VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A case-control study of biomechanical and psychosocial risk factors for low back pain reported in an occupational setting

'Objectives'. The main aim of this study was to identify risk factors for occupational low-back pain (LBP), including: workplace biomechanical factors; psychosocial work environment variables; and individual worker characteristics. A unique feature of this study was the combination of extensive workplace biomechanical assessments with detailed psychosocial questionnaire assessments. 'Design and methods'. 137 cases were drawn from the study base of all hourly-paid employees at a large automobile manufacturing complex. The cases, defined as workers with acute "sprain-strain" LBP newly reported to one of the onsite occupational health clinics, were compared with 179 unmatched controls, chosen at random from the study base as the cases accrued. Any worker with a LBP report at the worksite in the previous 90 days was ineligible. An interview-assisted questionnaire assessed individual, clinical and psychosocial variables. Workplace biomechanical factors were assessed using a variety of direct measures, including video-taped posture analysis and biomechanical model estimates of forces in the lumbar spine. Risk factors were examined using multiple logistic regression, with the odds ratio (OR) estimates for continuous covariates scaled to the unit difference between the 75th and 25th percentiles of the random control distribution. Additional analyses examined the effect of unreported LBP, the validity of using proxy biomechanical data, the main psychosocial instrument used, and agreement between the cases and a group of job-matched controls on the key study variables. 'Results'. The measured physical demands of work associated with reported LBP at the study site were: (i) peak shear force (OR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-3.2); (ii) peak hand force (OR = 1.8, 1.2-2.9); and (iii) integrated disc compression (OR = 1.8, 1.3-2.9). The psychosocial risk factors identified included perceptions of: (i) a physically demanding job (OR = 3.2, 1.9-5.7); (ii) a poor workplace social environment (OR = 2.8, 1.4-5.8); and (iii) feeling "over-educated" for the job (OR = 2.3, 1.1-5.2). Contrary to previous studies, better job satisfaction (OR = 1.6, 1.1-2.4) and better coworker social support (OR = 1.6, 1.1-2.3) also showed modest associations. Poor job control showed a borderline effect (OR = 1.9, 0.9-4.1). 'Conclusions'. This study provides consistent evidence of an association between workplace biomechanical factors and LBP reported at work. Independent, though less consistent contributions were also found for psychosocial factors.
Hey, whassup homeboy?, becoming Black; race, language, culture, and the politics of identity; African students in a Franco-Ontarian high school

This project looks at a group of continental francophone African youths who are attending a French-language high school in Toronto, Canada. It examines the sites and the ways in which their social identities are formed and performed and how these identities enter, so to speak, the processes of language learning, among others, especially learning English as a second language (ESL). Part of the process of learning for these youths is learning 'to become', to become Black that is, by means of learning Black English as a second language and taking up and re-positing Black identities and cultural forms: hip hop and rap. Youths' experience of/with racism is of extreme significance in the course of 'becoming'. Racism is located within a framework of an imaginary whereby the dominant hegemonic discourses and groups position African youth and thus treat them, respectively, as 'Blacks'. The process of identity formation for African youth, significantly, is a process of creolization, translation and negotiation. Deploying ' ethnography of performance' as a methodological contention which maintains that we as social beings reflect, at least partially, our identities in our linguistic and cultural practices, I conclude that the product of this process is a schematically complex 'third space' where the 'Old' and the 'New' are translated into configurations that look neither like the 'Old' nor the 'New', but the two combined. Identity is therefore best researched not in oppositional terms ('African' vs. 'Canadian'), but in its linguistic and cultural performance. Linguistically and semiologically, I show, the 'Old' and the 'New' are produced in the same sentence, in the same garment. Race, however, as a site of identification, crossed with gender, are the youths' points of departure for identity negotiations and translations. I offer, in conclusion, students' narratives an alternative anti-racism scheme that seeks to explore what, in the school, works for the students, as oppose to what does not. I also propose 'pedagogy of the imaginary ' as a critical praxis that deciphers subjectivities by traveling into their complexities. Black popular culture is taken into account here as a critical curriculum site in 'encountering', de-re-constructing, and, in the process, growing sensitive to the multi-significations of the signifier Black.
Depth of vocabulary knowledge, assessing its role in adults' reading comprehension in English as a second language

This thesis research explored the relationships among vocabulary size, depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension in English as a second language (ESL). Specifically, using multivariate and content analyses, the research assessed the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge in 74 adult Chinese and Korean speakers' comprehension of general academic texts in English. The main study examined to what extent depth of vocabulary knowledge adds to the prediction of reading comprehension scores over and above the prediction afforded by vocabulary size, employing as instruments a portfolio of vocabulary knowledge tests, a reading comprehension test, and a background questionnaire. A follow-up study then investigated strategies for processing the meaning of unknown words used by a subsample of these ESL learners with different depths of vocabulary knowledge. For this purpose, individual interviews and a survey questionnaire on reading strategies were used as the main means of data collection. Among other findings, the research produced empirical evidence that: (a) scores on vocabulary size, depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension were positively, and closely, related; (b) depth of vocabulary knowledge made a unique contribution to the prediction of reading comprehension scores, over and above the prediction afforded by vocabulary size; (c) depth of vocabulary knowledge played a fundamental role in these ESL learners' reading comprehension processes; (d) there was a positive relationship between the learners' depth of vocabulary knowledge and their lexical inferencing ability; and (e) in processing the meaning of unknown words, all learners looked for cues to meaning, but those with greater depth of vocabulary knowledge appeared to focus more on word meanings, whereas learners with less depth of vocabulary knowledge tended to focus more on word forms. The results of this research point to the importance and necessity of improving the depth of learners' vocabulary knowledge in their ESL learning.
In the telling, critical reflections from child and youth counsellors

This thesis is an exploration into the lives and educational experiences of three exemplary child and youth counsellors. It elaborates issues which are inherent in the practice of child and youth care. Examination of the experiences and stories of the participants were elicited through in-depth phenomenological interviewing employing feminist and narrative approaches. In the research a vivid portrait of the work and its accompanying socio-political conditions and realities was obtained. Findings suggest that stories play a strong role in child and youth care practice. Through stories and vignettes of practice the indeterminate aspects of relationships were explored as well as the significance of issues related to self-development. Issues of voice and the need for articulation of the knowledge base also emerged prominently in the study. Information and recommendations for improving practice are provided. It was posited that further research into personal knowledge methods would prove beneficial to the profession.
Differential signal transduction by the B cell activation receptor CD40

Stimulation of CD40 activates several signal transduction pathways and plays many roles in B cell activation. In many cases it is unclear which outcomes are caused by which pathways. B cells from the BA/N mouse strain were used to show that CD40-mediated B cell proliferation and induction of B7-1 and B7-2 molecules are partially dependent upon the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase BTK. Studies using the murine B lymphoma M12.4.1, transfected with mutant forms of human CD40, show that CD40- mediated induction of B7-1 is dependent on the presence of both T227 and T234 in the CD40 cytoplasmic tail. In contrast, CD40-mediated growth inhibition of this lymphoma, is independent of T227 and T234, and in fact a partial growth inhibitory signal requires only the first six amino acids of the cytoplasmic tail. Thus, growth inhibition and induction of B7-1 are mediated by different regions of the CD40 cytoplasmic tail. The role of cAMP in CD40 signaling is controversial, with studies both supporting and refuting its importance. To determine the requirement for cAMP and PKA in CD40 signaling, the M12.4.1 B lymphoma was transfected with a dominant negative PKA regulatory subunit, pKA-RG324D under the control of a tetracycline-repressible promoter. Using this system it was found that PKA, and thus cAMP, play no direct roles in CD40 signal transduction. However, several experiments indicate that cAMP plays an important role in regulating CD40 signaling. In murine B cells, treatment with cAMP causes a large increase in B7-1 and B7-2 induction in B cells preactivated through CD40. Similarly, cAMP and CD40 stimulation synergize to induce B7-1 in M12.4.1 B lymphomas. This synergy depends on the presence of either T227 or T234 in the cytoplasmic tail of human CD40. Interestingly, cAMP does not synergize with all CD40-mediated outcomes. In contrast to that observed with B7-1 induction, treatment with cAMP inhibits CD40-mediated induction of CD23, Fas, and ICAM-1, and has no affect on CD40-mediated induction of LFA-1.
Development of a near-field scanning optical microscope and its application in studying the optical mode localization of self-affine Ag colloidal films

A scanning photon tunneling microscope (PSTM) combined with shear-force atomic microscope (AFM) was designed and built, which allows the topography and the optical response of a surface to be investigated simultaneously on a sub-microscopic scale. The lateral resolution attained by our instrument in topographic images is 30 to 50 nm, varying with the fiber tip. While operating in the near-field region, the optical resolution can overcome the traditional diffraction limit, producing a resolution typically of about 100 run. Thus, it is possible to obtain site-specific spectroscopic information. The system was employed to study the optical behavior of fractal silver colloidal films. Near-field microscopy with simultaneous topographic imaging show that the electromagnetic fields excited in a self-affine film are localized in small portions of the film. The pattern of high-field areas varies greatly with excitation wavelength and does not correlate simply with the topography. Near-field spectroscopic study further complemented the microscopic study. Tunable CW lasers were used to excite the silver colloidal thin films. When scanning the incident laser, site specific spectra showed that distinct resonance arises from different spots apart on the same sample. This observation validates a recent theory of the optical response of self-affine, fractal objects and also indicates that the locus of optical effects, such as surface enhanced Raman, does not reside in special topographic elements such as interstices. Additionally, it is shown that the conclusions of the theory, which was based on a quasi-static approximation, are qualitatively valid for self-affine films considerably larger than the exciting optical wavelength.
Watersheds: Transformative learning experiences in the lives of people committed to the welfare of the planet and of future generations

Some people view the planet, as well as its present and future inhabitants, as a precious, interdependent system, and demonstrate this awareness in their activities and relationships. Some of those people come to this realization gradually over a lifetime. Others point to one or several significant and time-bounded experiences as the source of their commitment. It is this latter group, and their transformative learning experiences, that are the focus of this study. Using a qualitative research methodology, interviews were conducted with fourteen men and women, largely Ontario-based, ranging in age from 20+ to 80+. A screening questionnaire was used to select people who care passionately about the welfare of the planet and of future generations, demonstrate this commitment in their daily lives, and attributed to one or more transformative learning experiences. Four phases of the transformative learning experience suggested by the literature were used as a preliminary framework around which to analyse the data: (1) leaving the familiar and entering a state of disequilibrium, (2) responding to the disequilibrium and making meaning, (3) building commitment and responsibility, and (4) integrating through acting anew. A metaphor from nature--a watershed--was presented and developed as a way of describing transformative learning experiences, through five subthemes: (1) the climate and lay of the land, (2) setting a direction, (3) gaining momentum, (4) reaching mainstream, and (5) renewal. Following the analogy, a vibrant fluid, real, and enormously powerful constant--water--served as a metaphor for feelings. Perhaps the clearest learning from the study was the degree to which emotions, and strong ones, accompany transformation. Still, the study suggests that there is a complex web of factors, including early influences and previous experience, that converge to foster and support a transformative learning experience, and contribute to a person's readiness to learn from it. It is evident that transformative change is a fundamental sea-change encompassing the whole person. The establishment of a personal, passionate, moral imperative goes much deeper than mere intellectual rationalization. The commitment of participants emerged from experiences accompanied by deep emotion, and may indeed extend into the realm of the spirit.
Poetry is not made of words, a study of aesthetics of the borderlands in Gloria Anzaldúa and Marlene Nourbese Philip

This thesis explores an alternative critical approach as a way to overcome the limitations of North American cultural criticism in dealing with literature from the borderlands. Literatures that are in between two or more cultures are not well served by one established cultural context. Therefore, the parameters drawn from geopolitics, history, ethnicity, and gender of one culture are insufficient. The aesthetics of the borderlands creates a metaphorical space in which to explore the writings that emerge from the experiences of women who embody multiple cultural backgrounds. The poetry written by Marlene Nourbese Philip and Gloria Anzaldúa finds alternative forms to writing for reaching out to difference. Difference and writing are here recontextualized through the concept of the borderlands, which involves the language of myth and mythic consciousness once it transcends its territorial limitations. Anzaldúa and Philip's work is circumscribed by the sociopolitical realities being women, and a lesbian in the case of Anzaldúa, being ' mestiza' or Black, and being writers. These three paradigms are juxtaposed in the borderlands of a collective historico-poetic consciousness. Within the framework of "exile," from a mainstream audience, language proceeds by consciously remembering and defying a white culture and history that attempt to forget by violent erasure. The rearticulation of poetry, then, even transcends the displaced borderlands created between the lines, in the gaps, in the clusters of words that obstruct like rocks, and in the silences of awe and recognition that written forms conceal.

Keywords: Boundaries in literature
Poetry, Modern
History and criticism
Frontières dans la littérature
Poésie moderne
Histoire et critique
The problem of the common good and the contemporary relevance of Thomas Aquinas

This dissertation considers the contemporary importance of the concept of the common good. It argues that an important contribution towards understanding the common good, especially in its relation to the good of individual human beings, can be made by reexamining the thought of Thomas Aquinas. The first chapter treats Michael Sandel's critique of John Rawls's 'Theory of Justice', insofar as it bears upon the possibility, nature, and limits of a genuine common good. Various limitations in Rawls's liberal and especially Sandel's communitarian notion of the common good prompt an inquiry into Aquinas's position. The second chapter analyzes the mid-twentieth-century exchange between Thomists Jacques Maritain and Charles De Koninck on the relation between personal and common goods. Chapters three through five center on Thomas's texts themselves. Chapter three aims to explicate how, according to Aquinas, the social and political orientation of human nature informs the human or moral virtues, thereby elucidating an important aspect of the interrelation between proper and common goods. Chapter four treats Thomas's conception of "legal" or "general justice," that virtue which considers human acts in their social orientation, and inquires why he posits it as a preeminent personal excellence. The fifth and final chapter turns to human or civil law, which Aquinas stipulates should be framed for the community with a view to the common good. Aquinas's estimation of law's possibilities and limitations as an "extrinsic principle" of good acts and virtue are examined. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that Thomas's engagement of the problem of the common good, while not without problems of its own, is most timely for being both political and transpolitical. Aquinas reminds the contemporary reader of both the ethical core of politics, and the fact that human morality requires a political completion. At the same time, he stresses that the tensions, ambiguities, and limitations inherent in all things human can only be resolved in the light of the transcendent common good. As long as the full transcendence of the theological virtues is recognized and respected, Aquinas's reflections on virtue and the common good should prove as moderate as they are ennobling.
A study of the bubble removal mechanism from a flat plate under both normal-gravity and reduced-gravity conditions

A rectangular flow channel was built and used in conjunction with a liquid flow loop to visualize water and kerosene flows near departing air bubbles that were injected into the channel and attached to the surface under both normal-gravity and reduced-gravity conditions. The reduced gravity condition was obtained by performing the experiments in a DC-9 microgravity aircraft undergoing parabolic flight. The photochromic dye activation technique has been successfully used to obtain velocity profiles of both fluids near departing bubbles, ranging in size from 1.32mm to 1.96mm in bubble departure diameter for kerosene flow with velocities from 0 to 0.22m/s under normal-gravity conditions; 2.10mm to 3.10mm in bubble departure diameter for water velocities ranging from 0.026 to 0.20m/s under normal-gravity conditions; and 3.25mm to 6.55mm in bubble departure diameter for water velocities ranging from 0.017 to 0.173m/s under reduced-gravity conditions. The results revealed several important hydrodynamic aspects that have not been clearly seen previously. Departing bubble shapes were all ellipsoidal and became more elongated with increasing liquid velocity. Gas bubble shapes changed their form from ellipsoidal to spherical immediately after departure. The departing bubble diameters also decreased exponentially with increasing liquid velocity. Bubbles were inclined towards the liquid flow direction as the liquid velocity increased. In addition, a theoretical model has been developed to predict the departure bubble diameter and its trajectory path along the test channel. Predictions of the departing bubble size did not agree well with the available experimental results in the case of normal gravity and microgravity conditions. However, the model showed satisfactory agreement with the bubble trajectory data in all experimental runs. Comparisons of the departing bubble shapes have been made with those assumed by Al-Hayes and Winterton (1981) and Kandlikar and Stumm (1945). The truncated spherical shape assumed by previous researchers failed to match with the ellipsoidal bubble shapes obtained in the present study.
Inhibitory mechanisms by which suramin may attenuate neointimal formation after balloon angioplasty

The post-procedural development of restenosis remains the major limitation of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Neointimal lesion formation, an important characteristic of restenosis, is largely dependent on three properties of activated arterial smooth muscle cells (SMC): proliferation, migration, and abnormal production of extracellular matrix. Suramin, a polysulfonated naphthalurea, is a drug which may bind and sequester many cytokines and heparin-binding growth factors (PDGF, TGF-$\beta$, aFGF, bFGF, and IGF-1) and effectively inhibit their potential interactions with target cells. Since suramin alters proliferative, migratory, and secretory profiles of several types of cancer cells, we hypothesized that it may also inhibit a growth factor-dependent activation of coronary artery smooth muscle cells (CA SMC). Our pilot in vivo study, which used a single- and double-injury model of arterial restenosis in rabbits, indicated that suramin substantially decreased the rapid neointimal formation observed after experimental balloon injury. Therefore, a series of in vitro studies were aimed at dissecting mechanism(s) underlying this suramin-dependent effect. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)