VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Defining Politics: On History and Political Thought in Homer's Iliad, with a Focus on Books 1-9
Keywords: Achilles
Ancient Greek Religion
Homer
Honor
Politics
Virtue

The Iliad is a work of great literary complexity that contains profound insights and a wide-ranging account of the human condition. Some of the most important recent scholarly work on the poem has also emphasized the political dimension of Homer’s account. In this dissertation, I aim to contribute to our understanding of the Iliad as a work of political thought. Focusing on books 1 through 9 of the Iliad, I will try to show how we can discover in it a consistent chronological or historical account, even though at many points that history is not presented in a linear way, in the poem itself. Through various references we are able to discern an historical account of the entire cosmic order. Homer focuses on the newly established Olympian gods and, therewith, their need to enforce the crucial separation between themselves and human beings: that is, between their own status as immortals, and our condition as mortals. Homer’s history of the Trojan War, in turn, conveys crucial lessons about politics and the human condition. The dissertation traces the history of the war as it emerged from a private struggle and developed into a public war. That historical narrative arc allows Homer’s readers to compare regimes that exhibit varying degrees of political phenomena. The dissertation shows that, as the Iliad’s history of the Trojan War unfolds it clarifies how politics stands in relation to the other spheres of human existence – that Homer’s poem provides us with a fundamental account of politics, of justice, of the promise and limits of human virtue, and of how the political and other aspects of existence serve to define one another. Further, the sphere of politics is shown to illuminate other, sometimes more pressing or more important, spheres of human existence - not least, those of family and friendship. Through considering these elements of Homer’s poem, the dissertation brings to sight a number of vital discoveries about politics and the human situation.
Julia Kristeva's 'Culture of Revolt' and (Post) Modern Religious Subjectivity
Keywords: Intimate Revolt
Kristeva
Psychoanalysis

This study offers a close reading of Julia Kristeva’s theories of ‘intimate revolt’ and ‘revolt culture’ and applies them to discussions of religious subjectivity. Decidedly non-militaristic, intimate revolt is reconceived in psychoanalytic and literary terms to mean an ongoing process of introspection and interrogation. The notion is derived from a multi-faceted and dynamic view of the mind, which, I submit, can broaden our conceptualization of religious subjectivity in popular discourse and vis-à-vis other psychoanalytic interpretations of religion. Indeed, Kristeva’s seemingly ambiguous treatment of Christianity is better understood in light of her theory of intimate revolt, which accepts and encourages working through competing ideas. Taking seriously the socio-political implications of intimate revolt, the overarching questions of this project are whether or not religion can fit into Kristeva’s vision of revolt culture, and, if so, what it might look like. I argue that, while she privileges aesthetic and psychoanalytic forms of revolt, Kristeva leaves open the possibility of intimate revolt in religion, particularly through her discussions of ‘the sacred’ and Christian mysticism. Finally, I survey progressive Christianity and John Caputo’s postmodern religion to identify potential examples of religious subjects who contribute to a culture of revolt. I conclude that – to the degree that it may be possible – intimate revolt should be promoted in religion today.
Are there perks to being a Twitter wallflower? Peripheral participants in a Twitter-enabled learning space in public relations and higher education
Keywords: community of practice
digital native
hashtag
Lave and Wenger
peripheral participant
Twitter

Despite widespread perceptions of the “digital native” generation, the majority of college- and university-age young people,18-plus, do not engage Twitter as a “learning technology”. Students’ reluctance to use Twitter within educational and professional contexts catalyzed this mixed-methods investigation of students’ engagement with #Humberpr, the online community of practice for public relations (PR) students at Humber College, a Canadian post-secondary institution. Despite the fact that industry expects PR graduates to be knowledgeable in the professional use of Twitter, during my seven years teaching undergraduate and post-graduate social media courses at Humber College, the majority of PR students were observed to engage only peripherally within the requisite Twitter learning environment. There is scant research on the peripheral participant in social media networks, and even less on student-practitioner interactions. To explore these understudied areas, my three research foci were: students’ perceptions of Twitter use; experiences using Twitter in education; and Twitter’s influence on the learning experience of peripherally-participating students. Building on situated learning theory (Lave Wenger, 1991), students’ differential engagement within #Humberpr was investigated using mixed-methods (survey, focus groups, and interviews). Tracking #Humberpr use over four months, students were categorized as peripheral or active users. My research findings reveal that peripheral participation (traditionally identified as “lurking”) warrants understandings and recognition not only as a legitimate but as a complex and rich learning modality. To recognize the “Twitter wallflower” as a peripheral participant and not merely a “lurking,” silent, and disengaged non-participant, allows for nuanced understandings of technology-enhanced learning not adequately captured by most relevant contemporary scholarship. This study offers voice to a misunderstood majority of students who struggle with the transition between personal and professional use of educational and social media networks. Many described their choice to remain on the “periphery,” as resulting from feeling they have “nothing to say”. Contributing to educational and situated learning theories, and to online learning and digital media studies, my quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrate the critical importance of expanding conceptions and analyses of learning communities and technology-enhanced education. This study highlights the need to develop flexible learning spaces that best prepare young people with the digital literacies required for technologically-mediated communications, particularly in contexts of professional education.
Recombinase in Trio (RIT) Elements in Bacterial Genomes: Assessing the Distribution and Mobility of a Novel yet Widespread Set of Mobile Genes
Keywords: bacterial communities
genome assembly
mobile genetic elements
next generation sequencing
RIT element
tyrosine recombinase

The research performed over the course of my doctorate training outlines the environmental distribution, mobility, expression and potential role of a newly described family of mobile elements as well as providing valuable information on the challenges and potential benefits of environmental metagenomics. Sequencing technologies have evolved considerably over the course of this work, and evaluating the limitations and opportunities provided by these evolving technologies has formed a significant portion of my thesis work. The remainder of the work has been dedicated to understanding the distribution and mechanisms of Recombinase in Trio (RIT) elements, a previously underappreciated mobile element found in a large diversity of strains, but predominantly in non-pathogenic bacteria. Recombinase in Trio (RIT) elements contain three tyrosine-based site-specific recombinases and display a characteristic gene order and repeat architecture that is conserved across 7 bacterial phyla (Van Houdt et al. 2006; Van Houdt et al. 2012; Ricker et al. 2013). RIT elements have been postulated to be mobile due to the occurrence of multiple identical copies within individual genomes, and are commonly found on plasmids and in genomic islands, including plant symbiosis and catabolic islands. The ability of RIT elements to excise and relocate themselves was tested using a variety of mating experiments. Although the determination of a potential target site sequence was initially elusive, this was overcome and RIT element mobility was observed during conjugation. The transformants analyzed subsequently provided some insight into the mechanism of recombination. Finally, environmental sampling was performed on Southern Ontario streams in order to develop a methodology for evaluating the mobilome community of bacterial communities.
Reception and Adaptation: Magic Tricks, Mysteries, Con Games
Keywords: adaptation theory
Borges
con games
magic
magicians
Mamet

This study of the reception and adaptation of magic tricks, murder mysteries, and con games calls for magic adaptations that create critical imaginative geographies (Said) and writerly spectators (Barthes). Its argument begins in the cave of the magician, Alicandre, where a mystical incantation is heard: "Not in this life, but in the next." These words, and the scene from which they come in Tony Kushner's
The Verb in the Amarna Letters from Canaan
Keywords: Akkadian Language
Amarna Letters
Canaanite Languages
Verbal Morphology and Semantics

The present dissertation is devoted to the Amarna letters from Canaan. This corpus of letters, directed to the pharaoh from Canaanite kinglets, dates to the fourteenth century B.C.E. and is inscribed on clay tablets in cuneiform writing. The dissertation focuses on the nature of the linguistic system of the letters and on their verbal system, its morphology and semantics. The language of the letters is a second language learners' interlanguage developed through time by the Canaanite scribes who failed to acquire normative Akkadian language in local schools because of the lack of access to proper educational materials and native speakers of the target language. Two linguistic mechanisms contributed to the formation of the Amarna interlanguage: the fossilization of linguistic knowledge on a level lower than the previous generation and the transfer of Canaanite features which affected the verbal system in a systemic manner. The resulting verbal system exhibits mixed verbal morphology: Akkadian forms used as lexical bases with added Canaanite morphemes. The morphology of the mixed forms is characterized by a great deal of variation which depends mostly on the place of the origin of letters and reflects the habits of individual scribes acquired during their scribal training. The semantics of the verbal system is characterized by the opposition between the perfective (yaqtul and qatal) and imperfective (yaqtulu) forms. These aspectual forms receive a default temporal interpretation in the past (yaqtul and qatal) and in the present-future (yaqtulu). Within the qatal paradigm, two forms are to be distinguished: the perfective verbal qatal and the nominal predicative qatal of the lexically stative verbs. The verbal syntax has a sequential nature: verbs have implications which are carried over sentence boundaries and guide the interpretation of the forms that follow in the same verbal sequence. The sequential nature of the verbal system is apparent in the modal sequence triggered by a directive-volitive form. This sequence may use the yaqtula form which is both modal and subordinated. This verbal system is used in Canaan, with the exception of the letters from Tyre which apparently emulate Akkadian morphology and semantics.
The Ethics of Enmity: Partiality’s Negative Analogue
Keywords: Enemies
Ethics
Friendship
Partiality
Wrongdoing
Wronging

At the outset of the Republic, Polemarchus advances the bold thesis that “justice is the art which gives benefit to friends and injury to enemies”. He quickly rejects the hypothesis, and what follows is a long tradition of neglecting the ethics of enmity. The parallel issue of how friendship (and other positive relationships) affects the moral sphere has contrastingly been greatly illuminated by discussions both ancient and contemporary. My work bridges this existing work with the less explored topic of the normative significance of our negative relationships.
Playing with Fiscal Fire: The Politics of Consumption Tax Reform
Keywords: Feedback effects
Learning
Politics
Public policy
Taxation

Drawing on the case of consumption tax reform, this thesis investigates the varying capacity of governments to enact and institutionalize “general-interest reforms” (Patashnik 2003). The study advances a two-stage theory of policy reform. The first part explains why some governments, in spite of the political risks, decide to pursue general-interest reforms. In this first stage, two variants of policy learning—rational learning and emulation—are proposed to explain policy uptake. The second stage of the theory builds on policy feedback scholarship (Pierson 1993; Mettler and SoRelle 2014), claiming that the durability of a reform hinges on policy design. It proposes that governments can prompt various policy feedback effects through policy design and communications. Such efforts can shape the political incentives and perceptions of interest groups, opposition parties and voters at key junctures in the policy process. The study illustrates the analytic value of this approach through two distinct but complementary empirical strategies. First, through comparative case analysis using mainly qualitative techniques of elite interviews and document analysis, it compares the varying experiences of two Canadian provincial governments—Ontario and British Columbia (BC)—with value-added tax (VAT) reform. While each government chose to pursue VAT reform in the late 2000s, only in the case of Ontario was it successfully implemented while the BC government was forced to reverse its policy decision. Second, through a series of survey experiments, the study tests whether issue framing and policy design can shape mass receptivity to various tax reforms (e.g., carbon, sales and income taxes). The findings from the case studies as well as the survey experiments provide novel insights into the importance of policy design. The study holds important implications for our broader understanding of the mechanisms underpinning policy change and stability.
Neoliberal Conceptual Framing and the Disappearing of Marginalized Adults from the Basic Adult Education Learning Landscape in Ontario
Keywords: adult basic education
anti-oppressive practice
equity studies
neoliberalism
New Public Management
sustainable community development

Abstract This study of Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) programs that are funded under the provincial Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD) in Ontario looks at the potential first and second order effects of MAESD LBS policy changes since 2012. This study brings to bear an anti-colonial and anti-oppressive practice lens, in order to examine the potential for, and implications of marginalization and displacement within a number of adult basic education programs in the province of Ontario. A component of this study will consider comparisons between Northern and Southern Ontario. Twenty-two LBS administrators and practitioners across Ontario—who between them have a cumulative knowledge of approximately 50 LBS sites in the province—were interviewed. These site administrators and practitioners were invited to participate after having been selected on the basis of sampling across both Northern and Southern Ontario from the Learning Networks of Ontario by LBS streams (Francophone, Deaf, Aboriginal, and English) and sectors (College, School Board, Community-based). Northern LBS site sampling included sites in the three Northern Regional Literacy Networks. Southern LBS site sampling included sampling by stream and sector in the sixteen (in total) Eastern, Western, and Southern Regional Literacy Networks. Interviews were semi-structured with “what would you do in this situation” vignette scenarios which could be expanded by the administrators and practitioners. The potential displacement of adult education students that seems to be happening in Northern and rural Ontario LBS is discussed, as is the marginalization of senior learners, developmentally delayed learners, and English Second Language learners from some sites. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to issues concerning equity in education, how New Public Management and neoliberal conceptual framing can create erasure as a consequence of second order policy effects, and the relationship between practitioner response and gatekeeping. Further discussions of practitioner self-efficacy, practitioner resistance, and meaning making at work, related to sustainable place-based community development ideologies, rooted in our diversity of economic, geographic and socio-cultural needs, for more holistic, multilingual education models and decolonial praxis are all explored.
Investigating the Clinical Validity of CUB and Zona-Pellucida-like Domain-Containing Protein 1 (CUZD1) in Malignant and Non-Malignant Human Diseases
Keywords: autoantibodies
CUZD1
ELISA
IBD
pancreas
proteomics

CUB and zona pellucida-like domain-containing protein 1 (CUZD1) has been previously shown to be specifically expressed in normal pancreas and was proposed as a candidate biomarker for pancreatic related disorders. Due to the lack of specific reagents and techniques, its levels in tissues and biological fluids have not been extensively examined. We generated mouse monoclonal antibodies against recombinant CUZD1 and used them for the development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Analysis of various human extracts showed that CUZD1 is measured in high levels in pancreas and at much lower (but detectable) levels in several other tissues. Analysis of biological fluids showed that CUZD1 is detected exclusively in pancreatic juice. CUZD1 has been previously linked to diseases (such as pancreatitis, ovarian cancer and IBD) but it is currently unknown if the expression levels of this antigen are elevated in any of the aforementioned or other disorders. Analysis of a large number of serum samples from patients with various malignant and benign disorders showed that CUZD1 levels were elevated in patients with ovarian cysts but not ovarian cancer. CUZD1 is a pancreas-specific protein but it is unclear if its expression is elevated in malignant conditions of the pancreas. IHC staining of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and acinar cell carcinoma (ACC) tissue sections revealed that CUZD1 protein was highly expressed in ACC but not in PDAC. CUZD1 is one of the targets of pancreatic autoantibodies (PABs) which have been emerged as possible biomarkers for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Data assessing the diagnostic significance of CUZD1 autoantibodies in patients with IBD are scarce, mainly due to the lack of high throughput techniques for their detection. We developed an ELISA targeting CUZD1 autoantibodies and used it to analyze 200 serum samples from IBD patients and 129 patients assessed for various autoimmune diseases (vADs). CUZD1 autoantibodies were detected in 16% of CrD patients in 9% of UC patients and in less than 5% of patients being tested for vADs. In conclusion, this thesis encompasses the development and validation of analytical techniques targeting CUZD1 antigen and CUZD1 autoantibodies. These tools can facilitate future investigations aiming to delineate the role of CUZD1 in physiology and pathobiology.
Development of Genome Engineering Strategies for Cell Therapy Safety
Keywords: Cell division essential gene
Cell therapy
Gene editing
Safety switch
Suicide gene
Tumorigenicity

Cell therapy is the process of introducing healthy, therapeutic cells into human bodies to treat diseases. Cell therapies have great promise as a treatment or even cure for many different types of diseases such as cancer, blindness, diabetes and so on. Currently, cells therapies are still mainly in the pre-clinical stage due to several unsolved problems, one of which is that the transplanted cells have a risk of developing into tumors, which we call tumorigenicity. Here I report my PhD thesis projects on developing genome engineering strategies to eliminate this risk of tumorigenicity through introducing our designer â safety switchâ into the genome of the transplanted cells. One is the Fail-safe system, and the other is the Dox-bridge strategy, of which both are about modifying cell division essential locus in the genome. We have tested both strategies in vitro, in vivo and in silico with various cell types. We hope this could provide solutions towards the safety issue and accelerate the promise of cell therapies treating devastating diseases to come into reality.
BORDERED LIVES: ETHNIC IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND ACCULTURATION PATTERNS AMONG UNDOCUMENTED ADOLESCENTS
Keywords: Acculturation
Identity Development
Immigration
Migration
Undocumented

Objective. Undocumented migration, the phenomenon of living somewhere without legal documents, has replaced traditional immigration to become the fastest growing form of global migration (International Organization for Migration, 2014). Despite burgeoning numbers, this population is often overlooked within psychology (Ellis Chen, 2013). Building on limited literature, this dissertation addresses two primary aspects related to the experiences of undocumented adolescents – ethnic identity development and the acculturation process – from a developmental lens. Paper 1. Although Ellis and Chen (2013) and Maduena (2015) have developed models for ethnic identity amongst undocumented university students, no existing model focuses specifically on the developmental periods of adolescence and emerging adulthood. This qualitative study addresses gaps in the literature by developing an ethnic identity model for undocumented youth. A sample of 23 undocumented youth, between the ages of 16-22, completed a demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Employing a grounded theory approach, four major themes or stages related to ethnic identity development emerged: Revelation, (Dis)Engagement, Developing Undocumented Consciousness, and Negotiating Undocumented Consciousness. Paper 2. The second paper extends the Tridimensional Model of Acculturation (Ferguson et al., 2013) – whereby individuals acculturate to host, home, and other subcultures within host country – to explore how undocumented adolescents understand and negotiate processes related to acculturation. Using qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 23 undocumented adolescents, the second paper identified various cultural influences, specific stressors that amplify acculturative stress, and the most critical sites where acculturation occurs. Youth identified attachment to native, host, and subcultures and described school, work, service provision institutions and national borders as the most influential sites of acculturation. Conclusions: This dissertation deepens our understanding of the impacts of undocumented status upon adolescents via an analysis of developmental stages of identity development and an empirical investigation of the process of acculturation. The first paper contributed a new model on undocumented adolescent development and the second paper offered evidence supportive of the Tridimensional Model of Acculturation whereby individuals endorsed acculturating to multiple cultures. Findings provide important insights for service provision, including addressing specific developmental needs of undocumented adolescents by facilitating information sharing to counteract confusion and fear of the unknown. Continued research into processes of identity and acculturation during adolescence may establish best practices for undocumented youth.