VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Ritual negotiations: Paris de' Grassi and the Office of Ceremonies under Popes Julius II Leo X (1504--1521)

During the first three decades of the sixteenth century the papacy presented itself as a political power, led by a papal monarch who not only ruled the Papal States in Italy but also influenced the states and people of Christendom. On the eve of the Reformation the papacy faced criticism for its political involvement, its ignorant clergy, and its failure to prioritize the cure of souls over the collection of benefices. Simultaneously in the 1510s there was a revival of conciliarism encouraged by the College of Cardinals' dissatisfaction with their depleted share of real power and the papacy's focus on papal monarchism. Within the Roman court these issues were negotiated through the politically charged language of ritual, under the direction of the Master of Ceremonies, Paris de' Grassi (1504-1528). In concert with the pope, de' Grassi established rituals that projected images of a cohesive and loyal College of Cardinals, based on the model of a courtier whose relations with the pope were publicly constructed through papal liturgical and political rituals. De' Grassi chronicled his work, opinions and the events of the court in a diary (1504-1521) that was kept as a reminder for himself and a guide for his ceremonialist colleagues. Other scholars have dismissed de' Grassi as a pedant who held little authority, but my research shows that he served as the director of vital ritual events that established the relative roles of the papal monarch and the cardinal-courtier, and suppressed all hopes for conciliarist government of the Church. Moreover, the diary shows how de' Grassi transformed the Office of Ceremonies into a papal college as part of the growing bureaucratization of the papacy, and how he projected papal messages to the outside world through ritual acts.
Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company Limited, 1899--1919: a case study in the geography of financial capital

Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company Limited ("Brazilian Traction") was one of several Canadian companies that established electric streetcar, light and power utilities in developing countries during the period from the late 1890s up to the First World War. This thesis examines how these companies emerged on the international stage during this period of early globalization by analyzing Brazilian Traction, with a focus on the evolution of its financial structure based on research into primary sources on the company and its predecessors. It is argued that Canadian companies were able to play a more central role in the world economy by their unique ability to bring together new electric technology from the United States and surplus capital from Western Europe and apply them to developing countries. It is also argued that this early globalization was disrupted by the First World War and the resulting changes to the international finance system.
Postmodern pirates: metaphoric experiments in the novels of Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, and Kathy Acker

The main thesis is that the often-noted resistance to interpretation by the experimental novels of Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, and Kathy Acker has to do with the radical functioning of metaphor in the texts. These are metaphoric narratives that employ strategies of piracy to eschew narrative closure. In the first chapter, I link the sub-genre of metaphoric fiction to the Romance tradition in American literature, and I discuss contemporary debates about metaphor and narrative. My starting point for thinking about experimental fiction in the ensuing chapters is to be Donald Davidson's post-structuralist notion of metaphor, with its explicit rejection of the reigning cognitivist model. The second chapter, drawing on further theoretical materials, places Donald Barthelme's novels in the literary contexts of modernism and postmodernism, as represented respectively by Samuel Beckett and Jorge Luis Borges. Moreover, through textual interpretation, I show that Barthelme's work is best understood in the light of Borges', metaphoric labyrinth. The third chapter examines the novels of Thomas Pynchon, on the basis of my extended development of the concept of "piracy." I propose that this particular term will shed light on the nature of the intertexts created by all three experimental writers. In the fourth chapter, on the work of Kathy Acker, I take a close look at one particular strategy of piracy: literary plagiarism. I conclude my argument by situating the metaphoric narrative in relation to what I see as the two main competing paradigms of postmodernist fiction.
Endangerment and recovery trends in Ontario's birds at risk

This study analyzes factors associated with the endangerment and recovery of Ontario's birds at risk. Birds that have been considered to be at risk by government-appointed authorities were compared to those that have not, to determine if their distributions across habitats and ranges in Ontario are different. Among at risk species, several Chi-square analyses were undertaken to determine if there were any significant associations among variables such as cause of endangerment, risk status, recovery status, habitat, range, and Breeding Bird Atlas trends from 1981-1985 to 2001-2005. The results show that species at risk and species that are not recovering are concentrated in southern Ontario. As well, species that have been threatened by overexploitation and pollution have been more likely to recover than those suffering from habitat loss. As a result, significant attention should be paid to habitat protection and restoration if future Ontario bird conservation initiatives are to be successful.
Routing in a multiple-hop cellular network

This thesis presents a minimum hop routing algorithm for the multiple hop cellular CDMA network. A mechanism to update routing paths in case of network topology change is also developed. Mobile terminals will be separated into two groups and each group will only transmit on one of two timeslots so that terminals do not have to transmit and receive simultaneously on the same frequency band. A power control mechanism is designed to minimize interference between transmissions. The routing algorithm designed in this research is investigated and optimized based on QoS criteria including efficiency, delay, pourer consumption, and fairness. Simulation is used to evaluate these criteria for the multiple hop cellular network and its performance is compared with the traditional cellular network. Simulations show that the total power consumption in the multiple hop cellular network is much lower than a traditional cellular network with a capacity that is nearly as high.
Role of multiple drug resistance protein 1 in neutral Glycosphingolipids biosynthesis

Multiple Drug Resistance Protein 1 (MDR1) is a pump responsible for multidrug resistance against many anticancer drugs. We proposed that MDR1 functions as a glycolipid translocase that flips glucosylceramide, precursor of the majority of glycosphingolipids (GSL), from the outer to the inner surface of the Golgi to enhance the synthesis of lactosylceramide and subsequently, globotriaosylceramide. To study if MDR1 inhibition is able to affect glycolipid biosynthesis in cells in general, glycolipid analysis, VT sensitivity assays, and MDR1 surface labeling were performed on cell lines of different origins. To determine the subcellular localization of MDR1, cryo-IEM was performed on MDR1-MDCK cells. MDR1 inhibition reduced neutral GSL content but not ganglioside levels in all cell lines studied except HeLa, confirmed to lack MDR1, suggesting the existence of different pools of glucosylceramide and lactosylceramide from which globo and gangliosides series are synthesized. IEM studies showed MDR1 localization was predominantly intracellular and Golgi associated. These results confirmed a new role for MDR1 as Golgi GSL translocase.
Testimony: From the poetics of place to the politics of memory

This study reveals the formal and thematic continuities among texts authored with the intent of testifying to a traumatic historical experience. The evolution of testimony as a mode of discourse traces from studies of Holocaust memoirs to trauma and Latin American testimonio. The memoirs of Lithuanian wartime deportee Dalia Grinkeviciute and the short stories of Russian writer Varlam Shalamov testify to their respective experience of the Soviet Gulag. Claude Lanzmann's Shoah and Emmanuel Finkiel's Voyages represent the testimony of others to the Holocaust. Deutschland im Herbst is the collective work of leading directors of the New German Cinema who testify to the trauma of a generation living self-consciously in the wake of the catastrophe of National Socialism and World War II. Incredible experience is felt by the witness to require new forms of expression, inspired by real life rather than the compromised narrative forms of the past. Paradoxically, while creators of artistic testimony claim that neither word nor image is capable of conveying their unique, traumatic experience, they have canonized a distinctly testimonial mode of representing the traces of the past in the body of the survivor and landscape of the present. The source of testimony in memory rather than the imagination distinguishes testimony from fiction, and accounts for the world-reflecting and world-creating dimensions of testimonial representation. As personal memory of one's own ordeal extends to embrace the commemoration of others' suffering and death, the dynamic of individual and collective memory is raised as a core dynamic of testimonial art. A thematic continuity is found in the representation of place and territory as a repository of memory and site of commemoration. The discourse of trauma as testimony makes a virtue of affect, but the positive connotation given to sympathy becomes problematic when generalized as a model of reception. The presumption that sympathy alone empowers one to experience the original event blinds the listener to signs that the real witness may not be open to this degree of participation. Far from encouraging a open spectrum of interpretation vis-a-vis the represented events, testimonial discourse induces a parochial, exclusive and emotionally charged reception.
A five-year longitudinal study examining conditions that advance self-directed professional development among novice elementary mathematics teachers

This five year longitudinal study contributes to prior research conducted by a team of researchers at OISE(UT, which addressed issues of educational design that facilitated key elements of mathematics reform (Brett 2002; Woodruff, 1999, 2002; Woodruff, Brett, & Nason, 1999). First, self declared math anxious pre-service teachers (N=20 from a total cohort of 57) were inducted into a learning community as an experimental program, whereby mathematics was presented as a collaborative discourse based generative subject. Brett (2002) determined that this program met with a degree of success, as a shift in thinking was evidenced to varying degrees by all participants. Second, as these teachers began their elementary careers over a wide geographical area, opportunities for self-directed professional development were provided, modeled as a Community of Practice, (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The MathForum Group (TMG) evolved as a three year quasi-design experiment in which 'active' members (N=10) routinely accessed supports including quarterly workshops and an online conference. The remaining (N=10) are 'peripheral' reflecting membership in the community; however voluntary involvement was generally limited to receiving the workshop newsletters and annual interviews. A grounded framework is used to identify evidence of movement in thinking and represented as a form of trajectory identified as 'trails' over time. A professional development model was developed informed by three branches of inquiry: (i) Problem-solving, (ii) Knowledge Building, (iii) Socio-cultural research. The findings suggest that for a number of 'active' participants (N=9) a valid conception of themselves emerged as both a learner and teacher, as they moved from developing foundational knowledge and sub-skills of research to engaging in deeper levels of constructivism. By going beyond the periphery to explore ideas and emergent problems of understanding, opportunities were created to learn with students and colleagues within multiple contexts; the pre-service program, classrooms, schools, school boards, TMG and beyond. Through personal reflection and social interaction, a number of ideas and questions progressed to deeper levels of complexity and resolution, transforming classroom practice while influencing others. Possible implications for building community and multiple levels of teacher education are presented.
Banking for growth: Tiering the banking sector as a strategy for improving access to credit for small enterprises in developing countries

The absence of a robust small and medium-sized formal business sector (SMEs)---or the "missing middle"--Has long been identified as both a contributing factor and a distinguishing characteristic of many developing countries. Many reasons have been advanced to explain the missing middle including the inability of SMEs to access bank-based credit. This thesis compares the relative merits of the legal reforms associated with two strategies that have emerged to address the lack of bank-based credit. The first strategy can be considered as the second generation of reforms following the financial liberalization policies of the 1990s. It focuses on improving the financial intermediation process performed by first tier, or "commercial", banks and is commonly referred to as "downscaling". The second strategy is a second generation reform of the NGO "microcredit" movement and a sub group of the effort to make microcredit "sustainable" or "commercialized" that began in the 1990s. This strategy is commonly referred to as "scaling-up" and emphasizes the enactment of narrow, second tiers or segments within the banking sector of developing countries as a necessary step in the process of expanding bank-based financial intermediation. The thesis assesses and compares the merits of each strategy by considering the way in which the laws that each strategy advances support the independent and interactive roles of the stakeholders to the financial intermediation process, mindful of the historical, cultural and socio-political similarities and differences that each developing country would present. It challenges the ability of lawmakers to draft laws that can make a meaningful distinction between first tier and narrow second-tier bank institutions, and suggests that the focus of legal reform should be on supporting the roles of stakeholder to the financial intermediation process and removing the constraints that hampered its development. The emergence of these two, potentially competing, strategies reflects the convergence of the two tracks of development efforts that have run parallel to each other: one track for the informal sector and the other for the existing, but negligible, SME sector. However, the recognition that the SME sector in developing countries will emerge from very small, growing, informal sector enterprises and the commercialization of microfinance have led to the convergence of the two tracks of efforts.
The impact of hip fracture on the lives of older adults who return home: individual perspectives

Hip fracture in seniors places a significant burden on the individual and on the health care system. This qualitative study was undertaken to explore the impact of hip fracture from the perspective of seniors themselves, using the Person-Environment-Occupation Model and a Symbolic Interactionist framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve community-dwelling seniors who had suffered a hip fracture. Themes that emerged from the data related to individuals' concerns, including physical frailty, emotional turmoil, environmental constraints, disruptions to routine and the stigma of disability. Common themes also emerged as respondents described their struggle to re-establish occupational performance. Strategies included engaging in exercise or daily activity, finding support in spirituality, learning to balance dependence with a desire for independence and taking a new approach to activity. Findings indicate that survival and successful adaptation are possible following hip fracture and that the event need not be as devastating as the literature suggests.
Toward a jus in bello of guerrilla warfare: a case study in comparative ethics

Can guerrilla war be just war, and can guerrilla wars be fought morally? This thesis explores these questions by using a single case study, that of the Lebanese Hizballah, with the intention of contributing to an understanding of the jus in bello of guerrilla warfare. Because this case study involves an Islamic resistance movement, a second intention is to contribute to a greater understanding, in the American context, of a movement of people condemned under U.S. law, and in popular perception, as terrorists. This thesis details the story of the Lebanese war and the Lebanese Hizballah, centering on the suffering of ordinary people. Part I examines Hizballah's jus ad bellum, finding it to be plausible given the failure of alternatives to armed confrontation in Lebanon. Part II examines Hizballah's jus in bello. We find that Hizballah launched an armed struggle without establishing basic moral principles to guide the actions of its fighters. As a result, Hizballah used resistance tactics—suicide bombs and hostages—that resulted in unjustifiable manipulation or loss of noncombatant life, but not the military gains claimed by Hizballah. At the end of the Lebanese civil war, Hizballah began seeking the support of the people. Neither the guerrilla war against Israel in occupied southern Lebanon, nor the creation of an Islamic society, could proceed without the support of the people for the former, and the participation of the people in the latter. This effort to gain popular support led the movement to engage in activity that could be considered just in popular opinion. Exploring the Lebanese war using this method of story-telling allows us to cautiously engage with the morality of noncombatants. We find evidence to support the contention that Lebanese noncombatants expect Hizballah to practice respect, discrimination, and proportionality. This indicates a certain universality of the ethics of war. The tentative conclusion is that jus in bello restraint in guerrilla warfare is grounded in the interactions between guerrilla movements and the responses of the people they intend to liberate and serve.
The last chapter: A phenomenological study of aging Holocaust survivors' views on their own dying and death

Elderly Holocaust survivors have a paradoxical experience with end of life. Over sixty years ago, as children or young adults they experienced and survived a genocide where millions were murdered. Today they are all older adults dealing with their own aging and mortality. As they approach the last chapter of their life course, the concept of 'normal' death or 'death by natural causes' may be one that is not readily understood. This study, using phenomenological methodology, invited ten women, all elderly Holocaust survivors, to examine their views and thoughts regarding their own death and dying.

Keywords: Mental health
Gerontology
Social service
Associative properties and phase behaviour of aqueous solutions of poly(oxyethylene)-b-poly(oxypropylene)-b-poly(oxybutyene) triblock copolymers

Characterization of aqueous solutions of four triblock copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(butylene oxide) containing various PPO/PBO ratios was carried out in order to examine the effects of hydrophobicity on the micellization properties and phase behaviour of the systems using a combination of surface tension measurements, rheological studies, phase diagrams and dynamic light scattering data. The EPB polymer systems undergo thermoreversible gelation and their phase behaviors show strong temperature dependence and a relatively weak dependence on concentration. Analysis of the data revealed some anomalies, most notably, the increase of cmc with temperature for the two most hydrophobic copolymer samples. The phase diagrams are complex and define prominent macroscopic turbid gel, clear gel, turbid sol, clear sol and two-phase regions.
Design and experimental demonstration of a semiconductor optical amplifier with enhanced spectral bandwidth and controllable spectral shape

A novel semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) design is developed to address emerging opportunities in coarse wavelength division multiplexing and metro-area networks by providing enhanced spectral bandwidth with current-adjustable spectral shape. Multiple quantum-well SOAs are fabricated in the InGaAsP material system using molecular beam epitaxy at McMaster University. Each device is comprised of two electrically-independent sections along its length. An impurity-free quantum-well intermixing technique is used to introduce a relative shift between each section's gain spectrum. Optical gains up to 15 dB are observed from single- and two-section SOA devices 500 to 1600 μm in length. A 3-dB emission bandwidth of over 130 nm is measured from a two-section SOA through optimization of each section's injection current, demonstrating both bandwidth enhancement and electronic spectral tunability. This represents an improvement of 50 nm over the emission bandwidth of typical single section devices.
An evaluation of the adoption and diffusion of surgical innovations in an Ontario academic health sciences centre

Objective. To evaluate the adoption and diffusion of surgical innovations in an academic health sciences centre. Methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 respondents to analyze two surgical innovations: (i) outpatient craniotomy and (ii) sentinel lymph node biopsy. Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations framework was used to analyze the innovations in terms of their characteristics and contextual factors. Results. Outpatient craniotomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy were adopted into practice by the surgeons at an academic health sciences centre in Toronto, Ontario. While sentinel lymph node biopsy diffused, outpatient craniotomy did not. Based on Rogers' framework, low relative advantage and low observability could explain the lack of adoption of outpatient craniotomy. Conclusion. Rogers' framework is a valuable tool that can be used to identify factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of surgical innovations related to the characteristics of the innovation and the contextual factors that influence them.
Mathematical modelling and analysis for the optimization of terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexers using quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers

The carrier dynamics of quantum well and quantum dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) were mathematically modelled to compare their use in a Terahertz Optical Asymmetric Demultiplexer (TOAD). It was found that the effective recombination rate in the quantum dot devices was 440 fs which is approximately 1000 times faster than for the quantum well devices. This led to the proposal of a simpler configuration of a TOAD with quantum dot amplifiers. A scheme of using different wavelengths for the control and signal pulses which led to greatly improved contrast ratios was also proposed. The physical design and operational parameters for the quantum dot TOAD were optimized and it was shown to be crosstalk free and not susceptible to patterning effects. Switching using the novel one control pulse configuration was realized up to 250 Gb/s. By reverting to the classical configuration a 4 x 250 Gb/s stream was demultiplexed.