VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
ATCUN-derived paramagnetic distance restraints in the study of an SH3 domain

Study of the unfolded states of proteins lends insight into the protein folding problem. A well-studied system, the unfolded state of the N-terminal drk SH3 domain, has been structurally characterized using NMR spectroscopy and other techniques. The computer program ENSEMBLE (Choy and Forman-Kay, 2001) can model the rapidly-interconverting unfolded state ensemble, based on this experimental data. To extend the constraint types usable by ENSEMBLE, the distance-dependent paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) was measured on a modified SH3 domain; a small ATCUN motif was added to the domain, which binds a paramagnetic Cu2+ ion. Models that predict the position of the copper atom fit well to the experimental PRE data, and an ENSEMBLE restraint based on PRE values was compatible with other structural information. These results support the utility of ATCUN-derived PRE data for characterization of unfolded states, an important goal in understanding protein structure, stability, and function.
"Breaking down the substituent of the future": Environmental properties of pentafluorosulfanyl compounds

The pentafluorosulfanyl (SF5) functional group was investigated from an environmental perspective to ascertain its physical properties and photolytic fate. Five simple aromatic compounds were chosen as model compounds with which to compare with their trifluoromethyl analogs. Water solubilities for SF5 compounds ranged from 78--2380 mg/L. Octanol-water partitioning coefficients ranged from log KOW = 2.9 to 3.6, all of which were approximately 0.5-0.6 log units more hydrophobic than their CF3 analogs. The direct photolytic fate of SF5 compounds was studied and the SF5 group was found to completely degrade using actinic radiation with half lives ranging from 47 minutes to 4.8 hours. The reaction was followed by HPLC-UV, 19F NMR and high resolution mass spectrometry. It was found that five equivalents of fluoride were released to form a benzenesulfonate as a final product of photodegradation. This study provides the first evidence that pentafluorosulfanyl can degrade under mild conditions.
Cast steel connector for tubular braces in seismic building applications

This thesis presents a study on the feasibility of using cast steel elements to connect hollow structural sections (HSS) to gusset plates in steel braced frames. The development of a novel cast steel connector complying with Canadian design provisions and optimized using finite element analysis is presented. The proposed connector is introduced as an alternative to the weld-fabricated reinforced HSS connections that are currently used in earthquake resistant braced frames. Results from static and pseudo-dynamic tests of brace-connector assemblies are presented and compared to predictions by finite element analyses. Laboratory testing demonstrated that the use of cast steel connectors can eliminate the shear-lag effects associated with many HSS connection details. Further, as the connector designed herein was crafted to fit a range of HSS members and can be mass produced, the proposed solution may be an economically viable alternative to conventional weld-fabricated connections.
Promoting vocabulary acquisition among grade one and two ESL students with word explanation and repeated reading using audiotaped books

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention using word explanation and repeated reading supported by audio taped books, to increase knowledge of targeted vocabulary words. Participants in the study attended an inner city school in a metropolitan Canadian city. A total of 24 grade one and two ESL students with early reading delays participated. Pre-test measures included the PPVT-III (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Third Edition, Dunn & Dunn, 1997) and Memory for Digits subtest (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Wagner, Torgesen & Rashotte, 1999). A 58-item Target Vocabulary "Pest of words selected for study in the intervention was given pre and post-test to all participants. Twelve students were assigned to the intervention of shared reading, word explanation and home practice using audiotaped books. Twelve students in the control condition received their regular language arts program. Repeated measures ANOVA of pre and post-test target vocabulary scores found an overall significant pre-test-post-test effect between intervention and control groups. An interaction between pre-test-post-test and treatment groups was also found, with the intervention group showing a larger post-test score. Variables of grade, book level and parts of speech were examined using repeated measures ANOVA with no significant effects found on target vocabulary gain scores. Pearson correlation between word gains on the Target Vocabulary Test and short term memory scores on the Digit Span subtest (CTOPP) found a positive and near significant correlation for the intervention group. Four case studies of students in the intervention group illustrated a relationship between higher short-term memory scores and larger target vocabulary gains. Results suggest that word explanation and repeated reading combined are effective for increasing vocabulary among grade one and two ESL students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Estimating two-year survival using the cox model with updated covariates

The Cox proportional hazards model is the most widely used approach to modeling survival data. When updated covariates (UCs), variables whose values change over time, are included in the model, short term survival probability estimates can be obtained by assuming that the UCs remain fixed for short time periods. This assumption breaks down when long term survival probability estimates are required. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the regression coefficients for four different models with lagged values of several predictor variables. Each of the models involved increasingly longer lag times: 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months. Two year survival probabilities were then estimated by combining probability estimates using the regression coefficients obtained from these four lagged models. These models were developed using a two-stage approach: first the UCs were modeled using a step function, linear regression, or local regression smoothing and values were estimated at exact lag times. The UC estimates were then used in Cox survival models to obtain baseline hazard and coefficient estimates. Algebra and a simulation were used to obtain survival probability estimates from a series of scenarios using both a single model with no lagging and combining short term estimates obtained from increasingly lagged models, demonstrating the reduction in bias when the multiple lagged model is used. A study of cystic fibrosis data is used for illustration.
The differential population success of two non-indigenous elms (Ulmus pumila and U. glabra) introduced into river valleys in Toronto, Canada

Ulmus pumila and U. glabra have been introduced intentionally into two river valley systems in Toronto, Canada. Ulmus pumila has become invasive, possibly displacing the indigenous U. americana, whereas Ulmus glabra remains uncommon. This research sought characters that might explain why U. pumila has become invasive, and U. glabra did not. I found that Ulmus pumila has the potential to produce more propagules than the other Ulmus spp. studied. The estimated dispersal distance of fruits released from a height of 20 m in a 7.0 m/s wind was 192 m for U. glabra, 41% farther than U. pumila and 58% farther than U. americana. Germination success in an old field community was 12% for U. pumila, 8% for U. americana and <1% for U. glabra. The comparison of two non-indigenous species—one invasive, the other not—found that poor germination was the most important factor influencing failure as an invasive.

Keywords: Siberian elm
Elm, Ontario
Coaches' perceptions of emotional and social intelligence

Researchers have explored the nature of coaching from many different perspectives, including process (Cassidy, Jones, Potrac, 2004; Lyle, 1999); leadership (Chelladurai, 1978, 1993; Cote, North, Duffy, 2007; Vallee Bloom, 2005); and qualities and abilities of coaches (Armstrong, 2001; Tomlinson Stachan, 1996). The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate coaches' perceptions of emotional and social intelligence and its influence on the coaching process. In this study, a mixed model was employed, in which a qualitative paradigm was dominant and a quantitative paradigm was also utilized (Creswell, 1994). In the first of three data collection phases, I surveyed 60 coaches of elite adult athletes using the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) (Bar-On, 1997) for the purpose of measuring their perceptions of their emotional and social intelligence. The group of 60 coaches was divided into four groups, which were determined by gender and by whether the coach coached a team or an individual sport. In the second phase; I interviewed nine of the coaches who had participated in phase one of the study to understand more thoroughly their perceptions of their emotional and social intelligence and to collect their experiences of its influence on the coaching process. In phase three, three athletes, identified by each of the nine interviewed coaches, completed the Emotional Quotient-360°. The purpose of phase three was to compare the athletes' perceptions of their coaches' emotional and social intelligence against the coaches' self-perceptions obtained in phase one. The findings of this study suggested that the coaches were not familiar with the concept of emotional and social intelligence and their leadership style was to maintain unilateral control or power over the athletes (Tomlinson Strachan, 1996). Furthermore, the various coaching groups perceived and reported different levels of satisfaction and types of relating styles. EQ-i scores, levels of happiness and interpersonal dynamics reflect these differences. Interestingly, coaches' self-perceptions differed significantly from the athletes' perceptions of their coaches in three areas- independence, flexibility, and stress tolerance. The implications of these findings for coach/athlete relationships and for furthering coaching education and development are discussed.
HSP 72 accumulation in the rat hindlimb following level and downhill running

HSP 72 accumulation was assessed in rat hindlimb muscles following one hour of level or downhill treadmill running at 26m/min. Animals were sacrificed immediately or at one, three, or five days following exercise. Six muscles were examined for HSP 72 content, muscle glycogen, colonic and muscle temperature. Muscle damage was examined using plasma creatine kinase (PCK) analysis, and visual assessment of gross muscle damage was performed using hematoxylin and eosin staining. Downhill running resulted in a greater absolute colonic temperature compared to level running (p
Combination trastuzumab metronomic low-dose chemotherapy for the treatment of erbB2 overexpressing breast cancer

The purpose of these studies was to evaluate the preclinical anti-tumor and antiangiogenic effects of long-term metronomic chemotherapy in combination with trastuzumab relative to standard MTD regimens. Using an orthotopic mammary tumor model with an erbB2 overexpressing variant of MDA-MB-231, SCID mice treated with metronomic or MTD cyclophosphamide (CTX) in combination with trastuzumab showed long-term tumor growth delay compared to single agent therapy. The superior benefit of metronomic dosing was indicated by an absence of severe toxicity. Tumor perfusion and Matrigel assays indicated an additive antiangiogenic effect of metronomic CTX and trastuzumab. Acquired resistance observed after prolonged treatment with trastuzumab alone or combined with CTX was observed and led to studies of possible mechanisms of resistance. Of interest was the upregulation of VEGF and the detection of stable in vivo/in vitro acquired resistance to trastuzumab. Resistant tumors responded to subsequent treatment with bevacizumab, cetuximab, A12 and in some circumstances, pertuzumab.
Assessment of strategies for measuring Cl-36 in natural samples

The cosmogenic isotope 36Cl (half-life of 3.01 x 105 years) has been applied to problems in hydrogeology and surface exposure dating for a number of years. However its measurement in natural samples is complicated by its low abundance with respect to the stable isotopes of chlorine (36Cl/Cl = 10-10 to 10-16), and the presence of the isobar 36S (0.02% of S). Conventional Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) techniques for measuring 36Cl require tandem accelerators of 5 MV or larger. Only these machines can accelerate the 36Sn+ ions to high enough energies for them to be separated in gas-filled magnets, or in dE/dx analysis in the final detector. The present work investigates the possibility of 36Cl analysis on smaller, more economical machines. It is demonstrated that 36Ar3+ and 36S3+ ions, generated from argon and SF6 gas within the 2 MV tandem accelerator at the University of Toronto, will not preclude 36Cl measurements. A gas ion source was developed in which Cl- ions are created when a negative ion beam transfers its charge to the gas ICl, and the Cl- ions are then extracted. The efficiency of Cl- generation was about 20% for a Cu- beam. Because of the instability of sulphur iodide (S2I2) at room temperature, and the resonant charge transfer reaction to ICl, this gas source should discriminate against 36S. It was also shown that in the collision of S - and Cl- ions with NO2 gas at about one milliTorr pressure, the S- was attenuated by about two orders of magnitude relative to the Cl-. Finally, the 25 MV Holifield accelerator at Oak Ridge, Tennessee was used to measure 36Cl with the completely stripped 36Cl 17+ ion. Because the completely stripped sulphur species has a charge of 16+, it was possible to separate this isobar from 36Cl in a magnet. These measurements detected 36Cl in seawater for the first time, and showed, unexpectedly, that the 36Cl/Cl ratio varies in the world ocean.
National information infrastructure development in Canada and the U.S.: (re) defining universal service and universal access in the age of techno-economic convergence

This exploratory and descriptive research compares the policy-making processes and policy recommendations regarding universal service and universal access developed by the U.S. National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC), the Canadian Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC), and related federal government agencies. Created in 1993 and 1994, respectively, the Councils were charged with “bringing forward” the concepts of universal service and universal access to adjust to the effects of deregulation, new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and neo-liberal economic competition that included acknowledging the private sector as the primary creator of the Information Highway. Both Councils were informed by the history, narrative, and discourse pertaining to the concept of universal service and telephony; they received submissions from the public, private, and NGO sectors and individuals; both Councils delivered policy recommendations to their respective governments, pointing to traditional information and public access institutions such as libraries, schools, and hospitals as the most feasible points to begin to guarantee access to the Information Highway. As its primary data this study relied on the Councils' preparatory briefing documents and their final reports as well as interviews with Council members and government agency and NGO members. This qualitative study used as its methodology organizational, policy, narrative, and discourse analyses to create a critique of what universal service and universal access were and what they became in the NIIAC, IHAC process. The research showed that the U.S. had started with a more clearly defined universal service tradition than Canada, and undertook a more complex, broad-based policy-making process with more experienced personnel. It was also clear that IHAC had in many ways adopted the U.S. model and arrived at many similar recommendations as NIIAC. Because of the inevitability of technical, economic, and social change related to the Information Highway, no definitive outcome to the universal service and universal access “story” can be determined. Because the Canadian government did not follow up on some of IHAC's most crucial recommendations, the Information Highway “story” in Canada has been left less complete and less clear than in the U.S.

Keywords: Information superhighway, Government policy
Information superhighway, Canada
Information superhighway, Government policy
Information superhighway, United States
Role of small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMO) in neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease

Sumoylation is a post-translational modification by which small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMO) are covalently conjugated to target proteins. This reversible pathway provides a rapid and efficient way to modulate the subcellular localization, activity and stability of a wide variety of substrates. Consequently, sumoylation impacts disease pathways such as oxidative stress, protein misfolding and proteasome-mediated degradation. These events can contribute to the formation of abnormal protein aggregates associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Similar to ubiquitin, SUMO co-localizes with these neuronal inclusions and, in some instances, the constituent proteins have been identified as substrates for sumoylation. Based upon these observations, it is our hypothesis that the SUMO pathway contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. This was supported by the demonstration that SUMO3 overexpression significantly upregulated the production of amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptides. Sumoylation-induced changes in Abeta were found to be independent of SUMO conjugation and indicated that SUMO3 could potentially impact the formation of amyloid plaques in AD. The two natively unfolded proteins tau and alpha-synuclein have also been identified as novel SUMO substrates. These proteins form the basis of pathological inclusions corresponding to neurofibrillary tangles in AD and alpha-synuclein-containing Lewy bodies found in Parkinson's disease, respectively. Finally, an exploratory quantitative proteomic study has isolated potential SUMO substrates specifically upregulated in response to proteasome inhibition, a common feature in brain aging and neurodegeneration. Taken together, these original findings indicate that SUMO may contribute to Alzheimer's disease and neurodegenerative processes through several possible cellular pathways.
Frames for conversion: the assimilation of native motifs in the monastic decoration of New Spain (1540--1580)

The final case centers on the idiosyncratic grotesque friezes that run along the nave of the Augustinian church at Ixmiquilpan. By appealing to chivalric values crucial for the Spanish expansion project, the grotesque friezes at Ixmiquilpan provide a heraldic frame to reconstruct Aztec antiquity and to negotiate the colonial identity of the indigenous warrior communities. The second case study features the mural paintings at the lower cloister of the Augustinian convent in Malinalco, which simulate a continuous millefleurs tapestry containing native hieroglyphs along with European and local plants and animals. This time the paradise imagery worked as a decorative frame to enhance the cloister's learning environment, reframing the New World singularities within a Christian cosmology. This dissertation presents an alternative model to discuss the assimilation of native motifs in the monastic decoration of sixteenth-century New Spain. In contrast to former approaches that have considered indigenous elements either as innocuous infiltrations or as active signs of native resistance, this study shows how lavish decoration served as an arena of negotiation between Christian and native ritual practices. By "framing" indigenous elements within European master discourses, colonial monastic culture found accommodation for the native presence within the Western worldview. Each case study, moreover, discusses those different quotations within the larger philosophical context of the Spiritual Conquest. First, the atrium cross at the Franciscan monastery of Tepeyac presents an example in which a pre-Columbian calendrical glyph has been adapted to the decoration of a Christian object. In this case, I argue, the assimilation of the native hieroglyphic system was meant to convey the idea of imitatio Christi by reminding the new converted Indians of the need for physical mortification. Equally, in the process of creating a new colonial identity, Mesoamerican communities preserved crucial elements from their past under the form of idiosyncratic ornamental repertories. Far from being a uniform process, however, the reconciliation of divergent artistic practices within the New Spanish monastic milieu has proved to be multifaceted. Thus, this dissertation presents three different case studies that explore some of the tactics by which specific native signs were "quoted" within Renaissance ornamental repertories.
Study of fundamental foaming mechanisms in chemical-blowing-agent based foaming process

The goal of this thesis is to develop a scientific and engineering basis needed for production of thermoplastic foams through clarifying the fundamental foaming mechanisms blown with a chemical blowing agent (CBA) under the atmospheric pressure. The presented research is based on a series of visualization experiments by using an optical microscope and a CCD camera system, in which foamable polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) samples were used. Samples prepared by the compression molding method were employed to clarify the dynamics of bubble nucleation, growth and verify a mathematical bubble growth model about lifespan of CBA-blown bubbles in non-pressurized polymer melt, and samples prepared by the master batch method were used to investigate the influencing factors on foam morphology in rotational foam molding. The decomposition behaviors of the selected CBAs were analyzed by conducting thermal analysis experiments. The mechanisms that govern the cell nucleation, cell growth and shrinkage were clarified. The critical processing parameters that would affect the development of a fine-celled foam structure in rotational foam molding were also outlined.