VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Heterogeneous polyelectrolyte gel membranes, effect of morphology on stimulus-responsive permeation control

Poly(methacrylic acid)-poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PMAA-PDMS) composites and interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) were prepared in order to examine the effect of a heterogeneous hydrogel-elastomer morphology on the variable transport properties of stimuli-responsive membranes. The composites consisted of PMAA particles (&cong;40 [mu]m diameter) dispersed within a PDMS network and IPNs were composed of PMAA channels (&cong;0.1 [mu]m diameter) which spanned the thickness of the PDMS network. The mechanism of permeation control for the composite was based on the percolation or connectivity of the dispersed PMAA particles. The fast swelling-deswelling rates of the surface-resident PMAA particles resulted in a dynamic permeation response to pH change in the order of minutes and an ON/OFF (pH 7/pH 3) permeability ratio of 160 for vitamin B12. This compared favourably to the ON/OFF permeability ratio of 7 estimated for homogeneous PMAA membranes. The mechanism of permeation control for IPNs was based on size exclusion of the permeant from the PMAA channel. Although the ON/OFF permeability ratio (1400) improved over both PMAA and composite membranes, the response time for the dynamic 24 h permeation cycle was very slow. The slow swelling kinetics of the membrane-spanning PMAA channel from pH 3 to 7 resulted in a lag time of 15 h before permeation resumed at pH 7. A combination of the composite and IPN morphologies is expected to improve upon the deficiencies of the two membrane types. For example, a hydrogel-PDMS IPN can be prepared where the gel channel in the surface region is stimuli-responsive and that within the bulk remains hydrated and non-responsive. A novel monomer immersion method was developed to prepare stimuli-responsive, bicontinuous, PMAA PDMS IPN membranes. The method involved immersing the pre-IPN in methacrylic acid (MAA) during IPN formation in order to obtain a uniform MAA concentration profile within the pre-IPN. A unique approach was used to examine PMAA-PDMS IPN morphology with the laser scanning confocal microscope and fluorescent probes of varying diameters. The results revealed complex, superimposed structures of PMAA domains of varying sizes and spatial distributions. These observations had not been reported previously and present a new understanding of morphology development in IPNs.
The Molochna River Basin, 1783-1861, settlement, assimilation, and alienation on the new Russian steppe

This dissertation was born of the desire to understand why the varied groups of settlers in the Molochna River Basin, faced with common environmental, economic, and administrative conditions, followed sharply divergent paths of development. Four interlocking themes form the foundations of my answer. First is the human efforts that transformed the Molochna into a productive grain-growing region. Thus, this is a study of the processes of colonisation, concerned with the ways people transformed their environment, and the ways they were in turn transformed by it. Second is the culturally distinct environmental perceptions of the Orthodox Christian Ukrainians, Sectarian Russians, German-speaking Mennonites, Catholics and Lutherans, and Turkic-speaking Moslems who settled the Molochna. In its exploration of varying adaptive processes, this is a comparative study of the ways that differing ethno-cultural traditions affected adaptive strategies to common conditions. Third is the extent to which the Molochna environment placed fixed limits on adaptation. Such limits, interacting with demographic growth and markets, pushed Molochna settlers toward both crop agriculture and industrialization, and in concert with economic changes came social upheavals. In its focus on the interaction of environment and society, this study constitutes a first attempt to apply the methods of environmental history to the expansion of the Russian empire. Fourth is the administrative inefficiencies created by the differing environmental perceptions of central policy-makers and settlers. My examination of specific instances of centre-periphery relations highlights the barriers that stood in the way of effective administration, and demonstrates that the ability of settlers to mould the state's authority to their own needs was a vital factor in their economic success. Based on this foundation, I argue that the allocation and use of land formed a central hub, around which public life in the Molochna revolved. Environment and markets limited land use, population growth and administrative policy limited land allocation, and culturally specific perceptions of justice and equity mediated reactions to the first four factors. Some settlers prospered, while others sank into poverty and dependency, or left the region altogether. Yet, whether settlers were successful or unsuccessful, it is my central contention that in the Molochna it was the settlers, and not the state, who ultimately decided for themselves how they would adapt to the arid New Russian steppe.
Graduate assistantships, who gets them, how and why : implications for graduate education

This thesis is an exploratory study on graduate student funding with specific focus on minority graduate students and how they access funding in an Ontario University. Of the nine participants, four had attained graduate assistantships while the other five had not. The Data were collected through in-depth interviews with minority graduate students regarding their funding experiences, the role of graduate assistantships (GAships) and institutional policies and practices. The findings indicated that these minority participants felt they were severely under-represented as graduate assistants, a situation attributed to institutional polices and practices which had affected their ability to secure graduate assistantships. They also felt that although graduate assistantships played an important financial role, it was the emotional and academic roles which were most beneficial in integrating into graduate studies. The study offers insights into the ways in which graduate assistantships may assist in connecting them to peers, faculty members and departments in general.
Tensile reponse of SiC(p) reinforced Al based foam material

Tensile properties of aluminum foam material reinforced by SiC particles were studied from both experimental and computer simulation aspects. A unique methodology was developed to carry out the uniaxial tensile tests and analyze the foam cell image during the failure process. The experimental work demonstrated that this material possesses normal characteristics of a stress-strain curve of conventional metallic materials but the failure occurred in a stepwise manner. Results from the finite element simulation show that large SiC particles and high SiC particle volume fraction increase tensile stiffness and decrease Von Mises stress which decreases the liability to plastic deformation. Similarly, smaller foam cell and thicker cell wall lead to a higher tensile stiffness and lower Von Mises stress distribution. Therefore, it is recommended to produce Al foam with larger SiC particle (20$\mu$m) and higher particle volume fraction (15%) in order to manufacture products with the best tensile response.
Comparison of arthropod abundance and diversity in intercropping agroforestry and corn monoculture systems in southern Ontario

Arthropod communities were compared between a corn (' Zea mays' L.) monoculture and a corn intercropped agroforestry system in southern Ontario during 1998 and 1999. Pan trap data were used in June 1998 while malaise trap data were examined between June-September 1999. Arthropod abundance, representation by functional group, and hymenopteran family richness and diversity were all compared between the intercropped and the monoculture sites. Differences in arthropod abundance within the intercropped system were also compared between: (1) tree rows with Norway spruce (' Picea abies' (L.) Karst.) or black walnut ('Juglans nigra' L.); and (2) tree rows and crop alleys. Taxa such as Opiliones, Dermaptera and Carabidae, which are associated with organic litter areas that provide shelter during the day, were significantly higher in the agroforestry system than in the monoculture system. The abundance of Hymenoptera, and several of its families, was also significantly higher in the agroforestry site than in the monoculture site, although no differences were observed in terms of overall family richness and diversity. There were significantly higher numbers of parasitoids and detritivores in the intercropped agroforestry system than in the monoculture system, and the intercropped treatment also supported a significantly higher ratio of parasitoids to herbivores. My results suggest that intercropping trees with crops such as corn monoculture can improve pest management by providing habitat to augment natural enemies populations.
Education for contemplation-in-liberating praxis

My philosophy of education thesis reconstructs the traditional Ignatian method of contemplation-in-action within the larger context of postmodernism and the main contemporary challenges to traditional Western spirituality: secular humanism, feminism, ecologism, and holism. The philosophical impediments to educating for spirituality, especially techno-rationalism, are discussed. Contemplation-in-liberating praxis is proposed as a holistic and globally responsive method for spiritual education today. The thesis discusses mysticism and contemplation and opts for an understanding of contemplation as 'wonderstruck beholding' of the underlying unity in the universe. Contemplation, because it is innate to the human person, is available to all persons regardless of differences. The contemplative dimension of human life is complemented by the active dimension which in this thesis is understood to include the area of social and political action. Hence, a discussion of politics and the problem of pursuing justice within North America is presented. A cosmology of the earth as a community recognizes the principle of relatedness and connectedness. Such a cosmological consciousness forms the necessary backdrop for engaging in liberating praxis which is understood as reflective action away from individualism to transformative communities. Crucial to the contemplative-in-liberating praxis method proposed is the discussion on how the contemplative and liberating praxis dimensions function together. The dialectical process integrates both the contemplative and liberating praxis dimensions and provides for a holistic approach that builds on the healthy paradox often experienced between the contemplative and active dimensions and avoids any tendency towards polarization of these two areas of life. The importance of community, the role of the teacher and of students as contemplatives-in-liberating praxis, developmentalism, and the various locations for using contemplation-in-liberating praxis are also explored. The entire thesis moves towards articulating a plausible method for educating for a political spirituality needed for our global age.
Insulin-responsive glucose transporter traffic

Insulin stimulates glucose transport in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue by enhancing plasma membrane-directed movement of glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) via exocytic vesicles. After arrival at the plasma membrane GLUT4 molecules can be recycled to participate in future rounds of exocytosis. Steady-state analysis suggests the involvement of multiple intracellular compartments in this process. Using L6 skeletal muscle cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes, two main aspects of this traffic are explored in this thesis: endosomal transit of GLUT4 after internalization at the plasma membrane and fusion of the exocytic vesicles with the plasma membrane. The morphological characteristics of compartments transited by GLUT4 are presented here and movement of GLUT4 through these organelles is shown to be accelerated by insulin. The role of SNARE proteins and their binding partners in incorporating GLUT4 exocytic vesicles formed from these organelles into the plasma membrane are also presented. By demonstrating a role for SNAP-23 in GLUT4 arrival at the plasma membrane, SNAP-23 along with VAMP-2 and syntaxin 4 engage as the cognate combination of target- and vesicle-membrane SNAREs required for GLUT4 vesicle fusion. Furthermore, biochemical characterization of these three proteins demonstrates that they possess the capacity to bind one another, a requirement for their ability to mediate vesicle membrane fusion, and do so in a regulated fashion. An additional method of regulation is revealed with the demonstration that the VAMP-binding proteins VAP-33 and pantophysin can also control GLUT4 translocation. In conclusion, insulin may act at an inter-endosomal traffic event to enhance plasma membrane-directed GLUT4 traffic that culminates in fusion of the vesicles with the target membrane through the action of SNAP-23, VAMP-2 and syntaxin 4.
Leaders and laggards, governance, civicness and ethnicity in post-communist Romania

This comparative study maps the factors that influence the operation of Eastern Europe post-communist local government. A comparison of four Romanian county councils over the 1996-1999 period revealed important differences in the way they conducted their internal affairs, formulated and implemented policies, and responded to the citizens' queries, despite the fact that on paper all these local governments had similar attributions and responsibilities. As this study contends, the differences in the performance of county councils were partly explained by differences in the sociostructural complexion of the communities in which they operated. Counties where citizens were more interested in politics and community affairs, had higher levels of civic engagement and associationalism, were more trusting and tolerant of their fellow citizens and less prone to resort to corrupt and clientelistic behavior were also the counties where local governmental structures identified and solved the problems of their polities and responded to the demands of their constituents more efficiently. By contrast, counties where citizens were more disinterested in politics, more reluctant to get together in voluntary associations, and more distrustful and intolerant of other people were also the counties where local governments were divided by internal conflicts, and had difficulty in identifying and addressing the problems of the community promptly and with dispatch. The contrast between the Transylvanian counties of Arad and Mures and the non-Transylvanian counties of Arges and Galati is also the first to bring forth "hard" statistical data documenting the sociostructural divide separating the province of Transylvania from the rest of Romania. The "land beyond the forest" can draw on larger stocks of social capital--trust, norms and solidarity--than the 'Regat'. A possible explanation would rest with the different institutional arrangements historically present in the regions, which gave Transylvania, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, an advantage over the 'Regat', which for centuries remained under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. The examination of the Mures case also suggests that communities divided along ethnic lines have difficulty setting their differences aside and turning their attention to the manifold economic and social problems they face during the post-communist transition. Crucial for democracy to take hold in Romania, and for local governmental structures to function efficiently and democratically, are those social capital reserves that transcend ethnic boundaries and bring members of different groups together. When the feelings of solidarity are confined by ethnicity, politics remain prone to distrust and conflict.
The quantification of mobile source contributions to fine particulate matter in the Greater Toronto Area

Continuous fine particle measurements were examined for 1998 and 1999 in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). A significant hebdomadal cycle was found in the GTA with weekdays significantly higher in particle concentration than weekends. These differences in spatial and temporal patterns across the GTA can be attributed primarily to urban transportation patterns. A field study undertaken in March 2000 collected the most comprehensive Canadian data set of fine particles to date. A complete chemical assessment of the samples identified all of the major inorganic components of particulate matter and detailed organic analysis resolved alkanes, petroleum biomarkers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These compounds can also be directly related to mobile source emissions. Three methods were used to apportion the percent contribution of mobile sources to ambient fine particle concentrations using both the inorganic and speciated organic compound data. Between 40-53% of fine particle mass in the GTA can be attributed to vehicle emissions. The results of this work have improved the understanding of mobile source contributions in the Greater Toronto Area and have implications for policy development and pollution control strategies.
Exploiting low-latency communication in single-chip multiprocessors

Implementing multiple processors on a single chip is one of the more promising methods of using increasing numbers of transistors. An important design question is how to provide low-latency communication without imposing overhead on sequential applications. In our study, we compared the performance of a shared primary cache design and shared secondary cache designs using three different cache coherence protocols. Our results for a shared primary cache design showed that the increased latency of the primary cache significantly degraded execution time. In our shared secondary cache design, we found that a directory protocol performed the best in terms of execution time and memory traffic. Finally, we proposed hardware support to implement accelerated updates, locks, and barriers. We simulated these proposals using microbenchmarks to determine how much performance gain they can provide and under what conditions.
Tragedies of unsafe abortion in international law, the case of Eritrea

The high rate of maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion in developing countries calls for great concern at national and international arenas. This thesis discusses how the right of privacy and the right to life are interpreted under international law. Taking Eritrea as a case study, the thesis analyses the philosophical and practical interpretation of the rights in relation to some social aspects of Eritrea. Given the communal life of Eritrean society and the practice of international human rights bodies, the right to life is more pertinent than the right of privacy in tackling the tragedies of unsafe abortion. Despite its historical background, the right to life has been broadly interpreted to protect women who are vulnerable to fatal unsafe abortion practices. States have a duty to reduce economic, social, legal, and other factors that force women to resort to unsafe abortion under international law. Accordingly, the central objective of the thesis is to show the indispensability of utilising the right to life in avoiding the consequences of unsafe abortion in developing countries.
Giles of Rome's theory of the will

This thesis examines Giles of Rome's theory of the will. Regent Master in Theology from 128-1291, Giles was one of the leading figures at the University of Paris in the period between Aquinas and Scotus. He not only witnessed, but also was deeply involved in the debates out of which the notion of the will as a free power emerged. I examine Giles's contribution to this debate in an effort to determine whether his moral psychology is, at root, voluntarist or intellectualist. Against the accepted view that Giles was a follower of Aquinas and therefore intellectualist, I argue that this claim must be qualified. Specifically, I establish that although Giles inherits several key principles from Aquinas's moral psychology, he ultimately develops them in a voluntarist direction. On the self-motion of the will I show how Giles adopts Aquinas's distinction between specification and exercise and develops it into a defense of a voluntarism of specification, that is, a defense of the claim that the will can determine itself independently of the intellect. I then show how Giles's theory of self-motion governs his account of the Socratic Paradox such that, although wrongdoing involves ignorance at some level, it is nonetheless seen by him to be a voluntary ignorance. In this way, the will rather than the intellect becomes the source of wrongdoing. In the final two chapters I take up the issues of the primacy of the will and the foundations of freedom, respectively. I show that Giles, along with the voluntarists of the period, defends the nobility of the will over the intellect and the related claim that happiness consists in a union with God that is achieved primarily through the will's act of love. Finally, I examine Giles's discussion of the foundations of freedom, showing the way in which Giles incorporates the moderate voluntarism of thinkers such as Aquinas's contemporary Walter of Bruges in order to defend the view that the will, rather than the intellect, is the formally free power. I conclude that, overall, Giles's theory of the will, although drawing on several sources, including Aquinas, must ultimately be regarded as a voluntaristic moral psychology.
The enhancement of credit card fraud detection systems using machine learning methodology

In Canada, credit card fraud occurrences rose sharply in 1998 causing $147 million in losses. To address this problem, financial institutions (FIs) are employing preventive measures and fraud detection systems one of which is called FDS. Although FDS has shown good results in reducing fraud, the majority of cases being flagged by this system are 'False Positives ' resulting in substantial investigation costs and cardholder inconvenience. The possibilities of enhancing the current operation by introducing a post processing system constitute the objective of this research. The data used for the analysis was provided by one of the major Canadian banks. Based on variations and combinations of features and training class distributions, different sets of experiments were performed to explore the influence of these parameters on the performance of the prototype developed. The results indicate that the employed approach has a very good potential to improve on the existing system. However, further research is required including the development of prototype systems which should be enhanced by more extensive and informative data.