VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Iron-replaced zinc finger, the effects on DNA-binding and its potential use and consequences

The estrogen receptor (ER) is a ligand-activated transcription factor whose DNA-binding domain (DBD) has eight cysteines which coordinate two zinc atoms and lead to the formation of two zinc finger-like structures. I have demonstrated the capability of iron to replace zinc in the zinc finger both 'in vivo' (using 'Escherichia coli' BL21 (DE3)) and 'in vitro'. The iron-substituted ERDBD retains specific DNA recognition as demonstrated by a mobility shift assay and a methylation-interference assay. The DNA binding constants for both 'in vivo' and ' in vitro' iron-replaced zinc fingers are similar to that of the native finger. Atomic absorption analysis revealed a ratio of 2 iron atoms per mole of ERDBD protein, as found for zinc in the crystal structure of native ERDBD. I have also demonstrated that in the presence of H2O2 and ascorbate, the iron finger generates highly reactive free radicals which cause a reproducible cleavage pattern in the proximate DNA, the ERE. The deoxyribose method was used to demonstrate that free radical species are produced. Analysis of the DNA ends produced by iron finger-promoted cleavage suggest that the free radicals that are generated are hydroxyl radicals. These results suggest that an iron-substituted zinc finger may act as: (a) a vehicle that transports iron atoms to close proximity of DNA where they may then generate free radicals while bound to the ERE, leading to adverse consequences such as iron-induced toxicity and/or carcinogenesis; (b) the iron finger may also function as a sequence-specific DNA cutting tool that could potentially be useful for chromosome mapping and sequencing.
Howwe gonna find my me?, postcolonial identities in contemporary North American drama and film

This thesis examines how four contemporary North American playwrights and filmmakers respond to the experience of colonialism in their representations of identity. My first chapter identifies the artists I am studying as playwrights Suzan-Lori Parks and Daniel David Moses, and filmmakers Midi Onodera and Julie Dash, defines key terms, and argues that these artists' works constitute identity in the liminal space between physical, historical and cultural presence and the absence or erasure associated with the position of colonial otherness. The thesis' subsequent chapters each examine one artist's works through the lens of liminality. Chapter 2 applies the notion of liminality to the theatrical language and to the representations of history and the body in Parks' plays. In Chapter 3, I suggest that Moses uses the figure of the ghost to convey the losses suffered by Native North Americans under colonialism, and to begin the process of individual and communal healing by referring to a shared, if idealized, Native past. Chapter 4 argues that Onodera challenges the distinction between self and other in her role as documentarist: in ' The Displaced View', the filmmaker explicitly occupies both positions in relation to her filmic subject, her Japanese-Canadian grandmother, to demonstrate that the other is always unknowable to some degree. Onodera's next film, ' Skin Deep', illustrates the dangers of the colonial fantasy of "knowing the other." My fifth chapter examines how Dash's 'Illusions' represents the construction of colonial otherness in Hollywood film through the erasure of African-American body from "America." Dash's 1992 film, 'Daughters of the Dust', attempts to redress this erasure by reclaiming the physical and cultural space of African-Americans in the national history/mythology. In all the works, geographic space, history, language and the body are liminal zones in which the tension between presence and absence is played out. The thesis concludes by asserting the usefulness of liminality for representing the unstable, shifting, divided nature of all identities. Liminal identities reveal the unity and fixity of the colonial subject as a fantasy and offer the possibility for redefining the terms of "self" and "other" or even of conceptualizing identity in entirely different ways.
Addressing Systemic Sex Discrimination, Employer Defences to Discrimination in Canada and South Africa

A purpose of anti-discrimination law in Canada and South Africa is eradication of sex discrimination in employment. In developing defences to discrimination in employment, courts have battled with striking the balance between addressing systemic patterns of disadvantage and the legitimate concerns of employers. The approach to employer defences in Canada provides the doctrinal means to achieve this balance by permitting discriminatory workplace standards to be struck down, where appropriate, and by application of the duty to accommodate short of hardship, in cases of both direct and adverse effects discrimination. The South African legislative framework for discrimination law includes almost all the aspects of the Canadian approach, which should be followed in South Africa. I argue, with reference to Canadian case law and South African legislation, that incorporation of considerations of fairness into employer defences provides the appropriate mechanism to address the systemic economic disadvantage of women in employment.
Automatic detection of authorship changes within single documents

One of the most difficult tasks facing anyone who must compile or maintain any large, collaboratively-written document is to foster a consistent style throughout. In this thesis, we explore whether it is possible to identify stylistic inconsistencies within documents even in principle, given our understanding of how style can be captured statistically. We carry out this investigation by computing stylistic statistics on very small samples of text comprising a set of synthetic collaboratively-written documents, and using these statistics to train and test a series of neural networks. We are able to show that this method does allow us to recover the boundaries of authors' contributions. We find that time-delay neural networks, hitherto ignored in this field, are especially effective in this regard. Along the way, we observe that statistics characterizing the syntactic style of a passage appear to hold much more information for small text samples than those concerned with lexical choice or complexity.
Measurement of the top quark transverse momentum distribution

We have measured the 'pT' distribution of top quarks that, are pair produced in 'pp¢' collisions at <math> <f> <rad><rcd>s</rcd></rad></f> </math> = 1.8 TeV using a sample of 'tt¢' decays in which we observe a single high-'pT' charged lepton, a neutrino and four or more jets. We use a likelihood technique that corrects for the experimental bias introduced due to event reconstruction acid detector resolution effects. The observed distribution is in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. We use these data to place limits on the production of high-' pT' top quarks suggested in some models of anomalous top quark pair production.
Paradisiacal imagery in early Islamic art

This thesis considers the Qubbat al-S&dotbelow;akhrah's construction to have been a regional response, couched in a regional artistic vocabulary, to counter what was perceived to be a serious regional problem, the distracting effect of the beauties of Christian churches and, that `Abd al-Malik's text in the Qubbat al-S&dotbelow;akhrah reflects the ideological threat, by stating Christian beliefs and pointing out their inappropriateness for Muslims. It proposes that the Qubbat al-S&dotbelow;akhrah's ornament represents the Qur'a¢n's numerous descriptions of Paradise as a wondrous garden of shady groves and trees bearing every kind of fruit. Byzantine art provided the model for the visualization of the paradisiacal imagery, and the art of the Sa¢sa¢nid empire contributed the fantastical, otherworldly elements that might be imagined of Paradise. The Qubbat al-S&dotbelow;akhrah's heavenly garden was not an isolated phenomenon, as versions of it are attributed to at least three mosques; furthermore, two distinct, deliberate iconographic images developed from the Qubbah's ornament. One of these shows a hypostyle mosque with a column and vase in its courtyard. A religious context may have been envisaged for this imagery, but there is evidence also of its popular manifestation. The second iconographic image was employed secularly, taking the form of a distinctive arcade through which naturalistic or very stylized vegetation can be seen. This version of the imagery appears as architectural decoration and was used in, or used to point to, areas in which public audiences might be held. Popular versions of the arcade imagery found on portable objects show that birds and animals as well as vegetation might be seen through the arches. In the Qubbat al-S&dotbelow;akhrah's shape, ornament and text, the building's patron showed himself alert and responsive to the cultural and religious environment. The development of Islamic iconographical forms suggests that the threat perceived from other religious iconographies continued beyond the erection of the Qubbat al-S&dotbelow;akhrah and that Islam was still attempting to define itself, but, as with the Qubbah, contemporary artistic vocabularies were used to construct a Muslim answer to a Muslim need.
Chaosmakers for epilepsy

Epileptic seizures correspond to episodes of increased rhythmicity of the chaotic neuronal activity in the healthy brain. It is believed that through the suppression of the rhythmic dynamics, seizures may be eliminated. This is the objective of the chaosmaker. The chaosmaker employs a Radial Basis Function (RBF) model to learn the chaotic dynamics from the time series. The strategy is to detect the transition to rhythmic activity, then employ nonlinear system theory in a control strategy to return the system to chaotic dynamics. The detection algorithm compares the chaotic dynamics, represented by the RBF model. to the dynamics of the system under observation. Once a change toward rhythmicity is detected the chaosmaker perturbs the measured system variable such that the next state vector is placed on the unstable manifold of the rhythmic cycle. We illustrate the approach with applications to two examples of chaotic systems: the Henon map and the mapped clock oscillator (MCO) model. The chaosmaker was successful at restoring chaotic dynamics in periods of rhythmic activity in both systems.
Design and implementation of K42's dynamic clustered object switching mechanism

Recent research efforts have investigated customizable operating systems, where the implementation of operating system services can be chosen to meet an application's performance or functionality requirements. This dissertation investigates the potential benefits of allowing the customization to be changed, on-the-fly, while the service is in use. By using a prototype implementation of the dynamic object switching layer in the K42 operating system, we explore the costs and benefits associated with dynamic customization. As an example, we showed how K42 can switch a (per-file) page cache from a centralized implementation to one distributed across the processors of a multiprocessor in order to adapt to changing access patterns. The ability to customize on-the-fly allows the implementation of a service to match the instantaneous demands on the service, avoiding the need to comprise a complex, catch-all implementation. It also facilitates live-swapping of system components in mission-critical systems where downtime is undesirable.
Ebstein anomaly of the tricuspid valve in an adult cohort

'Objective.' We examined the spectrum of adults with Ebstein anomaly of the tricuspid valve. 'Methods.' Clinical data, EKG, chest x-rays, echocardiograms and surgical details were reviewed in patients with Ebstein anomaly at the University of Toronto Congenital Cardiac Center for Adults. 'Results.' Seventy-four patients (27 M, 47 F) were seen at our clinic at a mean age of 33.2 ± 13.6 years and were followed for a mean of 7.5 ± 5.8 years. Seven patients died. Thirty-eight patients (51%) presented with or developed sustained arrhythmia (atrial flutter/fibrillation n = 27, supraventricular tachycardia due to WPW n = 16); 7 of these patients with arrhythmia experienced transient ischemic attacks. Tricuspid valve surgery was undertaken in 24 patients; NYHA class improved in all 23 survivors. Of the 12 patients that experienced atrial flutter/fibrillation before surgery, arrhythmia persisted in 6. Only 2 of these 6 patients had intraoperative arrhythmia ablation. The other 6 patients undergoing ablative procedures converted to sinus rhythm. Right atrial size (p < 0.02) and the presence of atrial septal defect (p < 0.02) are independent predictors of atrial flutter/fibrillation (using Cox regression analysis), whereas cardiothoracic ratio (p < 0.03) is predictive of death. 'Conclusions.' Atrial flutter/fibrillation is common in adults with Ebstein anomaly, and relates to RA size. Surgery for Ebstein anomaly results in symptomatic improvement. Atrial flutter/fibrillation may persist without concomitant intraoperative arrhythmia ablation.
Thermal wave inverse problems, depth profilometry of hardened steels and diffraction tomography of sub-surface defects in metals

Depth profilometry of hardened steels and Thermal-wave Slice Diffraction Tomography (TSDT) of sub-surface defects in metals are important thermal wave inverse problems. The imaging parameters in thermal wave inverse problems are the material thermal inhomogeneities. Depth profilometry is an inverse problem that retrieves thermal diffusivity along the depth of a sample. It is well established that in hardened steels thermal diffusivity anticorrelates with microhardness, allowing depth profilometry to be used as a tool to measure microhardness. Depth profilometry also has the unique advantage, over conventional methods, of being non-destructive. Current techniques have not separately addressed the effects of different heat treatments on the thermal diffusivity profile of steels, and therefore, the exact nature of the anticorrelation between thermal diffusivity and microhardness is not properly understood. Carburizing and quenching are widely used for the heat treatment of industrial steel, and it is important to understand their effects on thermal diffusivity profiles. This thesis presents a thorough examination of the actual mechanism by which thermal diffusivity depth profiles are affected by first carburizing and then quenching. The common process in both these heat treatments is the diffusion of carbon. Two novel observations are made: first, it is found that the shape of the thermal diffusivity profile is dominated by carbon diffusion, and second, the absolute thermal diffusivity is a function of microstructure. Furthermore, a novel method of accounting for surface roughness of the samples is developed, which models roughness as white noise of random spatial distribution in the frequency domain. This extends the suitability of depth profilometry to industrial applications. Thermal-wave Slice Diffraction Tomography (TSDT) is a photothermal imaging technique for non-destructive detection of sub-surface cross-sectional defects in opaque solids in the very-near-surface region ([mu]m-mm). Conventional reconstructions of the well-posed propagating wave-field tomographies cannot be applied to the ill-posed thermal wave problem. A regularization method, such as Tikhonov regularization, is used to invert the almost singular matrices resulting from the ill-posedness of the inverse thermal wave problem. Multiplicity of solutions, which is inherent to ill-posed problems, is resolved by adopting the L-curve method for optimization. For tomographic imaging of sub-surface defects, a new high-resolution radiometric setup is constructed, which reduces the broadening of images associated with previous low-resolution setups. In summary, two important thermal-wave problems, namely, the depth profilometry and diffraction tomography, were studied in this work. Several improvements to existing methods were implemented, making them attractive for industrial applications.
Ventilatory sounds as an index of exercise intensity

Young male subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups to determine the relationships between the phrases "can hear their breathing" (n = 8)/"can readily hear their breathing" (n = 9) and exercise intensity. Peak heart rate (HR peak) and the first ventilatory threshold (VT1) were determined from a maximal cycle ergometry test using a SensorMedics 2900 metabolic cart. On 3 separate occasions, subjects' breathing frequency (BF) and HR were recorded using a strain gauge and electrocardiograph (ECG) respectively while pedalling a cycle ergometer against an increasing resistance of 150 kpm (25 watts) per minute until they could "can hear their breathing" or "can readily hear their breathing". The 2 phrases are not significantly different (p $<$ 0.05). The exercise intensity chosen by the subjects cycling at a pace corresponding to "can hear their breathing" or "can readily hear their breathing" corresponds to their VT1 (p $<$ 0.05) and 70% of HR peak which is within the recommended range (ACSM 55% to 90% of HR max).
"Out of all this beauty something must come", Chaucer's place in Ezra Pound's "Pisan Cantos"

The thesis argues that an awareness of Chaucer's presence in the "Pisan Cantos" helps counter the notion that the sequence is purely personal in organisation. Chapter One argues that Pound's praise for Chaucer in the ABC of Reading suggests that Pound esteemed Chaucer as a precedent for his own urgent exploration and recombination of the various poetic traditions of the past. Chapter Two suggests that Pound consistently strives to avoid the merely personal in the "Pisan Cantos" by experimenting with various personae and voices. It argues that criticism of Pound's techniques might benefit from an approach similar to the one developed in David Lawton's 1985 Chaucer's Narrators. Chapter Three uses Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde as a point of departure for an exploration of the nature of Pound's poetic consolation at Pisa.
LNX, a novel PDZ domain-containing protein

LNX, a novel protein that contains four PDZ domains, was identified through its interaction with the mammalian homologue of the cell fate determinant, Numb. A yeast two-hybrid screen was performed to identify the targets of the LNX PDZ domains. Seven proteins were identified which interact specifically with the PDZ domains of LNX in a yeast two-hybrid assay. Four of the seven proteins are novel while the other three are murine homologues of the proteins WWP1, PRA1 and syntaxin5. Two 'in vitro' methods, namely mixing of fusion proteins and BiaCore analysis, were used to verify and characterize these interactions. In addition these reagents were used to identify endogenous LNX from mouse brain.
Role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in Wg activity and wingless signaling in Drosophila melanogaster

The 'Wnt' gene family encodes secreted factors that function as developmental regulators. 'wingless' ('wg'), a Drosophila melanogaster Wnt family member, encodes the glycoprotein Wingless (Wg) that forms a gradient in the embryonic epidermis and midgut. Strict regulation of this gradient ensures proper cell fate determination. Wg associates with heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). To determine how HSPGs influence Wg activity 'in vivo', their levels were manipulated using ' sugarless', which encodes UDP-glucose dehydrogenase and 'bGluc ', which encodes ß-Glucuronidase. Alterations in dosage of either gene impaired Wg activity and wg signaling. Results presented here indicate that in the extracellular matrix, HSPGs protect Wg from degradation and stabilize it enough to extend several cell diameters away from 'wg'-expressing cells, thus limiting Wg diffusion. The lower concentration limit of HSPGs is necessary for protecting Wg from degradation. Hence, a specific concentration of HSPGs shapes and regulates the Wg gradient during embryogenesis.
RNA-protein interactions within the 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of the human multidrug resistance type 1 (MDR1) mRNA

The human MDR1 3'UTR was shown to be an inefficient mRNA destabilizer despite similarities of its AU-rich elements to that of the labile c-'myc' (1). In this work, we characterized the RNA-protein interactions within the MDR1 3'UTR to identify regulatory sequences that confer MDR1 mRNA stabilization. RNA gel shift assays indicated that nt 4421-4577 in the MDR1 3' UTR (termed MDRB) was the major protein binding site. UV cross-linking analysis and competition assays revealed two proteins of 42- and 80-kDa in molecular mass, from both HepG2 and K562 RSW, have a lower ability to bind MDRB compared to Myc AU-rich elements (ARE) while a 32 kDa protein only binds the latter. Further mapping using antisense oligonucleotides localized the protein binding sites to U-rich regions (nt 4470-4487, 4531-4548) of the MDR1 mRNA. These results, together with secondary structure predictions, suggest differences between the Myc ARE and MDRB RNA recognition by ARE-binding proteins based on sequence and structure to modulate mRNA stability.
Return to work?, a qualitative inquiry into the experience of people living with HIV/AIDS

In the mid-1990's, medical advances dramatically changed the experience of living with HIV/AIDS. The shifting medical climate spurred new social and financial questions, such as the possibility of returning to work. Considering returning to work, however, is a complicated process for people living with HIV/AIDS. This qualitative study has shown that the participants are influenced by, and wrestle with, both the dominant societal perspective that "people should work", and also the oppositional perspective that people living with HIV/AIDS "should not return to work". Parsons' "sick role" concept and Charmaz's "hierarchy of identities" contribute to theoretical understanding of the results. These findings have conceptual and methodological implications for literature in the areas of HIV/AIDS, return to work, identity, and rehabilitation. Results also inform practice and could serve to minimize the negative consequences of wrestling with this decision for individuals living with HIV/AIDS who are considering returning to work.