VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The regulation of adherens junctions in fibroblasts by modulation of actin binding proteins

In connective tissues, adherens junctions (AJ) are specialized intercellular adhesions mediated by cadherins and implicated in matrix remodeling and wound contraction but the regulation of the formation and maturation of these junctions in connective tissues are poorly understood. Actin assembly is necessary for the formation and maintenance of AJs; disruption of the actin network compromises AJ structure and function. I hypothesized that the recruitment and regulation of actin binding proteins is important for the assembly and maintenance of AJs by virtue of their role in mediating actin cytoskeletal dynamics. I used the donor-acceptor model or a recombinant Ncad-Fc fusion protein to synchronize the formation of large numbers of N-cadherin-mediated AJs. I found that two actin binding proteins, cortactin and gelsolin, were recruited to nascent N-cadherin-mediated contacts. Cells treated with cortactin siRNA or gelsolin-null fibroblasts demonstrated sim;50% reductions in intercellular contact and 2--3 fold reductions of intercellular adhesion strength. Cortactin was phosphorylated on tyrosine residues following association with the N-cadherin adhesion complex. As cortactin phosphorylation was required for increased N-cadherin mediated intercellular adhesion strength, I investigated how this process enhanced intercellular adhesion strength. With the use of fibroblasts expressing catalytically inactive Fer, I found that Fer was the predominant enzyme responsible for cortactin tyrosine phosphorylation at N-cadherin mediated AJs. These cells exhibited greatly reduced cortactin tyrosine phosphorylation, sim;50% reductions in N-cadherin surface mobility and sim;4-fold less associated N-cadherin in bead pull-off assays. These results suggest that Fer-dependent cortactin phosphorylation promotes enhanced mobilization and interaction of surface expressed N-cadherin in contacting cells. I investigated the role of phospholipids and specifically, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIPI), in regulating gelsolin severing and uncapping at AJs. PIP2 was transiently generated at nascent contacts in a phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5 kinase gamma (PIP5KIgamma) dependent manner and was required for actin polymerization at sites of N-cadherin ligation. With the use of a cell-permeant peptide that mimics and competes for the PIP 2 binding region of gelsolin, I found reduced incorporation of actin monomers in response to N-cadherin ligation, reduced intercellular adhesion strength by>2-fold and altered local actin architecture. In summary, N-cadherin-mediated contact maturation requires the coordination of a complex array of signaling and regulatory pathways involving effectors of the actin cytoskeleton. I conclude that sustained N-cadherin contacts are characterized by adhesion complex formation, increased lateral clustering of N-cadherin molecules, actin remodeling, and subsequent contact zone extension.
Role of heat curing in concrete durability: effects of lithium salts and chloride ingress on delayed ettringite formation

Concretes are usually exposed to elevated temperatures at early ages during heat curing to accelerate early strength gain. But other factors can cause high concrete temperatures including the use of high cement contents, large pours, and hot weather conditions. It is generally accepted that there are some adverse effects when concrete is exposed to heat at early ages. Delayed ettringite formation (DEF) is a deterioration phenomenon attributed to high temperature curing. This investigation was conducted in two phases using concretes and mortars heat cured at temperatures in the range of 65 to 95C. Phase One investigation was conducted to determine the effect of high-temperature curing on the physical properties of concrete. Portland cement concretes of 0.35 and 0.45 water-cement (w/c) ratios, and ternary cement (5% silica fume, 25% slag) concretes of 0.35 water-cementitious (w/cm) ratio were cured at 23, 65, 80, and 95C. The properties examined were the compressive strength, chloride permeability, bulk diffusion, salt scaling, rebar corrosion, pore structure, and microstructure. Results showed that there were drastic changes in concrete properties as the curing temperatures increased above 65C. This has been termed the 'critical temperature effect'. Salt scaling of concretes was highly sensitive to elevated curing temperatures but the w/c was found to be more influential. Most adverse effects of heat curing were significantly mitigated by using ternary cement concrete except in the case of compressive strength. Phase Two investigation examined the influence of other deterioration processes on the potential for DEF. The effects of lithium admixtures, alkali-silica reaction and freeze-thaw microcracks, and chloride ingress were investigated using concretes of 0.45 w/c and mortars of 0.47 w/c heat cured at 95C. Studies included X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis. It was found that the use of lithium admixture in cementitious systems controls DEF. Also, externally applied chlorides have a pessimum effect on expansion due to DEF. This deviates from the commonly held view that chlorides mitigate sulphate attack in concretes. A mechanism describing the pessimum effect of chlorides on DEF expansion has been proposed.
Ethnic and religious identity retention among second-generation Arab youths in Montreal

Employing a non-random sample survey and in-depth interview, I explore the relationship between ethnic and religious identity retention among Arab-origin students from five Cegeps in Montreal. Being non-random, this sample is not representative of the whole population of Arab-origin Cegep students in Montreal. Special attention is paid to the influence of three socio-cultural factors: parental socialization, gender-related traditionalism, and perceived discrimination and stereotyping. I examine how group boundaries among the second generation emerge from re-appropriations of pre-fabricated ethnic labels and identities. Although these youths identify strongly with their ethnic culture and community, nonetheless, they fail to show matching levels of enmeshment in ethnic-based socialization networks. While it may be argued that a symbolic ethnicity is well underway among these second-generationers, I discovered that a symbolic religiosity was even more prevalent. Indeed, religion is more experienced by these youths as a group boundary marker, than as a binding frame of religious prescriptions and rituals. In any case, the data strongly suggest that religion and ethnicity are intertwined within these youths' identity structure. This connection reflects the refocusing of national Great narratives, in the postcolonial Arab world, on religious symbolism and rhetoric. Female conduct and sexuality also proved to be a primary locus of ethno-religious identity. However, traditional gender relationships come to be highly problematized as part of these youths' identity building strategies. Furthermore, females are more likely than males to critically engage traditional gender roles. Also, these Arab youths generally feel well accepted by Canadians in their personal life. However, they often downplay the Arab component of their identity as a way to ward off prejudice and discrimination. As well, there is a strong perception among these youths that Canadian people and media have a very low regard for Arab and/or Muslim culture. Finally, because Canadians lump all Arab groups together, these second-generationers largely come to identify themselves as Arabs. However, the adoption of a transnational Arab identity presupposes the subversion of the Western-made derogatory significations attached to it. Yet, oustide labelling exerts "symbolic violence" on these youths, which leads some, especially Christians, to reject the Arab label, deemed socially compromising.
Skin graft vascularization with poly methacrylic acid-co-methyl methacrylate beads: an in vivo model of angiogenesis

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of poly methacrylic acid-co-methyl methacrylate beads (MAA beads) on angiogenesis and wound healing. Autologous and artificial skin grafts were used to close rodent and porcine full thickness excisional wounds. Previous work revealed enhanced angiogenesis with MAA beads implanted into a rodent peritoneum. However, determining the functional significance of these blood vessels, particularly in the context of wound healing, has not been done. In this study, MAA beads were topically applied to the wound beds prior to graft placement. MAA beads enhanced skin graft vascularization when compared to grafts treated without beads or with negative control beads. Grafts treated with MAA beads had improved survival compared to controls; a demonstration of enhanced functional angiogenesis. These results support the strategy of using implanted biomaterials as therapeutic angiogenic agents. MAA beads may have a role in augmenting vascularization in wound healing.
Curriculum reform in Canada's universities

This study focuses on curricular reform in Canada's universities during the 1990s. In the chapters that follow I argue that the process of reform has become more utilitarian as institutions gravitate toward applied research and career preparation in response to current economic and labour market conditions. This argument is grounded in the theory of social reproduction, a critical paradigm which links professional activity to the maintenance and enhancement of exchange relations in capitalist societies. I extend this principle by arguing that knowledge itself is increasingly being framed in terms of capitalist development, as the functions of research and teaching in universities are redesigned to produce results and sets of skills that meet the needs of government and industry. Market-oriented reforms occur in three ways: First, provincial governments take an interventionist approach in university affairs by holding institutions accountable to produce knowledge that is relevant to economic development. Second, as public funding has not kept pace with university expenditures, administrators have taken a managerial approach to planning and operation. Third, increasing student demand for professional education has led to a more vocationally oriented curriculum. Analysis of these tendencies is based on the responses of governments, university administration, and students, all of whom are key stakeholders in the process of curricular reform.

Keywords: Universities and colleges, Canada
Education, Higher, Curricula
Education, Higher, Canada
Education, Higher, Aims and objectives
Education, Higher, Canada
Curriculum change, Canada
Vocational education, Curricula
Vocational education, Canada
Career education, Curricula
Career education, Canada
Business and education, Canada
Accidental justice: the trial of Otto Ohlendorf and the Einsatzgruppen leaders in the American zone of occupation, Germany, 1945-1958

This dissertation concerns the trial of twenty-four SS- Einsatzgruppen leaders in Nuremberg, Germany in 1947–1948. The dissertation is organized chronologically in nine chapters and analyses the origins, judicial procedure, judgment and aftermath of the Einsatzgruppen trial. It seeks to understand the trial through those who planned and participated in it by analysing the personalities and motivations of some of the major perpetrators of the Nazi Holocaust, and those who brought them to justice. It also offers insight into political and social issues such as American understanding of the Third Reich, and their policy toward Germany after the war. The dissertation is based on the materials and transcript of the trial, extensive archival research in Germany and the United States, and the personal papers of several of the major participants. Following the introduction, Chapters 2 and 3 of the dissertation describe the process by which the Americans came to hold distinct zonal trials subsequent to the International Military Tribunal. The dissertation argues that the American decision to hold zonal trials independent of their allies was the result of their negative experiences during quadripartite prosecution at the IMT, whereas their decision to prosecute leaders of the Einsatzgruppen was accidental. Initially the Americans had planned to prosecute a variety of SS leaders, but because investigators accidentally located and analysed a copy of the Operational Situation Reports of the Einsatzgruppen , and Ohlendorf confessed to the crime of mass-murder, they decided to transform a general trial of the SS leadership into one dealing specifically with Einsatzgruppen personnel. Chapters 4 and 5 provide an analysis of the background, personalities, and behaviour of the Einsatzgruppen leadership, concluding that the defendants constituted a homogenous group, sharing common attributes such as age and education, but that not all were motivated to commit murder for ideological reasons. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 analyse the trial, the role of the judge and the judgment. The dissertation contends that individuals such as Ohlendorf and Michael Musmanno, the presiding judge, significantly influenced the course and outcome of the trial. The dissertation concludes with an overview of the aftermath of the trial, and argues that political considerations had a significant impact on the fate of these defendants.
Mendelssohn and nineteenth-century England

This thesis is about the relationship of Felix Mendelssohn to the musical culture of nineteenth-century England. Mendelssohn's ten trips to England between 1829 and 1847 are described in detail, and his reception and impact there (both during and after his lifetime) are analyzed. The central arguments presented in this thesis cannot be reduced to a single statement. Rather, the focus of this study is a "constellation" of six related ideas. First, that the effects of Mendelssohn's impact on Victorian Britain's musical culture were extensive and far reaching, permeating almost all strata of society from the working classes to the aristocracy, and also having a profound effect on the music profession. Second, that Mendelssohn actively pursued an ameliorist agenda vis-a-vis British musical culture, seeking to bring musical standards, practices, and values in to line with those of Germany, and that his efforts in this regard were supported and encouraged by many British musicians. Third, that the enormous popularity of Mendelssohn's music in Britain during the composer's lifetime was, in part, the product of a personality cult, and that his sudden death at the age of thirty-eight re-enforced this phenomenon and helped to establish him as a canonic figure. Fourth, that during his lifetime, Mendelssohn was perceived in Britain as a "German" rather than a "Jewish" composer, even though this was not always the case in Germany. However, in the decades following his death, perceptions in Britain gradually shifted, so that, increasingly, he came to be viewed as Jewish. Fifth, that despite the attacks of some later nineteenth-century British critics, who portrayed Mendelssohn as a weak and obsolete cultural force, Mendelssohn's music remained popular within many segments of society through the late nineteenth century. And sixth, that the canonic aspirations of the composers associated with the so-called "English Musical Renaissance" of the late nineteenth century, such as Parry, Stanford, and Mackenzie were both enabled and inhibited by the Mendelssohnian values absorbed by Britain's musical culture. These values included learnedness, antiquarianism, cosmopolitanism, classical formalism, romantic pictorialism, and "gentlemanliness" (avoidance of emotional excess, and propriety in abiding by established conventions of good taste).

Keywords: Biography
Music
Exempting 'fair value' transactions from the prohibition of collateral benefits in takeovers: Australia's approach

The Australian Takeovers Panel recently released an Issues Paper inviting comment on numerous issues concerning the prohibition of 'collateral benefits' in s.623 of the Corporations Act. A key matter in the Issues Paper is whether benefits provided on 'fair value' terms should fall within the prohibition. This paper examines the equal opportunity principle which underlies s.623, including efficiency and other concerns with that principle, and the approach to collateral benefits in other jurisdictions, namely the US, UK and Canada. This paper then looks at the scope of s.623 and finds that courts and the Panel have become increasingly willing to exempt 'fair value' transactions from s.623, largely under the guise of its illusory 'different capacity' test. This approach to exempting 'fair value' transactions is in line with policy and efficiency concerns. Several reform measures are suggested, including introducing an express exemption for fair value transactions and a shareholder approval mechanism.
Low-power asynchronous Viterbi decoder for wireless applications

Power dissipation is a critical parameter in digital design for the implementation of high performance portable, battery operated systems, such as wireless communications systems. Clocked or synchronous digital designs consume a significant amount of power associated with coordinating the operation of millions of transistors at GHz clock rates. Besides, the operating speed of such systems is limited by the slowest logic functional block. By contrast, asynchronous designs are active only when doing useful work, enabling considerable savings in power and operating at the average speed of all components. To illustrate the advantages of asynchronous logic design, a 64-state, 112-rate fully asynchronous Viterbi decoder, suitable for future generation wireless applications, was designed and implemented in a 0.18 mum CMOS technology, using a simple asynchronous design methodology that resembles synchronous design styles. The design was fully characterized and compared to a synchronously designed counterpart as well as to the state of the art Viterbi decoders. The implemented asynchronous Viterbi had a core area of 1.4 x 1.4 mm 2 and operated up to 213 Mbps while consuming 85 mW. This represents a 55% power saving when compared to previously reported state of the art designs.
Individual difference correlates of human values as measured by a novel revision of the Schwartz Values Survey

Schwartz (1992) posited a theory of basic human values, identifying 10 motivational types and developed the Schwartz Values Scale (SVS). His theory predicts, and empirical evidence supports, a quasi-circumplex structure of items wherein those dimensions opposite to each other, such as hedonism and benevolence, are negatively correlated. Despite the natural opposite pairs of types, participants have traditionally been asked to self-report on each item individually, usually via a Likert scale. This has allowed participants to rate every item from all types equally highly, and positive responding bias is a potential problem. To ameliorate this deficiency, a forced choice format was developed. In its initial application, this modified SVS was administered to participants along with a selection of individual difference measures. A second study was conducted to further assess the psychometric performance and to also measure the ability of values to predict academic performance.
Acute gene induction by tienilic acid in the male Sprague Dawley rat: Possible role for danger

Tienilic acid (TA) was withdrawn from the market due to numerous cases of liver necrosis [1]. TA appears to act as a hapten, however it is unlikely that covalent binding to the enzyme metabolizing TA, CYP 2C9, would lead to significant cell stress. We used microarray analysis to determine if TA caused changes in gene expression that suggests an induction of cell stress that could act as a danger signal. Sprague Dewitt rats were dosed with TA, hepatic gene expression was profited at 6 and 24 hours, and microarray data were substantiated by qRT-PCR. This experiment was repeated at 6 hours, using qRT-PCR to verify gene changes from the previous study. Results showed robust changes in genes involved in oxidative stress, inflammation and liver regeneration. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that danger signals in the form of cell-stress proteins may be involved in initiating TA-induced toxicity.
Personal to political: the changing relationship of the OHA and the state in Ontario

It is argued that the relationship evolved through three stages: a transition from personal to political. In the first stage (1924--1959) an "old boy's network" developed from personal relationships as the state relied on the OHA's expertise to guide the implementation of hospital insurance. The relationship began to experience change in the second stage (1959--1972) as state concern with costs of the system began to override personal relations. After 1972 the relationship moved to a political level as the state assumed management of the system. The data for the study were collected from public and archival documents and published material. These were combined with key informant interviews. Key informants included bureaucrats, politicians, and former and current high-ranking individuals in the hospital system, including the OHA. The data were analyzed to construct a chronology of events and to identify key issues in the relationship. Across Canada, within the last decade there have been major changes in the organization and government of hospitals and health organizations. Regional governance structures have replaced most hospital and health boards. Despite these changes, Ontario has managed to preserve the autonomy of its hospitals and its hospital association---the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). The purpose of this research was to analyze the social history of the OHA, from its establishment in 1924, to the defeat of the NDP government in 1995. The role and functioning of the OHA in relation to the state is the main focus of the study. On a theoretical level, the research was designed to understand and contextualize the OHA-state relationship over an extended period of time. Three levels of theory were used to achieve this goal: pluralist, institutional and political economy theories. It is argued that since each of the theories has a different explanatory domain, a multi-level approach is required to fully explain the relationship. Interest group and institutional levels of analysis facilitated description of the context in which the two groups interacted, but class-based theory was necessary to understand the relationship within the broader context of a changing capitalist society.