VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Physiological roles of protein kinases involved in TNF signal transduction

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a proinflammatory cytokine essential for the generation of systemic and local responses to infection, injury and immunological challenge. Changes in gene expression by TNF are mediated in part by two transcription factors, NF-[kappa]B and AP-1. Understanding of the TNF-regulated upstream activators of NF-[kappa]B and AP-1 is incomplete and therefore potential therapeutic targets remain to be discovered. TNF-induced activation of c-Jun, a principle component of the AP-1 transcription factor complex, requires activation of the stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs) downstream of TNF receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2). Here I show that ASK1 interacts with members of the TRAF family via their TRAF-N and RING finger domains, leading to the activation of the SAPK cascade. In untransfected cells, endogenous ASK1 rapidly associates with TRAF2 in a TNF-dependent manner. While a truncated derivative of TRAF2, which inhibits SAPK activation by TNF, blocks TNF-induced ASK1 activation, the reciprocal also holds true and a catalytically-inactive mutant of ASK1 is a dominant-negative inhibitor of TNF- and TRAF2-induced SAPK activation. Furthermore, protection from TNF-induced cell death conferred by an ASK1 mutant is dependent upon TRAF2. Hence, ASK1 is a common mediator of TRAF-regulated SAPK, and the TRAF2-ASK1 connection completes the signalling cascade from TNF to SAPK activation. A novel role for the protein kinase GSK-3ß in regulation of NF-[kappa]B was suggested by the finding that disruption of his enzyme in mice leads to hepatic apoptosis, a phenotype shared by mutations in TNF regulation of NF-[kappa]B. Accordingly, this phenotype can be rescued by inhibiting TNF-Ã signalling in the embryos. In the absence of GSK-3ß, embryonic fibroblasts exhibit substantially reduced TNF-mediated NF-[kappa]B transactivation and the cells are highly susceptible to TNF-induced apoptosis. The early steps leading to NF-[kappa]B activation (I-[kappa]B degradation and NF-[kappa]B nuclear translocation) are unaffected by loss of GSK-3ß, indicating that regulation of NF-[kappa]B by GSK-3ß occurs at the level of the transcriptional complex. Lithium treatment, which inhibits GSK-3, also sensitizes wildtype fibroblasts to TNF and inhibits NF-[kappa]B transactivation. Evaluation of an inhibitor known to impede NF-[kappa]B function, debromohymenialdisine, revealed that it has a potent and direct affect on GSK-3ß activity. Together, these findings indicate a novel role for GSK-3ß in facilitating NF-[kappa]B function.
Social and geographical mobility among the Irish in Canada and the United States, a comparative study of Toronto, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, 1880-1910

This dissertation explores the urban settlement and adaptation experiences of the Irish in Canada and the United States, using Toronto and Buffalo as case studies. The period 1880-1910 was studied since it has been identified as a key transitional phase not only in North American urban-industrial history, but also in terms of the formation of Irish urban middle-classes. Toronto and Buffalo were chosen with regard to their sizeable Irish populations and their capacity to represent urban society in Canada and the United States respectively. The dissertation firstly profiled the socioeconomic fortunes of multi generational samples of Irish households in both cities c. 1880. Although both places possessed Protestant elites and similar numbers of Irish-born in 1880, they differed in terms of industrialization, social atmosphere, and ethnic structure. While religion divided the Toronto Irish, those in Buffalo were mostly Catholic, and were affected more by Famine and post-Famine immigration than the former city. Residential clustering of the Irish was present in both cities in 1880, on a larger scale in Buffalo, but the pattern was mainly one of ongoing residential dispersion and integration, while homeownership attainment levels were similar in both cities. For a variety of reasons, the Irish in both cities demonstrated high rates of out-migration over the period, to a slightly larger extent in Buffalo. In any case, escape from unskilled work for the sons of Irish labourers was confirmed in both cities. The Buffalo Irish demonstrated a slightly greater capacity than those in Toronto did to move into middle-class occupations. They also, through municipal influence mobilized at the ward level, put many of their co-ethnics into public sector jobs. Politics in Toronto did not allow Irish Catholics similar privileges; the Orange Order link with city hall instead benefited Irish Protestants. Finally, the residential mobility study demonstrated the on-going process of residential integration of the Irish in both cities. In Buffalo, however, the ethnic geography of the city had a mediating influence on Irish residential choice, while the enduring Irish flavour of the First Ward contrasted with the disappearance of Irish Catholic clusters in Toronto.
Imagining the nation: A textual analysis of Canadian and Australian history education materials

In this study, I examine the relationship between citizenship and history education in the teaching of national history. I examine three aspects of "reflective-active citizenship": critical citizenship literacy (skills for recognizing the interpretive lenses through which historical narratives are constructed), conflictual content (content that invites students to investigate historical conflicts and/or their connection to contemporary debates), and self reflection (learning opportunities that would guide students to be critically self-reflective in relation to the histories examined). In relation to the model of "reflective-active citizenship" I propose, I conduct a textual analysis of four sets of contemporary educational materials produced in two multicultural settler nations, formerly colonized by Britain (two from Canada and two from Australia). In my comparison of the four case studies, I discuss how the history educational materials include explicit and implicit lessons in national identity.
A petrological investigation of the Copper Cliff embayment structure, Sudbury, Ontario

The Copper Cliff embayment structure is located in the South Range of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC). The embayment is composed predominantly of coarse-grained gabbronorite mesocumulates which grade outward into a fine-grained quartz monzogabbronorite orthocumulate characterized by large blue quartz crystals. The outermost region of the embayment is occupied by a thin discontinuous rind of diabasic textured quartz monzodiorite, which has traditionally been called quartz diorite. The contact relationships within the embayment coupled with the geochemical data suggest that the quartz monzodiorite is a quenched liquid and the quartz monzogabbronorite and gabbronorite are cumulates derived from the residual. In addition, it appears that there are two distinct groups of rocks within the embayment; a high Al2O3 group and a low Al 2O3 group, with the division occurring at approximately 15 wt%. The low Al values are found in rocks that tend to have higher than average inclusion numbers, and sulphide content.
Theory of mind and the nonverbal learning disability syndrome, analysis of case studies

We assessed 5 children on Theory of Mind, nonverbal abilities, and intellectual functioning tasks. Three of the children who were identified as having a Nonverbal Learning Disability syndrome (NLD) demonstrated impairment on higher order Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks and on nonverbal tasks even though their verbal skills were in the average to superior range. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between nonverbal abilities, Central Drive for Coherence, and Theory of Mind, as well as the role of the right cerebral hemisphere as one of the potential, common mediating structures for these functions.
Effect of combination potassium channel blockers on cardiac refractoriness in isolated rabbit hearts and intact guinea pig hearts

Dofetilide and sotalol prolong ventricular refractoriness by blocking the rapidly activating delayed rectifier potassium channel (Ikr). ' In vitro' studies suggest that dofetilide blocks the Ikr channel in the open state, whereas sotalol may block the closed state. We tested whether this potential differential state-dependent blockade could be pharmacologically distinguished by altering Ikl current density. Sotalol (4 [mu]M) and dofetilide (8 nM) were given alone and in combination with 3 [mu]M barium (Ikl blocker) to isolated perfused Langendorff rabbit hearts (n = 8 per group). Ventricular effective refractory period (VERP), action potential duration, ventricular fibrillation cycle length, and defibrillation threshold were measured pre and post drug/vehicle treatment. The VERP was prolonged with dofetilide, sotalol, barium, combination dofetilide plus barium, and sotalol plus barium by 10 ± 6%, 8 ± 2%, 7 ± 3%, 24 ± 5%, and 8 ± 4%, respectively (p < 0.01). The effect of dofetilide plus barium on VERP was additive, whereas sotalol plus barium was no different than each drug alone; this interaction was qualitatively the same for all other variables measured. This is the first study to show that different Ikr blockers have differing effects when combined with another potassium channel blocker.
A rift in nursing education and practice on a landscape of curriculum and health-care reform, diploma nurse educators' professional identities in question

The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of diploma nurse educators' professional identities and knowledge formation as they live the health-care and nursing education reform. A need to examine the impact of these changes on their professional lives stems from a recognition of their role confusion and conflicting identities. My approach to the study was narrative and interpretative in nature. Drawing on nursing and educational literature, I contextualize the present nursing education revolution in meeting the challenges of health care, within the seemingly divergent professional ideologies in nursing. This disparity has its roots in nursing's historical pursuit of professionalization. Through collaboration with my participants for over two years, I examine dilemmas that surfaced as we lived and told our professional stories using Connelly and Clandinin's narrative inquiry, metaphors of landscape, identity, conduit, competing and conflicting plotlines, and Dewey's experiential theory. Our field texts consist of stories of teaching, conversations, participant observations, and my journal writing. Documents from professional and regulatory nursing organizations, media accounts, interview transcripts of nursing leaders and college reports were used to enrich both our stories and the analysis. My initial view on professional identity emphasized the theoretical knowledge from external authority, which is part of the professional socialization. Through this inquiry, my participants and I came to understand our identities and knowledge development through our practice. Our stories do not only allow us to voice our dilemmas but also enable an understanding of the power of retelling and reliving our stories. Using Taoism and the concept of dialectic, we recognize the inevitable interplay between a theory-driven, expert practice and a humanistic, holistic, participative approach. While there are questions for future inquiry, one point is clear that it is the tension which holds the growth of professional nursing as we continue to live simultaneously the biomedical and human science paradigms. Through a feminist process of relational knowing, I imagine a possibility to create space for nurses/diploma nurse educators, nurse theorists/researchers and administrators to listen and understand each other as nursing vacillates between the narrative co-existence of certainty and uncertainty.
Phylogeography and reproductive ecology of the woodland herbs, Trillium erectum and Trillium grandiflorum (Melanthiaceae)

Field experiments and genetic markers were used to study the reproductive ecology and phylogeography of 'Trillium erectum' and 'T. grandiflorum' (Melanthiaceae), two spring woodland herbs in eastern North America. First, mating systems and determinants of fertility were investigated using controlled pollinations and allozyme assays. Both species possessed leaky self-incompatibility systems although ' T. erectum' practiced more self-fertilization than 'T. grandiflorum '. Pollen and resources limited seed fertility in 'T. grandiflorum '. Second, phylogeographic approaches were used to investigate the history of both species following the Wisconsin glaciation. Based on variability in chloroplast DNA markers, a possible post-glacial migration route was proposed for 'T. grandiflorum'. No variation in the chloroplast genome was detected in 'T. erectum'. Analysis of allozyme variation indicated that gene flow is greater among populations of 'T. grandiflorum ' than of 'T. erectum'. There was no loss of genetic diversity at allozyme loci in northern compared to southern populations of either species.
New indolyl phosphines, synthesis and characterization of 2-diphenylphosphine-3-methylindole and di(1H-3-indolyl)methane-(2,12)-phenylphosphine

Two new indolyl phosphine ligands were synthesized and characterized. The two ligands are 2-diphenylphosphine-3-methylindole (DPPMI) and di(1H-3-indolyl)methane-(2,12)-phenylphosphine (DIMPP), beginning a new family of phosphine ligands. Synthesis of these ligands was accomplished through the addition of the (dimethylamino)methyl nitrogen protecting group on the indolyl compound followed by lithiation at the carbon ortho to the nitrogen (C2) and reaction with the appropriate chlorinated phenylphosphine. Characterization was accomplished through 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography. Platinum complexes were also prepared and analyzed through 1H NMR. The electronic parameters ([chi]) were obtained by analysis of the carbonyl stretching frequencies in the infrared spectrum of the ruthenium tetracarbonyl complexes of the phosphines. Correlations between the [chi] values and the platinum complexes were also discussed. These phosphine ligands vary with respect to their electronic and steric properties. In order to find any relevant trends in the basicity and size, the crystal structures and spectroscopic data were compared with other (similar) ligands prepared by this group and from the literature.
Vibration analysis of an optical fiber coupler

This thesis is focused on vibration analysis of an optical fiber coupler subjected to a shock motion. A linear dynamic model is developed after proper assumptions are made. For an optical fiber coupler with two spring supports, the bundle of optical fibers is modeled as a linear string, the substrate is modeled as a Euler-Bernouli beam, and the silicon rubber pads are modeled as two linear springs. For the optical fiber coupler with an elastic continuous support, the bundle of optical fibers is modeled as a linear string, the substrate is modeled as a Euler-Bernouli beam, and the continuous silicon rubber pad is modeled as a linear elastic foundation. In order to solve the equation of motion, a transformation of coordinate system is introduced. Natural frequencies and normal modes of the beam and the string are obtained using eigenvalue solutions. Furthermore, the mode superposition method is employed to obtain the dynamic response of the optical fiber coupler.
Three essays on the basis risk of fixed income securities

The three essays can be regarded as studies on the basis risk of fixed income securities. They investigate the spreads among different bonds. The first essay, Market Risk and Credit Risk in a General Equilibrium Model, assumes perfect liquidity and focuses on the credit spread. By incorporating credit risk into the standard asset pricing models, it provides one of the first studies on how credit spread relates to market risk, including equity risk, interest risk, and inflation risk. The second essay, Illiquidity and Expected Return of Treasury Securities, focuses on Treasury bonds with zero default risk. The yield spreads among the bonds are solely due to liquidity difference. We derive, quantitatively, how this spread is related to the bid-ask spread, brokerage fee, bond maturity, and investors? expected holding period. It is one of the first theoretical models on the liquidity of treasury securities. The third essay, An Indirect Estimation of the Transaction Costs of Corporate Bonds, is an empirical estimation of the transaction costs of corporate bonds. It is observed that bonds with less liquidity tend to be the ones with lower credit rating quality. Liquidity risk and credit risk are thus intertwined. We are able to separate their effects and obtain estimates for liquidity spreads and credit spreads. In summary, the first essay studies credit risk; the second studies liquidity risk, and the third, as an empirical study, investigates both issues. They jointly contribute to the understanding of the basis risk of fixed income securities.
The trouble with the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, UDRP, deconstructing common assumptions and developing a new approach to cybersquatting

This thesis challenges the association between cybersquatting and trademark infringement. It shows that only a small number of domain name/trademark disputes constitute trademark infringement, passing off or dilution as prohibited in Canada and the Unites States. It argues that it is a mistake to use trademark law to justify the granting of relief against "cybersquatting", because it amounts to an unjustified expansion of trademark owner's rights over the general public's freedom to use trademarks for non-trademark purposes. It then argues that in order to reduce the number of bad decisions under the ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), it is necessary to identify what exactly is wrong with cybersquatting. After concluding that none of the rationales most often put forward are truly satisfactory, this thesis suggests that the civil law doctrine of abuse of rights is a better legal framework for dispute resolution mechanisms like the UDRP.
Reflective practice, developing habits of mind

In today's fast paced school environment principals must know their intentions and form actions by considering these intentions. Reflective practice is the active process of considering ones thoughts to reason and test responses for a given situation. This study examines reflective practice among six selected principals and illuminates the nature of their reflective process and the conditions that prompts reflection. It also considers how individual attributes influence this process. Reflective practice and related concepts such as action theory, praxis, problem solving and cognitive learning theory are examined in a review of the literature. These findings are incorporated into a dynamic conceptual framework to illustrate the working interaction of many factors in the reflective process. The reflective process itself is considered in terms of various phases; suggestion, problem, hypothesis, reasoning and testing. However, the purpose of the reflection, the reflector's training, experience and values, and the timing of the reflection in relation to the issues being reflected upon, are shown to influence the nature and extent of the reflective process. Since reflection is mainly a cognitive activity, it presents a number of methodological challenges requiring a variety of research methods. Participants are initially interviewed to find out about their educational philosophy, work orientation and perceptions about reflection. In other interviews participants reflect on vignettes and personal critical incidents. They are also observed in a staff meeting, student assembly and in an office session. Later, the same day, their think aloud responses about the researcher's observations are collected. The six participants identify reflection in a manner consistent with literature findings. Many participants tend to limit their comments to anticipatory and retrospective instances, and give less attention to contemporaneous reflection. Findings not only reveal an abundance of all three reflective forms, they show that contemporaneous reflection is an important link between retrospective and anticipatory reflection. Research findings illustrate how participants' reflection varies in purpose and quality. It also details the impact of the reflectors values, experience and training. Since knowledge not only entails facts and concepts but principles and affective detail, reflective practice is also seen as an ethical undertaking.
Assessment of candidate regions in Shwachman syndrome

Shwachman syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder involving the developmental delay and/or dysfunction of the exocrine pancreas, hematological, and skeletal systems. A constitutional translocation, t(6;12)(q 16.2;q21.2), reported in one patient suggested candidate regions for the genetic defect. A preliminary physical map of the chromosome 6 breakpoint region did not provide sufficient evidence of disruption of mapped transcripts. Subsequent analysis of genetic markers at the breakpoint region in thirteen multiplex families yielded lod scores less than -2.0, excluding these loci as candidates. A genome scan suggested non-random segregation of chromosome 7p with the disease. Further analysis detected lod scores greater than 5.0 which supported linkage at 7p12-7q11. The major locus for Shwachman syndrome has been identified, indicating the broad phenotypic spectrum is a single disease entity. Recombinant mapping refined the Shwachman syndrome critical region to 3.1 cM. Further refinement has been hindered by discrepant marker order, to be rectified by physical mapping.
Sex-related differences in the suppressive effects of peripheral morphine but not GABA on reflex jaw muscle activity evoked by glutamate application to the TMJ region in rats

The aim of this thesis is to determine using an acute, animal model of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) injury, the effect of application of various doses of morphine to the TMJ region of male and female rats on glutamate-evoked jaw muscle activity. The experiments examined the involvement of peripheral opioid receptors and the sex-related difference in morphine sensitivity. The effect of morphine was compared with the effect of inhibitory amino acid, ã-aminobutyric acid (GABA) applied to the TMJ region. In male rats, application of both morphine and GABA resulted in a dose-related reduction of glutamate-evoked jaw muscle activity. In contrast, there was no significant suppressive effect of any of the doses of morphine on glutamate-evoked jaw muscle activity in female rats, but co-application of GABA significantly reduced glutamate-evoked jaw muscle activity in females.