VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Red-Light Tehran: Prostitution, Intimately Public Islam, and the Rule of the Sovereign, 1910-1980
Keywords: Historical Anthropology
Iran
Modern Islam
Publics
State Sovereignty
Urban inequality

This dissertation investigates the urban life of the red-light district of Tehran, Shahr-i naw, from its inception in the early twentieth century to its erasure after the Islamic Revolution in 1980. “Red-light Tehran” broadens the scope of the literature on modern Islam to the arena of state sovereignty and the governance of precarious subjects. Shahr-i naw is an unlikely place to explore Islam. However, beginning in the early twentieth century in Tehran, the increasingly visible business of urban prostitution and street solicitation, perceived as an unhygienic, immoral and un-Islamic practice, became a site of contestation for larger debates about the role of Islam, in the domain of public. The district serves as a central site for inquiries about the shifting role of Islam in the governance of subjects that were never fully integrated into the political system of the modern post-constitutional state. This exploration of the history of the district remaps the force of religion in Tehran, a city that is so often glossed as a case of state-oriented top-down secularization and subsequent Islamization. In the early twentieth century, Islamic periodicals and physicians of the time anchored on the medico-moral crusade against prostitution and (re)articulated Islam as a disciplinary force, compatible with microbiological sensibilities. In response to mass religious petitioning against street prostitutes in the 1920s, the state evicted prostitutes to a segregated district outside the city gates. In the 1940s, as Tehran grew larger, enveloping the red-light district into the heart of the city, prostitutes returned to the public eye, only this time the point of attractions was their precarious lives and work conditions. This shift in concern intimated the advent of a compassionate impulse and a humanitarian Islamic culture of care. In the 1950s, the state gestured towards closing the site to “rescue” female residents, while simultaneously it experimented with modern “regimes of care,” with minimum expense and maximum ambition, through funding social work projects, and launching “salvation houses.” The district was a sixty-year long sovereign experimentation with regimes of governance, comprising of juridical, economic, welfare, and medical techniques of governance including bodily regimentation, medical regulation, and rehabilitation.
Experimental Nonlinear Polarimetric Microscopy
Keywords: Microscopy
Nonlinear optics
Polarimetry

Nonlinear optical microscopy is an imaging technique that employs nonlinear optical processes for structural visualization and characterization. The method does not require labelling and provides inherent 3D optical sectioning. It is suitable for noninvasive live sample imaging, and can be applied in disease diagnostics and for clinical use. A wealth of structural information about a specimen is contained in the polarization-resolved nonlinear signal, which stems from the nonlinear susceptibility tensor \txtchin. Information on the \txtchin tensor gives access to the sample ultrastructural properties beyond the diffraction-limited spatial resolution of the microscope. Due to the nonlinear origin of the signals more details can be obtained about the structure, compared to linear optical response; although the complexity of the \txtchin tensor measurement is also increased. Typically, reduced polarimetry methods that are specific to the studied sample have been employed in nonlinear microscopy. The first experimental demonstration of complete 2D nonlinear Stokes-Mueller polarimetric (NSMP) microscopy is presented in this thesis. The NSMP method does not require \emph{a priori} assumptions about the symmetry and the structural organization of the sample. The extraction of all 2D-observable complex-valued molecular-frame {\txtchin} tensor components is performed for the first time in second- and third-harmonic generation (SHG and THG) modalities. Biomedical application of the technique is demonstrated by recovering the SHG {\txtchitwo} tensor of wall muscle from a fruit fly larva and the THG {\txtchithree} tensor of carotenoid crystallites from the root of orange carrot. The presented microscope and the analysis techniques open new frontiers to study the ultrastructure of a wide variety of samples. The general properties of polarization-resolved SHG and THG are presented in terms of the underlying \txtchin tensor properties and useful expressions are obtained; for example, the Stokes parameters and circular anisotropy of the emitted harmonic signals are derived, and new reduced polarimetric imaging techniques are demonstrated based on these expressions. In addition, details of the design, construction and calibration of the polarimetric microscope are provided together with a copy of the NSMP analysis software. Nonlinear Stokes-Mueller polarimetric microscopy can be used for accurate and model-free characterization of the nonlinear susceptibility tensor \txtchin in combination with linear polarimetric properties (e.g.,~birefringence and the degrees of polarization) of a sample, enabling a new generation of complete nonlinear polarimetric microscopy techniques for biomedical imaging and fundamental nonlinear optics research.
Pressure Induced Quantum Phase Transitions
Keywords: Anvil cell
High pressure
Metal insulator transition
Quantum phase transition
Superconductivity

Quantum phase transitions are among the most intriguing topics in modern condensed matter physics. Interesting physical phenomena usually emerge in the vicinity of quantum critical points, making the investigation of such quantum systems particularly rewarding. In this thesis we present studies related to quantum phase transitions in two compounds, FBBO and Sr3Ru2O7, using hydrostatic pressure as the tuning parameter. Pressure is an ideal parameter to tune the strength of various interactions within the sample by changing the lattice constants, but is known to be very challenging to apply experimentally. Therefore a major effort of my PhD is to find out a consistent and systematic approach to prepare such experiments. FBBO is a neutral organic radical that has been carefully designed to be as metallic as possible at ambient pressure. Nevertheless it is still insulating, and high pressure was required in order to drive this system through the metal-insulator transition. Here, I present strong evidence of the formation of a Fermi liquid ground state under 6.2 GPa [1]. This is the first such observation for a neutral organic radical, after being proposed for decades. In the approach to metallization, we also found intriguing evidence of a low temperature magnetic phase. The c-axis resistivity of the itinerant metamagnet Sr3Ru2O7 has also been measured under pressure. The initial goal was to search for superconductivity, largely because of the interesting unconventional superconducting ground state found in its close sibling, Sr214. In particular, the c-axis conductivity was measured to rule out possible Sr2RuO4 inclusions within the sample. No superconductivity was found up to the highest pressures of 5.8 GPa and 4.7 GPa respectively in the two independent sets of measurements. Instead, we found that the high temperature resistance falls substantially with increasing pressure, unlike what has been reported for Sr214. The metamagnetic transition shifts rapidly with pressure to higher magnetic field. More importantly, power-law analysis at low temperatures at various pressures indicates that the strength of the electron-electron interaction decays rapidly with increasing pressure. This offers a natural explanation for our failure to induce superconductivity at high pressures.
The Economic And Health Burden Of Chronic Pain In Ontario
Keywords: Chronic pain
Cost
Cost-of-illness
Health economics
Mortality
Utilities

Chronic pain is a common problem, affecting 1 in 5 Canadians. Despite this, the burden of chronic pain has not been fully investigated in Canada. This research sought to characterize the burden of chronic pain in Ontario, Canada in three studies. Individuals with and without chronic pain who were identified through the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) were matched using propensity score methods on demographic and comorbidity variables using linked healthcare administrative data. The first study estimated the annual incremental cost to manage chronic pain at $1,742 per person, 51% more than the control group. This translated into $2.8 billion (reference year 2014), or 5% of the Ontario publicly funded health budget. The second study estimated health utilities from the CCHS as a measure of health-related quality of life in people with chronic pain. Utilities are anchored by 0 (dead) and 1 (perfect health), with a difference of 0.03 being clinically meaningful. The mean utility for people with chronic pain was estimated at 0.59 compared to 0.90 for those without. These utilities were lower than those seen with most other chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The third study described mortality by following people until December 2013. There were numerically more deaths in the chronic pain group (2,063 versus 1,722) and a higher death rate for chronic pain as measured by the Kaplan Meier product limit estimator (p
Estimating Grassland Biophysical and Biochemical Properties Using Remote Sensing and Modelling
Keywords: Biophysical and biochemical properties
Fire disturbance
Grassland
Radiation transfer modelling
Remote sensing
Unmanned aerial vehicle

Grasslands comprise about 42% of the world's plant cover and provide critical ecosystem services to the planet. In recent decades, worldwide grasslands have degraded greatly in terms of area and condition, mainly due to human activities and environmental changes. It is therefore critical to investigate grassland heath and adopt corresponding conservation strategies. Remote sensing is an efficient tool for investigating grasslands, owing to its broad spatial coverage and capability of acquiring data repeatedly. Previous studies have utilized remote sensing to investigate various grassland features, such as disturbances (e.g., wildfire, grazing), species composition, and vegetation properties (e.g., leaf area index, chlorophyll). However, limited by the attributes of remote sensing data (e.g., spatial or spectral resolution) or image analysis methods, there are still research gaps in studying grasslands using remote sensing that warrant further exploration. In this research, multi-source remote sensing data with different spatial, temporal, and spectral features were applied to investigate different grassland properties. Specifically, multi-temporal medium-spatial resolution multispectral imagery acquired by satellite was utilized to investigate a wildfire disturbance on a mixed grassland. Multi-temporal ultra-high spatial resolution multispectral imagery acquired by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was processed to identify species composition and estimate vegetation properties in a tall grassland using an empirical method. Lastly, multi-temporal high-spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery acquired by manned helicopter was utilized to estimate vegetation properties of a tall grassland using radiation transfer modelling. Results show that grassland features can be accurately retrieved from the chosen imagery, but one should keep in mind that different imagery types have differences in spectral, spatial, and temporal characteristics, and thus are suitable for different research purposes. These research findings provide insights on selecting appropriate remote sensing data and processing techniques for investigating different grassland features, and further contribute to the understanding of grassland ecosystems and grassland conservation.
Understanding Intrinsic Biomolecular Structure with Mass Spectrometry Techniques
Keywords: Gas-phase peptide structure
Hydrogen-deuterium exchange
Mass spectrometry

Over the past twenty years, since the development of “soft” ionization techniques, there has been a surge of interest in mass spectrometry based protein analysis. It is tempting to make use of mass spectrometry experiments, which are carried out in the gas phase, to elucidate biological behavior. However, the question of whether or not native structure is retained following ionization and transfer to the gas phase has yet to be definitively answered. While mass spectrometrists have made use of a variety of techniques, including fragmentation, spectroscopy, ion mobility, and ion-molecule reactions, to examine the conformation, stability, and energetics of desolvated proteins and complexes, our current understanding of gaseous biomolecules is far behind that of biomolecules in the condensed phases. This dissertation addresses the need for a gas-phase tool which is capable of providing localized conformational detail, and explores the possibility of hydrogen-deuterium (H/D) exchange as a suitable solution. Chapters 2 and 3 show data derived from H/D exchange with subsequent electron capture dissociation, which suggest that key elements of secondary structure, the β-hairpin and the α-helix, may survive electrospray. Chapter 3 also provides evidence that this combination of techniques can identify regions on a peptide that have increased conformational flexibility. In Chapter 4, a study aimed at addressing the relationship between global conformation and deuterium labelling in the gas phase is presented. The work in this thesis builds upon the existing body of gas-phase H/D exchange literature, highlighting strengths of the technique and addressing some of the challenges that users will be faced with regarding the interpretation of these data.
Understanding the Effects of Antibiotic Exposure on Host Immune-Microbiota Crosstalk and the Development of Colitis
Keywords: Animal Models of Colitis
Gut Microbiota
Host-Microbe Interactions
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Microbiome
T cells

The etiology and pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) remains unclear but involves a complex interplay between host genetics, the environment, the gut microbiota and the mucosal immune system. Antibiotic use in infants and adults is associated with increased risk of IBD development; however, the mechanism by which this occurs is unknown. This thesis project focused on understanding how altered immune-microbe interactions at the gut mucosa contribute to the development of IBD. I hypothesized that perturbation of the gut microbiota following antibiotic exposure would alter the composition of the intestinal microbial community structure, the status of mucosal lymphocytes and subsequently influence susceptibility to colitis. The timing of the antibiotic exposure could have significant effects; therefore, I assessed adult and neonatal treatments separately. Herein, I identified that adult antibiotic treatment of adult mice transiently altered the gut microbiota of both WT and Nod2-deficient animals and that Nod2 was involved in microbial resilience. While antibiotic treatment did not influence the severity of DSS-induced colitis, Nod2-/- mice displayed reduced IL-17A and myeloperoxidase levels and improved mucosal healing following anti-CD3 mAb injection. An altered gut microbiota was associated with increased fecal IgA levels in the absence of Nod2, and transfer of fecal IgA into untreated Nod2-/- mice ameliorated the response to anti-CD3, thereby highlighting the use of IgA as a potential therapeutic mechanism for altering the gut microbiota. In addition, neonatal antibiotic treatment strongly influenced the gut microbial community at weaning and was maintained until day 35 in Nod2-deficient mice. Antibiotic perturbation resulted in worsened DSS colitis in Nod2-/- mice, associated with an increase in colonic Gata3+ regulatory T cells. Understanding how altered immune-microbiota crosstalk increases susceptibility to colitis in a genetically susceptible host (i.e., Nod2-/- mice) will help define such alterations in humans and set the stage for development of preventative and therapeutic manipulation of the microbiota to reduce mucosal inflammation.
Variation in Smoking and Nicotine Metabolism Among American Indians: Novel Influences on In Vivo and In Vitro Nicotine Metabolism Phenotypes
Keywords: Cotinine
CYP2A6
Genetic variation
Nicotine
Nicotine Metabolism Rate
Smoking

Tobacco use and associated disease risk vary widely among different populations and ethnic/racial groups. While American Indian and Alaska Native populations collectively have the highest prevalence of smoking, recent studies have highlighted disparities in smoking and disease risk across different American Indian/Alaska Native populations. The Northern Plains American Indian tribal populations of South Dakota have a much higher smoking prevalence, smoke more cigarettes per day, and have higher lung cancer risk than the Southwest American Indian tribe of Arizona. Underlying reasons behind the differences in smoking and lung cancer risk between these tribes remain unknown. We sought to biochemically characterize the level of tobacco exposure among smokers and non-smokers in the Northern Plains and Southwest tribes, using cotinine as a biomarker. We demonstrated that despite both tribes being relatively light smoking populations, secondhand tobacco smoke exposure is high among non-smokers, highlighting a potential source of increased risk for tobacco-related disease. As variation in the rate of nicotine metabolism (i.e. CYP2A6 activity) has been associated with differences in smoking behaviours and lung cancer risk in other ethnic/racial groups, we then evaluated variation in the CYP2A6 gene and the rate of nicotine metabolism in the Northern Plains and Southwest tribes. We identified distinct patterns of CYP2A6 genetic variation across the two tribes, and an overall faster rate of nicotine metabolism in the Northern Plains compared to the Southwest tribe. We then used a human liver bank to explore additional sources (both genetic and non-genetic) of variation in CYP2A6 activity. We identified several independent and shared sources of variation that could translate to variable hepatic clearance of nicotine, and may impact smoking behaviour. Lastly, we searched for CYP2A6 gain of function genetic variants in order to identify sources of faster CYP2A6 activity. Through investigation of novel uncharacterized variation at the CYP2A6 locus using next-generation sequencing, we identified seven novel high frequency CYP2A6 genetic variants and a five-SNP diplotype, which were associated with faster CYP2A6 activity in vitro and in vivo. Overall, our findings provide insight into the patterns of tobacco exposure, CYP2A6 genetic variation, and nicotine metabolism rate in American Indian tribal communities, and expand on our knowledge of genetic and non-genetic sources of variation in nicotine metabolism rate. These findings could improve our understanding of lung cancer risk in these American Indian populations, and help to inform future tobacco cessation efforts.
Understanding Expectations: The Influence of Educator and Child Expectations on Kindergarten Childrenâ s Self-Regulation, Early Reading, and Vocabulary Outcomes
Keywords: child expectations
educator expectatations

This dissertation is comprised of two studies. Study 1 is a qualitative study exploring the factors that may contribute to the formation of educator expectations in Kindergarten. This study presents emerging themes from an educator questionnaire that asked Early Childhood Educators and teachers to describe their teaching philosophies, roles, teaching practices, and other interactions that support students. Findings revealed key distinctions in educator responses to the questionnaire. Early Childhood Educators responded with a child-centred focus that was reflected in multiple themes. A teacher-directed, structured lens was evident in the themes that emerged from the teachers. This study presents the necessary background information to understand the differences in the two groups in terms of how their expectations may be formed and in turn may affect processes leading to child outcomes. Study 2 is an empirical study examining the influence of educator and child expectations on children’s self-regulation, early reading and vocabulary outcomes. Study 2 compared the expectation levels of the Early Childhood Educators and teachers. Results indicate that Early Childhood Educator and teacher expectations were congruent at Time 1 but dissonant at Time 2, with ECEs having significantly higher expectations for children’s self-regulation, early reading and vocabulary outcomes at Time 2. Furthermore, findings revealed that Early Childhood Educator and child expectations had significant positive direct effects on outcomes. The only significant direct effect from teacher expectations to child outcomes was for vocabulary, and this was a negative effect. Differences in professional knowledge base, educator roles, and the amount of time spent with children are potential explanations for these findings. Overall, the findings provide insight into the factors that may contribute to the formation of educator expectations in Kindergarten and begins to address the gaps in the expectation field by exploring the influence of educator and child expectations on children’s outcomes in the early years.
Push & Pull: Social determinants of the use of smoking cessation support in Ontario
Keywords: smoking cessation
socioeconomic status
unassisted quitting

Tobacco use continues to undermine the health of the Ontarian population. In addition, socio-economic disparities in smoking rates persist in Ontario, despite public health care and universal tobacco control policies. Public health strategies require a detailed understanding of how people are actually quitting smoking in order to develop appropriate interventions and strategies. This thesis used existing evidence and data from the Ontario Tobacco Survey (OTS) to explore unassisted and assisted quitting. The first manuscript estimated the proportion of adult smokers who report attempting to quit unassisted, without the use of pharmacological and/or behavioural assistance, by systematically reviewing population-based studies. A majority of quit attempts were unassisted; however, across and within countries over time, a trend toward lower prevalence of unassisted quit attempts was identified. The second manuscript estimated the prevalence of unassisted quitting and the reach and pattern of use of assisted methods in Ontario. Unassisted quitting was the dominant method reported (58.8%, 95% CI: 56.0-61.6). For assisted methods, pharmaceutical support was the most common (92.9%, 95% CI: 91.1-94.6). Use of behavioural support either alone (2.5%, 95% CI: 1.5-3.6) or in combination with pharmaceutical support (4.6%, 95% CI: 3.3-5.9) was rare. The third manuscript examined the associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and access to care measures and use of cessation strategies using multinomial regression models. Smokers living in areas with the lowest ethnic concentration were more likely to make an assisted quit attempt compared to unassisted quitting (RR=1.67; 95% CI=1.08-2.60) or making no quit attempt (RR=1.65; 95% CI=1.14-2.41). Smokers who reported visiting a doctor in the previous 6 months were more likely to quit with assistance versus unassisted, whether they were advised (RR=1.96, 95% CI=1.49-2.59) or not advised to quit (OR=1.37, 95% CI=1.04-1.82). Together, these studies make a substantial contribution to understanding how smokers are choosing to quit smoking.