VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A Critical Reappraisal of Self-learning in Health Professions Education: Directed Self-guided Learning Using Simulation Modalities
Keywords: simulation
goal setting
metacognition
health professions education
self-monitoring
directed self-guided learning

Context: Self-learning (i.e., students learning independently) and clinical simulation are essential components in contemporary health professions education (HPE). Self-learning is discussed often, yet the concept is seldom the target of rigorous study. Likewise, simulation modalities are abundant, though educational theory that guides their use in HPE remains elusive. Objectives: This dissertation investigates the effects of directed self-guided learning (DSGL) on novice health professions students’ skill acquisition, retention, and transfer in the context of simulation-based education. The objective is to explore how the combination of external direction and student self-guidance influences: students’ cognitive and metacognitive processes, students’ interactions with the learning environment and available resources, and how students learn in different DSGL contexts. Methods: Three research studies used randomized, controlled experimental designs to address five hypotheses. All studies included a performance assessment one-week after the initial practice session that evaluated skill retention and/or skill transfer. Data analysis employed univariate and multivariate analyses of variance and correlational techniques. Results: Regarding students’ cognitive and metacognitive processes, the data show a relation between DSGL and goal-setting. The results suggest that self-guided students benefit when they are directed to set goals related to performance processes, rather than performance outcomes. Regarding the learning environment, when students are directed to practice on simulators that increase progressively in fidelity (i.e., realism) they self-guide their advancement between those simulators effectively and display successful skill transfer. Finally, self-guided students that controlled their learning progression and learning sequence selected the theoretically most appropriate practice schedule (i.e., progressive learning). Students in this latter group seemed able, surprisingly, to direct their own self-guidance. Conclusions: This dissertation adds support to the hypothesis that self-guided students benefit due to their autonomy in controlling practice conditions to meet their own learning needs. Thus, the question of whether or not DSGL is effective, becomes how best to augment the DSGL experience. The instructional design of elements such as goals lists and task structuring (e.g., progressive increases in simulator fidelity) represent techniques that an educator can use to fulfill the role of director in a student’s SGL.
The Black Oneness Church in Perspective
Keywords: Black Church
Spirituality
Caribbean Diaspora
Religion
Black Culture
Black Religion
Black Spirituality
whiteness as theology
religious spirituality
black identity

This qualitative study examines the social, spiritual and political role the Black Oneness Churches play in Black communities. It also provides an anti-colonial examination of the Afro-Caribbean Oneness churches to understand how it functioned in the formation and defense of the emerging Black communities for the period 1960-1980. This project is based on qualitative interviews and focus groups conducted with Black Clergy and Black women in the Oneness church of the Greater Toronto area. This study is based on the following four objectives: 1. Understanding the central importance of the Black Oneness Pentecostal Church post 1960 to Black communities. 2. Providing a voice for those of the Black Church that are currently underrepresented in academic scholarship. 3. Examining how the Black Church responds to allegations of its own complicities in colonial practices. 4. Engage spirituality as a legitimate location and space from which to know and resist colonization. The study also introduces an emerging framework entitled: Whiteness as Theology. This framework is a critique of the theological discourse of Whiteness and the enduring relevance of the Black Church in a pluralistic Afro-Christian culture. The data collected reveal that while the Black Church operated as a social welfare institution that assisted thousands of new black immigrants, the inception of the church was political and in protest to racism. Hence, the Black Church is a product of white racism, migration and colonization. The paradox of the Black Church lies in its complicity in colonization while also creating religious forms of resistance. For example, the inception of the Afro-Caribbean Oneness Church was an anti-colonial response to the racism in the White Church. But 40 years later, the insidious nature of colonization has weaved through the church and “prosperity theology” as an impetus of colonialism has reshaped the social justice role of Black Churches.
Microstructural Strengthening Mechanisms in Micro-truss Periodic Cellular Metals
Keywords: Cellular metals
Micro-truss
Electrodeposition
Nanocrystalline metal
In-situ work hardening
Deformation forming
Microstructure

This thesis investigates the effect of microstructural strengthening mechanisms on the overall mechanical performance of micro-truss periodic cellular metals (PCMs). Prior to the author’s work, the primary design considerations of micro-truss PCMs had been topological issues, i.e. the architectural arrangement of the load-supporting ligaments. Very little attention had been given to investigate the influence of microstructural effects within the cellular ligaments. Of the four broad categories of strengthening mechanisms in metals, only solute and second phase strengthening had previously been used in micro-trusses; the potential for strengthening micro-truss materials by work-hardening or grain size reduction had not been addressed. In order to utilize these strengthening mechanisms in micro-truss PCMs, two issues needed to be addressed. First, the deformation-forming method used to produce the micro-trusses was analyzed in order to map the fabrication-induced (in-situ) strain as well as the range of architectures that could be reached. Second, a new compression testing method was developed to simulate the properties of the micro-truss as part of a common functional form, i.e. as the core of a light-weight sandwich panel, and test the effectiveness of microstructural strengthening mechanisms without the influence of typical high-temperature sandwich panel joining processes, such as brazing. The first strengthening mechanism was achieved by controlling the distribution of plastic strain imparted to the micro-truss struts during fabrication. It was shown that this strain energy can lead to a factor of three increase in compressive strength without an associated weight penalty. An analytical model for the critical inelastic buckling stress of the micro-truss struts during uniaxial compression was developed in terms of the axial flow stress during stretch forming fabrication. The second mechanism was achieved by electrodeposition of a high-strength nanocrystalline metal sleeve around the cellular ligaments, producing new types of hybrid nanocrystalline cellular metals. It was shown that despite the added mass, the nanocrystalline sleeves could increase the weight-specific strength of micro-truss hybrids. An isostrain model was developed based on the theoretical behaviour of a nanocrystalline metal tube network in order to predict the compressive strength of the hybrid materials.
Modeling of the Stator of Piezoelectric Traveling Wave Rotary Ultrasonic Motors
Keywords: motor
stator
piezoelectric
ultrasonic
wave
finite volume method

This thesis is concerned with the modeling of the stator of a piezoelectric traveling wave rotary ultrasonic motor. Existing models for piezoelectric traveling wave rotary ultrasonic motors are either too complicated to be used in motor control or do not reflect the real behavior of the motor and are of limited use in developing a controller for the motor. Finite Element methods have been used in the past to examine the properties of piezoelectric structures however, the Finite Volume Method has always been ruled out without justification. The main goal of this thesis is to provide a Finite Volume modeling approach for the stator of the piezoelectric traveling wave rotary ultrasonic motor taking into account the basic theoretical principles from piezoelectricity and structural mechanics. This model can in future be extended to develop a complete model of the motor in addition to other piezoelectric structures. The Finite Volume Method is shown to have the following specific advantages over the Finite Element Method especially for structures with simple geometries: 1. the Finite Volume Method respects the PDEs conservation law structure due to the fact that the fluxes are conserved between cells/domains/subregions, 2. the Finite Volume Method involves only surface integrals thus making it easier to implement a rotor-stator contact model as the contact mechanism occurs at the boundary of the stator, and 3. the Finite Volume Method yields a system of ODEs that more intuitively map onto circuit simulation software. The Finite Volume Method is initially used to model a simple piezoelectric plate. A corresponding circuit of the piezoelectric plate model, based on the Finite Volume Method, is generated. Two additional but more complex models are considered: one for a unimorph plate and one for the stator of an ultrasonic motor. The modeling results obtained with the Finite Volume Method are validated by comparing them with the results obtained with Finite Element simulations performed with COMSOL. Two test platforms designed to test and validate the Finite Volume and COMSOL results for the simple piezoelectric plates and piezoelectric traveling wave rotary ultrasonic motors are also presented in this thesis.
Children's Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): Challenging Assumptions about Child Protection Practices
Keywords: child welfare
intimate partner violence

Objective: While child welfare policy and legislation in Canada and other regions has increasingly defined children who are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) as maltreated, little is known about the response of the child welfare system to children exposed to IPV. This dissertation seeks to determine the response of child protection services to reports about IPV; the outcomes of child protection investigations referred for children exposed to IPV; and what factors predict decisions made by child protection workers (e.g., court involvement, child welfare placement, closing the case, substantiation, and making a referral to other supportive services) for investigations involving children exposed to IPV. Methods: This study is based on a secondary analysis of data collected in the 2003 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2003). Bivariate analyses and multiple multinomial regression were conducted to study the substantiation of maltreatment, and logistic regression was conducted to predict child protection workers’ decisions to keep the case open, make a child welfare placement, take the family to court, and make a referral for investigations involving children’s exposure to IPV. Results: Seventy-eight percent of the investigations involving only IPV were substantiated. The multinomial regression could not accurately classify the suspected and unfounded cases. Substantiated investigations involving co-occurring IPV were three times more likely to stay open for ongoing child protection services compared to IPV only cases (adjusted odds ratio = 2.93, p < .001). Child protection service outcomes for substantiated investigations involving co-occurring IPV were ten times more likely (adjusted odds ratio = 10.61, p < .001) to involve a child welfare placement compared to IPV only cases. The factors driving child protection worker decisions were primarily the co-occurrence of maltreatment, younger children, and emotional harm. Conclusions: Due to the expansion in what constitutes a child in need of protection, there has been an overwhelming increase in the number of referrals about children being exposed to IPV in Canada. Future analyses should explore whether policies that direct IPV cases to child welfare services is both an effective way of protecting children and a reasonable use of limited child welfare resources.
Railroad Crossings: The Transnational World of North America, 1850-1910
Keywords: labour
North America
transnational

The last quarter of the nineteenth century is often referred to as the “Golden Age” of railroad building. More track was laid in this period in North America than in any other period. The building of railroads was considered synonymous with nation building and economic progress. Railway workers were the single largest occupational group in the period and among the first workers to be employed by large-scale, corporately owned and bureaucratically managed organizations. While there is a rich historiography regarding the institutional and everyday lives of railway workers and the corporations that employed them, the unit of analysis has been primarily bounded by the nation. These national narratives leave out the north-south connections created by railroads that cut across geo-political boundaries and thus dramatically increasing the flows of people, goods and services between nations on the North American continent. Does the story change if viewed from a continental rather than national perspective? Railroad Crossings tells the story of the people and places along the route of the Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada between Montreal, Quebec and Portland, Maine and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (and later of the Southern Pacific) between Benson, Arizona and Guaymas, Sonora. The study first takes a comparative view of the cross-border railroad development followed by a consideration of emerging patterns and practices that suggest a broader continental continuity. The evidence demonstrates that this broader continental continuity flows from the application of a certain “railroad logic” or the impact of the essence of railroad operations that for reasons of safety and efficiency required the broad standardization of operating procedures that in many ways rendered place irrelevant.
"Sicut Scintilla Ignis in Medio Maris": Theological Despair in the Works of Isidore of Seville, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim and Dante Alighieri
Keywords: Theological despair

Sicut scintilla ignis in medio maris: Theological Despair in the Works of Isidore of Seville, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim and Dante Alighieri. Doctor of Philosophy, 2009. Kristen Leigh Allen, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto. When discussing the concept of despair in the Middle Ages, scholars often note how strongly medieval people linked despair with suicide. Indeed, one finds the most recent and comprehensive treatment of the topic in Alexander Murray’s Suicide in the Middle Ages. Murray concludes that most medieval suicides had suffered from “this-worldly” despair, brought on by fatal illness, emotional or material stress, or some other unbearable circumstance. However, Murray also observes that medieval theologians and the people they influenced came to attribute suicide to theological despair, i.e. a failure to hope for God’s mercy. This dissertation investigates the work of three well-known medieval authors who wrote about and very likely experienced such theological despair. In keeping with Murray’s findings, none of these three ultimately committed suicide, thus allowing me to explore how medieval people overcame their theological despair. I have chosen these three authors because they not only wrote about theological despair, but drew from their own experiences when doing so. Their personal testimony was intended to equip their readers with the spiritual tools necessary to overcome their own despair. The first of my three authors, Isidore of Seville, will be treated in Chapter Two. Isidore’s works provide an excellent synthesis of patristic thought on despair and also hint at his willingness to share his own spiritual struggles in order to help his flock defeat this vice. Chapter Three discusses Hrotsvit of Gandersheim and her understanding of despair and presumption as closely interrelated mindsets that can afflict the repentant sinner. Hrotsvit’s own frequent admissions of presumption in her prefaces strongly suggest that she was also plagued with despair due to her unorthodox appropriation of the role of poeta. My fourth chapter considers Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, a poetic meditation on the ultimate fate of the desperate sinner and how such a fate might be avoided. Dante the Wayfarer will come to realize the necessity of God’s grace for those wishing to overcome sin. Indeed, all three of the writers studied consider this knowledge an important antidote to despair, proven by their own experiences.
Effects of Early Isolation on the Experiential, Hormonal and Neural Regulation of Sexual Behavior in Male Long-Evans Rats
Keywords: Sexual Behavior
Dopamine

Reproductive success in the male rat depends on the ability to recognize appropriate sexual cues, motivation to respond to those cues, and coordination of the necessary motor sequences required to optimize sexual performance and an ejaculatory response. Early maternal environment is important in the normal development of copulatory behavior. Manipulation of this early social stimulation results in alterations in male sexual behavior and in the functioning of mediating endocrine and neurotransmitter systems. The present series of studies were designed to explore the effects of early life maternal deprivation and replacement maternal licking-like stimulation on the development of male rat sexual behavior and the neurophysiological mechanisms which mediate sexual performance with specific attention to the dopamine (DA) and androgen systems. Long-Evans male rats were reared with or without their mothers through the use of the artificial rearing (AR) paradigm. Half of the AR rats were provided with licking-like stimulation, consisting of periodic stroking with a paintbrush. In study 1, AR and maternally-reared (MR) rats were tested in adulthood for sexual behavior. Neuronal activation in response to copulation was assessed using an antibody against the protein product of the immediate early gene c-fos in brain regions that sub-serve sexual behavior. Study 2 explored whether sexual behavioral deficits observed in AR males can be reversed by later sexual experience. In this study, animals were sacrificed following a ninth copulatory trial and Fos immunoreactivity, androgen and estrogen-α receptors were assessed. In study 3, the effects of early maternal deprivation on partner preference in both males that are differentially reared, and, female preference towards these males were investigated. This explored if any behavioral deficits observed in AR males could be attributed to differences in their attractivity to females. Study 4 investigated the effects of early maternal deprivation on androgen sensitivity in adult males. Copulatory response to a receptive female was examined post-castration in AR and MR males and again following testosterone replacement. In study 5, levels of extracellular DA were investigated in the nucleus accumbens, an area critical in motivation, prior to and during copulation in sexually experienced AR and MR males using Microdialysis.
Measuring Change in Jurisdiction Achievement over Time: Equating Issues in Current International Assessment Programs
Keywords: 0632
0515

Policymakers expect international educational assessments to report credible national and international changes in student achievement over time. However, international assessment projects face great methodological challenges to creating comparable scores across jurisdictions and time points, fundamentally because jurisdictions vary in many aspects of curriculum and curriculum change as well as in the patterns of students’ test-taking behaviour. Using data from the Second IEA Mathematics Study (SIMS), the study reported in this dissertation addresses the potential impact of the different equating methodologies used in current international assessments on the accurate estimates of change in jurisdiction achievement over time. The results of the study demonstrate that the different equating methodologies implemented through the Item Response Theory (IRT) models currently used in international assessments may be of limited use in estimating change in jurisdiction achievement over time. This is because the international assessment data violate the IRT model assumptions, in particular the unidimensionality assumption. In addition, the estimation of jurisdiction results based on a common international scale may potentially distort the results of those jurisdictions that have levels of student achievement that are much lower or higher than most other participating jurisdictions. The findings of this study have important implications for researchers as well as policy makers.
The Social Organization of Best Practice for Acute Stroke: An Institutional Ethnography
Keywords: institutional ethnography
knowledge translation
acute care best practice
implementation science

Since 1995, a thrombolytic therapy, rt-PA, has been approved for use with acute stroke that significantly reduces, and sometimes reverses, neurological damage. Treatment has to be given within a few hours of the start of symptoms and can only commence once a CT-scan has confirmed a particular type of stroke. In the evidence-based medicine and knowledge translation literature, variations in practice are constituted as a problem to be solved. It is assumed that a physician decides whether or not to use this therapy based on his/her evaluation of the scientific evidence. In this thesis, I demonstrate that what are less evident in many of these claims are issues related to the social production of knowledge. Little attention is paid to who conducts research, who promotes its findings, and who is expected to implement them. The positivist discourse of evidence-based medicine assumes that research produces knowledge that is neutral and can be translated into treatment that is in the patient’s best interest. Yet these assumptions remain empirically unexamined, despite social science critiques of these processes. Institutional Ethnography is an approach in sociology developed by Dorothy Smith. Based on Smith’s understanding of the social organization of knowledge, it allows for an examination of the complex social relations organizing people’s experiences of their everyday working lives. Beginning in the experiences of physicians who provide acute stroke services, this dissertation explores an example of how best practice medicine is developed, translated, and taken up in practice across various sites in the province of Ontario. For Smith, texts mediate and organize people’s experiences. In my study, the discourses of both evidence-based medicine and knowledge translation, designed to improve patient care, come into view as managerial tools designed to control the delivery of care. I render visible how in fact things work as they do in real life settings in a way that links back actual people to the texts, or discourse, organizing their experiences. In so doing, I am able to uncover some of the assumptions and hidden priorities underlying the current emphasis on translating scientific knowledge in medicine into practice.