VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
PRECARIOUS LIVES: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF HOMELESS YOUTH TRANSITIONS TO INDEPENDENT HOUSING
Keywords: critical ethnography
homeless youth
housing
postcolonial feminist
social determinants of health
transitions

Precarious Lives: A Critical Examination of Homeless Youth Transitions to Independent Housing Naomi S. Thulien Graduate Department of Nursing Science University of Toronto 2017 ABSTRACT Homelessness has reached epidemic proportions in Canada, with youth comprising a significant segment of this population. While we know a great deal about the risk factors associated with young people entering street life, we know much less about how to facilitate and sustain homeless youth transitions off the streets. To date, there have been only a handful of longitudinal studies designed to examine the trajectories of youth who exit homelessness. Moreover, none of these longitudinal studies were designed to exclusively examine the experiences of youth transitioning to independent housing, where youth pay market rent and are required to be more self-sufficient. The goal of the study was to address this knowledge gap by producing an emic (insider) perspective on the experiences of formerly homeless youth as they transitioned into independent housing and attempted to achieve meaningful social integration. To achieve a more nuanced understanding of the subjective and objective aspects of meaningful social integration, the study was guided by a Postcolonial Feminist theoretical framework alongside the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health conceptual framework. A critical ethnography was utilized to reveal socioeconomic and political factors that shape the transition to independent housing and to meaningful social integration. During ten months of fieldwork, I met every other week with nine formerly homeless youth who had recently moved into independent housing. The majority of youth were individually interviewed 13 to 19 times. In total, I conducted 119 hour-long informal interviews. Three key findings emerged: 1) youth appeared “successfully” housed but lived in chronic precarity; 2) youth experienced a shift in identity and employed this as a self-preservation strategy; and 3) the process of independently maintaining housing undermined the youths’ sense of mastery and control. Despite their remarkable agency, participants’ lack of tangible and intangible resources meant they were housed in poverty and remained marginalized. I propose a new conceptual framework, highlighting the tangible and intangible resources needed by youth attempting the daunting task of transitioning off the streets.
The Role of the Development in Felix Mendelssohn's Sonata Forms
Keywords: Development section
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Musical narrative
nineteenth-century music
Sonata form and sonata theory
Transformation

This dissertation presents a theory of development sections based on their roles in Felix Mendelssohn’s instrumental sonata forms. Given its contextual perspective on developments, my theory critiques established approaches in Schenkerian studies and recent formal treatises by Caplin (1998) and Hepokoski and Darcy (2006), which focus mainly on the inner workings of formal areas rather than their inter-relationships. My theory for classifying an extensive body of developments holds the potential to further sonata-form study across works by other nineteenth-century composers. I apply what I call an “inner-outer perspective” to offer local and global delineations of developmental space. My "inner perspective" enables detailed discussions of developments by contributing concepts like the “developmental gap (DG)”, “retransition (RT)-prep zone”, “retransitional sequence”, “retransitional caesura (RTC)”, and “retransition (RT)-connect”, and it expands on what I call “development-recapitulation (D-R) overlap”. The "outer perspective" of my theory proposes that all developments are classifiable according to two criteria: (1) developments achieve a tonic- or a non-tonic-articulated “development-recapitulation (D-R) border”, and (2) developments have either a minimal or a strong tie to the rest of the form. I combine these criteria to produce four “development classes”—I, II, III, and IV—but focus on those fifty Class-I and -II developments that exhibit a strong tie to the rest of the form. My analyses identify five DRTs, or “developmental relationship types”, by which to classify all fifty of Mendelssohn’s developments selected for detailed study. In DRT1, the development forwards material to the coda (“development-coda pairings”); in DRT2, the development forwards material which helps to defer the essential structural close (ESC); in DRT3, the retransition calls for “compensation” towards the movement’s end; in DRT4, the development furthers an aspect from the exposition or introduction into the recapitulation and/or coda; and in DRT5, the underplayed D-R border channels motion and contributes to the movement’s single-sweep design. DRTs offer important insights on developments, large-scale form, and Mendelssohn’s music. The pathways that arise from considering the confluence of various musical parameters within developments and beyond suggest transformation narratives through the form. DRTs therefore highlight the development’s importance to Mendelssohn’s aesthetic and early-nineteenth-century sonata form.
Improved Phase Detection for Digital Phase-locked Loops
Keywords: bang bang phase locked loop
dead zone of phase detector
Digital phase locked loop
frequency synthesizer
modulator dithering
time to digital converter

Digital PLLs (DPLLs) have emerged as reliable alternatives to analog PLLs since they are more robust in the presence of process variations and mismatch and do not need a large on-chip capacitor to realize a loop ﬁlter. However, a DPLL employs a time to-digital converter (TDC) to resolve the phase error in quantized steps which shows up as deterministic jitter in the output clock. Similarly, a DPLL tunes a digitally controlled-oscillator (DCO) in discrete frequency steps which adds an extra source of jitter. Furthermore, the quantized response of the DPLL may cause chaotic limit cycles in some conﬁgurations. This thesis presents innovations to make DPLLs suitable for a wide range of applications. First, a novel low-power TDC with 4 ps resolution, approximately an order of magnitude better than an inverter delay in the 0.13 µm CMOS technology, is enabled by employing a highly digital coarse-ﬁne TDC with a calibrated coarse stage followed by a ﬁne stochastic stage. On power-up, on-chip calibration algorithm based on a balanced mean code density test is used to minimize nonlinearities in the coarse TDC, reducing worst-case spurs from -54.4 dBc to -70.55 dBc at 1.995 GHz operation. The thesis also investigates dead-zone behavior in DPLLs caused by the quantization eﬀect of the TDC. It results in chaotic limit cycle behavior; producing higher than expected in-band phase noise and strong spurious tones. To alleviate this problem, a noise-shaped oﬀset is added to the phase error to keep the TDC active and away from the dead-zone. The proposed solution is demonstrated in a 0.13 µm CMOS prototype achieving consistent low in-band noise. A binary bang-bang phase detector (BBPD) is a commonly used alternative to the power hungry TDC. However, BBPD based DPLLs have limited frequency pull-in and capture range that are traded oﬀ for steady-state jitter performance. The thesis proposes an alternative to BBPD by using a multi-phase bang-bang detector (MPBBD). Also, the thesis presents a rigorous mathematical analysis of the cycle slipping behavior to quantify the pull-in and capture range as well as the locking time for DPLL with either BBPD or MPBBD. The ﬁnal formula gives a useful insight into the eﬀect of various loop parameters on the cycle slipping behavior. A DPLL architecture with a MPBBD is presented and implemented in 28 nm CMOS technology to improve the pull-in and capture range while not aﬀecting the steady-state jitter performance.
Biogeographic Patterns of Lemur Species Richness and Occurrence in a Fragmented Landscape
Keywords: Biogeography
Landscape Ecology
Lemur Richness and Occurrence
Madagascar
Metapopulation
Species-Area Relations

Determining the factors that affect species richness and occurrence is vital to the study of primate biogeography. In this study, I investigate the biogeographic patterns of a lemur community within a fragmented landscape in Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar. The landscape consists of 42 deciduous dry forest fragments ranging in size from 0.23 to 117.7 ha. I conducted a total of 1218 surveys for lemurs between June and November 2011 in the 42 fragments. I recorded a total of 1023 individual or group sightings of six species. I conducted vegetation sampling in 38 of 42 forest fragments. I measured human disturbance within each fragment and determined fragment isolation and proximity to human settlements. I explored biogeographic patterns of lemur species richness and occurrence using the species-area relationship, metapopulation dynamics, and landscape ecology. I found that lemurs in a fragmented landscape show a species-area relationship in the form of a convex power model. I did not find a sigmoidal pattern for the species-area relationship and I found no evidence of a â small island effect.â Human disturbance and tree height also influence species richness, but it is unclear how. Lemur species form different metapopulations within the same landscape. Metapopulation dynamics suggest that area was a stronger factor determining individual lemur species occurrence than fragment isolation. However, for Microcebus species, area seems to have less influence than for other species (Cheirogaleus medius and Eulemur fulvus). I investigated the landscape ecology of lemur species occurrence and found species-specific scale responses to habitat amount. Area predicted species occurrence for C. medius and M. murinus, but not for M. ravelobensis. M. ravelobensis occurrence may be mediated by factors other than area, such as dispersal ability and edge tolerance. My study shows the importance of a multi-scale approach to lemur biogeography and how it is critical for understanding how lemur species respond to high amounts of forest loss and fragmentation.
The Experiences of Women Entrepreneurs in the English Language Education Sector: Understanding Cross-Cultural and Cross-Linguistic Implications Through a Multiple Narrative Case Study
Keywords: Cross-cultural
Cross-linguistic
English as a second language
English language education
Entrepreneurship
Women entrepreneurs

This research investigates the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic experiences of women entrepreneurs operating businesses in the English language education sector. The study is a multi-narrative case study with qualitative data collected through self-assessment tools, narrative interviewing, critical incident responses, cultural artefact stories, and an asynchronous focus group in response to a mini-lecture on culture and its relationship to language. There are six participants, operating businesses in Algeria, China, Colombia, Egypt, and Canada. The methodology yielded rich, multi-layered data and revealed unexpected significant variation in the participants’ cross-cultural and cross-linguistic experiences. It also yielded unexpected and equally varied data on their experiences as entrepreneurs, as women entrepreneurs, and as entrepreneurs in the English language education sector. The conceptual framework of multiple conceptualizations of culture and its relationship to language proved useful in interpreting the data on the participants’ cross-cultural and cross-linguistic experiences; however, given the unexpected data on the participants’ entrepreneurial experiences, it did not prove adequate for the interpretation of the entire data set. As an exploratory study, the research yielded multiple areas for possible future research. Prime among these is the use of the conceptualization of complex dynamic systems as a way to understand the variation seen in the participants’ experiences as entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs in the English language education sector as well as their cross-cultural and cross-linguistic experiences.
Life-History Traits and Temperature-Dependent Performance of Tranosema rostrale (Hym.: Ichneumonidae), a Parasitoid of Low-Density Spruce Budworm (Lep.: Tortricidae) Populations
Keywords: Choristoneura fumiferana
Parasitoid
Spruce budworm
Temperature
Tranosema rostrale

The eastern spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is one of the most important outbreaking defoliator in conifer forests of eastern North America. In low-density populations, the larval endoparasitoid Tranosema rostrale (Brischke) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is known as an important mortality factor, but relatively little information is available about the factors influencing its ability to keep spruce budworm populations low. A series of studies were conducted to investigate T. rostrale’s: 1) reproductive biology and behaviour; 2) seasonal pattern of parasitism and host instar preference; 3) developmental, survival, and reproductive response to temperature; 4) ability to abrogate spruce budworm’s immune response at high temperatures; and 5) spatiotemporal biology in response to changing temperature. Three traits of the parasitoid’s reproductive biology contribute to its successful parasitism: its lack of a pre-mating and preoviposition period, the rapid maturity of its eggs soon after emergence despite being synovigenic, and its efficacy in host searching and oviposition behaviour. As T. rostrale does not prefer to attack any one particular host instar, its seasonal pattern of parasitism is likely influenced by its phenology or competition with the ectoparasitoid Elachertus cacoeciae (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Overall performance by T. rostrale was severely reduced at high temperatures. The negative correlation between the parasitoid’s survival and rearing temperatures above 20°C was associated with a downregulation of T. rostrale’s polydnavirus gene transcription and an enhancement of the accumulation of host immunity gene transcripts. An individual-based simulation model incorporating the parasitoid’s response to temperature allowed insight into unknown facts about its seasonal biology, such as phenology, voltinism, and overwintering strategy. The findings improve our understanding of the influence of temperature on spruce budworm population dynamics via its parasitoids, and our ability to predict pest outbreaks, which is important to develop more effective pest management strategies under scenarios of changing climate.
An Investigation of Non-Cognitive Approaches to the Creative Writing Process
Keywords: Creative Writing
Creativity
Holistic
Writing

Abstract Much research suggests that the writing process, as taught in public schools, focuses on essay writing and literacy skills development. Statistics published by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) in Ontario suggest this focus on essay writing and literacy skills development is both warranted and effective; students consistently achieve or surpass provincial standards for literacy. However, much extant writing research reinforces this narrow view of writing, which is weighted in favour of outcomes-based skills development. Data collected from the Contextual Information (taken from the Student Questionnaire at the conclusion of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test) reveal that students view writing as an assignment-driven, un-creative, and stressful activity. Research into the process of writers writing creatively within the public school system is limited. Therefore, this narrative inquiry explores the creative writing process of accomplished, professional Canadian creative writers, and includes my own creative process as a published writer of narrative fiction. This study contributes to composition process theory and pedagogy by considering the process of creative writing, using a holistic framework. Data are collected from the narratives of three accomplished Canadian writers: Margaret Atwood, Lawrence Hill, and Alice Munro, as well as from my own writing narrative. These writing narratives include (auto) biographies, interviews, podcasts, and workshop notes.
Informed Anytime Search for Continuous Planning Problems
Keywords: Anytime Search
Heuristic Search
Informed Search
Optimal Planning
Path Planning
Sampling-based Planning

Navigating uncontrolled dynamic environments is a major challenge in robotics. Success requires solving many different technical problems and path planning is a key component of most autonomous solutions. Path planning is the task of finding a path through the environment that allows a robot to reach its desired position. This path must avoid obstacles and be executable by the robot while often also reducing a specified cost (e.g., path length). The difficulty of meeting these requirements reliably and quickly in continuous state spaces has made path planning an active area of research in robotics. Two popular path planning approaches are informed graph-based search and anytime sampling-based planning. Informed graph-based searches, such as A*, are efficient but use a priori approximations of the problem domain. If these approximations are chosen incorrectly, then the algorithms may be unable to find a (suitable) solution or take a prohibitively long time to do so. Anytime sampling-based planners, such as RRT*, continuously improve their approximations of the problem domain but perform inefficient searches. These searches simultaneously search the entire problem domain and can become prohibitively expensive in large or high-dimensional planning problems, such as when planning for high-DOF manipulation arms. This thesis demonstrates how planning in continuous planning problems can be improved by unifying the informed graph-based search and anytime sampling-based planning approaches. It investigates various ways to use heuristics to focus and order the search of almost-surely asymptotically optimal sampling-based planners. The theoretical and experimental advantages of this informed anytime sampling-based search are demonstrated through the planning algorithms, Informed RRT*, Batch Informed Trees (BIT*), and Sorted RRT* (SORRT*).
Changing the Conversation: a Critical Ethnography of Diabetes Care in People with Mental Illnesses
Keywords: critical ethnography
diabetes
population health
severe mental illness
social determinants of health

Chronic illnesses pose a large public health threat. Diabetes mellitus type II accounts for about 90% of cases, is largely considered preventable by health providers, but continues to be among one of the most debilitating chronic conditions in Canada, and around the world. The co-occurrence of severe mental illnesses and diabetes is well documented, with diabetes being two to three times more prevalent among individuals with severe mental illnesses, compared to the general population. In clinical practices, diabetes management for people with mental illnesses and diabetes continues to operate on the premise of chronic disease model with an understanding of diabetes as a physiological and behavioral deficiency. Therefore, clinical and policy efforts are directed toward the enhancement of patient self-management techniques through patient compliance with pharmaceutical and lifestyle behavior recommendations. Self-management continues to be an important mandate in clinical practice and public health policies, where its biomedical understanding continues to prevail. Nonetheless, relatively little attention has been given to the exploration of how well the biomedical model aligns with peopleâ s everyday experiences. This project explored everyday experiences of diabetes self-management and biomedical compliance among those diagnosed with severe mental illnesses through the lens of critical ethnography. This work demonstrated discordance between biomedical perspectives on diabetes management and the lived experiences of those with mental illness. I identified an alternative conceptualization of diabetes management that moved beyond idealized concepts of self-care in order to introduce the social realities of people with severe mental illnesses as they attempt to enact and negotiate around medical directives. This new understanding encourages a shift towards broader social and contextual understandings of the lived realities of individuals with severe mental illness, and their resourcefulness, competence, persistence, and capabilities. Attention to how social context informs patientsâ realities may assist in the development of new context-sensitive and patient-oriented grounds for public health strategies and clinical practices associated with diabetes care, and challenge traditional understandings of compliance and noncompliance with diabetic self-management.
Caring About Racism: Early Career Nurses' Experiences With Aboriginal Cultural Safety
Keywords: Aboriginal
colonialism
cultural safety
nurses
nursing
racism

The Aboriginal population in Canada is the youngest and most rapidly growing demographic in the country, and more than half of the 1.4 million Aboriginal people in Canada live in urban centres (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, 2013). As a result, all nurses can expect to provide nursing care to Aboriginal peoples during the course of their work, regardless of the setting of their employment. Since the beginning of the new millennium, however, Canadian researchers have documented that Aboriginal people encounter racism and discrimination at the hands of health professionals when they access health care in this country. In an effort to address this racism and improve the experience of Aboriginal peoples in health care, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (2013) now recommends that undergraduate nursing students receive cultural safety education during their nursing programs. This recommendation is significant because cultural safety differs in important ways from cultural competence, the dominant model of attending to cultural differences practiced by health professionals in North America. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of early career nurses translating knowledge of cultural safety into nursing practice. This qualitative research study used Adele Clarkeâ s (2005) Situational Analysis to interrogate the complex forces and colonial discourses that influence the practice of nurses with Aboriginal people in contemporary health care environments. Thirteen early career nurses and seven experienced northern nurses were interviewed as part of this study, and results showed that for these nurses, a culturally safe approach is one where respect and relationship are centred. The nursesâ narratives also revealed that health care professionals make use of discriminatory labels to withhold and delay care for Aboriginal patients, and that intervening on behalf of patients can provoke strong opposition from nursing colleagues in some settings. However, findings also suggest that cultural safety education can help early career nurses to resist and disrupt pervasive colonial discourses in the health care arena. Further, bearing witness to the suffering created by colonialism also informs the nursesâ motivation to work as allies with Aboriginal peoples, revealing the link between cultural safety and reconciliation.