VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
An Investigation of the Nature and Purpose of Critical Thinking in the Revised Intermediate Ontario Science Curricula (Grades 9 and 10): Educators’ and Administrators’ Meta-Perspectives.
Keywords: Critical Thinking in Science Education
Inservice science teachers
Ontario Intermediate Science Curriculum
Pre-Service science teachers
Professional Development
Secondary Science

Critical thinking instruction in Ontario intermediate science is poorly understood. The importance of this qualitative study is underscored since is the first to examine the importance of critical thinking instruction in secondary science following the last iteration of the Ontario intermediate science curriculum. This research employs a multi-method, single case study to encapsulate the meta-perspectives of two retired science teachers, two practicing science teachers and two secondary vice-principals and their divergent and convergent views about the nature and purpose of critical thinking and critical thinking instruction in the revised intermediate Ontario Science curricula (Grades 9 and 10). This study was viewed through the lens of Situativity (Cobb Bowers, 1999), developed from Lave and Wenger (1991) seminal work on Situated Learning Theory. Viewing knowledge from a situated learning perspective in a school setting involves studying how knowledge is being acquired, transmitted and transformed in context which promotes the application of new understandings for science teachers and administrators, their design of their lesson plans and PD activities, respectively. Data was collected from six research participants through surveys, questionnaires, observations, interview sessions (two per participant), and field notes. Additionally, this study analyzed the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: Science (2008) and the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10, Science (1999) from the Ontario Ministry of Education and document analyses of several other sources of secondary data including board improvement plans. Four interconnected findings emerged from my research which include a need to emphasize the role of science-teacher PCK in critical thinking instruction, underscore the importance of exemplars of science lesson plans that use explicit microteaching strategies to develop students’ critical thinking, effective collaboration on developing high-quality PD on critical thinking and elevating the importance of critical thinking instruction in pre-service educational programs and in elementary science. An overarching future direction is to use in-depth longitudinal studies to enhance the generalizability of this study to foster the sustainable development of critical thinking instruction in high school science and in science teacher PD. This could inform the need to make critical thinking instruction explicit in the next iteration of science curriculum in Ontario.
Investigation on the processing of natural-synthetic hybrid fiber thermoplastic compositions in injection molding
Keywords: Biocomposites
Crystallinity
Hybrid fibers
Shear viscosity
Shrinkage
Thermoplastics

During the injection molding of thermoplastics, proper control of shrinkage is critical for developing parts with an acceptable tolerance. This thesis investigated natural-synthetic hybrid fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite (hybrid-NFRC) as a potential alternative to NFRCs in structural designs such as an automotive battery tray. This research examined the material and process variables of hybrid-NFRCs to control shrinkage during injection molding (IM). Material variables such as melting, shear viscosity, polymer crystallinity and PVT (pressure-volume-temperature) relationship were investigated. Two non-linear models: Cross-WLF viscosity and 2-domain Tait equation were used to investigate the process variables such as shear rates (10s-1 to 5000 s-1), temperature (190 °C to 210 °C), pressure (10 MPa to 200 MPa) and cooling rates (5 °C/min to 20 °C/min). A Taguchi design of experiment and ANOVA (analysis-of-variance) were employed to investigate the influence of fiber hybridization on IM shrinkage. The analysis of material variables demonstrated that injection molding (IM) of hybrid-NFRCs requires special attention. An incorporation of 10 wt% synthetic fiber in hybrid-NFRCs (at 30 wt% total fiber loading) lowered the shear viscosity by 14.1 Pa.s, polymer crystallinity by 4.5% and volumetric shrinkage by 0.08% (cm3/cm3) relative to NFRCs. A further reduction in shrinkage of hybrid-NFRCs can be realized by lowering the shear viscosity during the filling phase (R2 = 0.56) and crystallinity development during the solidification phase (R2 = 0.67). The findings support the dominance of process variables over the effects of fiber hybridization in determining IM shrinkage. Overall, fiber hybridization is an effective approach to significantly improve the thermal and dimensional performance (P-value
Effects of Left Heart Loading on the Right Ventricular-Pulmonary Arterial Circulatory Unit
Keywords: Cardiac Catheterization
Exercise
Healthy
Heart Function
Hemodynamics
Pulmonary Circulation

The right ventricle (RV) and pulmonary vasculature (PV) form a circulatory unit which is sensitive to downstream left atrial (LA) function. Exercise may significantly stress the RV-PV circulatory unit, even in healthy individuals. This thesis aimed to characterize normal hemodynamic mechanisms through which RV-PV circulatory unit function is influenced in-series by LA function during exercise. Healthy males and females >45 years old were recruited. Right heart catheterization was used to measure cardiac output, RV and PV pressures, and pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP). Echocardiography was used to measure LA volumes. Participants were studied at rest and during 7-10 minute stages of Light- and Moderate-intensity cycle-ergometry. Project one described the PAWP and PV pressure response as exercise was initiated, sustained, and escalated in intensity. PAWP was 11 ± 3 mmHg at rest, increased to 22 ± 5 mmHg at early-Light exercise (p
Correctional Officer Training and the Secure Containment of Risk and Dangerousness in a Canadian Provincial Jurisdiction
Keywords: antagonism
Canada
control
Correctional Officers
physical force
punitiveness

Researchers argue that prison systems have become increasingly punitive since the 1970s. However, the literature on Canadian provincial prisons has yet to document how punitiveness characterized by the rise of risk and concerns about dangerousness has been incorporated into penal practice. Using data collected during a 9-week participant observation study of provincial correctional officer (CO) training and semi-structured interviews with COs, this dissertation argues that CO training depicts prisoners as risky and dangerous by characterizing prisoner misconduct as antagonistic. This conceptualization helps to legitimize the use of physical forms of control. The use of force is positioned as the most important mechanism that COs use to manage antagonistic behaviour. The development of a security orientation premised on the use of force is achieved within a masculinized training regime designed to produce competent officers. I argue that competency is a gendered process where male and female recruits are differentially sanctioned when they fail to show toughness and emotionally stoicism. The amount and type of force used must be reasonable. Reasonableness is tied to how well COs document use of force incidents and how they use force in camera friendly ways. These are positioned as accountability measures designed to reduce excessive force. However, I suggest that these accountability measures actually shield COs from being responsible for the force they use. Force is conceptualized as a legitimate response to prisoner behaviour and COs are taught how to administer high levels of pain without being caught for using force. So long as a CO can justify and document his or her actions, the institution and the officer are absolved of liability associated with the use of physical force. This creates the environmental conditions necessary to keep COs in control by ignoring the social and contextual causes of antagonistic behaviour.
Multilingualism in Japan's Language Policy: A Critical Sociological Analysis
Keywords: Diversity
Globalization
Japan
Language Policy
Nationalism
Sociology

In this dissertation, I investigate how English, Japanese, and other languages are positioned in Japan’s language policy and consider what implications the linguistic constellation has for multilingualism. As is the case in many other countries, globalization has urged Japan to implicate itself in global-scale interconnectedness. In a rather paradoxical way, however, globalization’s apparently unifying force has strengthened nationalism as a political scenario through which Japan tries to maintain its distinctiveness against such a global force. Furthermore, transnational flows of people, money, and goods have increased diversity inside and outside Japan. English, Japanese, and other languages are considered in Japan as a primary means to deal with these socio-political phenomena. While this might look like an expression of interest in linguistic diversity, it would be premature to conclude that Japan’s language policy is oriented towards ‘multilingualism’. Language policy can be viewed as (re-)organization of space through social practices performed at spatially different scales. More precisely, the nature of a language policy depends on what indexical meaning people assign to each language through their mediated action at both state and local levels. A ‘multilingual’ policy is a consequence of negotiation between the two levels in search for equal indexicalities of all languages. This means that the extent to which Japan’s language policy is recognized as promoting multilingualism depends on how indexicalities of English, Japanese, and other languages are ordered at the state and local levels. In this dissertation, therefore, I propose a sociology of Japan’s language policy with foci on (a) how English, Japanese, and other languages are represented at the state level, (b) how people recognize such state-painted representation at the local level, (c) if there are traces of state ideologies in the ways people on the ground look at those languages, and (d) if it is possible that people make changes to the representation by the state to serve their own purpose and send their own views back to the state to alter language policies. Through inquiry into these issues, finally I consider what is necessary for people to discuss how society should be shaped through language policy.
Beginning with Heidegger: Strauss, Rorty, Derrida, Dugin and the Philosophical Constitution of the Political
Keywords: Derrida
Dugin
Heidegger
Political theory
Rorty
Strauss

This dissertation examines how Leo Strauss, Richard Rorty, Jacques Derrida, and Alexander Dugin responded to Martin Heidegger’s inceptual thought when defining and relating philosophy and the political. The Introduction discusses the general concepts, motivations, and aims of the study. Chapter One provides a précis of Heidegger’s philosophy from The History of the Concept of Time to his middle-period writings. Chapter Two compares Strauss and Heidegger on the Idea of the Good in Plato. Chapter Three argues that Rorty is prevented from a philosophically serious reading of Heidegger by his a priori social-democratic commitments. Chapter Four distinguishes the spaces of Derridean and Heideggerian political philosophy. Chapter Five is an account of Dugin’s embrace and extension of Heidegger’s inceptual thought. The Conclusion analyses obstacles blocking access to Heidegger in political theory and argues for a new way forward.
Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Study Neurometabolic and Neuroanatomical Alterations in Patients with Schizophrenia
Keywords: Glutamate
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Psychosis
Schizophrenia
Striatum

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that places a large burden on patients, their families, and society-at-large. The glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia puts forth a compelling mechanism to characterize features of the illness. To this end, we explored the neurometabolic and neuroanatomical profiles of patients with schizophrenia using magnetic resonance imaging, with a particular focus on the glutamatergic system. First, we explored associative striatum neurometabolite levels using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) within a sample composed of antipsychotic-naïve patients experiencing their first-episode of psychosis (FEP) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The FEP group had elevated myo-inositol, choline, and glutamate levels compared to the healthy control group. Second, again within a sample of antipsychotic-naïve patients with FEP and age- and sex-matched healthy controls, we investigated whether elevated levels of glutamatergic neurometabolites within the precommissural dorsal caudate (PDC), as assessed by 1H-MRS, were related to measures of brain structure. In addition to widespread cortical thinning and suggestions of possible precommissural caudate volume (PCV) deficits within the patient group, a negative association between PDC glutamate+glutamine levels and PCV was found in the FEP group. Third, striatal neurometabolite levels were examined using 1H-MRS within a sample of patients with schizophrenia who had undergone long-term antipsychotic treatment and healthy controls. No group differences in neurometabolite levels were identified. Multiple study visits permitted a 1H-MRS reliability assessment. Taken together, the results from this body of work suggest elevated levels of striatal glutamatergic neurometabolites within the early, antipsychotic-naïve stages of schizophrenia, which are contrastingly shown to be comparable to those of healthy controls in the later, medicated stages of illness. Findings also provide evidence for glial activation that may resultantly disrupt glutamatergic tone, as well as a striatal excitotoxic mechanism that may account for some of the vast structural compromise that exists in patients with schizophrenia.
Developmental and Expression Evolution in C3 and C4 Atriplex and their Hybrids
Keywords: Atriplex
C4
evolution
gene expression
interspecific hybridization
photosynthesis

Maintaining global food security amidst climate change requires improved photosynthetic efficiency in C3 crops. Above 30°C, photosynthesis and yield are reduced 30-50% by photorespiration. The C4 photosynthetic pathway incorporates biochemical and structural features to minimize photorespiration by concentrating CO2 around Rubisco. Engineering C4 into C3 crops requires an understanding of the molecular and genetic control of C4 photosynthesis. I combined transcriptomic and developmental analyses to investigate the molecular control of leaf development in C3 Atriplex prostrata compared to A. rosea, a C4 species with Kranz anatomy. Plants with Kranz-type C4 photosynthesis have two photosynthetic cell types, mesophyll and bundle sheath. Mesophyll cells contain phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, the primary carbon fixation enzyme, whereas bundle sheath contains Rubisco and houses photosynthetic carbon reduction. I used C3 x C4 Atriplex F1 hybrids and allele-specific expression analysis to investigate the role of cis- and trans-regulatory effects on gene expression divergence. The majority (~80%) of expression divergence between C3 and C4 species arose from cis-only regulatory divergence, suggesting that numerous independent expression changes across the genome drove C4 photosynthesis evolution. For genes in the C4 pathway, expression divergence arose from cis-acting changes to individual genes, with little contribution from trans-changes. Genes of interest including regulators of plasmodesmata and chloroplast function did not have distinct patterns of regulatory divergence. Inheritance pattern analysis showed that misexpression was common in F1 hybrids and was supported by phenotypic evidence. I next performed comparative studies of C3 and C4 leaf development. I detected significant species*time interaction effects for a large proportion of genes, implying that evolutionary shifts in expression timing were widespread between these species. Cis-regulation was also implicated in many of these evolutionary shifts in expression timing. C4 Atriplex showed accelerated vascular tissue initiation and formation, supported by earlier expression decline of vascular tissue development and core cell cycle genes. Plasmodesmata-associated genes were differentially expressed between during secondary plasmodesmata formation. Mature leaves of F2 hybrids exhibited variation in biochemistry, leaf tissue patterning, and bundle sheath ultrastructure and would be suitable for future large-scale transcriptomic studies. Combined, these studies facilitated identification of the underlying genetics of C4 evolution and development.
From adsorption to condensation: The Zeta adsorption isotherm approach
Keywords: Adsorption
Dropwise condensation
Filmwise condensation
Gibbsian thermodynamics
Zeta adsorption isotherm

The Zeta Adsorption Isotherm is based on the hypothesis that molecules adsorb on a solid surface as a collection of molecular clusters. The theory is extended to the steady, thermal disequilibrium states where a vapour at a temperature T^V is exposed to a solid surface at a lower temperature, T^S, and the adsorption of the vapour on a homogenous solid surface is examined analytically and experimentally. The uv-visible interferometer technique is used to measure the amount of vapour adsorbed under these steady, thermal disequilibrium states and the results give a strong support to the predicted amount adsorbed. The Zeta Adsorption Isotherm which is based on the assumption of the existence of molecular clusters is applied to predict the subcooling required for the adsorbate to make a disorder-order phase transition. The theory was used along with the Gibbsian thermodynamics to develop a method for predicting the wetting condition on a vertically oriented silicon surface exposed to the heptane vapour in a gravitational field. The measurements indicate the larger amount of vapour is adsorbed at the lower potential energies. The wetting condition is taken to be reached when the adsorbed vapour is transformed into a liquid film. Further, the surface tension of solid-vapour interface and the solid-liquid interface are calculated, and the condition for drainage of the liquid from the Si surface is predicted. It is shown that when the surface tension of the solid-liquid interface is reduced to zero, gravity would cause the larger molecular clusters to drain down the surface. The experimental observations support this prediction. Finally, the proposed method is applied to toluene and octane and heptane vapours adsorbing on Si. Dropwise condensation is observed experimentally for toluene vapour while filmwise condensation is observed for the other two vapours. From the distribution of the clusters in the adsorbate, the conditions for the initiation of the liquid phase are predicted and the surface tensions are determined for these three systems of vapours. The results are compared, and the mechanism which determines the condensation mode of the vapour condensing on the Si surface is investigated.
Mastering the Body: From Experience to Discourse. Shamanic Healing in Urban Canada
Keywords: Anthropology
Healing
Religion
Ritual
Shamanism
Spirituality

This research is an ethnographic study of Jeannette McCullough’s shamanic circles in Toronto, Canada. This thesis situates her practice within the field of shamanic studies and investigates four aspects of the therapeutic process: the experience and intentions of the healer; the ritual action and therapeutic imageries of practitioners; the personal trajectories and therapeutic choices of participants; and the broader social concerns and politics that this form of healing reveals. The examination of the ritual’s efficacy exposes the ways in which technology addresses identity issues and challenges techniques of the body. More specifically, animal and ancestor embodiment, dismemberment, and transmutation are shamanic techniques that initiate participants to a range of perceptions that take place within a flexible ritual structure, and shelters the person from external sources of meaning. These experiences allow individuals to take distance from affliction by inducing healing as an autogenous process of transformation. Moreover, self-reflexive testimonies reveal how Toronto participants construct spirituality as a mode of resistance to a more conventional lifestyle, situated halfway between religion and atheism. These observations show participants’ desire to maintain positive social engagements while remaining in the fringe of society. In this sense, healing is a process that addresses tensions between private and public dimensions of daily life. In other words, during the ritual, participants learn to experience their bodies differently and to cultivate alternative identities, something that manifests outside of the ritual context where individuals perceive themselves as socially marginal. The analysis of the ritual’s efficacy and of participants’ testimonies suggest that Jeannette McCullough’s shamanic techniques efficaciously collapses the opposition between right and wrong bodies, revealing its power as a counter-discourse to heteronormativity — not by addressing gender issues per se — but by initiating the person to a mastery of the body: by broadening notions of kinship, and by teaching ways to resist the public, collective, and social aspects of the ritual. Finally, understanding urban Canadian shamanism as a counter-discourse to heteronormativity allows one to elaborate future research questions, concerning the various ways in which healing practices relate to forms of resistance to broader social issues produced by institutionalized sources of ideological control.
Towards an Enriched Understanding of People Who Experience Problem Video Gaming
Keywords: addictive behavior
computer games
game addiction
gaming disorder
social ecology
video games

Introduction: Video game addiction, also known as problem video gaming, is making headlines across the globe. Yet, our understanding of this relatively new phenomenon is limited. The purpose of this thesis is to develop an enriched understanding of people who experience problem video gaming. Methods: Two studies and a synthesis paper were completed. 1) A quantitative secondary analysis of survey data to determine the prevalence and correlates to problem video gaming. 2) A qualitative study using interviews and activity logs to understand the lives of people who experience problem video gaming from their own perspectives. 3) A synthesis of the two studies to facilitate a new discourse that broadens our understanding of problem video gaming. Results: Descriptive statistics found that 11.6% of youth experience problem video gaming. Logistic regressions revealed that the strongest predictors of problem video gaming were: being male, scoring lower in mental health status, playing more hours per day, being a problem gambler, receiving less parental monitoring, scoring lower in school subjective social status, not living in the East region of Ontario, and not working outside of the home. People who experienced problem video gaming described playing video games as a meaningful and purposeful activity. A model that explains the push and pull influences on the amount of gaming is described. The synthesis of these results demonstrated that problem gaming behaviours are influenced by issues arising not only in the individual, but also in the interpersonal and environmental circumstances. Significance of Findings: This thesis fosters new insights into the complexity of problem video gaming by explicating the interactions between the individuals who experience this, their interpersonal influences, and their environments. Consequently, the findings point to the importance of interpersonal and/or environmental issues which may have resulted in a misrepresentation of some gamers as being “addicted”.