VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Doing the Right Thing: Negotiating Risk and Safety in Child Protection Work with Domestic Violence Cases
Keywords: domestic violence
child protection

The concepts of risk and safety are central to social work practice with survivors of violence against women, especially within the child protection system. Recent studies have highlighted how discrepancies between client and worker perceptions may create problematic conditions for developing effective intervention strategies (Dumbrill, 2006; Jenney, Alaggia, Mazzuca, & Redmond, 2005). In addition, tensions exist between movement toward improving worker-client interactions through collaboration and the use of standardized risk and safety assessments as a means of improving practice. The purpose of this research study was to explore how women’s narratives of domestic violence (DV), expressed within the context of child protection services (CPS), become translated into CPS workers’ assessments of risk and need for safety planning. Using Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM), this qualitative study used focus group and interview data to explore how both workers and clients’ experiences of the process of risk assessment and safety planning influenced the course of the intervention. What emerged is that workers and clients held similar representations about the social construction/collective representation of woman abuse and the work of CPS. For both worker and client participants the concept of ‘doing the right thing’ presented itself as an over-arching theme. This theme implies that there is a perceived ‘right way’ of addressing DV cases within CPS work and enhances understanding about the ways in which social workers and clients interact. These findings illustrate how narrative structures shape interactions that take place within the context of care and prevention, manifesting themselves in complex ways that can lead to misunderstanding the impact on children, the (un) conscious subjugation of women victims, and the absence of dialogue about the role of men in addressing DV at a system level.
Digital Microfluidics: A Versatile Platform For Applications in Chemistry, Biology and Medicine
Keywords: digital microfluidics
electrowetting
lab-on-a-chip
sample processing
miniaturized synthesis
clinical chemistry

Digital microfluidics (DMF) has recently emerged as a popular technology for a wide range of applications. In DMF, nL-mL droplets containing samples and reagents are controlled(i.e., moved, merged, mixed, and dispensed from reservoirs) by applying a series of electrical potentials to an array of electrodes coated with a hydrophobic insulator. DMF is distinct from microchannel-based fluidics as it allows for precise control over multiple reagent phases (liquid and solid) in heterogeneous systems with no need for complex networks of microvalves. In this thesis, digital microfluidics has been applied to address key challenges in the fields of chemistry, biology and medicine. For applications in chemistry, the first two-plate digital microfluidic platform for synchronized chemical synthesis is reported. The new method, which was applied to synthesizing peptide macrocycles, is fast and amenable to automation, and is convenient for parallel scale fluid handling in a straightforward manner. For applications in biology, I present the first DMF-based method for extraction of proteins (via precipitation) in serum and cell lysate. The performance of the new method was comparable to that of conventional techniques, with the advantages of automation and reduced analysis time. The results suggest great potential for digital microfluidics for proteomic biomarker discovery. Furthermore, I integrated DMF with microchannels for in-line biological sample processing and separations. Finally, for applications in medicine, I developed the first microfluidic method for sample clean-up and extraction of estrogen from one-microliter droplets of breast tissue homogenates, blood, and serum. The new method is fast and automated, and features >1000x reduction in sample use relative to conventional techniques. This method has significant potential for applications in endocrinology and breast cancer risk reduction. In addition, I describe a new microfluidic system incorporating a digital microfluidic platform for on-chip blood spotting and processing, and a microchannel emitter for direct analysis by mass spectrometry. The new method is fast, robust, precise, and is capable of quantifying analytes associated with common congenital disorders such as homocystinuria, phenylketonuria, and tyrosinemia.
Hrushovski and Ramsey Properties of Classes of Finite Inner Product Structures, Finite Euclidean Metric Spaces, and Boron Trees
Keywords: combinatorics
Ramsey theory
graph theory
topological dynamics
Fraisse theory
Hrushovski
metric spaces
boron trees
Euclidean spaces

We investigate two combinatorial properties of classes of finite structures, as well as related applications to topological dynamics. Using the Hrushovski property of classes of finite structures -- a finite extension property of homomorphisms -- we can show the existence of ample generics. For example, Solecki proved the existence of ample generics in the context of finite metric spaces that do indeed possess this extension property. Furthermore, Kechris, Pestov and Todorcevic have shown that the Ramsey property of Fraisse classes of finite structures implies that the automorphism group of the corresponding Fraisse limit is extremely amenable, i.e., it possesses a very strong fixed point property. Gromov and Milman had shown that the unitary group of the infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert space is extremely amenable using non-combinatorial methods. This result encourages a deeper look into structural Euclidean Ramsey theory, i.e., Euclidean Ramsey theory in which we colour more than just points. In particular, we look at complete finite labeled graphs whose vertex sets are subsets of the Hilbert space and whose labels correspond to the inner products. We prove "Ramsey-type" and "Hrushovski-type" theorems for linearly ordered metric subspaces of "sufficiently" orthogonal sets. In particular, the latter is used to show a "Hrushovski version" of the Ramsey-type Matousek-Rodl theorem for simplices. It is known that the square root of the metric induced by the distance between vertices in graphs produces a metric space embeddable in a Euclidean space if and only if the graph is a metric subgraph of the Cartesian product of three types of graphs. These three are the half-cube graphs, the so-called cocktail party graphs, and the Gosset graph. We show that the class of metric spaces related to half-cube graphs -- metric spaces on sets with the symmetric difference metric -- satisfies the Hrushovski property up to 3 points, but not more. Moreover, the amalgamation in this class can be too restrictive to permit the Ramsey Property. Finally, following the work of Fouche, we compute the Ramsey degrees of structures induced by the leaf sets of boron trees. Also, we briefly show that this class does not satisfy the full Hrushovski property. Fouche's trees are in fact related to ultrametric spaces, as was observed by Lionel Nguyen van The. We augment Fouche's concept of orientation so that it applies to these boron tree structures. The upper bound computation of the Ramsey degree in this case, turns out to be an "asymmetric" version of the Graham-Rothschild theorem. Finally, we extend these structures to "oriented" ones, yielding a Ramsey class and a corresponding Fraisse limit whose automorphism group is extremely amenable.
Nutritionally Adequate Protein Sources in Diets During Gestation, Lactation and Weaning Influence Food Intake and the Risk of Characteristics of Metabolic Syndrome in Offspring of Wistar Rats
Keywords: protein source
fetal programming
blood pressure
metabolic syndrome
food intake

The hypothesis that source of protein in a nutritionally adequate diet during gestation, lactation and weaning alters food intake and characteristics of metabolic syndrome in the offspring was investigated. Pregnant Wistar rats were randomized to either the AIN 93-G casein (C) or soy protein (S) diets (n=12/group) during gestation only or during gestation and lactation. Male offspring in each dams’ diet group were weaned to either C or S diets (n=12/group). Food intake, body weight (BW), fat pad mass, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, and plasma homocysteine (p<0.05) were higher in offspring born to dams fed the S diet. Fasting blood glucose (BG), BG in response to a glucose gavage and Homeostatic Model of Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) index were higher only in male offspring born to dams fed the S diet. Moreover, gene expression of Agouti Related Protein (AgRP) was higher in offspring born to dams fed the S diet at weaning. Extending the dams’ diet during gestation and lactation magnified the effect of the gestational S diet on BW and composition and glucose metabolism in male offspring. Although composition of the weaning diets interacted with that of the dams’ diets, the latter was the dominant factor in determining metabolic outcomes in the offspring. In conclusion, the soy protein diet, compared to the casein diet when consumed during gestation or throughout gestation and lactation increased food intake and the presence of characteristics of metabolic syndrome in the offspring.
Cholera and Crisis: State Health and the Geographies of Future Epidemics
Keywords: cholera
crisis
health
disease
epidemic
history
science

In the fall of 1892, fear of cholera was pervasive in North America. Ten years into the fifth international cholera epidemic -- that lasted from 1881 to 1896 -- cholera had been raging in the Middle East, India, and Europe, but the disease had yet to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The maritime traffic of immigrants from Europe was continuous, and each migrant ship potentially carried the disease. Doctors, government officials, and politicians were not asking 'will cholera come?', but rather when. While no one got sick or died of cholera in the city of Toronto in 1892, the crisis and fear of imminent cholera was very real. Drawing on archival research, this dissertation maps how a cholera crisis was shaped by urgency, immediacy, and speculation on the future. My argument will show how the geography of an epidemic is not limited to the presence of a disease. If crises are times of profound activity, how does this event need to be substantiated in order to produce change? This dissertation follows how cholera was integral to producing an object called proliferating life that held together: migrating populations, growing cities, and degeneration; marshland as the source of disease; the medical theory of zymosis that explained how disease outbreaks got out of control; and Malthusian 'laws' of population. Health experts used correlation and synecdoche to visualize these relations. However, these experts needed a stable institutional base to articulate both their fears and their recommendations, which included: professionalized expanding health boards, as social infrastructures; reclaiming Toronto’s marshland of Ashbridge's Bay; and a health ideology built upon the fear of future epidemics, immigration, and a growing economic rationale for health. By the early 20th century, state health became instrumental to a "national vitality", a practice of government intervention that I frame as bureaucratic bio-economy.
Development of High-order CENO Finite-volume Schemes with Block-based Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR)
Keywords: computational fluid dynamics
finite-volume method
high-order scheme
adaptive mesh refinement (AMR)
ENO scheme
essentially non-oscillatory
CENO
body-fitted multi-block mesh
high-order spatial discretization
numerical method
hyperbolic and elliptic PDE
fixed stencil reconstruction
piecewise linear reconstruction
smoothness indicator
Euler and Navier-Stokes equations
advection-diffusion equation
smooth and non-smooth solution content
k-exact least-squares reconstruction
hybrid numerical scheme
compressible gaseous flows
refinement criteria
high-performance parallel computing
solution monotonicity enforcement
large-eddy simulation (LES)
interpolation technique
structured grid
inviscid and viscous flow
TVD scheme
h-p-adaptation
high-order boundary conditions
complex curved geometries

A high-order central essentially non-oscillatory (CENO) finite-volume scheme in combination with a block-based adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm is proposed for solution of hyperbolic and elliptic systems of conservation laws on body- fitted multi-block mesh. The spatial discretization of the hyperbolic (inviscid) terms is based on a hybrid solution reconstruction procedure that combines an unlimited high-order k-exact least-squares reconstruction technique following from a fixed central stencil with a monotonicity preserving limited piecewise linear reconstruction algorithm. The limited reconstruction is applied to computational cells with under-resolved solution content and the unlimited k-exact reconstruction procedure is used for cells in which the solution is fully resolved. Switching in the hybrid procedure is determined by a solution smoothness indicator. The hybrid approach avoids the complexity associated with other ENO schemes that require reconstruction on multiple stencils and therefore, would seem very well suited for extension to unstructured meshes. The high-order elliptic (viscous) fluxes are computed based on a k-order accurate average gradient derived from a (k+1)-order accurate reconstruction. A novel h-refinement criterion based on the solution smoothness indicator is used to direct the steady and unsteady refinement of the AMR mesh. The predictive capabilities of the proposed high-order AMR scheme are demonstrated for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations governing two-dimensional compressible gaseous flows as well as for advection-diffusion problems characterized by the full range of Peclet numbers, Pe. The ability of the scheme to accurately represent solutions with smooth extrema and yet robustly handle under-resolved and/or non-smooth solution content (i.e., shocks and other discontinuities) is shown for a range of problems. Moreover, the ability to perform mesh refinement in regions of smooth but under-resolved and/or non-smooth solution content to achieve the desired resolution is also demonstrated.
Cell Non-autonomous Regulation of Death in C. elegans
Keywords: C. elegans
apoptosis

Programmed cell death (PCD or apoptosis) is an evolutionarily conserved, genetically controlled suicide mechanism for cells, which when deregulated, can lead to developmental defects, cancers and degenerative diseases. In C. elegans, DNA damage induces germ cell death by signaling through cep-1/p53 ultimately leading to the activation of the CED-3/caspase. It has been hypothesized that the major regulatory events controlling cell death occur by cell autonomous mechanisms, that is within the dying cell. In support of this, genetic studies in C. elegans have shown that the core apoptosis pathway genes ced-4/APAF1 and ced-3/caspase are required in cells fated to die. However, it is not known whether the upstream signals that activate apoptosis function in a cell autonomous manner. Here I show that two genes, kri-1, an ortholog of KRIT1/CCM1 that is mutated in the human neurovascular disease cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) and daf-2, an insulin-like receptor, are required to activate DNA damage-dependent cell death independently of cep-1/p53. Interestingly, I found that both genes can regulate cell death in a non-autonomous manner, revealing a novel role for non-dying cells in eliciting death in response to DNA damage.
Dynamic Demand for New and Used Durable Goods without Physical Depreciation
Keywords: Used Goods Markets
Discrete Choice Models
Dynamic Programming
Bayesian Estimation
Consumption Satiation
Forward-Looking Behavior

This thesis studies the interaction between new and used durable goods without physical depreciation. In product categories such as CDs/DVDs and video games, the competition from used goods markets has been viewed as a serious problem by producers. These products physically depreciate negligibly, but owners' consumption values could depreciate quickly due to satiation. Consequently, used goods that are almost identical to new goods may become available immediately after a new product release. However, the existence of used goods markets also provides consumers with a selling opportunity. If consumers are forward-looking and account for the future resale value of a product in their buying decision, used goods markets could increase the sales of new goods. Thus, whether used good markets are harmful or beneficial to new-good producers is an empirical question. To tackle this question, I extend the previous literature in three ways. First, I assemble a new data set from the Japanese video game market. This unique data set includes not only the sales and prices of new and used goods, but also the resale value of used copies, the quantity of used copies retailers purchased from consumers, and the inventory level of used copies at retailers. Second, I develop a structural model of forward-looking consumers that incorporates (i) new and used goods buying decisions, (ii) used goods selling decisions, (iii) consumer expectations about future prices of new and used goods as well as resale values of used goods, and (iv) the depreciation of both owners' and potential buyers' consumption values. Third, I develop a new Bayesian estimation method to estimate my model. In particular, my method can alleviate the computational burden of estimating non-stationary discrete choice dynamic programming models with continuous state variables that evolve stochastically over time. The estimation results suggest that consumers are forward-looking in the Japanese video game market and the substitutability between new and used video games is quite low. Using the estimates, I quantify the impact of eliminating the used video game market on new-game revenues. I find that the elimination of used video game market could reduce the revenue for a new game.
Canadian Refugee Policy Paradigm Change in the 1990s: Understanding the Power of International Social Influence
Keywords: Canada
Refugee Policy
Global Goverment Networks
Socialization

This dissertation explores the factors which contributed to a change in the paradigm that framed Canadian refugee policy over the course of the 1990s. This change is characterized in the dissertation as a shift from a refugee protection paradigm that dominated policy-makers’ thinking in the 1970s and 1980s, to a security-control paradigm by at the end of the 1990s. This change is puzzling because it occurred prior to the events of 9/11 rather than in response to them and because domestic motivations for change do not provide a complete explanation of the shift. The dissertation argues that although factors in the domestic and international environments may have enabled paradigm change, a more complete explanation of shift needs to consider the process through which Canadian policy-makers were socialized into a developing international norm. This process of international socialization occurred through bureaucrats’ international interaction in bilateral and Regional Consultative Processes akin to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s global government networks. Using data generated from primary document analysis and a series of interviews of key policy-makers this dissertation maps paradigm change over the two periods. This data is then used to provide evidence of the importance of bureaucratic socialization through a global government network for migration in explaining this change.
'The Deep Slumber of Decided Opinion': How Teachers and School Administrators Understand Controversial Issues Policy
Keywords: Educational Administration
Policy

Recognition that social and global issues are important to education has re-ignited interest in policy approaches to controversial and sensitive issues(CI).Without a policy framework for CI education, educators become 'de-skilled' by their working conditions. This qualitative study researches teachers and school administrators' understanding of CI policy (CSI 2003) using a theoretical framework structured on critical democracy and a conceptual lens of critical discourse and narrative analyses. Research findings reveal CSI lacks a cogent conceptual framework; it supports curricula and board policies. Some school administrators use CSI to support the system against community-based challenges to policy and programs. In this way, the process of CSI is not democratic. Further, a critical discourse analysis reveals deeply-embedded contradictions through competing voices for authority. Teachers report feelings of fear and experiencing surveillance in conditions of inadequate and inequitable CI policy support. The findings locate inattention to students' roles is defining what (and how) CI enter the classroom. The research findings sharpen our knowledge of local-level policy activity among users. For these and other reasons, the work censures CI policy for 'white privilege' and 'liberalism.'From a theoretical perspective, the thesis asserts the need for more work on the intersections of critical policy, critical democracy and citizen engagement in policy processes.
Investigating the Integration of Alternative Splicing and Transcriptional Regulation in Mammalian Gene Expression
Keywords: transcription
alternative splicing
RNA polymerase II
T cell activation

Alternative splicing functions to generate proteomic diversity and to regulate gene expression in higher eukaryotes. Genome-wide analyses suggest that alternative splicing and transcription typically regulate different gene sets to achieve cell- and tissue-type specificity. However, within individual cell-types, most alternative splicing events occur co-transcriptionally and are impacted by the transcriptional machinery. Despite many focused studies on co-transcriptional regulation of alternative splicing, its mechanisms and functions in regulation of gene expression are still poorly understood. To investigate relationships between transcription and alternative splicing, I performed microarray profiling of alternative splicing and transcript levels during activation of a T cell line. This experiment revealed that different sets of genes and associated functional categories are regulated by alternative splicing and transcription during T cell activation. I next employed inhibitors of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation and microarray profiling to identify genes with coupled changes in splicing and transcript levels when transcription is impeded in activated T cell. Genes that were affected at both levels were significantly enriched in RNA binding and processing functions, and generally displayed increased alternative exon inclusion and decreased transcript levels when transcription elongation was disrupted. Similar effects were observed when transcription was driven by mutant polymerases with reduced elongation activity, and when cells were subjected to stress treatments. Many of the elongation inhibition-sensitive exons from the affected genes introduce premature termination codons into the mRNA, resulting in spliced mRNAs that are substrates of the nonsense-mediated decay pathway and further reduction in mRNA levels. ChIP-Seq experiment demonstrated that Pol II occupancy specifically increased in introns flanking the affected exons. These results provide evidence that a physiological function of transcription elongation-coupled alternative splicing regulation is to regulate the levels of RNA processing factors under conditions that reduce elongation activity, including cell stress. In summary, my thesis research has provided new insights into the integration of transcription and splicing control. While these two regulatory levels can control different gene sets during the activation of T cells, within a given cell type, they are closely coupled to control specific alternative splicing events that appear to coordinate mRNA and RNA processing factors levels.