VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Automatic detection of abnormal gait on stairs

This thesis presents a method for automatically detecting unusual human gait on stairs from video data. The motivation is to provide a tool for biomedical researchers to rapidly find the events of interest within large quantities of video data. The system identifies potential sequences containing anomalies, and reduces the amount of data that needs to be searched by a human. Optical flow is computed over a background subtracted silhouette to capture the overall motion of a person descending stairs. The person's feet are tracked using a mixed state particle filter with an appearance model based on histograms of gradient orientations. A hidden Markov model (HMM) is then used to create a statistical model of the temporal progression of features derived from the optical flow and tracked foot positions for normal stair descents. Classification is performed based on the statistical likelihood that a stair descent is normal.
Human trophoblast cell death in pathological and physiological models of hypoxia

The second chapter shows that increased trophoblast cell death in preeclampsia is due to expression of Mtd-P, a novel pro-apoptotic splice variant of Matador (Mtd), a cell death inducing Bcl-2 family member. Mtd-P expression, resulting from exon II-skipping, increases under conditions of placental hypoxia/oxidative stress and is responsible for inducing apoptotic-mediated trophoblast cell death. Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and death. This placental disease is characterized by reduced uteroplacental oxygenation; an event potentially responsible for increased trophoblast cell death. This pathologic insult is believed to contribute to the molecular events leading to the clinical manifestations of this disease. Hence, it is of paramount importance to study the impact of oxygenation on placental gene expression and to understand the regulation of molecules governing cell death pathways in placental pathology. Using high-throughput functional genomics, the first chapter of this dissertation demonstrates that global gene expression profiles obtained from in vitro and in vivo models of human placental hypoxia have a striking similarity to the profile of placental tissues obtained from preeclamptic pregnancies. These results represent the first molecular proof that global gene expression changes in preeclamptic pregnancies are due to placental hypoxia and that these events can successfully be mimicked in vitro and in vivo. The third chapter reports that aberrant placental oxygenation compromises the anti-apoptotic function of Mcl-1, the only interacting partner of Mtd. Notably, hypoxia-reoxygenation in vitro results in caspase-3-mediated Mcl-1 cleavage and induction of pro apoptotic Mcl-1 isoform expression, events that are only observed in severe early-onset preeclamptic placentae. Finally, studies in chapter four reveal that the pro-apoptotic function of Mtd-P cannot be antagonized by the anti-apoptotic Mcl-1L molecule. This lack of inhibition allows Mtd-P to cause trophoblast cell death and impair trophoblast cell fusion. The present body of work demonstrates that reduced oxygenation impacts global placental gene expression in preeclampsia and likely results in an imbalance in the Mtd-Mcl1 apoptotic rheostat, hence causing increased trophoblast cell death and impaired differentiation. As such, these molecular events may be important contributors leading to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.
African indigenous knowledges and education: implications for youth of African descent and Black focused schools in Toronto

From the point of view of contemporary education in Toronto, Ontario, some of the common dilemmas within the system---drop-out rates, violence, class size, teacher accountability, and lack of minority teachers/personnel---are appraised to determine their impact on students of African heritage. This thesis identifies the problems or gaps inherent in the assumption of academic success as the only true measure of success, highlights those aspects of indigenous education and knowledges that may be applicable in filling the gaps caused by this assumption and consequent practices, and proposes that a union of the two systems is not only necessary but possible through incorporating elements of African indigenous education into the current system's practices, policies and curricula. This study examines traditional African indigenous knowledges and educational practices for the purposes of determining their relevance to and applicability in Black-focused schools in Toronto, Ontario. Literature-based, the study examines the writings of Afrocentrists---Cheikh Anta Diop, Molefi Asante, George Dei, Annette Henry and others---as integral to its exploration. In discussing traditional African education, I probe two indigenous African societies---Kenya in East Africa and Nigeria in West Africa. Equally critical as aids to understanding African indigenous knowledges are the works of Jomo Kenyatta wherein are detailed the pre-colonial education system of the Gikuyu peoples of Kenya, and those of Babs Fufunwa in relation to Nigeria. Also examined is knowledge transmission in the Nile Valley (Ancient Egypt and Nubia) to investigate how ancient Egypt is connected to other indigenous African societies through commonalities in educational practices and beliefs. The impact of colonialism and colonial education on these cultures and the consequent destruction of their traditional educational systems also comprise salient aspects of this study.

Keywords: Students, Black, Social conditions
Students, Black, Ontario
Racism in education, Ontario
Education, Africa
Ethnoscience
Afrocentrism
Symphonic Stalinism: Claiming Russian musical classics for the new Soviet listener, 1932-1953

The thesis attempts to reconstruct from the materials published at the time the socialist realist discourse about music as it developed in Stalin's Soviet Union between 1932 and 1953. To mitigate the danger of reification inherent in outlining the content (and the method) of this discourse, the thesis also investigates how its multiple levels interacted, and how the different functions it served helped to shape it. Moreover, the study pays a close attention to how the balance between the different components of the discourse kept shifting throughout the period covered, with different concepts valorized at different times ...

Keywords: Music
Examining the causal relationship between job control and health status in the Canadian working population

The objective of this thesis is to provide stronger causal evidence that psychosocial working conditions, specifically job control, are causally related to health status. Current evidence supporting a causal relationship between psychosocial working conditions and health is limited across two key areas: the examination of the pathways between job control and health status; and the examination of the health effect of changing job control. Consequently the papers undertaken in this thesis: compare three explanations of why low job control is associated with poorer health status; and examine whether changes in job control predict differences in health status over time. The papers in this thesis utilized self-reported information from a prospective observational cohort of 4,886 employed respondents aged 25 to 60 years, over an eight-year period (1994--2002). Using a path analysis models, the papers in this thesis demonstrated that: (1) Low job control at baseline was associated with worse than expected self-rated health in 2002 both directly and indirectly, via differences in physical activity level in 1996. Adjustment for other factors associated with low socioeconomic status did not attenuate these relationships to a large extent. No differences were found in the direct or indirect effects of job control on health status between high and low socioeconomic groups (measured with both household income and education); and (2) Positive changes in job control over a six-year period (1994--2000) were associated with higher levels of physical activity, lower psychological distress, and higher levels of self-rated health. The associations between change in job control and physical activity and self-rated health remained among respondents who did not change occupations. Taken together, the current thesis provides evidence that the relationship between job control and health status is not explained by other measures associated with lower socioeconomic status; and that changes in job control are associated with differences in both level of physical activity and health status. Future research should be directed toward understanding the relationship between low job control and level of physical activity; to the accurate measurement of working conditions; and to distinguishing between changes in job control resulting from only change in perceptions, compared to those resulting from changes in work design.
Copper metalloproteomics: using immobilized metal affinity chromatography, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to search for hepatocellular proteins with copper-binding ability

Copper is an essential trace element that participates in diverse biochemical reactions in all aerobic organisms. We have outlined the make up of the human copper metalloproteome. HepG2 cytosolic and microsomal fractions were applied to a copper(II)-loaded immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) column. Bound proteins were eluted with 50 mM EDTA, separated by 2D-gel electrophoresis and identified by MALDI-QqTOF mass spectrometry. We identified 48 cytosolic proteins and 19 microsomal proteins with copper-binding ability. To our knowledge, this is the first effort to describe the composition of the copper metalloproteome. Members of the 2-Cys family of peroxiredoxins (Prxs) were identified in this study but were not previously known to bind copper. Results presented here indicate that Prx3, a 25 kDa mitochondrial protein with peroxidase activity, converts Cu(II) to Cu(I) and binds Cu(I) with a stoichiometry of 2 mol Cu(I) per monomer of protein. The physiological relevance of Prx3 copper-binding is unclear.
Creating a new stage for sustainable forest management through co-management with Aboriginal peoples in Ontario: The need for constitutional-level enabling

One of the crucial issues facing those involved in the management of our forests and the formulation of policy to guide that management is to develop new relationships with Aboriginal peoples. These new relationships must address two elements: the aspirations of Aboriginal peoples and the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM) balancing environmental, economic and social criteria. The protection of Aboriginal and treaty rights and increased Aboriginal participation in forest management in Canada have been embraced in key national forest policies---the National Forest Strategy and the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management. However, institutions to implement these policies fully have not met Aboriginal peoples' aspirations, and exclusion and conflict continue to mark relationships among the various actors involved in forest management. Through an exploration of the institutional framework for forest management in Ontario and the interactions of different actors---governments, industry and environmental nongovernmental organizations---in the forest management arena across international, national and regional levels, this thesis explo res ways of improving Aboriginal peoples' involvement in forest management. This thesis has four parts: (1) an institutional analysis at the macro level of forest management in Ontario as it relates to Aboriginal peoples, (2) case studies at the micro level of how two First Nations are involved in and affected by forest management; (3) a comparison of the two case studies; and (4) an exploration of an alternative framework for Aboriginal participation in forest management. The institutional analysis uses the Institutional Analysis and Development framework (IAD), exploring interactions among actors at multiple levels. The actors include Aboriginal peoples, the state, the forest industry and environmental non-governmental organizations. The two case studies---Grassy Narrows and Pikangikum First Nations---illustrate how these various actor groups interact at the local level. An alternative framework---rights-based co-management---offers a coexistence rather than assimilation approach, focussing on the need for negotiated constitutional-level agreements between Aboriginal governments and provincial and federal governments.
Re-tuning Shakespeare: Meter and timing in "The Comedy of Errors" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

This study asks why Shakespeare wrote his plays in meter. It takes three methodological approaches. First, it proposes a set of concrete questions about the linguistic and non-linguistic phenomena that might contribute to Shakespeare's dramatic meter. These operate as a theoretical framework and help demonstrate that Kristin Hanson's linguistic analysis of Shakespeare's dramatic meter provides a more systematic, consistent, and insightful theoretical and methodological model than George T. Wright's more widely-accepted (and still important) literary analysis. Second, it uses historical linguistic and lexical documents to make a thorough investigation of the lexical ranges of metrical terms used in treatises on meter written or published during Shakespeare's lifetime. The resulting Lexicon of Metrical Terms, 1564-1616 (included as an Appendix) is used to interpret and summarise the metrical theories of Shakespeare's contemporaries. Modern linguistic evidence about the phonological structure of Early Modern English confirms that the metrical treatises are not only surprisingly consistent but also linguistically accurate; Thomas Campion's Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602) is particularly notable in both respects. Third, a full scansion of The Comedy of Errors and a detailed analysis of the rhyme schemes in A Midsummer Night's Dream demonstrate that Shakespeare uses meter in these two plays in exactly the ways his contemporaries predict, and in a manner consistent with Kristin Hanson's modern linguistic theory of his dramatic meter. That is: the basic linguistic unit of Shakespeare's dramatic meter is not the syllable, but the basic metrical unit of the English language as a whole, the moraic trochee; Shakespeare organises dramatic utterances so that mora strong within lexical words or within phonological phrases tend to fall at equal intervals of phonological time; he organises three levels of phonological strength; his meter tends to be perceived as rhythmically trochaic rather than iambic; and he consistently uses rhyme as a structural, rather than figurative, element. Shakespeare's meter operates as stage direction, reveals characters' intentions, indicates theatrical style, and operates as a meta-theatrical (or meta-metrical) commentary on a scenario. The most highly structured passages continue to influence modern performers, as a few recordings of recent performances show.**This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Microsoft Office.
A statistical mechanical model of the gating charge of potassium ion voltage-gated channels

This thesis proposes a new statistical mechanical model to describe gating in potassium voltage-gated (Kv) channels in a patch clamp setup. Channels are modeled by "protein structures", which are made of charged "molecular clusters." These clusters can be in one of two states. As the clusters switch states, the physical length of the protein structure is changed. The movement of the charged clusters is hypothesized to produce gating current. The gating charge is assumed to be proportional to the change in average protein structure length. Changes in length are related to the charge at the surface of the channel, which is related to the transmembrane voltage. The model captures the charge-voltage (Q-V) curve of a collection of Shaker Kv channels contained in a cell-attached patch clamp configuration without any fitting, and can describe the shifting of the Q-V curve in response to divalent ions.
Getting to yes on our terms: venture capital financial contracts in action during periods of limited liquidity

This paper examines venture capital financial contracts in action, with a view to supplementing current research in four ways. First, it highlights the social fabric of firm assembly, and the ways in which financial contracts respond to its unique corporate governance DNA. Second, it exposes the nature in which such bargains entrench the opportunism risks associated with such preferred claimants controlling the firm's exit strategy. Third, it evaluates the role that such contracts actually play in the determination of corporate strategies at key inflection points in the startup's development. Finally, this paper suggests the importance of legal systems in providing stakeholders with a voice in this continuing governance "conversation" in the venture-backed firm. In each case, this paper uses an analysis of a modest sample of startup firms, each of which were financed prior to the collapse of the technology bubble in 2001, in order to support its suggested conclusions.

Keywords: Venture capital, Law and legislation
Contracts
Stockholders, Legal status, laws, etc
Corporate governance
'Stepping out': Canada's early ballet companies 1939-1963

This dissertation studies the early years of Canada's three largest ballet companies, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (est. 1939), the National Ballet of Canada (1951), and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (1952). The first half presents the beginnings of each ballet group and its artistic director(s). The second half considers the “world behind the curtain,” particularly the role of Canadian patrons in establishing and maintaining the companies, and the challenges of the unusually fragmented, three-way ballet scene which emerged in Canada. The dissertation ends in 1963, when, with annual Canada Council funding, all three companies were assured of their survival. To date, most Canadian ballet histories have taken a “great woman” approach, emphasizing above all the skill and determination of the founding women. Here, that approach is challenged, though not entirely discarded. The contributions of the founding artistic directors are fully acknowledged, but the larger story of their organizations is also brought to light, beginning with the thriving amateur ballet scene which laid much of the groundwork for the professional groups. One or more sample ballets are described and deconstructed for each company. The small-scale, practical style of private patronage which was found in Winnipeg and Toronto is contrasted with the institutional, public patronage model found in Montrèal. Ballet audiences and critics are identified and evaluated. The three companies' financial problems during the 1950s and early 1960s are closely examined, with a special emphasis on the year 1959–60. The Canada Council's difficult relationship with the three ballet organizations is explored and resolved. Some of the key findings were the importance of small-scale, practical patronage in English Canada and institutional patronage in Quèbec; the strong loyalty to region, and the different approaches of those regions; the dynamism of individual immigrants and their quick acceptance as experts in the arts; the critical importance of Canada's proximity to U.S. charitable foundations, audiences, and expertise; the opportunities for women in ballet organizations, but also the class structures which limited them; and the use of high culture to “civilize” a city, province, or country.
The union certification experience in Ontario: 1993 to 1998

The choice of union certification procedure is a frequent subject of legislative change in Canada, and in 1995 the long-standing card system of certification in Ontario was replaced with a system of mandatory representation votes for certification. This study investigates the effect of this legislative change on the outcome of certification applications and the results of representation elections. Analysing 3567 non-construction certification application cases filed with the Ontario Labour Relations Board between 1993 and 1998, this research also examines whether the magnitude and significance of factors related to union certification differ under the two certification systems. The results demonstrate that, overall, certification applications under the vote system were significantly less likely to be granted than to result in another outcome. The results also suggest that this negative effect on the probability of certification is greater for private sector certification applications than for applications arising from the public sector. Further, multinomial logit regression analysis suggests that the increased probability, under the vote system, that certification applications will not succeed is due to the significantly increased probability that these applications will be withdrawn rather than being dismissed, compared to applications filed under the card system. The results also indicate that certification elections held under the vote system are statistically significantly more likely to result in a union majority and a greater proportion of votes cast in favour of certification, compared to elections held under the card system. This was found to be the case for both public sector and private sector applications. Finally, this study suggests that different factors are significantly associated with certification application outcomes and with the results of union representation elections, between public sector applications and private sector applicants, and between applications filed under the card system and those filed under the vote system of certification.
For whose kingdom?: Canadian Baptists and the evangelization of immigrants and refugees 1880 to 1945

This study of Canadian Baptists focuses on their attitudes and actions to matters of immigration and refugee policy during the formative years of nationhood in Canada from 1880 to 1945. This thesis seeks to round out the portrait of Baptists in Canada already begun by J. Brian Scott, Brent Reilly, Walter Ellis, John Grant, Philip Griffin-Alwood and Stuart Ivison, the pioneer among Baptist historians. At the same time the work seeks to fill in some of the historiographical gaps in terms of “denominational approaches” to immigration issues by augmenting the studies of Cumbo/Semple/Airhart (Methodists), Eraser (Presbyterians), Perin (French-speaking Catholics), and McGowan (English speaking Catholics). Baptist history and theology played a significant role in shaping the denominational attitudes and actions towards immigrants during these years. Inspired by a sense of religious duty, millennialism, fear of Roman Catholicism and a growing sense of national and civic duty, Baptists met the challenge of immigration with a range of attitudes and programmes that sought to assimilate the “foreign element” in Canada or prevent their admission into the country altogether. Baptists were as much drawn into schemes of Christianization and Canadianization as their Protestant counterparts, seeking to mould the nation into “His Dominion.” This vision of Canada was shared by both liberal and fundamentalist Baptists and was only seriously questioned in the 1930s, when a Baptist intellectual, Watson Kirkconnell, began to question the moral fortitude of assimilationist and protectionist policies and in their stead bestowed the virtues of ethnic pluralism as the father of multiculturalism in Canada.

Keywords: Baptists, Canada
Refugees, Religious aspects