VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Private Oppression: An Account of Motive and Purpose in Anglo-Canadian Private Liability
Keywords: Private Law Theory
Tort Law
Tort Theory

The role of subjective intent, motive, and purpose in the assignment of private liability in interpersonal disputes remains a point of uncertainty and dispute in contemporary Anglo-Canadian jurisprudence and commentary. Notwithstanding a preponderance of academic interventions and decisions of the highest authority to the effect that an actor’s subjective intent, motive, or purpose plays no justifiable part in classifying private conduct as wrongful, several causes of action which make either express or implicit use of a subjective element as a prerequisite for the imposition of liability persist in Anglo-Canadian tort law, including the torts of libel, slander, malicious falsehood, slander to title, conspiracy to harm, watching and besetting, and private nuisance of the sort found in Hollywood Silver Fox Farm Ltd v Emmett.This dissertation takes the presence in Anglo-Canadian common law of such bases of private liability seriously. As human artifice created and refined over the course of centuries, the existence of these tort doctrines is taken to be presumptively intelligible, explicable, and significant in and to a broader system of private liability. As such, the account advanced makes two foundational assumptions: that all such tort doctrines respond to and manifest identical normative content, and that this shared normative content can be theorized in a fashion that accords with dominant rights-based accounts of the balance of Anglo-Canadian tort liability. Proceeding from these assumptions, this dissertation develops and illustrates two complementary positions. The first, using a core case approach centred on the defamation torts, articulates an understanding of the structures of the torts of private oppression as reflecting a shared treatment of subjective intent, motive, and purpose. The second, using an interpretive approach, explains the internal logic of a single theorized interpersonal entitlement all such tort doctrines can be understood as operating to protect from encroachment by others: juridical personhood. Together, these two accounts identify a coherent doctrinal group within Anglo-Canadian tort law, the torts of private oppression, and provide a theoretical account of the normative phenomenon to which that doctrinal group responds, private oppression, that is demonstrably reconcilable with leading rights-based accounts of Anglo-Canadian tort liability.
Black Women in Leadership – Dominant Discourses that Construct, Maintain and Legitimize Gender, Race Class Bias in Top Canadian Corporations
Keywords: Black Racialized Women in Leadership
Canadian Corporations gender pay gaps
Dominant Discourses Gender
Race Class
Gender
board diversity
Senior Executive Leadership
Leadership Theories Male Dominated Roles
Women in Leadership inequities

Abstract Decades after the establishment of the feminist movement in Canada, systemic gender biases proliferate in corporate boardrooms. Notwithstanding the influx of women into the paid Canadian workforce, gender inequality, specifically the disproportion of women in executive roles in Canadian corporations, is confounding. This study examines dominant androcentric and Eurocentric discourses about gender, race, and class that influence how society identifies and ascribes masculinity to leadership roles. Dominant discourses construct, maintain, and legitimize biases that impede women's career progression to senior leadership. Discourses in media, for example, television, movies, print and other narratives, influence how society behaves and treats women leaders in male-dominated roles as President, CEO, CFO, Chairs and other named officers in Canadian Financial Post 500 companies. The theoretical framework incorporates three theories in deconstructing androcentric leadership discourses and biases. First, the research interrogates the motivation for the division and deskilling of labour using Harry Braverman's Labour Process Management theory, an extension of Karl Marx's class theory, to examine the history of hegemony, capitalism, and patriarchal settings. Next, Gender Theory analyzes social, structural and institutional barriers women leaders experience as they disrupt the traditional roles women have and are expected to play in society. Subjective androcentric discourses relating to femininity, such as work-life balance, care-giving, child-bearing, and tropes like the 'superwoman syndrome,' are reviewed. Finally, Black Feminism interrogates tacit and implicit biases that perpetuate the disenfranchisement of Black females as Presidents, CEO's, or Chairs of corporate boards in FP 500 companies. The Conceptual Framework looks at fundamental Leadership Theories to examine the evolution of leadership and characteristics that historically are associated with masculinity. The research employs a qualitative research methodology using content analysis and critical discourse analysis incorporating books, journals, documentaries, public interviews and other writings on gender, race and class hegemonies. These allow for a critical examination of the androcentric and patriarchal ideologies rooted within capitalistic systems. Such androcentric ideologies impact compensation, career progression and career longevity for women in leadership, particularly Black and racialized women. The findings recommend a critical pedagogy and call for a profound commitment by all stakeholders to reify change.
Utilization of Re-resection in T1 Bladder Cancer: A Population-based Study
Keywords: Bladder Cancer
Clinical Epidemiology
Oncological Benefit
Re-Resection
Urology
Utilization

Introduction: T1 bladder cancer represents the aggressive end of the spectrum of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Based on proposed therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic benefits, guidelines recommend a second resection, a so-called re-resection, 2 to 6 weeks after initial transurethral resection of the bladder tumor. This thesis aims to investigate the uptake of re-resection (Objective 1), factors associated with re-resection (Objective 2), and the oncological benefit of re-resection (Objective 3) in T1 bladder cancer at the population level within the province of Ontario (Canada). Methods: Manually abstracted bladder cancer pathology reports were linked to health administrative databases to (1) identify patients diagnosed with T1 bladder cancer between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2015, (2) to ascertain if they underwent re-resection, (3) to verify their survival, and (4) to measure covariates at diagnosis. Interrupted time series analysis was used to explore Objective 1 while multivariable logistic regression and time-dependent Cox proportional hazards regression were used to analyze Objectives 2 and 3, respectively. Results: A cohort of 7,666 patients diagnosed with T1 bladder cancer could be identified. Re-resection rates increased from 8.4% in 2001 to 28.3% in 2015 regardless of an influential guideline revision released in April 2008. Patients with a more aggressive tumor profile, individuals without sufficiently sampled muscularis propria as well as younger, healthier, and socio-economically advantaged patients were more likely to receive re-resection. Considering surgeon-specific factors, more senior, lower-volume, and male surgeons were less likely to offer re-resection to their patients. During any time of follow-up, the receipt of re-resection was associated with a lower rate of death. Conclusions: This thesis currently represents the largest cohort of patients diagnosed with T1 bladder cancer. The rather low uptake of re-resection regardless of an influential guideline revision in combination with heterogeneous uptake behavior among different groups of surgeons implies a gap in knowledge translation/exchange that needs to be addressed by tailored initiatives after identification of specific barriers to change. When it comes to the oncological benefit of re-resection, the findings of this work represent an essential piece of evidence supporting the use of re-resection in T1 bladder cancer.
Varieties of Embeddedness: Essays on Technological Transition in Automotive Regions
Keywords: automotive industry
Canada
connected and autonomous vehicles
Germany
technological transition

Automotive incumbents are undergoing a technological transformation and face intensified competition from big tech companies. New entrants like Tesla are challenging existing automakers and betting on electric vehicles. Established software giants like Google's Waymo promise autonomous cars in the future. So, it could be either incumbents or big tech that dominate innovation activities and integrate autonomy, connectivity and battery technologies in vehicles. And their innovations may be geared toward reducing vehicles' use or toward preserving the car-centric paradigm. The dominant network of innovators can also differ across regions. In other words, the transition can have varied effects on the economic structure and mobility patterns in automotive jurisdictions. This dissertation aimed to identify how automotive jurisdictions reconfigure their industrial and support structures to promote new path development toward connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs). In political science, the Varieties of Capitalism literature is considered helpful in providing insights into how regions will adjust to these challenges. It suggests the national institutional context will shape the capitalist variety of technological change. However, transition in automotive jurisdictions diverges from these expectations. Therefore, this dissertation draws on recent conceptual advances from evolutionary economic geography to develop an analytical framework that casts light on how regional preconditions underpin different routes of transformation. The framework is applied to a qualitative comparative analysis of industrial path development towards C/AVs in two automotive regions, namely Ontario (Canada) and Baden-Wurttemberg (B-W). Findings suggest that in regions where automotive incumbents have historically dominated firm networks and been the main target of institutional supports, like B-W, automotive firms capitalize on the initial favourable conditions and lead innovation in C/AVs. When information technology (IT) firms are more influential in the automotive jurisdiction, like in the case of Ontario, there is more significant room for new entrants and innovation that challenges the car-centric paradigm. This has opened a window of opportunity for the Canadian automotive region to upgrade from a production hub to an R center. In summary, the dissertation shows that national-level institutions are limited in their ability to help us understand the processes of value capture and innovation at the sub-national level.
Ex Situ Heart Perfusion: Assessment of Novel Strategies to Improve Transplantation of Hearts Donated After Circulatory Death
Keywords: Donation after circulatory death
Endothelial dysfunction
Ex situ heart perfusion
Heart transplantation
Ischemia reperfusion injury
Myocardial protection

Heart transplantation is the gold-standard treatment for the eligible patient with end-stage heart failure. However, the lack of donor organ availability limits its application. One alternative would be the use of hearts recovered from donation after circulatory death (DCD). However, as DCD hearts invariably undergo a period of warm ischemia, their use is challenging due to the lack of proper methods to determine their viability. Ex Situ Heart Perfusion (ESHP) is an alternative preservation strategy which permits continuous viability assessment of the organ. This study investigates the main limitations of ESHP - need for an optimized perfusate, a validated method to assess heart viability and function, and alternatives to ESHP that still enable the use of DCD hearts. Various models were used, ranging from in vitro endothelial cell cultures to clinically relevant porcine heart transplants. First, we demonstrated that perfusate supplementation with SOM-TRN-001, an experimental cardioprotective solution, significantly enhances endothelial and myocardial preservation during ESHP. Second, we showed that markers of left ventricular work and reserve were the best estimators of myocardial performance following transplantation. Also, we showed that simple non-invasive estimates of ventricular function are useful in this setting. Finally, we demonstrated that DCD hearts could tolerate cold ischemia after being reconditioned with normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) – a procurement strategy involving in situ donor organ reperfusion and assessment, basically eliminating the routine need for ESHP. Furthermore, we again saw the benefits of SOM-TRN-001 on the preservation of DCD hearts. Optimizing cardiac preservation and functional recovery during ESHP is critical to facilitate the widespread clinical use of this technique. Seeking alternative strategies to increase the utilization of DCD hearts is also critical. Ultimately, the goal is to expand the donor heart pool. We hope the results of the work presented here can be soon translated into clinical practice and aid in the use of DCD hearts, addressing the critical donor organ shortage.
Implications of Degeneracy and Pleiotropy for Homeostatic Regulation of Neuronal Properties
Keywords: degeneracy
excitability
homeostasis
ion channels

Neuronal excitability is homeostatically regulated through coordinated adjustments of diverse ion channels. This is possible because the basis for excitability is degenerate—equivalent excitability can be achieved via different ion channels. But one must also consider that ion channels are pleiotropic, meaning that they affect multiple properties. Then how does a neuron co-regulate multiple (degenerate) properties by adjusting pleiotropic channels? The overarching goal of this thesis is to study the implications of pleiotropy and degeneracy for homeostatic regulation of neuronal properties. Using simulations, I showed that successful homeostatic regulation requires that the number of adjustable ion channels (nin) must exceed the number of regulated properties (nout). Those results reveal that homeostatic regulation can fail from having to regulate multiple properties concurrently, which is more challenging than regulating them separately. In collaboration with experimentalists, I conducted simulations to demonstrate that nociceptor excitability is degenerate on the basis of different subtypes of voltage-gated sodium channels (NaVs). This has critical implications for the efficacy of subtype-selective NaV inhibitors: Given that one subtype can compensate for another, the therapeutic effects of blocking NaV1.7 can be offset by compensatory changes in other NaVs (i.e. subversive compensation). I reviewed preclinical and clinical literature on NaV1.7-selective inhibitors to see whether there was evidence for subversive compensation, a possible explanation for why preclinical success did not translate into clinical success. I found that nearly all preclinical studies were single dosing, and would not have observed the effects of subversive compensation. Overall, this thesis shows that degeneracy is an important consideration when trying to understand homeostatic regulation of neuronal excitability under normal and pathological conditions. Indeed, degeneracy predicts that subtype-selective ion channel inhibitors might be particularly prone to having their therapeutic effects subverted by homeostatic regulation of other, non-targeted channels, which is obviously an important yet underappreciated factor in choosing drug targets.
Queering Places and Curricular Spaces: LGBTQ+ Students in the Community, the College, and the Curriculum
Keywords: campus climate
community college
gender diversity
LGBTQ+
Ontario
Queer

This exploratory dissertation addresses a significant gap in Canadian scholarship: the inadequate recognition of LGBTQ+ student experiences in a community college, and the problem of queer presence in the curriculum, college, and community. The research question is: “What are the school experiences of LGBTQ+ students in an Ontario college, and how does campus climate affect experiences such as coming out?” This work introduces campus climate, Queer identity formation, the ‘campus closet’, and the problem of unwelcoming schools with heteronormative curricula and school ethos. Campus climate for LGBTQ+ students is problematic, yet a positive climate is fundamental to students’ feeling welcome, as institutions undertake EDI initiatives. Literature uses a social justice framework, and introduces major themes: LGBTQ+ identity formation; the lack of recognition of diversity in schools; research and policy which do not serve students equally; and curriculum as heteronormative social control. This project employs qualitative research methods, in particular grounded theory, to situate the experiences of LGBTQ+ college students in Canada. Campus climate should reflect Queer presence in the curriculum, the college, and the wider community. The findings introduce the research participants, and reflections on homophobia, campus climate, inclusive curriculum, as well as social relationships inside and outside the classroom. Findings also suggest a theory about the school lives of LGBTQ+ students: that for queer students a positive campus climate lies at the intersection of Queer in the curriculum, Queer in the college, and Queer in the community, and further, that a welcoming local community, institution, and curriculum shape the school experiences of LGBTQ+ students, and contribute to their persistence in their studies and successful degree completion, as well as to their determination of a post-secondary education being an experience worth wanting.
Statistical Computing With Graphics Processing Units
Keywords: clRNG library
clrng package
GPU parallel computing
likelihood-based confidence intervals
linear geostatistical models
profile likelihood

This thesis consists of two main projects and a third project which is provided in the appendix. The contribution of the first project, is a tool set for parallel random number gen- eration on GPUs in R, namely, the clrng package. This package is currently the only R package that provides facilities for generating random numbers in parallel on a GPU. It enables reproducible research by setting random initial seeds for streams on GPU and CPU. The random number generator in clrng guarantees independent parallel samples even when R is used interactively in an ad-hoc manner, with sessions being interrupted and restored. This package can be easily incorporated in other R packages, allowing developers to develop other types of random number generators or accelerate suitable computations in statistical applications. The contribution of the second project, is a methodology and software for creating profile likelihoods for parameters in Gaussian spatial models with Mat ́ern family of correlation functions, including anisotropic models. This methodology adopts a novel reparametrization for generation of representative points, and is implemented in the software gpuLik, which uses GPUs for parallel profile likelihoods computation. Our work has shown how GPU’s enable likelihood-based inference for Gaussian spatial models without requiring approximations to the variance matrix, even for moderately large datasets. The third project provided in the Appendix is dedicated to evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online public interest in various cancers (breast, colon, lung, prostate, and thyroid). A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted utilizing Google Trends aggregate anonymous online search data from Canada. Welch’s Two Sample t-tests were performed and Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was used to correct for multiple comparisons.
On the Role of Resource Epistemology and Epistemic Tensions as Explainers of Fisheries Management Outcomes
Keywords: co-production
environmental governance
epistimology
fisheries management
precautionary approach
resource management

The aggregate status and trends of marine capture fisheries and the ecosystems which support fisheries production have deteriorated significantly since the end of World War II. These declines have material impacts for human health and well-being, as fisheries make important contributions to employment, economic activity, food security, and cultural and social practices around the world. Fisheries research not only seeks to identify biomass declines in commercial fisheries and their supporting ecosystems, but also to explain declines, identify root causes, and identify potential solutions to improve outcomes for resources and resource users. This dissertation contributes to the broader effort seeking to understand the causes of unsustainable outcomes for fisheries resources by examining the influence of resource epistemology on resource decision-making. The dissertation uses a case study of northern cod (Gadus morhua) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean to examine how epistemic tensions influence (1) the governance of species recovery, (2) decision-making in the context of the precautionary approach to fisheries management, and (3) the uptake of knowledge co-production processes in fisheries management. The dissertation borrows from the findings of the case study to inform a literature review which outlines the potential that climate change could undermine resource policy efficacy by creating or exacerbating epistemic tensions between stakeholders. This work views the epistemic orientations embedded in governance structures as key sources of tension between stakeholders, which influence resource decision-making and, in turn, resource outcomes.
Educational Currency: Teacher-Parents, Privilege, and Schools Choice in Ontario
Keywords: choice
education
equity
markets
neoliberal
school

Neoliberal school choice policies continue to expand across the globe. Supporters claim that the school system’s failings can be solved by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, geographically allocated body, and towards a more diversified, individualized market. At the forefront of this movement are choice advocates who insist that it is more equitable to provide families with the opportunity to decide where their children will learn and that school markets are more socially responsive. However, these sentiments are not undisputed. The following study is built on the opposing position – that current school choice policies are discriminatory and unjust. I challenge the notion that markets enhance equity by investigating the complex process of how schools are selected. Because neoliberal, market methods are rooted in competition, I emphasize that the practice of school choice is yet another opportunity in which families experience uneven amounts of advantage. But, while many agree that school choice policies privilege certain parents more than others, little is known about what this privilege looks like, how it is attained, and how it is used during the selection process. In this study, I attempt to understand the intricacy of school market privilege by studying teacher-parents, a subgroup of the population who possess it. The experiences of teacher-parents provided insight into how privilege may be differently retained, acquired, and used in school choice. This is the story of how twenty-three public school teachers navigate the marketed school system in Ontario, Canada. In this study, participants share their insider experience and demonstrate how their unique combinations of cultural, social, and economic capital allowed them to collect and spend (use) educational currency (EC) as they choose schools for their own children. The data not only reaffirms that certain populations possess unique amounts of educational currency and provides insight into what exactly EC is; it also unveils that choice can have a concerning tendency to shape a more racially, ethnically, and economically segregated system. This information has become even more relevant since the as the Covid-19 global pandemic has created novel concerns and options including various forms of online and distance learning. Word count: 348. Keywords: school choice, privilege, educational currency