VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Reclaiming a memory: An inquiry into the Bulgarian camp past

This work examines the untold story of the Bulgarian gulag. While it does not provide a full history of the forced-labour camps, it suggests some of the possible parameters of such study and provides one possible introduction to this topic. Recently declassified documents from the former Secret Police, archival collections, interviews with survivors, ex-guards and functionaries of the camp system are considered together with existing references about the Bulgarian camps: memoir literature, documentary films, online resources, legislative reforms, and academic initiatives. The archival documents and personal narratives paint a complex picture of a traumatic past that is yet to faced. This study is aimed at capturing the attempts to retrieve the lost identity of the camp narrative outside of an ideologically burdened interpretative framework.
On strongly perforated ordered K0-groups of simple C*-algebras

Much progress has been made on the classification of simple C*-algebras via the Elliott invariant. A key component of this invariant is the K0-group. Thus, the range of this invariant is of interest to the classification project. In the stably finite case, the K0-group is an ordered group. If x is an element of an ordered group ⟨G; G+⟩ such that x ∉ G + but nx ≠ 0 and nx ∈ G+ for some natural number n, we say that G is strongly perforated and call x a perforation element. The sequel establishes the existence of several new, strongly perforated order structures which arise as the ordered K 0-groups of certain simple C*-algebras. These order structures include all previously known strongly perforated order structures arising in this manner. Also proved is the existence of unital *-homomorphisms between simple C*-algebras with strongly perforated ordered K0-groups which preserve perforation elements.
Simulating the distribution of benefits of catastrophic drug coverage in Canada

Purpose. This study estimated the benefits of the National Pharmaceuticals Strategy's nationwide catastrophic drug coverage (CDC) plan to households categorized by age, region of residence and income. Two CDC options were assessed; the Fixed plan would cover drug costs exceeding a deductible of 5 percent of household income and the Variable plan deductible increases with income. Results. The largest proportion of beneficiaries and highest overall transfer to beneficiary households was under the Variable option while the highest median transfer per beneficiary household was under the Fixed option. Both CDC options would most benefit low income senior and social assistance households in Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada. However, the two options responded differently to an increase in drug use over time. Conclusion. CDC would benefit those in need of access to affordable prescription drugs. Methods. The 2005 Survey of Household Spending was used to simulate the distribution of benefits under both options.
Organizing narratives: an exploration through friendship and mourning in women's stories of becoming feminist community organizers

In this thesis I explore the stories of nine white, middle-class women, including myself, who have at one time or another identified ourselves, and our work, as feminist community organizers/ing. The thesis began as an attempt to map and analyze feminist organizers as we were coming to terms with the government cuts and ‘restructuring’ in Ontario in the late 1990s. I had in mind a study that could make visible the ways in which a particular group of women responded to neo-liberalism. Soon, however, I began to see that such an approach would take for granted the category ‘feminist community organizer,’ and the ways in which (some) women come to take it up as their/our own. As I listened to the emotional investments in women's stories of ‘un/becoming’ feminist organizers, I felt compelled to take seriously their passionate emotional attachments. The thesis, therefore, has become a critical reflection on the making and un-making of identities in the often ambivalent practices and dynamics of contemporary ‘feminism,’ ‘community’ and ‘organizing.’ Through a post-structuralist feminist lens that makes use of concepts of mourning and friendship, I overlay our conversations with three narrative structures. These narratives illuminate the central themes that we, in the small group convened for the study, use to know ourselves and understand our work: skepticism, radicalism and professionalism. I explore how histories, memories and social location shape the ways we make sense of feminist community organizing and our shifting locations in relation to ‘it.’ I then map how white, middle-class feminist organizing is made possible in excess of binary constructions of good vs. evil, as a practice of friendship and, finally, as an identity produced through an interweaving of secular and sacred representations. I do not propose resolutions to the tensions of white, middle-class activism or ways out of the stories we tell. Instead, I suggest that more complex and varied journeys into and with feminist organizing are essential to our ambivalent desires for anti-oppressive practice.

Keywords: Community organization
Feminists
Social change
Social planning
Finding structure in data

This thesis examines the feasibility of automating the process of finding and expressing cluster structures in multi-dimensional histogram data, and the effective visualization of these structures. Structures in two and higher dimensional histograms are expressed as aggregates of adjacent cells. One and two-dimensional histograms are accompanied by simple statistical and entropy related measures. Attributes relevant to structure in multiple dimensional data are derived using mutual information. Cluster structures in data defined by relevant attributes are also explored. The visualization of structure in data is developed using a polygon based method. A prototype software package, Mooloo, is introduced to demonstrate ideas presented in this thesis. The input to Mooloo includes three threshold parameters and the dataset. Mooloo produces a description of the multi-dimensional clusters it finds, the subsets of relevant attributes forming close associations, and a graphical visualization of structure in various dimensionalities. No assumption about the number of clusters expected in data is required.
Cortical patterns of social-emotional processing in early childhood: electrophysiological responses to facial affect and familiarity in a Go-Nogo task

To date, little is known about the neural underpinnings of social-emotional processes in young children. The present study investigated the time course of children's event-related potential (ERP) responses to facial expression and personal familiarity, and the effect of emotional valence on ERP measures of inhibitory control. Dense-array EEG was collected from 48 4-to-6-year-old children who were presented with pictures of their mothers and strangers' happy and angry faces. ERPs were scored following face presentation and a subsequent cue signaling a Go or Nogo response. Following face presentation, early perceptual ERP components were larger for strangers' faces, suggesting facilitated rapid processing of personally important faces. A mid-latency frontocentral negativity was greatest for angry mothers' faces, indicating increased attentional monitoring and/or recognition memory evoked by an angry parent. Finally, a right-lateralized late positive component was largest for angry faces, suggesting extended processing of negatively-valenced social stimuli in general. Models of cortical generators suggested that early discrimination between familiar and unfamiliar faces was mediated by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Later activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes was linked to individual differences in trait fearfulness and attentional control. Following the Go-Nogo response cue, the N2, a mid-latency scalp component, was larger in Nogo than Go trials and for angry than happy faces, possibly reflecting greater self-regulation required in those conditions. Source models for the N2 suggested that generators in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior temporal lobes, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex contributed to the scalp results. The present study suggests that overlapping but differentiated networks for rapid and elaborative processing of important socio-affective information are established by 4-6 years. Moreover, the extended spatial and temporal distribution of components suggests a pattern of response to social stimuli in which more rapid processes may index personal familiarity, whereas temporally extended processes are sensitive to the affective valence of both familiar and unfamiliar faces.
Analysis of Hsp104-mediated protein refolding in vitro and in vivo

Hsp104 is a molecular chaperone in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is required for high levels of thermotolerance and for the propagation of yeast prions. The ability of Hspl04 to mediate the re-solubilzation and re-activation of aggregated proteins in vitro is well correlated to its function in vivo. My thesis addresses the mechanism of this activity in vitro as well as the properties associated with Hsp104 in vivo. I first used a visual screen to identify GFP-Hsp104 mutants that failed to form discrete foci in response to mild heat shock in live cells. A group of these mutants contained multiple amino-acid substitutions that prevented these molecules from properly assembling into hexamers. During the visual screen described, I also identified GFP-Hsp 104 mutants that accumulated in the nucleus that prompted me to investigate Hsp104's nucleocytoplasmic transport properties. I identified a 17-amino-acid sequence of Hsp104 (NLS17) that concentrated a fluorescent reporter protein in the nucleus. The NLS activity was genetically dependent on KAP123 and KAP95 and was important for the normal, steady-state distribution ofGFP-Hsp104 and Hsp104. Additionally, Hsp104 accumulated in the nucleus to levels greater than those observed in unstressed cells in response to a high, non-lethal heat shock in an NLS17-independent manner. I next investigated the role of the co-chaperones, Cns1, Sti1 and Cpr7 on Hsp104's protein re-activation mechanism in vitro. I determined that Cpr7 inhibited an Hsp104-dependent protein refolding assay while the other two, Sti1 and Cns1, had no effect. The N-terminal domain and the C-terminal extension of Hsp 104 and the TPR domain of Cpr7 were critical for the interaction between these proteins. Surprisingly, the ability of Cpr7 to inhibit the Hsp104-dependent assay did not correlate with its ability to interact with Hsp104. Cpr7 also interacted with Hsp70 and Hsp40 and inhibited the activity of these molecular chaperones. Together, these data suggest that Cpr7 likely inhibits the Hsp70/40 system in an Hsp104-dependent protein refolding assay.
The role of type 1 interferon signaling in the pathogenesis of aggressive fibromatosis

Aggressive fibromatosis (also called desmoid tumor) is a benign locally invasive soft tissue tumor of mesenchymal origin. This difficult to treat tumor is characterized by increased levels of beta-catenin mediated Tcf-dependent transcriptional activation due to mutations in components of the canonical WNT signaling pathway. We found that type 1 interferon signaling is activated and associated response genes upregulated in human and murine aggressive fibromatosis tumors and that their expression is regulated by beta-catenin. We hypothesized that type 1 interferon signaling promotes tumor formation in aggressive fibromatosis and when mice deficient for the type 1 interferon receptor (Ifnar 1 -/- ) were crossed with mice predisposed to aggressive fibromatosis tumor formation (Apc/Apc1638N), a significant decrease in tumor formation was observed compared to littermate controls. In addition, we found that Ifnar 1 -/- mice have fewer numbers of mesenchymal progenitor cells compared to littermate controls. This suggests that type 1 interferon signaling may play a role in regulating the pool of mesenchymal progenitor cells and in turn presents a potential mechanism by which this pathway affects tumorigenesis in aggressive fibromatosis.
Signaling and transcriptional mechanisms involved in the control of GnRH and NPY by estrogen

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis and reproductive function. Using two immortalized hypothalamic cell lines expressing NPY, N-38 and N-42, and one expressing gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), GT1-7, we demonstrate that 17beta-estradiol (E2) differentially regulates estrogen receptor (ER)alpha and ERbeta mRNA levels while NPY mRNA is temporally correlated with the changes in ER mRNA. The regulation of NPY gene expression can be mapped to within -97 bp of the NPY promoter in N-38 cells. E2 also activates the P13-K and MAPK signaling pathways and inhibition of these pathways results in attenuation of E2-mediated effects on NPY gene expression. Finally, using immunocytochemistry we demonstrate that both ERalpha and ERbeta are present at the plasma membrane in N-38 cells. These studies indicate that E2 can directly regulate NPY gene expression in hypothalamic cell models which includes cellular mechanisms ranging from nuclear to membrane-mediated action.
Investigation of S100A8 and S100A9 as potential genetic modifiers of the pulmonary phenotype in cystic fibrosis mice

Differential global gene expression was measured in the lungs of congenic C57BL/6 (early, progressive, spontaneous inflammation) and BALB/c (undetectable inflammatory disease) Cftrtm1UNC/Cftr tm1UNC mouse models at three weeks of age (before any detectable inflammatory lesions) to gain possible insight into genetic modifiers of CF pulmonary disease. We have demonstrated that both mS100A8 and mS100A9 are overexpressed in cells of the alveolar septa and the interstitium of C57BL/6 CF lungs analyzed by microarray, semi-quantitative RT-PCR and RNA in situ hybridization. To further investigate mS100A8 as a potential modifier of CF lung disease, a C57BL/6 transgenic mouse overexpressing mS100A8 in myeloid cells under the control of the human lysozyme promoter was generated. Three independent founder lines have been identified by Southern blot analysis and the transgene was successfully transmitted to their offspring. The correct organ-specific overexpression of the mS100A8 transgene has also been confirmed by RT-PCR in a founder line.
HIV-related diarrhea: Measurement issues and the role of lactose intolerance

Introduction. This thesis had four principal objectives: (1) to identify and review the validation of existing measures of HIV-related diarrhea used in clinical trials; (2) to determine the effect of a moderate dose of lactose on the stool weight in HIV-related chronic non-infectious diarrhea (CNID); (3) to evaluate the usefulness and feasibility of further study of breath testing (BT) to diagnose lactase deficiency (LD) in this population; (4) to prospectively compare several measures of HIV-related diarrhea to provide preliminary data on their validity. Conclusions. Studies 1 and 4: Tools currently being used for the measurement of HIV-related diarrhea are varied but have reasonable face validity only. Preliminarily, stool frequency and stool form seem useful; further work is needed to determine a definitive measure of HIV-related diarrhea. Study 2: Lactose ingestion does not worsen HIV-related diarrhea, regardless of underlying LD. Ingestion of lactose-containing dairy products should not be discouraged in this population. Study 3: BT to diagnose LD is of limited usefulness in this population; further study in this area is not feasible. Methods. Separate studies address these objectives. Study 1 is a review of the literature using Medline. Study 2 is a double-blind, randomized, crossover, non-inferiority trial of HIV-infected individuals with CNID. Study 3 is a preplanned subgroup analysis of the participants in Study 2. Study 4 tests the correlations between various measures of diarrhea used in Study 2. Results. Study 1: In clinical trials of HIV-related diarrhea, the most frequent measures were stool frequency, form and duration. Validation of common measures of HIV-related diarrhea was poor. Study 2: The mean difference in stool weight after lactose ingestion compared to placebo was -41.3 g (upper 95% confidence limit less than the non-inferiority boundary). Study 3: The mean difference in stool weight between the two study periods in the LD group was statistically different but likely clinically unimportant compared to the lactase present group. The smallest sample size was 183 for a new study of the specificity of BT. Study 4: Subject self-report of stool frequency underestimated the results obtained prospectively. Models including both study day stool form and stool frequency best predicted diarrhea severity.
The disclosure effects of dual class ownership structures

This dissertation thesis provides evidence that the detachment of control rights from cash flow rights in US and Canadian dual class share firms are associated with lower levels of voluntary disclosure. While prior studies have looked at the effect of ownership concentration on disclosure, this study focuses on one mechanism through which concentrated ownership is achieved and its effect on voluntary disclosure. The evidence is consistent with the explanation that controlling owners use opaqueness in disclosures to conceal private rents. To examine the research question, my study develops a new disclosure index that captures managerial discretionary disclosure decisions with respect to compensation practices. By attempting to address the selection bias that could confound the disclosure predictions, the study also provides empirical insights into which firms choose dual class equity. The within dual class sample analyses employed as an alternative method to mitigate selection biases, reveal that disclosure is decreasing in the largest controlling shareholder's divergence between control rights and cash flow rights. I also find evidence that disclosure levels are decreasing in the premium at which superior voting shares trade relative to inferior voting shares---a proxy for the controlling shareholder's private benefits from control. In addition to the above, I also provide some cross-country analyses. The evidence is largely consistent with a higher rent extraction explanation in weaker regimes. Dual class share firms in weaker regimes disclose lesser information than their stronger regime dual class share counterparts. Based on prior literature, Canada is hypothesized in this study to have weaker regulatory enforcement and thus a weaker investor protection environment. Finally, the study provides direct evidence that separating control rights from cash flow rights enables managers to extract private rents in the form of excess executive compensation.
An investigation of the moisture sorption and permeability properties of mill-fabricated oriented strandboard

This thesis brings the disciplines of Building Science and Wood Science together in the study of the moisture-related properties of oriented strand board (OSB). Using controlled mill-manufactured panels specifically made for this project, this research reveals how the sorption and permeance properties of OSB are affected by several variables including production parameters and physical panel properties, moisture- history, and relative humidity exposure. Since OSB varies in composition through its thickness, this study isolated and tested various core and surface components. Permeability and sorption properties of individual OSB layers, intact panel sections, and panel sections that had undergone cyclic wetting and drying or relative humidity cycling prior to testing, were evaluated.

Keywords: Civil engineering
Wood, Research
Materials science
Modulation of growth hormone-regulated hepatic cytochrome P450 2C11 by 3-methylcholanthrene: a model of gene suppression by xenobiotics

Studies of endocrine disruption by aromatic hydrocarbon toxicants are excellent models for investigating the endocrine-disrupting effects of xenobiotics. This study was undertaken to gain a greater understanding of how a representative aromatic hydrocarbon, 3-methyl-cholanthrene (MC), modulates the expression of an endocrine-regulated gene found in male rats. However, we first wanted to explore the possibility that endocrine factors influence the ability of aromatic hydrocarbons to elicit their biological effects. Since biological responsiveness to aromatic hydrocarbons is at least partially dependent on the aromatic hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), we assessed the effect of hypophysectomy (hypx) on the expression and function of the hepatic AHR in male rats. We found that the AHR system is functionally intact in hypx rats, although levels of AHR protein but not mRNA were reduced, suggesting that a pituitary factor regulates AHR expression at the protein level. We then proceeded to evaluate a potential mechanism by which MC down-regulates the expression of the growth hormone (GH)-regulated rat liver enzyme cytochrome P450 2C11 (CYP2C11). Treatment of hypx male rats with twice-daily subcutaneous injections of GH stimulated CYP2C11 expression at the mRNA, protein, and catalytic activity levels. However, GH treatment was less effective at stimulating CYP2C11 expression in hypx rats exposed to MC, suggesting that MC interferes with the ability of GH to stimulate CYP2C11 expression. In view of these findings, we undertook studies to evaluate a potential molecular mechanism for this interference effect. Owing to the role of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5b (STAT5b) in both GH signal transduction and the regulation of CYP2C11, we evaluated whether MC alters GH-stimulated STAT5b signaling. Experiments performed both in vivo and in vitro revealed no effect of MC on GH-stimulated STAT5b signaling. Therefore, the interference effect of MC on GH-stimulated CYP2C11 expression does not involve changes in STAT5b-mediated GH signal transduction. Our observations set the stage for future studies of: (i) the hormonal regulation of the AHR; and (ii) alternate mechanisms by which aromatic hydrocarbons interfere with the ability of GH to regulate hepatic CYP2C11 expression.
Towards a model for liberalizing telecommunications: A study based upon the use of the essential facilities doctrine in Canadian and European experiences

When a dominant firm or monopolist controls a facility that is essential to compete on a downstream market, it is logical that it denies access to would-be competitors. According to the essential facilities doctrine, access can be mandated at a reasonable and nondiscriminatory price upon condition that the facility is indispensable to compete and impossible to duplicate. Although the application of this doctrine has been controversial, it is often said to be a useful tool in the liberalization of telecommunications. The comparison of the use of the doctrine in Canadian and European liberalizations reveals that neither system could constitute a model for the application of the essential facilities doctrine to open up telecommunications to competition, mainly because of the negative effects of the doctrine on investment and innovation and the policy choices that it implies.

Keywords: Telecommunication, Law and legislation
Telecommunication, Canada
Telecommunication, Law and legislation
Telecommunication, European Union countries