VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Social capital, context, and consensus-building and cooperation in community-based forest management

Due to its potential to contribute to the sustainability of forest management, community-based forest co-management has become globally acceptable, and some form has been reported in more than fifty countries. The benefits of co-management depend on cooperation among and between a group of local community stakeholders and a local government agency. However, neither cooperation, the consensus-building process through which it develops nor the context of the consensus-building process that influences both has been a focus of past co-management research. The thesis identifies the key criteria that are most important and best represent the consensus-building process as well as the context of the consensus-building process, using a comparative case study of two Local Citizens' Committees (LCCs) who advise a government agency on the development of public forest management plans in Ontario, Canada. Key criteria are identified using network analysis (domain, central and cluster analysis) of cognitive maps developed from participant and agency support staff interviews. Two structural analysis techniques are used to analyse each key criterion's links. Given-Means-Ends (GME) analysis of key consensus-building criteria is used to identify the informal goals of LCC members including the development of cooperation and their perceived influence over consensus-building criteria. GME analysis of key context criteria is used to identify the informal goals of agency support staff and their perceived influence over context criteria. Context, Structure and Performance (CSP) analysis is used to identify the relative influence of key consensus-building criteria on consensus-building and the development of cooperation and LCC performance. CSP is also used to identify the relative influence of key context criteria on context, consensus-building and the development of cooperation as well as performance. Since social capital is relevant to the design of resource management institutions for resource sustainability, an adapted social capital framework is used to re-interpret key consensus-building and key context criteria to generate a cross-case explanation of the development of cooperation. The thesis concludes by describing the two major obstacles to the development of cooperation between LCC members and co-management agency support staff, suggesting improvements to the social capital framework and with lessons and implications for consensus-building and co-management theory.
A real-time interactive non-linear flight simulator of a piloted onnithopter

The University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and Project Ornithopter are currently in the process of taxi testing a prototype piloted engine-powered ornithopter, or flapping-wing aircraft. A flight simulator for the ornithopter has been developed in order to evaluate design changes, experiment with takeoff and flight strategies, and help train the pilot. It is written in C++ using the object-oriented paradigm. The simulator takes keyboard input and displays the output as a line drawing of the ornithopter. It solves the equations of motion using a time-marching integration method. Many of the forces on the ornithopter are calculated analytically at each time step. The forces generated by the flapping-wing are extracted from a table generated by another computer program written by Rambod Larijani. The simulator gives adequate results although it could be improved by increasing the accuracy of the input data. The team has used it to evaluate the optimum design for an additional wing, study possible landing-gear changes, and analyze potential takeoff strategies.

Keywords: Flight simulators
Ornithopters
The experience of elected undergraduate student leaders in Canada

The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of elected student leaders in full-time executive positions at Canadian university-wide undergraduate student associations. Qualitative interviews were conducted with five student leaders in executive positions at the end of their year-long terms. From this, case narratives were compiled to give a picture of each individual's experience in terms of their background, personal activities and feeling, assessment of their student association and university administration, and reflections on student leadership. Major themes were identified reflecting individuals' personal values and achievement, the challenge of time constraints, conflict, and their sense of responsibility and personal development. These themes are analysed in relation to the literature, for their impact on student leaders and those who work with them. This study begins to address the relatively little direct research on the activities of Canadian student associations, or on the full-time elected student leader experience.

Keywords: College students, Societies, etc
College students, Canada
Discrete explicit filtering for LES of compressible turbulent flow

To date, many large eddy simulations (LES) of compressible turbulent flow have relied on an implicit filtering procedure, using the low-pass characteristics of the numerical scheme to separate the large and small scales. However, implicit filtering leads to inconsistencies in the filter properties, and offers little control over the truncation, aliasing, and commutation errors. Explicit filters may offer a solution to these problems. In this research, the errors that can appear in LES and listed above were examined to understand the issues that must be considered when implementing explicit filters. Various two-dimensional commuting discrete explicit filters from the literature were then studied, constructed, and analyzed in terms of their width and shape using Fourier analysis, providing useful methods for the estimation of the filter properties. The filters were then applied to simple analytic functions, and to the non-linear terms that appear in the governing equations of LES, in particular for the decay of isotropic homogeneous turbulence. From these simulations, several things were discovered. Although it was found that the second-order scheme used herein naturally limits the introduction of aliasing errors, it was found that discrete explicit filtering as implemented can reduce possible high wavenumber errors should they be introduced. It was also found that extreme care must be taken when applying the discrete explicit filters to non-uniform grids to ensure that the filter stencil is isotropic. A good basis of understanding of discrete explicit filtering has been provided for future work in three dimensional LES.
Learning to participate: exploring the relationships between literacy and mental health

There has been increased attention to literacy and efforts to address what is often considered a literacy "crisis" over the past two decades, yet there are few indications of significant advancement in this area. Recently, there has been growing acknowledgement that there is an important relationship between literacy and health. While the links between health and literacy are now recognized, there are few models which incorporate knowledge gained from both practice and theory. As academic theories of literacy shift to acknowledge the social context of learning, the health field is considering a more holistic approach to health. Mental health workers, literacy practitioners, and clients of community mental health centres have suggested that it is important to consider the links between heath, mental heath, literacy, and learning. My research investigates the experiences, successes, and challenges for some clients of community mental health centres in accessing and benefiting from literacy services.
Predicting the early age temperature response of concrete using isothermal calorimetry

A simplified thermal simulation tool was developed for predicting the temperature rise due to hydration within concrete elements including those that contain slag or fly ash. The purpose of the program is to perform a rough thermal analysis without requiring detailed technical inputs. The simulation is designed to perform its analysis on a 2-D section through the element using a finite difference method, taking into account surface convection and conduction to adjacent materials, as well as solar radiation. An experimental program involving isothermal heat-conduction calorimeter testing was used to help populate the model with data for cementing materials commonly available in Ontario, including several Portland cements and a number of blast-furnace slags and fly ashes at various replacement levels. To verify the simulation results, results from the simulation will be compared to the results of two different field trials involving mass concretes with high levels of SCM replacement.
15-Hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase protein expression in human preterm fetal membranes

Prostaglandins are important in the onset of labour. 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH) metabolizes prostaglandins and is downregulated in preterm labour with and without infection. We detected a predominant 29kDa and 55kDa form of immunoreactive-PGDH in preterm chorion and amnion, respectively. 29kDa PGDH expression was unchanged with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), gestational age, glucocorticoid administration or subclinical inflammation. However, in amnion, 55kDa PGDH increased with PPROM at
Development of extrusion processing technology for manufacture of fine-celled plastic/wood-fiber composite foams

The main benefits of incorporating wood-fibers in plastics are the increased stiffness and lowered cost of the resulting composites. However, these improvements are usually accompanied by loss in the ductility and impact resistance of the composites. These shortcomings can be significantly improved by effectively foaming and incorporating a fine-cell structure in the composites. This thesis presents the development of the processing methodology for the manufacture of fine-celled plastic/wood-fiber composite (PWC) foams and focuses on the elucidation of the fundamental foaming mechanisms and the related issues involved. The volatiles evolved from the wood-fiber during extrusion processing play a dominant role in the foaming process, and can lead to gross deterioration of cell structure unless proper strategies are adopted to limit their contribution to foaming. Thermal analysis of wood-fibers (from pine wood) revealed that apart from moisture, a substantial part of the volatile emissions were evolved from the ‘extractives’, and hence can contribute to the foaming process as a blowing agent. A tandem extrusion system was developed which could effectively control the volatile wood-fiber emissions, and produce fine-celled PWC foams having the desired density and cell morphology. A series of critical experiments were performed to develop a suitable methodology for controlling the foam density and cell morphology. Fundamental foaming mechanisms for different foaming conditions are proposed.
No artificial ingredients: gender, race and nation in Costa Rican tourism

This work explores Costa Rica's tourism narratives. I analyze what these narratives reveal and what they obscure about the country, its people and its history. By reading the tourism promotional materials of the Costa Rican Tourism Board, I argue that official discourses sustain racialized spaces in the country by reproducing the mythology of a white settler society. I ask what the consequences of these official narratives are for tourists and for Costa Ricans. I argue that government supported tourism in Costa Rica depends simultaneously on the hypervisibility and invisibility of racialized and gendered bodies. I also seek to disrupt official tourism narratives by contrasting them to sex work within racialized and transnational structures of power and desire. This contrast allows me to argue that the unofficial and largely invisible story of sex tourism in Costa Rica indirectly upholds the tourism industry and the nation's white mythology.
Living culture: identity, curriculum, and multicultural education

This study is conducted within the framework of critical multicultural education. Specifically, it focuses on the issue of cultural representation within the high school English curriculum for the province of Ontario. It looks at what changes occur (if any) in the identity-development of ethnic, female students, when they are presented with a novel that may reflect their lived cultural experiences. “Ethnic” is defined here as a first-generation Canadian of non-Western European descent, or as an immigrant to Canada, from a non-Western European country, within the last ten years. The participants' responses to the novel (in the form of Active Reading Notes) are read, and weekly, private interviews are conducted with them, so as to probe those responses more deeply. Also, classroom seminars/discussions about the novel are observed, in order to examine the relationship between the participants' verbal responses to those of their peers.

Keywords: Educational equalization, Canada
Multiculturalism, Canada
Ethnicity, Canada
Group identity
Self-perception
Evaluating the effectiveness of a participatory ergonomic intervention aimed at improving musculoskeletal health

Objectives. To describe the evaluation of a participatory ergonomics (PE) intervention designed to reduce the burden of WMSD. Methods. A PE process was implemented at one depot belonging to a courier company, while another depot served as referent. A team of employee and management representatives at the intervention site implemented 14 changes over the 14 month intervention period. The evaluation was based on pre and post questionnaires collected on a total of 122 employees across the two depots. Results. Overall, the PE process was considered successful, with 12 of the 14 changes rated as significant improvements (p
Factors associated with tobacco smoking status among Aboriginal youth participants and attendees of the 2002 North American Indigenous Games

Objective. To determine if specified demographic, environmental and attitudinal factors are associated with smoking status among a sample of Aboriginal youth at the 2002 North American Indigenous Games. Methods. A survey inquiring about tobacco use and factors that have been shown in the literature to be associated with smoking status was implemented. These factors were described, then stratified by games participation to investigate the association between the independent variables and smoking status in bivariate and logistic regression analyses. Conclusions. Two environmental factors, one demographic factor and one attitudinal factor were associated with smoking status among these Aboriginal youth. Results. There were 570 survey participants between the ages of 12 to 22 (53.5% female) that met the inclusion criteria, of which 32% were current smokers. Age and peer smoking were associated with smoking status among the non-games participants and peer smoking was associated with smoking status among the games participants.
Evaluating international adult education programs in health: a case study of the Chile-Canada primary health care training program

This study sought to evaluate the content, process and outcomes of the Chile-Canada Primary Health Care Training Program developed by the Department of Family and Community Medicine of the University of Toronto. All of the participants (interns) were Chilean primary health care professionals who flew to Toronto to participate in the six-week program between 1999 and 2002. The proposed methodology of this study was purely qualitative; however, as the study developed, it made more sense to triangulate the analysis combining both qualitative and, quantitative methods. The majority of interns reported positive attitudes toward the training program's adult education methodology. The benefits of the program included the acquisition of skills and tools in three key areas of primary health care: interdisciplinary teamwork, community work and evidence-based medicine. These acquired skills were seen to be beneficial to patient care and likely to enhance professional working relationships and strengthen community work and advocacy.

Keywords: Primary health care, Canada
Primary health care, Chile
Medical education
Medical policy, Canada
Medical policy, Chile
Disclosing abuse: The voices of Spanish-speaking women in Canada

This study examined the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrant women abused by their intimate partners. The focus of the study explored from a Canadian context the experiences of Latin-American immigrant women regarding the disclosure of abuse and elicited data on how helping professionals can better support immigrant women in disclosing and seeking help for intimate partner violence. A participatory action approach utilizing in-depth interviewing with helping professionals as key informants, and focus group methodology with Latin-American women was employed to better understand the barriers and facilitators of disclosure of intimate partner violence. Thematic analysis highlighted the cultural and language barriers faced by women, fragmentation of the legal and social service systems, the complexities involved for immigrant women in maneuvering their way through these systems, fear of their partners retaliation, losing their children and compromising their immigration application, and distrust of dealing with authorities in the Canadian service system. This study shows the need for immigrant women to be able to secure safety and better access to supportive social services, and for the social service network to find ways to provide these more effectively. These findings have important implications for social work practice and policy in working with this often overlooked population in Canada: the Latin American community.
Das "zerstreute Volk" und seine Lieder: J.G. Herders und A. v. Arnims Volksliedkonzeptionen zwischen nationalem Engagement und poetischem Spiel

Although folk song reception has received a fair amount of scholarly attention, not enough scrutiny has been paid to the ambiguities surrounding past and present, tradition and innovation, art and nature. I take care to point out that in his public statements, Arnim seems to align himself with the traditionalist position, and yet his playful manipulation of genuine folk material in "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" transcends historical and philological confinement and destabilizes borders defining high and low culture. Folk song reception is a continuing process of textual inheritance and appropriation, as there is no traditional essence inherent in the original source. Folk song reception in late 18th and early 19th centuries documents the desire for poetic experiences of unmediated presence as well as the emerging political interest in Germany as a nation-state. Traditional folk songs were considered the raw materials from which a national literature emerged; an outgrowth of a people's past collective experiences, pure and untarnished by reflection and rational thought. However, collection and dissemination of such songs depended on the efforts of educated middlemen, whose textual interference often substantially transformed the very sources they claimed to preserve. My thesis investigates this relationship between collective folk authorship, an individual writer's creativity and the nationalist need for authentic literary traditions. Through time, folk songs were consciously shaped and reshaped and are difficult to restore in a philologically true fashion. The dissertation is divided into two main parts comparing the theoretical writings on folk songs by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) and Achim von Amim(1781-1831), two authors widely considered to be central to the development of romantic discourse on folk song. Part one addresses the poetic, social and political motives behind Herder's interest in folk song and oral tradition. Part two examines the romantic adaptation of some of Herder's key concepts by Arnim, co-editor of the Heidelberger folk song anthology Des Knaben Wunderhorn. While Arnim's reception is largely influenced by the work of his predecessor, differences did exist with regard to the national/international scope of their respective collections and their philological/poetic approaches to editing their source material, exemplifying each author's unique perspective.
Application of corporate governance theory to profit oriented State Owned Enterprises

This paper analyzes how and to what extent, the governance structure of State Owned Enterprises that are oriented to the profit motive, can be improved by using the experience and academic knowledge built upon the governance schemes implemented by private businesses. To that extent we present a brief description of the fundamental disciplinary mechanisms that have traditionally been used by private sector corporations to align interests of agents and residual claimants. Also, the paper uses empirical evidence produced by three Colombian SOEs that are strongly profit oriented as a background reference to the discussion. The paper explores how some governance mechanisms can be replicated for SOE's, how other disciplinary forces that are distinct of the public sector play a role for the governance of said corporations, and why some key governance forces are impossible to replicate for SOEs.

Keywords: Corporate governance
Government business enterprises
Government business enterprises, Colombia
Corporate governance, Colombia
Examining spinal cord injury rehabilitation payment and employment outcome data using individualized review of e-claim files from WSIB: A feasibility study

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with outpatient rehabilitation costs borne largely by Canada's private health system. While rehabilitation expenditures are significant, poor re-employment outcomes are the norm. This work evaluated the feasibility of a process called e-claim file review for the purpose of SCI data extraction in a sample of 28 Ontarians who sustained work-related SCI in the five year period between 1996 and 2000. The process proved feasible for extraction of some data informed by medical and rehabilitation documentation, but was not practical for extraction of data pertaining to functional status, rehabilitation payments, pre-injury educational achievement and employability status at three years post-injury. Standardized SCI data practices need to be implemented in order to improve the potential for administrative claim files to inform SCI rehabilitation research. Future directions are discussed from the perspective of data recording and data sharing practices in the private health sector.