VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A comparison of teachers' perceptions and students' self-perceptions of reading ability at the grade four, five and six level

This study investigated the relationship between teachers' perceptions and students' self-perceptions of reading ability. Changes in the relationship according to grade and gender were also examined. This study focused on 127 grade four to six students attending one Junior Public School in the Toronto District School Board. Criteria developed by the participating teachers established their perceptions of the students' reading abilities and the Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS) determined the students' self-perceptions. The statistical analysis of Kendall's tau-b was used to determine relationships in the data. A significant relationship was found between reading abilities as determined by the classroom teachers and the students' perceptions of their abilities to read as determined by the RSPS. Some significance was found in the relationship between gender and students' versus teachers' perceptions of reading ability. The fact all student participants displayed reluctance to indicate reading skills superior to their peers is cause for further investigation.

Keywords: Reading (Elementary)
Self-perception in children
School children, Rating of
Reading teachers
Neighborhood, school, and individual effects on substance use, violence, and the drugs/violence nexus: A study of Toronto secondary students

This research examines the relative impact of neighborhood, school, and individual effects on a variety of substance use measures, violent victimization, violent perpetration, and the drugs/violence nexus. A unique dataset of Toronto area secondary students, the Drugs Alcohol Violence International (DAVI) survey, containing many measures of substance use, violence, school atmosphere, and family environment is used. The dataset also contains the postal codes of respondents allowing for the merger of the survey data and Canadian Census data for 2001. The theoretical framework for this research combines elements of Shaw and McKay's (1942) social disorganization theory and Sampson and colleague's (1997) work on collective efficacy at the macro level and social control theory at the micro level. At the individual level, I extend the logic of Sampson et al.'s (1997) community level collective efficacy to the domains of the school and family. School and family efficacies encompass similar notions of shared expectations and values found in the work on collective efficacy. Cluster analysis is used to create groups of similar neighborhoods based on their combination of neighborhood disadvantage (as measured by proportion of immigrants and low income residents) and collective efficacy. The results indicate four distinct groups of neighborhoods in the sample. Cluster 1 contains a high concentration of immigrants, is 92% non-white, and has low collective efficacy. Cluster 2 has high levels of disadvantage, is more ethnically heterogeneous, and exhibits average collective efficacy. Cluster 3 is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged, but has the lowest collective efficacy. Cluster 4 is advantaged, has the lowest proportion of non-whites, and the highest collective efficacy. Multinomial logits are used to analyze the frequency of alcohol and marijuana use. Generalized linear models are used for the number of hard drugs used, the rate of violent victimization, and the rate of violent perpetration. Results indicate that the logic of collective efficacy can be successfully extended to the school and family. The effect of family and school efficacy and demographic measures varies by neighborhood context, as does the significance and strength of the drugs/violence nexus. Recommendations for policy and future research are included.
Nonlinear behaviour in the translational vestibuloocular reflex

The translational vestibuloocular reflex (TVOR) produces an eye movement response to linear head acceleration detected by the otolith organs in the inner ear. This study examines the linearity of the TVOR by comparing the response to a transient sum-of-sinusoids stimulus with the responses to each sinusoid component of the sum. A head-fixed rhesus monkey was translated in the dark along its interaural and nasooccipital axes with sinusoidal and transient motion. Eye movements were recorded using the magnetic search coil technique (Robinson 1963). The results of this study show that the TVOR displays linear characteristics during interaural translation for 0.5--7 Hz stimuli. The eye response to sinusoidal stimuli is consistent across the stimulus frequency range. However, the eye response to transient stimuli starts to exhibit a frequency-dependent trend at the higher frequencies thus suggesting that nonlinearities in the TVOR may exist for frequencies above the range used in these experiments.
Understanding tort law's distinct treatment of pure economic loss

The distinct treatment that the law reserves for pure economic loss emerges from the law's requirement, as revealed in the origins and historical evolution of the common law duty of care, that claimants under the law of torts demonstrate injury to a right, grounded in a proprietary interest. Thus principles indigenous to the law of torts afford jurists a means of understanding and governing recovery for pure economic loss; they engage dual proprietary justifications which offer principled justifications for recovery where the plaintiff has suffered injury to a “direct” (that is, corporeal or tangible) proprietary interest or, by reason of having reasonably and detrimentally relied on another's undertaking or assumption of responsibility, an “indirect” proprietary interest attaching to another's autonomy. The mutual coherence and unifying conception of tort liability of these dual abstract concepts becomes apparent in their concrete application to generalized classes of pure economic loss cases.

Keywords: Torts, Economic aspects
Damages
Judicial activism in the law of negligence

As a species of private law governed by common law principles shaped by judicial pronouncements, negligence law contemplates an innate measure of judicial creativity and legal development that defies the descriptor of "activism" as it has been employed in public law discourse. This paradox of "judicial activism" in negligence law notwithstanding, recent pronouncements---notably from the Supreme Court of Canada in cases of vicarious liability and recovery of pure economic loss---suggest that the judicial ability to fashion outcomes is, or ought to be, circumscribed. One prominent commentator has suggested that the Court has gone "too far" in privileging "policy" considerations at the expense of "legal principle." This criticism goes to the nature of the judicial role, and to negligence law's capacity to serve as a normative guide to that role. Assessing such criticism requires engaging the paradox of judicial activism in negligence law, which in turn requires justifying a conception of judicial activism that accounts for the way in which courts apply and develop legal rules and which isolates that judicial method from policy considerations. Because, however, policy considerations have become prevalent in positively expressed negligence law, the problem arises at a pragmatic level of how to do justice without acting upon an ingrained activist impulse. Resolution is achieved in an understanding of the liability inquiry as conforming to the law's linguistic scheme of rights and corresponding duties, based upon retrospective assumed values whose origins are deeply rooted in the law, not prospective conceptions of the common wealth. The distinction between legal language and policy is amplified and given positive account by considering objections---(1) Non-legal language cannot account for law; (2) Legal language cannot account for policy; and (3) Non-legal language is necessary to achieve law reform. These objections can be answered with reference to three areas of the law of negligence---vicarious liability, relational economic loss and loss of bargain---in which activist rationales have displaced non-activist justifications for the governing rules. In the result, not only are the conceptual and pragmatic weaknesses of activist jurisprudence illuminated, but the potential for non-activist reform is unseen.
Generation and application of human protein-protein interaction networks in systems biology

At the outset of this project, computationally accessible human protein-protein interaction (PPI) data was limited to that available in a single hand-curated database, the Database of Interacting Proteins (DIP). The sum total of these interactions was 621, a mere drop in the bucket of the potential interactome, considering that the International Protein Index (IPI) database contains nearly 70,000 human proteins. Therefore, this research project involved three aims: (1) to create a resource that expanded our knowledge of the human interactome by predicting novel interactions in silico; (2) to aid in the expansion of the human interactome through experimental means; and (3) to gain new knowledge about the inner workings of the human cell through the networks of interacting proteins. To address the first aim, we created the Online Predicted Human Interaction Database (OPHID) by transferring PPI from model organisms to human proteins, generating 23,889 predicted interactions. For the second aim, we collaborated on the analysis of a novel PPI detection technology, Luminescence-based Mammalian lnteractome Mapping (LUMIER), establishing protocols to evaluate and integrate experimental findings. This resulted in the elucidation of 947 PPI involved in TGFbeta signaling, and 1,484 PPI involved in Wnt signaling. Finally, for the third aim, through examining the evolutionary conservation of the human PPI network, we explored the extent to which PPIs could be transferred between organisms. This revealed a preferential conservation of PPI involved in protein complexes when interologs are used to predict PPI networks. While our work and that of many others has greatly expanded the knowledge of multiple interactomes, there is a considerable amount of knowledge yet to be gained exploring the dynamic aspects of PPI networks.
Phytoestrogens as modulators of estrogen metabolism

Estrogen plays a major role in breast cancer development and progression making those enzymes involved in its metabolism and synthesis, both systemically and locally, targets for breast cancer treatment and prevention. Flaxseed and soy are major dietary sources of phytoestrogens, lignans and isoflavones respectively. In postmenopausal women flaxseed, but not soy, altered the metabolism of estrogen as indicated by the urinary excretion of 2- and 16α-hydroxyestrone. Flaxseed shifted the metabolism of estrogen to the less biologically active estrogen, 2-hydroxyestrone. In vitro, the effect of purified lignans (enterolactone, enterodiol) and isoflavones (genistein) on estrogen synthesis were examined in MCF-7 cells. Enterolactone, enterodiol and genistein significantly decreased the amount of estrogen produced by aromatase and enterolactone and genistein by 17β-HSD type 1, key enzymes involved in estrogen synthesis. Changes in enzyme activity were significantly related to changes in cell proliferation.
Interfacial studies of liquid sulphur during aqueous pressure oxidation of nickel sulphide

The oxidative pressure leaching process for nickel sulphide concentrates employs autoclave reactors operating in a mixed sulphate-chloride acidic solution under oxygen overpressure at around 150°C. During the process liquid elemental sulphur is produced minimising the oxygen reagent costs. Surfactant additions in the form of ligin sulphonates are needed to disperse the sulphur and prevent particle occlusion/agglomeration, which may inhibit the diffusion of dissolved oxygen to the mineral surface, halting the reaction. In this study interfacial tensions between molten sulphur and the aqueous solution were measured along with the contact angles of molten sulphur on pentlandite, (Ni, Fe)9S 8 surfaces. A prototype titanium autoclave with quartz windows was set-up equipped with a visualisation system to observe and measure under actual process conditions. The effects of solution chemistry and surfactant addition on the molten sulphur-mineral work of adhesion were elucidated. It was found that both chloride ions and ligninsulphonates significantly reduce the work of adhesion, suggesting that they will both be effective in case the process is commercialized.
Error control in network coding: Theoretical and practical considerations for efficient implementation

This work considers the efficient implementation of two error-control strategies in network coding: the subspace approach due to Kotter and Kschischang (KK) and the rank-metric approach due to Silva, Kschischang, and Kotter (SKK). An analysis of the operations carried out in the two schemes shows that representation of finite field arithmetic in a normal basis yields best performance. Specific constructions of optimal normal bases are presented for the composite Galois field arithmetic required in network coding. Both the KK and SKK decoding algorithms are implemented in software and compared. Simulation results show that whereas the SKK decoder appears to be the implementation of choice for mid- to high-rate codes, the KK approach may be the more suitable for low-rate applications (such as fountain codes).
The star formation and merger evolution of interacting galaxies

Hierarchical models and observations show that galaxy mergers and interactions play a key role in galaxy assembly and star formation, but to what extent is still unclear. This thesis attempts to quantify their contribution to galaxy evolution by probing the number of interactions and mergers, along with their star forming properties as a function of redshift. The presence of long tidal tails and bridges are robust signatures of recent merger activity. This completely dynamical phenomenon was used to develop a new classification scheme to identify interacting galaxies and probe the interaction fraction and merger rate. We applied this new technique to large area, multi-band imaging obtained via the Canada France Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS-Deep), yielding the first statistically secure, lower limit of the galaxy interaction fraction between 0.1
Investigating online engagement and community among preservice mathematics teachers

Online discourse environments are increasingly popular both in distance education contexts (Hiltz & Wellman, 1997; Rovai, 2001) and as adjuncts to face-to-face learning (Duffy, Dueber & Hawley, 1998). For many participants such contexts are experienced as positive, community supported learning opportunities, but this is not the case for everyone. This study has elaborated the concept of online engagement and its relation to community through analyses of patterns of engagement and disengagement in one particular learning context, that of preservice, math-anxious elementary candidates enrolled in a two-year preservice program. Program supports for the self-declared math-anxious participants (N = 20 from a total cohort of 57) included small group math investigations and participation in an online learning environment. This study offers a unique perspective on online participation by providing a longitudinal picture of levels of engagement and an analysis of the link to instructional goals, as well as indicators of offline patterns of engagement and disengagement. Results suggest that the online context provided most learning support for participants who had had successful social and subject-related experiences in the program. Those with fewer successful face-to-face experiences, who espoused an ability-based notion of subject matter, and who felt less able to contribute substantively, participated less online. Additionally, for those participants who contributed both most and least (10 of the 20), their patterns of online engagement were established early and changed little over the course of the two years. From these results online engagement was conceptualized as requiring both epistemic agency and identity within the community. The implications of these results for the notion of community and the design of preservice programs and online learning environments are discussed.

Keywords: Mathematics teachers
Mathematics teachers, Training of
Internet in education
Mathematics, Study and teaching (Elementary)
Computer conferencing
Determining appropriate relief for unexpected transactions concluded through the use of autonomous software agents

Technology has developed that enables sophisticated computer software programs to initiate and complete transactions autonomously without human intervention. This thesis critically examines the extent to which the law provides relief for unexpected transactions concluded through the use of autonomous software agents. It analyzes the treatment of agent-generated transactions under common law rules of contract formation, agency law, and legislation that deals with computer-generated contracts. The author argues that there may be circumstances in which neither the common law nor legislation provides relief for the unexpected operations of autonomous agents. The author accordingly examines alternative means of providing protection against unforeseen transactions arranged through the use of electronic agents. The thesis concludes by recommending a mechanism that not only limits the risk of unauthorized or unintended transactions by computer agents, but also encourages the use and continued evolution of agent technology in electronic commerce.

Keywords: Computer programs, Law and legislation
Consumer protection, Law and legislation
Electronic commerce, Law and legislation
Transaction systems (Computer systems)
Compensation (Law)
Signal specificity in the budding yeast mating/filamentous MAPK pathway

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades convey signals in eukaryotes through the sequential activation of a three-tiered kinase core. MAPK activity is controlled by a MEK, which in turn is controlled by a MEKK. In S. cerevisiae, mating and filamentous growth share multiple components of a single MAPK cascade. These factors are Fus3/Kss1, Ste7, and Ste11. Rst1 and Rst2 act downstream of the MAPK cascade to inhibit the transcription factor Ste12, the target of both developmental pathways. This thesis describes my research into the molecular mechanisms that ensure signal fidelity between the two programs. To investigate roles of FUS3, KSS1, RST1, and RST2 in regulating Ste12, I analyzed all permutations of the respective gene deletions for effects on agar invasion and genome-wide expression patterns. From this analysis, I found that (1) Fus3 and Rst1 are the primary regulators of invasive growth; (2) in the absence of RST1 and RST2, MAPK function becomes essential; and (3) transcriptional profiles reveal little correlation between invasive growth and gene expression. Prompted by the similar profiles between fus3 and kss1 strains, I re-investigated wild type, fus3, and kss1 strains for the transcriptional responses to pheromone. I discovered that induction of the mating program in fus3 and kss1 strains was indistinguishable from wild type cells and unaltered by re-introduction of catalytically inactive versions of Fus3 or Kss1, respectively. Partial reconstitution of the pheromone pathway from recombinant proteins allowed for isolation of active Fus3/Kss1. Although both MAPKs were equally capable of phosphorylating Ste12, Fus3 preferentially phosphorylated Far1, a cytoplasmic effector of the mating response. As the association/dissociation of factors probably regulates Ste12 transcription, I recapitulated Ste12 complexes in vitro. Both Rst1 and Rst2 bind Ste12 in the presence and absence of DNA, but the MAPKs Fus3 and Kss1 only interact with non-DNA bound Ste12. Addition of either active or inactive Fus3/Kss1 to DNA-bound Ste12-Rst1-Rst2 complex revealed that Rst1 and Rst2 are phosphorylated and disassociate from DNA-bound Ste12. Concordantly Ste12 was also phosphorylated but surprisingly not bound to DNA. An important theme that emerges from this work is that MAPK networks regulate cell biology through transcriptionally independent
A change in Canadian corporate governance philosophy: The importation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into Canadian corporate governance

This paper reviews the corporate governance developments in Canada since the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Prior to 2002, Canadian regulators had resisted calls for adopting mandatory corporate governance rules. Instead, Canada's corporate governance system featured a set of best practice principles that issuers were either to comply with or provide explanation as to why they did not. Since 2002, however, Canada has adopted both principles-based corporate governance instruments, as well as mandatory corporate governance rules. This paper argues that the adoption of mandatory corporate governance rules represents an unwelcome shift in Canadian corporate governance. It is argued that the proposed benefits of a rules-based corporate governance structure, such as this structure's ability to control for firm agency costs and information asymmetries, can be adequately addressed through a principles-based structure. This paper then goes on list benefits to a principles-based corporate governance structure over-and-above those of a rules-based structure.

Keywords: Corporate governance, Canada
Computational complexity of Euclidean sets: hyperbolic Julia sets are poly-time computable

We apply the concepts developed to show that hyperbolic Julia sets are polynomial time computable. This result is a significant generalization of the result in [RW03], where polynomial time computability has been shown for a restricted type of hyperbolic Julia sets. We investigate different definitions of the computability and complexity of sets in Rk, and establish new connections between these definitions. This allows us to connect the computability of real functions and real sets in a new way. We show that equivalence of some of the definitions corresponds to equivalence between famous complexity classes. The model we use is mostly consistent with [Wei00].
Muted voices: women's rights, NGOs, and the gendered politics of the elite in post-war Lebanon

The central question that frames this thesis is: why in Lebanon, where women enjoy a greater degree of freedom relative to other countries in the region, and where there is seemingly space to organise politically, have women achieved less for their rights than countries with more repressive regimes? In this thesis I argue there are three core ways in which Lebanese women's issues are downplayed, ignored, or frustrated: through patriarchal anxiety, by the gendered politics of elite co-operation, and through elite silencing of feminist voices. An examination of the dynamics of Lebanese women's organisations indicates that women's advocacy in Lebanon represent civil space that has been colonised by elites. In various ways, elites mute the feminist voices that attempt to raise core issues of Lebanese women's discrimination; issues which also challenge the essence of Lebanese power relations. The ambiguous role of foreign aid in this context is also addressed.

Keywords: Women's rights, Lebanon
Feminism, Lebanon
Non-governmental organizations, Lebanon
Women, Social conditions
Women, Lebanon
Elite (Social sciences), Lebanon