VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
An Organizational Study of Mental Health in the Workplace
Keywords: Institutional Ethnography
Mental health
Mental Illness
Social organization
Stigma
Workplace

Workplace mental health is becoming of increasing importance, in part due to the rising social and economic costs of mental health issues in the workplace. Little is known about how the experience of workers with mental health issues is actively produced through their participation in workplace procedures and associated supports. The purpose of this research is to better understand how employees actively engage in institutional practices and associated social relations that ultimately coordinate and produce their workplace experience. Using institutional ethnography, I take up the standpoint of the employee living with mental health issues to explore the coordinating relations associated with workplace mental health. This approach sheds light on how employees' experiences are socially produced and coordinated across and between institutional processes and practices. Data collection included over 140 hours of ethnographic observations, the analysis of associated texts and documents, and interviews that were conducted with 17 informants. This research details some of the challenges experienced by one novice health science researcher while conducting ethnographic research, and provides techniques for addressing personal and professional boundaries, negotiating ethical dilemmas, and reconciling the emotional experience of transitioning back and forth between being an `outsider' and `insider'. In addition to these insights, the findings explicate the social relations and institutional processes that coordinate sick time utilization for workers experiencing mental health issues. We revealed that employee's work of managing workplace absence management programs while negotiating episodes of mental ill health was perceived as overwhelming, unfair, and even punitive. Employees would require formal and informal respite from work, and would often utilized vacation time when unwell in order to avoid institutional processes all together. The biomedical focus of the absence management program created uncertainty about what constitutes a bona fide illness, and caused managers to come to know their work activities as distinctively separate from the work of healthcare practitioners. This research contributes to the literature by highlighting how tensions are created through textually coordinated work activities within and between the corporate and healthcare sector. These insights are important in establishing where and how to enact change from the standpoint of the worker.
Errors and Behaviour with the Introduction of Electronic Remote Blood Issue
Keywords: Human error
Human Factors
Medical Informatics
Resiliency
Technology Acceptance
Technology Diffusion

The goal of Electronic Remote Blood Issue (ERBI) is to increase the safety and efficiency of blood issuing in surgery suites. Like many healthcare information technologies (HIT), there is limited evidence of the impact of ERBI on safety and efficiency, and relatively little information on factors affecting errors and adaptation of work practices during implementation. This dissertation describes a human factors approach, informed by socio-technical perspectives on HIT, to the study of ERBI in three hospital operating suites and (i) the impact of ERBI on safety and efficiency, (ii) learning, adaptation and use of ERBI, and (iii) staff perspectives on ERBI. Findings are that: nursing staff experience ERBI differently from other staff roles; staff develop adaptations in work practice in response to constraints imposed by the design of ERBI and task constraints; sites differ in areas (i and ii, above) except the time it took sites to adapt to ERBI (3-4 months); and, that there is evidence of efficiency gains for blood use with ERBI at one of three sites. In addressing the intended aims of ERBI systems to increase safety and efficiency of blood issue and delivery, this dissertation provides some evidence of efficiency and safety gains when ERBI is successfully implemented. It also highlights barriers and enablers to successful implementation, identifying areas where further study may be needed, including workload factors impacting nursing staff experiences and adaptation to new technology, factors impacting error recovery in critical safety situations such as blood issuing, and representing dimensions and dynamics of transactional processes such as blood issuing for inclusion in systems design. Reflecting on the approach taken for the study of ERBI in this dissertation, the research highlights adaptation behaviours and experiences of ERBI that suggest a resiliency approach to be appropriate for understanding and designing HIT for blood unit issue, and highlights the value of a socio-technical approach in providing proxy measures for error, revealing diversity of experiences of implementation, and providing actionable design recommendations for implementation and design of ERBI systems.
The Art of Marimba in Tokyo: Emergence in the Twentieth Century
Keywords: contemporary
Japan
keiko abe
marimba
music
percussion

The marimba emerged as a leading voice in contemporary Western art music in the twentieth century. This is due to several key factors: principally the extraordinary contribution composers and performers made to marimba repertoire in Tokyo after 1960. In this paper I will briefly outline the evolution of Western classical music in Japan, from its initial introduction in the latter part of the nineteenth century, to the proliferation of performing arts organizations in the late twentieth century. I will also explore the origins of the xylophone and marimba in Japan and the rise of the marimba through virtuoso performers, competitive instrument manufacturers and (most importantly) leading composers including commissioning practices, funding models and repertoire development. Information to support this paper was gathered in November, 2014 through personal interviews conducted by the author with performers and composers in Tokyo, Japan. These participants include marimbists Keiko Abe, Mutsuko Fujii, Michiko Takahashi, Sumire Yoshihara and composers Norio Fukushi, Jo Kondo, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Tokuhide Niimi, Yasuo Sueyoshi and Katsuhiro Tsubonoh; all of whom were some of the most active contributors to the development of the marimba in Japan in the late twentieth century and whose work is internationally celebrated. Most importantly, connections are identified between these performers, composers, instrument manufacturers, presenting organizations and funding systems that nurtured an environment for these marimba works to be created.
A Comparison of the Academic Attitudes, Behaviours and Attainments of Three Groups of First-generation Students at an Ontario College
Keywords: college
first generation students
habitus
immigrant students

This quantitative study focused on first generation students (FGS) entering diploma programs at a large urban college in Toronto, Canada. The FGS were divided into three groups based on their birthplaces and/or parental birthplaces: those born in Canada to at least one Canadian-born parent ("domestic" FGS), those born in Canada to foreign-born parents ("established immigrant" FGS), and those born outside of Canada ("recent immigrant" FGS). The intent of the study was to identify any significant differences among the groups in their academic attitudes, behaviours, and attainments. The choice of dependent variables was informed by Bourdieu's social reproduction theory, especially the concept of habitus, and by prior American and Canadian FGS research. The data was obtained from a 2008 survey of all entering students, and from academic transcripts in May 2012, the four-year graduation time limit. Of the 549 students included in the study, 259 were "domestic," 203 were "established immigrant," and 87 were "recent immigrant." No significant differences were found in high school GPAs or academic behaviours, levels of academic confidence, value placed on PSE, retention and graduation rates, time needed to complete programs, status at the time of withdrawing, or college GPAs. However, significance differences did occur among the three groups in the time spent studying in high school, time spent exploring vocational outcomes, intent to persist, and intent to pursue degree-level studies, with small to medium effect sizes. Many of these findings are consistent with prior research; however, others may indicate traditional models used to predict student retention and graduation rates, such as incoming GPAs, levels of academic confidence, and intent to persist, do not appear to have the same predictive power for FGS entering diploma programs that they may have for those entering degree programs; in other words, for FGS, these variables may be more relevant in predicting who accesses PSE, and not persistence. In addition, the established and recent immigrant FGS in this study appear to be using the college system as a gateway to degree-level studies, which has implications for the types of programming, services and supports the colleges provide for FGS.
Very Nonlinear Quantum Optics
Keywords: Frequency Conversion (FC)
Magnus Expansion
Photon Generation
Spontaneous Four Wave Mixing (SFWM)
Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion (SPDC)
Squeezing

This thesis presents a study of photon generation and conversion processes in nonlinear optics. Our results extend beyond the first order perturbative regime, in which only pairs of photons are generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion or four wave mixing. They also allow us to identify the limiting factors for achieving unit efficiency frequency conversion, and to correctly account for the propagation of bright nonclassical photon states generated in the nonlinear material. This is done using the Magnus expansion, which allows us to incorporate corrections due to time-ordering effects in the time evolution of the state, while also respecting the quantum statistics associated with squeezed states (in photon generation) and single photons or coherent states (in photon conversion). We show more generally that this expansion should be the preferred strategy when dealing with any type of time-dependent Hamiltonian that is a quadratic form in the creation and annihilation operators of the fields involved. Using the Magnus expansion, simple figures of merit to estimate the relevance of these time-ordering corrections are obtained. These quantities depend on the group velocities of the modes involved in the nonlinear process and provide a very simple physical picture of the interactions between the photons at different times. These time-ordering effects are shown to be important only when the photons and pump beam overlap within the nonlinear material for a significant amount of time. We also discuss the possibility of preparing Fock states with many photons using parametric down-conversion sources and realistic photon-number-resolving detectors. After discussing photon generation processes, we study photon conversion processes in which a nonlinear material and a classical strong pump field are used modify the frequency of a second incoming low-intensity field. We show that time-ordering effects limit the efficiency of this conversion process, re-examine strategies to get around this problem, and show that it should be possible to have a clear observation of modified upconversion probabilities due to these effects, and thus have an experimental demonstration of time-ordering effects in nonlinear optics.
"He is almost a normal child": An Ethnography of Malawi's National Pediatric HIV Treatment Program
Keywords: ART
Childhood
Global Health
Health disparities
HIV/AIDS
Pharmaceuticals

My dissertation is an ethnographic exploration of what it means to raise a child with HIV in one of the poorest countries in the world. Throughout I follow a small number of children and their caregivers as they engage with a new Global Health Initiative (GHI) to provide free universal access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), or anti-AIDS treatment, for infected children at a government run hospital in rural Northern Malawi. To date very little is known about how the roll-out of pediatric ART in decentralized health settings is progressing. The few studies that exist tend to emaphasize access to medicines as the key barrier to treatment, which decontextualizes patients from their social milieu. My project focuses on the clinic-household nexus in order to better understand how historically emdedded social relations impact treatment pathways for young children living with HIV. Specifically, I trace how gendered norms within marriage, disease etiologies, the clinical encounter, land tenancy and migration affect diagnosis and long term treatment adherence. My findings indicate that access to and the long term benefits of ART for children are mediated along socioeconomic fault lines. Although ART is an essential component of any HIV/AIDS care and treatment programme, I argue thoughout that the distribution of medicines alone is ineffective in the absence of loving caregivers, good living conditions, sustainable food sources or a robust public health care system. My research contributes to academic debates about the mechanisms behind embodied inequalities and calls for a broadened scope beyond the individual patient in the development and implementation of HIV care and treatment services for children living with HIV.
Overprotective and Overcontrolling Parenting of Emerging Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: Links to Coping Styles, Anxiety, and Depression
Keywords: Anxiety
Coping
Depression
Emerging adulthood
Maternal overprotection
Survivors of childhood cancer

The goals of this study were, in a sample of emerging adult survivors of childhood cancer, 1) to compare levels of psychological distress with general population norms, 2) to examine the association between overprotective parenting and psychological distress, 2) to differentiate between maternal overprotection and maternal overcontrol, and 3) to uncover mechanisms linking overprotective parenting to psychological distress, including the assessment of emerging adults’ coping styles and perceptions of their mothers’ overprotective parenting. Participants were 109 emerging adult survivors of childhood cancer, ranging in age from 18 to 30 years (M = 23 years; 60% female). Ninety of the emerging adults’ mothers also participated in this research. Survivors were recruited from the waiting room of The Pediatric Cancer AfterCare Clinic at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada. Emerging adults and their mothers provided ratings of mothers’ overprotective and overcontrolling parenting practices on the Overparenting of Emerging Adults Scale (OPEAS), a measure designed for this study. Emerging adults’ coping styles and symptoms of anxiety and depression were also assessed. Factor analysis of the OPEAS revealed seven overparenting subscales; four subscales conceptually similar to the construct of overprotection: infantilization, medical management, parenting anxiety, and harm reduction, and three subscales conceptually similar to the construct of overcontrol: problem solving intervention, intrusive decision making, and discounting of opinions/ideas. Nearly half of the sample reported clinically significant levels of anxiety symptoms, although levels of clinically significant depression symptoms did not differ from general population norms. Further analyses revealed that mother-reported overprotective practices of infantilization and parenting anxiety were indirectly related to emerging adults’ anxiety and depression symptoms through serial multiple mediation, and that the mother-reported overcontrolling practice of intrusive decision making was indirectly related to depression symptoms through serial multiple mediation. Specifically, the mediators were emerging adults’ perceptions of the overparenting and emerging adults’ nonproductive coping style. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the relations of overprotective and overcontrolling parenting to emerging adults’ mental health, and importance of the socialization of coping.
The Atypical Cadherin Fat Directly Regulates Mitochondrial Function and Metabolic State
Keywords: Drosophila
Fat cadherin
Growth control
Hippo
Mitochondria
Planar cell polarity

The atypical cadherin Fat plays essential roles during development to regulate tissue growth and patterning. It has also been implicated in a number of human diseases including polycystic kidney disease and some forms of cancer. Ft has been established as an input into the Hippo tumour suppressive pathway; however, the direct connections between Ft and its downstream effectors are not well understood. In this work, I have identified components of the ETC and mitochondrial import machinery as novel physical and genetic interactors of Ft. I found that mitochondrial complex I component, Ndufv2, can act in planar cell polarity and Hpo pathways. We have also carefully examined ft mutants and uncovered defects in mitochondrial morphology and complex I levels and activity that result in changes in metabolism. We outline a mechanism whereby Ft is cleaved at the cell surface, releasing a cytosolic fragment that is imported into the mitochondrial matrix to directly modulate mitochondrial function by assisting in the assembly or stability of mitochondrial complex I and V. This novel Ft function allows it to coordinate tissue growth and patterning with changing energy requirements during development, and may contribute to metabolic shifts observed in tumour progression.
Modular Multilevel Converters with Integrated Energy Storage
Keywords: AC-DC power conversion
energy storage
modular systems
multilevel systems
renewable energy sources

Battery energy storage (BES) integration into the grid is typically achieved using a 2- or 3- level dc/ac converter with BES interfaced directly to the inverter’s dc link or through a dc/dc converter. In both cases, long series connected strings of batteries are required to efficiently maintain the necessary dc link voltage. Such configurations are susceptible to reliability issues as failure or shutdown of an individual battery cells results in loss of a large fraction of BES capacity. This thesis addresses the aforementioned issue by subdividing the BES into units and integrating each unit into the submodules of a modular multilevel converter (MMC). This reduces conduction losses within the MMC submodules and provides a mechanism for electronically protecting BES units from both ac and dc side fault events. However, integrating BES units into the submodules disrupts the power flow of the MMC. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the power flow of the MMC to identify the different power transfer mechanisms, which enables energy balance between BES units. To easily understand the analysis, a graphical user interface tool was developed to assess the impact of integrating BES units into a select number of submodules, and identify alternate BES distributions within the MMC. From the power flow analysis, a control method is developed to maintain energy balance across all submodule capacitors and BES units in the MMC. Validation of the analysis is performed through simulation and experimental work. As part of this work, a 600V/100kVA MMC was developed with 4MJ of supercapacitor energy storage, which is used to represent the distributed BES. The results from both simulation and experiment verified the analytic conclusions, which found that the integration of BES into the submodules of a MMC increases reliability by using short series strings of batteries and reduces conduction losses. This is achieved without impacting the terminal characteristics of the MMC as state of charge balance between BES units can be achieved through internally circulating currents. Finally, the MMC is found to be capable of operating with BES integrated into a select number of submodules, which can reduce BES installation costs and increase reliability.
Molecular Classification and Clinical Genomics of Medulloblastoma
Keywords: brain tumour
classification
genomics
pediatric cancer
prognostication

Background: Children with medulloblastoma have a 72% chance of surviving more than 5 years under current treatment, and those who survive suffer long-term developmental and neurocognitive deficits due to treatment-associated toxicity. We believe that refining the classification of medulloblastoma will facilitate the optimization of treatment intensity and the discovery of novel therapeutics. Recent studies have identified four molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma with distinct expression patterns: WNT, SHH, Group3, and Group4. These subgroups represent different molecular entities that arise through and rely on different oncogenic processes. Accordingly, we aim to improve prediction of patient survival by identifying prognostic markers for each subgroup, and we hope to abrogate non-specific cytotoxic treatments by discovering candidates for targeted intervention against each subgroup. Methods: We proposed and validated a new classification method for medulloblastoma based on molecular patterns. Using this method, tumours were classified into molecular subgroups. Their DNA copy-number profiles (n = 1087) were analyzed to identify somatic copy-number aberrations (SCNAs) and recurrently disrupted genes and pathways. Prognostic SCNAs were identified by Kaplan-Meier survival analyses on a discovery set (n = 673), and the candidates were validated by FISH on a tissue microarray of validation samples (n = 453). Results: Tumours of each subgroup harbour recurrent SCNAs disrupting different pathways. WNT medulloblastoma is characterized by CTNNB1 mutation, SHH medulloblastoma by activated Gli signaling, Group3 medulloblastoma by MYC activation, and Group4 medulloblastoma by SNCAIP duplication. Further, patients of different subgroups exhibit differential response to standard treatments. Incorporating subgroup data into survival models significantly improved predictive performance. Using six FISH biomarkers on FFPE tissues, we reproducibly stratified patients into risk groups with distinct survivorships. Conclusion: The stark differences in genetic alterations among molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma suggest that each subgroup arises through different biological mechanisms. The molecular classification of medulloblastoma not only improved survival prediction but also revealed pathways for therapeutic intervention. We have identified a panel of prognostic markers that can be used to select patients for therapy de-escalation in future trials, and we have also discovered candidates for targeted therapy.