VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Black Superintendent Leaders Navigating the Ontario Education System
Keywords: Anti-Black racism
Black leadership
Black superintendent
Education system
Leadership experiences
Ontario District School Board

AbstractThis qualitative research study answered the following question: What are some strategies and considerations that Black superintendent leaders use to navigate the Ontario education system? I investigated how Black superintendents define their own strengths, behaviours, and attitudes, as well as the strategies they used to navigate the educational system despite the barriers presented by racism and oppression. I draw on historical and current studies on Black leadership and interviews to provide a deeper understanding of the multifaceted work of Black superintendents as they navigate the Ontario education system. I interviewed nine Black superintendents with various experiences from district school boards in Ontario and highlighted common themes, leadership experiences, challenges, and opportunities. I learned from their experiences and identities, as well as where they live, work, and learn. They shared the strategies that they use to navigate the organization, their positionality, their relationships, and their job and assigned duties. Historical data has shown that where and how Black leaders live, eat, walk, and work has always been about navigating oppressive systems that create barriers for some while privileging others. Findings indicated that all the Black superintendents used strategies such as networking, mentorship, family, preparation, and community supports to navigate relationships, the education system, positionality, and their assigned jobs or roles. All Black superintendents talked about Black excellence and leaving a legacy for all students to succeed. They also talked about Black fatigue and the emotional toll that leading while being Black took on them. They also spoke with pride about how networking and sharing the strengths and opportunities in their community and affinity groups supported their leading and learning.
Investigating the Role of Host Genetic Factors and the Microbiome on Microsporidia Infection in C. elegans.
Keywords: C. elegans
Host Pathogen relationships
infection
invasion
Microbiome
Microsporidia

Microsporidia are a group of poorly understood, obligate intracellular eukaryotic pathogens with highly reduced genomes. They are currently a major threat to the agricultural industry and cases of fatal human infections are prevalent in immunocompromised individuals. The Nematocida parisii- Caenorhabditis elegans host pathogen model has recently been established and has provided great insight into N. parisii infection biology, but the host factors critical for infectionremain poorly defined. To overcome this, we performed a forward genetic screen to isolate C. elegans mutants displaying improved fitness during N. parisii infection. I identified a host secreted protein, AAIM-1 used by N. parisii to ensure spores are oriented properly in the intestinal lumen, resulting in successful invasion. AAIM-1 plays an antibacterial role in C. elegans, protecting against the gram-negative bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus N. parisii utilizes a host antibacterial protein to promote its own invasion. I also screened the C. elegans microbiome “CeMbio” collection of bacteria to investigate its impact on N. parisii infection. C. scopthalmum JUb44 and S. multivorum BIGb0170 impact nematode physiology by modulating feeding behaviour, resulting in increased pharyngeal pumping and thus increased levels of N. parisii invasion. However, within 24 hours N. parisii growth is compromised. Interestingly, linoleic acid supplementation in S. multivorum BIGb0170 can restore N. parisii growth indicating its importance. I also investigated the potential for bacterial secondary products to impact dormant spores. The incubation of N. parisii spores in either Pseudomonas lurida MYb11 or Pseudomonas mendocina MSPm1 conditioned media resulted in decreased infectivity through spore destruction. In P. lurida MYb11 this was a result of the cyclic lipopeptides Massetolide E and F. Excitingly, fractionation of P. mendocina MSPm1 supernatant has revealed that two independent molecules have anti-microsporidia activity. We also demonstrate that Pseudomonas secretomes frequently contain anti-microsporidia compounds that target dormant spores. Collectively, this work identifies a host protein and dietary metabolite important for N. parisii infection. The identification of anti-microsporidia compounds represents a new and exciting avenue to identify novel therapeutic strategies by mining naturally produced bacterial products.
Evaluating PET Imaging Biomarkers in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Keywords: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Neuroinflammation
PET Imaging
Tau

This work aims to characterize novel and existing radioligands to assess their utility for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Two pathological mechanisms were targeted: 1) neuroinflammation and 2) tau protein aggregates. Neuroinflammatory PET biomarkers were evaluated in Chapter 2 in CTE post-mortem tissues compared to controls and no significance in target density (Bmax) of the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) or monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) was determined. Further validation of TSPO as a PET imaging biomarker in CTE was performed in a young cohort (19-29 year-olds). The activated microglial marker, CD68, and TSPO cell density was significantly higher in the calcarine cortex compared to the dorsolateral frontal cortex (DLFC), in individuals with repetitive head impacts (RHIs), regardless of CTE pathology. There was no significant difference found in TPSO density or in the percentage of CD68+ cells co-expressing TPSO in CTE or RHI groups. Upon evaluation of five tau-PET radiotracers in CTE in Chapter 3, a Bmax and affinity (Kd) for CTE-tau was determined with [3H]flortaucipir and off-target binding to MAO-A with this radiotracer was identified. [3H]MK-6240, [3H]PI-2620 and [3H]APN-1607 bound in late-stage CTE cases with mixed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology and [3H]APN-1607 demonstrated off-target binding to amyloid-b. In a case study of a cognitively impaired former National Football League player, [18F]MK-6240 PET imaging was performed, and radiotracer binding was observed in regions that generally show CTE-related tau pathology at autopsy. Evaluation of PI-2620 derivatives toward the identification of a radioligand suitable for imaging tau beyond AD was performed. Radiotracer development including autoradiography and in vivo PET imaging was performed in Chapter 4 to image other neurodegenerative targets, namely metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5) with [18F]FPEB and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) in which [18F]OCM-50 was identified as a potent, selective GSK-3 targeting radiotracer displaying good brain uptake, quick washout and retention in non-human primate. Kinetic modelling of this radiotracer has now been performed and first-in-human studies are planned. This thesis has contributed to understanding the underlying pathological mechanisms associated with head injuries with PET imaging towards the goal of imaging CTE in life.
Hymn to Aphrodite
Keywords: Chamber Music
Classics
Electronic Music
Multimedia Composition
New Music
Orchestral Conducting

Hymn to Aphrodite is an 18-minute self-contained work and the first of four overall sections of a large cantata titled From Sappho’s Lyre. It uses fragments of one of (only two) of Sappho’s major poems surviving in their entirety: “The Hymn to Aphrodite,” both in Greek and English. Conceived as a stage work to be accompanied by dance and spectacle—and though it can be performed as a traditional vocal work with instrumental accompaniment— the composition’s formal design functions as a hybrid, one that lavishly fuses elements of ancient Greek play and theatre with Western ballet and opera. Scored for two solo voices (soprano and mezzo), chamber orchestra, chamber choir, pre-recorded audio, and narrator, Hymn to Aphrodite is based on—and heavily inspired by—The Lesbian Lyre: Reclaiming Sappho for the 21st Century, a groundbreaking book by classicist Jeffrey M. Duban (Clairview Books, 2016). It usesthe author’s translations to portray, interpret, and dramatize the charm and elegance of the originals so magnificently conveyed in the English language while offering the listener a journey that orbits around ever-evolving and constantly shifting sonic and visual realms.
The Motivated Creation and Use of Social Categories
Keywords: attention
computational modeling
motivation
social categorization
social structure
stereotypes

Social categorization is often framed as the antecedent to stereotyping, with perceivers rationally sorting the social world on the basis of perceptually salient categories before applying biased beliefs about those categories. Here, I instead suggest that both the construction and use of social categories are themselves subject to motivational influences. In chapter 2, I present a theory of how motivations derived from structural sources shape the social categories that people form. I argue that motivations to maintain shared schemas and resource distributions influence social attention, such that perceivers will attend to a given dimension (e.g., race or gender) insofar as doing so fits within their motivations. Drawing from classic conceptualizations of social structure as the interplay of schemas and resources, I focus on how the motivations for shared schemas and for material benefits may shape attention to social category dimensions. I outline potential cognitive mechanisms through which these motivations may act, before discussing the implications of the model. In chapter 3, I examine how environmental factors interact with motivations to shape reliance on social categories. Across three experiments, I use a computational model of category learning to discover the structure of the category representations that participants hold, allowing me to distinguish participants who individuate targets from those who rely wholly on group-based representations. I find that individual differences interact with the environmental feedback structure to predict individuation: those higher in racism or lower in social justice orientation form more group-based representations of negative targets only when they are in an environment that ties feedback to approach behaviour. Finally, in chapter 4, I turn to motivated effects on the use of social categories, examining how people navigate motivational tradeoffs when making decisions for themselves, ingroup members, and outgroup members. Across four behavioural studies and one eye-tracking study, I find evidence for stronger self-ingroup than self-outgroup tradeoffs, which manifest in both altered attention to information and altered use of the attended information in decision-making. Overall, this work presents an investigation of motivational influences on category formation and use, suggesting that motivations may shape very early stages of social perception.
Co-designing and Evaluating a Workplace Disability Disclosure Decision-aid Tool for Autistic Youth and Young Adults to Enhance Self-determination and Decision-making Skills
Keywords: Autism
Co-design
Decision-aid tool
Disability disclosure
Knowledge translation
Youth and young adults

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that often presents as non-visible in the workplace; thus, autistic people have the choice of whether to disclose their autism at work. This disclosure decision-making process is complex and may be even more so for autistic youth and young adults who are newly entering the workforce. Little is known about their workplace disclosure experiences and no tools exist to support this decision-making process. The objectives of this knowledge translation (KT) grounded doctoral thesis were to: i) explore workplace disclosure needs, experiences, and influencers among autistic young people; ii) co-design, test the usability (ease of use, satisfaction, usefulness), and revise a prototype of an autism disclosure decision-aid tool; and iii) evaluate the revised tool in terms of its: impact on self-determination and decision-making capabilities; usability; feasibility; and acceptability. The first study involved six Zoom focus groups with 23 autistic young adults and findings revealed numerous influencers impacting disclosure needs and experiences; noteworthy factors include the workplace environment, fear of negative disclosure outcomes, and disclosure knowledge and skill gaps. The second study used co-design and patient-oriented research strategies and KT tool development literature to co-design the decision-aid prototype with four autistic collaborators. Usability testing involved four focus group / participatory design Zoom sessions with 19 autistic youth and young adults; findings were positive suggesting the prototype’s usability. Revisions addressed mainly the prototype’s ease of use. The third study used online pre-post surveys with 30 autistic youth and young adults. The tool was deemed usable, feasible, and acceptable; there were significant changes in decision-making capabilities, with impact on self-determination requiring future investigation. This thesis uncovered the disclosure experiences of autistic young people and produced a tangible disclosure decision-aid tool that may support navigation of disclosure processes. Future research should continue exploring autistic young peoples’ disclosure experiences and testing the tool to determine its effectiveness and potential for implementation.
The Re-Embodiment of Affect in Historical Violin Performance
Keywords: Aaron Hill
affect
baroque
embodiment
historical performance
violin

This dissertation discusses an embodied method of understanding and expressing the musical affects in eighteenth-century performance practice. It argues against the twentieth- and twenty- first-century interpretation of affects as fixed emotions (Bukofzer, Neubauer, Buelow, Weiss, and Taruskin) suggesting that this interpretation based on René Descartes’ work hinders historically informed performers from accessing the depth of physicality required to express affect—particularly for string players in their approach to bow-stroke.The paper brings affect into focus as an historical category, an embodied practice, and a significant aspect of present-day performance practice discourse. To illustrate this, the writings of Aaron Hill (1685-1750), an English actor, are examined. Hill’s treatise emphasizes the bodily gestures and specific muscular movements involved in projecting the affects, which provides an excellent framework for kinaesthetically approaching affect and demonstrates how the affects were more nuanced than Cartesian dualism implies. The second part of the dissertation proposes a pedagogical treatise based on eighteenth-century models, enriched by ethnographic-based interviews with performers, historical research, and video demonstrations based on Richards’ personal practice. This final section of the dissertation uses Hill’s treatise to explore how the physicality of theatrical gesture can be adapted to violin performance to redefine affect from the performer’s perspective.
The Exit of Nanoparticles from Solid Tumours
Keywords: Cancer
Lymphatics
Nanoparticle

The current paradigm of nanoparticle tumour delivery states that after nanoparticles have entered the tumour, collapsed lymphatic vessels impairs their exit and leads to enhanced tumour retention. This paradigm has guided the engineering of nanoparticles for over 35 years but has led nanoparticle designs with minimal therapeutic effect. Here we show that this paradigm is incorrect. We then determined the different vessel pathways that enable nanoparticles to exit the tumour and the dominant exit mechanism. 15nm nanoparticles predominantly exit the tumour via the lymphatics surrounding the tumour, whereas 50nm nanoparticles or larger predominantly exit via the lymphatics within. Nanoparticles that exit the tumour through the lymphatics are returned to the blood system, allowing them to recirculate and interact with the tumour in another pass. These findings were consistent for gold nanoparticles, liposomes, and silica nanoparticles. Our results enable us to define an alternative mechanism of nanoparticle delivery to solid tumours to the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. We call this mechanism the Active Transport and Retention principle (ATR). This delivery principle provides a framework to engineer nanomedicines for cancer treatment and detection.
Biochar for Restoration in the Boreal Forest of Northwestern Ontario, Canada
Keywords: Amendment
Biochar
Boreal
Reclamation
Restoration

Pyrolyzed organic material, or biochar, has been proposed as an effective soil amendment for reforestation and mine reclamation due to its capacity to retain soil nutrients and water, immobilize toxic metals, and its recalcitrance to mineralization. Potential sources of biochar in remote northern sites are high-carbon wood ash from wood waste gasification, and natural charcoals generated by wildfire. My thesis examines the effects of biochar application on boreal species growth and establishment in three study systems: (1) the effects of a poplar wood biochar and a mixed-feedstock high-carbon wood ash biochar on soil and vegetation in a 3-year field experiment in NW Ontario, Canada; (2) the effects of a ‘natural’ biochar and mixed-feedstock high-carbon wood ash biochar on mine tailings reclamation in a 2-year field experiment at a gold mine in northern Ontario, Canada; and, (3) the potential for biochars to sorb allelochemicals and mitigate allelopathic effects on seed germination and early seedling development in three common invasive plants in Canada, garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and yellow sweetgrass (Melilotus officinalis). I found that biochars improved soil conditions and enhanced growth of native plant species, resulting in large increases in substrate C, reduced substrate bulk density, and up to a 4.5-fold increase in planted native grass biomass. Biochar additions also enhanced availability of the plant nutrients P, K, Mg, and Zn; high-carbon wood ash biochar increased spot measurements of soil moisture, but also increased levels of Cu, Mn, and Pb. Natural biochar and mixed-feedstock high-carbon wood ash biochar reduced cover of Melilotus spp., an abundant invasive and allelopathic taxon. Amendments had large effects on plant community composition, generally favoring native species. Addition of high-carbon wood ash resulted in declines in growth performance of planted white spruce (Picea glauca); a path analysis suggests this was due to effects of toxic elements rather than indirect effects of competition with non-tree vegetation. I conclude that while there are large differences in plant species responses to biochars, and potential for toxicity effects and indirect effects mediated by plant competition, overall, results suggest some benefits of biochars, including high-carbon wood ash biochars, for forest regeneration and mine reclamation in northern environments.
Topology Optimization of Thin-Coated Structures
Keywords: Finite element method
Level set method
Topology optimization

Thin coatings of relatively stiff material on relatively lightweight and compliant substrates, such as a metal coating deposited on a polymer, can produce high performance-to-weight ratio structures for engineering applications dominated by bending and torsion. Additive manufacturing techniques combined with electrodeposition enable manufacturing of structures with complex geometries and very thin coatings relative to the bulk thickness. Topology optimization is an attractive tool for designing such structures, as it does not require intuition about the optimal topology beforehand. While topology optimization methods have been developed for coated structures, their use of ersatz material methods makes them unsuited to very thin coatings, such as those produced by electrodeposition. A mixed-dimensional finite element model is developed in this thesis to model very thin coatings, involving the development of a transition finite element. This model is incorporated into a level set topology optimization algorithm, which requires the development of a heuristic-based discrete topology change step. Numerical studies are presented for MBB-beam and L-beam problems for a variety of initial geometries. The mixed-dimensional algorithm is shown to produce results similar to a reference solution for an MBB beam with a relatively thick coating, and results are also shown for more realistic material properties and dimensions. Converged solutions exhibit multimodality and unintuitive features resulting from the algorithm falling into local minima. The type of topology optimization algorithm developed in this thesis is a step forward in the optimization of thin-coated structures, but development of additional heuristics and post-processing methods is required for practical use.
Mental Health And Health Care Provision
Keywords: Empirical Microeconomics
Health Economics
Health Services Research
Mental Health
Public Economics

The modern health care system encounters new challenges, among which is fast-rising mental health problems. Evidence points to the increase in mental health conditions being driven not only by growing awareness, but also a substantial rise in the underlying prevalence. As a result, deft responses from the health care system are imperative. To address the growing burden from conditions that require early interventions and long-term management, such as mental health disorders, the system requires innovative solutions in health care delivery and provider payment. This thesis presents three chapters discussing various aspects of health care reforms, from the social change propelling rising mental health needs to the innovative team-based care delivery model, and concerns in the existing provider payment models, in particular relating to the physician gender pay gap. Chapter 1 investigates the extent to which social media are harmful for teenagers, leveraging rich administrative data from the Canadian province of British Columbia and quasi-experimental variation related to the introduction of wireless internet there. I find that high-speed wireless internet significantly increased teen girls’ severe mental health diagnoses – by 90% – relative to teen boys over the period when visual social media became dominant in teenage internet use. Chapter 2 assesses the efficacy of Ontario’s team-based care policy Family Health Teams. I find FHTs improved overall primary care quality, significantly reducing emergency room. I find evidence of an adjustment in mental health care provision: while early-wave FHTs substituted social workers for physicians, yielding no change in quality, later-wave FHTs saw significant quality improvements, with physicians and social workers collaborating. Chapter 3 explores the roles of selection and practice style in driving the well documented physician gender pay gap. I leverage rich administrative health care data from Ontario along with a quasi-experiment that randomly assigns physicians in emergency departments based on exogenous physician availabilities. I find that selection of female physicians to lower-paying shifts leads to a 5% gap in male and female physicians’ per-visit pay. Female physicians also spend around 10% more time on each visit, resulting in lower hourly wages.