VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Mimetic Shame: Fictions of the Self in Postcolonial Literature
Keywords: hage
mda
naipaul
postcolonial
race
shame

This study considers how shame is rendered within postcolonial literature. Moving away from trauma-centered approaches that typically read shame as “unrepresentable,” the central idea driving my analysis is that shame’s multiple significance in the “real world” can be traced through parallel literary iterations. The synthesis reached by the multiple correspondences between social, psychological, physiological, and textual domains suggests a mode of representation that I call “mimetic shame.” I argue that literature about shame achieves mimesis on three registers, each connecting lived experiences of shame with a specific textual counterpart. The first of these registers indexes shame’s corporeal symptoms—how shame announces itself through uncomfortable physical responses. Novels frequently signify embodied symptoms via single literary devices, such as metaphors or prosodies. The second register encapsulates the historical events that prompt shame, whereas mimetic shame’s third register correlates to the social dynamics of shame, conveying the inflections of ashamed intra- and inter-subjective relationships via overarching textual elements such as narration, focalization, intertextuality, and genre. Together, these three registers archive what lies between representation and “original” experience. After developing my theory and laying out a “typology” for my approach, I examine mimetic shame in three novels: V.S. Naipaul’s The Mimic Men, Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying, and Rawi Hage’s Cockroach. These works portray certain bleak characterizations of colonial and postcolonial subjectivity—the mimic, the zealot, and the scourge—but the techniques structuring these figurations also expose shame as a repressive apparatus within the colonial project. Thus, because of the dialogic nature of novelistic writing, mimesis both captures real experiences of shame and disperses new meanings about shame, inviting readers to imaginatively reframe the affective futures of postcolonial subjectivity. Despite the urgency underscoring Frantz Fanon’s desperate appeal to all subjects to cast off the shame formed by the alienating histories of colonization, shame as a topic of serious consideration continues to evade analysis within postcolonial studies. My dissertation attempts to remedy this oversight, turning especially to Jacques Lacan’s theory of split subjectivity and Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks’s argument about a vision-centered system of identification to argue about the productive interfaces between social worlds, intersubjectivity, and textuality.
Conceptualizing and Responding to Trauma Among Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
Keywords: Intersectionality
Intimate Partner Violence
Qualitative Methods
Social Work
Trauma

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent worldwide problem with devastating outcomes. Trauma is one particularly concerning outcome of IPV that requires further understanding. Despite a growing recognition of the traumatic impacts of IPV, there is scant research investigating how women who have experienced IPV understand and experience trauma, from an intersectional perspective. In response, this dissertation explores women’s views of IPV-related trauma in connection to other experiences in their lives. Methods: This dissertation employed an intersectional, qualitative design, using a constructivist grounded theory approach to address the following over-arching research questions: 1) How is trauma conceptualized and experienced among women who have experienced IPV; and 2) From the perspectives of women who have experienced IPV, how do counselling services respond to IPV and IPV-related trauma? Fifteen women who experienced IPV and had attended one or more related counselling session at social service and/or counselling settings in southern Ontario, Canada participated in in-depth individual interviews. Theoretical sampling ensured a diverse sample (range of IPV experiences, geographic/service locations, social locations, identities). Interviewing continued until the identification of theoretical saturation, when no new themes were identified. Memoing, reflexive journaling, and iterative stages of coding (line by line, initial, focused) formed the basis of data analysis. Results: The results of the study produced this three paper dissertation: 1) constructing theory on women’s intersectional experiences of trauma and IPV; 2) developing knowledge on how service providers can better meet the needs of IPV survivors and respond to trauma; and 3) providing implications for future intersectional and trauma-related research. Implications: This dissertation provides important practice, policy, and research implications. First, this dissertation provides an in-depth understanding of IPV-related trauma from an intersectional lens. Second, it provides guidance to service providers on responding to IPV and trauma in ways that address the complexity of women’s lives. Third, it demonstrates that an intersectional lens is long overdue in trauma-related and other social work research. From the perspectives of women affected by IPV, this dissertation illustrates the complexity of experiences of IPV-related trauma, and the next steps needed to address this trauma in more comprehensive ways.
Activity in the left angular gyrus tracks recollection and prior knowledge
Keywords: Angular gyrus
Default Mode Network
fMRI
Memory
Prior knowledge
Recollection

Separate lines of evidence from human neuroimaging have implicated the left angular gyrus (AG) in our ability to recollect specific past episodes and our ability to access general prior knowledge. This poses an important question regarding the nature of the mnemonic content tracked by the left AG: is this region sensitive to recollection, prior knowledge, or overall mnemonic content from either source? In this dissertation, I report three experiments that examine the interplay between recollection and prior knowledge in behaviour and in the univariate activity of the left AG. I argue that the anatomical position of the left AG, as a region of heteromodal association cortex, would predict an integrative role in tracking both types of mnemonic content simultaneously. Chapter 2 describes a series of behavioural studies examining whether general prior knowledge can support task-specific recollection. Participants performed a recognition task on famous and non-famous faces using the remember-know paradigm. The availability of prior knowledge at encoding (i.e., fame) was found to significantly improve recollection, highlighting their interplay. Chapter 3 describes a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study testing whether the left AG was sensitive to prior knowledge and recollection within the same individuals. Region PGp of the left AG was sensitive to both recollection and prior knowledge independently at retrieval, and was most strongly recruited when both types of mnemonic content were available simultaneously. Chapter 4 examined the role of the left AG during encoding using subsequent memory for famous and non-famous faces. The left AG (region PGp) showed sensitivity to prior knowledge (i.e., fame) during encoding; unlike retrieval, however, recollection was associated with reduced activity relative to non- recollected trials irrespective of fame. Overall, I argue that these data provide clear evidence that the left AG is primarily driven by processes occurring during retrieval, when we sample existing internal representations from memory as opposed to when we sample the external environment (e.g., encoding). Critically, activity in the left AG is best described as tracking both specific recollections and general prior knowledge, reflecting access to internal mnemonic content irrespective of its relevance to ongoing task performance.
Characterizing Vertebrate Rhodopsin Natural Variation in Evolution, Function, and Disease
Keywords: disease
eye
retina
rhodopsin
vision
visual pigments

Vertebrate dim light vision is mediated by the rod visual pigment, rhodopsin, a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily of proteins. In the dark, rhodopsin is covalently bound to a vitamin A-derived 11-cis chromophore, which acts as an inverse agonist to stabilize the inactive state of rhodopsin. When exposed to light of a maximal wavelength (λmax), the 11-cis retinal chromophore isomerizes to an all-trans conformation, initiating a series of structural shifts to the light-activated state of rhodopsin. This results in a signalling cascade within the rod photoreceptor cell and, ultimately, the perception of light. The goal of this thesis is to investigate natural variation in rhodopsin function in the context of evolutionary adaptation, chromophore usage, and disease mutations. Following a general introduction, in Chapter II, I characterize the visual system of the diurnal colubrid snake Pituophis melanoleucus using immunohistochemistry of retinal sections and spectroscopy of purified visual pigments expressed in vitro, revealing an unusual rhodopsin with cone opsin properties found in cone-like rod photoreceptors. In Chapter III, I investigate the effects of the rare vertebrate chromophore, 11-cis 3,4 dehydroretinal (A2), on the spectral and non-spectral properties of rhodopsin. In Chapters IV and V, I study the effects of pathogenic mutations in rhodopsin that cause the retinal degenerative disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP). In Chapter IV of my thesis, I identify the phenotype of RP mutations found in the extracellular loop 2 of rhodopsin and assess the effects of functional rescue using two different approaches. Finally, in Chapter V, I characterize three novel RP mutations to investigate the relationship between the in vitro and clinical disease phenotypes. The investigations in this thesis expand our understanding of snake retinal evolution, the role of the chromophore in rhodopsin function, and the effect of pathogenic mutations on rhodopsin structure and function. This thesis combines data from non-model organisms, non-mammalian chromophores, and non-wildtype pathogenic mutations to significantly increase our understanding of the scope of rhodopsin functionality.
Eye Movements Relate to Episodic Detail Retrieval during Recall of Autobiographical Memories
Keywords: autobiographical memory
ecological validity
episodic memory
eye movement monitoring
eye movements
working memory

Eye movements have been shown to benefit the encoding and retrieval of memories in laboratory experiments. However, the ecological validity of laboratory memory is questionable, necessitating the use of naturalistic methods to assess episodic autobiographical memory (AM) – recollection of past events from people’s everyday lives. Several studies have related eye movements to AM, but with notable limitations, including a lack of eye movement monitoring (EMM) and the use of subjective methods. The goal of this dissertation was to examine whether eye movements benefitted recall of AMs using EMM in combination with an objective measure – the Autobiographical Interview – which quantifies the number of details recalled. I developed a novel EMM paradigm in which participants recalled AMs while viewing a blank screen according to (1) free viewing and (2) fixed viewing conditions. In Experiment 1, a working memory task was used to validate that free and fixed viewing were comparable in their demands on executive resources, as compared to a finger-tapping condition in which participants demonstrated reduced accuracy on the task. In Experiment 2, participants recalled self-selected AMs during free and fixed viewing. Fixation rate was predictive of the number of internal (episodic) but not external (non-episodic) details recalled across both viewing conditions. In Experiment 3, I tested recall of a staged event to see if individual differences in AM moderated the effect of fixations on internal details. High AM individuals demonstrated the positive effect of fixations on number of internal (not external) details observed in Experiment 2, whereas low AM individuals did not show a relationship between eye movements and recall. Overall, eye movements appear to relate to retrieval of episodic details during AM recall, possibly through exploration of recollected visual images. In anatomical studies, connectivity between oculomotor, memory, and posterior visual regions suggest neural network that could mediate the relationship of eye movements, memory retrieval, and possibly mental imagery. As a next step in this research, neuroimaging studies are needed to assess this hypothesized mechanism linking eye movements to AM.
Deep Adaptation: A Framework for Climate Resilience, Decarbonization, and Planetary Health in Ontario
Keywords: adaptation
climate change
green infrastructure
health equity
mitigation

The focus of this doctoral thesis is the development of a comprehensive framework for Deep Adaptation in Ontario through the implementation of green infrastructure. Green infrastructure may be described as a series of networks of green space that provide various ecosystem services. Examples of green infrastructure include green roofs, growing roofs, green walls, urban vegetation and forestry, wetlands, stormwater and retention ponds, rain gardens, bioswales, hedgerows, riparian buffers, woodlots, and tree-based intercropping systems in agricultural settings. This research provides a clear understanding of how green infrastructure works as a complex intervention, its characteristics, the metrics for performance and regulatory enforcement, and the multiple co-benefits that can be leveraged if green infrastructure is strategically applied. This framework for Deep Adaptation has been developed using an interdisciplinary approach supported by systematic review: health equity impact assessment, regulatory impact assessment, controlled field study, and logic modelling to demonstrate green infrastructure as a complex adaptation intervention that moderates harm and capitalizes on beneficial opportunities, in addition to evaluating its capacity as an intervention to perform the dual function of both climate change adaptation and mitigation. This Deep Adaptation framework has the potential to mainstream complex adaptation by examining green infrastructure as a complex intervention using the multiple lenses of urban design, land-use planning, public policy, and public health.
Sameness and Difference in Canada and the UK: Interrogating whiteness as a categorical marker within interpretative matrices of inclusion and exclusion
Keywords: Exclusion
Identity
Inclusion
Migration
Nationality
Whiteness

This dissertation contests the ontological social work interpretations addressing issues of societal inclusion and exclusion for migrant populations. Outcomes of societal advantage and disadvantage, of privilege and oppression, as the colloquial social work jargon designates, resulting from distributive inclusionary-exclusionary processes, are generally abstracted on identitarian categorical markers (i.e., gender, class, race) and subsequently interpreted through intersectional matrices of analysis. Categorical whiteness, taken as a fixed classification to denote fair skin colour possessed by those originating from Caucasian racial ancestries, particularly from European ethnic backgrounds, has grown to represent the universal marker grounding analyses of privilege. Yet the assumption that whiteness is the same (i.e., European, biologically marked by skin colour and privileged) across the globe, in every social circumstance, and universally traversing national communities of value, is highly problematic, since interpretations of categorical markers depend on particular geo-political and national referential frames. In comparing and contrasting the inclusionary and exclusionary logic determining aspects of societal marginalization for two populations, skilled migrants to Canada, and Romanian and Bulgarian migrants to United Kingdom (UK), this dissertation demonstrates that: 1) a universal taxonomy of whiteness as explanatory for outcomes of inclusion and exclusion does not hold within transnational contexts; 2) current understandings of ontological whiteness are constructed on a false epistemological presumption of equivalence that synonymizes colonialism with Europeanness, Europeanness with whiteness, and whiteness with colonialism; 3) the theory of intersectionality, generally used to contextualize particular outcomes of privilege and oppression, is limited in analyzing inclusionary-exclusionary processes; and it proposes, in turn: 4) the adoption of a sameness-difference dialectical reasoning to guide inclusionary/exclusionary analyses for transnational migrant populations.
Adaptive Sense-Making: The Effects of Sensory Modification on Audience Perception
Keywords: dramaturgy
enactive cognition
immersive theatre
one-to-one performance
practice-based research
sensory modification

This study investigates contemporary immersive, participatory, and interactive performance to evaluate the affective and perceptual effects of manipulating audience members’ sensory experience. It takes as its starting point my subjective, phenomenological experience of a one-to-one performance that centred on holding hands, which prompted critical reflection about ways of systematically observing, evaluating, and categorizing discrete effects of intimate, sensory-focused dramaturgical strategies within a performance research context. By bringing into conversation knowledge from perception research, theory of mind, and performance studies, I establish a framework for investigating the relationship between artistic intentions and audience experience. Building on established Practice-Based Research methods, my dissertation develops a distinct, experimental model for testing the effects of “sensory modification.” It is informed by eight artist interviews connected to seven different case study productions that foreground sensory experience. Through three sets of comparative one-to-one performance experiments facilitated by five actors, I gathered qualitative data from seventy-four volunteer participants about their physical, sensory, and affective experiences. These outcomes reveal trends in how audience members respond to sensory modification: it impacts their perception of properties of space, their attention to live versus recorded sounds, their body awareness, their relationship to the performer, and the quality of their affective and imaginative experiences. My engagement with this topic is ultimately dramaturgical in nature. The value of my observations lies in extractable utility, where key discoveries can be used in both creation and analysis of performance. Through its focused articulation of process-oriented methodology and outcomes, this study presents a robust and multifaceted approach for accessing knowledge about the complex dynamics of contemporary, sensory-focused performance. This inquiry is timely for its consideration of how we think critically about alternative ways to perceive artistic work and how the physical presence and activity of audiences generates and informs innovative experiential performance.
An Image-Guided Computational Framework for Intraoperative Fluorescence Quantification
Keywords: Biophotonics
Cancer Surgery
Computational Light Transport
Fluorescence Quantification
Image-Guided Surgery
Intraoperative Imaging

Fluorescence-guided surgery uses molecular agents that target tumors, lymph nodes, or blood vessels. Optical devices measure fluorescence light emissions from these functional biomarkers to help surgeons differentiate diseased and healthy anatomy. Clinical indications for fluorescence guidance continue to expand, and are being spurred by the rapid development of new agents that improve biological targeting. To capitalize fully on these advances, there is a corresponding need to engineer high-resolution imaging systems that provide objective measurements of fluorescence. The key innovation in this thesis is the development of a computational framework for image-guided fluorescence quantification. The underlying principle is to directly incorporate spatial localization of patient anatomy and optical devices into multi-stage models of fluorescence light transport. This technique leverages technology for intraoperative cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging and surgical navigation to account for tissue deformation and surgical excision. A novel calibration algorithm enables real-time compensation for fluorescence variations due to illumination inhomogeneities, tissue topography, and camera response. In endoscopic images of realistic oral cavity phantoms, navigated light transport modeling not only improved fluorescence quantification accuracy at the tissue surface, but also reduced tissue misclassification in a simulated model of surgical decision making (e.g., tumor vs. normal, perfused vs. necrotic) in comparison to an unguided approach. The image-guidance framework was also applied to a finite-element implementation of diffuse fluorescence tomography. Camera and laser tracking enabled adaptive, non-contact acquisition. Sub-surface spatial priors from CBCT imaging improved the depth-resolved spatial resolution and fluorescence quantification accuracy in liquid phantom experiments. These investigations elucidate the deleterious effects of view-dependent illumination inhomogeneities and depth-dependent diffuse tissue transport on fluorescence quantification accuracy. Moreover, the direct use of 3D data from a CBCT-guided surgical navigation system in computational light transport models improves fluorescence quantification and tissue classification accuracy in pre-clinical experiments. Future clinical translation of these fluorescence-guided surgery techniques is an essential next step to further assess the potential impact on intraoperative decision making and cancer patient care.