VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Implications of Sexual Risk Assessment for HIV Intervention Planning: The Utility of the Expanded AIDS Risk Reduction MODEL among Young Ghanaian Women
Keywords: ARRM
Culture
Ghana
HIV
Psychology
Women

ID: 10997Background Study Objective(s): Increasing HIV/AIDS knowledge alone does not stem the spread of HIV among young Ghanaian women. Rather, the solution lies in enhancing the individual's appreciation of her own risk and self-efficacy for reducing risky behaviours (Sallar, 2001). The current dissertation aims to understand the factors related to HIV/AIDS sexual risk behaviour among young Ghanaian women. In an expansion of the AIDS Risk Reduction Model (ARRM; Catania, 1990), psychological (sexual assertiveness and self-esteem), interpersonal (resiliency), and cultural variables (spirituality, cultural mistrust, gender roles, childhood sexual abuse, social health, and Africentrism) were identified to assist in the prediction of stage-specific variables at each stage (i.e., Labeling, Commitment, and Enactment) of the ARRM. Sexual risk behaviour was further examined in relationship to diverse demographic variables. Methods: Using quantitative exploratory survey and convenience sampling methods, two hundred (N=200) female participants were recruited at three institutions in Accra, Ghana. Results: Labeling: Labeling was positively related to Peer Norm. However, Labeling was negatively related HIV/AIDS Risk Knowledge and Susceptibility to HIV. Further, there was a positive relationship between Labeling and HIV Testing (at the Commitment Stage). The overall regression for the expanded predictors model on Labeling was not statistically significant. Education and age accounted for the bulk of the explained variance at this stage. Commitment: HIV testing intention was negatively related to age and marital status. However, it was positively related to education. Overall, neither the ARRM nor the expanded ARRM variables predicted Commitment. However, there was a positive relationship between Self- esteem and Commitment. Enactment: Condom Use Self-efficacy was positively related to age. Education was positively related to Enactment. For the expanded predictors, Perception of Sexual Enjoyment, Sexual Communication, Spirituality and Self-Esteem were negatively related to Enactment. There was also a positive relationship between Sexual Assertiveness and Enactment. Conclusion: Together, findings validated the Expanded ARRM as a fairly reliable model that helped in the coherent understanding of psychosocial and cultural issues that increase sexual vulnerability in young Ghanaian women. Overall, this study contributes to efforts to promote the use of culturally appropriate strategies in HIV prevention in Ghana.
Development and Testing of the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance
Keywords: Clinical Education
Educational Assessment
Internship and Residency
Physical Therapy Specialty
Students

Clinical education is a core component of the Canadian university physiotherapy (PT) entry-to-practice curricula. Assessment of students during clinical experiences is a critical element of the clinical education courses. A standardised tool to measure PT students' clinical performance in relation to the level of competence expected for an entry-level physiotherapist that is specific to the Canadian context does not exist. The main objective of this thesis was to develop and explore the psychometric properties of the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance (ACP). The ACP is to be used by PT students and their clinical instructors to describe the PT students' clinical performance behaviours as observed in the clinical education setting relative to what might be expected of a physiotherapist in Canada. The first study of this thesis refined the items that would compose the new measure, identified the items that would have a comment box and also gained consensus on the rating scale anchors through Delphi methodology. The second and third studies provided evidence for the substantive nature (face and content validity) of the ACP. Interviews were conducted in the second study with stakeholders including clinical instructors, recent graduates and individuals with expertise in measurement and /or clinical education. The third study entailed broad consultation with physiotherapists who had clinical education experience via a national online survey. The fourth study piloted the ACP in 10 PT university education programs across Canada from March to December 2013. The analyses performed in this study provided evidence to support our scoring and generalization inferences and, in addition, also provided evidence for the structure and external relationships (construct validity) of the ACP. The ACP was also found to be a practical measure. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for each role ranged from 0.94-0.99; scores at final internship points were higher than at midpoint; senior students performed better than junior students; students who performed well/poorly on the ACP also perform well/poorly on the current measure. The ACP can be used with confidence to assess the clinical performance behaviours of entry-level physiotherapy students in the clinical education setting.
Thesis Work: An Ethnography of the Writing and Text Production of Professional Graduate Education Students
Keywords: Graduate Student Experiences
Graduate Student Mothers
Graduate Student Writing
Institutional Ethnography
Older Professional Graduate Students
Study Groups in Graduate Education

This thesis examined the experiences of mature education and health professionals in graduate education programs at a large Canadian university to discover how they learned to write as academics and produce their theses, and to explore their particular challenges. Most of the participants were women, and most studied part-time while continuing their professional work. The research also examined the social organization of the graduate education programs, and the policies and practices that regulated the students' writing and text production. The study revealed which policies had positive results, and which were problematic or lacking. The method of inquiry was informed by institutional ethnography and autoethnography, conducted from the standpoint of graduate students. Participation in and observation of classes, study groups, thesis proposal presentations, conference presentations, mock thesis defenses, interviews and conversations revealed the dynamics between students and supervisors, as well as the value of students presenting their work at all stages and at different venues for feedback and development of their research, discourse and writing skills. Problem areas identified by the participants included supervision difficulties, part-time students' unmet needs, student mothers' challenges, and writing problems. Suggestions include that supervisors meet with students regularly, provide advice and resources as needed, return thesis drafts promptly, and provide study groups to augment individual supervision. Suggestions to assist part-time students include providing supervision and workshops on Saturdays, and more evening, online and summer courses. Mothers of babies and young children require on-site, flexible, subsidized daycare or subsidies for off-site care, and a support group. Teaching academic rhetoric and the genres required for thesis writing, providing writing assistance groups and groups for students who are "stuck" would alleviate some writing issues. Another suggestion is open monthly meetings on a Saturday with facilitators, a forum where students can discuss any questions or concerns, and develop social connections..
"Il vocabolario e la strada." Self-Translation between Standard Italian and Regional Dialects in the Works of Salvatore Di Giacomo, Luigi Capuana, and Luigi Pirandello
Keywords: Capuana
dialect
Di Giacomo
Italian
Pirandello
translation

The present dissertation explores the work of three playwrights active both in regional dialects and standard Italian in the post-Unification period, who consistently translated their own work from one code into another: Salvatore Di Giacomo, Luigi Capuana, and Luigi Pirandello. Their "bilingual writing" is best understood in light of the process of linguistic unification of Italy, described as a shift from prevailing non-bilingual diglossia to prevailing diglossic bilingualism. Considering self-translation as an extreme case of author-translator relationship, I compare the Italian and dialectal version of each play, highlighting the central features of the rewriting process. The analysis especially focuses on phenomena of linguistic interference, self-censorship and semantic attenuation, paying also attention to the systematic loss of "internal linguistic networks and argots" (Berman, La traduction 63-64). At the same time, translation acts a relatively free space for linguistic experimentation, allowing the three authors examined to challenge the idea of a fatal link between language and nation. Self-translation between standard Italian and regional dialects thus marks a very important transition in the Italian modernity, helping to close the rift between spoken and written language and eventually paving the road to the national renovation of Italian dramatic literature fully accomplished in the 1920s and 1930s.
More than Nothing: Histories of the Vacuum in Theoretical Physics, 1927-1981
Keywords: Epistemology
Ontology
Physics
Vacuum

This dissertation is an historical ontology of the vacuum in theoretical physics from Dirac to Zeldovich. It traces changing views of the ontology of the vacuum though communities of both quantum theorists and general ``relativists.'' Rather than a traditional micro study of one actor, or a small group of connected actors, it is a ``meso'' history, following the idea of the vacuum across approximately 55 years and from the United States to the Soviet Union. This meso-scale analysis allows me to mediate between the individual concerns of historical actors at the chapter-level and a broader historical-philosophical question at the dissertation-level: how can we be realists about unobservable theoretical entities like the vacuum in the light of changing ontologies? However, too fine a distinction must not be drawn between ontologies and epistemologies here. An overall theme of the dissertation is the connection between the tools theorists used and their ontological pictures. Chapters cover P.A.M. Dirac; Julian Schwinger and Richard Feynman; John Archibald Wheeler; Roger Penrose; Sidney Coleman; and Vladimir Fock and Yakov Zeldovich. All chapters are based on archival research except the final body-chapter on Fock and Zeldovich, which is based on materials in translation. I make a positive case for the claim that one can be a realist about theoretical entities like the vacuum only when considered from a Deluezian, differential perspective. Difference is put forth as a creative engine for science.
Impact of Severe Malaria in Pregnancy on Adverse Birth Outcomes, Neurodevelopment and Cognition
Keywords: Intrauterine Growth Restriction
Malaria
Neurodevelopment
Placental Biology
Pregnancy
Preterm Birth

The in utero environment can have a profound impact on pre-and post-natal development. Low birth weight, due to preterm delivery, intrauterine growth restriction or a combination of the two, greatly increases the risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Despite the rising rates and public health impact of adverse birth outcomes, there are few early diagnostic tools or intervention strategies. We measured levels of inflammatory and angiogenic proteins in relation to preterm and small-for-gestational age outcomes in a cohort of Tanzanian women and observed distinct biomarker profiles with respect to birth outcome. The high rates of low birth weight outcomes in many low resource settings are due in part to malaria infection in pregnancy. Pregnant women are more likely to be infected with malaria and to experience severe clinical outcomes. To examine the impact of malaria on the placental environment we measured expression of endogenous drug transporters in maternal and fetal tissue. We observed altered levels of transporters in maternal and fetal tissues of malaria-infected dams, which impact drug metabolism, transport across the placenta and fetal exposure to xenobiotics. Despite the high rates of adverse birth outcomes associated with malaria in pregnancy there are few intervention strategies to improve fetal outcomes. Moreover, to date no research has examined the impact of exposure to maternal malaria infection on in utero neurodevelopment. We observed changes in learning and memory as well as anxiety-like behavior in malaria-exposed offspring that were rescued by genetic and pharmacological blockade of C5a-C5aR signaling. The behavioral phenotype was associated with altered levels of major biogenic amines in cortical and subcortical regions of the brain. This preclinical work suggests that therapeutic interventions targeting this pathway could improve adverse birth outcomes in children exposed to maternal malaria infection. However, antibodies for C5a are prohibitively expensive and therefore are not a viable option for low resource settings. Therefore we examined the use of L-Arginine, an essential amino acid in pregnancy, to target similar pathways through a more feasible strategy. We found that L-Arginine supplementation improved fetal weight and viability in malaria-exposed litters and altered inflammatory and angiogenic markers in the placenta.
Microwave-assisted Production of Activated Carbon from Pulp Mill Sludge with White Liquor
Keywords: Activated carbon
Adsorption
Bioactive compounds
Chemical activation
Microwaves
Pulp mill sludge

This work establishes the technical feasibility of producing a value added product ,activated carbon, from a waste stream, pulp mill sludge, using white liquor as the activating agent and microwaves as the energy source. The work also demonstrates the potential of the sludge-derived activated carbon in removing bioactive compounds in pulp mill effluents that affect fish production. Readily available at Kraft mills, white liquor is able to convert sludge into activated carbon with a specific surface area (SSA) of 650 m2/g. While NaOH in white liquor creates pores in the carbon from sludge, other two components of white liquor, Na2S and Na2CO3, inhibit the activation process. Porosities of activated carbon produced with microwave oven and conventional furnace are comparable. The use of microwaves reduces the activation time from hours to minutes. However, strong microwave absorbers, such as NaOH and KOH, are needed for pyrolysis and activation, since pulp mill sludge and wood polymers are weak microwave absorbers with tan δ
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of a Morphing Pulley Belt Drive Transmission System
Keywords: Belt
Dynamics
Nonlinear Vibrations
Pulley

This doctoral research presents nonlinear dynamic analyses of a morphing pulley belt drive transmission system. In a morphing pulley transmission system, different drive ratios are achieved by discretely varying the pulley diameter. The belt drive system consists of a tensioning mechanism, as well as a driver and driven pulley. A new approach is proposed for the tensioning mechanism to fulfill the performance requirements and ensure smooth shifts. However, the driven pulley typically possesses high inertial loads leading to excessive belt vibrations and failure due to fatigue. In addition, during a drive ratio shifting and the resulting change in the pulley diameter, the belt experiences sudden load variations causing excessive vibrations. To remedy these excessive vibrations, a one-way clutch in combination with a torque limiter is installed between the driven pulley and the load. This forms a nonlinear vibration reduction system that partial disengagements between the pulley and the accessory. Dynamic analysis is essential for designing a belt drive system. However, limited published work has been found providing a complete dynamic analysis of a morphing pulley system. This doctoral research provides a dynamic model of the morphing pulley transmission system using various tools and analysis approaches, namely the method of multiple scales, numerical techniques and experiments. Lagrange's energy method is used to obtain the equations of motion. A periodic solution under harmonic, resonant, and non-resonant excitations are achieved through the method of multiple scales. The effects of different design parameters on the system performance are studied for various harmonic excitations. The robustness of the proposed nonlinear vibration reduction approach is presented through its implementation in a belt drive system.
The Regulation and Perturbation of Vascular Endothelial Permeability
Keywords: atherosclerosis
endothelial permeability
influenza
low-density lipoprotein
lung injury
transyctosis

The endothelium forms the inner lining of every blood vessel in the body where it regulates the movement of fluid and solutes between the blood and tissue compartments. It comprises a single layer of endothelial cells that connect to one another through specialized proteins. The passage of solutes across the endothelium can occur between endothelial cells or through them in a process known as transcytosis. A basal level of permeability occurs under normal physiologic conditions. However, aberrant endothelial permeability has been implicated in a number of pathological conditions. These include disorders attributed to increased paracellular permeability, such as the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) where leakage from the pulmonary microvasculature causes the accumulation of fluid in alveolar airspaces resulting in impaired gas exchange, and pathological transcytosis, such as in atherosclerosis where transport of cholesterol in the form of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) results in plaque accumulation in the subendothelial space.Despite its role in disease pathogenesis, endothelial permeability has been largely neglected as a therapeutic target. This is due to the widely-held view that endothelial dysfunction is a consequence rather than a cause of pathologic changes as well as to our incomplete understanding of the two routes of endothelial permeability and how they are interrelated. In this thesis I present a body of work demonstrating the critical importance of endothelial permeability in lung injury due to influenza infection as well as in atherosclerosis. Using a variety of in vitro approaches as well as animal models, we uncover mechanisms underlying endothelial permeability in these diseases and explore ways of manipulating endothelial permeability as a potential adjuvant therapy. Furthermore, we also examine how paracellular leak and transcytosis are connected at the subcellular level so that manipulation of one pathway leads to changes in the other.The importance of endothelial permeability in human disease has been underappreciated. By highlighting its role in lung injury and atherosclerosis and by elucidating the molecular mechanism of endothelial permeability in these conditions, we offer new insights into the clinical significance of the endothelial barrier and its hitherto untapped potential as a therapeutic target.
Epigenetic Analysis of the Kallikrein Gene Family and Associated Pathways as a Novel Panel of Prostate Cancer Biomarkers
Keywords: Biomarkers
DNA methylation
Kallikrein-related peptidases
MicroRNA
Multiplex qPCR
Prostate cancer

Aberrant epigenetic landscape is a hallmark of prostate cancer (PCa), one of the most common cancers among men worldwide. Currently, improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving PCa pathogenesis as well as biomarkers for improved diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the disease are needed. Kallikrein related peptidases (KLKs) have emerged as important cancer biomarkers. However, the mechanisms leading to their deregulation in PCa are poorly understood. This thesis characterized the clinical impact of epigenetic mechanisms that regulate KLKs and associated genes contributing to PCa pathogenesis. Utilizing genome-wide DNA methylation profiling and quantitative MethyLight technology, novel tumor-specific hypermethylation of KLK6 and KLK10 was identified in PCa. KLK10 DNA methylation was associated with pathological stage and longer time to biochemical recurrence in two independent cohorts of PCa patients. KLK6 hypermethylation was observed in normal-appearing prostate tissue adjacent to PCa, which could be indicative of the epigenetic field effect. Through the use of qPCR microRNA arrays a signature of 42 upregulated microRNAs predicted to target KLKs was identified in association with Gleason score (GS)8 vs. GS6, but no signature was found in correlation with biochemical recurrence. Among these, the association of increased miR-137 with increasing GS was established in an independent cohort. Notably, expression of miR-137, predicted to target KLK10, was inversely correlated to KLK10 hypermethylation. The emerging independent clinical significance of clinicopathologic entities such as intraductal carcinoma (IDC) and carcinoma with cribriform architecture in PCa prognosis was further explored by investigating DNA hypermethylation alterations of selected candidate genes including KLK10 in association with these clinicopathologic entities. Although KLK10 methylation did not correlate with either IDC or cribriform architecture, the previously discovered methylation of APC, RASSF1A and TBX15 was significantly linked to these features in PCa. Further, the presence of large cribriform architecture or HOXD3 hypermethylation was a strong independent predictor of biochemical recurrence. Thus, this thesis presents a panel of methylated genes that demonstrated promising prognostic performance and investigated their role in the etiology of PCa. Accordingly, a novel multiplex MethyLight assay was developed for simultaneous analysis of three methylated genes with potential applications in research and clinical settings.