VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Interactive E-book Experiences in a Children’s Museum: Discovery of Family Interactions

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover main patterns of parent/caregiver-child interactions around e-books in the context of a Florida children’s museum exhibit. Employing a joint media engagement theoretical framework, the intent of the study was to understand approaches of parents/caregivers around children’s e-book applications, provision of scaffolding techniques by parents/caregivers, and the children’s museum exhibit environment as it supports and inhibits parent/caregiver interactions during shared e-book experiences. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, data was collected from 197 participant observations, 31 audio recordings and observations of shared e-book experiences between parents/caregivers and children, as well as 48 interviews with parents/caregivers. The study found three main categories of parent/caregiver interaction: reading convergent parents/caregivers, task divergent parents/caregivers, and physically absent parents/caregivers. Two main areas of scaffolding emerged from the data: scaffolding related e-book content and scaffolding connected to technical navigation. Scaffolds utilized by parents/caregivers during shared e-book reading included: asking questions, labeling objects, providing hints, explanations, praise and encouragement, as well as drawing connections to real life experiences. The children’s museum context both supported and inhibited parents/caregivers in shared experiences of e-books. E-reading in the exhibit setting was supported by the parent/caregiver’s ability to: focus on engagement with their child more than at home, connect e-book content to a hands-on learning environment, and explore unique learning experiences together. Inhibits to e-reading were based on environmental factors related to visitor traffic, noise, and sharing amongst children, as well as parent/caregiver perceptions. Although the findings of this study were not generalizable beyond the particular institutional context of the study, joint media engagement is an area of significance to children’s museums and libraries and this study may be informative for other children’s museums interested in incorporating e-books into exhibits or better understanding and supporting the interactions of families around digital media.

Keywords: children's museum
e-book
joint media engagement
parents
scaffolding
shared reading experience
Advisor: Brett, Clare
Shadows And Light - A Fantasy For Violin And Orchestra

Shadows and Light is a twelve-minute work for solo violin and orchestra. The structure of this piece is governed through a novel approach to harmony and gesture passing through just-intoned sonic fields. The formal design of the piece has been organized into an arch structure whereby each section moves increasingly toward varying states of harmonicity and inharmonicity. The undulating spectra unfold within a continuum of rotating harmonies evoking a quasi-just-intoned atmosphere. This harmonic arena provides support for the fantasy-like treatment of the solo violin part. Further, through the approach to gesture, a series of vivid imagined pseudo-spaces have been rendered available for the imagination of the listeners. The impact of the musical gesture, and how it can imply a certain form of energy and drama emanating from a collection of sound fields, is of paramount concern for the thrust and forward motion of the musical material. A personal gestural palette combined with familiar modes of articulation have been used in order to broaden the listeners' perception of the sounds they are hearing. While Shadows and Light has clearly been influenced by spectral techniques, such as ring modulation and summation tones, this piece in no way belongs in the spectral repertoire. The generation of spectral-like harmonies is simply a way to provide an ethereal context in contrast to the decidedly tonal nature of the solo violin material. Because the accompaniment is mainly constructed through timbral design, and the solo part constructed through harmonic and melodic impetuses in the traditional sense, the result is of converging thresholds: timbre and harmony coalescing into unified sound matter whereby chords resonate as monoliths of partials, fusing the experience of what is sounded, and what is heard. The musical result provides divergent angles through which a listener may experience distinct sonic images in a variety of morphed states.

Keywords: Orchestra
Spectralism
Violin
Advisor: Kulesha, Gary
Recovery of a Potential from Boundary Data in Locally Conformally Transversally Anisotropic Geometries

Let (Ω3,g) be a compact smooth Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary and suppose that U is an open set in Ω such that g|U is the Euclidean metric. Let &Ggr; = U∩ ∂Ω be connected and suppose that U is the convex hull of Γ. We will study the uniqueness of an unknown potential for the Schrödinger operator − ▵g + q from the associated Dirichlet to Neumann map, Λq. Indeed, we will prove that if the potential q is a priori explicitly known in Uc then one can uniquely reconstruct q from Λq. We will also give a reconstruction algorithm for the potential. More generally we will also discuss the cases where Γ is not connected or g|U is conformally transversally anisotropic and derive the analogous result.

Keywords: Analysis
Inverse Problems
Partial Differential Equations
Riemannian Geometry
Advisor: Alexakis, Spyros
Nachman, Adrian
Investigating the occupational etiology of prostate cancer in Canadian men

Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide and the etiology of prostate cancer is poorly understood. Aside from non-modifiable factors, there is limited understanding of modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer, including occupation. In epidemiological studies, job titles are generally classified into occupational or more broadly industry groupings. Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings between occupation, industry, and prostate cancer, with weak associations for farming and agriculture, rubber manufacturing, and transportation. In Canada, there have been very few large population studies that include a range of occupation and industry groups, prostate cancer outcomes, and information on non-occupational factors. The purpose of this thesis was to further investigate the occupational etiology of prostate cancer in Canadian men. By identifying occupations and industries using multiple large Canadian population based datasets, we aimed to identify consistent patterns of the multi-faceted prostate cancer – job-industry relationships. Three population based studies and one meta-analysis were conducted. Significant associations between natural resource based (agriculture, forestry, logging, wood, paper), administrative, protective services (firefighters, police, and armed forces), construction, transportation, and prostate cancer risk were observed in the three population studies. Consistent evidence for increased prostate cancer incidence and mortality among firefighting and police work was observed in the meta-analysis. Non-occupational factors including lifestyle factors and screening behaviours were also potential confounders in the relationship between occupation and prostate cancer. Overall, the results of this work provide strong evidence associating specific occupations to prostate cancer risk. Specific occupational exposures to be considered in the future are pesticides, diesel exhaust, whole body vibrations, wood dust, wood preservative chemicals, among other factors of shift work, stress, sedentary behaviour, screening patterns. These findings indicate the need for more focused studies with better exposure assessment methods and improved understanding of related non-occupational factors. Examining these factors together will inform prevention strategies for job-specific exposure and prostate cancer risk reduction. The evidence from this thesis and proposed future directions will improve knowledge on occupational risk factors related to the etiology of prostate cancer, ultimately informing policies and programs for reduction in prostate cancer risk.

Keywords: Canada
Epidemiology
Occupation
Prostate cancer
Advisor: Demers, Paul A
The Political Status of Nonhuman Animals

In this dissertation, I make the case that other animals are political subjects and I offer new proposals for how we should understand the political statuses of different groups of animals. In part one I make the case that other animals should be seen as having full political standing. First, I argue that all conscious individuals have certain basic moral rights and I defend this position against various objections. Once we recognize these rights, I argue that protecting and upholding them requires extending to all conscious animals full political standing, which involves legal rights, legal standing, and some form of institutionalized political representation. In part two of my dissertation, I argue that adequately understanding our collective obligations to different groups of animals (wild, liminal, and domesticated) requires that we think about these groups as having different political statuses. I argue that political categories commonly used in the human case are a poor fit for the interests and unique relations humans have with different groups of animals. For wild and liminal animals, I argue that we need new political statuses that uniquely capture their interests and our relation to them. I argue that domesticated animals should be seen as our fellow citizens but that their citizenship differs in some important ways from paradigmatic human beings. I close with two important chapters that push discussion of animals in the political sphere to new areas. I consider how the citizenship of domesticated animals relates to that of humans and to claims of equality, and I defend the view that in some public policy areas the state is justified in giving limited priority to humans, while in others it is not. In the concluding chapter, I put forward detailed proposals for how human states might represent the interests of other animals in our political institutions.

Keywords: animals
ethics
political theory
politics
Advisor: Hurka, Tom
A Good Place to Age in Place? Exploring the relationships between the built environment, activity participation and healthy aging

The concept of aging-in-place has gained growing popularity in public policy. Integrating a planning perspective on this interdisciplinary research topic, this dissertation focuses on the place where people age in place. This dissertation analyzes aging-in-place with a planning perspective, by exploring relationships between the built environment, activity participation and healthy aging in Canada. The first section analyzes spatial patterns and neighborhood contexts of aging-in-place with census data. It categorizes neighborhoods by their age structures, and compares the built environment and housing characteristics between neighborhoods with distinct age-structure types. The second section takes a closer look at aging in a car dependent built environment. By pooling multiple time-use cycles from the General Social Survey, it examines the changing travel behaviors by gender and cohorts, and the differentiated activity participation between car-users and non-car-users over the life course. Results suggest that a large percentage of neighborhoods in Canada are at the mature-stage (characterized by a high percentage of residents in the baby boomer cohorts). These neighborhoods tend to age steadily and have highly car-dependent built environments. Automobility remains important over the life course for each generations of Canadians, yet older females are more likely to travel by active modes and by transit than are their male counterparts in each cohort. Increased participation gaps (in shopping and obtaining services, active sports, socializing and social participation) are found between car users and non-car-users in older age. Shopping and obtaining services stands out as the most car-dependent activity for older Canadians. Examining the existing neighbourhood contexts of aging-in-place and the current patterns of activity participation among the aging populations is important for developing practical planning visions of a good place for aging-in-place. This dissertation is a preliminary exploration on this interdisciplinary research topic. With extensive analysis of survey data across Canada, this study integrates a planning perceptive and provides original insights on the academic discussion of aging-in-place.

Keywords: age-friendly
Aging-in-place
automobility
built environment
geography of aging
mobilities
Advisor: Sorensen, André
Hess, Paul
Thermal conductivity of bulk electrodeposited metal-diamond composite materials for thermal management applications

This Ph.D research examined the feasibility of using the electrodeposition approach for the fabrication of metal-diamond heat sink materials, which can potentially be more economical compared to conventional high-temperature-high-pressure(HTHP) methods. This research also explored the heat exchange between metal and diamond, which have different major heat carriers. Initially, the thermal properties of electrodeposited metal-diamond composite materials as well as the implementation of structure-induced strengthening were of interest in this research. For this reason, the effect of the matrix grain size on the thermal and electrical conductivity of electrodeposited nickel was explored. The thermal conductivity of nickel monotonically decreased from 75W/mK to 67W/mK when the grain size changed from 47nm to 28nm. In the same grain size range, the electrical conductivity also decreased from 10.6 MS/m to 9.8 MS/m. The overall conductivity reductions are attributed to the additional scattering events at the grain boundaries. However, the grain boundary effect did not change the Lorenz numbers of the nanocrystalline nickel materials, which were ~2.35x10^-8W.Ohm/K^2. This agrees with the Wiedemann-Franz law and implies that the electrons are the major heat carriers in nanocrystalline nickel. Secondly, 66 um sized diamond particles were incorporated in the nickel matrix. Thermal conductivity enhancements were observed in polycrystalline(~600nm) nickel from 89W/mK to 129W/mK at 35.4 vol.% diamond, and 77W/mK to 200W/mK at 59.8 vol.% diamond for nanocrystalline nickel(~40nm), which provided the proof of concept in this research. Analysis of these data with the differential effective medium(DEM) model showed that the thermal boundary conductance of the polycrystalline nickel-diamond interface(7.5 MW/m^2K) was higher than the nanocrystalline nickel-diamond interface(6.6 MW/m^2K). This is likely related to the phonon transmission probability reduction due to extra grain boundary scattering. Lastly, the diamond particles were incorporated in electroplated copper matrix for achieving high thermal conductivity. Two different sized diamond particles were used: 66um and 420um. Surprisingly, only the 420um sized diamond particles exhibited an increase in the thermal conductivity, reaching 454W/mK at 68.2 vol.%. With TiC coated 394um sized diamond particles and electrodeposition process optimization, the conductivity was further increased to 557W/mK at 34.8 diamond vol.%, which is comparable with current commercial HTHP metal-diamond composite heat sinks.

Keywords: Composite materials
Thermal conductivity
Thermal management
Advisor: Uwe, Erb
Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Strengths-Based Parenting Measures in Brazil: PICCOLO and Cognitive Sensitivity Scale

The purpose of this research was to develop Brazilian-Portuguese versions of two observational instruments used in the assessment of early parenting, namely Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO; Roggman et al., 2013a) and the Cognitive Sensitivity scale (CS; Prime et al., 2015a). The first phase involved cross-cultural adaptation of the original instruments. The second phase included evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Portuguese versions of those instruments (PICCOLO-BR and CS-BR). A subsample of 156 mother-child (18-m) dyads drawn from the 2015 Pelotas birth cohort, the largest study of its kind in Latin America, were enrolled. Cross-cultural adaptation followed seven-step guidelines. Translation syntheses were tested for content validity by various participants in the process, including expert reviewers, while back translations were based on final versions and submitted to author approval. For validation purposes, the adapted instruments were tested for evidence of reliability and validity. Reliability studies confirmed acceptable levels of inter-rater agreement (PICCOLO: weighted Kappa = .40; percent agreement = 67%; CS: r = .83), intra-rater reliability (PICCOLO: weighted Kappa = .57; percent agreement = 79%; CS: r = .94) and excellent internal consistency of global scales (α = .94 for PICCOLO and CS). For construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted and the same original structure was confirmed for the adapted versions. External validity was tested in relation to other measures for convergent and discriminant validity. Correlation analyses between the PICCOLO-BR and the CS-BR were moderately strong (r = .44 for scale scores; p

Keywords: Brazil
Cross-cultural adaptation
Observational measurement
Parent-child interaction
Reliability
Validity
Advisor: Jenkins, Jennifer M
Strategies to Facilitate the Eradication of the HIV-1 Reservoir

Nearly 40 million individuals are currently living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection globally and more than 70 million deaths can be attributed to the pathogen so far. HIV-1 primarily infects CD4 T cells leading to their widespread destruction that eventually manifests as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), characterized by debilitating immune failure that gives rise to opportunistic malignancies resulting in death. Daily lifelong administration of antiretroviral therapy known as HAART is the only treatment for HIV-1 infection and adds several years of life if adherence is maintained; but treatment alone does not cure infection. However, despite HAART therapy, HIV-infected individuals exhibit chronic inflammation that is negatively associated with health outcomes. Additionally, mutations give rise to drug resistant viral strains. Therefore, developing a cure remains a top priority. However, HIV-1 constantly evades the immune response and establishes a persistent lifelong viral reservoir making it challenging to cure. In this thesis, I detail three unique strategies to facilitate eradication of the viral reservoir. Specifically, we demonstrated that HIV-1 Nef blockade enhanced the elimination of latently HIV-1-infected CD4 T cells by peptide-expanded autologous CD8 T cells. Nef blockade has never been tested as means to eradicate HIV-1 and represents a novel approach. We further demonstrated that expanded CD8 T cells more efficiently recognize autologous endogenous virus from CD4 T cells undergoing bryostatin-1-mediated virus reactivation in a “shock and kill” approach. Lastly, we discovered that bnAb recognition of HIV-1 envelopes on the surface of infected cells is highly variable and particularly the V1/V2 targeting bnAbs were capable of not only recognition of targets but of induction of antibody-mediated elimination of HIV-1-infected CD4 T cells. All experiments presented here were conducted on primary human cells for physiological relevance and in order to capture the ability of ex vivo immune cells to recognize and kill virus-infected cells. The next step with each of the proposed mechanisms to eliminate the viral reservoir is to assess their safety and efficacy in vivo in order to develop a cure against HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: AIDS
HIV
HIV cure
Immunotherapy
Advisor: Ostrowski, Mario A
“Summonses to Awareness": A Meditation upon Wisdom and Artful Inquiry

In his writings Thomas Merton ponders the relation of contemplative experience and the arts within a meditation upon the spiritual life; one whose seminal character is “a life of wisdom” (Merton, 1972, p.141). With Merton as a guide post, my inquiry explores whether the kinship of wisdom and spirituality with the aesthetical, which is offered in his writings, can be extended to reinforce a relation of wisdom and artful inquiry. While the inquiry into the relation of the art and wisdom is informed by the discourse of wisdom studies (Curnow, 2015; Baltas, 2004; Walsh, 2015) it also departs from it by pondering wisdom not in relation to the text, but to the artful. Such different alignment in turn underscored by the question: While we speak of texts that are wise can we, in kindred spirit, speak of art that is wise? The exploring of such question departs from rational and empirical methodologies and instead is nested within a contemplative approach (Hart, 2004; Miller, 2006; Palmer, 1993; Zajonc, 2006); one which immerses inquiry within the life of the researcher and embraces strategies for research which are seeded by an aesthetical presence. Amongst such strategies narrative is embraced in tandem with visual retellings of aesthetical encounters both within and outside the classroom and intermingled with dialogical conversations with Merton; the latter strategy inspired by Merton’s own way of engaging with his readers and writings. The emergence into this inquiry is nested within this writer’s narrative and reflections upon the work of Merton; and draws upon the fields of holistic studies, narrative and arts based inquiry in curriculum studies and their kindred view of the presence of the personal in inquiry. While informing my methodology and nurturing reflections upon its principal question, their presence within inquiry also enriching the thesis that the promise of wisdom is one which flowers from within our selves through the unity of the personal and the aesthetical.

Keywords: Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry
Contemplative Inquiry
Holistic Education
Merton Studies
Spirituality
Wisdom Studies
Advisor: Miller, John P