VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Promisingness Judgments as Facilitators of Knowledge Building in Elementary Science

Recognizing promising ideas is an important component of expertise and creativity (Bereiter Scardamalia, 1993; Csikszentmihalyi, 2009; Gardner, 1994). The goal of this research is to explore students' intuitive understanding of promisingness and to build and test pedagogical and technological supports to enhance promisingness judgments. Toward this end, a "Promising Ideas" tool was developed and continually revised following a design-based research approach involving three cycles of design experiments. The earliest pilot showed students at upper elementary grade levels tended to judge as promising "important facts" as opposed to "ideas with knowledge building potential" in their selections of promising ideas in peer-generated online discourse. A later exploratory study found meaningful socio-cognitive configurations conducive to effective promisingness judgments. With this understanding, in the second design cycle, pedagogical supports were designed around the Promising Ideas tool and subsequently tested in a grade 3 class where students selected promising ideas from their own written online discourse, knowing in advance that selections would influence the direction of their work. After making selections they discussed top highlights across all classmate selections and narrowed their choice to the most promising ideas to serve as the basis for their next knowledge building efforts. In this study, they completed two cycles of this selection process. Qualitative and quantitative results suggest that students as young as 8 years of age made promisingness judgments that led to greater knowledge advances than same-age students, same topic, more experienced teacher, but without use of the promisingness tool and related discussion. These grade 3 students were able to direct their work in fruitful directions and additionally engage in productive collective decision making. In addition, individual differences among students were revealed and prompted me to explore the linkage of personal epistemic beliefs and promisingness judgments in the third design cycle. With further refined tool and pedagogical supports, the third design cycle engaged a grade 6 class in a similar process of promisingness judgments. Besides confirming knowledge advances in knowledge building work, students' epistemic beliefs were found co-developing with their knowledge of promisingness and conceptual change. In summary, the thesis explores theoretical isasues and implications for future pedagogical and technological developments to facilitate promisingness judgments through collaborative knowledge building.

Keywords: competencies
design
innovation
knowledge building
knowledge creation
learning technologies
Advisor: Marlene, Scardamalia
Black Males' Perceptions of and Experiences with the Police in Toronto

Canada is commonly depicted as a diverse and tolerant immigrant-receiving nation, accepting of individuals of various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Nevertheless, Canadian institutions have not been immune to allegations of racial bias and discrimination. For the past several decades, Toronto's Black communities have directed allegations of racial discrimination at the police services operating within the city. Using a mixed-methods approach, this thesis examines Black males' perceptions of and experiences with the police in the Greater Toronto Area. In order to provide a comprehensive examination of this issue, this thesis is comprised of three studies with three distinct groups of Black males. The first of these three studies utilizes data from a representative sample of Black, Chinese, and White adults from the Greater Toronto area to examine racial and gender differences in perceptions of and experiences with the police. The second study draws on data from a sample of young Black men recruited from four of Toronto's most disadvantaged and high crime neighbourhoods to examine the views and experiences of those most targeted by the police. The final study involves interviews with Black male police officers in order to draw on the perspectives of those entrusted with enforcing the law. In line with a mixed-model hypothesis, the findings suggest that Black males' tenuous relationship with the police is a product of their increased involvement in crime, as well as racism on the part of police officers and police services. Using insights drawn from Critical Race Theory, I suggest that both the increased levels of crime and the current manifestations of racism have a common origin in Canada's colonial past.

Keywords: Black Males
Critical Race Theory
Mixed Methods
Policing
Race
Youth
Advisor: Scot, Wortley
Conserved Molecular Factors: Role of the Snail Family of Transcription Factors and the Fat Family of Atypical Cadherins in Cortical Development

Recent research is beginning to show that the molecular factors that regulate stem cells in lower organisms are conserved in mammals, where they play similar, and equally important roles during development. We have asked whether the role of the Snail family of transcription factors, and the Fat family of atypical cadherins is conserved during neural precursor development from invertebrates to mammals. Specifically, we have shown that the Snail transcription factor is able to promote both cortical precursor and newborn neuron survival in the developing embryonic cortex in a p53-dependent fashion, while it is also able to regulate the proliferation of radial glial precursors through a Cdc25b-dependent mechanism. Loss of Snail led to a robust decrease in intermediate progenitors, which could also be rescued by Cdc25b overexpression. These perturbations in embryonic cortical development persisted throughout the life of the brain, with aberrant post-natal and adult neural precursor cell maitenance. These results clearly illustrate a conserved role for Snail in neural precursor cells throughout mammalian life. Next, we asked whether the atypical cadherins Fat1 and Fat4 have a conserved role in mammalian cortical precursors. We show that Fat1 and Fat4 control radial precursor cell maintenance in a cell autonomous manner, which is enhanced upon coincident loss of these two Fat family members, and this genetic interaction is likely explained by the physical interaction of Fat1 and Fat4 with one another that we have shown. Lastly, we show that loss of Fat1 and Fat4 leads to altered neuronal polarity. Taken all together, our work shows that Snail and the atypical cadherins Fat1 and Fat4 are conserved and play a functional role in neural precursors from invertebrates to mammals.

Keywords: Apoptosis
Cell cycle
Cortical precursors
Fat atypical cadherin
Neural stem cells
Snail transcription fact
Advisor: Freda, D Miller
Selenophene-Thiophene Copolymers

The research described in this thesis involves the synthesis and characterization of selenophene-thiophene block copolymers.Chapter 1 serves as a general introduction. It describes the synthesis of poly(3-alkylthiophene)s (P3ATs), including early synthesis of P3ATs and the development of the Kumada catalyst transfer polymerization (KCTP) method. It then describes the fabrication and characterization of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and parameters that can be controlled by polymer design. Finally, it serves as a brief review of selenophene-based materials.Chapter 2 describes the first synthesis of poly(3-hexylselenophene)-block-poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HS-b-P3HT) by KCTP and describes the optoelectronic character of the copolymer. It demonstrates the phase separation of the copolymer in thin films - the first example of a π-conjugated block copolymer which undergoes phase separation based on the identity of the heteroatom in the heterocycle. Phase separation is confirmed by a combination of thin film absorption, atomic force microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.Chapter 3 describes further investigation into P3HS-b-P3HT block copolymers. The variation of molecular weight and selenophene content is investigated. The polymers are characterized by optical absorption spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and cyclic voltammetry. Solution-phase self-assembly is also investigated and correlated to both molecular weight and selenophene content. Chapter 4 discusses modifying the morphology of selenophene-thiophene block copolymers through side chain engineering. The 2-ethylhexyl side chain is introduced to decrease rod-rod interactions, and resulting optoelectronic and physical properties are investigated. Variation of side chains results in different morphologies, which are imaged by electron microscopy. Poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly(3-(2-ethylhexyl)selenophene) is demonstrated as one of the few known block copolymers to form a lamellar morphology with long-range (micrometer) order.Chapter 5 features statistical copolymers of 3-heptylselenophene and 3-hexylthiophene synthesized by KCTP. Optoelectronic properties are investigated and the copolymer crystallinity is demonstrated by WAXD and DSC. 3-Heptylselenophene is shown to be more compatible than 3-hexylselenophene with 3-hexylthiophene due to a more similar interlayer spacing dictated by the alkyl side chain. OPV device performance is presented, and the copolymer is shown to act as an average of both homopolymers, harvesting a broader range of photons.Chapter 6 summarizes the work described in this thesis, highlights advantages of selenophene-thiophene copolymers, and discusses further research that can be carried out on these copolymer systems.

Keywords: Block copolymers
Conjugated polymers
Organic electronics
Phase separation
Selenophene
Advisor: Dwight, S Seferos
Health, Risk, and Justice

While citizens in a liberal democracy are generally expected to see to their basic needs out of their own income, health needs are an exception. Most rich liberal democracies provide their citizens with health care or health care insurance in kind. Many people find this special treatment for health care appealing, but political philosophers and bioethicists have struggled to justify it. Most theorists hold that it is justified by the moral importance of health, but this approach has many flaws, not least of which is the fact that access to personal health care services is in fact a relatively inconsequential determinant of population health. This dissertation offers a new justification for health care entitlements. Health needs are not more important than other basic needs, morally speaking, but they are more unpredictable. I argue that health care entitlements are best justified in terms of risk management rather than health equalization or health promotion. Citizens ought to have insurance against health risks to provide stability in their future expectations and thus to protect their capacities to form, revise, and pursue a rational plan of life. The failure of private markets to deliver adequate access to health care insurance provides a rationale for state involvement in the delivery of health care. This approach provides tidy answers to some pressing problems in macro-level bioethics, but it has implications for political philosophy as well. One of the most important functions of the modern state is to provide citizens with security against various risks, including health risks, and yet this function is conspicuously absent from John Rawls's influential theory of justice. My dissertation begins the work of integrating security from risk into a liberal-egalitarian theory of justice.

Keywords: Bioethics
Distributive Justice
Equality
Health Care
Political Philosophy
Advisor: Joseph, Heath
Impact of Single Fracture Roughness on the Flow, Transport and Development of Biofilms

This study examined the impact of systematically increasing roughness in a single fracture and the effects on the hydraulic properties, solute transport and biofilm development in those fractures. Biofilms were modeled using a newly developed two-dimensional Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) fluid flow model with the additional capability to simulate substrate transport using a discrete Random Walk (RW) algorithm. The discrete modeling methods, including LBM, RW and Cellular Automata (CA) for biofilm modeling, were able to capture small scale effects that emerged into large scale behaviour of biofilm growth and structure development.The two-dimensional fluid flow model using LBM was developed and validated against analytical solutions for simple cases of parallel plate flow and a backward facing step. Fracture flow results showed a pronounced deviation from predicted cubic law flow rates as expected and previously reported in the literature. Two-dimensional fracture cross-sections were synthetically produced to control the fracture roughness and results from the LBM model extended the three-zone non-linear model of hydraulic behaviour from porous media to include fractured media. Simulations with the LBM model showed that secondary flows, or flows not contributing to bulk flow, could occur at Reynolds numbers lower than previously reported in the literature.A numerical solute transport method was added to the LBM flow simulations to model solute transport in fractures of increasing roughness. Here the delay of breakthrough curves, including initial, peak and tail were associated with the development and growth of eddies.A biofilm growth model, implemented with a discrete CA method, was used to capture the local small scale effects of fracture roughness, hydraulics and substrate transport on biofilm development in terms of biomass and bio-structure. In two dimensions, biofilm growth was controlled by clogging, which occurs earlier at lower biomass levels in rougher fractures. Sensitivity analysis of biofilm development assuming a variation in bacteria shear strength was completed. Lower biofilm shear strength does not allow for any biofilm development within the fracture, however, when the shear strength is increased above a threshold, dependent on Reynolds numbers and fracture roughness, biofilms begin to develop. Above the shear strength threshold the same general trends of biofilm development hold compared to the results when no sloughing due to shear is considered.

Advisor: Brent, E Sleep
Forbidden Access? Exploring the Nature of and Access to Culturally Pertinent Psychotherapy for Indigenous Latino Border-gender Youth Living in Toronto

Indigenous Latino border-gender youth form the fastest growing refugee seeker population in Canada. Indigenous Latino border-gender residents in Canada between the ages of 16 and 29 have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than their non-Indigenous trans-youth counterparts. Furthermore, there is a gap in culturally specific mental health services for Latino border-gender youth who do not access or remain in mainstream counselling services, despite this high prevalence of mental health problems. Currently, very little is known about their experiences of mental health services, and even less is known about how their identities as Indigenous affects these experiences. This study aimed to answer the following question: What are the intersections of cultural identity and counselling experiences for Indigenous Latino border-gender youth as they relate to mental health access? The study employed a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology, in which six Latino border-gender youth were interviewed and the data analyzed using a narrative story map tool. Overall results include metathemes of spirituality; trust and leadership; and, gender transition and the immigration process. The results will be used to inform counselling programs and services for Indigenous Latino border-gender youth and reduce the gap in service for this population.

Keywords: community counselling
Latinos in Canada
LGBTQ
psychotherapy
social psychology
trans-youth
Advisor: Suzanne, E Stewart
The Nature of Selection on Flowering Time: Integrating Fitness Contributions through Male and Female Function

A central goal of evolutionary biology is to identify traits under selection and the causal mechanisms linking these traits to fitness. Most work towards this goal in plant systems has addressed the female component of fitness only. This thesis investigates the nature of selection on the timing of flowering onset - a trait of practical and theoretical importance - with equal emphasis on female and male function. The potential male fitness effects are many. First, flowering time may directly (or indirectly through correlation with another trait) influence ability to sire seed (e.g. by affecting pollen quantity). Second, because plants tend to mate assortatively by flowering time, an individual's flowering time might covary with the quality of dam it pollinates. Third, because flowering time partly determines the specific date range over which an individual reproduces, it may covary with exposure to pollinators, herbivores, abiotic stress, and other environmental characteristics that could affect fitness. I investigated these hypotheses through numerical modeling and experiments with the annual plant

Keywords: Flowering time
Natural selection
Paternity analysis
Phenology
Within-plant variation
Advisor: Arthur, E. Weis
Understanding the Human Side of School Leadership: Improving Teacher Morale, Efiicacy, Motivation and Commitment

Finding a clear connection between principal actions and student achievement has proved remarkably difficult for educational researchers. Recently, a strong base of evidence has emerged suggesting that principals working indirectly through their teaching faculties can lead to improved student achievement. What constitutes the most effective sort of humanistic and supportive leadership - how exactly principals might lead more effectively through others - has become the research agenda. Recent empirical work illustrates that principals who lead through humanistic approaches can have a positive impact on student achievement in their schools. But what is not clearly known is exactly what `leading with teacher emotions in mind' might actually look like; how can leaders ensure that faculty are emotionally well-served, possessed of a sense of efficacy, and committed to classroom success? The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand the effects principals have on teacher emotions. What do teachers themselves report leaders do that improves teacher morale, commitment, and efficacy? To the extent that these questions retrace some of the emerging work of the field, they are confirmatory; to the extent that they elicit new responses, they are exploratory.The research was based on interviews of 20 teachers working in secondary schools in Southern Ontario, Canada. Teachers reported that principal behaviours were central to their emotions, and often shaped their morale, efficacy, stress, commitment, and motivation. Key principal behaviours include: showing professional respect for teachers; encouraging and acknowledging teacher effort and results; providing appropriate protection; being seen; allowing teacher voice; and communicating principal vision. The thesis concluded that these behaviours suggest a natural path for school principals to work through the teachers in their school, and represent a meaningful indirect impact of leadership. Further research was recommended to establish the effect size of these principal behaviours, and determine if they apply across jurisdictions, school settings, and different age panels.

Keywords: school leadership
teacher burnout
teacher commitment
teacher morale
teacher performance
Advisor: Blair, Mascall
An Investigation of Consumers' Moral Licensing Behavior

Research suggests that when individuals have done a good deed, this grants them `license' to engage in more self-interested, immoral or asocial behaviors that otherwise would have discredited the individual. A number of studies across disciplines have found evidence of such licensing effects, yet our understanding of what causes these effects is limited. It is clearly counterproductive if a good deed is likely to be followed by a bad one. Such a regulatory pattern threatens people's moral integrity and undermines personal welfare, yet no research examines how to counteract it. In Essay 1 "Removing Individuals' License to Misbehave," I present an intervention aimed at counteracting the licensing effect. I demonstrate that having participants engage in a physical act of closure - enclosing a written recall of their good deeds within an envelope - counteracts their licensing behavior. This intervention targets what I propose is a critical but overlooked condition for moral licensing to occur: the accessibility of one's previous good deeds. Furthermore, I contribute to our understanding of moral licensing by examining a novel moderator of the licensing effect, the actor-perceived specialness of one's good deed. Research has found that changes in self-concept may mediate the licensing effect. In Essay 2 "Examining Self-Concept as a Mediator of Licensing Effects", I critically examine this process. Across three studies I replicate the licensing effect, but find no significant relationship with participants' self-concepts. In each study, self-concept was measured using scales previously established in the licensing context, yet none of these mediated participants' licensing behavior. Based on both theoretical as well as empirical findings, I propose that our current self-concept measures need to be re-examined.By advancing our understanding of moral licensing behaviors and demonstrating how to counteract them, this dissertation provides significant practical and theoretical contributions for our understanding of moral licensing effects.

Keywords: Accessibility
Closure
Licensing
Moral Regulation
Self-Concept
Advisor: Andrew, A Mitchell
Unconventional Symmetry Breaking in Strongly Correlated Systems

New and interesting phases of matter can be stabilized in frustrated and strong correlated systems. In this thesis, we study a variety of exotic symmetry broken states that arise when conventional or natural ordering tendencies have been suppressed. We consider several diverse examples, drawing from frustrated magnets and Kondo lattice systems. We first explore this topic in the Z[Pd(dmit)

Keywords: hidden order
Kitaev
Kondo lattice
magnetism
spin liquid
strongly correlated
Advisor: Hae-Young, Kee
Epistemically Responsible Action

We are often, as agents, responsible for the things we do and say. This responsibility can come in a number of different forms: here I propose and defend a view of how we are epistemically responsible for our actions and assertions. First, I establish a general claim about the ways that we make epistemic evaluations in relation to the norms that govern assertion and practical reasoning. Many endorse what I call epistemic monism, the view that all epistemic evaluations of actions or assertions must be explained solely in terms of whether one has adhered to the respective norm. I argue that epistemic monism is false. Instead, I defend epistemic separability, the view that we make two different kinds of epistemic evaluations when it comes to assertions and actions: one that pertains to whether one has adhered to the relevant epistemic norm, and one that pertains to the way in which one has adhered to that norm. I argue that whether one's action is epistemically responsible depends on whether one is able to fulfil the epistemic commitments one makes in performing that action. These commitments consist in being able to provide reasons to believe that one has adhered to the norm governing the action one performs, according to a standard imposed by the situation in which one acts. Finally, I consider how accepting a notion of epistemic responsibility affects the ways in which epistemologists interpret judgments of the propriety of actions and assertions. I argue that epistemologists might be mistakenly interpreting judgments of epistemic propriety as being indicative of something important about knowledge, when they should actually be interpreted as something about our ability to employ our knowledge responsibly in our actions.

Keywords: action
assertion
knowledge
norms
responsibility
Advisor: Jennifer, Nagel