VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The sword and the pen: diplomacy in early Safavid Iran, 1501-1555

This study operates from the understanding that diplomacy between 1501 and 1555 can shed light on not only political, but religious and administrative features of the ruling Iranian dynasty, the Safavids (1501–1722). Carving out a dynastic presence in the fractured post-Tīmūrid context of sixteenth-century Iran was no small feat, but by 1555 Shāh Ismā'īl (r. 1501–1524) and his successor, Shāh Tahmāsp (r. 1524–1576) had indeed established a Perso-Islamic empire of significant proportions. This early transitional period of the Safavids has drawn considerable attention in scholarship, principally on account of the fact that Shāh Ismā'īl and Shāh Tahmāsp successfully implemented and promulgated their fledgling empire as a Twelver Shī'ite state. Moreover, there has been extensive debate regarding the Safavids' militant sūfi orientation, and how Shāh Ismāīl and Shāh Tahmāsp were able to bridge the gap between the millenarian nomadism of their ancestors and an imperial ethos founded on systematized bureaucracy and administration. This thesis examines diplomacy, and specifically the imperial correspondence associated with it, in an attempt to understand more about this critical fledgling period of premodern Iranian history. The ambassadorial retinues sent abroad to various sunnī and shī'ite Muslim polities, and the diplomatic correspondence they carried with them, fluctuated greatly in character and purpose in this dynamic period of 1501–1555. The sixteenth century sunnī Muslim world—typified in the surrounding, contemporary Ottoman, Uzbek, and Mughal empires—was predictably uncomfortable with the appearance of a formal Twelver Shī'ite state in their midst. While this study acknowledges the role sunnī-shī'ite rivalry played in Safavid diplomatic policies and the formulation of ambassadorial missives, it is nonetheless directed towards understanding how diplomacy and the Safavid chancellery's writing of correspondence can tell us more about the internal developments taking place politically, administratively, and religiously in early sixteenth-century Iran.
Future search as a process for promoting change

Representing a significant milestone in the development of the related fields of organization development, organizational change and organizational learning over the last century, large group interventions are used by organizations to promote change and learning. Future Search is one such intervention; founded on the principles of having the "whole system in the room" and developing action plans based on "common ground" visions of the future. This research investigates the effectiveness of the Future Search model in promoting change within a Canadian urban public school board. The research suggests that both the design of the Future Search model and the context in which the process takes place exert significant influence on the effectiveness of the process in promoting change. This thesis seeks to enhance the understanding of what makes a Future Search effective by describing the factors at work in this particular case.

Keywords: Planning, Methodology
Organizational change
Organizational learning
Education, Forecasting
Educational change
Social action, Planning
Educational innovations
A navigation system for Argo class mobile rovers

The implementation of the design of any navigation system depends on available hardware and the intended application. A robotic navigation system can be split into four problems: Localization, mapping, obstacle avoidance, and a controller. In this dissertation, the current state-of-the-art for research in localization and obstacle avoidance is presented. Also, the Argo class rovers and the MarsDome Experimental Facility are described in detail, including the modular philosophy of the Argo software architecture. Then, the design and implementation of the Argo navigation system is provided, with greater emphasis on the visual localization, odometer localization, and obstacle avoidance modules. The results of several experiments demonstrate that each module is efficient and is sufficiently robust to be successful in the integrated navigation system. This research is also put in context by explaining some of the related work being conducted at the Space Robotics Group and its relevance to collective mobile robotics research.

Keywords: Motor vehicles, Automatic control
Mobile robots
Intelligent control systems
All terrain vehicles, Automatic control
Roving vehicles (Astronautics)
Complexity reduction in discrete event systems

The aim of this thesis is to explore new ways to achieve complexity reduction in discrete event systems (DES). We present three different ways of reducing complexity. First, we present a symbolic supervisory control design method for composite systems such that the complete state space never needs to be computed. Instead of a supervisor implemented by a static lookup table, we provide a function that can be efficiently and dynamically computed at each state to determine the control action. This symbolic function can be suitably modified to ensure that the system under control is free of deadlocks. Secondly, we present a heuristic algorithm to reduce the size of a (static) supervisor. Our symbolic supervision scheme is not able to guarantee non-blocking behaviour in the system under control. So to ensure non-blockingness it may be necessary to use a lookup table. Finding the smallest lookup table for a given control task is an NP-hard problem. We propose a greedy supervisor reduction algorithm based on the concept of control covers. This algorithm seems to work quite well in a large number of cases. Finally, we present a compact model of timed discrete event systems (TDES). We use local timers at each state of the TDES to model the passage of time. This model is quite robust to changes in time scale and is closed under control.
It is who you know and what you know: an examination of the relations among emotional intelligence, social network centrality, and performance

The conceptualization and measurement of emotional intelligence are becoming increasingly refined, and recent research has shown that it is related to important work outcomes, including performance. The reasons why emotional intelligence is related to performance, however, are unclear. I develop and test a model that posits social network centrality explains, in part, why emotional intelligence is associated with performance. Two hundred and forty-six participants were randomly assigned to 53 small groups to complete a nine-week long project. Emotional intelligence, social network centrality, and performance were measured at three different points in time. The results suggest that occupying central positions in advice networks (i.e., social networks through which individuals exchange job-related information, assistance, and guidance) explains, in part, why individuals with high emotional intelligence exhibit strong task performance and a high level of organizational citizenship behaviour. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Essays toward a theory of fiduciary law

Fiduciary liability is conventionally understood as premised upon the fiduciary relationship---the establishment of a fiduciary relationship gives rise to fiduciary duties, violation of which renders the fiduciary liable to the beneficiary. Implicit in the conventional view are two assumptions: the first is that the fiduciary relationship is a distinctive kind of legal relationship, and the second that certain of its distinctive qualities suffice to explain and justify fiduciary obligation. The conventional position has persisted for centuries despite the fact that these assumptions remain unjustified. Reams of case law and commentary have failed to yield a clear conception of the fiduciary relationship capable of securing its claim to distinctiveness. Likewise, the existence of a nexus between fiduciary obligation and the fiduciary relationship is largely taken as an article of faith. In recent years, the conventional position has been subject to challenge. Some have suggested that fiduciary obligation is justified directly on the basis of extrinsic moral, economic or policy goals (e.g., protecting trust, promoting economic efficiency). Others have argued that fiduciary obligation is ultimately contractual in nature, and may be explained and justified accordingly. In the end, both instrumentalist and contractualist theories of fiduciary obligation prove unconvincing. Nevertheless, a basic challenge remains valid: the assumptions implicit in the conventional position must be argued for. This thesis addresses that challenge. It seeks to vindicate the conventional position by securing the assumptions upon which it is based. To that end, I develop an account of the fiduciary relationship that articulates its distinctive qualities and shows how certain among them suffice to explain and justify fiduciary obligation. The resulting theory of fiduciary liability draws strength from the fact that it is built upon institutional practice and resonant with dominant private law theory.
Middle Irish saga and Irish neoclassicism

Irish scholars of the pre-Carolingian period were distinguished by their interest in the classical tradition, notably by their fascination with Greek letters, as well as their preoccupation with Virgil. This familiarity with the classical poets continued uninterrupted into the eleventh century according to the evidence of Togail Troi, an Irish adaptation of Dares Phrygius's history of the Trojan War, the De excidio Troiae historia. Consideration of mythological material incorporated by the author into his adaptation suggests that he knew, in addition to Virgil, Statius and their commentators, the poems of Ovid, and a corpus of late-antique commentary which was fuller than that which survives, features of which were preserved independently by the First Vatican Mythographer and Remigius of Auxerre. The author of Togail Troi incorporates into his adaptation imitatio, or, 'imitation', of the ekphrases of Virgil and Statius, and imbues his text with similes derived from the classical poets. Furthermore, the author mines commentaries for the restoration of features of Homer's version of the Trojan War which had been omitted in Dares's De excidio. The artistic sensibility which informs the author's efforts is here given the name 'Irish neoclassicism'. It is demonstrated that the techniques of imitatio evident in Togail Troi are shared also by allusions to the poems of Virgil and Statius in Tain Bo Cuailnge, a text contemporary with Togail Troi in its earliest surviving version. Evidence is considered which demonstrates that the authors of Tain Bo Cuailnge drew on a familiarity with the classical poets which they would have received in the medieval classroom. It is proposed that the extension of techniques of prose composition developed in Togail Troi to Tain Bo Cuailnge is the result of aemulatio . According to this suggestion, during the Middle Irish period, the authors engaged in the editing of older, inherited saga-narratives employed the techniques of Irish neoclassicism, not only to dignify their compositions through association with Virgil and Statius, but also to surpass the literary accomplishments of the 'school of classical translations'. Irish neoclassicism is thus seen to have operated over native texts such as Tain Bo Cuailnge.
Toward the development and validation of a metacognitive scale for gambling behaviour

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a reliable and valid self-report measure, the Gambling Metacognition Questionnaire (GMCQ), to assess metacognitive processes within pathological gamblers. The construct of metacognition as defined by Ann Brown (1987) served as the theoretical basis for the psychometric scale. Three separate studies aimed at item development, assessment of reliability and validity, and examination of the clinical sensitivity of the scale were conducted. Study 1 focused on item generation and refinement utilizing both the empirical literature and 10 expert consultants. Results of Study 1 showed that the metacognitive scale obtained a sufficient degree of content validity. In Study 2, a sample of 94 individuals with clinically significant gambling problems were recruited to determine the psychometric properties of the metacognitive scale, specifically, the underlying scale structure, indices of reliability and validity, and the influence of demographic characteristics and social conventionality on scale performance. Results of Study 2 produced the GMCQ a 12-item measure consisting of three subscales, namely, Reflective Concern, Preoccupation with Winning, and Affect Regulation. Findings also suggest the GMCQ displays an appropriate level of internal reliability and content validity, and is not unduly influenced by respondent's age, income, ethnicity, or level of social conventionality. Study 3 focused on assessing the clinical sensitivity of the GMCQ, in particular examining the relationship between severity of gambling pathology and scores on the GMCQ. Four separate samples of gamblers, specifically, 22 sub-clinical gamblers, 94 active untreated pathological gamblers, 20 pathological gamblers entering treatment, and 8 gamblers immediately post-treatment were recruited. Results show scores on the GMCQ are positively related to level of disordered gambling and that GMCQ scores significantly distinguished between types of gambling behaviour. Results are contextualized within the current literature on the cognitive psychology of pathological gambling and the role of metacognition within clinical psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords: Compulsive gambling, Psychological aspects
Compulsive gambling, Social aspects
Compulsive gamblers, Psychological aspects
Compulsive behavior
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Gamblers, Psychology
Gambling, Psychology
A physiopathological role for insulin within the brain

One central mechanism underlying cell death following cerebral ischemia is a loss of the balance between excitation and inhibition leading to excitotoxicity. We began by investigating whether oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD), an ischemia-like challenge, altered cell-surface expression of type A gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors (GABAARs; which mediate fast synaptic inhibition) in cultured neurons. Cell-based ELISAs revealed that OGD produced a marked decrease within GABAAR surface expression, which was subsequently shown to result from increased clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Importantly, treating neurons with 0.5 muM insulin, which facilitated GABAAR insertion, counteracted the OGD-induced reduction in cell-surface GABA ARs. In parallel, insulin significantly protected cultured neurons against both glutamate toxicity and OGD; however, protection was absent when newly inserted receptors were rendered functionally irrelevant by the presence of the GABAAR antagonist bicuculline. Additional experiments revealed that inhibiting insulin receptor (IR) function markedly worsened cell viability following OGD, while the opposite effect was seen with an insulin sensitiser, suggesting that endogenous neural insulin signaling may protect neurons. To further examine this possibility, we characterised an in vivo model wherein neuronal insulin signaling was compromised. Feeding Syrian golden hamsters a diet high in fructose lead to the development of a previously unrecognised state of brain insulin resistance, wherein the ability of insulin to stimulate phosphorylation of the IR and many of its downstream targets was significantly reduced. In addition to biochemical changes, fructose feeding also diminished the ability of insulin to induce long-term depression. Subsequently, acutely prepared hippocampal slices from normal diet and fructose fed (FF) animals, were challenged with hypoxia-aglycemia (an additional ischemia-like challenge), and slice viability assayed after a recovery period. Unexpectedly, the insult did not affect viability of slices prepared from FF hamsters, however, the severity of the challenge may not have been sufficient to allow a phenotype to emerge, for hamster slices were shown to be somewhat resistant to aglycemia-hypoxia. Overall, our results provide important information about the relevance of GABAAR trafficking to ischemia, and suggest the presence of a modifiable neural insulin system that is affected by insulin resistance and participates in the brain's response to ischemia.
Correlating database I/O accesses at the storage server

In this dissertation we investigate the usage of a known data mining technique, frequent sequence mining, for correlating database accesses in storage systems. We look at I/O prefetching as an application of disk block correlations. We design, implement and compare dynamic and static block correlation mining techniques. For the static techniques, we study schemes with and without correlation rule retraining. In our experimental evaluation, we use the MySQL database engine and two applications: DBT-2, a TPC-C-like benchmark and the RUBiS auctions benchmark. We perform the mining at the storage level and measure the respective application hit rates in the storage cache. Our results show that, by using block correlations, we can improve the storage cache hit rate by 3-21% for DBT-2 and 5-47% for RUBiS, compared to the baseline. Furthermore, we show that dynamic mining outperforms static mining in terms of higher hit rates and more accurate block correlation rules.
PET analysis of serotonin changes in depression and their relationship to treatment response

Objectives. In study one it is to compare the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) response to d-fenfluramine between healthy and depressed subjects. In study two, it is to evaluate 5-HT 2A receptors in depressed and healthy subjects. In study three, it is to study the relationship between 5-HT2A receptors, depression subtypes and suicidality. In study four, it is to evaluate the effect of chronic paroxetine treatment on 5-HT2A receptors in depressed patients. Methods. For study one, rCBF change was detected using [15 O]H2O positron emission tomography (PET) after administration of intravenous d-fenfluramine to 13 depressed and 18 healthy women. For studies two and three, [18F]setoperone PET was used to assess 5-HT 2A receptor binding potential (5-HT2A BP) in 22 patients with current depression, 13 patients with suicidal ideation and a history of self harm, and 22 healthy subjects. For study four, 19 depressed patients were rescanned with [18F]setoperone PET after six weeks of treatment with paroxetine. Results. In study one, there were no differences between depressed and healthy subjects. A notable, unexpected finding was that dysfunctional attitudes declined acutely after d-fenfluranmine in healthy subjects. In study two, 5-HT2A BP declined with age but there were no differences between patient groups and healthy subjects. In study three, dysfunctional attitudes were significantly associated with cortex 5-HT2A BP in depressed patients throughout the cortex especially prefrontal cortex. Depressed patients with highly dysfunctional attitudes had higher 5-HT2A BP than healthy subjects in all regions. In study four there was a treatment by age interaction such that the decrease in 5-HT 2A BP during treatment was less in older patients. Conclusions . Study one suggested that high 5-HT agonism can reduce dysfunctional attitudes. Consistent with this inference, low 5-HT agonism during depression could increase dysfunctional attitudes and upregulate 5-HT2A receptors as observed in study three. Study four suggests that in young patients paroxetine increases cortex 5-HT and 5-HT2A receptors are downregulated.
Is there a place for human rights within the world trade organization legal framework?: a specific case for the right to water

The expansion of trading system to new realms of economic activities has raised the concern that trade liberalization may impair the protection of human rights. There is a particular fear regarding the interference of trade instruments with the regulatory autonomy of national authorities. The relationship between the multilateral trading system and human rights law is a complex one. While, at first glance, the trade obligations do not seem to contravene the realization of human rights, a closer examination to the trade regime reveal potential areas of tensions. This paper aims to explore the interaction between trade law and human rights through a contextual analysis of the relationship of both legal disciplines. Therefore, the study of the interplay between the right to water and the Agreement on trade in services will serve to enlighten the discussion.

Keywords: Water rights
Human rights
International trade
Abrogating Myc-potentiated apoptosis leads to cellular transformation

Identifying MYC as the human homologue of a potently transforming viral onc gene opened a new era of research into cellular transformation. Myc protein levels must be acutely regulated for the molecule to perform its intended functions in promoting appropriate growth and proliferation. In some human malignancies chromosomal translocations or amplifications are identified, but often Myc levels are increased by mechanisms more difficult to assess. When conditions exist to evade regulation, Myc is limited by an integrated genetic programme that sensitises cells to apoptosis. In order to unleash the full potential of deregulated Myc to drive cellular transformation, apoptosis must be evaded. In these studies, we investigate two potential mechanisms of abrogating Myc-potentiated apoptosis in order to better understand the mechanisms by which it promotes cell death. Knowledge is power; understanding this pathway will enable us to target the large fraction of human cancers harbouring deregulated Myc.
Roles of human kallikrein-related peptidases 9 and 12 in cancer

Uman tissue kallikrein-related peptidases (genes, KLK s; proteins, KLKs) are a group of 15 genes, localized in tandem on chromosome 19, which code for 15 distinct serine proteases. KLKs are present in a variety of tissues and biological fluids and have attracted significant attention in recent years mainly due to their potential applicability as novel biomarkers. KLK2, KLK3 (also known as prostate specific antigen, PSA), as well as KLK11, are established or candidate serologic biomarkers for early diagnosis and monitoring of prostate cancer. In addition to prostate cancer, differential expression of various KLKs in ovarian, breast, testicular, pancreatic, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancer as well as other forms of human disease is well documented.

Keywords: Molecular biology
The effects of pH, dissolved oxygen and organic additives on the interfacial transfer of volatile iodine species from irradiated CsI solutions

Due to its significant radiotoxicity and potential volatility, radioiodine is the most important fission product. In post-accident situations a substantial amount of activity could be released into the reactor containment structure (RCS). The high radiation field would have a significant impact on the speciation of radioiodine and hence its volatilization from the liquid phase to the gas phase. Any organic compounds existing in RCS might also contribute to iodine volatilization through radiolytic reactions with the products of water radiolysis. In this research, an experimental apparatus was constructed to allow controlled mixing of air/water mixtures during irradiation in a 60 Co gamma cell. This apparatus consisted of cylindrical stainless steel vessel equipped with external sampling ports and on-line measurement of pH and dissolved oxygen. The rate of interfacial transfer at various mixing rates was determined through experiments involving dissolved oxygen and CH 3I. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)