VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The effects of content knowledge from reading on adult ESL students' written compositions in an English language test using reading and writing modules

This study investigated how content knowledge from reading affected both the processes and the products of adult ESL (English as a second language) students' writing performance in a simulated English language test that made use of reading and writing modules. It also sought to determine if ESL students' reading performance was affected in such circumstances. Thirty-four first year engineering students with intermediate levels of English proficiency at two universities (thirty-one from one university and three from another one) in southern Ontario participated in this study. Following a within-subjects design, they did two reading and writing tasks in two conditions counter-balanced for order of presentation, one when the reading passage was related thematically to the writing task, and the other when the reading passage was not. They also answered some interview questions and filled out a retrospective checklist of the writing strategies they used when their writing task was related thematically to their reading task. In the thematically-related condition participants (a) achieved significantly higher scores on their written compositions, writing profiles, and summary recall protocols for reading comprehension than in the thematically-unrelated condition; (b) recalled more idea-units within a reading passage in their summary recall protocols than in the thematically-unrelated condition; (c) applied more than 8 types of writing strategies (comprising twenty-six unique strategies) in doing their writing task; and (d) mostly (65% of them) had positive attitudes towards the use of reading and writing modules in their test. There was no correlation between participants' self-assessments of their familiarity with the content knowledge of a reading passage and their writing scores in the thematically-related condition. The key finding was that the present adult ESL students benefitted from reading and writing modules in doing their reading and their writing tasks. The thematic connection between reading and writing enhanced both the processes and the products of their writing tasks.
(Re)signing the self, modernist women and the autobiographical tradition

With an historical context that attempts to delineate the problematic relationship between autobiography as an androcentric discourse and female autobiographers who have traditionally been circumscribed by that discourse (both in matters of identity and authorship), my thesis isolates modernism in all of its heterogeneous complexity as a moment in Western consciousness that allows for the destabilization of autobiography's ideological foundation. My primary contention is that modernism, so defined, provides an opportunity for women writers to consciously reassess their roles in relation to the patriarchal mainstream, and for women autobiographers in particular to reveal the fictions of selfhood that had fixed them as subordinates for so many centuries. To demonstrate this point, I employ an analysis of four modernist autobiographies that successfully take hold of the ideological opportunity before them: Virginia Woolf's 'Moments of Being' (1907-1940); Vera Brittain's ' Testament of Youth' (1933); Gertrude Stein's 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' (1933); and Zora Neale Hurston's 'Dust Tracks on a Road '(1942). A common argument is justified by the fact that all of these texts challenge the received conventions of autobiography, and most especially the androcentric assumption of subjectivity, by exposing the fictivity that lies at the heart of the genre. Their separate example is warranted by the slightly different emphasis each woman places on that fictivity: Woolf on the fiction of recollection; Brittain on the fiction of the story; Stein on the fiction of the implied reader; and Hurston on the fiction of the textual "I". The final implications of such a study are far reaching, for the revisionary strategies employed by each of these female autobiographers, while insisting on more expansive definitions of both autobiography and modernism, also call for a type of interdisciplinary scholarship that not only reveals the artificial nature of epistemological categories, but also the benefit of mutually reinforcing knowledge.
Columnar vortex stability in island wakes

The motivation for this work derives from observations of a broken symmetry of the von Karman vortex streets that are often generated in the lee of oceanic islands. I consider the linear stability against three-dimensional perturbations of columnar vortices in a rotating environment and thereby seek to understand the dynamics of the processes through which such vertically oriented barotropic vortices may be destabilized. In the absence of rotational influence, it is shown that the nonlinear evolution of columnar vortices is most strongly controlled by one or the other of two mechanisms. One mechanism of instability is identifiable as a so-called elliptical instability, which promotes the initial bending of vortex tubes in a sinusoidal fashion, while the other is a hyperbolic mode, which is responsible for the development of streamwise vortex streaks in the "braids" between adjacent vortex core areas. In the rotating case, anticyclonic vortices are strongly destabilized by weak background rotation relative to the non-rotating case, while rapid rotation stabilizes both the cyclones and anticyclones. The anticyclones are themselves subject to two distinct forms of instability, namely a Coriolis force modified elliptical instability and an inertial (centrifugal) instability. The former instability is very similar to the non-rotating mode of elliptical instability as it promotes the initial bending of vortex tubes, while the latter type of instability grows on the edge of the vortex core and generates streaks of vorticity, which surround the vortex core itself. I also examine the three-dimensional, nonlinear evolution of columnar vortices in a rotating environment. As the initial vorticity distribution, a wavetrain of finite amplitude Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices in shear is employed. Through direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations I seek to better understand the process of maturation of the various three-dimensional modes of instability to which such vortex flows are subject, especially those which exist as a consequence of the action of the Coriolis force. The results obtained from the earlier stages of nonlinear evolution are compared in detail with the results obtained on the basis of threedimensional linear stability analysis. These results of direct numerical simulation fully verify the results obtained on the basis of stability considerations.
Concepts of Belarus until 1918

The thesis deals with the kaleidoscopic changes of the idea of what is or what should be Belarus. The term "Belarus" originated in the 14th century as a purely geographic designation. It acquired an ethnic sense as late as the 19th century, even though the country was still generally considered to be part of either Poland or Russia. The idea that Belarus should become an autonomous national entity appeared at the end of the century, gaining some recognition only after 1905. Then, competing concepts of Belarus were presented by the budding Belarusian national movement, the party of the Polish landowners in Belarus, the Lithuanian national movement, the Polish Socialist Party, the Polish National-Democrats, and the Russian nationalist movement. World War I brought things to a head, and in 1918 the novel idea of Belarus as an independent state was introduced and partly realized by the Belarusian national movement.
Methodological and ethical issues in the study of maternal smoking and adverse pregnancy outcomes

In Canada an estimated 20 to 30 percent of women smoke during pregnancy. The study of maternal smoking in adverse pregnancy outcomes presents complex methodological and ethical issues, including potential reporting bias and maternal guilt. Maternal reports of smoking before and after an incident of fetal distress were compared. Ethical issues surrounding maternal guilt and informed consent were articulated. The impact of methodological and ethical issues was assessed in a feasibility study examining maternal smoking as a risk factor in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Among women who had events of fetal distress, a significant decrease in their report of smoking occurred. Mothers who smoked during pregnancy with an adverse outcome may be at risk for psychological damage from exposure to the research hypothesis. Methodological and ethical issues significantly affected the feasibility study, and preliminary data suggests a high level of smoking may be occurring amongst mothers of infants with HIE.
Negotiated vs. judge-made Aboriginal law, bridging the two solitudes

This paper examines the two streams through which Aboriginal law is currently being developed--through negotiations, and through court decisions. It then analyzes the interaction between these two streams, both positive and negative. It is my thesis that a greater understanding by courts of modern negotiated agreements will provide them with a source of law, and with an understanding of Aboriginal perspectives, which will help them to better bridge the gap between their stated objectives, and the "on the ground" impact of their decisions. Both negotiated and judge-made Aboriginal law must interact in a more synergistic way if society is to meet the challenges inherent in reconciling preexisting Aboriginal occupation with the current reality of a largely non-Aboriginal population with competing rights and interests. Greater mutual understanding of their respective roles, strengths and weaknesses will help these two streams of law to work together, rather than at cross-purposes.
Modification of human hemoglobin with dibromosalicyl esters of N-biotinyl-5-aminoisophthalate, trifluoroacetyl-isoleucyl-glycil-5-aminoisophthalate and trifluoroacetyl-phenylalanyl-5-aminoisophthalate

Specific anchoring of biologically active molecules to human Hb A can be accomplished by using affinity labeling reagents targeting the cationic sites in Hb. Derivatives of d-biotin, isoleucyl-glycine and phenylalanine have been designed and synthesized for anchoring to hemoglobin. These reagents bind to, and subsequently react at specific sites to give stable, cross-linked hemoglobin conjugates. Major reaction products were isolated and structurally characterized by HPLC-MS, SDS-PAGE and proteolytic digestion. The major modified components consisted of hemoglobin cross-linked between the Lys-82 residues of each $\beta$ chain and Lys-99 of each $\alpha$ chain. Applications of this methodology may include introduction of novel biological properties on hemoglobin by means of biotin-avidin-biotin bridges and use of hemoglobin as a mean for transport and delivery of organic substances such as peptides which are difficult to develop as pharmaceuticals due to their short half-lives.
Temporally-graded retrograde memory loss in semantic dementia, medial temporal lobe amnesia and Alzheimer's dementia, reconciling the hippocampal consolidation and multiple trace theories of long-term memory storage

Patterns of retrograde memory loss associated with semantic dementia, amnesia and Alzheimer's dementia were examined by assessing knowledge of 20th century famous names and English vocabulary. The amnesic and Alzheimer's patients demonstrated temporally-graded semantic memory such that recent items were disproportionately impaired; conversely, the semantic dementia patient, D.K., demonstrated the reverse pattern. D.K.'s memory for autobiographical episodes was contrasted with that of one amnesic patient, K.C. Consistent with previous findings, K.C. demonstrated preserved personal semantics with a complete loss of personal episodes. In contrast, D.K. demonstrated a relatively complete preservation of autobiographical episodes with a loss of remote personal semantics. Findings are discussed in the context of two competing neuropsychological theories of long-term memory--hippocampal consolidation (Squire, 1992) and multiple trace theory (Nadel & Moscovitch, 1997). Combining ideas from both theories, a new model is proposed highlighting the importance of autobiographical significance in the representation of semantic knowledge.
Semi-blind spatial-temporal equalization for short burst wireless communications

In short burst wireless communications, a training sequence is incorporated in each burst for the receiver to adjust the equalizer coefficients. However, when the amount of training symbols is less than the spatial-temporal equalizer tap weights, conventional least-square technique may not provide good MSE performance. Blind methods, on the other hand, may not achieve equalization in a short burst. Semi-blind algorithms have been proposed as alternative solutions, yet these algorithms may still exhibit undesirable local minima. Two algorithms are proposed to address the problem. The first method attempts to modify the regularized semi-blind algorithm proposed previously by Kuzminskiy et al. However simulation results show that the MSE performance of the semi-blind algorithm is not superior than the original one under the short burst scenario. A convex cost with training symbols as the equalizer constraint is then proposed to avoid cost-dependent local minima completely. Furthermore, comparison with the regularized semi-blind algorithm suggests that this proposed algorithm achieves a lower MSE performance in the case of non-constant modulus signals such as 16-QAM signals.
A preliminary study of multifunctional team design, modeling and formulation

The team design method developed in this thesis for concurrent product design is based on three foundations: optimization formalism, game theory and fuzzy set theory. Optimization formalism is applied to formulate some basic characteristics of team design, such as the design objective, constraints and availability of teams. Game theory is used to classify different types of team interaction as strategic team paradigms so that appropriate game solution concepts can be treated as team design protocols to guide the design process in certain team paradigms. Accordingly, the notion of responsibility and controllability is extracted to unify different team design protocols and used to develop the generalized team model. Fuzzy set theory is applied to model the team's preference toward a design, and fuzzy set operators are used for team's preference aggregation. Team aggregation is based on the strategic team paradigms derived from game theory. As a result, team design models are developed and explored to reveal typical team interactions in design computing.
The human vestibulo-ocular reflex: The effect of vergence angle and unilateral lesions on reflex dynamics

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) stabilizes vision during head rotations. The closer the target, the bigger the evoked eye movement needs to be. To study how this gain increase is accomplished, we measured the gain of normal subjects when viewing nearby and far targets from 0.25Hz to 10Hz. Our results show that the target distance related VOR gain increases occurs only at frequencies below 5Hz; and is accompanied by a small increase in phase lag. We believe this reflects the recruitment of a second, slower, pathway during near target viewing. Next, the dynamics of the VOR was studied from unilateral vestibular lesioned patients. Gain asymmetry from whole body rotation test is found to be frequency dependent. Head impulse test results show that eye velocity is saturated only at high velocity during ipsilesional rotations. The results show that VOR after unilateral lesion in humans has frequency- and velocity-dependent pathways.
Call admission control for leaky bucket regulated traffic in ATM networks

A major part of the traffic in BISDN networks would be variable bit rate (VBR) traffic. Traditional resource allocation schemes for constant bit rate (CBR) traffic prove to be highly inefficient for VBR traffic, because the bandwidth requirement for such sources varies with time. Another factor complicating the resource allocation is the quality of service (QoS) guarantee for each call. A good call admission algorithm for VBR traffic will lead to an efficient utilization of resources and a decrease in call blocking. In this thesis I have developed a new algorithm for call admission in ATM networks, considering a leaky bucket regulated input model for the VBR sources. This algorithm is based on a shared buffer switch with General Processor Sharing (GPS) scheduling, it uses the random phase difference between sources for statistical multiplexing gain. The algorithm uses the Chernoff Bound to approximate the Cell Loss Probability (CLP). The results show that the CLP bound derived in this algorithm is an improvement over the existing algorithms for leaky bucket regulated traffic. *The research was supported by The Broadband Networks Project of Canadian Institute for Telecommunication Research (CITR).
Looking at frailty through the lens of ethnicity, a phenomenological study of elderly women living alone in the community

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how ethnic background frames the experience of frailty for elderly women living alone in the community using a phenomenological approach. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who were seventy-five years of age and older from Polish-Catholic, Anglo-Saxon, and African-Caribbean ethnic backgrounds. All of the women lived in the greater Metropolitan Toronto area and received home care assistance for three to twelve hours each week. The major finding of this study was that the onset of frailty was experienced as an affront to established identity, and in order to maintain a sense of continuity with respect to this established identity, the women engaged in various strategies. These strategies involved affirming a sense of personal competence through adhering to a predictable daily routine and reframing abilities, and incorporating new aspects of the self through restructuring roles, negotiating shifting relationships, and altering expectations.
The effect of wheat bran particle size and wheat protein on serum lipids and colonic health

Background. Wheat bran is the major source of dietary fiber yet the optimum particle size is not clearly defined. Objective. To determine the effect of wheat bran particle size and wheat protein on serum lipids and colonic health. Design. In one-month metabolic (n = 24) and two-week ad-libitum diets (n = 24) subjects took 19g/d dietary fiber as fine or coarse-wheat bran in randomized crossover studies with low-fiber controls. In the metabolic study 10% of energy was provided as wheat gluten. Results. Wheat bran had no effect on serum lipids but gluten reduced triglycerides (P = 0.005). Wheat bran particle size did not affect fecal bulking. However, fine bran increased fecal butyrate concentrations (P $<$ 0.007) and breath CH$\sb4$ levels (P = 0.025) suggesting increased bacterial fermentation. Conclusions. Wheat bran regardless of particle size does not lower serum lipids although gluten may reduce serum triglycerides. Fine bran is an effective fecal bulking agent and may promote colonic mucosal health.
The role of the kidney in human toxicology, p-glycoprotein-mediated drug interactions and intrarenal drug metabolism

The prime role of the kidney in drug elimination makes it a target for drug-induced toxicity. Using a renal tubular cell culture model that allows separation of the apical and basolateral compartments, I studied the renal tubular handling of substrates of the P-glycoprotein drug transporter. This thesis will highlight the importance of renal tubular drug interactions to systemic toxicity. The cardiac glycoside digoxin was used as an example drug because its low therapeutic index necessitates an understanding of its renal elimination in the presence of interacting drugs. The 'in vitro' model allowed me to characterize known digoxin-drug interactions with propafenone and verapamil and to identify potential digoxin-drug interactions with mifepristone and itraconazole. Metabolites of propafenone and verapamil were found to contribute to the interactions with digoxin. Moreover, the renal tubular cells were capable of biotransforming propafenone and verapamil to their major metabolites. The importance of renal drug biotransformation to human toxicity is illustrated with the chemotherapeutic agent ifosfamide. Nephrotoxicity is often a limiting factor in the use of ifosfamide in children. Despite the co-administration of the uroprotective agent mesna (sodium 2-mercaptoethane sulfonate), ifosfamide chemotherapy is associated with nephropathy characterized by glomerular and tubular toxicity consistent with the Fanconi syndrome. This is in distinction to cyclophosphamide, an analogue which differs solely by the position of a chloroethyl group, that is not associated with nephrotoxicity. The major nephrotoxic metabolites of ifosfamide have short half-lives and it is difficult to model renal damage caused by them after production by the liver. I hypothesized that ifosfamide is metabolized by CYP enzymes located in the renal tubular cell to the toxic metabolite chloroacetaldehyde. My results show that porcine and human kidney microsomes are capable of biotransforming ifosfamide to dechloroethylifosfamide metabolites, indicating that local production of chloroacetaldehyde in the renal tubular cell is a possible mechanism for nephrotoxicity.
Translational control of GLUT1 glucose transporter mRNA in response to insulin in adipose and muscle cells in culture

The facilitative diffusion of glucose into most tissues occurs through the action of glucose transporters (GLUTs). An acute exposure to insulin leads to stimulation of glucose uptake via the translocation of glucose transporters from internal stores to the plasma membrane. In addition to its acute effect on the redistribution of pre-existing GLUTs, insulin also exerts long-term regulation of glucose transporter protein concentration. Prolonged exposure to insulin, a condition which occurs in type II diabetes mellitus, which is characterized by insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinemia, results in an increase in GLUT1 protein levels. The elevation in GLUT1 protein expression is due in part to a rise in both GLUT1 messenger RNA (mRNA) transcription and stability. It remains unknown, however, whether the hormone can also regulate the expression of GLUT1 at the level of its mRNA translation. Translational control usually occurs at the step of initiation. In mammalian cells, insulin stimulates initiation of translation through inactivation of the translational suppressor eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein-1 (4E-BP1). Inhibition of 4E-BP1 activity occurs through the actions of the signalling molecules mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase), and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK). In this thesis, we examine whether insulin exerts any regulation of GLUT1 expression at the translational level in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and L6 muscle cells in culture. We also dissect the signalling pathway(s) that emanate from the insulin receptor to mediate the up-regulation of GLUT1 at the post-transcriptional level in these two cell lines. We find that in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, insulin specifically enhances the translation of GLUT1 transcript in contrast to GLUT4 glucose transporter mRNA. The increase in GLUT1 mRNA translation is suggested to occur via mTOR-dependent but PI 3-kinase and p38 MAPK-independent mechanisms. In L6 muscle cells, insulin also exerts post-transcriptional regulation of GLUT1 protein expression, a phenomenon that is distinct from that in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and occurs in a PI 3-kinase- and p38 MAPK-dependent manner. In summary, the results in this thesis unravel the effect of insulin on GLUT1 mRNA translation in adipose and muscle cells in culture, and the signalling roads involved.