characterize the biocompatibility of an injectable PoLi formulation, and the release profile of docetaxel (DTX) in vitro and in vivo. Methods. Female CD-1 mice (n=63) were administered an intraperitoneal injection of the drug-free, the DTX:PoLi (30mg/kg, 3%), or Taxotere RTM. DTX plasma concentrations were determined by HPLC. Biocompatibility and toxicity were assessed based on ALT, H E stains, IL-6, and blood counts. Results. The DTX:PoLi formulation exhibited a release rate of 4%/day with a burst in the first 24 hours. In vivo biocompatibility of the drug-free and DTX:PoLi were confirmed. Sustained DTX plasma levels of 33.6ng +/- 2.65ng/mL were detected up to 4 weeks. Based on DTX clearance factors, steady state plasma concentrations corresponded to an in vivo release of approximately 5%/day. Neutropenia was not seen in DTX:PoLi group. Conclusions. The PoLi formulation provided a sustained release of DTX in vitro and in vivo and demonstrated in vivo biocompatibility as a localized IP therapy potentially for ovarian cancer.