VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Project Social [Fan]Work: Online Fandom Communities and the Identity Development, Social Support, and Resilience of Sexual and/or Gender Minority Youth
Keywords: Fan Culture
Fandom
Gender Minority
Identity Development
Resilience
Sexual Minority

Emerging research indicates sexual and/or gender minority youth (SGMY) may actively use internet-enabled information and communication technologies (ICTs) to engage in important developmental tasks and resilience-building activities. There remains a substantial research gap, however, addressing particular online communities and contexts popular amongst the population. Underpinned by an integrated theoretical framework, Project Social [Fan]Work employed samples (n = 4942, n = 3665) drawn from an online mixed methods survey of SGMY (ages 14 – 29) across the United States and Canada to investigate the relationship between participation in online fandom communities and SGMY’s identity development and well-being. This dissertation is comprised of an introduction, three distinct papers, and a conclusion. Paper 1 uses mixed methods to explore the relationship between participation in online fandom communities, coming out, and self-identification – comparing the experiences of fandom participating versus non-fandom participating SGMY. Participating youth were younger, reached identity disclosure (i.e., coming out) milestones earlier and more rapidly, and identified with more complex identity labels. Paper 2 qualitatively investigates the influence of participation in online fandom communities on the identity development activities of SGMY. The overarching thematic framework emphasizes individualized experience based on personal developmental trajectory, as well as needs and preferences. Fandom offered unique opportunities for safe and anonymous identity discovery, exploration, and experimentation – encouraging validation, normalization, authenticity, and self-acceptance. Paper 3 uses mixed methods to examine online fandom communities as a source of social support, as well as the potential of fandom to facilitate resilience and positive adjustment for SGMY. Fandom participation had the potential to increase connectedness, provide opportunities for support and mentorship, facilitate navigation of challenges, and encourage feelings of strength. The first empirical, mixed methods study of SGMY’s experiences in such communities, this dissertation provides a coherent, emerging picture of the impacts of contemporary SGMY’s participation in online fandom. Results emphasize that the online contexts of fandom communities, rather than simply permitting recreational media production and/or consumption, provide crucial opportunities for SGMY to engage in developmental activities, access social support, and foster resilience and positive adjustment. Implications are proposed for multi-level social work practice, and directions for future research are recommended.
Development of an AFM System for Imaging inside SEM
Keywords: AFM
EBID
piezoresistive cantilever
SCSG
SEM
temperature compensation

For imaging nano-scaled samples, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are two complementary techniques that have become indispensable in nano research. A hybrid SEM-AFM instrument can enable in-situ complementary imaging, fast sample navigation down to nanometer scale, SEM-guided nanoindentation, live monitoring of AFM tip condition, and visually guided nanomanipulation. A closed-loop operated AFM system was developed for use within an SEM, which would significantly benefit nano-structure and nano-materials research. Electron irradiation from SEM induces significant fluctuations in the AFM force sensor readout, which compromises the AFM functionality. To enable truly simultaneous SEM-AFM imaging, an active drift reduction method was proposed to overcome this problem, which is based on the junction field-effect transistor (JFET) model of the piezoresistive AFM cantilever. The experiment results showed that the proposed method was effective, reducing the drift by about 2000 times down to
The Hermeneutics of Desire in Medieval English Devotional Literature
Keywords: devotional literature
gender sexuality
medieval exegesis
medieval literature

This dissertation explores the way medieval English devotional writers utilized the hermeneutics of contemporary biblical exegesis, in order to frame their depictions of an erotic and embodied encounter with the divine. The way they manipulate the construction of literal to allegorical realities enables—rather than constrains—the relationship of flesh to spirit, so that the desiring body does not disappear into discourse, but rather, language operates in service of the flesh, articulating a profoundly incarnational devotion, not divested of the body that produced it. My first chapter explores these themes in Aelred of Rievaulx's (died 1167 CE) De institutione inclusarum and De Iesu puero duodennni, where I examine the way Aelred constructs an economy of affect through his manipulation of readers' desire through the focalization of their gaze on the body of Christ. In my second chapter, I analyze John Whiterig's (died 1371 CE) Meditacio ad Crucifixum, and notably his erotic semiotics, and erotic interpretation of the Crucifixion, following a four-fold biblical exegesis. Third, I look at the way the The Cloud of Unknowing (late 1300s CE), as part of the “negative” or apophatic tradition, deconstructs some of the typical ideas of cataphatic devotion, positing its own way of accessing the indescribable divine, through darkness, silence, binding, and even anal eroticism. In this chapter, I use modern BDSM (bondage, domination, and sado-masochism) as a comparative context with which to compare the Cloud's use of bondage and denial to achieve transcendence. Finally, I analyze the parable of the Lord and Servant in Julian of Norwich's (died 1416 CE) Long Text, in which I argue that Julian constructs her own “exegesis,” which both responds to and critiques the dominant hermeneutical modes of her day. Julian's parable demonstrates a metonymic structure of relations, in which the literal and spiritual levels are not hierarchized, but united.
Targeting Viral RNA Processing to Control HIV-1 Infection
Keywords: Alternative splicing
Antiretroviral therapies
HIV/AIDS
RNA processing
Signaling
Small molecules

Resistance to current drugs requires innovative strategies to control HIV-1 infection. We aimed at developing novel inhibitors of HIV-1 replication by targeting viral RNA processing—a stage dependent on conserved host proteins. We identified 12 members of the digoxin family (cardiotonic steroids, CSs) that impede HIV growth in HIV-infected PBMCs from patients at concentrations (IC50s: 1.1-1.3 nM) that were 2-26 times below those used to treat people with heart conditions. I hypothesized that the response to CSs was due to activation of intracellular signaling pathways initiated upon binding to the Na+/K+-ATPase. CSs suppressed HIV-1 gene expression in part through MEK1/2-ERK1/2 activation, independent of the Ca2+-overloading mechanism responsible for their toxicity. Supporting this hypothesis, Na+/K+-ATPase depletion and MEK1/2-ERK1/2 activator addition also inhibited HIV-1 expression. All CSs tested induced oversplicing of HIV-1 RNAs, reducing unspliced (Gag) and singly spliced RNAs (Env/p14-Tat) encoding critical HIV-1 structural/regulatory proteins. Consequently, all CSs induced nuclear retention of genomic/unspliced viral RNAs, supporting viral RNA processing as the underlying mechanism disrupting HIV-1 replication. Concomitantly, CSs induced modification of SRp20 and Tra2β (whereas digitoxigenin caused de-modification of these splicing factors), which could account for responses observed. Consistent with this hypothesis, overexpression of SRp20 altered HIV-1 RNA processing in a similar manner as CS addition. In expanding this approach to other viruses dependent on RNA processing, we identified the splicing-modulator 5342191 as both an inhibitor of HIV-1 and Adenovirus replication (IC50: 750 and 900 nM, resp.). In contrast to CSs, 5342191 inhibition of HIV-1 expression also included proteasomal degradation of Tat, low perturbation of host gene expression (
What Role does the Built Environment Play in Determining School Travel in Ontario?
Keywords: Adolescent
Built Environment
Children
School Transport
Traffic Safety
Walkability

Given declines in physical activity among youth, active school travel (AST) is of increasing policy, practice and research interest. The effectiveness of the current interventions to promote AST is modest. Moreover, the current literature has little support on the associations between the built environment and AST. Therefore, to inform future interventions, this research program assesses in whom particular built environment attributes promote AST. My research program consists of three studies. The first study is a systematic review that identifies current knowledge on the associations between GIS-measures of the built environment attributes and AST and methodological limitations in the literature. Then, the second study identifies the prevalence, and individual, household, and environmental correlates of AST i) in the morning and ii) in the afternoon in Ontario, Canada. The third study identifies how objective measures (GIS-measures) of built environment attributes relate to AST and whether age, gender, and time of travel moderate such associations. The systematic review concluded that the associations between the GIS measures of the built environment and AST were weak except the distance to school. A number of methodological limitations contributed to these inconsistencies. The prevalence of AST varied by period of time (morning vs. afternoon) and across Ontario. Being involved in the decision-making process on school travel was an important individual correlate of AST. Moreover, a school neighbourhood with high residential density, and well connected street network with the presence of sidewalk and traffic controls around school was associated with walking school trips but such associations depend on age, gender, and time of travel. Future interventions should involve youth as advocates to promote AST. Moreover, intensifying school neighbourhoods, constructing well-connected street networks, and minor infrastructure improvements such as sidewalk and traffic control installment are recommended environmental strategies to promote AST together alongside interventions to address the age, gender, and temporal differences.
Reluctant Subjects: The Place of Gay Men in Canadian Media Discourse on HIV
Keywords: Biopolitics
Gay men
HIV
Humanitarianism
Prevention
Responsibilization

This dissertation maps the struggles for gay menâ s inclusion into the national and global health imaginaries of HIV/AIDS over the past three decades. I order to do so, the author analyzes three instances of public discourse on vulnerability and risk, and their representation in the continuum between individual and collective victimhood and responsibility in the aftermath of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as reported in Canadian media. The central claim is that national and global health discourses are underpinned by the double helix of biopolitical and humanitarian imaginations, which I argue, require the production of morally worthy subjects for anchoring political and material responses to the pandemic. This is the case because biopolitical and humanitarian imaginations nurture specific ways of collecting, understanding, reporting, and responding to epidemiological data. Equally important, these ways of imagining morally worthy subjects nurture the symbolic, that is, political and cultural moves that inform priority setting and shape resource allocation for different populations.
'Staking a Claim': Legal and Illegal Cannabis Markets in Canada
Keywords: Canada
cannabis
emerging markets
entrepreneurship
illegal markets
marijuana

This study explores the emergence of the legal medical cannabis market in Canada and examines its impact on the wider medical cannabis market. The growing research investigating entrepreneurship and emerging markets have often failed to consider the identity narratives of the entrepreneurs across legal and illegal spaces and the importance of contextual influences, including wider social and political contexts. Drawing on a case study of cannabis entrepreneurs from illicit Medical Cannabis Dispensaries (MCDs) and legal Licensed Producers (LPs), I use 63 in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and primary and secondary sources, to provide a detailed account of the new industry’s emergence in 2014, which challenged an existing model of medical cannabis access. I explore the emergence of that market on a number of levels. In the first paper, I describe the rich history of medical cannabis access in Canada and the central role of MCDs in that process. By using the policy window framework to analyze two local-level responses to MCDs, I highlight the theoretical utility of using this approach to examine local-level drug policy initiatives and reform. The second paper investigates how MCDs have survived in Canada for two decades without legal or mainstream public support as “corestigmatized” organizations. By looking at the strategies MCDs employ to buffer stigma, share knowledge informally across organizations, and shelter themselves from police enforcement, I demonstrate how, compared to legal core-stigmatized organizations, MCDs must also navigate a host of legal risks because of their illicit status, which is tied to the source of their core stigma. In the third paper, I center on the experiences and narratives of the key players from both MCDs and LPs. I examine how these entrepreneurs understand and respond to the competitive landscape and draw on boundary work to claim jurisdiction over the medical cannabis market. Taken as a whole, I shift attention away from a moral assessment of the good itself (cannabis) and focus on the “practice of trade” (Anteby 2015: 631). I also strive to highlight the complex nature of medical cannabis access in Canada and how wider social, historical and political contexts matter to the landscape as it exists today. Finally, I bring the entrepreneurs’ experiences to the forefront. In particular, MCDs are often dismissed in larger debates because of their illicit status. Important policy implications for non-medical cannabis legalization and drug policy in Canada are also discussed, providing insight into the market and the cultural dynamics which could lead to successful reform and integration of long-standing players.
Reframing the Nutrition Transition: Stabilizing Subsistence and Changing Diets
Keywords: diet
nutrition transition

As the pace of food production and trade intensifies, and as distant localities find themselves impacted by global demands, scholars are raising questions about how diets are impacted. I examine how “subsistence expectations” (Haugerud 1995: 10-11 in Edelman 2005: 332) are forged in the face of changing trade practices, as governments and citizens make decisions about the kinds of foods to be eaten, and make decisions as to the kinds of foods to be avoided. The subsistence expectations that governments and communities forge about savouring traditional foods, adopting new foods, and even re-defining questionable foods can be at odds with “nutrition transition” predictions about dietary changes, and sociological predictions about how dietary changes are engendered in a global economy. Collectively, my research papers point to the importance of examining how countries, regional communities, and national communities regulate their food systems, and how the ways that countries and communities uphold and re-envision subsistence expectations are integral to the pace and character of dietary changes.
Yurt and Cysts Link Adherens Junction Stability to Actomyosin Remodeling in Drosophila Embryogenesis
Keywords: Adherens junctions
Cysts
Epithelial Polairty
Myosin II
RhoGEF
Yurt

The integrity of epithelial cells relies on the stability of adherens junctions (AJs) during development. This dissertation focused on how remodeling of the actomyosin cytoskeleton can stabilize AJs. The FERM domain protein Yurt acts as a basolateral polarity regulator without any known interaction partners. I showed that Yurt genetically interacts with myosin II and DE-cadherin (DEcad) to support epithelial integrity in the Drosophila embryo. I found that a pool of Yurt localizes to AJs and physically interacts with myosin II and members of the cadherin-catenin complex. Loss of Yurt leads to fragmentation of AJs and disruption of myosin II throughout the ectoderm. In dorsal closure, I demonstrated that Yurt is essential for the recruitment of DEcad to the leading edge (LE) -amnioserosa interface and assembly of the LE multicellular myosin II cable. Yurt appears to support the LE cable through the organization of apical Crumbs and aPKC. In wound healing, we showed that Yurt can be recruited de novo to the site of myosin II cable assembly. I propose a model where an apical pool of Yurt acts to link the cadherin-catenin complex and the actomyosin cytoskeleton to stabilize AJs. Next, I characterized a novel RhoGEF, Cysts (previously CG10188), that is essential for epithelial polarity in the Drosophila embryo. RhoGEFs can regulate actomyosin effectors through targeting of small Rho GTPases. I found that Cysts is required for epithelial cell polarity. Depletion of Cysts leads to a progressive reduction in myosin II in the early embryonic ectoderm, followed by a disruption of AJs and apicobasal polarity, ultimately leading to cellular apoptosis. Structure-function analysis demonstrated that the RhoGEF domain and the C-terminal region of Cysts are essential for function. We showed that the C-terminal region of Cysts facilitates recruitment to apical junctions, whereas genetic and biochemical experiments suggested that Cysts predominantly activates Rho1 rather than Cdc42 or Rac. I propose a model whereby Cysts acts through Rho1 to maintain a critical level of myosin II at AJs to maintain junctional and epithelial integrity.
Influences On Monoamine Oxidase Activity In The Brain And Translation Into Major Depressive Disorder
Keywords: Glucocorticoids
Glutathione
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Major depressive disorder
Monoamine Oxidase
Positron emission tomography

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the 3rd-leading cause of disease burden worldwide. It is frequently treatment resistant, which could be explained by poor pathology targeting. Human brain imaging studies implicate elevated monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) density, particularly in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), in the development of MDD. While MAO inhibitor antidepressants are available, their utility is limited by dietary restrictions and medication contraindications. Finding novel ways of normalizing MAO-A could have great clinical benefits. First, we investigated the influence of several alterations underlying important pathologies of MDD on MAO-A activity in rats to better understand factors affecting MAO-A. Glucocorticoids increased MAO-A activity in the PFC and ACC, glutathione depletion increased MAO-A activity in the PFC, a simulated pseudopregnancy model lead to elevated MAO-A activity in the ACC days 4 to 7 postpartum, while serotonin supplementation and depletion had no effect. Second, since glutathione depletion increased MAO-A activity and low PFC glutathione levels have been shown in MDD, we hypothesized that glutathione loss may contribute to elevated MAO-A density in MDD and attempted normalizing it with adjunct N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a glutathione precursor. NAC did not affect MAO-A VT in MDD, an index of MAO-A density measured with positron emission tomography. Third, we explored several directions to improve interpretation of this negative result. Applying magnetic resonance imaging in an overlapping sample, we found that NAC did not increase glutathione levels. Subsequently, a higher dose of NAC also had no effect on MAO-A activity in rats. Finally, in an expanded sample, glutathione levels did not overall differ between MDD and health, but decreasing glutathione levels were associated with increasing duration of untreated illness. This has implications for using NAC in MDD, because it has been posited that NAC may only restore deficiency of glutathione rather than achieve elevated levels.
God and the Atomic Bomb: Nagasaki's Atomic Bomb Memory and Politics of Sacrifice, Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Keywords: Atomic Bomb
Cultural Memory Studies
Nagasaki

There is very little doubt that Hiroshima has become a testament to the destructive capacity of mankind over the last seven decades. Many influential world leaders have visited Hiroshima, pledging themselves to the project of eternal peace. However, very few of them have ever extended their trip to the second atomic bomb city Nagasaki. Likewise, the existing literature and media representations of the atomic bombing of Japan invariably views Japan’s atomic experience through a “Hiroshima first” optic. Studies devoted to the experience of Nagasaki are scarce even within Japan. If Nagasaki is considered at all within the context of these studies, its trauma and its historical significance are assumed to be identical to, or contained within that of Hiroshima. As Greg Mitchell, an American journalist and writer, observed: “no one ever wrote a bestselling novel called Nagasaki or directed a film entitled Nagasaki, Mon Amour.” Nagasaki has been the “forgotten atomic bomb city” (Mitchell, August 9, 2011). My dissertation critically inquires the conception of “forgotten atomic bomb city,” and explores what can account for Nagasaki’s self-effacing attitude from the remembrance of the atomic bomb memory and history and how Nagasaki has become overshadowed by Hiroshima’s powerful symbolism of the nuclear age over the last decades. Put another way, this dissertation examines what have normalized the absence of Nagasaki in the remembrance of the atomic bombing both in Japan and abroad. My dissertation demonstrates that Nagasaki has never been forgotten by American and Japanese policymakers. Rather, I argue that the second atomic bomb city has been firmly incorporated within the U.S-Japan Security Alliance since the end of the war. My work shows how Nagasaki’s remembrance and postwar history has been shaped by the politics of sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation between the United States and Japan over the last seventy years, and illuminates how the legacy of Japanese imperialism continues to rule contemporary Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Japan.