VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A Narrative Study About Teacher Knowledge and How It is Reflected in Pedagogical Choices, Practices, and Views When teaching Emergent Writing
Keywords: emergent writing
kindergarten
narrative
teacher knowledge
writing discourses

AbstractThis research investigated how teachers’ various forms of knowledge are reflected in their pedagogical views, practices, and choices when teaching emergent writing. Emergent writing is one of the most understudied areas of literacy with limited research regarding primary writing instruction. Prior to attending school, most young children demonstrate emergent writing skills that include marks, scribbles, drawings, letters and words. Development of emergent writing abilities contribute to student self-regulation, higher order thinking skills, and concept formation. Additionally, these skills are good predictors of later school success in reading and writing, as well as better opportunities in the workplace. This research embraced a wholistic perspective to honour teachers’ lived experiences and stories. A narrative approach was used. Data collection consisted of narrative interviews with four kindergarten teachers who taught in Ontario, Canada. Teachers were encouraged to share their stories and experiences when teaching emergent writing. Narratives were analyzed inductively to develop a better understanding about teacher knowledge and how it is reflected in daily practices when teaching emergent writing. In alignment with a social constructivism perspective, teacher narratives described a play-based classroom where daily peer interaction, rich multimodal and oral language opportunities were encouraged through a variety of learning centres that included an art table, a drama centre, a science touch table, as well as various other language activities. Teachers shared stories of drama centres that included pretend restaurants, a doctor’s office, and a post office, as well as props to re-enact classroom read-alouds. These meaningful activities supported independent student exploration and meaning making. Using a multi-layered view of language writing, and employing a deductive approach, I identified understandings and beliefs using Ivanič’s (2004) framework of six discourses of writing and learning to write. Findings of this second layer of analysis indicated that teachers viewed writing as multimodal. Their description of daily classroom contexts reflected beliefs and perspectives within five of the six discourses. The use of all six discourses was found in only one participant’s narrative. Teachers’ narratives often included elements of three or more discourses (that were sometimes conflicting) in the same writing event. A complex understanding of emergent writing was found in all narratives.
A Critical Evaluation of Surgical Therapy for the Management of Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw
Keywords: BRONJ
MRONJ
OMFS
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Introduction: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is an adverse drug reaction to antiresorptive and antiangiogenic therapy, resulting in maxillofacial bony necrosis and significant negative effects to quality of life (QoL). With mixed evidence surrounding the effectiveness of surgical therapy for management of MRONJ, we aimed to evaluate the effects of surgery on both disease resolution and QoL. Methods: We conducted four studies for this dissertation. The first, a systematic review and meta-analysis, aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the various therapies proposed for management of MRONJ. The second, a retrospective cohort study, compared surgical versus nonsurgical therapy for disease resolution. To allow us to measure QoL in these patients, the third study produced and validated a quality of life questionnaire (the MRONJ-QoL) for use in patients with MRONJ. Using this questionnaire, the fourth study prospectively compared the effects of various surgical techniques to nonsurgical therapy on both disease resolution and effects on QoL. Results: Our systematic review suggested, in contrast to the 2014 treatment guidelines by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, that surgical therapy may, on average, be favoured to nonsurgical treatment of MRONJ for disease resolution. This finding was confirmed in our retrospective review (adjusted odds ratio, 4.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.28 to 14.60). Evaluation of the MRONJ-QoL showed it to have high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.85) and good reliability (weighted kappa score of 0.65). Furthermore, cross-sectional and concurrent evaluation of validity suggested the questionnaire to be valid. Finally, our prospective evaluation showed sequestrectomy, debridement, and resection to be significantly associated with resolution of the disease (OR 36.0, 95% CI 2.7-477.2, p=0.007; OR 37.0, 95% CI 4.3-319.0, p=0.001; and OR 42.5, 95% CI 1.4-1257.6, p=0.03, respectively), and debridement and resection to be associated with improved QoL (MRONJ-QoL score improvement of 3.83, 95% CI 0.16-7.50, p=0.04; and MRONJ-QoL score improvement of 6.82, 95% CI 0.21-13.4, p=0.04, respectively). Conclusion: Our studies demonstrated that surgical therapy is suggested to be favourable to nonsurgical therapy for the management of MRONJ. Future multicentered randomized controlled trials will be required to confirm these findings.
Nonlinear Interferometers for Quantum Information Processing and Metrology
Keywords: Biphoton shaping
biphoton spectral engineering
Dispersion measurement
Entanglement tuning
Nonlinear interferometer

The ability to generate biphoton state with tunable properties in various degrees of freedom (DoFs) is always a challenging task in the field of quantum information processing. This arises from the fact that generating such biphoton state puts many constrains on the design and fabrication of the biphoton sources. In this thesis, I propose a novel common-path nonlinear interferometer (NLI) to generate biphoton states with tunable properties without the need for any modification to the biphoton source itself. I further utilize our NLI scheme to perform a precision dispersion measurement as well. First, I developed a comprehensive model, which accounts for the effects of the pump temporal coherence, as well as the chromatic dispersion and the birefringence of the linear medium inside the NLI. I have shown that through manipulating the dispersion and birefringence of the linear medium inside the NLI, biphoton properties in both frequency and polarization DoFs can be tuned (simultaneously or separately). Variants of all-fiber NLIs, consisting of periodically-poled silica fibers as the nonlinear media, which generate biphotons, and a single-mode fiber with an inline polarization controller as the linear section, are constructed for proof-of-principle demonstrations. Biphoton states with comb-like spectra are obtained from the NLI, without requiring any modification to the nonlinear media. Furthermore, biphoton states with tunable degree of polarization entanglement (in the range of 0 to 1) are predicted and experimentally generated with our interferometer. More significantly, through the simultaneous manipulation of the chromatic dispersion and birefringence of the linear medium, a novel class of biphoton states with coupled frequency and polarization DoFs is also obtained. The frequency-dependent polarization entanglement feature, which is the signature of such states, is experimentally verified. The abovementioned NLIs are also utilized to demonstrate precision dispersion measurement on a 5-m-long single-mode fiber sample, with a sensitivity of ~0.009 ps/nm. Our sensitivity is comparable to that of the existing state-of-the-art dispersion measurement techniques, but unlike the latter, ours eliminates the need for interferometer balancing, beam alignment, and phase stabilization. The simplicity, robustness and versatility of our demonstrated NLI technique illustrates its important role in quantum state engineering and quantum metrology.
A Data-driven Study of Connected Residential Thermostats to Investigate user Behavior, Thermal Modelling, and Optimal Control of HVAC Systems
Keywords: HVAC control
residential buildings

Approximately a tenth of North America’s total energy usage is for space conditioning of residential buildings -- the majority of which is controlled by a thermostat. Despite these energy implications, thermostats have been difficult to study and their controls have remained reactive and heuristic-driven. Fortunately, with the latest generation of devices, connected thermostats, it is now possible to address these limitations. This thesis is among the first major bodies of research to exploit the emerging data from connected thermostats. Specifically, we seek to accomplish three main objectives: (1) extend the understanding of how users utilize these devices to manage their preferences, (2) develop predictive models of occupant behavior and thermal response of houses, and (3) optimize the control of residential HVAC systems using only existing available data.For objective (1), we determined that factors such as location and seasonality affected setpoint preferences, but that it was unclear if truly distinct user types emerged -- instead users appeared more on a spectrum of preferences. With schedule overrides, the behavior of users was found to be more complex than previously understood, with ultimately only a small group of users remaining in permanent and energy-intensive overrides. For objective (2), we found standard, well-tuned machine learning models (namely, random forest and ridge regression) were the most robust performers beating simple baseline and deep learning methods for predicting occupancy and thermal responses of the houses. Finally, for objective (3), we found that a data-driven model predictive controller outperforms a model-free reinforcement learning method and a standard deadband controller. In summary, this thesis makes multiple novel and significant contributions which improve the understanding of connected thermostat users, how to develop customized data-driven models, and how to improve the comfort and energy use associated with connected thermostats controlling the HVAC in our homes.
Observation of a Transition Between Dynamical Phases in a Harmonically Trapped Degenerate Fermi Gas
Keywords: Atomic Physics
Degenerate Fermi Gases
Quantum Simulation
Ultracold Atoms

A proposed paradigm for out-of-equilibrium quantum systems is that an analog of quantum phase transitions exists between parameter regimes of qualitatively distinct time-dependent behaviour. Here, we present evidence of such a transition between dynamical phases in a cold-atom quantum simulator of the collective Heisenberg model. The crux of this work is the conceptual mapping of a 3D harmonic optical trap onto a mode-space lattice in which the collective Heisenberg model lives. We show that this mapping is valid for our system in the regime of weak pair-wise interactions and explore the limits of this regime. This mapping enables study of spin models on lattices using simple optical traps -- without the use of optical lattice beams. The spatial extent of the harmonic oscillator wavefunctions gives rise to long-range collective interactions. We find that below a critical interaction strength, magnetization of an initially polarized fermionic gas decays quickly, while above the transition point, the magnetization becomes long-lived because of an energy gap that protects against dephasing by the inhomogeneous axial field. Our quantum simulation reveals a non-equilibrium transition predicted to exist but not yet directly observed in quenched s-wave superconductors. To facilitate our quantum simulation, we measured the zero-crossing near 209 G of the Feshbach resonance between the lowest two spin states in 40K to greater precision than ever before. We also compare our experimental measurements to several levels of theory and find excellent agreement. Further, in our system, we find that the dynamics of the collective Heisenberg model can be reversed by applying a many-body reversal.
Polytemporality in Contemporary Jazz Performance
Keywords: ensemble
jazz
performance
polytemporality
rhythm

Time related concepts in jazz such as tempo, metre, rhythm and even form—the arrangement of timespans within a piece of music—have been theorized in ways that assume a single temporal reference, The Pulse. However, jazz performances since at least the 1960s are, with increasing frequency, using polytemporality, the simultaneous presence of two or more asynchronous rhythmic layers, for creative effects such as destabilizing listeners’ sense of pulse. In this dissertation, I build on foundational research on music featuring more than one temporal stream in jazz (Benadon 2009, Folio 1995, Huang Huang 1994, Pressing 2002) to investigate the inner workings and many implications of polytemporal jazz for both performers and scholars. Through close analysis of three key recorded performances—Miles Okazaki’s “Generations,” Craig Taborn’s “Future Perfect,” and Nick Fraser’s “Disclosure”—I reckon with the ways polytemporality defies conventional approaches to transcription and analysis and develop new methods for this foundational aspect of jazz analysis and pedagogy. I then explore the implications of polytemporality for form in jazz, arguing that each performance studied can be productively understood as a combination of two forms: one notated and one kinetic. The performances analyzed, then, hinge on an agreement or set of agreements, explicit and/or tacit, among the players about how to navigate coherently the composed material. Also at issue are factors such as skill and familiarity among the band members, specific to particular groups and even particular compositions. The result of these conditions is a cohesive, yet polytemporal performance that is more than a strict rendering of a notated composition or the result of individual improvisation, but a fluid and contingent combination of the two. Finally, I examine melodic improvisational musical gestures that sit off the metric grid, discovering that they emerge in a figure/ground relationship with an orienting pulse most often established by the rhythm section. This study serves to diversify ways of understanding polytemporal jazz ensemble performance. Looking forward, this analysis of polytemporality as a rubric and the general analytical principles developed are intended to serve as foundations for the development of future polytemporal composition processes and new vocabularies for polytemporal improvisation.
Neighbourhood Engagement in Urban Forest Governance: A Case Study of Resident Associations in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Keywords: Community engagement
Governance
Municipal policy
Neighbourhood
Urban ecology
Urban forest

Initiatives in community engagement and the struggle to conserve urban forests have risen steadily over the past 30 years. In Canada, Resident Associations (RAs) are one major group, with varying degrees of influence, that have shown potential to build working relationships with decision-makers at the local level. Although poorly studied, RAs commonly work with local or municipal representatives and engage civic managers in order to address issues at the neighbourhood scale. Urban forest and tree health have become of increasing concern for local communities because of the greater awareness of the physical and social benefits these green spaces provide to society. Unfortunately, there is little understanding as to the role of public participation in urban forest governance despite it being a key component in building frameworks for successful urban forest governance. The present study examines the role of RAs in influencing governance at the local level using the City of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada as a case study. In-depth, semi-structured interviews and a grounded theory approach reveal increased engagement by RA executive members when the benefits of and risks to their neighbourhood urban forest are understood. Increased urban forest knowledge allowed RA executive members to become involved with municipal decision-makers and more likely to participate in developing strategies and networks to conserve and improve urban forest health. Interview questions probing the power dynamics between residents and decision-makers indicated most residents build upon common objectives within existing civic processes rather than work independently from the outside for conservation. Research here demonstrates the key role that knowledge plays in both motivating and sustaining resident involvement in urban forest governance, and provides clear evidence that RAs need to build strong relationships with decision-makers and neighbourhood constituents in order to effect change. Resident knowledge about the urban forest helps raise social capital and build strategies for RA engagement in order to achieve better management.
Human Medial Temporal Lobe Contributions to a Temporal Representation of Sequences in Memory
Keywords: Episodic Memory
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Hippocampus
Time

Time and space are fundamental components of our past, and our memories are rich with temporal information allowing us to remember ‘when’ a past event took place. The medial temporal lobe (MTL), and hippocampus (HPC) in particular, have been suggested to represent time in support of memory. While previous research has demonstrated an important role for the HPC in remembering the order of events, recent evidence has suggested that rodent hippocampal “time cells” can signal the passage of time on the order of seconds between events. In this thesis, I describe a series of studies inspired by findings from the animal literature, which shed light on how the human MTL may contain a temporal representation of sequences that contains information not only about order, but also the amount of time that has elapsed between successive events. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) techniques, I explored how the human MTL and HPC is preferentially involved in memory for temporal durations that are embedded within a sequence of events. Specifically, I demonstrated how human HPC patterns of activity are influenced by changes in the temporal duration of event sequences processed explicitly (Chapter 2) or implicitly (Chapter 3). Further, memory for sequences was associated with the stability of duration representations in the HPC. Chapter 4 was designed to explore if the human HPC represents information about short durations in the context of long-term sequence memories. It was found that the anterior HPC and CA1 subregion carried information about individual sequences during recognition memory, that reflected the combination of image content and temporal duration information unique to each sequence. Lastly, in Chapter 5, I demonstrated how memory for order and temporal duration contained within a sequence of events is affected in healthy ageing and MTL pathology. Together, these data speak to an important role of the human MTL in temporal duration memory, advancing our understanding of how the HPC can represent sequential information.
What Is It to Be Wise? The Nomological Network and Necessary Conditions of Wisdom
Keywords: intelligence
meta-analysis
necessary conditions analysis
personality
well-being
wisdom

Although wisdom has been universally valued by all cultures since antiquity, the scientific investigation of wisdom has only just begun. This dissertation aimed to move the psychological research on wisdom forward by clarifying the nomological network of wisdom and identifying the personality and cognitive constructs that constituted its necessary conditions. In Study 1, I meta-analytically summarized thirty years of empirical wisdom research on the associations between wisdom on the one hand and age, intelligence, the Big-Five personality traits, self-esteem, narcissism, social desirability, and well-being on the other. I furthermore examined whether these associations were moderated by how wisdom was operationalized. Although wisdom measures showed different patterns of correlations with these constructs, with the largest differences between self-report and performance wisdom measures, all wisdom measures were robustly associated with trait openness and the growth dimension of eudaimonic well-being. In Study 2, I examined the longstanding hypotheses that certain cognitive and personality constructs, such as intelligence and trait openness, constitute necessary conditions for wisdom. I found that the necessary conditions for wisdom depended on how wisdom was operationalized: intelligence was necessary for wisdom performance, whereas the adaptive Big-Five traits were necessary for self-report wisdom. Findings from this dissertation serve to inform the field of the strengths and shortcomings as well as the commonalities and divergences among current conceptions and operationalizations of wisdom. These findings provide a foundation and reference for future theorizing and research on the topic of wisdom.
Using Research Knowledge: Immigrant South Asian Women Graduate Students as Knowledge Mobilization Agents
Keywords: Graduate student research
Immigrant women
Influence of identity
Knowledge mediation
Knowledge mobilization
South Asian graduate students

The distinctiveness of graduate students lies in their individual research choices. Graduate students are under-researched despite the large body of research they produce. I found little in the literature about the research conducted by graduate students and also the usage and/or implementation of their research findings. As the potential bridge between research and practice, graduate students could fill the growing demand for knowledge mobilization. Immigrant South Asian women graduate students are doubly overlooked within this under-researched graduate student pool. In this qualitative study, nine immigrant South Asian women graduate students were interviewed to explore their knowledge mobilization experiences. Using the research generation and utilization model by Gough, Tripney, Kenny, and Buk-Berge (2011), the data analysis from the in-depth interview showed that immigrant graduate students from four South Asian countries created and co-created knowledge from their research. Their research were mainly based on the challenges they faced or facing in their lives. They shared, exchanged, and transferred their research knowledge within their educational and professional communities. Along with their researcher roles as knowledge producers, they served as knowledge mediators and users, which indicates they are situating themselves in all three contexts of the knowledge mobilization process. Further studies are recommended to strengthen relationships between students and faculties and/or universities by contributing institutionalized support to graduate students with special emphasis on racialized students. These findings may inform graduate students, researchers, educators, and university administrators regarding knowledge mobilization aspects at universities and provide formalized support for graduate students.