VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Length of Elements in a Minkowski Basis for an Order in a Number Field (or a ring of integers of a number field)
Keywords: Bhargava's Correspondence
Delone-Fadeeve Correspondence
Lattice
Minkowski Basis
Number Theory
Orders in Number Fields

Suppose K is a number field of degree n, and R is an order in K with discriminant D. If K has r real embeddings and s pairs of complex embeddings (r + 2s = n) then we can look at R as a lattice in Rr × Cs. We call the length of elements of R their Euclidean length in Rr × Cs and denote it by |.|. Let v1 = 1, v2,..., vn be a Minkowski basis for R. We are interested in the asymptotic lengths of these vi's for a family of orders with arbitrarily large disriminant D. By the theory of Minkowski bases we have that 1 ≤ |v2| ≤ ... ≤ |vn| and ∏ni=1 |vi| ~ |D|½ and by Bhargava, et. al., (2013), we also know that |vn| << |D|1/n. We say a family of orders have Minkowski type δ2,..., δn if each members of the family have a Minkowski basis of the form v1 = 1, v2,..., vn with |vi| ~ |D|δi for each i, where D is the (arbitrarily large) discriminant. In the thesis, we are interested in possible Minkowski types. The first question is: Can we find sufficient and necessary bounds on some {\bf rational} numbers δ2,..., δn such that there is a family of orders in number fields having Minkowski type δ2,..., δn? We already know some necessary conditions: δ2 ≤ ... ≤ δn and δ2+...+\δn = ½ by Minkowski basis theory, and δn ≤ 1/n by Bhargava, et. al., (2013). We prove that bounds of the form δk << δi + δj for each i + j = k + 1 are sufficient bounds, and if K has no non trivial subfield, some of these bounds are actually necessary. In particular, for n = 3, 4, 5, 6, we prove that all these bounds are necessary. The second question is: For some fixed δ2,...δn, "how many" orders in number fields have Minkowski type δ2,...,δn. We will make sense of what we mean by "how many" using the Delone-Faddeev correspondence (n = 3), and the correspondence of Bhargava (n = 4, 5). Using these correspondences and counting, we are also able to give a sieving argument to count those orders that are maximal (and therefore are ring of integers of number fields).
A Case Study of Teaching Styles at One Ontario College
Keywords: Adult Learning
Learner-centred
Teacher-centred
Teaching Styles

The purpose of this case study was to explore, describe, and compare the teaching styles practiced by faculty members at Loyalist College (permission to name received) with those articulated in college documents, and espoused by academic deans and faculty. This exploratory descriptive study focused on the practiced teaching styles as self-reported by participating faculty at Loyalist College, compared to the formally espoused approach to teaching adult learners at this College. Furthermore, this research identified trends of practiced teaching styles of participating faculty regarding their demographic profile, educational philosophy, and level of participation in professional development activities. To explore, describe, analyze and compare the approach to teaching adult learners at Loyalist College, a mixed method design was utilized through college document analysis, the use of interviews and Conti’s (1982) Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) survey. The quantitative data identified that participating faculty at Loyalist College scored an overall teacher-centred practice, but upon deeper analysis, scores indicated a commitment to a practice that is closer to both teacher and learner-centred. The qualitative data analysis identified that college documents, academic deans and participating faculty espouse more of a learner-centred compared to teacher-centred approach to teaching adult learners at Loyalist College. Comparatively, in ranking of scores, an increased teacher-centred practice was the most popular teaching style (n=15); a very strong learner-centred practice was next (n=8); four faculty identified a very strong teacher-centred teaching style and the same number identified an increased learner-centred approach; finally, one faculty identified an extreme learner-centred approach and one faculty identified an eclectic practice. No faculty at Loyalist College identified an extreme teacher-centred practice. Although the majority of participating faculty were teacher-centred, the scores also indicated a commitment to learner-centred practices. Twenty (60.6%) of participating faculty scored within one standard deviation. Although the findings of this research are not generalizable, they may have implications for practice, policy and further research to incorporate best practices in teaching adult learners at Loyalist College and possibly even the Ontario College system.
Quantum Information Approaches to Quantum Gravity
Keywords: AdS/CFT
High Energy Physics
Quantum Entanglement
Quantum Gravity
Quantum Information Theory
String Theory

In this thesis we apply techniques from quantum information theory to study quantum gravity within the framework of the anti-de Sitter / conformal field theory correspondence (AdS/CFT). A great deal of interest has arisen around how quantum information ideas in CFT translate to geometric features of the quantum gravitational theory in AdS. Through AdS/CFT, progress has been made in understanding the structure of entanglement in quantum field theories, and in how gravitational physics can emerge from these structures. However, this understanding is far from complete and will require the development of new tools to quantify correlations in CFT. This thesis presents refinements of a duality between operator product expansion (OPE) blocks in the CFT, giving the contribution of a conformal family to the OPE, and geodesic integrated fields in AdS which are diffeomorphism invariant quantities. This duality was originally discovered in the maximally symmetric setting of pure AdS dual to the CFT ground state. In less symmetric states the duality must be modified. Working with excited states within AdS3/CFT2, this thesis shows how the OPE block decomposes into more fine-grained CFT observables that are dual to AdS fields integrated over non-minimal geodesics. These constructions are presented for several classes of asymptotically AdS spacetimes. Additionally, this thesis contains results on the dynamics of entanglement measures for general quantum systems, not necessarily confined to quantum gravity. The quantification of quantum correlations is the main objective of quantum information theory, and it is crucial to understand how they are generated dynamically. Results are presented for the family of quantum Renyi entropies and entanglement negativity. Renyi entropies are studied for general dynamics by imposing special initial conditions. Around pure, separable initial states, all Renyi entropies grow with the same timescale at leading, and next-to-leading order. For negativity, mathematical tools are developed for the differentiation of non-analytic matrix functions with respect to constrained arguments. These tools are used to construct analytic expressions for derivatives of negativity. We establish bounds on the rate of change of state distinguishability under arbitrary dynamics, and the rate of entanglement growth for closed systems.
Ambiguous Endings: A Feminist Sociological Approach to Women’s Stories of Discontinuing Medical Fertility Treatment in Canada
Keywords: assisted reproductive technology
feminist theory
fertility
narrative inquiry
qualitative research
women's health

This dissertation problematizes the dominant cultural view that assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as in vitro fertilization and intrauterine insemination, are highly successful medical treatments that produce ‘miracle babies’. I preface this study by outlining the landscape of fertility clinics and ART legislation in Canada, emphasizing the murkiness of Canada’s data on ART use and efficacy. I then use a post-structural feminist theoretical lens to focus on women’s experiences of discontinuing medical fertility treatment in Canada. I interviewed 22 women who received various forms of fertility treatment in Canada and who were at various stages in relation to treatment (e.g. on a temporary break from treatment, left treatment indefinitely, had yet to decide whether to initiate treatment after a diagnosis). Using a sociological form of narrative analysis, I analyzed these stories and co-constructed eight narrative themes. Through these eight narrative themes, I demonstrate two things: first, that there are multifaceted ways in which women engage these technologies and ultimately leave, and secondly, that there are implicit gendered power relations at work within the fertility clinic that may make it more difficult for women to leave treatment when it is financially, emotionally, and physically beneficial for them to do so. I highlight the stories of these women and their differing life circumstances, including women across a broad age range (approximately 25 to 50 years of age), two women in self-identified queer relationships, and women with varying degrees of financial security, to elucidate the ambiguous character of ending treatment-- an experience that is often marginalized in the public-facing view of fertility treatment as a highly positive scientific innovation. Out of my interpretations I make eight recommendations for health providers, stakeholders and policymakers to improve fertility care in Canada and to make the experience of medical fertility treatment less physically, emotionally and financially distressing for users.
The Politics of Foreign Borrowing in Middle Income Countries
Keywords: Comparative Political Economy
Development
International Development
International Political Economy
Public Debt

Middle Income Countries (MICs) can use either official development finance or private markets when borrowing abroad. Each of these options provide different benefits and costs. How do MICs decide which option to prioritize? Why do MIC borrowing preferences vary? This study develops and tests a theory of partisan external borrowing preferences in MICs. Controlling for global and national economic conditions, right governments are more likely to use official financing while left governments are more likely to use private financing. The only time this is not the case is when there is an exceptionally large deficit, forcing the MIC to use creditors they would not otherwise. Fractioned regression and panel data models test the argument quantitatively, while four country case studies of Thailand, South Africa, Botswana, and Peru trace and illustrate the causal process. Explaining why borrowing preferences systematically vary across MICs has policy and theoretical implications with respect to debt sustainability, policy autonomy, and international financial relations in developing countries. Politically constrained borrowing also signals that transparency is essential for effective debt management in finance ministries.
Transmedial Ghosts: Paranormal Investigation from Photography to YouTube
Keywords: Film Theory
Ghosts
Haunting
Horror Film
Intermediality
Spectrality

Paranormal investigation has been a narrative preoccupation within horror films for quite some time, yet the context of the 21st century and the rise of digitization have raised renewed questions concerning the evidentiary status of audio-visual technologies and their capacity for revelation. In exploring the ways in which paranormal investigation has figured within contemporary horror, this dissertation argues that the inherent ghostly qualities of film, television, video, and the Internet are exploited in diverse ways, figuring the medium itself as a spectral conduit. This spectrality manifests itself differently from medium to medium, highlighting unique articulations of haunting across media. As such, paranormal investigation in contemporary horror situates the ghost as a transmedial figure, one that exhibits unique medium-specific degrees of haunting depending upon its mode of visualization. In presenting differing instantiations of haunting within distinct media forms, paranormal investigation presents us with a composite image of current understandings of the ontology of the ghost as well as a reflexive analysis of the revelatory role of contemporary media. This investigative enterprise betrays a desire to visualize the imperceptible, an epistephilic drive to bring the supernatural within the bounds of knowledge. At the same time, paranormal investigation demonstrates a persistent investment in media as compensatory vision, in their ability to access and document that which escapes our perceptive capabilities.
Empowering Children Through a Global Education Reading Program
Keywords: Female Circumcision
Global Education
Holistic Education
Multicultural Children's Literature
Reading Program
Tanzania

This 19-year global education curriculum project was conducted by a Canadian researcher in solidarity with a Tanzanian women’s rights activist who requested assistance with her campaign to end the continued illegal practice of female circumcision in her village. Years of fundraising, researching and planning resulted in filling a primary school with multicultural children’s literature to be used in a daily global reading program from grades one to seven. During the seven years of teacher training and curriculum implementation workshops in Tanzania involving global education and holistic education principles, the teachers expressed their shock over the unprecedented openness and critical thinking of their students. The students developed a keen awareness of social justice issues through their daily reading and book talks. By the upper grades, the male and female students articulated their stance against female circumcision without controversy, as though it was common knowledge that this was an illegal and unacceptable practice. Additionally, the students scored top results on their graduating national exams. The intent of the project was not to improve standardized testing results of the most disadvantaged, rural students and HIV orphans. This was a positive side-effect of the transformative powers of storytelling in the lives of children who are now better equipped to think critically about illegal, harmful cultural practices.
Generation of a New Model for RB1-deficient Pineoblastoma and Lysosome-based Therapy
Keywords: Mouse model
p53
Pineoblastoma
Rb

Pineoblastoma is a WHO IV tumour of the pineal gland affecting primarily children. Five-year overall survival (OS) is 54%, and this level significantly drops to 15% in children ≤ 5 years old. Thus, there is an urgent need to understand the biology of pineoblastoma and identify therapeutic targets to improve OS and quality of life. Germline mutations in RB1 have been implicated in the etiology of pineoblastoma. Patients with familial retinoblastoma, which carry RB1-germline mutation, develop pineoblastoma, termed “trilateral retinoblastoma”. Here, I used a WAP-Cre transgenic line to inactivate murine Rb and p53 in the pineal gland, and showed that WAP-Cre:Rbflox/flox:p53flox/flox and WAP-Cre:Rbflox/flox:p53LSLR270H/flox mice develop pineoblastoma with 100% penetrance. These tumours readily metastasized to leptomeningeal surfaces of brain and spinal cord. Rb/p53-deficient pineoblastomas exhibited features of human pineoblastoma including pleomorphic nuclei, scant cytoplasm and rosettes structures. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis revealed that Rb/p53-deficient pineoblastomas clustered close to human pineoblastoma. In silico drug screens using Connectivity map drug perturbation signatures identified several cationic amphiphilic drugs including nortriptyline as top candidate drugs against Rb/p53-deficient pineoblastomas. Nortriptyline suppressed tumour growth in vitro and in vivo, and synergized with gemcitabine, an anti-neoplastic drug currently used in clinics to effectively kill pineoblastoma in preclinical models. Nortriptyline induced lysosomal membrane permeability leading to secretion of cathepsin B into cytosol and inhibition of autophagic flux. This study describes novel mouse models that spontaneously form pineoblastoma and identifies nortriptyline as a potential new therapeutic for patients with pineoblastoma.
The Politics of Standardized Testing in Ontario: Critically Assessing the Impact on Learners, Teachers, and Administrators
Keywords: Impact on Administrators
Impact on Students
Impact on Teachers
OSSLT
Standardized Testing

This study examines the historical origins and educational and political objectives of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). It argues that ultimately, standardized tests, such as the OSSLT, advance neoliberal agendas reflecting the interests of the Canadian state and capital, rather than those of diverse learners, teachers, and society at large. The study traces the ways in which Ontario and state educational policies have infused neoliberal values of individuality, self discipline, accounting, and work preparedness into public education through standardized testing, in order to foster students who can find placement in the local and global economies as workers and consumers. The study also illuminates how the OSSLT has functioned as a hegemonic tool for measuring teacher and learner ‘success’. The study uses a qualitative methodology, including personal interviews with teachers and school administrators in the Greater Toronto Area, and an examination of primary and secondary sources that include educational policy documents. The interpretation of the data utilizes a critical discourse analysis approach and a constellation of theories pertaining to educational policy, neoliberalism, racial and cultural difference, and theories related to modes of governmentality and educational systems that shape the rationale, design, and implementation of standardized testing tools in public education. The major findings of this study note the elimination of community, segregating stakeholders where school administrators and teachers view the test and its purpose in very distinct ways. The OSSLT has shifted the purpose of education from sorting students for human capital as a priority over educating them as democratic citizens. The role of administrators has altered from leaders to managers of data, and teachers’ loss of power changed their role to that of facilitators. Finally, a myriad of negative emotional effects were noted for all stakeholders especially students who are racialized and marginalized. The study moves from critique to resolutions by offering three possible ways to re-imagine and re-shape the test: altering the rules of the test; incorporating multiple aspects of learning and knowing by using an inclusive design model of holistic assessment; and resisting the test, thus undermining its credibility and function altogether.
A Goddess in the Caravans and a Saviour in the Hulls: Worship and Migration in Athens, Delos, and Corinth
Keywords: Antiquity
Christianity
Diaspora
Integration
Migration
Religion

This thesis compares how four religions moved through four ancient diasporas (c. 300 BCE–100 CE): Syrian (Delos), Phoenician (Delos), Thracian (Athens), and Judaean (Corinth). While problematizing these two concepts, it nevertheless shows that being in diaspora was the catalyst for new formulations of group identities, and that the worship of deities and associated cultural practices became more central for groups in diaspora. Often community boundaries evolved to include outsiders with no shared ethno-geographical background, for whom membership became mediated through shared worship.
Development and Application of Genetic Networks for Engineering Photo-controlled Proteins
Keywords: genetic circuits
optogenetics
photoactive yellow protein
protein engineering
switchable proteins

Light-switchable proteins are being used increasingly to understand and manipulate complex molecular systems. The success of this approach has fueled the development of tailored photo-switchable proteins, to enable targeted molecular events to be studied using light. The development of novel photo-switchable tools has to date largely relied on rational design. Complementing this approach with directed evolution would be expected to facilitate these efforts. Directed evolution, however, has been relatively infrequently used to develop photo-switchable proteins due to the challenge presented by high-throughput evaluation of switchable protein activity. This thesis describes the development of two genetic circuits that can be used to evaluate libraries of switchable proteins, enabling optimization of both the on- and off-states. A screening system is described, which permits detection of DNA-binding activity based on conditional expression of a fluorescent protein. In addition, a tunable selection system is presented, which allows for the targeted selection of protein-protein interactions of a desired affinity range. This thesis additionally describes the development and characterization of a synthetic protein that was designed to investigate chromophore reconstitution in photoactive yellow protein (PYP), a promising scaffold for engineering photo-controlled protein tools.
Dental Hygiene Curriculum and Core Competency Development: A Case Study of One Ontario College Program
Keywords: capabilities approach
case study
convergent parallel
core competencies
dental hygiene
mixed methods

The purpose of this convergent parallel mixed methods case study was to explore the dental hygiene curriculum at one Ontario College, referred to as DH College (pseudonym) to discover educator, student, and graduating student perceptions of teaching and learning strategies related to national core competency development. Dental hygiene programs across Canada use these entry-to-practice National Dental Hygiene Competencies to develop curricula. All full-time educators of the program were invited to participate in an online survey and interview. This study explored how participating educators (n=7) in the DH College program interpreted, integrated, and assessed student achievement of core national competencies in the classroom. Through document analysis the study explored how students (n=144) perceived learning experiences related to core competency development. And, through the use of an online survey, the study further explored how participating graduating students (n=20) self-assessed their abilities related to the core national competencies. The Capabilities Approach theoretical framework grounded this study. The conclusions drawn from the findings of this mixed methods case study suggest that the DH College curriculum supports the development of core national competencies which are: the dental hygienist as a professional, communicator and collaborator, critical thinker, advocate, and coordinator however, educators find it challenging to teach professionalism and advocacy in the classroom. Three of the seven educators interviewed felt that graduates are not attaining all of the 70 core ability-based outcomes at the level of national expectations. And, graduating students reported that they had gained no understanding or a less than a basic understanding from their program curriculum with respect to 21 (30%) of the 70 core national ability-based outcomes required for entry-to-practice into the profession. Furthermore, and most importantly, educators were not unanimous in their explicit understanding of what constituted basic attainment of the national ability-based outcomes. Though the findings are not generalizable beyond the case study program, an understanding of these findings has the potential to inform teaching and learning, policy, and practice, not just in the case study program, but other dental hygiene programs that seek to review their own programs with respect to the core National Dental Hygiene Competencies.