VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Precursor Cell Migration In Electric Fields
Keywords: Electrical Stimulation
Galvanotaxis
Migration
Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells
Skin-Derived Precursor Cells

Neural stem and progenitor cells (together termed neural precursors) (NPCs) are found in neurogenic regions of the adult brain. Their presence at injury sites has been shown to correlate with neural repair. NPCs are electrosensitive cells and undergo rapid and directed migration towards the cathode in vitro. The overall goal of this thesis is to investigate the use of electrical stimulation to promote precursor cell migration to improve healing. We first asked if NPC migration can be directed by electrical stimulation in vivo. We designed an electrode to direct NPC migration in vivo and transplanted NPCs on the corpus callosum in the mouse brain. We placed the cathode medial to the injection site and used biphasic monopolar electrical stimulation to promote NPC migration medially in stimulated brains compared to non-stimulated brains. We first observed that transplanted NPCs have a propensity to migrate laterally along the corpus callous, irrespective of stimulation. Interestingly, we found that this lateral migration correlated with the presence of an endogenous negative potential lateral to the injection site. With regard to an applied electric field, our stimulation paradigm following cell transplantation did provide a significant, albeit small, medial migration. Thus, we propose that endogenous electric fields are present in the brain and need to be over-ridden when directing cell migration in vivo. With a view towards understanding the potential for EF application to promote tissue repair in general, we asked whether directed migration in applied EFs is a general property of precursor cells. We examined the galvanotactic response of skin-derived precursor cells (SKPs). We demonstrate that unlike NPCs, SKPs undergo directed migration towards the anode in the presence of an EF in vitro in a substrate dependent manner. Further, SKP galvanotactic responsiveness is dependent on factors released from neighbouring cells. This research demonstrates the potential for electrical stimulation to serve as a tool to direct precursor cell migration in vivo and highlights the importance of considering the microenvironment for EF application.
Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorder: Burden of Disease in Canada, Trends in Utilization of Specialized Addiction Treatment Services in Ontario and Efficacy of Brief Interventions
Keywords: Addiction treatment
Brief interventions
Burden of disease
Canada
Cannabis
Marijuana

Three broad topics related to the treatment of cannabis use and cannabis use disorder were examined. First, cannabis-attributable burden of disease in Canada in 2012 was quantified based on the burden of disease analyses, including comparative risk assessments. The cannabis-attributable burden of disease was substantial, most of it due to cannabis use disorder in the form of disability rather than mortality. Although the contributions of cannabis-attributable schizophrenia, lung cancer and road traffic injuries were comparatively minimal, lung cancer and road traffic injuries were the main contributors to cannabis-attributable mortality. Second, trends in treatment of problematic cannabis use were characterized through Ontario’s specialized addiction treatment system between 2010/11 and 2015/16. As cannabis use became less stigmatized and more accepted as normative behavior, clients in treatment for problematic cannabis use only decreased. At the same time, the frequency of cannabis use among all clients in treatment for problematic cannabis use increased. Taken together, treatment that was unnecessary from a clinical standpoint may have been reduced, but there may have been overall increases in severity. Third, the efficacy of brief interventions for cannabis use, compared with minimal control interventions, was reviewed based on participants recruited from health care settings in randomized trials. A systematic review and meta-analyses indicated an overall small number of studies on this topic. The available evidence indicated that brief interventions for cannabis use were not efficacious for improving cannabis-specific ASSIST scores and number of days of cannabis use. On the other hand, the evidence for other cannabis-specific outcomes was limited and mixed. Altogether, the three studies suggested continued monitoring of cannabis use disorder, continued public education of lower risk cannabis use, lack of evidence to scale up brief interventions for cannabis use, expansion of treatment options for cannabis use disorder and development of the evidence base for cannabis use.
Co-creating Technological Experiences to Enhance Dementia Care Partnerships
Keywords: Alzheimer's
caregiving
dementia
design
human-computer interaction
qualitative

Dementia is on the rise and society faces the challenge of how to manage its impacts. Challenging the biomedical discourse, sociocritical work has underscored relational aspects of caring and promoted ‘partnerships’ between persons with dementia (PwD), informal care partners, and formal care providers (the ‘partners’). Technological research has only begun to explore how innovation may enrich lived experiences with dementia beyond compensating for cognitive deficits or alleviating care ‘burdens’. My central thesis aims were to better understand the nature of care partnerships from the perspectives of PwD and family care partners, and to describe how co-creating technological experiences may impact care partnerships. Data were gathered from three qualitative studies. Study I co-designed with family care partners how they support PwD in activities, and how they envision technology complementing their care. Study II employed focus groups with adult children that constructed an understanding of how adult children sustain caring within their family and formal care contexts. Study III used a multiple case study to describe how four care networks adapted to new technologies, and how doing so impacted care practices. Toward my central thesis aims, these findings together demonstrate that care partnerships are comprised of diverse and interdependent care relationships. Partners exercise different forms of knowledge, expertise, and perspectives in ways that may converge, complement, or conflict with one another. Partners interact by responding and adapting to care changes, balancing and negotiating with one another, entrusting and diffusing care responsibilities, and learning and growing throughout their care journeys. Whether co-creating technological experiences challenges or enhances care partnerships is influenced by how partners make meaning with technology, learn and foster technological support resources, adapt care practices, and reconfigure their care relationships through technology use. Future work is encouraged to adopt relational approaches to understanding and designing to enrich lives with dementia.
Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children with Gender Dysphoria
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Children
Gender Dysphoria
Gender Identity
Neurodevelopmental Disorder
Transgender

Evidence suggests a higher than expected co-occurrence of gender dysphoria (GD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the specificity of this link in GD (vs. other clinically referred) children remains unclear. The present study addressed this gap by comparing clinically referred children with GD (n = 61; 45 birth-assigned boys, 16 birth-assigned girls; M = 7.97 years) to a clinical control (CC) group (n = 40; 28 birth-assigned boys, 12 birth-assigned girls; M = 9.48 years), using two ASD-specific parent-report measures: the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). In the GD group, 21.3% (n = 13; 12 birth-assigned boys) had a clinical ASD diagnosis; none of the children in the CC group had an ASD diagnosis. No significant group differences were found for ASD traits as measured by the SRS, with about 50% of each group receiving clinical-range scores. However, significant group differences emerged on the SCQ, with the GD group having significantly higher scores than the CC group. The SRS Autistic Mannerisms subdomain and the SCQ RRB subdomain did not show significant group differences, but an exploratory analysis, collapsed across sex, revealed significantly more parent-reported RRB symptoms for the GD than the CC group. One SCQ RRB item pertaining to unusual interests was endorsed significantly more often for the GD group (37.2%) than the CC group (7.7%). Taken together, the current study found that a greater percentage of children with GD had an ASD diagnosis compared to the CC group, but evidence for specificity on the two dimensional measures was mixed. Theoretical and clinical considerations are discussed.
Responding to a Changing Climate: An Investigation of the Psychosocial Consequences of Climate Change and Community-based Mental Health Responses in High River
Keywords: Climate Change
Mental Health
Mixed Methods
Political Ecology
Public Health

This dissertation explores the psychosocial consequences of climate change and psychosocial adaptation opportunities in High River, Alberta. Influenced by the theoretical approach of Political Ecology, I investigate community impacts and community-based mental health responses in High River following the 2013 Southern Alberta floods. Research methods include: a desktop climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment that includes over 116 data sources; telephone interviews with key informant health and social services leaders (n = 14); four focus group sessions with front-line health and social services workers (n = 14); and, semi-structured interviews (n = 18) with a sample of community-members exposed to the 2013 flood and who self-identify in any one or more ways: female, youth, elderly, non-white, someone living in a low socio-economic status, someone with pre-existing health concerns. A total of 46 participants were recruited in this research. Results of the empirical investigation in High River are showcased in three manuscripts. The first manuscript, informed by critical Political Ecology, is an investigation of sociopolitical conditions that influence health inequities and adaptation opportunities (or lack thereof) in a changing climate in High River. The second is an empirical exploration of the long-term psychosocial consequences of the 2013 flood, relating these consequences to the broader issue of climate change and psychosocial health. The third manuscript is an exploration of how the long-term psychosocial risks and impacts of the 2013 flood are being addressed via response interventions and connecting these lessons-learned to the broader topic of climate change and psychosocial adaptation. This research suggests that a Political Ecology lens can support a critical analysis of what the environment means and to whom, with a particular focus on what adaptation to our changing climate means and to whom. Further, findings from this empirical research suggest that there are a range of psychosocial outcomes related to the 2013 Southern Alberta flood, and these outcomes continue to affect the psychosocial wellbeing of High River residents, particularly those most marginalized, five years post-flood. Findings also suggest that there are lessons-learned from High River about actions to support or enhance psychosocial adaptation to a changing climate.
Religion, Medicine, Bioethics, and the Law in End-of-life Care: South Asian Religious Adherent Perspectives
Keywords: Anthropology
Bioethics
End-of-life
Healthcare
India
Law

This study investigates end-of-life care issues in contemporary India from the perspectives of Indian and Tibetan religious adherents, through the lenses of religious studies, bioethics and the law. The need comes from a paucity in bioethics studies related to the ancient Indic religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, and from some studies ignoring the non-theistic Indic traditions altogether. Additionally, direct requests came from a Jain community organization for bioethical approaches to an end-of-life ritual fasting and immobilization practice (sallekhanā) as it continues to be legally contested. Medical approaches to decision-making can assist with the dual purposes of protecting vulnerable Jains from coercion and also in satisfying detractors. A major research question was whether religious views impact end-of-life decision- making of patients, families and health care professionals. Although specifically answered in the final chapter, medical decision-making pervades the conversations and analysis throughout, and it is proposed that decision-making moments that involve patients and/or families along with health care providers create micro-level transient neocultures, stemming from Ortiz’s transculturation theory. Three core chapters address: attempts to block disclosure of bad news in sharing of sensitive medical information; ritual fasting and immobilization at the end of life; and exposure to and attitudes towards end-of-life care models including pain management, hospice palliative care and assistance in dying. Primarily ethnographic, the study also uses textual, legal and media analyses. ￼￼ Field work lasted for six months over 2014-2015 and research took place at four field- sites in India: Delhi, Dharamsala and Jaipur in North India, and Cochin in South India. In-person interviews were conducted with fifty informants belonging to various religious traditions, mainly from the major ancient Indic religions, one medieval Indian religion and the monotheistic Semitic religions for added perspectives. Among the participants were biomedical and traditional healthcare providers, all physicians save one medical student and two nurses. This study is an advocacy anthropology project with hopes that it proves helpful in India and other jurisdictions where South Asian religious adherents receive end-of-life care so that culturally safe care can be better provided. As such, the study ends with a number of practical findings, recommendations and suggestions.
A Model-driven Framework for High-level Adaptation of Algorithms to Computing Architectures
Keywords: Adaptation
Algorithm
Automation
Simulation

To avoid the high cost of algorithm optimization at the later algorithm development phase, early and rapid exploration of the algorithm behavior on compute architectures is becoming more necessary due to highly complex architectures and algorithms. To achieve desirable performance, the conventional method is to repetitively experiment with many different algorithmic structures (shapes) of the algorithm implemented in a programming language for a specific architecture until the best shape is found. This approach is challenging, error-prone, and very time-consuming because it requires coding several versions of the computation in a programming language, which requires the use of very detailed constructs, using detailed architecture simulators, which are slow but provide flexibility, and using sophisticated performance analysis tools, which requires the algorithm implementation be written in a programming language. Even worse, to explore different architectures for a given algorithm, different algorithm implementations are required for each architecture. Additionally, the shape space is usually very large, which prohibitively slows down the exploration process. To address the challenge, we have built the HAAF framework, which provides a realistic yet simple performance model to explore the behavior of algorithms on single- and multi-core processors. We only model key components to yield acceptable results for predicting the behavior of the algorithm on the architecture for different shapes more efficiently than conventional methods. By finding the best shape, the user can begin from a good starting point to implement the algorithm in a programming language. In this work, we develop Simplified C and ADL, a language to more easily describe algorithm shapes, and use it to describe four benchmarks representing differing types of computation kernels. We seek the simplest architectural simulator model and find that just modeling memory accesses and approximating the non-memory delays between those accesses is sufficient to show the performance trends between algorithm shapes for each of the benchmark kernels. By validating our simulator platform against a fully cycle-accurate simulator, we have shown that HAAF can be used to automatically explore a space of algorithm shapes and find the shapes that will result in the best performance.
Stelle
Keywords: Dante Alighieri
Divine Comedy
Mental Health
Musical Composition
Symphony Orchestra
Tone Poem

My DMA Thesis Composition, Stelle, is a work for a full orchestra comprised of double winds (with doublings on piccolo, cor anglais, clarinet in A, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon), four horns, two trumpets, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, 2+1 percussion, harp, celesta, and strings. In total, the composition is approximately 30 minutes in duration. Stelle is inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (1320). Although my DMA Thesis Composition serves as a musical description of Dante’s work on the surface, I also examine Dante’s fantastic journey through a contemporary psychoanalytical lens, and essentially interpret his poem as an allegory for one’s struggles with mental illness. In Stelle, I therefore build upon Dante’s themes of love and redemption, and portray them as a musical metaphor for one’s ability to find the inner strength to overcome any difficulties in life, and achieve inner peace. This single-movement programmatic composition is a tone poem, which makes use of several leitmotivs, which are developed throughout. Stelle is structured in sonata form, and is divided into three continuous parts, which reflect the three principal sections of Dante’s work (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso). The title of the work means “stars,” in English, and alludes to the fact that each of the three main parts of the Divine Comedy conclude with this word. Moreover, throughout the poem, the recurring image of the stars bears semantic significance. My DMA Thesis Composition is also linked to my research on the dramatic implications of long-range tonal plans in music. Indeed, Stelle opens with a dissonant polytonal construct, a collection which is made up of the pitches of the triads of C, B, and D-flat major superimposed over one another; at the fundamental musical level, this dissonance is projected across the work as a whole. From a dramatic standpoint, this sonority represents Dante’s sin, while the resolution of this dissonance to the key of C major at the work’s conclusion symbolises Dante’s salvation.
A Dramaturgical Approach to the Performance of Selected Choral Works of Samuel Barber
Keywords: Choral
Conductor
Dramaturgy
Interpretation
Performance
Samuel Barber

The purpose of the study is to demonstrate how a dramaturgical approach to the interpretation and performance of the choral music of Samuel Barber aids the conductor in developing well-informed performances of his music. Exploration of score markings, contextual information including the composer’s biography, a twentieth century overview and the musical climate of the day, and background about the texts and their writers all contribute to producing well-grounded and knowledgeable performances of Barber’s compositions Reincarnations and The Prayers of Kierkegaard. Various ideologies on what constitutes a well-informed performance and the importance of the performer are explored: Nicholas Cook’s ideas on score vs. script, Peter Kivy’s thoughts on composer intention, Richard Taruskin’s questioning of the importance of authenticity, Gary Tomlinson’s discussion on the virtues of contextual information, Clifford Geertz’s comparison of thick vs. thin descriptions, and Randall Dipert’s three-tiered system of identifying levels of intentions. Studies by Gary E. McPherson on children’s musical development and Philip Brett on sexual identity and its effect on artistic development give reason to explore Barber’s personal life. A brief overview of how the conductor’s approach to self-expression and composer intention is also included. Barber’s childhood experiences, education, social circle, studies in Europe, and long-term relationship with Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti all contribute to the man and composer Samuel Barber became. Thorough exploration of the texts chosen, formal theoretical analyses, reflection on all of the contextual information and application of the conductor’s own imagination and expression then create the basis for making informed decisions on interpretive and vocal matters for the performance of Barber’s choral music. This dramaturgical process is applied to the two choral works chosen and examples of possible interpretations are presented.
“Projects for Change”: Collaboration and Engagement in a Mandatory College Writing Course
Keywords: Collaboration
College
Engagement
Literacy
Postsecondary
Practitioner Inquiry

This research investigates some of the challenges faced by college students in a mandatory writing course, primarily the challenge of engagement in such courses given students’ perceptions of English and writing, of the relative unimportance of these courses in comparison to their program-specific courses, and the institutional practices that exacerbate these issues. It aims to investigate the impact of collaboration and group work on “projects for change”, or projects intended to impact meaningful change on social, cultural, and/or community issues. The study uses a practitioner inquiry lens, as my own classroom was the site of the research. Using a variety of data collection methods as well as a variety of data sets, including a teacher journal, student surveys, student journals, audio recordings, and student-created media, the study provides a narrative overview of the class of 33 students and the journey they went through to develop and implement their projects for change. It then looks more closely at four groups in particular, in order to explore the range of students’ experiences of this work, as well as to draw some conclusions about the common challenges all groups encountered. While the expectation was that these projects would provide a new avenue for student engagement, the experience yielded more complex results, in that those students who displayed commitment were able to create opportunities for change, but not all students took up the invitation as enthusiastically, to the point that some even seemed to disengage as a result of their feelings towards the class and the project overall. This practitioner research revealed that transformative projects are worth pursuing, with the understanding that not all students will engage with this type of learning opportunity. For the instructor, change projects are challenging to implement, given their immersive nature, given the limitations of the college setting, and given the demands required of both students and faculty. The benefit is in the rich and engaging learning experience that comes from pursuing various creative projects for change.