VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Bilingualism of Korean-Canadian Children: A Multigenerational Ethnic Church In the Greater Toronto Area

In the midst of immigrant children’s prevalent subtractive bilingualism, this doctoral inquiry investigates multiple levels of supporting factors of Korean-Canadian children’s heritage language learning and the ways they support bilingual learning of these children, by looking at Grace Church, a multi-generational Korean ethnic church, as a case. This is an ethnographic study, which involves yearlong classroom observations and interviews with church leaders, teachers, parents, and children. Additional data sources include curriculum materials, children’s artifacts, Korean government documents and websites, as well as records of school meetings and school associations’ conferences. Employing Bourdieu’s theoretical and analytic tools, such as field, habitus, and capital (1991), this study also examines how the Korean and English languages are positioned at various levels within and beyond the church. Additionally, due to the shift made in my positionality from an observer to a participant observer, this study explores the outcomes of pedagogical changes guided by theoretical underpinnings, such as translanguaging (García, 2009), culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994), funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992), and the third space (Gutiérrez, Baquedano-López, Tejeda, 1999). This study unveils that Grace Hangul hakgyo is a field in which the aims of the Korean government and Korean Canadian immigrants intersect vis-à-vis heritage language education. For the Korean government, it is ultimately a field for strengthening national resources and for the congregants of Grace Church, it is mainly for their heritage language and culture maintenance. In this study, the positions of Korean and English within Grace Church are revealed in the Korean and English ministries, which are closely linked to immigrant generations, and in the language use and socialization of children in the grade 3 and 4 focus class. The positions of Korean and English within Grace Church are unquestionably influenced by the status of those languages beyond the church, displaying the close relationship between language and identity at many levels of interacting fields. Finally, this study showcases how translanguaging, culturally relevant pedagogy, funds of knowledge can be utilized as a means for creating the third space in heritage language learning contexts, which is an underexamined area in the field of bilingual education.

Keywords: bilingualism
heritage language education
Korean-Canadian immigrants
Advisor: Peterson, Shelley S
Panitumumab Modified with Metal Chelating Polymers (MCPs) Complexing Indium‐111 and Lutetium-177 as Theranostics for Pancreatic Cancer

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer (PnCa) patients. A metal-chelating polymer (MCP) with on average 13 DOTA (tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid) chelators for complexing the β-particle emitter, 177Lu and Auger electron-emitter, 111In and 10 polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains was conjugated to monoclonal antibody, panitumumab to target EGFR on PANC-1 human PnCa cells. Linking panitumumab to MCPs enabled dual labeling with 111In and 177Lu at a higher SA (55.9± 4.8 MBq/μg and 20.5± 4.2 MBq/μg) compared to panitumumab-DOTA (4.4± 0.3 MBq/μg and 2.2± 0.3 MBq/μg), with preserved EGFR binding (2.2 ± 0.6 nmol/L and 1.0 ± 0.4 nmol/L; respectively) and comparable tumour (6.9 ± 1.3% ID/g and 6.6 ± 3.3%ID/g) and normal tissue localization except for the liver uptake which was 3-fold higher for panitumumab-MCP at 72 h post injection (p.i.) in NOD/SCID mice with s.c. PANC-1 xenografts as confirmed by microSPECT/CT imaging. 177Lu-labeled radioimmunoconjugates (RICs) were more effective for killing PANC-1 cells in vitro than 111In-RICs with no significant differences between panitumumab-DOTA and panitumumab-MCP. For therapy, NOD/SCID mice or NRG mice with s.c. PANC-1 tumors were administered three amounts (10 MBq; 10 g) of panitumumab-MCP-111In or panitumumab-DOTA-111In separated by 3 weeks or a single amount (6 MBq; 10 g) of panitumumab-MCP-177Lu or panitumumab-DOTA-177Lu, respectively. Tumour growth was assessed by a tumour growth index (TGI). Panitumumab-MCP-111In or panitumumab-DOTA-111In inhibited tumour growth in NOD/SCID mice (TGI at 43 days = 3.9 ± 0.3 and 3.0 ± 0.4, respectively; P> 0.05) compared to normal saline and panitumumab treated mice (TGI = 9.8 ± 1.6, 9.9 ± 1.4, respectively; P>0.5). Similarly, panitumumab-MCP-177Lu and panitumumab-DOTA-177Lu inhibited tumour growth in NRG mice (TGI at 33 days = 2.5 ± 0.3 and 1.8± 0.3; respectively; P> 0.05) compared to normal saline and panitumumab treated mice (5.8 ± 0.9 vs. 6.1 ± 2.7, respectively; P>0.05). 177Lu-RICs deposited more absorbed doses in tumours (2-4 fold) and normal organs compared to 111In-RICs. Low absorbed doses in the normal organs for 111In allow for dose escalation. Panitumumab conjugates labeled with 177Lu or 111In are promising RIT agents for treatment of EGFR positive cancers.

Keywords: 111In
177Lu
EGFR
Pancreatic cancer
Radioimmunoterapy
Theranostics
Advisor: Reilly, Raymond M
Implantable Depots for Interstitial Delivery of Radiolabeled Gold Nanoparticles using a Brachytherapy Technique

Radiolabeled gold nanoparticles (AuNP) are emerging as a class of therapeutics for cancer due to their unique physical and chemical properties that differentiate them from other small or bulk materials, as well as other nanoscale particles. In the ideal condition their use as a radiotherapeutic agent is facilitated by preferential extravasation from the tumour vasculature and accumulation in the interstitial space as a result of the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, following systemic delivery. This delivery scenario was anticipated to reduce the accumulation of radiolabeled AuNP in normal tissues, thereby increasing the therapeutic ratio of tumour control to normal tissue complications. However, systemic delivery of AuNP has been challenged with the inability to escape phagocytic clearance by the reticuloendothelial system (RES) coupled with suboptimal accumulation of AuNP in the tumour. Furthermore, attempts at direct intratumoural delivery of radiolabeled AuNP to circumvent RES capture and increase tumour concentrations have encountered their own limitations such as clinical feasibility and unpredictable intratumoural radioactivity and dose distribution patterns. In contrast brachytherapy, the oldest form of internal radiotherapy, has well established methods to precisely deliver radioactive material. The use of radiolabeled AuNP in brachytherapy can be mutually beneficial, offering new opportunities for brachytherapy such as use of non-photon emitting radionuclides, potential for adjuvant therapies, and dose homogenization from AuNP redistribution in the tumour interstitial space. In this thesis, a delivery system for radiolabeled AuNP is developed by designing an implantable nanoparticle depot (NPD) compatible with traditional permanent brachytherapy techniques. The design of the NPD is validated in its ability to facilitate controlled release of AuNP, resulting in predictable AuNP distributions in breast cancer xenografts in vivo. Furthermore, micro-SPECT/CT (single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography) image based dosimetry techniques are applied to estimate the dose distribution surrounding NPD delivery of AuNP labeled with various electron emitting radionuclides. Finally, the efficacy and toxicity of lutetium-177-AuNP NPD is evaluated in two triple negative breast cancer mouse xenograft models. In summary, this thesis outlines the design, associated dosimetry and preclinical application of radiolabeled AuNP using electron emitting radionuclides, delivered by NPD and a permanent brachytherapy technique.

Keywords: Brachytherapy
Breast cancer
Dosimetry
Gold nanoparticles
Monte Carlo simulations
Radiation nanomedicine
Advisor: Jaffray, David A
Reilly, Raymond M
A Pedagogy of Solidarity: Indigenous, Refugee Women and Women with Intellectual and Psychosocial Disabilities and Structural Violence

Strategies to-date have been ineffective in curtailing violence against Indigenous and refugee women and women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in Canada. Such strategies aim to address the manifestations, rather than the foundation of the problem, namely, the relationship between capitalism, patriarchy, poverty and violence against women. Motivated by the need to address the persistent violence against these populations of women, this research offers the theoretical and practice foundations for a critical-feminist pedagogy of solidarity that would unite these groups of women to challenge structural violence. The research design employs secondary research and the primary qualitative data collection methods of focus groups and semi-structured key informant interviews. A marginalized women’s solidarity aims to refute uncritical understandings of why violence occurs, recognizing that how we understand violence informs the types of strategies we develop to address it. The findings purport that it is imperative that this feminist solidarity be exclusive to grassroots women from these specific populations, to avoid dominant ‘white’ and middle-class distractions, encouraging a narrow focus on the core structural inequities that maintain oppressive relations. The learning and critical engagement pedagogic processes aim to support women to think through the contradictions between women’s material reality and hegemonic messaging from the state. Theatre and film is highlighted as an effective tool to use in the engagement process. Solidarity learning can lead to a local to national community development strategy, led by grassroots marginalized women working on a common local need. This strategy supports local lead activities to expand nationally, resulting in a growing presence of marginalized women’s issues and dreams. The study concludes with a call for a transnational marginalized women’s solidarity that nurtures a shared understanding of structural violence against women with the aim of enacting global actions.

Keywords: feminist solidarity
Indigenous women
marginalized women
Refugee women
structural violence
Women with disabilities
Advisor: Mojab, Shahrzad
Defining the Relationship Between Mechanical Stress and Inadvertent Intestinal Tissue Injury In Laparoscopic Surgery

The potential to use an inappropriate amount of force when handling tissue is much higher in laparoscopic surgery than in open surgical approaches because surgeons lose the ability to directly touch and feel delicate tissue. The two most commonly injured tissues in laparoscopic surgery are the small bowel (55.8%) followed by the large bowel (38.6%) with an overall incidence of laparoscopy-induced gastrointestinal tissue injury of 0.13% but high mortality rate of 3.6%. There are currently no papers in the human literature that delineates what range of compressive stress would allow a surgeon to both operate effectively and limit the potential for tissue trauma to occur. To ameliorate this, two novel compression devices were created to produce discrete and even amounts of pressure on ex-vivo human gastrointestinal tract tissue in order to quantify the relationship between tissue stress-strain and histological measures of cellular trauma. The simple crush apparatus for tissue (SimpleCAT) consists of a weight platform and a U-shaped frame with rails. Using the SimpleCAT, significant serosal tissue deformation occurred between 350 and 450 kPa for large intestine in a pilot study of five patients. A more sophisticated compression device, the PrecisionCAT was created to investigate stress-strain and trauma in human intestinal tissue. In this study, significant tissue deformation started to occur at 300 kPa for both small and large bowel, which was also correlated to increasing pathologist trauma rating scores. Using our logistic regression analysis, the data points in the direction of establishing a maximum force threshold of 275-330 kPa on average for human intestinal tissues using a 50% threshold, however very large safety margins should be considered and used due to the high level of inter-person variation in bowel thickness and strength.

Keywords: bowel
compression
gastrointestinal injury
laparoscopic surgery
mechanical
stress
Advisor: Grantcharov, Teodor
Drake, James
Self-efficacy and the Student Success Teacher

This qualitative research study explores the self-efficacy of the Student Success teacher in the province of Ontario. The study’s participants come from four different school boards both Catholic and Public. The data was collected through face to face, and telephone interviews. The participants shared their roles and responsibilities as well as their perceived confidence in fulfilling the position of the Student Success teacher. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Albert Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy. And this in turn, formed my conceptual framework which guided the questions for the study. The work and the sense of self-efficacy of the Student Success teacher were the two main areas that frame these questions. The resulting data lead to a conceptual framework with more detail. The study discovered the roles and responsibilities connected to the self-efficacy of the Student Success teacher.

Keywords: Self-Efficacy
Student Success Teacher
Advisor: Anderson, Stephen
The Role of T-cell Costimulation in the Pathogenesis of Kawasaki Disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a multisystem vasculitis that mainly targets the coronary arteries in young children. Both environmental factors along with genetic factors play a role in the susceptibility, severity and response to treatment of KD. Regardless of the initial trigger of the immune response in KD, the role of costimulatory signals remain a critical component in the survival of T-cells and the pathogenesis of the disease. Genome wide association studies have found costimulatory molecules to be associated with KD. In this work we show that, enhanced costimulation rescued superantigen-stimulated T-cells from apoptosis. CD28 mediated signaling resulted in up-regulation of the anti-apoptotic factors, Bcl-xL and cFLIP. Bcl-xL expression was dependent on costimulatory signals and decreased with administration of CTLA-4Ig. Furthermore, expression of survival molecules cFLIP, MCL1 and NAIP were significantly upregulated in patients who did not respond to IVIG treatment. Taken together, our findings point to the important role of costimulation in the immunopathology of KD. Moreover, activation of another costimulatory molecule CD40 (via CD40L) resulted in significantly elevate lymphocyte proliferation in combination with superantigen activation. However, splenocytes from CD28 knockout mice do not exhibit this elevated response and the CD28 antagonist CTLA4-Ig was able to mimic the effects seen in the splenocytes from CD28 knockout mice. This suggests that CD28 is the intermediary that mediates the proliferative effects of CD40 activation. Furthermore, the role of platelets the largest source of sCD40L was examined. Through co-culturing experiments CD40L on activated platelets was shown to promote both splenocyte proliferation and T-cell survival upon SAg stimulation. In vivo experiments using the LCWE mouse model of KD demonstrated that coronary aneurysms are reduced in the absence of CD40L. Hence, our results indicate that costimulation mediates T-cell survival in both mice and man developing KD and regulates disease severity and treatment response, pointing to a potential new target for treatment. These studies add to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the immunopathology of KD and identify potential biomarkers of disease and novel targets for therapy.

Keywords: CD40
CD40L
Kawasaki disease
Platelets
Advisor: Yeung, Rae
Functional Analysis of Risk Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and Long Noncoding RNA in Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-cutaneous cancer in men worldwide. While most low-risk prostate cancer patients have a favourable clinical outcome, intermediate- and high-risk patients with aggressive forms of the disease often relapse despite the initially effective local and conventional androgen-deprivation therapies. Therefore, two main challenges in the field of prostate cancer are patient stratification into appropriate risk groups through prognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic options for patients with aggressive prostate cancer. Prostate cancer has a strong genetic component, with Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS) identifying over 150 risk single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). While these risk SNPs are associated with prostate cancer predisposition and a few also associated with disease progression, their functional mechanisms remain elusive. Here, I evaluated the association of the risk SNP rs11672691 with prostate cancer progression and its clinical relevance, and uncovered its regulatory mechanisms at a novel bifunctional enhancer-promoter element to dysregulate two gene isoforms of a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) PCAT19. Furthermore, I validated the oncogenic properties of the lncRNA PCAT19, and revealed its function in prostate cancer progression through the upregulation of a subset of cell cycle genes with the RNA binding protein HNRNPAB. My work signifies the clinical importance in understanding the functional mechanisms of prostate cancer risk SNPs and lncRNAs in prostate cancer. Additionally, my work also shed light on the function and molecular mechanisms of a novel class of regulatory elements in the human genome, and its role in cancer aggressiveness.

Keywords: Bifunctional promoter-enhancer
Cancer
Epigenetics
Long noncoding RNA
Prostate Cancer
Single nucleotide polymorphism
Advisor: He, Housheng
Tsao, Ming-Sound
Economies of Things: Material Attachments in British Romantic Literature

Romantic literature reveals a persistent attention to everyday material things, such as a sheepfold, a house, and a spinning wheel. Romantic texts indicate that Britons used these things as anchors to build their identities, memories, and relationships. Yet, while recognizing the importance of mnemonic and emotional ties between people and things, these texts nonetheless portray these bonds as increasingly unstable. In late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain, changes in two areas of the economy—paper money and the rise of consumerism—transformed the ways in which Britons understood their relationships to things, fostering more indirect, fleeting interactions with the material world, creating a gap between people and things. While some writers depict this new distance from things as tragic, Economies of Things does not portray this gap solely as a loss. As authors mobilize aesthetics to address the problem of detachment from things, their responses inspire some of the central aesthetic concerns of Romanticism. Tracing these literary responses to economic change—taking as primary case studies the writings of Austen, Burke, Wordsworth, and De Quincey—I uncover strong connections between aesthetics and economics in Romantic-era literature. While aesthetic inventions become solutions for an economic problem, economics becomes a discussion ground for aesthetics. Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century conversations about economy take on a peculiarly “Romantic” character by taking up concerns such as imagination, creativity, and aesthetics. The gap between people and things inspires two theories of the imagination: Wordsworth’s portable creativity, adapted to the transience of consumerism, and De Quincey’s grotesque, consumer imagination, founded on the destruction rather than the production of material things. This gap also shapes theories of the sublime and the grotesque. To prevent the powerful infinity of paper money from being interpreted as sublime, Burke theorizes an alternative infinity: the infinite grotesque. Based in bodily processes that dissolve formed, solid material things into endless streams of organic matter, this aesthetic category reappears in the works of De Quincey, Wordsworth, and the caricaturists Gillray and Newton. From the stories of lost bonds between people and things emerge aesthetic theories that shape the movement we call Romanticism.

Keywords: Austen
Jane
Burke
Edmund
Economics
Material things
Romantic literature
Wordsworth
William
Advisor: Bewell, Alan
Fixing History: Time, Space, and Monastic Identity At Saint-Aubin in Angers ca. 1100

This dissertation examines textual and visual production at the abbey of Saint-Aubin in Angers ca. 1100. Composed of three sumptuously illuminated manuscripts, a cartulary, and wall paintings and building projects in the abbey and throughout its network of dependencies, the extensive material investment at Saint-Aubin is indicative of institutional self-definition at the end of the eleventh century. Fragmentation of scholarship among specializations and media has isolated material culture from events, documents, and human agents, restricting academic discourse and implying a separation of art from social history. Taking a synthetic approach to material culture, this dissertation integrates different modes of institutional discourse to probe the role of the making and experience of art objects in the construction of monastic identity. The first half of this dissertation explores the concurrent territorial expansion, documentary drive, political alienation, and material investment as strategies in a multimedia and multidiscursive institutional affirmation at late-eleventh-century Saint-Aubin. In response to interventions from the papacy and the counts of Anjou, Saint-Aubin increasingly strove to articulate its institutional autonomy as pertaining to internal elections, landholding, and liturgical rights. Guided by a historiographical impulse, the monastic scribes and illuminators of the cartulary, the vita of St. Albinus, and the Second Bible materially constructed their aspirational institutional present as an ontological reproduction of a sacred monastic past; a past wherein total institutional autonomy was a foundational imperative. The second part of this dissertation addresses the role of the material culture of Saint-Aubin in the internalization and reification of monastic identity by its targeted audience. An interrogation of extensive visual symbiosis between manuscript illumination, monumental sculpture, and mural paintings reveals a cognitive spatial category in which various ontological, narrative, and historical spaces were associated with, and reproduced within, the church of Saint-Aubin and the body of St. Albinus. Through experience of manuscript illumination, architecture and fresco, rite, sermon, and cartulary transcription within this spatial category, institutional historiography of representation could become transformed into lived and embodied identity by the monks. Examined interdisciplinarily, Saint-Aubin provides an opportunity to establish a more holistic approach to the role of material culture in the creation of identity.

Keywords: monastic art
romanesque art
Saint-Aubin
Advisor: Cohen, Adam S