VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The effects of antioxidants on the temporal processing speed of the aged rat

A common complaint among the elderly is their inability to perceive certain words. This deficit may be due in part to an age-related decline in temporal processing speed. Age-related declines are hypothesized to be due to the body's inability to handle the long-term effects of oxidative stress. Researchers have tried to counter this effect by feeding experimental animals foods, such as blueberries, known to contain high antioxidant activity. We studied whether dietary supplementation of blueberry phytochemicals for two months could reverse age-related declines in temporal processing speed. The auditory cortex cells from aged rats fed the blueberry diet responded most vigorously to fast auditory stimuli. Our results suggest that blueberry phytochemicals are able to reverse the decline in temporal processing speed of aged auditory cortex cells as shown by the more vigorous response of aged cells from rats on the blueberry diet to the fast FM sweep rate.
The role of market definition and unilateral effects analysis in America's movement towards effects-based antitrust: an analytical perspective

The discussion in this thesis describes the challenges of delineating markets and how American judges have dealt with market definition in their courts. Reading this thesis, it should become clear that given market definition's arbitrary nature, courts have still managed to approach the subject from a dynamic perspective. This thesis also discusses the development of alternative less formalistic approaches to the assessment of horizontal mergers and today's issue of market definition in monopolization cases. This thesis offers some suggestions in response to the so-called fact based economical approach development in market delineation. It describes market definition as a complicated process, especially in light of single firm conduct. The thesis will highlight that much about the role of econometric data and how to interpret any inferences, is unclear but that it is another useful tool to try and reach satisfactory results in the assessment of antitrust cases.

Keywords: Antitrust law, United States
Consolidation and merger of corporations, United States
Monopolies, United States
Markets, United States
Outcome of non-surgical endodontic treatment: Initial treatment and retreatment. The Toronto Study Phase 4

The 4-6 year outcome of non-surgical endodontic treatment was assessed for Phase 4 of the Toronto Study Project, and the data pooled with that of the previous phases. The outcome--"healed" (no radiolucency, symptoms or signs other than tenderness to percussion) or "diseased" (either radiolucency, symptoms or signs)--was assessed by an independent, calibrated examiner. For initial treatment, 439/510 teeth (86%) were healed. Logistic regression revealed an increased risk of disease persistence for pre-operative radiolucency, two or more roots and, in teeth with radiolucency, for presence of complications and root filling with lateral compaction. For retreatment, 187/229 teeth (82%) healed. Logistic regression revealed an increased risk of disease persistence for pre-operative adequate root filling, perforation, radiolucency and, in teeth with radiolucency, for treatment in two or more sessions. The prognostic importance of the technique-related variables (root filling technique and number of treatment sessions) requires validation from randomized controlled trials.
The p53 oligomerization domain: sequence-structure relationships and the design and characterization of altered oligomeric states

P53 is a homotetrameric, tumor suppressor protein involved in transcriptional control of genes that regulate cell proliferation and death. In order to investigate the role that oligomerization plays in this capacity, the malleability of the sequence-structure relationship as it pertains to the quaternary structure, stability and oligomeric status of p53 is examined. This is achieved through scrutinizing the impact of two cancer-causing germline mutations found within the oligomerization domain and the analysis of hydrophobic to hydrophilic, single and double point mutations at the dimer-dimer interface, culminating in the design and structural characterization of a dimeric form of p53 by NMR. These studies produced a set of biophysically characterized p53 mutants with altered oligomeric status including monomers, dimers and destabilized tetramers ideal for probing the dependence of p53 function on oligomeric status. Specifically, studies involving the two germline mutations indicate that even partial abrogation of p53 oligomerization is sufficient for accelerated tumour progression. The prospect of functional interactions amongst p53 family members, including the p53 homologs p63 and p73, via conserved oligomerization domains is also assessed. Evidence is presented to show that the oligomerization domains of p63 and p73 preferentially fold into stable homotetramers, can form weak heterotetramers, but do not hetero-oligomerize with p53.
The determinants and correlates of outcome following traumatic brain injury: a prospective study

The determinants and correlates of outcome at one (Time 1) and four (Time 2) years posttraumatic brain injury (TBI) were investigated prospectively in patients (n = 92) recruited consecutively following admission to Canada's largest regional trauma centre. Friends and family members served as control subjects. Sixty-three percent of subjects who completed baseline testing completed follow-up interviews at Time 1. Of these, 72% completed neuropsychological testing. Fifty-three percent of subjects completed follow-up interviews and neuropsychological testing at Time 2. Demographic, injury-severity, acute imaging findings, and acute neuropsychological function (attention, orientation, memory) were investigated as determinants of outcome. Neuropsychological status (attention, memory, executive function) at Time 1 and 2, and psychological status (depression, locus of control, coping style) and social support at Time 2 were investigated as correlates of outcome. Outcomes evaluated at both time points included psychosocial outcome, and a measure of return to productivity (RTP) (work and/or school). At Time 2, quality of life (QOL) data were also reported. At both time points, TBI subjects reported considerable psychosocial distress relative to controls. At Time 1, 66% of TBI subjects had returned to productive activity, at Time 2, this increased to 78%. Determinants of outcome at Time 1 showed baseline memory status to be significantly associated with RTP (p le; 0.0007). Injury severity and measures of acute neuropsychological status showed a trend to be associated with psychosocial outcome and RTP (p le; 0.05). Determinants of outcome at Time 2 again showed acute memory status to be associated with RTP (p le; 0.003) and other measures of acute neuropsychological status to be associated with psychosocial status, RTP, and QOL at p le; 0.05. Psychological variables and social support were strongly correlated with psychosocial status, RTP, and QOL at Time 2. When included in hierarchical regression analyses with acute neuropsychological variables, they accounted for substantially more variance in each outcome. A small proportion of the neuropsychological test scores (measuring general slowing, memory and executive function) correlated with outcome at both time points. These data suggest that the influence of brain pathology on outcome is attenuated over time. Long-term outcome is explained by many factors: psychological factors and social support are particularly important. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Social comparisons in romantic relationships: The role of partner-focus and shared resources

Recent studies suggest that in close romantic relationships, individuals are happier when their partner outperforms them than when they outperform their partner. Because individuals typically include the partner in the self, they are likely to take on the partner's perspectives and resources as their own and consequently may experience empathy for and a sense of shared fate with a successful partner. We examined empathy and shared outcomes as possible mechanisms underlying individual's positive responses to upward comparisons with the partner by manipulating participants' focus and the presence of tangible benefits in imagined comparisons to a more successful partner. Participants were most likely to report pleasure from empathy when the partner's photograph was present, regardless of whether or not personal benefits were salient. Participants were most likely to report pleasure from shared fate when the partner's photograph was present and the scenarios described clear benefits for themselves.
Of rose petals and sutures, marks on a woman's body: an aesthetic and oblique inquiry into dys-body, solace, and vulnerability

Poetic, fictional, æsthetic. This is an arts-informed inquiry where words and images participate with imagination to exhibit an embodied narrative of disability, an account still largely unwritten. It is a story that believes humans and the other-than-human are in constant touch with, constantly being touched by the world. It is a story that came into being through the presence of love and a belief that loving words and colours—sensations—are where knowing has its beginnings. Rose has her beginnings within this text. She survived a motor vehicle accident and breast cancer to tell her embodied narrative of disability. She knows this telling deepens narrative imagination and empathic presence in the world. Rose's scarred body, the site of this narrative, is quiet and resistant to the codes of traditional academic discourse. She arrives at her own being after following a rather insistent and visceral sensation, an impression she provisionally translates as vulnerability. She arrives after meeting worms on sidewalks, hearts wrapped in plastic, and fallen petals. Part of her work is to think seriously about what exists on the periphery of consciousness and is not represented, to reveal (revel in) the world that pales in our theoretical presentation of its being. Rose has not always found writing easy. A wound is presencing. Vulnerability has to be encountered, even before she knows solace arises as a homeopathic. The text, congruent with life, is discontinuous, fragmented. Writing and thinking through the images has not been a straight-lined process. This writer imagines the possibility of change, the healing of a world where ideas split skin, spill blood. The methods Rose used in this writing are anxious uncertainty, epistemic doubt, wonder, and breath. She is committed to the uncertainty of knowledge. Her method is an artist's, where failure and getting it wrong open us to the world, to embodied experience. This is a story where writing tickles fingers and language sweats itself through pores. Read the spaces between the words, read the absence of colours, read with imagination curled up beside you.

Keywords: Human body
Mind and body
Imagination
Empathy
Estimating random effects and serial correlation in random coefficient models: to weight or not to weight

We have investigated the effects of weighting on parameter estimation in the random coefficient model in this thesis. Our work is motivated by the proposal of a simple unweighted estimator by Gumpertz and Pantula (1989). We compare this estimator to the Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS) estimator as well as with a number of estimators which we propose which incorporate various weights. The simple unweighted estimator performs as well as the other more commonly used estimators across a broad spectrum of scenarios. It outperforms the EGLS estimator in a simulation with small numbers of individuals and large error variation. Negative bias in the estimation of the autocorrelation coefficient is illustrated. Since no existing method of correction is found to satisfactorily adjust for this bias, an alternate method is proposed which incorporates a finding regarding the nature of the regressor. If the regressor is correlated with time, or is trended, then the bias of the autocorrelation coefficient is greater than if the regressor has no correlation with time, or is non-trended. Furthermore, the bias is similar for a broad spectrum of models with trended regressors, and a smaller bias occurs across a broad spectrum of models with non-trended regressors. Using this result, two equations are developed, one each for models with trended and non-trended repressors, which effectively corrects for this negative bias. The issue of whether to estimate autocorrelated error is explored. Our results show that if fixed effects are of sole interest, then autocorrelation can often safely be ignored, but if the variance of the random effects is of interest, then it is advisable to estimate autocorrelation. A simulation study which tests the null hypothesis of a zero slope shows that both the unweighted and the fully weighted estimators have similar size and power to the maximum likelihood estimator. We show that our methods are quite robust to departures from normality by comparing two estimators with the maximum likelihood estimators within the framework of a skewed distribution of random effects. We find that the simple unweighted method yields satisfactory estimates of the random slope variance in circumstances where maximum likelihood does not.
In whose interests?: democracy and accountability for corporate governance activity by pension funds

Pension funds in North America and the United Kingdom are substantial shareholders in corporations. For the most part, these shares are the result of the investment of pension plan contributions made by or on behalf of the sponsoring employer's employees. As substantial shareholders, pension funds have the ability to exercise voting and other rights attached to their shares to influence or control certain corporate decisions. Collectively, pension funds often have legal or de facto voting control of the corporation. My thesis is that the corporate governance decisions of pension funds ought to be made by the beneficiaries of those funds and/or their directly elected representatives because the beneficiaries' interests are not being served by the present decision-making structure. The present structure rests these decisions in the hands of the employer's management or those answerable directly to that management. The investment and corporate governance decisions of pension fund managers affect the interests of the beneficiaries through their impact on their future retirement security and the social, economic and political environment in which they will live. Thus, the grant of this power to pension fund managers by widely dispersed beneficiaries raises issues of legitimacy and the legitimate use of this power, and in particular, how the interests of the beneficiaries and the society in which they live are defined and taken account of in the decision-making process. My claim is that the present system fails to adequately define these interests and take them into account because it does not provide appropriate mechanisms of accountability to the beneficiaries. Both normative and prudential grounds are offered for my thesis. The normative grounds are rooted in the collectivization of property in the pension fund allowing beneficiaries to democratically determine the process by which their bonds with the community will be defined and agreed on in the context of corporate policy. The prudential grounds combine two factors: first, fund managers' conflicts of interest where corporate governance activity critical of corporate management is involved; second, the increasingly contested connections between long-term shareholder interests or the fundamental value of a corporation and share prices in securities markets. These factors provide justification for treating a pension fund's corporate governance policies as matters for democratic determination by the beneficiaries, rather than as matters of managerial expertise, especially since that expertise can also be provided as advice. After reviewing the implications of the thesis for pension and trust law, corporation law and securities regulation, the thesis presents a number of recommendations for changes in the law in order to empower pension plan beneficiaries with respect to the corporate governance policy of their pension fund.

Keywords: Pension trusts, United States
Pension trusts, Great Britain
Corporate governance, United States
Metronomic photodynamic therapy as a treatment for malignant brain tumours

The prognosis for patients suffering from brain tumours is poor. One promising treatment is Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). Metronomic photodynamic therapy (mPDT), in which drug and light are delivered continuously at a low rate, has been proposed as an alternative to acute PDT (aPDT). Chapter I of this thesis provides an introduction to PDT treatments and related literature. Chapter II describes the development of optical sources capable of delivering mPDT. Chapter III describes the use of bioluminescence (BLI) to monitor tumour growth in vivo and to determine the growth kinetics of the CNS-1 astrocytoma. Final 1y, Chapter IV presents data from pre-clinical mPDT studies. The effectiveness of mPDT was monitored post treatment using BLI, followed by post-sacrifice histology. In these studies MPDT has demonstrated the capability to destroy small tumours in vivo and extended treatments are capable of retarding tumour re-growth.
The three axes of employment relationships: a characterization of workers in need of protection

The distinction between employees and independent contractors has been described as the “cornerstone” of labour and employment laws, but proved difficult to apply. This thesis is concerned with the question of who should be considered an employee in the context of protective labour and employment laws, i.e. what kinds of workers should be covered by such laws. The basic approach is purposive; the scope of protective regulations—and accordingly the meaning of “employee”—should be derived from the goals that such regulations are designed to achieve. It is argued that protective labour and employment laws share a general purpose, which can be used to articulate a general understanding of who should be considered an employee. The employment relationship can be likened to an integration of three axes: organizational, social/psychological and economic. Organizationally, employees are characterized by being subject to a structure of governance with democratic deficits. Socially/psychologically, the employment relationship is characterized by the dependency of employees on the relationship for the fulfillment of certain social and psychological needs. And economically, employees are characterized by their reliance on the employment relationship, in the sense that they are unable to spread their risks. The Three Axes are then put into practice. At the legislative level, a typology of four categories (employees, dependent contractors, independent employees and independent contractors) is suggested as a tool to refine the scope of protective regulations according to the particular vulnerabilities of different workers. At the interpretive level, the Three Axes are offered as an overarching test, and existing lists of indicia are examined in their light. This “general” test may need “fine-tuning” to suit particular purposes of specific regulations. The goals of minimum wage, collective bargaining and unjust dismissal laws (taken as examples) are examined in this light. The analysis confirms the suitability of the Three Axes, but also the need for “fine-tuning”—in each case only two of the Three Axes prove relevant. The final chapter offers an additional application to the framework developed: the Three Axes are used to suggest who should be considered the employer in triangular relations.

Keywords: Master and servant
Independent contractors
Labor contract
Untangling the effects of parental warmth and responsiveness to distress on child outcomes

Whereas researchers have frequently taken a global approach to parental responsivity, Bowlby's (1969/1982) theorizing and the views of several contemporary researchers provide a solid rationale for differentiating between types of parental responsivity. The present study sought to differentiate two aspects of responsivity—parental warmth and responsiveness to child's distress—by examining their links to several child outcomes. Participants were 106 children (M age = 7.0), their mothers, and (for 91 children) fathers. Teacher-ratings were also available for 72 of the children. Participants completed a range of measures assessing the two predictor variables—mothers' and fathers' warmth and responsiveness to distress—and six child outcomes: attachment security, effective regulation of negative emotions, empathy and prosocial responding to others' distress, mastery-oriented reactions to failure, perceived competence, and perceived and teacher-reported peer-acceptance. Parental warmth and responsiveness to distress were hypothesized to show differential patterns of associations with these child outcomes, and specific predictions regarding the nature of these associations were also made. Taken as a whole, the results support the present study's contention that parental warmth and responsiveness to distress are linked differently to child outcomes and are thus distinct, although specific predictions were not all confirmed. Consistent with predictions, children's regulation of negative affect and their empathy and prosocial responding to distressed others were predicted by mothers' and fathers' responsiveness to distress rather than by parental warmth. Moreover, children's emotion regulation partially mediated the effects of parents' responsiveness to distress on children's empathy and prosocial responding. Results for the remaining dependent measures were less robust, evidenced some sex differences, and were often inconsistent with specific predictions. Most notably, contrary to predictions boys' perceived competence was associated with both parents' responsiveness to distress rather than with parental warmth, and girls' perceived competence was negatively linked to maternal warmth. Also unexpectedly, children's perceived and teacher-reported peer-acceptance were positively linked to fathers' responsiveness to distress rather than warmth, and maternal warmth was negatively linked to girls' peer-acceptance. Consistent with predictions, however, boys' teacher-reported peer-acceptance was positively associated with maternal warmth. The theoretical implications of the findings, possible child-effects, and future research directions are discussed.
The effects of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) root on the postprandial glycemic response: Influence of ginseng batch, saponins and polysaccharides

Existing evidence on the ability of American ginseng root to reduce postprandial glycemia concerns primarily a single batch. It is unclear whether this effect is reproduced by other batches and by ginseng saponins and polysaccharides-components with purported glycemia-lowering effects. This project evaluates the effect of American ginseng root from five batches representative of the Ontario-grown crop on postprandial glucose and insulin indices in healthy individuals. Also, it evaluates the role of ginseng saponins and polysaccharides, extracted from the most efficacious batch, on postprandial glycemia. The results indicate that glycemia-lowering effects are comparable across American ginseng root batches, however, this activity may be lost during storage. Extracted saponins and polysaccharides had null effects on postprandial glycemia. Higher polysaccharide doses tended to increase glycemia. These findings suggest that potentially degradable components, other than saponins and polysaccharides, should be monitored to predict and explain the effects of American ginseng root on postprandial glycemia.