VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The one who cares: a critique of Nel Noddings' ethic of care from a Korean feminist perspective

The final challenge is "tough caring." There are people about whom we do not want to think. We must not view difficult situations as burdens. Caring is a virtue, and the practice of caring further develops our capacity to care. That is part of our responsibility to our fellow humans. I recognize my own limitations when it comes to tough caring. The alternative that I suggest takes into account the self who deserves to care. There is a great need for caring in this world. This connection can lead to more caring being demonstrated in education. Korean feminist caring enables teachers to encourage students to value their authentic identities. Students will develop the ability to care for others without feeling worthless. This thesis explores the concept of an ethic of care, taking into consideration modern North American thinking, particularly that of Nel Noddings, as well as considering a Korean perspective. My thesis begins with an exploration of my own story. My gender identity is fundamental to my understanding of myself. I then consider whether my roles are dictated by my birth as a female, that is, growing up with certain expectations of what women should do. Nel Noddings and her theories on self as a care-giver showed a way of understanding the self. Analyzing Noddings' work enabled me to think about caring in the context of my cultures. Noddings discusses the importance of emotional experience, and develops the concepts of care. For Noddings, caring provides a moral orientation for teaching and also can be an applied as an aim of education. Noddings does not make it clear what kind of women's experiences she is describing. Different women have different emotional experiences, which shape their caring relationships. Women, whose experience, like my own, was shaped by growing up in Korea, do not fit the model of reciprocal caring which Noddings describes. The models that I have constructed demonstrate how caring works in my understanding. To further illustrate my understanding of what it means to be a Korean woman, my thesis narrates several stories of Korean women, including myself.

Keywords: Caring
Feminism, Korea
Women, Korea
Force characteristics of nickel titanium closed coil springs

Four properties of nickel titanium closed coil springs were investigated: mean force, maximum force, load/deflection ratio and force degradation over 16 weeks. The force exerted by 150, 200 and 250g springs from three manufacturers (GAC SentalloyeRTM; TP ReflexRTM; Unitek(TM) Nitinol) was recorded throughout their respective published activation ranges. Twenty springs of each nominal force level were tested. The mean initial force of the GAC and Unitek(TM) springs was 6--8% and 23--36% below their nominal force, respectively. The mean initial force of the TP springs was 1--24% above their labeled force. The maximum force of the GAC and TP springs was 53--130% greater than the labeled force, whereas the Unitek(TM) springs exhibited maximum forces within 11% of their nominal values. Unitek(TM) springs generated the lowest load/deflection ratios, which best approximates constant force delivery. Only the GAC 150g springs demonstrated both statistically and clinically significant force degradation.
A meta-search tool for expertise location that uses social computing services

Finding experts who can help solve a problem can be difficult and time-consuming. Manually-maintained expertise profiles are often out of date. Expertise recommendations based on private data such as e-mail are difficult to verify. Intranet social computing services such as web logs (blogs), social bookmarking, and people-tagging can aid in building implicit profiles for expertise search using data captured in informal knowledge management tools. This thesis introduces a meta-search tool that searches for experts based on their blogs, bookmarks, and tags. Results are visualized according to recency, organization, and geographic location. A usability study showed that users are generally satisfied with the tool, but subjects also identified many areas for improvement.
The protection of children within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The balance between pragmatism and idealism

Established within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this thesis is a reflection upon the ability of international law to guarantee fundamental rights to children under occupation. This will examine the relationship between human rights law and international humanitarian law focusing upon the provisions incorporated within the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Challenging existing principles of international law, particularly that of lex specialis, it is argued that protections should be the highest legal standards available regardless of their source. An examination of the rights to life and health develops the argument that different rights require alternative approaches to provide effective protection. Placing the discussion in the context of the current problems in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will highlight the potential in such an approach, as the legal community battles with the pragmatic nature of international humanitarian law against the idealistic potential of human rights.

Keywords: Children and war, Israel
Arab-Israeli conflict, Children
Humanitarian law
Children (International law)
A critical perspective of culturally diverse children in the changing school population in Hong Kong

The thesis examines the effects of the changing school population as a result of the emergence of culturally diverse children in the schools in Hong Kong. The main thrust of this study is to find out factors within the school organization that may enhance or constrain the prospect of democratic schooling for newcomers. The research was carried out in localities having a high population density of newly arrived children (NAC). First hand data were gathered from a sample of nine school administrators and ten teachers through semi-structured interviews. Secondary sources of data were compiled from government policy documents, literature, media documentaries, children's stories and a varied database accessed through libraries and the internet. Data from this study were interpreted against the backdrop of critical pedagogy theory. Major findings of this study indicated that about 66.7% of the sampled schools that applied strict admission standards to rule out marginal standard students did not perceive the new arrivals as a problem. Instead, NAC were seen to bring additive values that could possibly contribute to the schools' fame and consolidate their superior “banding” status. The remaining schools (33.3%) practiced a more open door policy and had a lower banding status. The total number of NAC in these schools was greater than the total in the highly selective schools. Personnel reported numerous difficulties in meeting students' needs as well as in dealing with disruptive and other forms of unwanted behavior. The study found numerous institutional and structural elements that deny most NAC with less valued social and cultural capitals, and fair access to equal opportunity in schooling. As a result of lack of critical awareness of multicultural knowledge at the school and society levels, NAC as a social group face tremendous pressure to conform to a system that disadvantages them. Analysis of data shows that their struggles against being victimized are painful for many. Major issues such as power relations, language, cultural identity, and concept of equality were explored. A multi-level framework for interrogating democratic schooling was used to present findings. The thesis draws implications for future policies, theory and practice, and teacher education.

Keywords: Immigrant children, Education
Immigrant children, China
Multicultural education, China
Identity formation in Korean Canadian women: a look at subjectivity, race, and multiculturalism

This thesis will focus on how subjectivity, race, and multiculturalism play a part in forming identities in Korean Canadian women. It will be based primarily on the study of eight Korean Canadian women living in Toronto, but will also include relevant literature from other researchers. The subjects will be asked questions about multiculturalism, race, stereotypes, family, religion, work, school, and identity during in-depth interviews. Subjects will be selected from a random sample, but will be expected to meet certain criteria such as age and length of residence in Canada. This research is significant because it will give Korean Canadian women the chance to speak for themselves and will also examine how Korean Canadian women's identities are shaped in Canada.

Keywords: Korean immigrants, Social aspects
Korean immigrants, Canada
Koreans, Canada
Korean Canadian women
Women immigrants, Canada
Minority women, Canada
Multiculturalism, Canada
Ethnicity
The B-delayed 3-body breakup of 17Ne and its relation to astrophysics

This is a study on the feasibility of using the β-delayed 3-body decay of 17Ne to constrain the astrophysically important 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate at stellar energies. The relative rate of this reaction to that of 3α → 12C+γγ is believed to strongly affect the evolution of massive stars subsequent to the phase of helium burning. The usefulness of the cascade decay of 17Ne in this study hinges on the existence of α-unbound states of 16O in the decay chain. Detection of all the daughter particles, p + α + 12C in triple coincidence, is necessary to optimize the kinematic information inherent in each event to discriminate against background. The first triple-coincidence measurement was accomplished in 1996, at the TRIUMF-TISOL facility in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in which the isobaric analogue state in 17F at 11.193 MeV (J π = [special characters omitted]−) was observed to decay into three particles via three channels, viz., the 9.59 MeV (Jπ = 1− ) state in 16O, and the 2.37 (Jπ = [special characters omitted]+) and 3.50/3.55 MeV (Jπ = [special characters omitted]−/[special characters omitted]+) states in 13N. In two subsequent measurements, various techniques were incorporated to improve the efficiency in background discrimination. The connection between experiment and theory is made through extensive Monte Carlo simulations and analytic calculations within the framework of R-matrix theory. Based on a single-channel, 2-level R-matrix calculation, an optimum detection geometry has been defined to constrain the strength of the E1 component of the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction. According to results from another single-channel, single-level R-matrix calculation, the 10.03 MeV state in 17F has been identified as the best candidate to constrain the strength of the E2 component. However, more studies are required before the feasibility of using the decay of 17Ne to constrain the strength of the E2 component can be established.
Online classification and prediction of spontaneous seizure-like events in in-vitro epilepsy models

A computer-based intelligent system for real-time classification and prediction of seizure-like events (SLEs) using artificial neural networks (ANNs) on either a computer or animal model of biological neural networks (BNNs) is developed and implemented. The design of this prediction pathway is essential for the development of an intelligent seizure feedback controller since it determines whether the feedback stimulation strategy will be activated. Three types of classifiers with (a) Mixture of Gaussians (MoGs), (b) wavelet nonlinearities and (c) hidden Markov model (HMM) are compared offline. The Gaussian Artificial Neural Network (GANN) is able to capture the manifold information by fitting the state points with Gaussian radial basis functions (RBFs). The Wavelet Artificial Neural Network (WANN) is able to capture the time-varying frequencies in the recorded potentials of seizure episodes. HMM is able to select optimal topology nonparametrically. GANN classifier is successful only in the subject-dependent situations. The WANN design does not require detailed understanding of the exact system dynamics. We show that the WANN and HMM are more robust because they capture the system invariance across subjects. Sensitivity study, pruning analysis and automated relevance determination (ARD) are performed, demonstrating that activities in the high frequency range, above 100Hz, are critical for classification of SLE events. This study is essential for the selection of input frequency range for development of online ANN-based seizure classifier and predictor. The WANN is tested online for the in-vitro hippocampal models, capable of generating spontaneous recurrent seizure-like events (SLEs) [1]. Then, the SLE prevention pathway is explored using stochastic analysis. It is performed on a computer model to understand possible mechanisms for the effectiveness of reported SLE abolishment strategies using periodic stimulations of different frequencies. We study stochastic resonances (SR), coherence resonances (CR) on various coupling pathways between cells [2] to relate the efficacy of communication between neurons to the frequencies of the encoded information. The preliminary result suggests that gap junction and field couplings have the strongest effects on SR and CR. Rhythmicity can be broken when stimuli are given at specific frequency band.
The effect of biologically-inspired, passive, leading-edge tubercles on static and flapping wing flight

Leading-edge tubercles, inspired by humpback whale pectoral flippers, were used in an attempt to improve static and flapping wing performance. Wings with either sinusoidal tubercles or discrete leading-edge tubercles were tested. The best wing used eighteen discrete tubercles of amplitude 4.54% chord, increasing stall angle by 18%, CLmax by 7%, and decreasing drag by 8.4%. Decreased drag was seen only past the stall angle of the baseline case, suggesting that this was due mostly to stall delay. Computer simulations showed that the tubercles delayed stall by inducing boundary layer mixing, using two counter-rotating, stream-wise vortices. The discrete-tubercles on the flapping wing decreased thrust at alpha = 0° without affecting lift. However, at 6° AOA the tubercles reduced drag, but also decreased lift. The tubercles seemed only to benefit the performance of static wings, but this performance increase did not justify the added construction costs associated with their geometric complexity.
A fully coupled Newton-Krylov solver with a one-equation turbulence model

An efficient Newton-Krylov method is presented for the computation of steady, compressible, high Reynolds number flows about single- and multi-element airfoils using structured grids. A second-order centred-difference method is used to discretize the Navier-Stokes equations, using either scalar or matrix dissipation for stability. Turbulence is modeled following Spalart and Allmaras. The equations are solved with Newton's method, using the Generalized Minimal Residual method to approximately solve the linear system. Incomplete lower-upper preconditioning is used to speed linear system convergence. Full coupling is used between the mean flow and turbulence model equations. Experiments are presented to determine the most efficient, robust approach. Extensive use of a node- and iteration-varying time step stabilizes the Newton method, and allows rapid convergence. In particular, a new time step replaces the M-matrix method of Spalart and Allmaras to ensure positive updates. Equation scaling ensures that the linear solver provides an adequate solution of the linear system. Implementation details of the reverse Cuthill-McKee reordering are examined and optimized, revealing that a downwind node should be chosen as the root node in the reordering. A potential problem with errors in the matrix-free method is addressed by optimizing the perturbation parameter. The solver has been applied to a variety of test cases, from simple inviscid single-element examples to complex, multi-element configurations at high angles-of-attack and Reynolds numbers. It performs very well in all examples, typically converging in around 1000 equivalent function evaluations when transition terms are disabled, and around 2000 when they are enabled. It is also shown to be a good choice for use with numerical airfoil optimization.
Interactions between PP1c[gamma]2 and putative testis specific regulatory subunits

The gamma2 isoform of the type-1 Protein Phosphatase is a major serine/threonine phosphatase in the murine testis. Male mice lacking this phosphatase suffer from infertility as a result of defects in spermatogenesis. Members of this family of phosphatases share a high degree of sequence identity and possess unique structural arrangements of a single catalytic domain, such as the PP1cgamma protein, in conjunction with one more regulatory subunits. For this thesis, I performed a deletion series analysis of the unique carboxy-terminal domain of PP1cgamma2 to characterize the important regions needed for its interactions with four previously identified putative regulatory subunits. I identified a five amino acid sequence that is required for all of the interactions. Further, I show that the putative regulatory subunits are able to re-localize PP1cgamma2 in vivo from its natural non-specific distribution to either the nucleus or cytoplasm.
Charting a new institutional development in India: Diagnosing executive failure, critiquing judicial activism and proposing innovative institutional solutions

This thesis is set against the backdrop of the crisis of governance that plagues India today. While the bureaucracy is unresponsive, inefficient and has failed in its mandate of implementing developmental policies, judicial activism has emerged as the default institutional alternative to shake off the apathy of executive institutions, perform the task of implementing policies and even formulate policies. However, such a role of the judiciary is undesirable as it has serious implications inter alia for the quality of governance, the health of the institutional fabric and for democratic values. Instead, some new institutional solutions in the areas of public school education and environmental protection are discussed, based on the ideas of re-invention of government, engaging market institutions in governance and public participation. It is hoped that these solutions will not only lead to better governance but also ultimately improve the quality of institutions themselves.
Administering the colonizer: the Chinese takeover of Russian Harbin, 1920-1932

This dissertation examines the Chinese takeover of the concession's most important institutions, the Chinese Eastern Railway Company, the municipal governments, the courts, the police and the education system. In each case the dissertation argues that the process can be divided into two periods. The first, from 1920–1924, is a period noted for superficial Chinese control. The Chinese administration, understanding that the continuing functioning of the Special District relied on the continued good will and cooperation of the Russian staff of these institutions, insisted on nominal Chinese control. Chinese supervisors were appointed, and new Chinese supervisory bodies were created to replace the former power of the Chinese Eastern Railway. However from the early 1920s the Chinese administration began to include more Chinese staff and planned to reform the former Russian institutions. In the meantime these institutions were left to continue much as before. The second period, 1924–1929, marks a period of renewed Soviet interest in the Special District. In 1924 the Chinese Eastern Railway was placed under joint Soviet-Chinese management as part of the settlement for the normalization of relations between the two countries. The Chinese administrators had hoped that the new Soviet partners would cooperate in establishing full Chinese control over institutions not needed for the railway's operation. Instead the USSR used the foothold it had obtained on the railway to launch a renewed campaign to regain the colonial position once held by Russia in the region. Therefore this second period is one where the Chinese aggressively pursued control of the aforementioned institutions. In this period the Chinese had the support of the Russian anti-Bolshevik émigré population. Broadly the dissertation argues that Northern China has been ignored in the history of the development of Chinese urban administration and nationalism. The dissertation argues that the previous studies of the foreign-Chinese exchange in the treaty ports of southern China have been too influenced by a model of Chinese xenophobic nationalism. The administrative experience of the Special District of the Northeast demonstrates that Chinese nationalism was not only motivated by anti-foreignism but was also inclusive and could accept the administration of a large foreign population. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Oncolytic viruses for the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer

Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a cancer of the head and neck and is unique in its intimate association with the Epstein Barr virus (EBV). Currently, patients with NPC are treated with radiation (RT) and chemotherapy, which is able to achieve a 5-year overall survival of approximately 65%, underscoring the need for novel treatments. Using a gene therapy approach, this thesis presents the development of viral-based strategies to improve tumour control. Chapter 2 evaluates the effect of introducing the tumour suppressor gene p53 using an adenoviral vector (adv. CMV.p53) in vivo in combination with radiation. Despite extensive cytotoxicity in vitro, there was no significant effect. Further analyses revealed that this lack of efficacy may have been due to its limited distribution throughout the tumour mass. Also presented in chapter 2 is the development of a transcriptional targeting system, denoted as oriP-FR. This strategy exploits the exclusive presence of EBV and it associated latent proteins within the tumour cells. This tumour-specific strategy was shown to drive EBV-dependent gene expression both in vitro and in vivo. With the advent of the oriP-FR platform, Chapter 3 addresses the issue of limited in vivo biodistribution through the development and characterization of a conditionally replicating adenovirus (CRA). The CRA was demonstrated to replicate in an EBV-dependent manner and result in selective cytotoxicity in vitro. When combined with RT, the CRA was able to delay tumour growth for at least 2 weeks in two independent NPC models with limited systemic toxicity. In order to further understand the potential therapeutic opportunities exploiting the relationship between EBV and NPC, Chapter 4 explores the effects of the EBV latent to lytic transition after RT and cisplatin treatment. This work characterized the induction of lytic gene expression after treatment with DNA damaging agents and identified a novel role for the transcription factor Nuclear Factor Y in mediating this process. Finally, Chapter 5 discusses the implications and future directions that this research may inspire. In sum, this thesis presents the development and identification of new therapeutic approaches that seek to provide opportunities for improved treatment regimens for patients with NPC.