VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Impact of disclosure and corporate governance on the relevance of fair value gains and losses in the commercial banking industry

This thesis investigates whether the quality of bank's fair value gains and losses (FVGL) as perceived by the market participants is a function of its risk management process for a sample of 180 U.S. commercial banks for the period 2003-2005. To capture the market's perception of the quality of FVGL, I use two complementary measures of market association--value relevance measured as the association between stock returns and FVGL based on the returns model and risk relevance measured as the variance contribution of FVGL to the volatility of unexpected stock returns based on the variance decomposition model (VD model). As bank's actual risk management process is unobservable to outsiders, I use disclosure relating to the risk management activities and corporate governance to measure the effectiveness of this process. The returns model-based tests suggest that the FVGL-returns association is significant only when conditioned on disclosure. In contrast, the VD model-based tests show that FVGL are significant unconditionally in explaining the volatility of unexpected returns. Both the FVGL-returns association and the relative variance contribution of FVGL to the volatility of unexpected returns are increasing in disclosure. The effect of corporate governance operates indirectly through the medium of disclosure. Further, I classify disclosure by type of risk and find that both the FVGL-returns association and the relative variance contribution of FVGL increase with the level of disclosure related to interest rate risk, credit risk and derivatives risk for banks that are exposed to these risks. Overall, the results suggest that disclosure aids market participants directly, whereas corporate governance aids market participants indirectly (via disclosure) in evaluating the fair value estimates.

Keywords: Accounting
Banks and banking
Site-activity, active carbon coverage and methane selectivity of cobalt Fischer-Tropsch catalysts: effects of catalyst composition and reaction conditions

Catalyst composition and reaction conditions effects on site-activity, active carbon coverage and methane selectivity in cobalt-catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are examined using 12CO→13CO isotope transients, applied for the first time under commercially important high-pressure conditions. To address catalyst composition effects, a large suite of catalysts was tested under a single, constant set of reaction conditions: 221°C, 6.5 atm, H2/CO/Ne = 2/1/1, CO conversion = 12–16%. Intrinsic site-activities of adsorbed CO (kCO) and active carbon (kC*), as well as methane selectivity, are unaffected by the support identity (TiO2, Al2O3 and SiO), Re addition, and secondary reactions. Modified support catalysts (-Y2O, -MgO, -ZnO modification of Al2O3, SiO2, SiO 2·Al2O3 and Ce2O3) show reduced site-activities, but normal methane selectivities. For all catalysts, the variability in site-activity indicates either mild structure sensitivity for cobalt FT or susceptibility to chemical inhibition by impurities. Although the cause of the site-activity variability is unknown, lower methane selectivity correlates with higher active carbon coverage, resulting from variable active carbon reactivity. To examine reaction conditions effects, an unsupported cobalt catalyst was tested over a wide range of conditions: 190–228°C, 3–15 atm syngas, H2/CO = 1/1–4/1, [special characters omitted] = 0–8 atm, CO conversion = 12%. The amount of reversibly adsorbed CO is constant under all conditions, except for a small decrease (10–20%) during water co-feeding. By contrast, the active carbon inventory, not affected by temperature or [special characters omitted], displays saturation behaviour with increasing PCO. Active carbon does not compete for CO adsorption sites. Water co-feeding causes substantial catalyst deactivation, resulting from both a decrease in the number of active sites, due to particle sintering, and a decrease in site-activity. Water also invokes reversible catalyst changes. Water decreases methane selectivity, and increases alpha and the reactivity of adsorbed CO without affecting the active carbon reactivity, leading to higher active carbon coverage. A simple model of hydrocarbon formation correlates the majority of selectivity changes observed in the catalyst composition and reaction conditions studies with the active carbon coverage on the catalyst. In addition, the model reveals that the rate coefficient ratio of chain initiation to CO turnover (k i/kCO) may be the dominant factor determining FT selectivity.
Characterization of PIDD, a death domain-containing p53 target gene

The p53 tumour suppressor promotes cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in response to diverse stress stimuli. p53-mediated cell death depends in large part on transcriptional upregulation of target genes. One of these targets, p53-induced protein with a death domain (PIDD), was shown to function as a mediator of p53-dependent apoptosis. Previous work in our lab demonstrated that antisense inhibition of PIDD expression attenuated p53-mediated apoptosis suggesting that PIDD expression is required for apoptosis. The work presented here is a characterization of the protein and the apoptotic pathways involved downstream of PIDD. Here we describe the generation and validation of a PIDD polyclonal antibody, and demonstrate its usefulness for Western blotting, immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence (IF) analysis. These studies demonstrate that PIDD is a cytoplasmic protein and that PIDD is upregulated by p53 activation and in response to DNA damage. In addition, we show that PIDD-induced death and growth suppression in embryonic fibroblasts are dependent on the adaptor protein RAIDD (receptor-interacting protein (RIP)-associated ICH-1/CED-3 homologous protein with a death domain). We also provide evidence that PIDD-induced cell death is associated with the early activation of caspase-2, and later activation of caspase-3 and caspase-7. Our results also show that caspase-2-/- MEFs in contrast to RAIDD-/- MEFs are only partially resistant to PIDD. These findings suggest that caspase-2 contributes to PIDD-mediated cell death but that it is not the sole effector of this pathway.
Playing with fire: Bataille's heterologies

This thesis demonstrates the process by which Bataille's oeuvre constitutes an active practice of heterology. Bataille defines the heterogeneous as that which defies rational system, and heterology as the "science de ce qui est tout autre"1. The use of the plural, 'heterologies', in my thesis transcends this understanding of the term and provides a means of exploring the numerous manifestations and repercussions of heterological practice throughout the textual field of Bataille's works. Bataille's heterologies pose numerous complex questions: what are the ramifications of the heterogeneous on literary and on theoretical form? Is there a context in which the heterogeneous fails to disturb? Must one choose silence over writing -- or writing over silence? -- when attempting the practice of heterology?My analysis of four of Bataille's works -- each radically different from the other -- exposes heterology as a genuine and yet all-encompassing impossibility. The thesis actively explores -- without resolving -- this paradoxical practice as the state of being and world view which Bataille's oeuvre expresses and imposes upon all who encounter it. Each of the texts analyzed demonstrates a salient component of Bataille's heterology. These components may be pared down to the following: (i) L'abbe C.---the formal clash between heterogeneity and homogeneity as expressed through the operation of 'formless' in a fictional work; (ii) La part maudite---the creation of an impossible discourse based on the self-sacrifice of the author's own intentions regarding his work; (iii) Le mort---the violent constraint of that which cannot be constrained (with a focus on language); (iv) Le coupable ---the undoing of a work which is infiltrated by chance and which silences an entire oeuvre with its own (silent) verbosity. Bataille's heterologies pose primordial threats to formal study even as they transcend many limits of traditional analysis. As such, they provide a means by which academic research may acknowledge and incorporate its own limitations without being lulled into a 'postmodern' comfort. Unyielding and yet truly elusive, heterologies force all who come into contact with them into a realm of paradox and impossibility.1 Georges Bataille, "La valeur d'usage de D.A.F. de Sade", OCII, 61n.
Relationship between microgloss uniformity and surface texture of paper

A customized setup was used to measure the microgloss nonuniformity of paper. This setup can characterize gloss uniformity of an area of one square centimetre at a resolution of 16 x 16 mum2. Beckmann's light scattering model for random rough surfaces was successfully applied to describe the relationship between the surface texture parameters and the microgloss nonuniformity of a large range of coated and uncoated papers. The model, based on the Kirchhoff approximation, suggests that the variation in specular reflectance (gloss) depends only on the RMS roughness, sigma, and on the correlation length, T, of the surface height of the samples. The topography of the paper surfaces was obtained using a WYKO surface profiler. Results indicated that the relationship between the variance of microgloss followed the prediction of the Beckmann's model well. The variance of microgloss was found to be linearly dependent on a dimensionless parameter Ts for most of the samples studied. However, the dependence of the natural logarithm of the average microgloss on the square of rms roughness was nonlinear differing from the model prediction.
Serotonin modulates AY-9944-induced atypical absence seizures via the 5-HT2A receptor activation

Postnatal administration of the cholesterol inhibitor AY-9944 (AY) to Long Evans Hooded rats results in chronic atypical absence seizures which are unprovoked, lifelong, recurrent, and frequent. The occurrence of slow spike and wave discharges (SSWD) and myoclonic jerks during sleep in AY-treated rats suggest a perturbation of the serotonergic system. Experiments manipulating serotonin at the global and receptor level were carried out to investigate its role in modulating AY seizures. Serotonin depletion using para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) attenuated total SSWD duration. Paradoxically, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) also decreased total SSWD. The effect of 5-HTP has been attributed to activation of 5-HT2 receptors because DOI, a 5-HT2A/C agonist dose-dependently attenuated seizures. The effect of DOI was attributed to actions at the 2A subtype because mCPP, a 5-HT2C preferring agonist, did not reduce SSWD, whereas the 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin exacerbated SSWD. These results indicate that serotonin modulates SSWD in the AY model via 5-HT2A receptor activation.
Perspectives on music and music listening in infancy

This thesis presents research on music and music listening in infancy. The first part, which concerns musical elements in the infant's environment, examines mothers' singing and speech to infants. In one study (Chapter 1), mothers were recorded speaking and singing to their infants on two occasions separated by one week or more. The pitch level and tempo of mothers' repeated utterances were found to be highly variable across the one-week period, but these features were virtually unchanged in their song repetitions. Moreover, rhythmic patterning was largely maintained in speech, as in song. In a second study (Chapter 2), transcriptions of discernible tunes in mothers' speech revealed that mothers repeated specific tunes not only the same day but also one week later. Moreover, these maternal tunes were individually distinctive. The second part of the thesis concerns infants' perception of rhythm. In one study (Chapter 3), 9-month-old infants' perception of auditory temporal sequences was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, infants detected a change in the context of a metric sequence but not in the context of a nonmetric sequence. When infants heard tone sequences with groups of notes occurring regularly or irregularly within the metric framework (Experiment 2), their performance did not differ significantly. These findings are consistent with processing predispositions for auditory temporal sequences that induce a metric framework. In the final study (Chapter 4), 9-month-old infants listened to tone sequences with temporal or harmonic cues to duple or triple meter. Infants detected a change to the pattern in duple meter but not in the pattern in triple meter whether the meter was cued by temporal or harmonic features. These findings are consistent with processing predispositions for duple meter and, more generally, for binary relations between events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
The Black/Jamaican Criminal: The Making of Ideology

This thesis examines the process of racialization and criminalization of Black/Jamaicans by one of Toronto's leading daily newspapers; The Toronto Sun (herein called "The Sun." The framework for this study is based on two related aspects to the theory of anti-Black racism: (1) That anti-Black racism is a particular form of systemic and structural racism in Canadian society, which historically and contemporarily has been perpetrated against Blacks. Anti-Black racism has meaning and saliency in the perpetuation of dominant and hegemonic systems of whiteness and the marginalization and banishment of Black/Jamaicans from Canadian society; and (2) That the naming of anti-Black racism is a form of resistance against dominant and hegemonic systems of Whiteness and the building of agency and social transformation against racism and other forms of oppression. The research methodology applies a hybrid of textual analysis to news reports produced by The Sun during 1993 and 1994 to 30 and 236 articles respectively, on Black/Jamaicans involved in crime. The study shows the ways in which (a) the language and discourse selected in these news reports reproduced existing stereotypes and racist ideologies about Blacks and crime. (b) the examination of The Sun's reports revealed the way in which media discourses related to Jamaica, immigration and race promulgates racial ideologies in which Black/Jamaicans are othered. (c) The consequences of othering of Black/Jamaicans is social exclusion or marginalization within Canadian society and banishment by way of deportation, more often than not, to Jamaica. Finally, the study recommends changes in the reporting and depiction of Black/Jamaicans as criminal by The Sun and other media outlets. The study also calls for the building of a unified Black community together with its allies to take resistive actions against this ideology of the Black/Jamaican criminal and against anti-Black racism.

Keywords: Racism in the press, Ontario
Race discrimination, Ontario
Crime and race, Press coverage
Crime and race, Ontario
Jamaicans, Press coverage
Jamaicans, Ontario
Blacks, Press coverage
Blacks, Ontario
Questions that women with breast cancer have about pain related to cancer

This qualitative descriptive study explored the questions that women with breast cancer have about pain related to cancer. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 women with pain related to breast cancer or its treatment. In total, 208 questions were identified covering seven main themes: (1) understanding cancer pain (cause, meaning, and nature of cancer pain), (2) what to expect, (3) options for pain control, (4) coping and living with cancer pain, (5) talking to and learning from others with cancer pain, (6) where to get help managing cancer pain, and (7) how to describe and communicate effectively about pain. These findings confirm that women with breast cancer have numerous questions regarding the experience and management of pain related to cancer. However, the data also suggest that formulating and articulating questions is a context-dependent, time-intensive process that involves reflection, knowledge, and a good use of language, particularly in regards to pain.
Relating performance-based accountability policy to the accountability practices of school leaders

Educational accountability is increasingly acting as a lever for policy reform that utilizes a central mechanism of large-scale student testing as a measure of school effectiveness. The current literature is flooded with research on the impact of U.S. and English models of performance-based accountability on schools. As a nation without a federal education mandate and comparatively minimal overt punitive consequences for educators, Canada's approach to testing and accountability proved to be markedly different from the models reported on in the literature. This thesis describes a three-phased, mixed-method examination of the relationship between the province-level policies of performance-based accountability and the related school-level practices. In the first phase, the performance-based accountability models in ten provinces and territories in Canada were described and categorized using a five-dimensional framework. In the second phase, the related practices of secondary school administrators in Alberta and Ontario were examined through survey data. In the third phase, the relationship between the different policy models and school leader practices were examined. The findings indicate that there is a potential relationship between provincial policies and the practices of secondary school leaders in Canada. However, inherent in the policy models are opportunities for legitimate local flexibility. The degree of local flexibility in the Canadian models allow for the influence of individual leader's belief about the utility of performance-based accountability in public education to act as a key factor related to school leader practices. Finally, the findings are discussed identifying the distinctions in the Canadian approach of performance-based accountability and re-conceptualized as inquiry-based accountability. Inquiry-based accountability is proposed as a model that better captures the Canadian approach where there is an emphasis on the process of accountability for school improvement, rather than for an evaluation of school quality.
Du texte a l'image, de l'image au texte: le pictural dans certains romans de Marie-Claire Blais et Sergio Kokis

Cette thèse prend comme point de départ le constat que l'oeuvre romanesque et l'image picturale s'imbriquent de façons très diverses. L'objectif de cette étude est double, car nous visons à examiner différents modes d'introduction du pictural au sein du genre romanesque, notamment à élucider l'importance du pictural dans certains romans de Marie-Claire Biais et de Sergio Kokis. Dans le premier chapitre, il s'agit de poser des jalons pour l'étude des rapports texte-image afin de découvrir les modalités qui sous-tendent l'introduction des images picturales in praesentia et in absentia dans des romans de Biais et de Kokis. Ensuite, nous passons à une première analyse: l'édition illustrée d' Une Saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel de Marie-Claire Biais, avec des dessins de Mary Meigs. Par l'entremise d'une étude des portraits littéraires et picturaux des personnages, nous examinons le fonctionnement de l'illustration d'accompagnement. La prochaine analyse porte sur les stratégies de référence et de nomination qui sont mises en oeuvre pour décrire des tableaux de Munch, de Degas, de Toulouse-Lautrec, de Dix et de Grosz dans Le Sourd dans la ville de Biais ...
Environmental taxes and global warming

Environmental taxation is a market based mechanism which could be used to reduce pollutants including those that affect the global environment. The focus of this thesis is on the use of environmental taxes to address global warming, especially through energy and carbon taxes. For years governments have been using command and control mechanisms to reduce polluting emissions in production, with no real effectiveness. Energy and carbon taxes are an alternative policy instrument. Through its implementation, polluting could become a cost for producers, creating incentives to reduce emission, develop and implement environmentally friendly technology. This implementation will also create a shift or reallocation of the costs created by pollution. This thesis will try to explain how environmental taxes would be useful to approach global warming. It also discusses several issues which must be taken into consideration when implementing and designing this mechanism, giving consideration to several options and approaches.

Keywords: Pollution, Taxation
Global warming
Graduate students' training and knowledge in childhood sexual abuse

This study assessed the current training and knowledge of graduate student counsellors about childhood sexual abuse. Participants were 32 graduate students from OISE/UT and York University. Twenty-six females, five males and one undeclared filled out a questionnaire during April to August 2006. Although the average hours of instruction received from graduate schools about childhood sexual abuse was four hours, ten participants did not receive any training at all. Two-thirds of the sample had not sought training outside graduate school. While most participants thought that childhood sexual abuse is a prevalent problem that resulted in impaired adult functioning, two-thirds of the sample did not feel prepared by graduate schools to treat clients with abuse histories. This researcher concluded that graduate students are still being poorly prepared by graduate schools. Direct implications/applications of this research point to possible changes in the curriculum regarding students' training and knowledge of childhood sexual abuse.

Keywords: Adult child abuse victims, Counseling of
Adult child abuse victims, Ontario
Counselors, Education (Graduate)
Counselors, Ontario
False memory syndrome
A numerical investigation of the transition from regular reflection to Mach reflection in air

The transition from regular to Mach reflection for the reflection of a planar shock from a wedge in an air-filled shock tube is investigated numerically. Both inviscid and viscous high fidelity computational fluid dynamics methods are used to examine the effects of wall and surface boundary layers on the transition boundary. An innovative method is implemented to determine numerically the transition boundary by varying the shock strength and wedge angle. The numerically predicted boundaries, with and without boundary layers, are then compared not only to theoretical transition criteria based on standard two- and three-shock analyses that neglect the presence of boundary layers, but also to experimental transition boundary data that is inherently influenced by boundary layer effects. The objective of this numerical study is to help resolve the von Neumann paradox as to why experimental regular reflections persist beyond the analytically predicted transition boundaries into the Mach reflection domain. It is shown that the numerical results of the Navier-Stokes equations for viscous flows can well reproduce the persistence of regular reflection into the Mach reflection domain observed in physical experiments while the numerical results of the Euler equations for inviscid flows are in close agreement with the predictions given by the inviscid theory.