State Violence, Mobility and Everyday Life in Cairo, Egypt

State violence in Egypt is an embedded part of daily life and popular culture, and well documented in social and news media. The uprisings of January 11, which took place in Egypt were organized in large part against violence and torture regularly delivered by police forces. In this dissertation I examine the implications of chronic state violence on everyday life for low-income Egyptians. In doing so, this dissertation provides analysis of how violence shapes forms of intimacy within social life, how it shapes urban landscapes and the politics therein and how it informs individual piety and banal practices of security. This work contributes to studies within feminist geopolitics, memory and emotion within geography by understanding the lives of Cairenes through their experience of the landscape and places they inhabit, maneuver through, and create with the memory and threat of state violence. The project focuses on four selected sites in Greater Cairo: Kholousy Street in Shoubra, Musky Market in Old Cairo, Cairo University in Giza, and Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. These sites have been chosen because they represent different nodes of daily life (shopping, leisure, education, and political participation) for low-income Cairenes. Research methods include participant observation at the four sites, eleven focus groups and thirty-one interviews with low-income Cairo residents in two age cohorts: one group of participants between the ages of 18 and 26, and a second cohort between the ages of 49 and 57. For each of these questions, this project provides a gender sensitive comparison of the two age cohorts in order to gain insight into the role of youth and memory and gender in Cairenes’ interpretations and representations of the Mubarak era and the recent revolution

Examining the Impact of a Population-Based Intervention on Children\u27s Physical Activity Levels: The Grade 5 ACT-i-Pass Program in London, Ontario

Childhood obesity is a major public health concern caused in part by decreasing levels of physical activity (PA). Identification of effective population level strategies for increasing children’s PA levels is critical for improving overall health. This thesis is comprised of two studies. Study 1 examines how naturally-occurring population-level PA interventions with children have been evaluated in previous studies by conducting a systematic review. A total of 15 papers were included for review and results suggest that naturally-occurring population-based PA interventions are generally effective in improving PA levels of children in a variety of PA domains. Eleven studies included additional evaluation components to help justify results and provide important contextual information. Using an ecological framework, Study 2 investigates how the provision of a naturally-occurring population-based PA intervention in London, Ontario impacted children’s PA levels. A total of 643 children completed baseline and post-intervention surveys. Results showed a significant increase in PA over time, with significant increases for girls, visible minorities, children born outside of Canada, children with low parental support, and children from all neighbourhood SES groups. Sex and parental support were the only significant predictors of change in PA. Examining naturally-occurring population-based PA interventions is a beneficial opportunity that should be used by researchers to provide real-world evidence of effective strategies to assess and increase children’s levels of PA

DIRECT ESTIMATION OF ABOVEGROUND FOREST PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING OF CANOPY NITROGEN

The concentration of nitrogen in foliage has been related to rates of net photosynthesis across a wide range of plant species and functional groups and thus represents a simple and biologically meaningful link between terrestrial cycles of carbon and nitrogen. Although foliar N is used by ecosystem models to predict rates of leaf‐level photosynthesis, it has rarely been examined as a direct scalar to stand‐level carbon gain. Establishment of such relationships would greatly simplify the nature of forest C and N linkages, enhancing our ability to derive estimates of forest productivity at landscape to regional scales. Here, we report on a highly predictive relationship between whole‐canopy nitrogen concentration and aboveground forest productivity in diverse forested stands of varying age and species composition across the 360 000‐ha White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, USA. We also demonstrate that hyperspectral remote sensing can be used to estimate foliar N concentration, and hence forest production across a large number of contiguous images. Together these data suggest that canopy‐level N concentration is an important correlate of productivity in these forested systems, and that imaging spectrometry of canopy N can provide direct estimates of forest productivity across large landscapes

Individual score validity and student effort in higher education assessment

This study explored the use of the five invalidity flags plus a new sixth flag based on self-reported effort. Participants were 155 entering first-year university students who were measured during an orientation week and again 18 months later. The instruments were a faculty-developed test of oral communications skills with 40 four-option multiple-choice items and a self-reported measure of test-taking motivation (Student Opinion Survey; Sundre, 1999 adapted from Wolf and Smith, 1995). Results indicated that the Flags explored in this study generalized well to university students. There was a moderate correlation between Response Time Effort and Effort as measured by the Student Opinion Scale, suggesting there was a relationship not captured by the dichotomized flags

ODD Symptom Network During Preschool

Several different conceptualizations of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms have been proposed, including one undivided set of symptoms (DSM-IV-TR; APA 2000); two domains of symptoms subdivided into affective and behavioral; and three domains of symptoms subdivided as angry/irritable, argumentative/defiant, and spiteful. The current study utilizes a novel approach to examining the division of ODD symptoms through use of network analysis. Participants were 109 preschoolers (64 male) between the ages of three and six (M = 4.34 years, SD = 1.08) and their parents and teachers/caregivers, who provided ratings of ODD symptoms. Results are consistent with one-, two-, and three- cluster solutions of ODD, but perhaps provide most support for the three-cluster solution. In addition, results support the idea that negative affect, particularly anger, forms the core of the ODD symptom network during preschool. These results suggest the importance of targeting anger in preschool interventions for ODD

Corporate governance, market valuation and dividend policy in Brazil

This study investigates the effects of the corporate governance structure on market valuation and dividend payout of Brazilian companies. The empirical results indicate a high degree of ownership and control concentration. We can also note a significant difference between the voting and total capital owned by the largest shareholders, mainly through the existence of non-voting shares, pyramidal structures, and shareholding agreements. These mechanisms seem to be used by controlling shareholders to keep the firm’s control without having to own 50% of the total capital. The evidence also reveals that there is a relationship between governance structure, market valuation, and dividend policy in Brazil.Indisponível

The practicum as workplace learning: A multi-mode approach in teacher education

This paper has as its focus the portrayal of, and justification for, a multi modal practicum curriculum which is directed to address the needs of qualified teachers. The subject “The Reflective Practitioner in the School” is one which takes the concept of workplace learning most seriously. For too many years teacher education has treated the practicum curriculum as a pre service “practice teaching” subject sequence and has not concerned itself with ways in which in service professional development can be constructed as continuous with the pre service practicum program

Statoconia Formation in Molluscan Statocysts

The gravity sensors of all molluscs phylogenetically below the cephalopods are spherical organs called statocysts. The wall of the sphere contains mechanosensory cells whose sensory cilia project into the lumen of the cyst. The lumen is filled with fluid and dense stones , the statoconia or statoliths, which sink under the influence of gravity to load, and stimulate, those receptor cells which are at the bottom. The statuconia of Aplysia californica are shown to be calcified about a lamellar arrangement of membranes. Similar lamellar membrane arrangements are seen within the receptor cells, and their possible role in the formation of the statoconia is discussed. SEM of unfixed statoconia reveals plate-like crystallization on their surface. Elemental analysis shows a relatively high Sr content, which is of interest, since others have recently reported that Sr is required in the culture medium of several laboratory-reared molluscs in order for the statoconia to develop

Novel mutation in CCBE 1 as a cause of recurrent hydrops fetalis from Hennekam lymphangiectasia-lymphedema syndrome-1.

Whole exome sequencing (WES) was used to determine the etiology of recurrent hydrops fetalis in this case of Hennekam lymphangiectasia-lymphedema syndrome-1. WES is a useful approach for diagnosing rare single-gene conditions with nonspecific phenotypes and should be considered early in the diagnostic process of investigating fetal abnormalities