VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Scalable bioprocess for controlled differentiation of embryonic stem cells to hematopoietic progenitors

Therapeutic application of pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells will require advances in cell culture technology that improve our ability to generate target cells. Control of the cell culture environment is of critical importance, as cell fate decisions can be influenced by cell extrinsic factors like cell-cell interactions, soluble cytokines, and physicochemical parameters. However current ES cell differentiation culture systems that make use of static tissue culture plates are limited in terms of measurement and control of the culture environment, and scalability of cell production. In this thesis project, a novel method to differentiate ES cells in scalable, controlled stirred suspension culture was developed. ES cells were differentiated as three dimensional tissue structures termed embryoid bodies (EBs). Successful EB formation was found to depend on the aggregation of ES cells. However cell aggregation, beyond that required for EB formation, was found to impair cell yield. E-cadherin, a cell-cell adhesion molecule, was important in this process. To control cell aggregation, ES cells were encapsulated within agarose microcapsules. ES cells within the same capsule were permitted to aggregate and induce EB formation, but the surrounding agarose matrix prevented developing EBs from contacting and agglomerating with one another. This approach permitted efficient EB formation, growth, and differentiation in stirred culture. The ability to measure and control the culture environment in stirred suspension bioreactors makes them a valuable tool for investigating exogenous factors and optimizing conditions for target cell generation. Physicochemical factors like oxygen tension and pH are of particular interest because they can influence cell proliferation and differentiation in a cost effective way. Using the novel stirred suspension culture system, the role of oxygen tension in hematopoietic cell generation was investigated. Hematopoeitic progenitor generation was optimal at 4% oxygen tension. The mechanism of hypoxia-enhanced hematopoietic progenitor generation was investigated. By comparing the function and expression of VEGF and its receptors VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 under normoxic and hypoxic culture, activation of VEGFR2 by VEGF was found to have both enhancing and inhibiting effects, depending on the stage of development. VEGFR1, secreted in a soluble form, was found to mediate VEGFR2 signaling by competitively binding VEGF.
"If school was only four months long, I would have a very good average": understanding the school experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Despite heightened awareness and study of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in recent decades, there have been no published accounts of the school experiences of students with ADHD from their perspective. This research provides the first qualitative study of the "lived" school experience of students with ADHD. Twelve adolescents with ADHD participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews addressing major aspects of school life. Working from a modified grounded theory framework (in which theory is developed from the rich data collected), interviews were coded and three themes emerged: (1) support for a "performance deficit" (i.e., although these students know what they need to do to be successful in high school, they generally don't do it); (2) academic and social engagement (i.e., due, in part, to their difficult academic and social histories, they struggle to remain engaged in these areas); and (3) moving from dependence to independence (i.e., as parents are "backing off" and high school teachers demand more autonomy, these students are required to become independent learners). What is most striking, with respect to each of these themes, is the low level of agency demonstrated by the students; that is, rather than acting with purpose on their environments, they seem to "float along", reacting as things "happen" to them. A number of factors (e.g., poor endurance, good intentions, self-perceptions as lazy, fear of failure) are offered to account for this pattern of behaviour. These findings suggest it is crucial that students with ADHD receive ongoing teacher, parent and peer accountability to support academic and social success. This research has critically important implications for the educational system, in particular, in terms of how it might address those variables most likely to result in a "good fit" between students with ADHD and their teachers, treatments and school environment.
Adaptive finite difference methods for valuing American options

We develop space-time adaptive methods for valuing American options with strong emphasis on American put options. We examine the application of adaptive techniques to the Black-Scholes partial differential equation problem associated with an American put option in the context of non-uniform second-order finite differences. At certain timesteps, we obtain a redistribution of the spatial points based on a monitor function that attempts to equidistribute the error. The proposed finite difference discretization on non-uniform grids and redistribution of the spatial points lead to linear complementarity problems with M-matrices. The Projected Successive Over-relaxation and a penalty method are considered to handle the free boundaries. We study and compare the accuracy and efficiency of the considered methods. A complete proof of convergence and uniqueness of the projected SOR method under certain conditions is also presented.
Peripheral blood cytokines profile is associated with the evolution of SARS

Recently emerged viral infectious diseases are new threats of 21 st century. Failure to develop a vaccine for HIV infection, low efficiency of influenza vaccines, the discovery of metapneumovirus, the outbreaks of SARS and reemergence of bird flu (H5N1) are examples of the necessity of intensive research in this filed. SARS is a new respiratory viral disease associated to a novel Coronavirus. The role of immune system in the pathophysiology and evolution of this disease is investigated by other researchers. Cytokines are key factors in maintaining the balance of the immune system and are valuable as prognosis or therapeutic agents. Here we have monitored the status of the immune system of the SARS patients during the time course, using the peripheral blood for understanding disease evolution. We observed a significant increase of IFN-gamma in mild SARS group, which possibly is associated with improved disease outcome.
The epidemiology of surgical site infections

This thesis utilized province-wide administrative datasets to evaluate the association of perioperative statin use with the risk of surgical site infection in a retrospective cohort of 469,369 elderly patients undergoing elective surgery in Ontario, Canada between April 1 1992 and March 31 2006. Statin users exhibited no increased or decreased risk of surgical wound infection as compared to matched non-users undergoing the exact surgical procedure, at the same institution, by the same attending surgeon (adjusted OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.95-1.04, p=0.85). This lack of an association was consistent across multiple analytic designs (matched, overall and propensity cohorts), multiple outcome definitions, and multiple subgroup analyses (divided by statin, patient or procedural characteristics). Therefore the decision of whether or not to continue statin therapy should be determined by other statin benefits and risks. Meanwhile, efforts to prevent surgical site infections should be directed towards other preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative strategies.
Subjectivity and the mind-body problem

This thesis has its origins in the philosophical problem of mind and its relationship to the body. Despite well-known and irreconcilable difficulties with Descartes's articulation of mind body dualism, subsequent philosophers nonetheless accepted his commitment to scientific objectivity in their own theories of mind. As a result of their obsession with scientific objectivity, contemporary physicalists, computational theorists and naturalists ultimately discouraged a successful resolution for the mind/body problem. After critically examining their theories in this light, I argue that a resolution to the problem of mind will be better served by a renewed conception of what constitutes objectivity, one which is better equipped to accommodate subjective, first-person features of mind. I call this new conception “relational (or intersubjective) objectivity” and point out some of the advantages of this approach. In the final chapter, I discuss some consequences of this for education and especially for the use of computers in education.

Keywords: Mind and body
Philosophy of mind
Subjectivity
Functional expression of multidrug resistance proteins in brain parenchyma: relevance to the pharmacology of HIV-infection in the brain

The development of “pharmacological resistance” to antiretroviral (AR) drugs used for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a serious limitation of current treatment regimens. In particular, cells that express high levels of membrane bound, energy-dependent drug transporters (e.g., ATP binding cassette transporter superfamily) may experience insufficient antiviral effect due to lowered intracellular drug concentrations. In the brain, microglia act as the primary cellular target of HIV infection. Once infected, microglia initiate inflammatory responses that result in neuronal cell death and act as a “hard to reach” pharmacological reservoir for the virus. At present, mechanisms governing the entry, distribution and exit of antiretroviral drugs in the central nervous system (CNS) are poorly understood. The overall intent of this project was to examine whether microglia can act as a “second barrier” to HIV therapies in the brain via expression of multidrug resistance proteins (MRPs). We examined the molecular expression and function of MRP1 through 6 in cultured microglia using a combination of molecular, biochemical, immunocytochemical and drug transport techniques. Our studies demonstrate that gene and protein products of several MRPs (i.e., MRP1, MRP4, and MRP5) are expressed and functionally active in cultured microglia. Uptake/accumulation of the MRP1 substrate vincristine by MLS-9 monolayers was saturable, ATP and glutathione-dependent, and significantly enhanced in the presence of MRP inhibitors: MK571, genistein, and sulfinpyrazone. Furthermore, we observed MRP1 localization at the plasma membrane, as well as in membrane vesicles. We further investigated the activity of MRP4/5 in MLS-9 cells by measuring export of 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine (PMEA), an established MRP4/5 substrate. PMEA efflux was rapid, ATP-dependent but not glutathione-dependent, and inhibited by MRP inhibitors: genistein, sulfinpyrazone, indomethacin and the nucleoside analog azidothymidine-monophosphate. Finally, we provide the first evidence that permeation of an antiretroviral drug (i.e., saquinavir) into microglia can be directly regulated by MRP transporter expression. Our results imply that the overall distribution of several classes of antiretroviral drugs, including nucleoside analogs and protease inhibitors can be highly regulated in cellular targets of HIV infection in the CNS.
On minimum path cover in interval graphs

The information used from previous sweeps is simply an ordering of the vertices. We generalize multi-sweep techniques to hybrid-sweep techniques whereby we grant more flexibility to the ordering given to the graph search. In particular, we allow the ordering to come from other kinds of searches or other structured orders of the vertices. Graph searching is a fundamental technique used to visit the vertices of a graph. Recently, a technique where a search is repeated a small constant number of times using information gathered from previous searches has gained popularity. These multi-sweep search algorithms are simple to express and easy to implement. As an application to this technique we introduce a new kind of graph search called right-most neighbour. We define a hybrid-sweep algorithm which takes an order characterizing interval graphs and using right-most neighbour on this order, we produce a minimum path cover together with a certificate of optimality.
War, noblesse and identity in early modern Champagne: A study of the Recherche de la noblesse de Champagne (1673)

The Recherche de la noblesse de Champagne (1673), one of many recherches de la noblesse carried out by the French monarchy throughout France in the late medieval and early modern periods, provides a public record of the lives of the nobility of this frontier region. Ostensibly a means to return faux nobles to the tax rolls, the recherches de la noblesse also had a social function. Contemporary treatises on nobility in France make it clear that the acquisition and maintenance of nobility required a sustained public display of character and social value; this thesis argues that, in this cultural and ideological context, the recherches de la noblesse served as a means by which an individual noble or lineage could craft and promote a particular social identity. By chronicling the lives of individuals and families whose claims to noblesse were successful, the published genealogies and documentary evidence provide insight into the public discourse on the nature of nobility and noble identity in Champagne. Using the multi-generational evidence supplied by the 507 families included in the published findings of the Recherche de la noblesse de Champagne (1673), this thesis shows how war shaped the definition, acquisition and maintenance of noblesse in this region. It reveals that, far from rejecting traditional ideas about the role military service and activity played in determining noble status, the majority of Champagne's nobles sought to fashion an identity that reflected their professional and cultural dedication to the conduct of war.
Type 1 diabetes, macrophages and the genetics of the BBDP rat

The diabetes-prone BioBreeding (BBDP) rat develops type 1 diabetes (T1 D) spontaneously and is a model of human TID. The two known diabetes susceptibility loci of the BBDP rat, lyp and RT1u, were introgressed into a diabetes-resistant strain, ACI. The resulting double congenic ACI. 1u.lyp animals were both diabetes- and insulitis-free, demonstrating the involvement of other susceptibility genes. To facilitate the mapping and identification of these genes, we sought to identify pre-diabetes, disease-related traits that could BBDP from ACI. 1u.lyp strains. Phenotypic differences in macrophages, a lineage know to be involved in the pathogenesis of TID, were identified. Genome-wide linkage analysis of an F2 (ACI. 1u.lyp x BBDP) intercross identified quantitative trait loci controlling the macrophage phenotypes on chromosomes 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8. However, these loci could not be linked to diabetes or insulitis due to the low incidence of disease in the F2 progeny. Insulitis was linked to chromosome 17.
Rethinking the political morality of poverty

Political philosophers have generally viewed the moral issues posed by poverty as issues of distributive justice, that is, of the fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of social co-operation. This “distributive model” of what makes poverty morally important captures much of the moral experience of poverty in modern societies, and we could scarcely formulate many of the most prominent grievances and controversies surrounding poverty without recourse such a model. Nevertheless, the distributive model fails to reflect many of the concerns of those who view poverty not only as a maldistribution of resources but also as a failure to recognize publicly the standing of each citizen as a moral person. I develop an alternative way of analysing the wrongness of institutional arrangements affecting the poor, emphasising the symbolic value of being publicly recognised as a full member of the human community, rather than the instrumental value of gaining access to resources needed in order to pursue a conception of the good. I show that labels used to describe the poor, such as ‘the disadvantaged,’ ‘the homeless,’ ‘the unemployed,’ or ‘the underclass’ (to name a few), raise a distinctive set of moral concerns because they ascribe normative roles to poor people, mediated by the imposition of statuses. These roles tend to have the function of authorizing demeaning or humiliating treatment, from which citizens would otherwise be presumptively exempted. They serve as the vehicles of what Harold Garfinkel called “status degradation.” On the basis of this analysis, I argue that poverty is not one kind of injustice but two, affecting the poor both in their capacity as the authors of life-plans in need of resources with which to pursue their aims and in their capacity as bearers of a relation-to-self in need of acknowledgement of their full membership in the human community, without which they are denied the opportunity to establish and maintain a secure sense of their own moral inviolability as persons (self-respect).
The evolution of the concept of the hero in th epic poetry of Torquato Tasso

Critics have traditionally viewed Goffredo, the hero of Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, in negative terms. This thesis attempts a re-assessment of the significance of the character of Goffredo in light of Tasso's evolving concept of the hero throughout his four epic poems, Rinaldo, Gerusalemme liberata, Gerusalemme conquistata and Il mondo creato. The introduction summarizes the history of criticism on Tasso's heroes, and the first chapter provides an overview of the poet's evolving theory of the epic. His two highly influential theoretical works on the epic poem, Discorsi dell'arte poetica and Discorsi del poema eroico , are read in the first chapter alongside his last work on epic theory, Del giudizio sovra la Gerusalemme di Torquato Tasso. Although this last work has been somewhat neglected by scholars, it nonetheless provides a fascinating record of Tasso's mature thought on the epic poem and poetic theory in general. The second chapter begins with a reading of Rinaldo, Tasso's first epic poem. It is seen as a critique of the shortcomings of chivalric heroism, and as a prefiguration of the positive heroic traits that make up the poet's Christian heroes in the Gerusalemme liberata. The second chapter also offers a re-assessment of the principal Christian as well as pagan players in the Gerusalemme liberata. The third chapter analyzes the changes Tasso makes from Gerusalemme liberata to Gerusalemme conquistata in his three principal heroes, Goffredo, Rinaldo/Riccardo and Tancredi. These changes indicate an emphasis on “vision” over action in the hero, as well as a sharp contrast between the “Idea” of the world's eternity and the “shortsightedness” of a tragically limited human world. The fourth chapter is a reassessment of Tasso's last epic poem, Il mondo creato. In this work the poet himself, through the power of his imaginative vision, takes on the role of hero. The poet as artifex re-creates through his elocutio the Idea of the eternity of the world and transmits it to the wise minds (“i più saggi”) of the human community.
The Locus Amoenus as a structuring principle in Dante's comedy

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the meaning of, and relationship between, the gardens in Dante's Comedy. In examining the gardens of the poetic text. It will be asked whether they are interrelated by any compositional strategy. As a result, I have made a serious attempt to situate my study within the framework of current debates in narratology, and I also hope that some novel aspects of my approach may make a valuable contribution in that field. In order to illuminate my topic I have resorted to the following texts of literary theory: Cesare Segre's Structures and Time: narration, poetry, models, Silvio d'Arco Avalle's Modelli Semiologici nella Commedia di Dante, and Vladìmir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale. The methods of these three works conveniently show how it is possible to describe the way in which a narrative text is assembled. The case of Avalle best illustrates how the equating of a particular episode of the Comedy with parallel medieval texts anterior to Dante's can lead to the discovery of a common narrative pattern. Because Avalle's studies engender the interaction of Dante's text with ones outside the body of the poem, his approach is strictly of an intertextual nature. In my appropriation of his method, I set out to operate within the body of Dante's text in order to probe the implications of analogous narrative structures that may be shared by two or more garden episodes. In other words, my method of investigation is of an intratextual nature. A cursory reading of the Comedy will soon reveal that a locus amoenus appears in all three realms of the afterworld: the noble castle (chap. 2) with a “prato di fresca verdura” (meadow of green flowering plants, Inf. 4, 111); the Valley of the Princes (chap. 3), the Earthly Paradise (chap. 4), and the Empyrean (chap. 5). I will also deal with garden settings that are parodic versions of the the locus amoenus , namely the “selva oscura,” (chap. 1) and the city of Dis (chap. 2). By choosing the Earthly Paradise as the place to rehearse the unfolding of time from Genesis to the Apocalypse, Dante exposes the totality of history within the framework of an aesthetic design. Hence, in addition to exploring plot structure inherent in garden episodes, this thesis will also be concerned with the poem's historical background and its typological dimension.
Inheritances of white supremacy: familial and feminist genealogies

This thesis responds to literature and debates that converse with the residual effects of imperialist violences on feminist praxis and maternal lineages of white settlers. I am interested in the gendered dimensions of inheritances of white supremacy, and performing genealogies of some of the locations where feminist movements may (consciously, or not) fuse with imperialist practices. I situate my grandmother, and some of the lessons and stories she told about our family's involvement in race-based organizing in Southern Ontario, as a way into the locations where Canadian women's gender-conscious praxis becomes entangled with imperialist ventures. Theorizing my grandmother's active involvement in the Imperial Order of Daughter's of the Empire, I read the history of this organization within and against discursive regimes that have enlisted women to realize their 'duty' to reproduce the nation and sanitize the Empire's colonies in the historical present.

Keywords: White supremacy movements, History
White supremacy movements, Canada
Feminism, History
Feminism, Canada
Racism, History
Racism, Canada