VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Investigating teacher leadership as a means of building school capacity
Keywords: Educational leadership, Ontario
High school teachers, Ontario
School improvement programs, Ontario
School management and organization, Ontario

The purpose of this research was to investigate teacher leadership as a means of building the capacity of one school to respond to the diverse learning needs of all students. This school was selected because the quantitative data collected in a larger study on impact of Secondary School Reform in Ontario schools, indicated that this school had established collaborative networks and strong relationships. It appeared that an environment had been created in this school where the expectations for teachers to work as school-wide leaders had become the norm. A shared leadership model had been established and teachers worked within that model through Management Learning Teams (MLT) to become school-wide leaders. Using a qualitative approach that included a combination of observation of teachers in action in their MLTs as well as follow-up interviews, the dynamics of how teachers work as leaders was examined. Data were gathered about the nature of the leadership activities that teachers were involved with outside the classroom, how teacher leaders influenced one another, how communities of learning were facilitated and how teachers leaders overcame the obstacles they encountered. The strongest theme that emerged is that principal and teacher leadership are inseparable as means of enhancing school capacity. Both the principal and the teachers must adopt new roles as leaders within the school and these new roles must be part of a shared leadership model that outlines the communication and flow of information to all the members of the school. Central to this model was the connection between administration as the strategic leaders of the school and the teachers as the leaders in the classroom. Creating structures that were built into the daily routines of the school empowered teachers to become involved and impact the decisions that were being made about a variety of different teaching and learning issues. However, in spite of the many opportunities for collaboration it became evident that professional autonomy still seems to play a powerful role in limiting the degree to which teacher leaders could influence a change of instructional practice that may lead to improved student learning.
Parents' involvement in youth justice proceedings from the perspective of youth: a pilot study
Keywords: Juvenile justice, Administration of, Parent participation
Juvenile delinquency, Canada
Teenagers, Legal status, laws, etc
Teenagers, Canada
Juvenile delinquency, Psychological aspects
Juvenile courts, Canada

The Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act recognizes the important role of parents in young people's legal proceedings. Yet, there has been little empirical research on the predictors of parental involvement in the youth justice system. In the present study, 47 male young offenders were interviewed about their experiences with parents prior to and during judicial proceedings, to examine the factors associated with young people's perceptions of parental involvement in legal contexts. Results indicated that parental warmth and general involvement in a young person's life were significantly related to parental participation in the youth justice system. However, multiple regression analyses showed that parental warmth offered little additional predictive power beyond that contributed by parents' general involvement. Findings are discussed in terms of both theoretical and practical implications, and directions for future research are outlined.
My self-in-relation-to learning Oneida
Keywords: Oneida language, Canada
English language, Canada
Language and culture, Canada
Language attrition, Canada

How the English language is a filter from which I view and interpret the world is explored in detail in this thesis. I am neither Oneida/Onyota'a:ka nor North American Indigenous. I would be incapable of understanding the Oneida/Onyota'a:ka language or culture on a deep level. I write about how the English language can be a hindrance to interpreting, understanding and researching, by Outsiders, of Indigenous nations and their culture. I have endeavored to unmask my own Outsider, Western English intellectual worldview by utilizing Oneida/Onyota'a:ka language and culture to investigate my own culture. There are two facets to the research: the interviews of Oneida/Onyota'a:ka language teachers and my endeavor to acquire Oneida/Onyota'a:ka language. Academics practicing de-colonizing work, need to grapple with Indigenous languages to comprehend Indigenous cultures, and in doing so, they will find out more about their own language, its cultural biases and worldview.
Navigating the community college landscape: toward relationship and community
Keywords: Adult education
Universities and colleges
College teachers
College teaching
Experiential learning

This is a qualitative community college landscape study using historical details and temporal qualities to point out the challenges and dilemmas of applying curriculum to real-world experience. The author uses the concreteness of the Canadian community college context and her own experience there to talk about student/teacher relationships, teacher identity and community, curriculum, and adult education. This study is based on the authors teaching experience in the community college system. It draws on curricular issues and the narratives of three female community college students who were participants in the study. Chapter 1, "Teaching Touchstones: Community, Conversation, and Curriculum," introduces the authors early teaching experiences. Chapter 2, "Crossing the Border into Post-Secondary Education," analyzes curriculum planning and raises questions about the intersection between theory and practice in the classroom. Chapter 3, "In the Literature: Looking for Terra Firma," is a review of the literature on adult education. Chapter 4, "In the Literature and Out of Bounds," continues to contextualize this examination. Chapter 5, "Using Narrative Inquiry to Find Open Ground," describes the tensions lived out in the researcher/teacher inquiry. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 tell classroom stories and offer narrative reflections. Includes three appendices and 151 references. (NB)
Urban spaces of racialization: White ethnicity and gentrification in Toronto
Keywords: Gentrification, Social aspects
Gentrification, Ontario
Racism, Ontario
Minorities, Housing

This thesis examines the way in which notions of race are constructed and produced in and through space. Building on a body of work on race and space, gentrification, and whiteness studies, this project explores the way in which ideas about race function in both the maintaining of heritage sites and production of new urban developments. I argue that the gentrification of Corktown, Toronto, which draws on notions of white-Anglo ethnicity, provides a case study of the way in which whiteness is constructed and maintained in and through space. Using print and web media analysis, I examine the way in which claims are made through white ethnic identification to urban space. This white ethnic identity is produced and functions to invest innocence in the processes of gentrification which in fact displaces local low-income residents and social service agencies.
Working smarter and harder: an investigation of learning information technology in the Ontario Public Service sector
Keywords: Social service
Economics
Public administration
Organizational behavior

This study investigates the learning and work relationships between information technology and the Ontario Public Service sector using a symbolic interactionist analysis and data derived from interviews with the workers themselves based on the 'Working ... IT' project (undertaken in partnership with CUPE-Ontario; project leader, Dr. P. Sawchuk). This piece details the stories of social benefits delivery workers who struggle daily to effectively service their clients using Service Delivery Model Technology (SDMT)--a software program implemented by the Ontario government in 2001. An examination of the formal and informal learning processes that workers employ in their daily routines reveals a whole new universe of language and meaning as they create what I refer to as a "culture of 'workarounds'" in order to bypass the inherent flaws in this software. Though the workarounds allow these workers to perform their duties more effectively, they are often troublesome and those who create them do so without financial compensation. Additionally, workers find themselves addressing the contradictions inherent in the attempts by management to change the nature of their occupation. Symbolic Interaction theory provides a useful posture on which to couch the differences between what is real and what is fabricated in the workplaces of these dedicated social service workers. Given a chance to speak after being silenced by an oppressive technological master, workers are quick to note the differences between the value of the formal learning provided by their employer and the informal learning that still takes place seven years after the introduction of this system. What becomes increasingly evident is that the workarounds they have created are not simply means by which they can achieve a greater end, they are in fact, survival tools they depend on to perform required duties.
The game of bingo: A review of the literature and study of women players in Ontario
Keywords: Bingo, Social aspects
Bingo, Ontario
Dissertations, Academic
Women gamblers, Ontario
Compulsive gambling, Ontario

Research addressing problematic bingo play is sparse. Existing literature is reviewed and supplemented by this Ontario study of women bingo players versus slot players. It compares demographic, gambling patterns, personal and family histories and treatment needs. Bingo players belonged to more impoverished and marginalized groups. They report higher levels of trauma, abuse, psychiatric issues and co-occurring problems, and different treatment needs. Bingo plays an important role in the women's leisure lives. Findings suggest that social and economic considerations play a dominant role in determining game choice. A serious public health concern issues from the current closure of many bingo halls and migration of bingo players to slot play, which can deplete financial resources more quickly. The more limited resources of bingo players increase the risk of rapidly developing gambling problems, causing a ripple effect in both personal and social costs, interventions should be formulated to specifically target these players.
A holistic approach to teacher education
Keywords: Teachers, Training of
Teaching, Standards
Teachers, In-service training
Learning
Educational change

A teacher candidate reflects on her experience in, what she terms as, a “holistic, soulful” pre-service elementary teacher education program that focuses on student-teacher wellness and student-centered learning. The commitment of the faculty to nurturing the “teacher-as-person” is reflected in the structure of an integrated program that promotes connections between personal dimensions, connections among people, connections between program components, and connections between theory and practice through the use of inquiry-oriented practice. She examines the impact of a compulsory action research project within the program that fosters reflective thinking among the teacher candidates. It is within the practice of this program what the faculty team advocates for education in general: care for the well-being and soul of teachers and their students.
The new reproductive and genetic technologies: stories told in The Globe and Mail, 1978-1997
Keywords: Human reproductive technology
Genetic engineering
Women, Press coverage

This thesis analyzes The Globe and Mail newspaper coverage from 1978–1997 regarding the new reproductive and genetic technologies of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), pre-conception agreements, and multiple births due to fertility drugs. Using content analysis, it was determined that the coverage is presented in particular ways. Coverage pertaining to females' experiences is limited while coverage pertaining to males' experiences, particularly those of male doctors and academics is vast. The new reproductive and genetic technologies are promoted through the language used to cover the stories, the orientations of the stories, the sources quoted, and the visuals. The technologies' failures, possible consequences, and impact upon women are rarely covered in any detail. It is shown that feminist coverage within The Globe and Mail allows a wider range of stories to be told and gives voice to the groups of women silenced in the mainstream coverage.
Human leukocyte antigen and T cell receptor transgenic models of xeno- and allogeneic graft rejection and neonatal tolerance induction
Keywords: Medicine
Immunology

Success in xenotransplantation will depend on the development of strategies that induce transplantation tolerance. Classic protocols of neonatal tolerance induction, which are extremely effective in allogeneic model systems, have failed in xenogeneic models. To determine whether failure results from an intrinsic property of the xenogeneic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules or, instead, is caused by some limitation in species-specific molecular interactions distinct from the polymorphic domains of xenogeneic MHC molecules, we have established a panel of Tg mice that express a hybrid human MHC class I molecule in which the polymorphic α1 and α2 domains are derived from either the human HLA-A2, -B7, or B-27 alleles and the remainder of the molecule is derived from the mouse H-2Kb protein. Initial experiments (Chapter 2) evaluated the function of the Tg HLA class I molecules as transplantation antigens. Hybrid HLA class I molecules induced a strong xeno-CD8+ T cell response as assessed by in vitro cell mediated lympholysis assays and were rapidly rejected by non-Tg recipients when presented as skin grafts. This rejection did not depend on CD8+ or CD4+ T cells or B cells. In vitro and in vivo allorecognition of locus-matched Tg hybrid HLA-B alleles was CD8-dependant. In chapter 3, we addressed the requirement for clonal deletion of alloreactive CTL in an MHC class I-disparate model of neonatal tolerance. Neonatal T cell receptor Tg recipient mice in which the majority of CD8+ T cells expressed a single α/β TCR alloreactive to H-2Ld were pretreated with semi allogeneic, H-2Ld expressing cells. These neonates were unresponsive to H-2Ld-expressing targets in vitro and were tolerant to H-2Ld skin grafts. Their peripheral lymphoid organs demonstrated a profound reduction of Tg CD8+ T cells and the mice were chimeric. To evaluate the potential for the induction of neonatal tolerance to xenogeneic MHC in the hybrid HLA Tg model system in which species-specific molecular interactions had been optimized, we injected newborn H-2 matched, non-Tg mice with splenocytes from HLA-B7hyb Tg mice (Chapter 4). HLA-B7hyb injected neonates were unresponsive to B7 hyb-expressing targets in vitro. They specifically accepted B7 hyb-expressing skin grafts and demonstrated peripheral chimerism. These experiments suggest that providing species-specific molecular interactions are conserved, xenogeneic MHC does not pose an insurmountable barrier to xenograft tolerance.
Parasitism of Pikonema alaskensis, a dispersing herbivore on black spruce (Picea mariana) in central Newfoundland
Keywords: Yellow-headed spruce sawfly, Larvae
Yellow-headed spruce sawfly, Newfoundland and Labrador
Parasitism
Black spruce, Diseases and pests
Black spruce, Newfoundland and Labrador

The yellowheaded spruce sawfly, Pikonema alaskensis Rohwer (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), is a destructive defoliator of young spruce trees. Early-instar larvae feed predominantly in the lower crown, while late-instar larvae disperse upwards to complete feeding and development in the upper crown. The role of larval parasitism with respect to this dispersal behaviour was investigated. Both early and late-instar larvae had reduced parasitism in the upper crown as opposed to the lower crown, indicating that this region was enemy-free space. Despite parasitism costs in the lower crown, early-instar larvae had better overall survival in this crown level due to better quality resources. The role of parasitism and resources changed as larvae aged and dispersed within the tree crown, therefore, stressing the need to examine both bottom-up (i.e. resources) and topdown (i.e. natural enemies) factors when exploring their influence on the behaviour of insect herbivores.
Nostalgic (re)construction of the Central European cultural space
Keywords: East European literature
Nostalgia, Europe, Eastern
Nostalgia, Europe, Central
Nostalgia in literature
Nostalgia in motion pictures

Central Europe today is a space of nostalgia. On one hand, Prague and Budapest are full of Western tourists in search of the feeling of the "old world," slightly dusty and technologically slightly behind. On the other hand, in part of the Contemporary Central European cultural production, this space is represented as a borderland where cultures and populations mix freely, and where the ideals of democracy and tolerance are reactualized through the fantastic structure of nostalgia. This study addresses the question of nostalgia in relation to history, memory and culture. It explores the origins of nostalgia and its manifestations in the contemporary Central European cultural production through close reading of a novel, film and a website. It seeks to understand the historical and social conditions behind the fantastic structure of the nostalgic reconstruction of Central Europe, contradictions and limitations of such projects, as well as their emancipatory potential.
Soot formation in laminar diffusion flames of gas mixtures
Keywords: Soot
Flame
Diffusion
Gases
Combustion

Understanding the factors that effect soot formation is essential to development of predictive models and the design of combustion processes that reduce the formation of particulates. Synergistic effects in flames of gas mixtures, increases in soot volume fraction that are higher than would be expected based on the soot volume fractions in the pure gas flames, have been observed in previous studies. The two isomers of butane were chosen to eliminate changes in flame carbon content, mass flow rate, and adiabatic flame temperature that are normally encountered when comparing flames of pure gases to flames of gas mixtures, and which also effect soot formation. A co-flow annular burner and a line-of-sight attenuation apparatus were used to produce radially-resolved soot volume fraction measurements. The experimental results give further insight into the sooting propensities of isobutane and n-butane, as well as their effect soot formation in ethylene and methane flames.
Smart card, weak effort?: consultation in the Ontario Smart Card Project
Keywords: Smart cards, Planning
Smart cards, Ontario
Identification cards, Planning
Identification cards, Ontario
Administrative agencies, Public meetings
Administrative agencies, Ontario
Political participation, Ontario

This thesis is a case study of the consultation strategy of the Ontario Smart Card Project (OSCP), an initiative to implement a microchip-based identity and access card for all Ontarians. The research focuses on OSCP records obtained through broad-based freedom of information requests. Records are used to develop a description of the OSCP's consultation strategy. This description is then analysed to develop a preliminary understanding of whether the consultation strategy was effective using three categories of criteria: provision of information about the project and its plans, soundness of methodologies, and whether consultation was genuine. This study found that the OSCP did not design its consultation strategy to be effective. The project did not provide information to the public and focused its activities on business and industry.
Prior learning assessment: an investigation of nonsponsored learning for college credits
Keywords: College credits, Outside work
College credits, Ontario
Experiential learning, Evaluation
Non-formal education, Evaluation
Portfolios in education
Self-perception

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) allows students to obtain credits toward their formal education for nonsponsored learning (i.e., material they have learned through non-traditional settings such as work experience or the home). Within the PLA framework, community colleges have implemented the portfolio development process as a way to assess prior learning--students organize and present nonsponsored learning in a document that satisfies the requirements of a college course. This exploratory case study examines how learners at Ontario Community Colleges (Canada) make meaning of their prior learning. In this study, data from interviews, a sample of portfolios, and classroom observations were initially analyzed according to five conceptual interpretations: (1) perception of learning; (2) learning style; (3) metacognitive abilities; (4) cognitive development; and (5) learners' needs. The study sample consisted of four students who were taking a community college portfolio development course, two students who had taken the portfolio development course and had successfully challenged a number of college credits, and three students who were eligible for the PLA process but did not take this option. The findings indicated that all of the students made meaning from their prior learning and applied it to their college studies.
The validation of the Preschool Puppet Interview (PPI): Assessing children's behavior and internal states
Keywords: Puppets, Therapeutic use
Child psychopathology, Diagnosis
Behavioral assessment of children
Emotions in children

The primary objective of this investigation was to establish the Internal Consistency of the Preschool Puppet Interview (PPI): a developmentally-sensitive tool, created to measure young children's perceptions regarding their internal states and behavior. Thirty-one children, 3- to 6-years-of-age, were interviewed on two occasions. The PPI demonstrated good Internal Consistency across the four scales. Test-retest reliability of children's reports was evaluated; children as young as 3-years of age provided stable reports. Additionally, the agreement among the child-parent and child-teacher dyads was examined; ratings among the dyads were not found to correlate with one another indicating that children's reports differed from those of parents and teachers. However, greater agreement among dyads was observed for children older than 4.7-years-of-age. The implications of relying on adults' reports to evaluate the validity of young children's ratings regarding their internal states and behavior, and to assess, classify and treat childhood psychopathology, are discussed.
Conceptualizing and composing poetry: developmental trends in adolescence
Keywords: Poetry, Study and teaching
Poetics, Study and teaching
School verse
Authorship
School children, Attitudes
High school students, Attitudes

This research examined the development of how students conceptualized genre-related differences between poetry and expository prose, as well as how students applied these differences to writing tasks in each of the two genres. In Study 1, explicit understanding of poetic genre was tested in students in grades six, nine, and twelve, using an open-ended response format; these were coded and scored using content analysis. Students also composed samples in both genres, which were coded for presence or absence of symbolism. In Study 2, based on the results of Study 1, a questionnaire task was added, which assessed understanding of the genres in terms of artistic liberties, aesthetic properties, emotion, making a point, and generating interpretation. Analyses showed that students in grade six conceptualize poetry in terms of structural differences and sonorous properties, however, as they increase in grade, they increasingly recognize the importance of literary features, such as symbolism.