VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The secrets of the soul, death and the afterlife in al-Ghazali's Ihya' 'ulum al-Din

This thesis marks a radical rethinking of the hereafter in the thought of al-Ghaza¢li (d. 505/1111), with a special focus on his 'magnum opus', the 'Revival of the Religious Sciences'. Heavily textual and highly contextual in its approach, it attempts to resolve some of the major ambiguities that have vexed al-Ghaza¢li's readers for nearly nine hundred years. The basic problem is easily identified: (i) al-Ghaza¢li's varied treatments of death and the afterlife seem to conflict in places; (ii) he frequently refers to an esoteric knowledge concerning the reality of death, the content of which he refuses to divulge; and (iii) although he concedes to the reader that the missing piece to this puzzle can be found within the soul's true nature, he knowingly leads the reader into an impasse, for the soul's reality is a "secret" so sublime in the Islamic tradition that not even the Prophet was permitted to disclose it. This unspeakable knowledge of the soul, then, is arguably the single most elusive and tantalizing region of al-Ghaza¢li's mind. The pious prohibition concerning the disclosure of the soul's secret does not seem to extend to intimation, however, and our analysis of al-Ghaza¢li's "doctrine of discourse" (ch. 1) strongly suggests that al-Ghaza¢li wove much esoteric content, including an esoteric psychology, into the fabric of the 'Ih&dotbelow;ya¢'' reasons discussed in the course of the study. Such content, enticing yet never explicit enough to be considered outright disclosure, characteristically comes in the form of fragments or brief flashes scattered throughout the many books of the 'Ih&dotbelow;ya¢ ''. When collected and pieced together these intimations reveal much of al-Ghaza¢li's understanding of the soul's true nature, the secret which in turn promises to unlock the mysteries of his esoteric eschatology--the secrets waiting beyond the doors of death. This study, then, systematically formulates a series of interrelated questions. The first of these concerns al-Ghaza¢li's position on the nature and role of written instruction (ch. 1), where we try to make sense of the characteristically varied and sometimes conflicting content one finds in al-Ghaza¢li's writings as a whole. This forms an essential foundation for our analyses of his varied statements concerning the soul in the subsequent chapters. Next comes the complex question of the soul's true nature (ch. 2-5), an investigation that takes us from mainstream doctrine to his more intimate mystical insights concerning the "heart" and the "worlds" through which it journeys on its way "home" to the world of the Unseen. The final questions concern the true meaning of death (ch. 5-6) and the realities of the afterlife (ch. 6), age-old puzzles that seem to fall into place once some new light is shed on the soul's reality. All this yields a fresh yet close reading of al-Ghaza¢'li's thoughts on life and death.
The development of gene targeted mouse strains for studying arylamine N-acetyltransferase function

Experimental and epidemiological studies suggest that genetic variations in the function of arylamine N-acetyltransferases (NATs) are important factors in the production or prevention of arylamine-and hydrazine-induced toxicity and carcinogenesis. However, the usefulness of epidemiological studies in predicting the involvement of such subtle "susceptibility genes" is weakened by the difficulty in accurately assessing levels, lengths and types of exposure to putative toxic chemicals metabolised by NATs. Although these parameters can largely be controlled in animal studies, current animal models of N-acetyation are significantly limited in predicting the role of NATs in humans. For instance, the NAT proteins in mice differ from those in humans with respect to tissue distribution, variable and invariable isoforms, enzyme kinetic properties and the extent to which enzyme function is affected. Moreover, elucidating the specific roles that NATs play in drug-induced disease processes is further complicated by the complex interplay of competing enzyme pathways and environmental factors. The overall goal of our research is to further clarify the role of NAT-mediated acetylation reactions in drug-induced toxicity and arylamine carcinogenesis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
The struggle to understand oneself as a woman, stress, coping and the psychological development of women with turner syndrome

The purpose of this study was to describe how women who have Turner Syndrome (TS) experience and cope with this medical disorder. The life experiences of the participants were conceptualized within the context of a stress and coping paradigm. The findings were discussed in relation to two broad theoretical perspectives: Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) transactional model of stress and coping, and a broad range of human development theories primarily focusing on women's psychological development. This descriptive qualitative study used both exploratory and heuristic approaches. Eight women having TS were interviewed in an open unstructured format in order to determine how the experience of TS had affected their lives, and how they had learned to cope with the disorder. The interviews were audiotaped and subsequently transcribed, studied, and coded. Seven themes emerged from the data analysis: 'Intimacy and Connection, Isolation Self-Esteem Knowledge and Understanding, Support, Perspective Transformation ', and one anomalous theme "'No Effect'." The themes fell into two major categories: (1) how the participants have experienced TS as creating psychological stress, and (2) how the participants have learned to cope with TS. A unifying theme, referred to as "The struggle to understand oneself as a woman" focused and summarized the findings of this study. Overall, the themes suggested that the greatest stress for women having TS related to developing and maintaining relationships, and coping with the lack of knowledge and about the disorder. The paucity of relationships created isolation and fractured their self-esteem. In order to cope with this developmental disorder, the participants required support and made significant life changes that involved a perspective transformation. Many of the findings from this study support the extant TS literature. These data have been collected using a qualitative methodology, a procedure not previously employed on this population. Previous research has used a quantitative approach. Further, this work has uncovered new information that has not as yet been described in the TS literature. For example, many of the participants were adult children of alcoholics (ACoA). Critical issues of care, treatment, and the education of individuals having TS were discussed as they relate to physicians, genetic counsellors, parents, psychotherapists and educators. Implications for our society and directions for future research were also outlined.
Human lymphoblastoid cell lines expressing mutant p53 exhibit decreased sensitivity to cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent commonly used, though with variable results, in treatment of recurrent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. With the aim of obtaining definite evidence for p53 involvement in cisplatin-dependent apoptosis in human B lymphocytes we have designed an experimental system where human lymphoblastoid cells were transfected with expression vectors containing p53 cDNA mutated at either codon 135 or 246. The cells were subjected to cisplatin treatment or $\gamma$-radiation and observed for changes in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Results suggest a role for p53 in cisplatin induced cytotoxicity. In addition increases in the level of mutant p53 RNA after irradiation or cisplatin treatment suggest that these agents may not only stabilize wild type p53 protein but also induce or stabilize mutant p53 RNA. Finally results indicate that both irradiation and cisplatin should be used with caution in the treatment of lymphoid tumours bearing mutations of p53. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Streptococcus pneumoniae in child care centres, a point prevalence survey of nasopharyngeal carriage, antibiotic resistance and risk factors for resistance

Objectives. To describe nasopharyngeal carriage of penicillin-susceptible and penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumoniae and evaluate factors associated with the latter. Study Design. Cross-sectional survey. Participants and setting. Children attending child care centres in Toronto. Methods. Nasopharyngeal swab and questionnaire. Results. Of 1322 children, 586 carried S. pneumoniae (44%) and 102 of 599 isolates (17%) were penicillin-nonsusceptible. Antibiotic use was reported for 11% at the time of study and 28% in the previous month. Multivariate analysis showed that age less than 24 months, use of antibiotics in the previous month and attendance at a centre with fewer than 50 children were associated with carriage of penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumoniae. Conclusions. Nasopharyngeal carriage of penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumoniae is a significant problem in the study population. Although some risk factors for carriage of penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumoniae were identified, further studies of the risks for carriage and disease are needed.
Disclosure in informed consent, a modified conversation analysis of four male surgeons' speech with male and female patients

Informed consent legislation requires physicians to disclose information that a reasonable person in the patient's particular situation would need to know in order to make a decision about treatment options. From the perspective of feminist bioethics, gender is inextricably linked to a person's particular situation. This study analyzed the speech of male physicians in relation to patient gender during discussions of informed consent for identical treatments. Qualitative methods of analysis were used to describe both the structure and content of speech. The results demonstrated that the overall structure of an informed consent encounter did not vary for male and female patients and that male physicians' speech was not explicitly tailored to account for patient gender. The results also demonstrated that male physicians' speech included instances of disfluency, particularly prevalent during risk disclosure, when speaking to both male and female patients. Future studies should investigate further, perhaps by alternative methods, whether physicians account for patient gender during disclosure.
Wallace Stevens' French connection

This thesis studies Wallace Stevens' lifelong fascination and involvement with French and France. The structure is a chronological examination and discussion of the manifestations of French in Stevens' poetry and life. Stevens' Francophilia in his private life is linked with the varied French uses in his poetry, which begin in his undergraduate writing and progress throughout his 'Collected Poems'. Some issues of interest are the 'Harmonium'-era movement away from 'fin-de-siècle' French associations, and the use of moving personal elements during World War II. The thesis examines closely Stevens' use of French-connected lexis, as well as his use of French-associated poetic personae. Reference and allusion to French writers, artists, and locales are also explored in detail. The thesis shows ultimately the lasting interrelationship between Stevens' Francophilia and the diffuse instances of French in his poetry, indicating a poet to whom French and France are deeply significant, both personally and artistically.
The evolution of ASEAN

This dissertation utilizes four theories of international institutions to examine the creation, maintenance and transformation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The four theories are: neoliberal institutionalism, neorealism, constructivism, and the international society approach of the British School of international relations. Each of these theories has distinct explanations of what international institutions are, and how and why they operate in the international system. This dissertation examines the explanations that each of these theories offers for ASEAN's evolution. It concludes that none of the theories adequately explains ASEAN's development. However, the international society approach offers the strongest explanation of ASEAN's creation and maintenance during the Cold War. While this approach cannot explain ASEAN's post-Cold War transformation, it does offer strong indications as to the nature of the organization's continuing durability. Neoliberal institutionalism portrays institutions as functional organs that further the efficient pursuit of state interests. Neorealism portrays institutions as tools that are only useful if they enhance the material security of states. Constructivism argues that institutions are fundamentally important to states' identities. The durability of a regime is related to the role it plays in helping states to define themselves. This dissertation concludes that none of these theories captures the reality of ASEAN's evolution. ASEAN clearly is not and never was strictly a functional institution; likewise, it has only indirectly furthered the material security of its member states. It is not critical to the identities of its members, who remain largely narrowly self-interested actors. The International Society approach best explains ASEAN's evolution because it portrays states as self-interested actors which exist within the bounds of a society. ASEAN's creation and maintenance are best explained as part of its member states' attempts to influence the normative structures of international interaction in the region. Similarly, ASEAN's post-Cold War transformation is best understood as reflecting a belief that the rules of interstate interaction can be shaped by more than material considerations of power. ASEAN is an example of a group of relatively weak states which believe that they can exercise significant political power through their appeal to common international norms and rules.
The attachment and personality dynamics of reader response

The present research consisted of two studies. The first study explored the connection between attachment style and reader response. The sample consisted of 68 fiction readers who read the short story "Bardon Bus" by Alice Munro and wrote about the personal impressions and memories evoked by the story. Participants also completed two self-report questionnaries, the Attachment Style Questionnaire (Feeney, 1994), and the Reader Response Questionnaire (Maill & Kuiken, 1995). Study results pointed at a significant relationship between attachment and literary response. Specifically, subjects with a preoccupied attachment style produced more emotion-based literary responses, whereas avoidant individuals produced more abstract, and emotionally detached literary responses. Secure subjects drew on both intellectual and emotional resources in interpreting the literary material. The second study examined the relationship between personality style and reader response. The study focussed on the affective and self-restraint styles as two important dimensions of human personality. The sample consisted of 96 fiction readers who read the short story "Sojourner" by Carson McCullers and wrote about their personal memories and literary response to the story. Subjects also completed The Weinberger Adjustment Scale (Weinberger, 1990) which yielded four major personality styles of reactive, over-socialized, self-assured, and repressor. Results highlighted a significant relationship between personality style and literary response. Reactives who are high in distress and low in self-restraint produced memories and literary responses that were primarily emotion-based. Self-assured who demonstrate moderate levels of distress and self-restraint produced memories and literary responses that drew on both affect and intellect, and repressors who are characterized by low distress and high self-restraint produced more cerebral and emotionally-constrained memories and literary responses. Results supported Holland's theory of reader response (1975) suggesting that readers recreate their personal identity through the act of reading.
Efficient line-connected voltage-conditioner with minimum disturbance transfer to stand-alone mode

This thesis deals with a novel efficient line-connected voltage-conditioning system (VCS) with minimum disturbance transfer to stand-alone mode. The proposed VCS is used for conditioning a terminal voltage of the critical load on the equipment level. It offers advantages over a conventional rectifier-inverter system in terms of efficiency/harmonic generation and over existing line-connected systems in terms of transfer time/dynamic response. To the author's best knowledge, the concept of a solid-state breaker realized with the controlled turn-on/turn-off switch has been introduced for the first time in this thesis. By using the proposed power converter topology, controller structure independent of the load parameters and line-disturbance detection method, the system conforms to the different susceptibility requirements of the critical equipment. A detailed power circuit and controller description of the proposed current-source-inverter voltage-conditioning system (CSI-VCS) are given. A steady-state analysis of the proposed system is performed including the higher order harmonics. A system controller is designed in order to achieve the two objectives that follow. The first objective is to provide the fast transfer from the line-connected mode to the stand-alone mode in the case of line disturbance. The second objective is to obtain the fast transient response under load disturbance and to provide, in the steady-state, the output voltage of low total harmonic distortion. Proposed is one algorithm for synchronization to the line voltage fully implemented in software. A novel line-voltage. disturbance detection scheme is developed and implemented in software. A 1kVA DSP-controlled laboratory prototype is built to verify the theoretically obtained results. A systematic design procedure and design example are presented and validated using a computer simulation.
Metalinguistic behaviour and its role in developing language awareness in second language learning

Defining metalanguage broadly to include the range of experiences, feelings, thoughts, and reactions of language learners during the language learning process, this study is based in both second-language acquisition theory and empirical research in second-language learning. Empirical and theoretical studies on form-focused instruction make it clear that some kind of direct grammatical instruction has an impact on second-language learning. It becomes clear through a further examination of relevant literature that a learner-centred approach which raises awareness of language while catering to the varying needs and learning strategies of the individual student is most suited to the language classroom. The research study itself is based in a first-year university-level Latin course. Through an analysis of the metalinguistic strategies of language learners, it is discovered that the learner undergoes a process of metalinguistic discovery which is manifested in a blend of traditional and individualized metalinguistic behaviour.
Real-time neural network control of an industrial robotic manipulator

This thesis summarizes an investigation of the application of neural network (NN) control to a commercial robot. It presents the results of simulations and experiments that illustrate the effect of the neural network learning rate on system behaviour. The development of a real-time NN controller is described. The NN is implemented on a digital signal processor (DSP), and its signals are communicated to the controller of a CRS Robotics A465 robot in real-time. The NN is trained to generate a compensating signal that is added to the commanded PID torque for the first three joints of the robot, in order to reduce the trajectory tracking errors of the robot joint actuators. A state-space model of the system is developed, which is subsequently utilized in a numerical simulation. The simulation is used to perform a sensitivity analysis, to determine the effect of variations in the NN learning rate on system behaviour. Experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of the NN learning rate on the reduction in joint trajectory tracking error. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Women and the teaching profession in India, factors that motivate enrollment, general influences of teacher education programme, and career commitment

In 1986, the National Policy on Education (NPE) in India recommended an increase in women teachers' representation in secondary schools as well as educational equality for Indian women. To achieve these goals, the NPE 1986 provided institutions of higher education the autonomy to meet regional and local educational demands. This exploratory study examined three conceptual themes: (1) factors which motivate women to enter a teacher education programme, (2) the influence of the teacher education programme on student teachers relative to their career goal, and (3) career commitment. The outcome of this study provides Indian educators, educational administrators and policy makers information about women who enter teachers' colleges and remain in the teaching profession; informs educationalists about teachers colleges' role in women's career commitments; and provides base-line data for more theoretical studies of women's career commitment in the future, an area that is understudied in India. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined to gather data. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to women student teachers enrolled in eight participating colleges of education in Osmania University, India. The total number of questionnaires completed was 373. Seven semi-structured interviews comprised the qualitative data. The major findings arising from the study were: (1) primarily, rural Muslim women between the ages of 26-30 years enrolled in the B.Ed programme in order to uplift society, (2) generally, other rural women enrolled in order to raise their quality of life in the future, (3) most participants' experiences within the B.Ed programme were positive, (4) colleges of education played an important role in influencing participants' motivation and commitment towards the teaching profession, (5) the short duration of the programme, lack of integration of theory and practice, and an overloaded curriculum were concerns for student teachers, (6) women student teachers experienced educational and societal barriers in their lives, (7) respondents were largely unaware of the existence of sexism in the Indian educational system, (8) approximately 61% of the sample planned to pursue higher education; 39% of the women intended to teach for a short term, while 34% planned to pursue a long term secondary school teaching careers, (9) respondents who planned to teach in schools as a long term career were mostly doing so for altruistic reasons, and (10) women who specifically enrolled to 'create dutiful citizens' were the only individuals who felt the B.Ed programme was meeting their enrollment needs.