VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Controlling the Function of Nanomaterials using their Protein Coronas
Keywords: Immunoassay
Nanomaterials
Nanomedicine
Protein corona
Targeting ligands

Blood proteins adsorb onto the surface of nanomaterials after intravenous injection to form a protein corona. Controlling the function of nanomaterials with a protein corona remains challenging. That is because the protein corona can 1) mediate nanomaterial-cell interactions and even 2) block the function of targeting ligands conjugated on nanomaterials. In this thesis, I demonstrated that these two issues could be solved using the protein corona itself by first understanding its function, structure, and kinetics. I discovered that not all proteins in the protein corona are functional, and that proteins are structurally organized as assemblies. By manipulating the structure of the protein corona, I could alter its function and thus control nanoparticle interactions with macrophage cells. Using biolayer interferometry and molecular dynamics simulations, I identified that the protein corona reaches an equilibrium state where the size of the corona stops growing with minimal protein exchange. Conjugating targeting ligands on top of the equilibrated corona enables control over the targeting ability. Nanomaterials synthesized using this method can bind to target cells even in the presence of serum proteins. Overall, this thesis presented a fundamental understanding of the function, structure, and kinetics of the protein corona that inspired two novel methods of controlling the function of nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
Dispossession and Resistance: A History of Indigenous and Settler Relations to Land in British Columbia, 1800-1890
Keywords: British Columbia
History
Indigenous Peoples
Law
Property
Property Law

Throughout Canada treaties between Indigenous peoples and the crown have provided the legal foundation for the crown’s underlying title to land. In British Columbia, however, only a handful of treaties were made. Nevertheless today, according to one now contested view of Canadian common law, the crown holds underlying title to all lands in the province, much of which, is held in fee simple by non-Indigenous people. How did the crown acquire underlying title to all the land in British Columbia? What were the legal mechanisms that erased Indigenous land rights and placed the land in the hands non-Indigenous people? How did Indigenous communities manifest resistance to the curtailment of their land rights? This thesis explores these questions and argues that Indigenous land was converted into crown land and placed in the hands of white settlers through proclamations, land registry acts, and government policy.
The Politics of Homelessness: Poverty, Policy, and Political Participation
Keywords: homelessness
policy feedback
political participation
public policy

How do everyday interactions with the welfare state influence political participation? The policies individuals interact with dictate their relationship with the state. Policy designs, therefore, play a vital role in the inclusion of individuals into the welfare state as well as the political system. Policies have effects on how individuals participate politically, through the resources they distribute, the institutional arrangements they govern, and the messages they send regarding the deservingness of target populations (Pierson, 1993; Campbell, 2004; Schneider & Ingram, 1993; Mettler, 2005). How policy designs influence participation, and how different policies integrate to influence political participation and inclusion, requires further attention. An investigation of the relationship between policy and participation from the perspective of a marginalized population allows for a bottom-up examination of the welfare state (Michener, SoRelle & Thurston, 2020). Individuals experiencing homelessness are among the most vulnerable in western states and interact with several state appendages and services. In doing so, they advocate for themselves and others while interacting with multiple policies. In this dissertation, I describe a causal mechanism that connects the inclusivity of policy design and the interaction of multiple policies on the one hand, to political participation on the other. Policy inclusivity and participation are defined inductively. I present empirical evidence from a mixed method comparative study, which includes 118 interviews with individuals experiencing homelessness, service providers, and policymakers in Melbourne and Toronto. Both cities are located in liberal welfare states with means-tested and individualist policies to combat homelessness. Results from a quantitative analysis of national election surveys finds that there are complex relationships between policy, poverty, and participation. Qualitative interviews, therefore, add vital nuance to these quantitative findings and build the mechanism of policy design inclusivity. Even given failing and exclusionary housing, social assistance, and health policies, individuals experiencing homelessness participate and express their desire to bring about change. Investigating how and where individuals participate, as well as the policy designs that encourage or limit that participation, is therefore important to policy success and democratic inclusion. This research contributes to multiple bodies of political science and public policy literature.
To Do This Discussion Differently: Queering Teacher Professional Learning Through Comic Art and Graphic Stories
Keywords: Arts-Based Ethnography
Comic Art as Pedagogy
Contemplative Teacher Practice
Graphic Scholarship
Queer / Transgender / Gender Diverse (GD)
Teacher Professional Learning

This dissertation describes a qualitative research study that is grounded in the experience of learning-while-teaching. My methodology includes contemplative teacher practice and arts-based data analysis, the demonstration of which incorporates my own experience as an elementary school teacher, a teacher educator, and a queer/trans (Q/T) person in schools. Overall, this research aims to consider how we might begin to address socially- and emotionally-challenging topics in teacher education differently. Specifically, I ask: What formats for teacher professional learning (TPL) show promise in supporting educators to expect, welcome, and include trans/gender diverse (GD) students, families and staff in schools? Through a theoretical lens that brings together perspectives from practitioner research, critical ethnography and arts-based data analysis, I work to centre the voices and experiences of trans/GD people involved in the school system in various roles. As an important boundary to that idea of “centring”, I emphasize the need to shift the expectation that it is Q/T people who will continue to do this teaching by offering our own bodies as exemplars, and to disrupt the notion that we must literally en-ACT these explanations in order to deserve and receive school communities that care for us. The literal content of this dissertation describes what the process of my research has taught me about my data, while its physical form works to enact that learning through the medium of comic art. I have communicated the findings of my research through a series of graphic stories, which also encourage the reader to consider what they read/see/feel in the context of their own lives and identities. These books both ask for and offer the kind of commitment to individual identity work that is frequently expected, yet rarely modeled or supported, in teacher education. This interweaving of process through product and the blurring of story-telling/receiving in academia is important because it proposes a less- binary future for education. This thesis and these stories imagine a system where teachers are taught to expect that we will learn and change continuously in relation to every experience, and every individual, who is part of our classroom community.
Applying Health Technology Assessment Methodologies to Support Health Policy for Lyme Disease: Assessing Health and Economic Burden, and Cost-effectiveness of Potential Interventions
Keywords: borrelia burgdorferi
economic evaluation
health services research
health technology assessment
lyme disease

Lyme disease (LD) is an increasingly common vector-borne disease reported in temperate climate zones in North America. In Canada, the number of confirmed LD cases reported has increased from 144 in 2009 to 2,851 in 2021. An increasing number of LD cases along with the controversies on clinical management within the medical community and patient advocacy groups prompted the government to commit to addressing the challenges of recognition, timely diagnosis, and treatment of LD, mandated by the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act. However, evidence gaps related to LD health outcomes, the economic burden to the healthcare system, and cost-effectiveness of LD interventions remained. In the last decade, high-quality evidence has been more commonly produced by health technology assessment (HTA) methodologies for infectious diseases to support public health planning and the evaluation of innovative technologies. Therefore, the goal of this thesis was to use specific HTA methodologies to generate evidence to inform health policy for LD in Ontario. The first study conducted was a systematic review of long-term sequelae, prognostic factors, health-related quality of life, and health state utility values associated with LD in North America and Europe. The second study estimated the economic burden and health outcomes attributable to laboratory-confirmed LD in Ontario using a population-based retrospective cohort study, health administrative data and laboratory test data. The third study involved the development of a microsimulation model to simulate the natural disease history of LD and estimate the number of LD cases, sequelae, and projected population burden, expressed as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). The fourth study used the microsimulation model to conduct a cost-utility analysis of potential risk-based LD vaccination programs in Ontario assuming a vaccine candidate profile. This thesis summarized long-term outcomes associated with LD, which can be used to shape or support clinical management guidelines, and future cohort studies. While investing in universal vaccination programs are typically good value, a tailored approach may be optimal for LD. This body of work demonstrated how HTA methodologies can be used to synthesize clinical, epidemiological, and economic evidence to support current and future health policy decision-making for emerging infectious diseases.
Secretagogin is Essential for Circadian GLP-1 Secretion and is Altered in a Model of Type 2 Diabetes
Keywords: Circadian
GLP-1
Secretagogin
Secretion

Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) is secreted from intestinal L-cells in response to food intake to upregulate glucose-dependent insulin secretion. GLP-1 based therapies are therefore employed in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D) through the use of receptor agonists or degradation inhibitors, which drastically increase levels in the circulation. Importantly, in physiology, GLP-1 exhibits a circadian pattern in its secretion, coordinating diurnal insulin secretion. Previous publications have shown that GLP-1 secretion closely follows Arntl expression in mGLUTag L-cells; however, intermediaries connecting the circadian clock to GLP-1 secretion remain to be elucidated. Interestingly, a mass spectrometry analysis in mGLUTag L-cells identified Secretagogin (SCGN) as highly upregulated at the peak GLP-1 secretion time point. SCGN is also rhythmic in pancreatic ɑ and ß–cells and is both essential for insulin secretion and reduced in islets from patients with T2D. Furthermore, a recent publication showed SCGN administration improves glucose tolerance in obese mice. I therefore hypothesized that SCGN is essential for circadian GLP-1 secretion and is reduced in a model of T2D. Analysis of synchronized mGLUTag and hNCI-h716 L-cells revealed circadian rhythms in Scgn RNA and protein, and BMAL1 demonstrated increased binding to the Scgn promoter at the peak time point of GLP-1 secretion. Immunostaining of murine and human ileum showed that all GLP-1+ cells expressed SCGN. Immunocytochemistry further demonstrated the translocation of SCGN to the membrane upon stimulation, with increased binding to ß-actin at the peak time point suggesting that SCGN facilitates cytoskeletal transport of granules to the membrane. Further functional analyses by Scgn knockdown (si-RNA) and knockout (Constitutive, Gcg-creERT2/+;Scgn-floxed and Vil-creERT2/+;Scgn-floxed) revealed that Scgn loss-of-function resulted in impaired rhythmic GLP-1 secretion. RNA-Seq analysis in Scgn knockdown mGLUTag L-cells demonstrated a decrease in pathways relating to ‘vesicle transport’. Lastly, in the high fat-streptozotocin model of T2D GLP-1 secretion was drastically elevated and arrhythmic in association with a similar shift and unexpected increase in the pattern of SCGN expression. Together, these findings show that L-cell Scgn is essential for circadian GLP-1 secretion in physiology and is increased in a model of T2D, with further studies warranted to investigate the mechanistic secretory alterations caused by Scgn loss-of-function.
Blockade, Starvation, and Resistance: Gender, Violence, Trauma and Memory in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970
Keywords: Biafra
Conflict
Human Rights
Humanitarian Intervention
Nigerian Civil War
Starvation

The Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 involved conflicts over ethnic differences, religious intolerance, political marginalization, and national insecurity. While these issues were local and internal, the conflict attracted intense interest from beyond Nigeria’s borders and sometimes humanitarian support to either of the belligerents: Nigeria and Biafra. Concentrating on the impact on women, this dissertation examines the 1966 attacks on easterners resident in northern cities, the consequences for displaced women and their children, and the subsequent wartime violence in the Biafran heartland. In analyzing the many ways in which the war shaped the everyday experiences of women, it also details their responses and actions. It argues that women’s traumatic experiences were the direct result of reckless actions on the part of the Nigerian government which imposed a blockade on Biafra, and the Biafran leadership which could have acted to alleviate the blockade but chose not to. This issue was “complex” and historians as well as locals have read it in different ways to apportion blame. By early 1968, the blockade and the shelling and bombing of Biafra by the Nigerian military had resulted in devastating food shortages and generated profound concern from the churches and humanitarian organizations. The International Committee of the Red Cross, along with the governments of the United States and Canada, arranged for corridors through which supplies would flow into the enclave. Although the Nigerian government reluctantly endorsed this arrangement, the Biafran government declined support for military reasons, thus exposing Biafra’s people to further misery. Nigerian forces’ bombing of markets where women operated also contributed to the acute shortages of food and other supplies in Biafra. Women in the Biafran heartland responded to the scourge of starvation by engaging in a transborder trade known as Afia Attack, a smuggling network controlled by women to facilitate the movement of food and medicine from Nigerian-controlled areas to Biafra. Women developed other survival strategies and practiced market rotation to ensure that trade continued. Despite their efforts to combat starvation and resist destruction, the humanitarian crisis in Biafra had devastating consequences for them and their children, killing at least one million people.
Sublethal Effects of Pesticides on Bats: from Cells to Behaviour
Keywords: Behaviour
Biomarkers
Ecotoxicology
Neurotoxicity
Proteomics
Toxicokinetics

Pesticide use associated with agricultural intensification represents a threat for wildlife, particularly for non-target species. Insectivorous bats, for example, regularly forage in agricultural lands, providing valuable pest control services but potentially coming into contact with airborne pesticides and contaminated prey. Commonly used pesticides like organophosphates can impair essential physiological processes, threatening survival and long-term ecological function. Despite growing concern about these impacts, research on bats remains scarce, especially in vulnerable regions like the tropics. I studied the susceptibility of insectivorous bats to pesticide intake and the associated sublethal effects on their physiology and behavior. I used an integrative approach to evaluate risk of exposure, to study sublethal effects, and to test promising non-destructive biomarkers for monitoring pesticide exposure in free-living bats. I used big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) as a model for insectivorous species to study the effects of Chlorpyrifos (CPF), a commonly used and highly neurotoxic pesticide. Using a toxicokinetic mathematical model, I found that pesticide intake through skin is particularly important for bats, especially when foraging in arable crops like soybean and corn. Dermal exposure must therefore be included in future risk assessments. Using a set of robust biomarkers, I found neurotoxic effects at molecular (proteomics) and individual levels (behaviour) in bats exposed to an environmentally realistic dose of CPF. Proteins involved in synaptic function, plasticity, oxidative stress, and apoptosis were altered in exposed bats, which also showed reduced exploratory activity and impaired associative memory. These results give insights into the mechanisms of pesticide toxicity and the consequences in bats ecology. Finally, I combined laboratory and field experiments to evaluate the performance of different biomarkers. Micronuclei frequency, a genotoxicity biomarker, and cholinesterase activity, an exposure biomarker, were accurate indicators of toxicant effects in both settings. Leukocyte profiles and hair cortisol, however, were not informative endpoints of pesticide effects. Overall, my results show that combining multiple biomarkers provides stronger, more conclusive evidence of toxic effects of pollutants in wildlife. Understanding the mechanisms and effects at different levels of biological organization can enable researchers to better predict the implications for populations and communities and help to inform mitigation strategies.
Naalagiursaniq Tunnganarnirlu (Learning to Listen and be Welcoming): Engaging Inuit Perspectives on Timimut Ikajuqsivik (Rehabilitation Services) for Children in the Qikiqtani Region of Nunavut
Keywords: Child development
Health equity
Indigenous health
Inuit
Qualitative methodologies
Rehabilitation

Background: Timimut ikajuqsivik (or rehabilitation services in English) for children in the Qikiqtani Region of Nunavut is primarily delivered following mainstream Canadian practices informed by Eurocentric worldviews. Inuit have had little opportunity for their perspectives to inform timimut ikajuqsivik, limiting Inuit access to self-determination and cultural safety in this context. The primary objective of this study was to advance knowledge on how the timimut ikajuqsivik interests of Inuit children in this region can be understood and supported by foregrounding Inuit perspectives, knowledge and worldviews. Methodology: This qualitative study was organized according to the Piliriqatigiinniq Partnership Model for Community Health Research (Healey & Tagak, 2014) and supported by critical theory. The first manuscript (of four presented in this dissertation) describes the accountability framework created to support the bridging of Inuit worldviews and the critical paradigm in the study. Twenty-five participants from two Qikiqtani Region communities shared their knowledge to inform the study. Participatory analysis significantly shaped findings. Findings: Three manuscripts share research findings as follows: (1) proposing five Inuit knowledge concepts that can guide timimut ikajuqsivik; (2) highlighting Inuit knowledge about supporting childhood learning and skill building, and significant tensions between this knowledge and mainstream rehabilitation’s status quo; and (3) describing the importance of relationship-focused and contextually relevant practices to timimut ikajuqsivik moving forward together with Inuit toward reconciliation. The importance of relationships, learning to listen, being welcoming, and offering contextually relevant services, including Inuit providers and language, are highlighted across the findings. Critical analyses in each of the manuscripts describe how systems of inequity privilege Eurocentric perspectives and approaches on Inuit lands, and the negative impacts that can result. In making tensions and power dynamics visible, openings for change can be made. The dissertation concludes with a story of incorporating study learning into personal and professional actions. Conclusion: This thesis shares knowledge about coming together across differences to find ways to support sivumuaqatigiigniq saimmaqatigiinnikkut (moving forward together in reconciliation). With attention to redressing inequitable power dynamics that privilege Eurocentric perspectives over those of Inuit, opportunities abound for timimut ikajuqsivik to collaboratively support the interests of Inuit children and families.
Databound: Histories of Growing Up on the World Wide Web
Keywords: data
digital history
feminist ethics of care
platform studies
web archives
youth

For the past 30 years, young people have been growing up, existing, and producing data online. Their digital traces are distributed sporadically across the live and dead web, in corporately owned digital spaces, institutional holdings, and web archives. How these traces are theorized, studied, aggregated, deployed, or destroyed deserves increased public and academic attention. In this dissertation I argue that data is inextricably attached to people, both in the ways that it represents them and in the ways that they desire and deserve meaningful control over it. To this end, I propose an ethico-methodological intervention called an “archive promenade,” and developed Care Ethics Scaffolding for research with archived youth data that engages with feminist ethics of care to bring people back in relation with their data when researching the historical web. How an individual’s digital traces came to be, and the ways in which they are connected or distanced from their data, is explored throughout Chapters 3-5 where I demonstrate findings from my qualitative research project, called Early Internet Memories. In this project, I asked millennial participants (b. 1981-1996) who grew up in Canada to describe their memories of growing up online and the digital spaces that they once used to occupy. I also demonstrate how relationships between young people and the internet are not inevitable but rather constructed through government and commercial interests in promoting and creating an ideal child subject to support the growth and development of a new industry. These relationships were also multiple and varied, reflecting intersections of race, gender, class, age, and geographic location, which worked to differentiate many young people’s experiences and memories of the web. I argue that by exploring these histories of growing up online, we can see the processes by which people become databound: attached to the data they have produced throughout their lives in ways that they both can and cannot control through their ability to socially modulate and determine their information privacy. This framing assists in theorizing the long-term implications of online engagement, digital privacy, and the effects of datafication on life and livability on the web.