VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPS) in mammary gland morphogenesis, differentiation, and apoptosis

During the maturation of the mammary gland, mammary epithelial cells (mecs) exhibit many characteristics most often reserved for embryonic cells. Although not pluripotent, mecs have the capacity to repeatedly undergo branching morphogenesis, differentiation and/or apoptosis during the life of the female. These characteristics are not cell autonomous, but instead often involve reciprocal information exchanged between mecs and the extracellular matrix (ECM) on which they reside. We hypothesized that factors that can maintain ECM integrity, such as the four member family of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), will influence mec morphogenesis, differentiation and/or apoptosis. Our initial efforts focused on the generation and characterization of transgenic mice with mammary gland downregulation of TIMP-1. Transgenics displayed augmentation of both mammary ductal elongation/branching concomitant with amplified epithelial proliferation and excessive laminin degradation. Conversely, through biochemical manipulation, upregulation of mammary gland TIMP-1 inhibited ductal elongation and mec proliferation. These results indicate that TIMP-1 modulated mec proliferation and ECM integrity, which ultimately affected branching morphogenesis. Determining the extent of in vivo mec differentiation in response to hormones is generally performed via manipulations of the endocrine system. However, we undertook a unique approach entailing examination of the mec response to physiological levels of hormones. We showed that morphological differentiation, mec proliferation and apoptosis were positively correlated with circulating progesterone levels, but not 17-ß-estradiol. Furthermore, TIMP-3, -4, matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) -9, -13 mRNAs, and ECM remodeling in the mammary gland exhibited regulation that was estrous stage-dependent. Therefore, the mammary gland response to systemic hormones is precisely controlled at the level of differentiation, cellular turnover, TIMP/MMP gene expression and ECM remodeling. Extensive mec apoptosis occurs during postlactational involution. TIMP-3 deficient mice were induced to undergo mammary gland involution to assess the function of this gene during physiological apoptosis. TIMP-3 deficient females exhibited rapid mammary gland involution, extensive unscheduled epithelial apoptosis, early loss of ß-casein expression, and inappropriate MMP-2 activation and fibronectin fragmentation. Importantly, restoration of lactation, after 2 days of involution, was inefficient in TIMP-3 deficient mice. These findings indicate that TIMP-3 is necessary for determining the kinetics of a process that is inherent to all mammalian species.
Statistical mechanics of the adsorption of copolymers

Phase transition and critical behaviour of copolymers interacting with a surface are investigated by Multiple Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MMCMC) and exact solution methods. Different cases are considered: periodic copolymers, random copolymers, and random surfaces. In the case of periodic copolymers, questions regarding the existence of a phase transition, the order of the transition, and the location of the transition are answered, and an estimate of one of the critical exponents is obtained. These properties are studied for different patterns and compared. In the case of random copolymers or surfaces similar questions to those studied in the case of periodic copolymers are answered. Certain properties pertaining to random systems such as self-averaging are also investigated.
The security and protection of private information in the computer age

This thesis is concerned with the security and protection of private information in the computer age. Information is a vitally important commodity in today's economy, and there are many reasons why different individuals, organisations and government agencies wish to control and protect it. The task of securing information is especially difficult in this time of high technology, as information can be acquired in a number of ways, and through a variety of mediums. This paper will focus on the methods which can be employed to protect private information, both from a legal and practical point of view.
Identification and characterization of a novel RNA-binding domain in SRm160

Recent evidence suggests that SRm160, the SR-related nuclear matrix protein of 160 kDa, and recently identified co-activator of splicing, also functions to couple splicing with 3'-end formation and nuclear export of transcripts. The N-terminal region of SRm160 contains the highly conserved "PWI-motif", similar to that found at the N-terminus of the mammalian U4/U6 snRNP protein PRP3, as well as in other proteins related to splicing factors. We report here the results of studies into the function of the N-terminal region of SRm 160, including the identification of an RNA-dependent interaction between this region and a large subunit ribosomal protein, L10A, and the resulting discovery and characterization of this region as a novel RNA-binding domain. The results provide evidence that the PWI motif corresponds to a novel nucleic acid domain. These studies provide the foundation for further understanding of the role of SRm160 and other PWI-motif-containing proteins in pre-mRNA processing.
Influence of biological factors on cadmium bioaccumulation and metallothionein concentrations in natural populations of the freshwater mussel Pyganodon grandis

Monitoring and assessment of cadmium (Cd) levels in aquatic ecosystems through the evaluation of Cd bioaccumulation and levels of the metal-binding protein, metallothionein (MT), is hindered by inherent variability in biomonitor organisms. I examined the influence of individual size, age and condition on Cd concentration ( (Cd)) and MT concentration ( (MT)) in the freshwater mussel Pyganodon grandis within and among populations from lakes covering a broad range in environmental Cd levels. I collected 40 specimens covering a wide size range, from each of 7 lakes in Quebec and Ontario and measured shell size, a condition index, age using internal annuli, (MT) using a $\sp{203}$Hg displacement method and (Cd) by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Mean (Cd) was correlated with Cd$\sp{2+}$ at the sediment-water interface, but (MT) was not. (MT) increased non-linearly with increasing (Cd) among populations, however individual (MT) was correlated with individual (Cd) in one population only. (Cd) was generally an increasing function of length and age, and a decreasing function of condition. In contrast, (MT) varied with biological factors in only 2 populations. The size, age, and condition of individual mussels explains a substantial amount of (Cd) variation in P. grandis, particularly at higher levels of Cd bioavailability, but they do not account for much (MT) variation. The implications of these results for the future design of biomonitoring studies are discussed.
The artistic censoring of sexuality, fantasy and judgment in Ulysses, Lolita, Tiempo de silencio, and Russkaia krasavitsa

Owing to their artistic treatment of sexuality, James Joyce's ' Ulysses', Vladimir Nabokov's 'Lolita', Luis Martin-Santos's ' Tiempo de silencio' ('Time of Silence'), and Viktor Erofeev's 'Russkaia krasavitsa' ('Russian Beauty') attracted the attention of censorship. Despite cultural and political differences in the (pre-)publication aspects of these novels' censorship trials or suppressions, the novels share a common ground in their textual use of sexuality to endow the fictional narrative with critical value and meaning. These novels use sexual representation and themes to dramatize the forces and strategies of censorship; their narrative forms heighten the reader's awareness of the need to judge and evaluate the crises in the texts. In these novels, sexual portrayals can be seen in the following ways: (1) as artistic negotiations with ethical values vis-à-vis sexuality and the censorial forces of both the subject and society; (2) as representations of or references to what cannot or should not be known ('das Ding') (thus these particular novels do not strive towards full explicitness; they employ a good deal of allusion and substitution, avoid didacticism, use intertextuality and irony as subterfuges and enrichment of the discourse); (3) as attempts to create contemporary narratives of ethics for the individual (his or her negotiation between the good and the pleasurable) by using sexuality as a value system to be judged; (4) as problematic scenarios in which man questions his relations with women and his set of values for them. Thus, these novels do not provide clear-cut moral premises or resolutions, but rather offer possibilities of complicated interpretation which would require the reader to take on a provisional judgmental role. The reader's role is challenged by the novels' features relating to sexuality because such passages can delight, shock, disgust, enlighten, offend, puzzle (and thus complicate interpretation or judgment).
Identification of cis-acting elements and trans-acting factors responsible for her-1 regulation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Expression of the 'her-1' gene specifies male development in 'Caenorhabditis elegans'. 'her-1' is negatively regulated in hermaphrodites by the 'sdc' genes, which are in turn negatively regulated by the 'xol-1' gene. I am interested in identifying 'cis'-acting elements and 'trans'-acting factors involved in the regulation of 'her-1' gene expression. Transgenic studies indicate that many regions of the 'her-1' locus are involved in regulating 'her-1'. Fragments of ' her-1' genomic DNA cause phenotypes in transgenic 'XX' animals that resemble 'sdc' loss of function phenotypes. Some of these same non-coding DNA fragments can suppress the 'XO' specific lethality of 'xol-1' loss of function mutations, indicating that sequestration of limiting factors necessary for dosage compensation and sex determination may be occurring. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays show that factors in embryonic nuclear extracts bind to genetically defined regulatory regions of 'her-1'. DNase I footprinting has identified new regions that are occupied in the 'her-1' promoter and may be involved in 'her-1' gene regulation.
Iterative decoding of coded GMSK with discriminator detection

In this thesis, a communications system using the modulation scheme Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) together with a serially concatenated coding system is studied under additive white Gaussian noise conditions and fading. The receiver used is the non-coherent frequency discriminator combined with an iterative decoding scheme. Using both 'maximum a posteriori ' (MAP) based algorithms and the soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) for decoding, the performance trade-off associated with applying a sub-optimal algorithm to the system is investigated. The impact of using a less accurate likelihood statistic to simplify calculations at the output of the discriminator is also examined. In a fading channel, the likelihood statistic is improved by adding side-information obtained from the signal envelope. Other parameters considered include the outer code and joint demodulation/decoding. Through simulation, it is shown that good performance can be obtained by this system even with relatively simple codes.
High-speed complex multiply and add operation using complex logarithmic number system

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications are becoming increasingly important and are computationally intensive. An architecture was proposed recently which uses a high radix redundant CORDIC algorithm to perform complex logarithmic number system arithmetic. This architecture is shown to be superior than existing arithmetic units using floating point number system. This thesis describes the design and VLSI implementation of a chip performing complex multiplication and addition in complex logarithmic number system using the new architecture. It also describes the design of Content Addressable Read Only Memory specifically designed for this work. The design is implemented in 0.18 [mu]'m', single poly, six metal layer, salicide CMOS technology and fabricated through Canadian Microelectronics Corporation by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The size of the core is 1897[mu]' m' x 870[mu]'m' and HSPICE simulation shows the chip is able to operate at (1.8V, 25°C) 294 MHz with a throughput of 2.35 GFLOPS.
Production, perception, and emergent phonotactic patterns, a case of contrastive palatalization

The goal of this thesis is to answer two related questions: (i) to what extent can limitations of human speech production and perception explain cross-linguistic positional markedness asymmetries? and (ii) is it logically necessary to attribute these scales to Universal Grammar, as is commonly assumed (e.g., Prince & Smolensky 1993)? In order to answer these questions, a case study involving the distribution of the plain-palatalized contrast in labial and coronal stops was carried out. A typological survey of languages with contrastive palatalization shows that the distinction between plain and palatalized segments is most often maintained in the syllable onset position and most commonly neutralized in the preconsonantal coda environment. Palatalized labials are more susceptible to neutralization than the palatalized coronals. The most common outcome of neutralization is a plain segment. In a number of articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual experiments I investigate Russian plain and palatalized stops in cross word-boundary sequences. The articulatory study reveals that the environments that generally induce neutralization exhibit the most variability in the magnitude and timing of the tongue body gesture, the articulatory correlate of the plain-palatalized contrast. They also show that the effect of environment is different for palatalized labial and coronals. In addition, the variable overlap of primary gestures has important acoustic consequences: it results in the lack of acoustic release burst of the first consonant and less distinct vocalic transitions. The perceptual findings from both native and non-native subjects under several conditions demonstrate that listeners reliably distinguish the contrast in the contexts when the respective gestures are stable (as in syllable onset), and fail to hear it in the environments that induce gestural variability (syllable coda, especially before consonants). The results of perception, taken as derived scales, serve as input to a hypothetical learner constructing language-particular grammars. Crucially, the learner is not equipped with positional markedness scales. Limitations on what can or cannot be recovered severely restrict the learning path, ultimately resulting in a limited set of possible grammars that correspond to the attested cross-linguistic patterns of contrastive palatalization.
The genealogy of moral memes, a new synthesis for evolutionary ethics

This thesis is an investigation of the consequences that arise if we take up an evolutionary, perspective towards ourselves as moral agents. In particular, it examines the implications of modeling 'cultural' evolution for prescriptive ethical theory. I argue that if the newly emerging science of memetics (the study of evolutionary models of cultural information transmission) develops into a mature science, it will have a significant impact on our ability to systematically justify the authority we attribute to our ethical judgments. This impact is made possible by the fact that memetics will allow us to very precisely trace the cultural genealogy of our moral intuitions. In doing so, memetics will help us to identify situations where our intuitions are supported by recognizably defective cultural selection mechanisms. The underlying message of the thesis is that we cannot trust cultural evolution to produce outcomes that necessarily promote our best interests, and examples of anomalous selection mechanisms are provided to illustrate that even 'cultural' natural selection often leads to spectacularly undesirable results. Such results are shown to be inevitable because of the overpowering tendency for cultural evolution to economize on information costs. Hence, the ability to identify moral intuitions that persist because of anomalous selection mechanisms is a valuable asset, for it provides us with an additional means of evaluating the trustworthiness of our intuitions and the prescriptive authority they ought to possess. Finally, I also argue that seeking to eliminate distortions in our intuitions reveals something important about what we should expect from a well-functioning moral psychology. I claim that the prospect of taking up a critical standpoint towards our evolved moral intuitions leads us to encourage two separate levels of moral thinking within the psychology of each virtuous moral agent.
Toward a philosophy of democratic citizenship education, the case of Perú : from critique to alternatives

This thesis uses political and educational theory to inquiry on democratic citizenship education. My initial question is what to understand by democracy and by democratic education. Since we need to ground our reflections and discussions in experience, this study examines and reflects upon one specific case: Perú. I ask what would democratic and citizenship education mean and imply in Perú, today. I use the curriculum proposal for democratic citizenship education in the National Baccalaureate Pilot Plan in Perú (Bachillerato), as an entry point to examine the extent to which educational initiatives such as the Bachillerato respond to the needs and demands that arise from the social-political, cultural and historical Peruvian context. I draw upon different authors (Habermas, Dewey, Freire, and Gutiérrez, mainly) and use what I have interpreted to be the general spirit and purpose of their work that contribute to my own argument.
(De)politicizing the environment club, environmental discourses and the culture of schooling

Critical ethnographic research with four urban, multicultural secondary school environment clubs is presented through the theoretical framework of critical pedagogy. The analysis explores how teachers and students reflect and re-construct mainstream environmental discourses and representations of nature as they negotiate the structure and culture of schooling and social relations of race/ethnicity, class, and gender. The liberal-humanist, community service approach to environment clubs adopted by teachers is deconstructed as the author considers the role of the club in constructing student apathy and in depoliticizing student activism. The clubs' moralized discourse of green consumerism, centred around the activity of recycling, is examined for how it serves more to deflect and suppress environmental criticism than to "make a difference." Lastly, it is argued that environmental values and perspectives are not simply inculcated through positive "nature" and community service experiences, but are shaped by racial/ethnic, class, and gender identities and relations.
Regulation of the colonization and invasive phenotypes by protease activity in Staphylococcus aureus, analysis of fibronectin-binding protein (FNBP) and V8 protease as paradigms of this concept

'Staphylococcus aureus' infects nearly every tissue and organ system in the human body, and this versatility has been attributed to an ability to rapidly alter virulence factor production such that a colonization phenotype can be rapidly exchanged for one favoring invasion. Cell surface FnBPs promote adhesion to traumatized host tissue, and are maximally expressed during exponential growth. Conversely, secreted V8 protease (SspA) expression is repressed during exponential growth, and upregulated as cells approach stationary phase. Herein, we hypothesized that the colonization and invasive phenotypes of 'S. aureus' can be significantly affected by sued proteases, using FnBP and SspA as paradigms of these phases of infection. Initially we addressed factors that contribute to the considerable variation in Fn-binding observed among 'S. aureus' clinical isolates, as this may be important for developing adhesion-blocking antibodies. The ' fnb' locus was polymorphic in a small number of clinical isolates in terms of the number of 'fnb' genes and/or repeated Fn-binding D-motifs. Furthermore, functional antigenic variation was observed in the D3-like motif of the epidemic strain CMRSA-1. However, these observations were not related to variations in Fn-binding. In contrast, variation in Fn-binding among MRSA was inversely related to protease activity, and previous work in our lab demonstrated a role for SspA in degrading cell-surface FnBP. Therefore, we hypothesized that SspA modifies the colonization and invasive phenotypes of 'S. aureus'. Non-polar inactivation of 'ssp'A in 'S. aureus' SP6391 ('ssp'A
A model incorporating the heterogeneity of insured lives

The traditional actuarial assumption is to assume that for a policyholder who has purchased insurance at age 'x' and has survived to age 'x' + 'k', that during the select period, the particular individual will die with probability <math> <f> q<inf><fen lp="sqb">x<rp post="sqb"></fen>+k</inf></f> </math>. Furthermore, it is assumed that all policies are subject to lapsation. Lapse rates are assumed to only depend on policy duration. This thesis establishes a model that assumes that an insured can be regarded as "healthy" at the time of policy issue. At subsequent policy durations, the insured may still be in the "healthy" state, or have moved to an "impaired" state from which the lapse probability is zero. Policyholders who have moved to the "impaired" state are also at a considerably higher mortality risk. In this thesis we propose a model for estimating the portion of policyholders at each age who are in the healthy and impaired state, and thereby determine the higher mortality probabilities for those in the impaired state. Furthermore, if we examine the healthy state, we can establish a 3-decrement model for departures from the healthy state. The three causes are death, lapsation, and becoming impaired. We then propose a copula approach to establishing the three associated single decrement tables, as we can not assume independence between the decrements of lapsation and becoming impaired.
Web prefetching using partial match prediction

Web traffic is now one of the major components of Internet traffic, which corresponds to the explosive growth that this medium is experiencing. One of the main directions of research in this area is to reduce the time latencies users experience when navigating through Web sites. Caching is already being used in that direction, yet, the characteristics of the Web cause caching in this medium to have poor performance. Therefore, prefetching is now being studied in the Web context. When prefetching is employed, Web pages that the user is likely to access in the near future are transferred without being requested. Thus, when prefetching is appropriately employed, the performance of the cache can be significantly improved, which will in turn have a direct impact on the delays perceived by the users. This study investigates the use of partial match prediction, a technique taken from the data compression literature, for prefetching in the Web. The main concern when employing prefetching is to predict as many future requests as possible, while limiting the false predictions to a minimum. The simulation results suggest that a high fraction of the predictions are accurate, so that additional network traffic is kept low. Furthermore, the simulations show that prefetching can substantially increase cache hit rates.