VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Weighted approximation in R[superscript]n

The main body of this thesis is divided into three parts. Part 1, consisting of the first two chapters, contains all the required background material. We provide an overview of weighted potential theory and its application to the question of uniformly approximating continuous functions by functions of the form wnPn for a given weight w and a polynomial Pn of degree at most n. We also include the relevant pluripotential theory using Klimek's monograph as our primary reference. The basic results in weighted pluripotential theory were proven by Siciak, Bloom and by Bloom and Levenberg. Chapters 3 and 4 form Part 2 of the thesis. Chapter 3 consists of further results in weighted pluripotential theory. In the first section of Chapter 3 we establish some properties of the weighted pluricomplex Green function VΣ,Q. These include results concerning the behaviour of VΣ,Q under polynomial mappings, taking limits and on product sets. In the second section we prove some general results on the support Sw of the equilibrium measure. One notable result obtained is a characterization of the points in Sw. The focus of Chapter 4 is a generalized Weierstrass approximation problem. Specifically, we consider the question of uniform approximation by weighted multivariable polynomials on compact sets in [special characters omitted]. The final part of the thesis is a chapter on the approximation of continuous functions by multivariable incomplete polynomials in [special characters omitted]. Incomplete polynomials were first defined by G. G. Lorentz in the 1970s on the unit interval [0, 1] and they have been the subject of intense study in the general area of approximation theory. Recently, Kroó started to extend the theory of incomplete polynomials to [special characters omitted]. He obtained results on a restricted class of convex domains in [special characters omitted] which includes parallelograms with a vertex at the origin and sections of the unit disk with central angle less than π/2. We succeed in proving some general results in [special characters omitted] for n > 1 using weighted pluripotential techniques.
Poetry comprehension: a description of the cognitive and emotional processing of literary experts and novices

To describe the cognitive and emotional processes involved in poetry comprehension in novice and expert readers, responses to emotional and intellectual poems were collected from 24 English literature students (12 undergraduate, 12 graduate) and were qualitatively analyzed. Participants read two poems, circling and underlining those areas which stimulated thoughts and feelings, respectively. They then discussed their poetic understanding by explaining those marks. Two questionnaires were administered to determine (a) what readers know about poetry comprehension, and (b) what readers know of their cognitive and emotional responses to each poem. Factors for each data set were derived and were used to indicate underlying meaning-making representations. The factors illustrate that experts have a concept of interpretation (Olson, 1994) so are able to consider the process as well as the products of reading. Novices, in comparison, tend to consider only the products. Practicing an aesthetic stance (Rosenblatt, 1978, 1995) within the context of a reader-centered classroom (Langer, 1993) may promote novices' acquisition of this concept.

Keywords: Poetry, Study and teaching
Global song, global citizens?: multicultural choral music education and the community youth choir : constituting the multicultural human subject

This study provides a critical ethnographic examination of the Mississauga Festival Youth Choir that emerged from my concerns related to mainstream community choral music education practices. The predominantly white memberships and Eurocentric repertoire of many community children's choirs suggests that traditional structures and practices are exclusionary, even when this may not be the intent of the choir's organizers. Interviews conducted with members of the Mississauga Festival Youth Choir, and analysis of my reflective teaching journal, suggest that multicultural choral music education when taught within in an anti-racism discursive framework, may contribute to a newly emerging sense of identity (and its related subjectivity) which I describe as multicultural human subjectivity. The concept of multicultural human subject is located within a cosmopolitan sociology which acknowledges that globalization impacts the local level of life within national societies, transforming everyday consciousness and leading to new forms of self-identity that accept cultural hybridity as a new norm. In this regard, cosmopolitan sociology contradicts the official Canadian discourse of multiculturalism, which assumes cultures to be monolithic. Cosmopolitanism also conflicts with many of the assumptions guiding multicultural North American music education practices, yet paradoxically multicultural music education practices appear to hold a form of cosmopolitanism as a tacitly implied outcome. The purposes of this study are to: (1) examine the ways that engaging in world music (global song) within the MFYC context may be performative to an emerging identity-subjectivity of multicultural human subject, (2) investigate the relationship between my pedagogy as an anti-racism music educator and performativity related to multicultural human subjectivity, and (3) identify the ways discourses of race, ethnicity, nationalism, and multiculturalism may both contribute to and confound the emergence of multicultural human subjectivity. In this last objective, my reflexive journal points to areas of personal bias that stand in the way of achieving my goals for the choir. Interviews conducted with members of the Mississauga Festival Youth Choir allow the study's participants an important voice in our academic understanding of performativity and the role of conflicting discourses in an individual's self-understanding. The interviews and critiques of my own teaching praxis illuminate both successes and stumbling blocks on the journey toward a self and other understanding indicative of multicultural human subjectivity.

Keywords: Choirs (Music), Ontario
Choral societies, Ontario
Music, Instruction and study
Music, Ontario
Cultural fusion and the arts, Ontario
Examination of the effect of three dimensional auditory displays on situation awareness in a virtual urban lane target environment

Three dimensional (3D) auditory displays have been studied for use in aircraft environments but their use in other domains has received less scrutiny. Their application for dismounted infantry use in urban operations was studied using a virtual reality simulation of a simplified urban environment. Three conditions were examined: stereo, generic head related transfer functions (HRTF) without head tracking, and free field. Soldier performance, situation awareness and workload were evaluated. Little evidence of benefit from increased auditory display fidelity was found. Lack of head tracking was found to lower situation awareness and increase the frequency of head movements when coupled with the HRTF condition, most noticeably in subjects with low field independence. Psychological constructs of field dependence/independence were found to have significant effects upon situation awareness, head turning and shooting performance.
Gli studi boeziani in Italia nel medioevo e nel rinascimento

The intention of this thesis is to explore a particularly successful Italian translation: Benedetto Varchi's (1503-1565) Della consolazione della Filosofia, first published in 1551. The first chapter focuses on three main points: the reception of Boethius's Consolatio in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; the debates around translations in sixteenth-century Italy; and the history of Varchi's translation. The scope of the second chapter consists of an analytical description of all the existing manuscripts and printed editions of the work. The third chapter, tailored in a more linguistic and philological fashion, outlines the history of the text of the translation from its earliest draft to the first printed edition. In particular, Varchi's linguistic and stylistic corrections will serve as points of comparison to assess how much the language of the final outcome (that is, the princeps of 1551) has changed from that of the existing manuscripts, and, more importantly, what role the compositors working for the printer-publisher Lorenzo Torrentino may have played in the transition between the manuscript and the printed work.
Is home care in crisis? A reader's theatre about issues in home care

This reader's theatre script called Is home care in crisis? and accompanying academic narrative is my master's thesis at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The reader's theatre script represents a secondary analysis of data from a research project called "A National Snapshot of Home Support from the Consumer Perspective." This research draws from two academic disciplines: critical disability studies and arts-informed research. I had three goals with this secondary analysis: make it interesting, accessible, and educate the public. My organizing principle was usefulness. I sought a form of research analysis and representation that would support the lobbying work the Council of Canadians with Disabilities is already engaged in around disability supports at the provincial, territorial, and national levels. I present the reader's theatre first in this thesis document. In the academic narrative I make sense of my work according to defining elements of arts-informed and disability research.

Keywords: People with disabilities, Home care services
People with disabilities, Canada
People with disabilities, Attitudes
People with disabilities, Canada
People with disabilities, Social conditions
People with disabilities, Canada
Preparing for the first Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test: experiences of teacher candidates and teacher educators at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

This study examined how six teacher candidates and three teacher educators at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto prepared for the first teacher licensure test in Canada in recent times, the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test. A case study approach was used to document participants' experiences, with subsequent cross-case analyses revealing twelve key themes. Findings indicate that previous experiences with and personal beliefs about high-stakes testing, as well as self-knowledge, influenced how individuals approached test preparation. Additionally, lack of clarity regarding (a) the content and format of the test itself, (b) the purpose of the test, and (c) the way in which it was to be administered, negatively affected participants' experiences in the teacher education program. Nevertheless, most teacher candidates reported being adequately prepared for the test. The study's findings include suggestions for ways to improve future teacher licensure test preparation.

Keywords: Teachers, Certification
Teachers, Ontario
Student teachers, Attitudes
Student teachers, Ontario
Force characteristics of nickel-titanium open-coil springs

Objective. The objective of this study was to quantify the properties of 11 commercially available nickel-titanium open-coil springs. Methods. An Instron universal testing machine was used to measure the force generated when open-coil springs were compressed to one-half their original length and then unloaded. Eleven springs from 3 different manufacturers were tested at 5 testing sessions over a 12-week period. Results. The average forces generated at the initial recording session for uniformly wound springs from GAC International and 3M Unitek™ were 19.3-42.7% and 9.7-38.8% below the manufacturers labeled force levels, respectively. GAC International 100g, 150g and 200g stop-wound coils demonstrated stepwise statistically and clinically significant force degradation over the 12-week period (p<0.0001). Uniformly wound coil, specifically GAC International, light (100g) coils generated the lowest load/deflection ratios (23.7 g/mm). Conclusions. Uniformly wound coils may produce lower load/deflection ratios, and lower maximum forces, which are generally considered more acceptable for tooth movement.
Translations and refractions: an exploration of making art by hand and computer

Significant findings of this study include the emergence of a different kind of haptical space created by the physical experience of image multiplicity and the glow of the computer screen. Additionally, a kinship between the artists and their computers identified as a new kind of "coupling" defines the alliances created when working within the cyborg realm. These alliances lead to double vision, a combination of artistic and machinic perspectives of image production. As technological contexts shift, hybrid-cyborg art makers require a new vernacular to describe their terms of integration and translation when working concurrently by hand and computer. Among the implications of this study then is the development of an innovative vocabulary to describe hybrid couplings; and the identification of important opportunities for artists and art educators to experience a fresh range of potentialities and pedagogies in the cyborg realm. The computerization of everyday living and working practices enables all of us to move through physical and virtual worlds more easily. However, for some individuals such as visual artists, computerization is also provoking some anxiety and discomfort. As artists increasingly integrate digital procedures into their art making processes, they are confronted with the need to transform older practices, often working through challenging phases of translation. This study examines the ways in which six particular artists whose practices are based primarily on hand making methods are exchanging and in some instances replacing, hands-on engagement using traditional materials with digital manipulation programs using a computer mouse. Three key themes focusing on researching the electronic library, computerized image production and the physicality of art making are extracted from the artists' interviews. These themes in conjunction with theoretical discourses addressing issues of space and place, cyborgology and art education, illuminate the terms of resistance, incorporation and innovation that characterize the interchanges between hand and computer procedures for producing images.

Keywords: Art and technology
Art, Data processing
Art
Computer art
Lipid signaling and the role of COPI in Fc[gamma] receptor-mediated phagocytosis and phagosome maturation

During FcgammaR-mediated phagocytosis, antibody-coated pathogens and particles are eliminated from the body by their inclusion into a plasma membrane-derived vacuole, or phagosome. Phagosomes then embark on a maturation process by fusing with endosomes and lysosomes, which endows phagosomes with an acidic and hydrolytic milieu that digests the pathogen. FcgammaR engagement emanates a complex signal cascade that employs lipid signaling to coordinately modulate the underlying actin cytoskeleton and membrane. In this thesis, the dynamics and role of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] in phagocytosis were examined. During the early stages of phagocytosis, generation of PI(4,5)P 2 appeared to occur while at the later stages depletion of PI(4,5)P 2 was observed. PI(4,5)P2 consumption was in part due to phospholipase C (PLC)-mediated hydrolysis, which released diacylglycerol (DAG) and was essential for phagocytosis. Evidence is provided that DAG recruits RasGRP3, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Ras, and activates Ras. While Ras was dispensable for phagocytosis, we postulate that a DAG-RasGRP3-Ras pathway regulates inflammatory gene expression through ERK. The role of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate [PI(3)P], an important endosomal modulator, in phagosome maturation was also investigated. We found that PI(3)P was synthesized on phagosomes de novo through the Class III PI 3-kinase, VPS34, and that it was indispensable for phagosome-lysosome fusion. Finally, we demonstrate that protein recycling from the phagosome is partially dependent on the fission complex, COPI. In conclusion, we have revealed roles for phosphoinositide-dependent signaling in phagocytosis and phagosome maturation and provided a foundation for further work to explore the effectors of PI(4,5)P2 and PI(3)P in these processes.
The role of technology in structuring information seeking in health professionals

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the relationship between technological structuration and health professional information seeking (i.e. choice of key sources of information, type of information and selection of information seeking tactics). A within group, laboratory, experimental study was conducted using two simulation environments. Thirty five novice nurses assessed and planned the care of two different patients in two different simulation environments: a paper environment (i.e. PR condition) and a hybrid paper-electronic environment (i.e. EPR condition---where part of the environment contained an electronic patient record). Two patient records were used in the study (i.e. patient A and B). Subjects were block randomized to receiving either patient A's or B's information first to prevent learning and order effects. Subjects were asked to "think aloud" in each of the environments and participated in a cued recall session to clarify any ambiguity in think aloud verbalizations. Subjects' verbalizations were audio recorded and their actions were video recorded. Data was transcribed and coded using model based coding and concepts from Newcomer Information Seeking Theory. Think aloud data was quantified. T-tests were performed to test for differences between the two conditions in terms of the amount of data accessed, choice of type of information and choice of information seeking tactic. Quantitative findings established relationships between technological structuration and aspects of information seeking. These findings revealed that technological structuration significantly decreased the amount of data accessed by subjects, subjects accessed significantly more non-electronic sources of information in the technologically structured environment (i.e. the EPR condition), and passive information seeking tactics were used more frequently in the EPR than the PR condition. The following new information seeking concepts emerged during protocol analysis of video, verbal and cued recall data: (a) two types of information---situational task and organizational information, (b) an information seeking tactic---monitoring, and (c) three new contextual factors---the quality of the information target, cognitive load, and task urgency. In summary, quantitative analyses suggested the presence of a relationship between technological structuration and aspects of information seeking. Qualitative analyses revealed Newcomer Information Seeking Theory requires extension.
A precarious compromise: the territorial settlement of the Riga peace of 1921 in light of Soviet and Polish policies toward the Borderlands

The Riga peace of 1921 ended the Polish-Soviet war of 1919–1920, fought by the two powers largely over the Borderlands, a territory between Poland proper and Russia proper. The crucial aspect of this peace treaty was its territorial settlement. It gave Poland most of the western Borderlands, including the Wilno region and the western parts of Belarus and Ukraine. The eastern Borderlands, including Minsk and Kiev, were recognized as belonging to Soviet Belarus and Soviet Ukraine, respectively. This territorial settlement was significantly affected by ethnic issues. Poland's and Soviet Russia's contrary assessments of the ethnic geography of the Borderlands counted among those fundamental differences contributing to hostility and making mutual understanding difficult. Given its significance, the disagreement ober this issue is here the point of departure and is presented in Chapter One. Taking these contrary views into account, the Soviet and Polish ethnic programs in the region were then developed. The basic assumptions of these programs and their practical implementation prior to the beginning of negotiations at Riga are considered in Chapter Two focusing on the Soviet program, and Chapter Three dealing with the Polish program known as federalism. Since they were mutually exclusive, there was no possibility of compromise. The resulting conflict could thus be resolved only on the battlefield. The military aspect of this resolution is analyzed in Chapter Four. After some remarkable military turnarounds, it became clear that neither side was strong enough to defeat the other decisively. Consequently, it was necessary to resort to some kind of territorial compromise. This compromise was made possible by a drastic decline in the credibility of federalism in Poland in the summer of 1920 coupled with the Soviet realization that strict adherence to the ethnic geography of the region, as seen by Moscow, would be counterproductive to a Polish-Soviet understanding. The whole process of negotiation, including its antecedents, is discussed in Chapter Five. Finally, the Epilogue deals with death tremors of Polish federalism and the issue of the durability of the Polish-Soviet territorial settlement.
Digitally controlled three-phase high power switch-mode AC-DC converter

Switch-mode, high power AC-DC converters have recently been proposed as a power source for applications such as DC arc furnaces and electrolytic production of aluminum, where they offer significant advantages over conventionally used thyristor rectifiers in terms of size and cost. In this thesis, the description of the operation, steady state and dynamic analyses for a switch-mode high power AC-DC converter, featuring digital control, is presented. In the thesis, an original digital control strategy for the high power switch-mode AC-DC converter configuration is proposed and analyzed. The strategy provides a fast transient response to disturbances and achieves equal current sharing between the buck converter modules paralleled inside the high power switch-mode converter. Equal current sharing is maintained in the steady state as well as in transient operation. The control principle is verified on the 2 kW scaled-down model of the switch-mode converter, controlled by a DSP/FPGA based digital controller. As part of the thesis, analysis of the converter's operation in the steady state under the proposed control is carried out to determine the steady-state operating point and the resulting current/voltage ratings of the semiconductor switches of the converter. Sampled-data small signal dynamic analysis of the system under the proposed digital control scheme is carried out to determine its small signal stability characteristics. A system design procedure based on the results of the steady state and dynamic analysis is presented. Steady-state and dynamic behavior of the rectifier is experimentally verified.