VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Modelling office mobility and location decisions in a microsimulation environment

Integrated land use---transportation models aim at improving the understanding of relationships between the urban form and the transportation system and at testing how different policies affect the economic development, the social structure and the environmental conditions in the urban area. One of the main challenges faced when creating such models is to adequately represent the way firms decide where to locate, because of the importance of the employment location to decisions taken at the household level, and through this, to the performance of the transportation system. This dissertation studies how office firms make their mobility and location decisions and how these decisions should be modelled. As a background for the modeling work, existing models of firm location in an urban environment were reviewed, and challenge the validity of some of the assumptions that underline these models. After building a conceptual model, a web-based survey is designed and implemented to study the circumstances under which office firms decide to relocate and the search process they conduct while seeking a new site. Using these data, in-depth quantitative analysis is performed to study these decisions by employing hazard-based mobility models and logit-based location choice models. Additionally, considerable experimentation with search area definition is undertaken. Finally, the data acquired in the survey and the estimated models provide a basis for a number of simulation experiments utilized to forecast firm decisions under various scenarios and for improving the search area procedure and through it the forecasting ability of the model. The empirical results suggest that office firms tend to spend limited resources for acquiring information about the office market and that they usually relocate to the first adequate location they can identify. Moreover, the analysis presented here indicates that office firms tend to prefer to relocate in close proximity to their previous location and to the residential location of the owner of the firm. In addition, the results of the modelling efforts and the simulations suggest that identifying the area within which an office firm is likely to conduct its search for a new location is paramount to achieving an adequate forecasting ability.
Robust online appearance models for visual tracking

A framework for learning robust, adaptive appearance models to be used for motion-based tracking of natural objects is proposed. The approach involves a mixture of stable image structure, learned over long time courses, along with 2-frame transient motion information and an outlier process. This class of appearance models is shown to have low storage requirements and that the model parameters can be learned efficiently with an on-line variant of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Two implementations of appearance models based on the framework presented here are developed. The first is based on the filter responses from a steerable pyramid. This model is used in a motion-based tracking algorithm to provide robustness in the face of image outliers, such as those caused by occlusions. It also provides the ability to adapt to natural changes in appearance, such as those due to facial expressions or variations in 3D pose. The second implementation is based on a robust representation of the color of the target object. Experimental results on a variety of natural image sequences of people moving within cluttered environments are shown, both for the wavelet- and color-based appearance models individually and in combination with one another. A quantitative analysis of the performance of the tracker is provided for one of the test sequences.
(En)lever le voile: L'intersigne langagier feminin dans la litterature du Maghreb

Notre ths̈e, divisě en quatre chapitres, explore l'intersigne langagier fm̌inin chez quatre romanciers maghrb̌ins contemporains d'expression franȧise que voici: Tahar Ben Jelloun, Assia Djebar, Malika Mokeddem et Abdelhak Serhane. Dans le chapitre premier, nous expliquons, en premier lieu, ce que nous entendons par les termes ±intersigne¿ et ±langagier¿ pour ainsi cerner notre df̌inition d' intersigne langagier fm̌inin dans un texte littřaire. En deuxim̈e lieu, nous ťudions la place attribuě ̉la femme arabo-musulmane et l'importance de cette place dans notre corpus littřaire. En troisim̈e lieu, nous examinons la voix fm̌inine et, en dernier lieu, le langage corporel de la femme arabo-musulmane ...

Keywords: African literature
Regulation of neural migration by direct-current electric fields

Neuronal migration is a pivotal process during the course of brain development. The role of electrical fields in biological systems is well established, with several cell types exhibiting either polarized motion or growth, usually towards the cathode. I set out to expose cultured neurons to electrical fields in vitro, and to assess whether migration patterns are modulated. Microexplants were isolated from the lateral ganglionic eminence of E16 rat brains and visualized by time-lapse imaging. Control cultures exhibited a radial, symmetrical mode of cell migration. Upon exposure to an electric field (10-250 mV/mm), cells reoriented and migrated towards the cathode, exhibiting higher velocities than in control cultures. The extent of enhanced and velocity and cathodal-directed migration was field strength-dependent. Collectively, this study provides novel evidence that electrical fields can guide mammalian neuronal migration, suggesting that electric fields may regulate neuronal migration in the developing mammalian brain.
The role of hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide modulated and voltage gated potassium channels in pancreatic beta-cell function

Two pharmacological HCN inhibitors that are widely employed in basic research, cilobradine and ZD7288, were found to inhibit KV currents and exocytosis, respectively. Cilobradine did not affect insulin release from rat islets, while ZD7288 significantly inhibited insulin secretion from both rat islets and MIN6 cells, results expected given its effects on exocytosis. Another commonly used pharmacological inhibitor called LY294002, which blocks phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) was shown to inhibit KV currents directly while a structurally distinct PI3K blocker (wortmannin) had no effect, suggesting LY294002 is a non-selective inhibitor. Diabetes affects over 2 million Canadians at an annual cost to the healthcare system of over $10 billion per year. Type 2 diabetes comprises the majority of cases ( sim;90%) and is characterized by a severe reduction in peripheral insulin sensitivity along with a concomitant loss of insulin production and secretion due to pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction and/or destruction. The work in this thesis examines the characteristics of voltage-gated potassium (KV) channels and hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide-modulated (HCN) channels in rodent and human beta-cells using RT-PCR, electrophysiological recordings and insulin secretion, in conjunction with various pharmacological drugs. HCN channels produce an inward, depolarizing current (beta-Ih) that is activated by cell hyperpolarization, enhanced by cAMP and blocked by established HCN channel inhibitors. Inhibition of this current using a siRNA-based strategy did not affect insulin release at low or high glucose levels in the absence or presence of cAMP. This thesis presents preliminary evidence for functional K V currents in human beta-cells and HCN channels in several rodent beta-cell types. Furthermore, these studies demonstrate the limitations of pharmacological compounds in trying to assess the role of established and novel proteins in physiological processes. Future studies can attempt to address the in vivo functional role of HCN channels in pancreatic beta-cells.
Effects of axial prestress on the punching behaviour of plain and fibre reinforced concrete slabs

A slab that is axially prestressed develops compressive membrane action that tends to increase significantly its strength. The behaviour of axially prestressed slabs was experimentally examined. Five unreinforced two-way slab specimens were built and tested to failure under monotonically increasing central load. Three of the specimens were constructed using plain concrete, while the other two were constructed using fibre reinforced concrete (FRC). Axial stress was applied using an external post-tensioning system; the system consisted of Dywidag bars and side steel beams. Parameters, such as lateral stress level, fibre inclusion, and varying the axial stress in one direction were investigated. The level of axial stress was observed to affect all aspects of the behaviour, including cracking, deflection, stiffness, and failure mode. The higher the stress level, the higher the ultimate strength and stiffness, and the lower the ductility. A stress level as low as 2.0 MPa was able to provide lateral restraint necessary to prevent premature flexural failure of Specimen P-3, which failed in a combined flexural-punching mode at a significantly higher load than expected by flexural failure. Adding steel fibres in an amount equal to 1% by volume fraction resulted in a ductile punching shear failure and improved post-cracking behaviour and residual load-carrying capacity after reaching maximum load.
Preceptorship in nursing education in Ontario: Rhetoric vs. reality

The purpose of this quantitative and qualitative study was to provide a detailed view of how preceptorships were organized and experienced in university and college settings in Ontario in 1997–98. One important difference between university and college preceptorships was that diploma programmes tended to have more of a work focus and university programmes a learning focus. While there was clearly overlap in these distinctions, these contrasts in rationale were apparent in the handbooks from these programmes. When this study was done in 1997–98, health care agencies were feeling the effects of restructuring in the health care system and universities and colleges were faced with budgetary restraints. My study showed that this impacted negatively on those closely involved with preceptorship experiences. Managers were left to select preceptors, using their own criteria. I found that the learning environment in these stressed workplaces was less than ideal for students and at times they felt exploited. Students missed out on opportunities for critical thinking because their preceptors were rarely provided time to teach and help them reflect on patient care. In spite of workload issues and lack of recognition, preceptors were willing to take on the responsibility of being a preceptor. Intrinsic rewards were more important to them than being paid for this work. While faculty were less satisfied with preceptored experiences and their ability to support preceptors, preceptors in my study seemed content with the amount of support they received. Support from colleagues and managers in the practice setting was more important to them. While the nursing education system in Ontario has changed since 1998, preceptored experiences have not appreciably changed. There is controversy about the frequency and focus of these experiences, but I would argue that the emphasis should always be on student learning and having faculty pay more attention to preceptors and how they teach. Funding for nursing clinical education must be made more equitable than in the past so that resources are there to offset the increased time and effort that is needed to address the disjunction between the rhetoric of teaching and the reality of the practice settings. The tendency in the nursing literature to lay the blame for these problems with faculty or preceptors fails to recognize that cutbacks and restructuring have exacerbated them.

Keywords: Nursing, Study and teaching (Preceptorship)
Nursing, Study and teaching (Preceptorship)
Nursing, Ontario
Nursing, Study and teaching (Higher)
Nursing, Ontario
Nurses, Training of
Nurses, Ontario
Nursing, Education
Nursing, Ontario
Design methodology and implementation of low-power asynchronous Viterbi decoders for wireless applications

Power dissipation is a critical parameter in digital design for the implementation of high performance portable, battery operated systems, such as wireless communications systems. Clocked or synchronous digital designs consume a significant amount of power associated with coordinating the operation of millions of transistors at GHz clock rates. Besides, the operating speed of such systems is limited by the slowest logic functional block. By contrast, asynchronous designs are active only when doing useful work, enabling considerable savings in power and operating at the average speed of all components. Yet, the overhead associated with the asynchronous control units implementing the handshaking protocol, in terms of silicon area, speed and power, as well as the lack of Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for use in such designs have limited the use of asynchronous techniques. This thesis deals with the design and implementation of low-power Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), suitable for portable and wireless applications, using asynchronous techniques. A simple asynchronous design methodology that simplifies the concept of asynchronous design and allows the use of commercially available CAD tools and standard cell libraries is developed. The vehicle used to demonstrate the viability of the proposed technique is a 64-state, 1/2-rate Viterbi decoder suitable for wireless communications applications. Two asynchronous Viterbi decoder designs are implemented, tested experimentally and compared to their synchronous counterparts. The first is based on the conventional single-rail 4-phase delay matched protocol while the second is based on a newly proposed Current Sensing Completion Detection (CSCD) technique. Performance comparison with synchronous versions of the decoders show that the first Viterbi decoder, implemented in a 180 nm CMOS technology, outperforms its synchronous counterpart and features a 32% reduction in power-delay product, whereas, the second Viterbi decoder, implemented in a 90 nm CMOS technology, features a 43% reduction in power-delay product. The improved performance is mainly attributed to the use of the asynchronous technique. This work confirms the viability of the proposed technique and the suitability of asynchronous logic for low power DSP implementations.
Vivre français: An examination of a “French-only” policy as an educational experience

The study reported in this thesis attempted to broaden understanding of a French-only policy as an educational experience. Carried out at a university in Quebec, Canada, this study involved 76 students who attended a summer French immersion program offered from July to August 2002 as well as 11 monitors, 6 teachers and 1 key administrator responsible for the delivery of the program. The researcher herself, a student in the program, kept a diary of her experiences. In addition, a few months after the end of the course she administered questionnaires to students, monitors and teachers and conducted semi-structured interviews with 4 students, 1 monitor, 1 teacher and 1 administrator. The data collected offered insight into student, monitor, teacher and administrator attitudes and beliefs regarding the French-only policy as well as the affective factors that prompted students' recourse to their first language despite the French-only policy which prescribes the opposite.

Keywords: French language, Study and teaching
Students, Attitudes
Periodic preferential etching of electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel-iron alloys

This thesis is the first in-depth study of a recently reported type of mesoscale structure in electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-Fe alloys, observed as a periodic banded structure in etched cross-sections. To investigate the mesoscale structure, three aspects of banding in these alloys were examined: the first involved characterization of the mesoscale structure in depth in one electrodeposit (Ni-53%Fe) to determine the mechanisms of banding; the second involved the examination of the banded structure in other electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-Fe alloys for potential use in nanopatterning applications; the third involved the examination of the thermal stability of the bands. The combined effect of periodic variations in alloy composition and impurities resulted in non-homogeneous corrosion of the alloy. Examination of other Ni-Fe alloys found that the most regular banded structure is in Ni-7.5%Fe. It was also observed that the banded structure in Ni-Fe alloys of high iron content have increased thermal stability.
Incremental predictive validity of the TSI, MMPI-2, and SIMS in identifying coached and uncoached feigning of PTSD in workplace accident victims

As assessments of disability claimants rely on self report of symptoms, it is important to accurately determine the extent and nature of response distortions. Although several scales exist that assess for fake-bad response styles on many measures of personality and psychopathology, little research has been conducted to calculate the extent to which newly developed scales and indexes add incremental predictive validity over existing fake-bad scales. The present study evaluated the extent to which fake-bad validity scales on the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS), and recently developed fake-bad scales Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) predicted feigning of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder over the standard MMPI-2 fake-bad validity scales in a sample of community participants who experienced a past traumatic event and had since recovered from symptoms of post-traumatic stress (n = 87). Feigning participants were randomized to three coaching conditions (no coaching, PTSD symptom coaching, validity scale coaching), and were compared to a sample of Worker's Compensation claimants diagnosed with PTSD (n = 84). The results showed that the Psychopathology Infrequency Scale (F P) of the MMPI-2 consistently produced larger effect sizes and rates of negative and positive predictive power. Although all scales were susceptible to validity coaching, the Atypical Response Scale (ATR) of the TSI was particularly affected by symptom and validity coaching, produced significantly smaller effect sizes compared to FP, and was unable to add incrementally to variance accounted for by FP. The SIMS appeared to show more promise than the ATR, although it still did not explain as much variance as FP in a smaller subset of participants (28 PTSD claimants, 83 community participants).
Enhancing and using an automatic design system for creating FPGAs

The creation of integrated circuits has progressed from custom design and layout to the less time-intensive implementation media of ASICs and FPGAs. FPGAs provide the lowest development cost and fastest development time; however, the design of the FPGA itself is still a time-consuming, expensive, custom layout task that takes at least 50 person-years to complete. This work explores new techniques to automate the design and layout of FPGAs. An existing automatic layout system is improved by changing the grouping of transistors that form the basic building blocks of the system. These improvements result in a 16.8% area savings over previous versions and only a 36% area increase compared to equivalent custom designs. The system was also extended to create the first automatic layout of an FPGA from a generic architecture description. These improvements and additions suggest that the automatic layout system is a viable alternative to custom layout of FPGAs.
Chemico-biological interactions of sulfide and organosulfur compounds

Exposure of isolated hepatocytes to NaHS led to GSH depletion. CYP450 inhibitors were protective against NaHS toxicity and prevented GSH depletion. Methionine was protective against NaHS and its effect was overcome by inhibition of S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase by adenosine. This suggests that S-adenosyhnethionine dependent methylation can detoxify H2S in the liver. The H 2O2 scavengers were protective against H2S toxicity. H2S induced ROS formation was dose dependent and pyruvate inhibited this ROS production. Nontoxic concentrations of H2S enhanced the cytotoxicity of H2O2 generated by glucose/glucose oxidase, which was inhibited by CYP450 inhibitors. Furthermore hepatocyte ROS formation induced by H2S was decreased by CYP450 inhibitors cimetidine and benzyleimidazole. Therefore CYP450-dependent metabolism of H2S is responsible for inducing ROS production. H2S induced cytotoxicity was preceded by mitochondrial depolarization. In this project, two aspects of the action of hydrogen sulfide and reactive sulfur species have been studied: cytotoxic and cytoprotective effects. Freshly isolated hepatocytes have been used in order to examine the prevalence and mechanisms of the different sulfide dependent processes that influence cell survival and death. Our hypothesis is that the exogenous application of high concentrations of HS and other reactive sulfur species to isolated hepatocytes in the presence of various modulators will provide a rapid mechanism dependent screen for ways in which reactive sulfur species can modulate cell survival and death. NaHS and/or garlic/onion derived organosulfur compounds, Allyl mercaptan (AM) and Propyl mercaptan (PM) protected hepatocytes against hydroquinone, methylbenzoquinone, and 5-hydroxynaphtoquinone. NaHS and mercaptans increased the cytotoxicity of tert-butylhydroquinone. Treatment of these benzoquinones with allyl mercaptan, propanethiol or NaHS led to formation of new compounds which by MS/MS analysis were identified as mercaptan conjugates of corresponding hydroquinones. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)H2S, allyl mercaptan (AM), propyl mercaptan (PM), diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl sulfide (DAS) prevented hepatocyte toxicity induced by allyl alcohol, 1-bromoethanol and their toxic metabolites. MS/MS spectrometry revealed adduct formation between AM and/or PM with the acrolein and/or haloacetaldehyde formed by the metabolism of allyl alcohol and alpha-haloethanol. H 2S or garlic and onion mercaptans are cytoprotective by trapping toxic aldehyde metabolites and/or by preventing lipid peroxidation.