VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Understanding how Women Seek Health Information on the Web
Keywords: women's health
information seeking on the Web

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how women seek health information on the Web in relation to information source characteristics, situational characteristics, and socio-demographic characteristics. The Web is conceptualized as three facets that reflect the three main modes of seeking health information on the Web: websites; Web-based bulletin boards and chatrooms; and Web-based listservs and newsgroups. The lack of analytical research on this gendered online activity prompted this study. The conceptual framework is based primarily on theoretical foundations from two academic disciplines: information science and health sciences. The independent variables in the conceptual framework are health information need, family caregiving, perceived Web self efficacy, perceptions of the quality and accessibility of the Web as a source of health information, and socio-demographic variables. The dependent variable is intensity (frequency) of seeking health information on the Web (FSHIW). Data was collected from 264 women from November 2000 until April 2001 using a Web survey questionnaire. The participants were predominantly well educated, English-speaking Canadians. A subset of 27 survey respondents completed at least one additional component of this multi-method study. Perception of the reliability of the Web as a source of health information was identified as the key variable influencing frequency of seeking health information on the Web (FSHIW). As well, perceived information source reliability was correlated with two information source characteristics, perceived information source relevance and cognitive access. Two situational variables, health information need and family caregiving, were weakly correlated with FSHIW. Three socio-demographic variables – racial identity, household income, and occupation – affected FSHIW. Qualitative interview data, Web use journals, and recordings of Web use sessions provided a contextualized understanding of the survey data. In particular, they highlighted the importance of situational and affective relevance. To-date, very few empirical research studies have been conducted on how women seek health information on the Web. This unique multi-method study contributes to a better understanding of women’s use of the Web as a source of health information for resolving personal health problems and caring for family members by identifying key variables that affect the frequency of this online behaviour and contextualizing these variables.
Contributions towards a Fine Structure Theory of Aronszajn Orderings.
Keywords: trees
linear orderings

The purpose of this thesis is to add to the structure theory of Aronszajn orderings. We shall focus essentially in four topics. The first topic of discussion is about the relation between Lipschitz and coherent trees. I will demonstrate that the tree T(ρ0) is coherent without any extra set theoretic hypothesis. The second topic presents an application of Todorcevic's ρ functions to provide some partial answers to an old question of Juhaz asking whether a standard weakening of Jensen's diamond principle implies the existence of a Suslin tree. In the third topic we focus on providing a satisfactory rough classification result of the class of Aronszajn lines. Our main result is that, assuming PFA, the class of Aronszajn lines is well-quasi-ordered by embeddability. The last topic is an investigation of the gap structure of the class of coherent Aronszajn trees. I will show that, assuming PFA, the class of coherent Aronszajn trees quasi-ordered by embeddability is the unique saturated linear order of cardinality [special characters omitted].
The 1990 Kirpan Case: Cultural Conflict and the Development of Equity Policy in the Peel District School Board
Keywords: kirpan
religious accommodation
Sikh
Peel District School Board
equity policy
human rights

In 1990, a case came before the Ontario Human Rights Commission involving the collision of a religious rights policy enshrined in the Ontario Human Rights Code 1981 and a Peel Board of Education disciplinary policy prohibiting weapons including the kirpan, a dagger-like article of religious faith worn by baptized Sikhs. Harbhajan Singh Pandori claimed infringement of his religious rights as a Sikh under the Code. In a joint complaint, the Ontario Human Rights Commission alleged the Code had been violated in a Peel Board policy restricting the religious rights of Sikhs by prohibiting the kirpan. Attempts to mediate between complainant Sikhs and the Peel Board failed. The dispute went before an Ontario Human Rights Commission tribunal adjudicated by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut who ruled that the kirpan was a religious symbol and could be worn to school subject to restrictions. The Pandori kirpan case illustrates the complexity of resolving issues of cultural and religious conflict in public institutions undergoing demographic change. Significant to the kirpan case were Canadian immigration policy changes which eliminated race and ethnicity from admission criteria. As a result, the Region of Peel witnessed significant intake of immigrants including Sikhs, some of whom insisted on their right to wear a kirpan. The extensive public debate that followed afforded valuable insight on the political process of policy-making in education and accommodating diversity in public educational institutions. The debate also set the stage for the development of the Peel Board’s equity policy documents--Manifesting Encouraging and Respectful Environments and The Future We Want launched in 2000. Despite the new equity documents, some observers have remarked that institutional change is slow unless pressure is applied by the courts or the Ontario Human Rights Commission. While the kirpan issue has been put to rest in Canada, issues of competing rights continue to challenge Canadians. The kirpan case demonstrates that balancing competing rights in a multicultural society is an ongoing struggle with no final resolution. In the twenty-first century, as Canada continues to diversify, debates concerning accommodation continue to be reflected in the public schools.
Discourse, Governance and Subjectivity: Interdisciplinarity and Knowledge-making in Engineering and in Medicine
Keywords: interdisciplinarity
knowledge-making
globalization
faculty
discourse analysis
engineering
medicine

Governments across the world rationalize interdisciplinarity as an effective strategy for answering complex problems of social importance, drawing on large investments of resources to technical and biomedical sectors. I have identified this rationale as part of specific discursive relations and subsequently troubled its dominance through an exploration of how it has been authorized, and how faculty and administrators negotiate subjectification in engineering and medicine where this discourse dominates. Neo-liberal approaches to knowledge-production are deconstructed and analyzed. An archive was assembled of key texts pertaining to interdisciplinarity including documents produced by the OECD, the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments, the University of Toronto (UofT), academics and the popular press. A Foucauldian discourse analysis of these texts provided a specific historical context for interviews conducted with 20 faculty and administrators identified as interdisciplinary knowledge-makers. Subsequently, a situated analysis of how discourse is embodied and experienced was developed and applied to the whole archive. Four inter-related concepts were identified as making-up the popular discourse of interdisciplinarity: diversify-collaborate-innovate-integrate. According to this narrative, knowledge-makers are expected to diversify through collaboration in order to innovate and produce knowledge that is useful and marketable. From the discovery of insulin to the establishment of the MaRS discovery district, knowledge-making examples from UofT are analyzed to identify the social relations that make the idea possible that researchers should address problems of ‘relevance’. I argue that interdisciplined subjects are ‘facilitated’ to fulfill this popular narrative by management approaches that capitalize on intrinsic notions of ‘making-a-difference’. Concurrently, different narratives of interdisciplinarity are embodied and promoted as individuals negotiate ontological and epistemological issues in their daily practice. This research contributes to the refinement of Foucauldian discourse analysis, and informs scholarship on the effects of neoliberal approaches to knowledge-making and the professionalization projects of engineering and medicine.
Development of Brain-machine Interfaces
Keywords: brain-machine interface
BMI
brain-computer interface
BCI
assistive technology
rehabilitation

A brain-machine interface (BMI) uses signals from the brain to control electronic devices. One application of this technology is the control of assistive devices to facilitate movement after paralysis. Ideally, the BMI would identify an intended movement and control an assistive device to produce the desired movement. To implement such a system, it is necessary to identify different movements involving a single limb and users must be able to issue commands at any instant instead of only during specific time windows determined by the BMI itself. A novel processing technique to identify voluntary movements using only four electrodes is presented. Histograms containing the spectral components of intracranial neural signals displaying power changes correlated with movement were unique for each of three movements performed with one limb. Off-line classification of the histograms allowed the identification of the performed movement with an accuracy of 89%. This movement identification system was interfaced with a neuroprosthesis for grasping, fitted to a tetraplegic individual. The user pressed a button triggering the random selection and classification of a brain signal previously recorded intracranially from a different person while performing specific arm movements. Correct identification of the movement triggered grasping functions. Movement identification accuracy was 94% allowing successful operation of the neuroprosthesis. Finally, two BMIs for the real-time asynchronous control of two-dimensional movements were created using a single electrode. One EEG-based system was tested by a healthy participant. A second system was implemented and tested using recordings from an individual undergoing clinical intracranial electrode implantation. The users modulated their 7 Hz-13 Hz oscillatory rhythm through motor imagery. A power decrease below a threshold activated a ``brain-switch''. This switch was coupled with a novel asynchronous control strategy to control a miniature remotely-controlled vehicle as well as a computer cursor. Successful operation of the EEG system required 6 hrs of training. ECoG control was achieved after only 15 minutes. The operation of the BMI was simple enough to allow users to focus on the task at hand rather than on the actual operation of the BMI.
Nanoparticles for Cancer Detection and Therapy: Towards Diagnostic Applications of Quantum Dots and Rational Design of Drug Delivery Vehicles
Keywords: nanoparticles
cancer detection
cancer therapy
targeted drug delivery
quantum dots
phage display

This thesis describes observations, techniques and strategies, which contribute towards the development of nanoparticle based detection and treatment of cancer. Quantum dots and biorecognition molecules were studied towards applications in detection and microgels were used in the rational design of a targeted drug delivery vehicle. The fluorescence intensity of quantum dots was examined in buffers commonly used in molecular biology. The fluorescence intensity of ZnS-capped CdSe quantum dots (QDs) was found to vary significantly, depending on the amount of ZnS capping on the QDs or the concentration, pH and type of buffer the QDs were in. Since fluorescence cannot reliably be used to quantify QDs, an alternative quantification method was developed, which does not rely on their fluorescence. This method employs phage display to identify nanoparticle-specific bacteriophage which were then applied in an assay to quantify QDs in environments where absorbance or fluorescence spectroscopy are ineffective. Biorecognition molecules, which can direct nanoparticles to a molecular target, were also identified through phage display. Phage display on whole cells was used to identify a peptide, which was conjugated with QDs to stain HeLa (cervical cancer) cells. A high-throughput phage display screening strategy was also developed, which could enable the simultaneous identification of multiple biorecognition molecules from a single library. QD-encoded microbead barcodes were conjugated to protein targets and then used to screen a phage display library. The beads and the binding phage were then separated using flow cytometry and fluorescence assisted cell sorting. Finally, biorecognition molecules were combined with nanoparticles to create drug delivery vehicles, which were designed to protect, deliver and then release chemotherapeutic drugs through an intracellular pH trigger. PolyNIPAAm and chitosan hydrogels, under 200 nm in diameter, were loaded with chemotherapeutic drugs, conjugated to transferrin and tested in vitro on HeLa cells. These projects demonstrate the great potential in this growing field as well as some of the many challenges that have yet to be overcome.
GSK-3 Inhibition: A Novel Approach to Sensitization of Chemo-resistant Pancreatic Cancer Cells
Keywords: Oncology
Molecular therapeutics
Pancreas
GSK-3

The aggressive nature of pancreatic cancer, characterized by invasiveness, resistance to treatment, rapid progression, and its high prevalence in the population urges the need for developing more effective treatments. Many studies have attributed resistance to therapeutics of pancreatic cancer to activity of the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). NF-kB is regulated by the serine/threonine kinase glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3). GSK-3 is a key mediator of pathways such as insulin, wnt, and PI3K/Akt and has roles in proliferation, glucose metabolism, apoptosis, motility and neuroprotection. Depending on the cellular context, GSK-3 activity can promote or inhibit cell survival. GSK-3 inhibition was recently reported to have anti-cancer effects against pancreatic cancer cells. This effect was in part attributed to suppression of NF-kB. In this thesis, I showed that while blocking GSK-3 disrupts NF-kB, and has anti-survival effects on pancreatic cancer cells, it does not sensitize to the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine. NF-kB inhibition by curcumin also resulted in similar effects. These results questions previous reports that NF-kB activation plays a major role in chemo-resistance of pancreatic cancer. The inhibition of NF-kB by genetic disruption of GSK-3 was previously reported to sensitize mouse embryonic fibroblasts and hepatocytes to TNF-alpha cytotoxicity. I therefore tested whether GSK-3 inhibition could sensitize pancreatic cancer cells to apoptosis induced by the clinically applicable member of the TNF-alpha family, TNF-alpha related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL). In contrast to the results obtained with gemcitabine, the combination of genetic or pharmacological inhibition of GSK-3 and TRAIL was found to be highly synergistic in apoptosis induction. Analysis of the apoptotic mechanisms, point towards effects of GSK-3 inhibition on caspase-8 activation, consistent with inhibition of the death receptor signalling pathway. It was found that not only caspase-8 but also mitochondrial anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 were mediating the TRAIL sensitization. Furthermore, for the first time the in vivo effects of GSK-3 inhibition in combination with TRAIL treatment was investigated. The results indicate a significant enhancement of apoptosis in pancreatic cancer xenografts with minimal toxic effects. Together, these studies provide a rationale for developing combination treatments based on GSK3 inhibition and TRAIL death receptor activation to treat pancreatic cancer.
Girls' Education as a Means or End of Development? A Case Study of Gender and Education Policy Knowledge and Action in the Gambia
Keywords: girls' education
gender equality
policy transfer
policy borrowing
public policy
feminism
development
social justice
transformative education
human capabilities
human rights
knowledge
sub-Saharan Africa
meaning
qualitative
ethnography
policy analysis

Girls’ education has been promoted by the international development community for over two decades; however, it has proven harder to promote gender equality through education than it has been to promote gender parity in education. Of significance is the global circulation and co-existence of two competing rationales for the importance of girls’ education: economic efficiency and social justice. The cost of ignoring how and why Southern governments and their development partners choose to promote girls’ education is high: an over-emphasis on economic efficiency can mean that the root causes of gendered inequalities in society remain unchallenged, and more social justice-oriented reforms become marginalized. This thesis uses a critical feminist lens to qualitatively investigate the role and significance of human capital, human rights, and human capabilities policy models in the context of the production and enactment of gender equality in education policy knowledge in The Gambia, a small, aid-dependent Muslim nation in West Africa. The purpose of the study was to assess the scope education policies provide for positive change in the lives of Gambian women and girls. Towards illuminating relations of power in and the politics of gender equality in education policy processes, the study compares and contrasts written texts with the perspectives of state and non-state policy actors. The study is based on data drawn from interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis. The findings suggest that different gender equality in education ideas and practices have been selectively mobilized and incorporated into education policy processes in The Gambia. At the level of policy talk, girls’ education is framed as important for both national economic growth, and “women’s empowerment”. However, the policy solutions designed and implemented, with the support of donors, have tended to work with rather than against the status quo. Power and politics was evident in divergent interpretations and struggles to fix the meaning of key concepts such as gender, gender equality, gender equity, and empowerment. Religious beliefs, anti-feminist politics, and the national feminist movement were identified as important forces shaping gender equality in education knowledge and action in the country.
Effects of Enteroendocrine Hormones on Beta-cell Function and Glucose Homeostasis
Keywords: diabetes
beta-cell
incretin
GLP-1
GIP

Mechanisms to augment the cellular function and mass of beta-cells may be effective means of treating type 2 diabetes. Important in the physiological control of beta-cell function and nutrient disposal are factors released from gut enteroendocrine cells during nutrient digestion. In enteroendocrine L-cells, post-translational processing of proglucagon gives rise to a number of proglucagon-derived peptides. One such peptide, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), acts via its own receptor (GLP-1R) to stimulate beta-cell insulin secretion, proliferation and survival. Another, oxyntomodulin (OXM), weakly activates the GLP-1R and inhibits food intake in a GLP-1R-dependent manner in rodents, which led us to hypothesize that OXM modulates GLP-1R-dependent glucoregulation. While OXM did not mimic the inhibitory effect of GLP-1 on gastric emptying in mice, OXM stimulated insulin secretion, beta-cell survival and improved glucose tolerance in a GLP-1R-dependent manner. In a similar manner to GLP-1, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), secreted from enteroendocrine K-cells, physiologically stimulates insulin secretion via a distinct GIP receptor (GIPR) in beta-cells. Beyond the beta-cell, GIP and GLP-1 appear to exert divergent actions for the control of glucose homeostasis. Moreover, I illustrate that physiological and pharmacological GLP-1R signalling may be comparatively more important for the preservation of beta-cell mass and glucose homeostasis in murine streptozotocin-induced diabetes. Lastly, studies in rodents and humans have showed that metformin increases circulating levels of GLP-1, leading us to hypothesize that GIP and GLP-1 may be involved in the glucoregulatory effects of metformin. Interestingly, transcripts for the Glp1r and Gipr were significantly increased within islets of metformin-treated mice, and metformin treatment enhanced the sensitivity of cultured beta-cells to GIP and GLP-1. In summary, these studies illustrate mechanisms by which enteroendocrine peptides compare and contrast with respect to beta-cell survival and function and the control of glucose homeostasis.
Essays on Empirical Dynamic Games and Imperfect Information
Keywords: Economics

This thesis collects three papers that study applied problems in economics dealing with dynamic strategic behavior and imperfect information. In the first chapter I study the relationship between participation in United Nations Human Rights Treaties (HRT), foreign aid receipts and domestic human rights institutions. I provide empirical evidence that countries with relatively high HRT participation rates receive more foreign aid. Further, countries with high quality institutions are more likely to participate in HRTs, but that high levels of HRT participation leads to a decline in the quality of domestic human rights institutions. Based on these findings, I propose and estimate a dynamic game of HRT ratification. The estimates show that economic factors play an important role in HRT ratification and that the ratification costs countries incur vary significantly across treaties and country regime types. I use the estimated model to evaluate the effects of counterfactual policies on HRT ratification decisions, human rights behavior, and the distribution of foreign aid. The second chapter considers environmental regulation under imperfect information and political constraints. We compare the value of two types of information to a regulator: the cost of pollution and the profitability of firms in the economy. We find that in environments where small increases in the losses to regulated firms greatly affect the regulator's ability to implement the policy, it is most valuable to learn the types of firms, while it is most valuable to learn the cost of pollution when small increases in losses are relatively ineffectual. The third chapter deals with the identification and estimation of dynamic games when players maximize expected payoffs given beliefs about other players' actions, but their beliefs may not be in equilibrium. First, we derive conditions for point-identification of structural parameters and players' beliefs, and propose a simple two-step estimation method and sequential generalization of the method that improves its asymptotic and finite sample properties. We also present a procedure for testing the null hypothesis of equilibrium beliefs. Finally, we illustrate our model and methods with an application of a dynamic game of store location by retail chains.