VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Knowledge Controversies and Renewable Energy Transition: Exploring Science and Policy Debates

This dissertation explores controversies arising from policies to promote a transition to greater reliance on wind and solar power in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on conceptual frameworks from science and technology studies (STS), human geography and socio-technical transition studies, it provides new insights into the dynamics and impact of debates over the cost and environmental impacts of “new” renewable energies, as well as the role and nature of social resistance in the context of emergent concepts of energy democracy. This dissertation comprises three standalone articles (chapters 3-5). Chapter 3 uses rhetorical analysis to explore how scientific facts about wind energy’s impact on human health were co-produced by the science and policy processes. It suggests the wind and health controversy cannot be definitively settled by science because it is inextricably tied to value-based questions about how precautionary wind development should be, what should count as a valid health issue, and what constitutes valid evidence in health research and public policy. Chapter 4 explores how the (in)visibility of different causal frames of the issue of rising electricity prices was mediated through a decade of newspaper coverage in Ontario. It demonstrates how coverage framed the issue of rising electricity prices overwhelmingly as a consequence of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009, amplifying criticisms of its design and impact on consumers and the economy while diminishing the visibility of other key cost-related factors. Chapter 5 presents a comparative assessment of normative and relational frameworks of energy democracy and their different accounts of resistant publics in energy transitions. It finds normative understandings constrain imaginings of low-carbon energy futures and who legitimately participates in democracy, overlooking uncertainties and complexities inherent to transitions and their publics. Relational approaches address these shortcomings through greater attention to how energy problems and solutions are framed, how political action is performed through the articulation of contested issues, and who is disenfranchised in transition processes. Findings highlight the importance of studying in-depth the co-production and mediation of knowledge and how publics struggle to gain political authority over issues that affect them when investigating trajectories and outcomes of renewable energy transitions.

Keywords: Knowledge co-production
Knowledge controversies
Renewable energy transition
Science and Technology Studies
Advisor: Klenk, Nicole
Prickle1 Regulates Cell Adhesion and Migration in the Xenopus laevis Gastrula

Gastrulation is a series of morphogenetic movements that gives rise to the primary germ layers. Molecular control of the process is an intriguing topic to understand how cell and tissue behaviour is coordinated. In the Xenopus gastrula, the prechordal mesoderm (PCM) undergoes involution, and it continues to move and spread along the ectoderm inner surface while it remains separate from it. It gives rise to the head mesoderm, which is anterior to the notochord. The planar cell polarity (PCP) protein Prickle (Pk) is known to coordinate tissue polarity and has been implicated in regulating intercellular adhesion. In this thesis, I investigated Pk1’s role in controlling cell adhesion and motility in the PCM. Pk1 is localized in both diffuse and punctate forms, and the former has been overlooked in most studies. I showed that diffuse Pk1 is ubiquitously expressed in the cytoplasm and is enriched in a sub-membrane zone that overlaps the cortex. I found that diffuse Pk1 is sufficient for up-regulating cortex F-actin, and this modulates cortex tension in the rearranging tissue. Pk1 acts in conjunction with another PCP component Dishevelled2, which antagonizes Pk1’s activity and down-regulates the cortex, and they share a common effector, Casein Kinase II. I proposed that diffuse Pk1 controls F-actin turnover below the cell membrane to modulate cortex density. The PCM rearranges by differential cell-on-cell migration, and cells exhibit velocity gradients from deep tissue to mesoderm-ectoderm boundary. I showed that Pk1 coordinates cell polarity, morphology, orientation and neighbour exchange, and is necessary for generating the velocity gradients. PCM cell translocation is accompanied by lamellipodia formation and tail retraction, and both processes require Pk1. This control of cell motility could already be explained by diffuse Pk1-mediated cortex regulation, but punctate Pk1 may have additional roles, probably in dispersing local tension build-up. I found that Pk1 puncta can be induced by mechanical stresses, and they form at cell-cell contacts and at cell rear ends in vivo. I proposed that the puncta could serve to reduce local peak tensions during PCM cell rearrangement.

Keywords: cell migration
gastrulation
morphogenesis
planar cell polarity
tissue rearrangement
xenopus
Advisor: Winklbauer, Rudolf
Cosmopolitanism, Poetry, and Kingship: The Ideal Ruler in Sanāʾī’s (d. 1131 or 1135 CE) Poetry

This dissertation examines the vision of ideal rulership expressed in the works of the court poet Sanāʾī (d. 1131 or 1135) by highlighting the dialogue of his works with various genres of medieval literature: Sunni and Shiʿite metaphysics, mystical writings, mirrors for princes, pious maqāmāt, and court poetry. This dissertation highlights how the politicization of Islamic mysticism that occurred during the eleventh and twelfth centuries was manifested in that era’s court poetry. In doing so, it calls for scholarly attention to the intersection of Islamic mysticism and political theory in court-patronized works composed by non-Sufi authors.This dissertation investigates Sanāʾī’s engagement with the literary and intellectual milieu of his time through the lens of his portrayal of an ideal ruler. This engagement, first, informs Sanāʾī’s interdisciplinary approach to Islamic theories of governance; second, it enables him to cross-fertilize the substance, language, and rhetorical features of other literary genres with Persian court poetry; third, it defines the politics of his poetry. After contextualizing Sanāʾī in his literary and intellectual milieu, this dissertation will analyze his Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqah (‘The Garden of Truth’), the Sayr al-ʿibād (‘The Journey of [God’s] Servants’), and poems from his Dīvān (‘Collection of Poems’). It argues that Sanāʾī’s poetry had two roles: it served as propaganda for his patron, the Ghaznavid ruler Bahrāmshāh (r. 1117-1157) and was used by Sanāʾī as a podium from which he promoted himself as a sage-poet endowed with knowledge of the divine. This analysis leads to a discussion of the nature of knowledge and the two foundations of perfect kingship in Sanāʾī’s poetry, intellect and justice. It argues that the metaphysical framework of Sanāʾī’s works binds the political and the mystical aspects of his poems together. Through a description of the soul’s journey to God Sanāʾī explains that drawing near God, experiencing divine love, and becoming a valī (in its mystical sense) is a prerequisite for being a perfect ruler. This mystical theory of rulership recurs in later political texts and plays a significant role in shaping Perso-Islamic political ethics during the twelfth through sixteenth centuries.

Keywords: Intellect
Islamic mysticism
Justice
Sanāʾī
Theory of Kingship
Valāyat
Advisor: Virani, Shafique N.
A Path Forward: Empowering Teachers to Implement More Inclusive Special Education Frameworks in Ontario

This qualitative study employs a social-critical constructivist framework to investigate current Ontario teachers’ knowledge and opinions of inclusive education (IE) initiatives for special education in Ontario. Twenty-two participants were interviewed to gather data on their current understandings of IE policies and initiatives, as well as how they might re-define their current roles to actualize these IE policies across their broader school communities. Current IE empirical research that gathers similar attitudinal data represents teachers as uninformed, uncritical, and powerless; any recommendations that these studies present come from the researchers rather than the participants. Research findings also demonstrate that while teachers philosophically agree with IE, they question the extent to which they can successfully implement IE due to time constraints, limited resources, and inconsistent administrative support. This study’s constructivist framework demonstrates that participants have carefully reflected on IE within their instructional contexts. Participants are determined, engaged, knowledgeable, and conscientious professionals who are currently mobilizing to take on future IE implementation initiatives. Their critical perspectives helped to form the basis of this study’s recommendations. This study’s detailed policy analysis of Ontario Ministry of Education equity documents also reveals that these documents do not include teachers’ voices. This study specifically examines IE through a special education lens in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the knowledge gaps that significantly hamper teachers' abilities to successfully implement IE initiatives. To address these professional knowledge gaps, this study makes four significant recommendations. First, teachers should engage in professional learning that specifically focuses on Ontario IE policies. Second, job-embedded professional learning should serve as the departure point for all future IE implementation initiatives in Ontario. The third recommendation is that teachers must be given direct consultative opportunities to share their visions for future IE initiatives. Fourth, Ontario schools must move away from their traditional bell schedules to more flexible timetabling and staffing allocations. These recommendations are also significant because they are informed by participants’ lived experiences and have been proven successful in comparable North American education systems.

Keywords: education policy
equity
inclusive education
specual education
Advisor: Portelli, John
Zeta Adsorption Isotherm: Surface Area Determination and Kinetics of Vapour Adsorption

A method based on the zeta adsorption isotherm (ZAI) is proposed for determining the specific surface area, As, of a nanopowder from its measured (mass-specific) N2 vapour adsorption isotherm at 77 K. A multi-component canonical ensemble is used to determine the conditions for equilibrium between a contacting vapour phase and the adsorbed molecular clusters. Provided the substrate variations (heterogeneities), do not cause a phase transition, it was shown that the equilibrium conditions allow an expression for an adsorption isotherm to be formed in terms of four constants that are obtained empirically from mass-specific adsorption measurements. The As of a substrate is expressed in terms of the mass-specific number of adsorption sites, and the cross-sectional area of an adsorbed N2 molecule. This procedure is investigated bypooling area-specific datasets from multiple samples of a given material to form a single dataset. Then a thermodynamic isotherm is obtained through a regression analysis. The determined values of As are further verified by obtaining the solid surface energy, γS0, by using the ZAI with the Gibbs adsorption equation. Five materials are examined: silica, α-alumina, γ-alumina, carbon-black, and graphitized-carbon. Their respective solid surface energies are each shown to be a material property. The ZAI approach is extended to determine the As by using water vapour adsorption at 298 K. After determining the average occupied area of a water molecule adsorbed on silica, the As of other samples of silica at 298 K were obtained. The results of the ZAI analysis were further used to predict other thermodynamic properties such as γS0 and the surface silanol concentration for silica. The determined equilibrium ZAI was then used with the statistical rate theory (SRT) to describe the kinetics of water vapour adsorption at various system pressures. Finally, the determination of the As of nanopowders by using the ZAI approach with inert Ar vapour is examined at 77 and 87 K, respectively. The validity of this procedure was analyzed on silica and carbon-black by obtaining the respective γS0. The ZAI is then used to show that the change in SiOH concentration does not affect Ar vapour adsorption.

Keywords: Adsorption
Adsorption Kinetics
Argon Adsorption
Nitrogen Adorption
Specific Surface Area
Water Adsorption
Advisor: Ward, Charles A
Multimodal Profiling of Cell-free DNA for Detection and Characterization of Circulating Tumour DNA in Low Tumour Burden Settings

Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) is comprised of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragments released into bodily fluids. ctDNA can enable personalized treatment strategies in oncology by providing a non-invasive source of prognostic, predictive, and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Despite this, in clinical scenarios where disease burden is low, current clinical ctDNA detection methods demonstrate inadequate sensitivity without the use of matched tumour profiling. In recent years a variety of sequencing tools have been developed to improve the sensitivity of detection by increasing the number of fragments analyzed, decreasing sources of error, or enrichment of cancer-derived features. Yet few studies have comprehensively evaluated the clinical utility of tumour-agnostic detection of ctDNA. Therefore, to address this gap in knowledge, I first refined a recently described method for genome-wide profiling of cfDNA, cell-free methylated DNA immunoprecipitation by high-throughput sequencing (cfMeDIP-seq). Specifically, adaptations to the cfMeDIP-seq protocol were conducted to enable analysis of lengths of cfDNA fragments, which are thought to be shorter among tumour-derived fragments (i.e., ctDNA) compared with other sources of cfDNA. Additionally, bioinformatic pipelines were developed to assess quality assurance as well as metrics for robust identification of ctDNA. Next, I evaluated the feasibility of simultaneous profiling of multiple ctDNA-derived metrics for tumour-agnostic detection. I applied these new tools to a cohort of 30 human papillomavirus (HPV) negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients (HNSCC). Specifically, I conducted cfMeDIP-seq as well as cancer personalized profiling by deep sequencing (CAPP-Seq) for detection of ctDNA-derived methylated regions and mutations, respectively. Twenty out of 30 patients had detectable ctDNA by CAPP-Seq, which I utilized to identify 941 hypermethylated regions associated with HNSCC cfDNA when compared to a cohort of 20 healthy donors. These fragments with ctDNA were confirmed by concordance of regions commonly dysregulated within publicly available tumour data, as well as by concordance of reduced fragment length and abundance between cfMeDIP-seq and CAPP-Seq. Finally, I demonstrate that multimodal detection within the same cohort is capable of robust diagnosis, prognostication, and disease surveillance. Altogether, this work describes the development of a novel strategy for ctDNA detection and validation, with promising potential for various research and clinical applications.

Keywords: Cell-free DNA
cfMeDIP-seq
Circulating Tumour DNA
Genomics
Liquid Biopsy
Precision Medicine
Advisor: Bratman, Scott V
De Carvalho, Daniel D
Spectropolarimetry of Fast Radio Bursts, Radio Galaxies, and the Milky Way

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are microsecond to millisecond extragalactic radio transients. Despite a published sample of over 600 FRB observations, the nature of their progenitor/s, the mechanism for their emission and their domain of applicability as probes remain open problems. Here, information on their polarized signals may offer illuminating clues, however, only a small fraction of the current FRB sample report polarization information. This modest sample exhibits a rich phenomenology in its polarized properties and has provided some important discoveries that have refined our under- standing of the FRB population. The FRB survey operating between 400-800 MHz on the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB) should detect several thousand FRBs over the next few years. A significant fraction of these events will be recorded in a mode that enables po- larization analysis. Such a large sample requires an automated pipeline in order to reduce recorded data into useful summary statistics for different FRB properties. This thesis reviews the polarization analysis pipeline developed for CHIME/FRB, along with the various science enabled with polarized data. The analysis tools developed specifically for CHIME/FRB observations are illustrated using a combination of simulated and real FRBs. These tools include a parametric method that robustly characterizes dominant sources of instrumental polarization affecting the CHIME telescope. A novel method for circumventing bandwidth depolar- ization is outlined and validated with a real CHIME-detected FRB whose Faraday rotation measure (RM) is the second largest from any FRB observed to date. Time dependence in the polarization properties of two prolific repeating CHIME/FRB sources is studied where significant changes in RM are observed, strongly suggesting a dynamic local environment. Joint analysis of dispersion and rotation measures are used to constrain the field strength in the local environment and are compared to equivalent measurements from other repeating FRBs and pulsars. Finally, this thesis explores new methods for refining the Faraday rotating Galactic foreground, a major contaminant in the interpretation of FRB RMs, through joint analysis of RMs obtained from extragalactic sources and foreground emission from the interstellar medium.

Keywords: fast radio bursts
magnetic fields
polarimetric techniques
polarization
radio transients
Advisor: Gaensler, Bryan M.
RO-Based TDC Design with Configurable Resolution and Power for SPAD-Based TCSPC LiDAR Applications

Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) are used to measure time-of-flight (ToF) using CMOS time-to-digital Converters (TDCs) for compact, low-cost, and highly integrated three-dimensional (3D) sensing. The TDC specifications are critical determinants of the system's range, resolution, and accuracy. The optimization of the TDCs requires modeling that captures the target application's design specifications and parameters under different operating scenarios. Since single-photon detection is fundamentally a stochastic process, a fast and accurate analytical model is presented try accounting for the effects of limited TDC conversion rate (CR). The model is used to relate the number of required TDCs per SPAD array to the 3D imager performance accounting for environmental factors such as ambient light and distance. The model permits architectural exploration to determine the number of TDCs required for a given array size. Monte Carlo numerical simulations verify the accuracy of the proposed method. It also reveals that the most critical performance metrics of TDCs in time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) applications are their CR, area, and power consumption. TDCs formed by ring oscillators (ROs) are arrayable, scalable, and low power, making them suitable for SPAD-based TCSPC 3D sensing systems. The jitter of RO-based TDCs is studied as a function of their full-scale-range resulting in an expression for the TDC total jitter. The analysis also identifies a peak-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) design point. Increasing the TDC's full-scale-range beyond this point entails increased jitter and, thus, ultimately a declining SNR. Finally, this thesis presents a multi-channel RO-based TDC architecture whose power consumption scales with its configurable resolution for power-sensitive applications. A 75% power savings is achieved by sharing one RO among five TDCs relative to non-shared architectures. Furthermore, such an architecture improves uniformity between neighboring TDC channels by avoiding oscillator mismatches. Here, a 5-channel 12-bit TDC is fabricated in 65 nm CMOS with an area of 1920 m2 per channel. It demonstrates a CR up to 1 GHz in simulation (limited to 125 MHz in measurements due to the following serializer) with a resolution configurable from 24 to 133 ps. At a CR of 125 MHz, the TDC power consumption is 0.1 mW and 1 mW per channel at 133 ps and 24 ps resolution, respectively.

Keywords: Counter
Ring oscillator
Single-photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD)
Time-Correlated Single-photon Counting (TCSPC)
Time-of-Flight (ToF) LiDAR
Time-to-digital converter (TDC)
Advisor: Carusone, Tony
Liberal Theories of Political Authority

In this thesis, I argue that liberal theory faces a fundamental problem in accounting for the legitimate authority of the state. On the one hand, legitimate authority entails that the state has a right to the obedience of its citizens – a right that citizens not act on some of the considerations that they find morally important, and that they instead simply do what the state tells them to do. On the other hand, liberalism is committed to respect for autonomy, which entails that citizens have a moral obligation to act on their moral reasons as they understand them. To reconcile the two, liberalism must make sense of how a citizen could see themselves as required to refrain from acting on considerations that they believe to be morally relevant, and instead act on what the law demands of them. I frame a number of the leading theories of authority as attempts to explain how this is possible, including Rawls’s justice as fairness, Raz’s service conception of authority, and Darwall’s second-person standpoint. Ultimately, however, none of these theories appear to satisfactorily resolve the problem. This suggests that liberals may have to accept that their states lack legitimate authority over them.

Keywords: authority
philosophy of law
political philosophy
rationality
Advisor: Dyzenhaus, David
The Art Songs of Violet Archer: A Performer's Analysis and Perspective on Repertoire for the Mezzo-soprano Voice

This thesis offers an in-depth look at the art song repertoire of Violet Archer by focusing on her compositions for the mezzo-soprano voice and piano. Factors that influenced this distinctive body of music and recognizes the important role that Violet Archer played as a composer in Canada during the twentieth century will be considered. My own introduction to Archer came during my undergraduate studies while taking a course on Canadian music, however until recently I had heard very little of her works performed, programed, or studied, but was drawn to her story of resilience and perseverance to pave her own path as a prominent composer and educator. The goal of this research was to explore selected works from this repertoire to look at its suitability for singers at differing levels, taking into consideration musical elements such as harmony, melody, text, and rhythmic setting. This necessitated a literature review to determine how vocal compositions are assessed within the fields of voice pedagogy and performance, and to examine resources that looked at Violet Archer’s music from a compositional standpoint. It also merited interviews conducted with individuals who had worked with Archer directly on some of her vocal compositions. Each song analyzed for this study was assessed according to three levels of difficulty (minimal, moderate, and extensive) resulting in a numeric amount which corresponded to the piece being classified as elementary, intermediate, or advanced. The literature review helped to inform my approach to this repertoire selection and to establish a grid with which to classify these works in order to provide a context for analyses and further discussion on each piece. Repertoire selected included songs and song cycles that have very little or no attention given to them in prior scholarly articles and research. My hope is that a detailed exploration of this selected repertoire will encourage singers and teachers alike to engage in the full breadth of what Violet Archer has to offer us as performers, teachers, and lovers of music.

Keywords: Voice Performance
Advisor: Taylor, Daniel
John, Bina