VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Uberizing the Legal Profession? Three Essays on Lawyers in Digital Platform-based Legal Services

Using a set of data from an Internet-based legal service platform in China, this thesis examines the impacts of digital platform-based legal services on lawyers and their work. With interview data with lawyers actively working on this platform, Chapter 1 finds that supplementary income and flexibility are the two major motives for lawyers to engage in platform work. Nevertheless, when working online, lawyers face lower intra-professional status and lower professional autonomy. Despite its growth, the digital legal market is imposing a minimal threat to the traditional legal market due to the lack of interference in labour supply and demand between these two markets.Building on the concept of “counter-institutional identity”, Chapter 2 uses a grounded theory approach to develop a theoretical model that explores the processes of the emergence of identity threats and lawyers’ coping tactics as they work on this platform, a work setting that opposes the dominant norms in the legal field. I find that identity threats emerge when lawyers’ existing professional identity is challenged by counter-institutional work features. Moreover, some lawyers are able to restructure their professional identity to adapt to the counter-institutional work, while some are prone to protect their old identity and resist changes. Individuals’ belief in professional dynamism, the belief that the legal profession is and will be experiencing constant changes, underlies the divergence between identity restructuring and protection. Chapter 3 examines the ways in which technology-driven innovations impact professional stratification in digital platform-based legal services. With topic modeling to uncover the platform work content and thereby locate the involved lawyers’ market positioning, this study finds that digital platform-based services are dominated by low-status personal legal work. No evidence is found for higher levels of activity among young and female lawyers on this platform, suggesting that digital platform-based practices may not enlarge the disparities between demographic groups of lawyers. Moreover, digital legal work provides more equal opportunities for disadvantaged lawyers: young lawyers have earnings advantages over older lawyers and a gender earnings gap is not observed.

Keywords: lawyers
online gig work
professional autonomy
professional identity
professional status
professional stratification
Advisor: Verma, Anil
Gomez, Rafael
Queering App-propriate Behaviours: The Affective Politics of Gay Social-sexual Applications in Toronto, Canada

In conversation with affect theory, queer theory, and relevant social scientific literature, this thesis investigates the affective and feeling politics of gay socio-sexual applications (GSSAs). Specifically, this thesis investigates how GBQ men’s understandings of emotional connections—a term used in GSSAs, such as Grindr, to advertise the potentialities of such applications—are involved in the socio-sexual politics and constitution of normative gay men’s sexual subjectivities online and how online outreach workers and social service workers are implicated in and involved with such politics. Applying a feminist poststructural affect theory lens, this thesis uses Jackson and Mazzei’s (2011) process of “plugging-in” with different poststructural theories, such as Michel Foucault’s (1991) governmentality, Julia Kristeva’s (1982) abjection, and Sara Ahmed’s (2004a, 2004b, 2010a, 2010b) affective economies and promises of happiness to analyze what I term “fractions” of data. In the first data chapter, I apply Foucault’s theorization of governmentality to argue that subjects learn to navigate GSSAs through discourses of emotional regulation and restraint, while analyzing the politics of “emotional risk.” In the second data chapter, I apply Kristeva’s (1982) theorization of abjection to argue that the abjection of others and the abjection of the “self” take place within GSSAs through the rejection of emotional dependency upon others, romantic love, as well as the aspiration for neoliberal norms of individuality. In my third data chapter, I apply Sara Ahmed’s (2004a, 2004b, 2010a, 2010b) work on the promises of happiness and affective economies to argue that GSSAs promote certain affective economies of confidence and self-assuredness whereby subjects are encouraged to perform neoliberal subjectivities through promises of self-pleasure. In particular, I note how GSSAs, such as Grindr, hold differing “promises” for individuals that keep subjects bound to them and using them, even if they might seek to disconnect from such applications. Within each data chapter, I write a Deleuzian “intermezzo” section in reflection on my experiences in what I term “thinking/feeling/writing” within the affective assemblages of my research project. I close with a very un-final not-conclusion that articulates some further thoughts for online outreach as well as my own becomings within my research.

Keywords: affect theory
gay men
internet
poststructuralism
queer theory
socio-sexual applications
Advisor: Sykes, Heather
Creativity as Intra-action: Relational Entanglement and Creative Becoming within the Space of Schooling

This thesis explores creativity as a relational process of entangled becoming and develops a relational theory of creativity as intra-action (Barad, 2007) which is then put to work to conduct an analysis of everyday creation within the space of schooling. Engaging with central debates in new materialism and posthumanism this thesis explores the intra-active entanglements at the heart of everyday schooling. An intra-active approach to creativity foregrounds how the material and the discursive, the human and the nonhuman, are ongoingly entangled in processes of co-creation and attunement (Ingold, 2017a) throughout everyday life culminating in larger processes of worldmaking (Goodman, 1978).This perspective is developed in contrast with the prevalent view of creativity as a human-centred ability or instrument for success; a view that is central to both human capital and neoliberal approaches creativity. This prevalent view, I argue, ultimately distorts and obscures the rich creative dynamism at the heart of everyday intra-active entanglements. Integrating classroom observations, interviews, and a craft activity, in this research I seek to better understand What types of intra-active entanglements characterize the space of schooling? How are students intra-actively entangled in the material-discursive reconfiguration of the world within the space of schooling? And what kinds of new and alternative realities become possible as a result of these differential entanglements? Through a meticulous analysis of the intra-activity central to schooling, this research illustrates that young people participate in significant intra-active processes of co-creation renegotiating the basic outlines of the material-discursive in subtle ways. Equally, however, despite this rich intra-activity, the participants in this study consistently characterized their own creative processes as relatively inconsequential, failing to measure up to the standard of ‘real’ creativity. This analysis demonstrates how the radical reimagination of everyday space as relational and intra-active can reveal important processes that often remain unheeded. It suggests the need for an alternative discursive framework that challenges the individualistic and instrumental while forefronting the powerful possibilities of everyday becoming latent in the material-discursive entanglements central to schooling.

Keywords: Creativity
Ethnographic Research
Philosophy of Education
Relational Sociology
Social Justice Education
Social Theory
Advisor: Farmer, Diane
Caring for the Caregiver: An Examination of Support Needs and Service use across the Alzheimer’s Disease Trajectory

Background: Many family caregivers support individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) from symptom onset to death. Caregivers often require their own support from family, friends, health care professionals, and service agencies. Currently, we know little about how caregiving support and service needs change from symptom onset to the later stages of disease. Additionally, it is unclear how caregivers decide which services to use to better support themselves. It is also not clear whether caregiver gender and relationship type influences evolving experiences.Objectives: This study aimed to generate a conceptual framework to illuminate caregivers’ needs for support and the decision-making process regarding use of supports from family, friends, health care professionals and services across the disease and caregiving trajectory. Methods: A constructivist grounded theory methodology guided this research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 40 spousal and adult children caregivers. Topics explored included experiences and responsibilities of caregivers across the disease trajectory and the services used to help them in their caregiving role. Data were analyzed using a constant comparison method. Results: Participants described five phases related to their caregiving responsibilities including monitoring initial symptoms, navigating the diagnosis, assisting with instrumental activities of daily living, assisting with basic activities of daily living, and preparing for the future. The phases are described in the Caregiver-Identified Phases Across the Alzheimer’s disease Care Trajectory (CIP-AD) framework. Key support and service needs were often specific to phase of care. AD caregivers made service use decisions to sustain care in the community, but factors that influenced service decision-making evolved over the CIP-AD, including the goals of caregiving and the practicalities associated with accessing services. A gender and relationship type analysis found that the evolving caregiving experience cannot be described by gender or relationship type alone. Conclusion: This thesis enhances our understanding of the complexity of providing care throughout the AD trajectory from the perspective of spousal and adult children caregivers. The CIP-AD can inform best practice and clinical guidelines related to caregivers evolving needs for support and services. The timely delivery of supports and services can improve the quality of life for family caregivers.

Advisor: Kokorelias, Jill I
Dissecting the Biological Roles of Two Actin Networks during Cytokinesis

Cytokinesis is the final stage of cell division that divides one cell into two new daughter cells, each with a complete copy of the genome. It involves an acute spatio-temporal re-organization of the actin cytoskeleton that drives plasma membrane remodeling and invagination at the equator to create a cytokinetic furrow. The actin cytoskeleton at different sites on the plasma membrane has different roles and is regulated by different mechanisms during cytokinesis. I discovered that the functional differences of actin in cytokinesis correlate with the different distribution of beta-actin, at the furrow and gamma-actin around the cortex. I demonstrated that beta- actin filament production at the furrow is controlled by the actin isoform-specific nucleation activity of the formin DIAPH3, a process that requires both RhoA and anillin. In contrast, I discovered that gamma-actin filament production at the cortex is controlled by the formin DIAPH1, which localizes to the cell cortex throughout mitosis. DIAPH1 activation is induced through a comparable molecular mechanism as DIAPH3, but utilizes RhoA and IQGAP1. However, as cytokinesis proceeds, DIAPH1-mediated gamma-actin filament production is switched off at the poles to instigate polar relaxation thereby facilitating equatorial furrow ingression. The signal to switch off DIAPH1 is delivered by astral microtubules that transport CLIP170 to the polar cortex where it binds to IQGAP1 and releases IQGAP1 from DIAPH1. My data suggest that differential activation of specifically localized formins is achieved by restricting the targeting of formin activators and enhancers within the cell. This mechanism allows distinctly localized actin isoform-specific arrays to be generated during cytokinesis. Such arrays can then differentially remodel the plasma membrane in different regions of the cell to perform the specific localized tasks required for the successful completion of cytokinesis: membrane relaxation at the cell poles and furrow ingression at the cell equator.

Advisor: Wilde, Andrew
Development of Bayesian Approaches for Uncertainty Quantification in In Situ Stress Estimation

Knowledge of the in situ stress state is crucial for a wide range of rock mechanics applications, but stress estimation at different scales may be unreliable due to various sources of uncertainty. It is therefore critical to be able to probabilistically quantify uncertainty in stress estimation, as it both permits quantitative assessment of the reliability of stress estimations and facilitates application of the more rational probabilistic design in rock engineering. There is also a crucial need for logically incorporating stress information from other sources in order to obtain more reliable stress estimations. This thesis makes contributions of developing novel Bayesian approaches for probabilistic uncertainty quantification in stress estimation at the measurement and local scales and demonstrating how additional stress information can be incorporated for improved stress estimation. The work begins by discussing major sources of uncertainty in stress estimation and why Bayesian approaches are appropriate for uncertainty quantification. Following this, a principal contribution is made by proposing a statistical simulation approach that provides insights into the common question during local stress field estimation: how many stress measurements are required in order to obtain a reliable mean stress estimate? Then, a principal contribution is made by presenting a Bayesian multivariate model that can probabilistically quantify uncertainty in local stress field estimation; importantly this model allows rigorous quantification of uncertainty in principal stresses and formal incorporation of additional stress information through informative priors. Subsequently, a principal contribution is made by presenting a Bayesian regression model that can probabilistically quantify uncertainty in overcoring stress estimation. We demonstrate how this model can overcome two critical limitations of the classical approach to overcoring stress estimation. After this, a principal contribution is made by presenting a powerful Bayesian hierarchical regression model for analysis of multiple overcoring tests that can simultaneously quantify uncertainty in overcoring stress estimation and local stress field estimation. We show that this hierarchical model can give improved stress estimation for each individual overcoring test by borrowing information from the other tests and can account for uncertainties in these individual tests to give a more reasonable estimation of uncertainty in the mean stress.

Advisor: Harrison, John
The Utility of Brain Imaging to Advance Clinical Decision Making for Trigeminal Neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a devastating chronic pain disorder, characterized by extremely severe, recurrent, lancinating attacks of unilateral facial pain. While the diagnosis and treatment of TN primarily focuses on neurovascular compression of the trigeminal nerve at the root entry zone, other etiological factors and therapeutic strategies exist. Understanding the different subtypes of TN and who best responds to treatment is an important, unmet challenge in the field. Advances in brain imaging techniques, in particular diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), have offered a non-invasive, in vivo avenue to study TN and its pathophysiology. Importantly, these techniques may serve as an objective, clinically translatable tool to guide treatment decision making in the clinic. Therefore, the overall goal of this thesis is to demonstrate the utility of brain imaging to advance clinical decision making for TN patients. In Study 1, I determine whether early, post-treatment DTI metrics at the radiosurgical target can predict long-term clinical response in TN patients. In Study 2, I define a new subtype of treatment-refractory TN and investigate its clinical and neuroimaging features. Lastly, in Study 3, I examine the relationship between brainstem trigeminal fiber microstructure and treatment response across different subtypes of TN. I found that 1) early, post-treatment target DTI metrics can predict long-term clinical response in TN patients treated with radiosurgery, 2) a new, unique subtype of TN can be defined for patients who present with a single pontine lesion and are refractory to surgical management, and 3) abnormalities in the brainstem trigeminal fiber microstructure is a key characteristic of treatment non-response across a large cohort of TN subtypes. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates the significance of advanced brain imaging in the clinical setting to optimize treatment decision making and elucidates the mechanisms that underlie treatment response in the TN population.

Keywords: Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Neurosurgery
Pain
Tractography
Treatment Response
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Advisor: Hodaie, Mojgan
Systems for CO2 Utilization: Property Measurement and Electrocatalytic Conversion

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions account for approximately 80% of anthropogenic contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and there is a growing need for CO2 utilization strategies. CO2 at supercritical conditions can be employed as a green solvent for extractions and separations, or can be injected in the subsurface for storage. CO2 can also be used as a reactant, a raw material to be converted into valuable chemicals via electrocatalysis. It is likely that all such approaches are needed, and more, to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study of the physical and chemical properties of CO2 informs these climate-critical CO2 mitigation approaches. Understanding the CO2 phase behavior of complex fluid mixtures – liquid, gas, supercritical – at different thermodynamic conditions is essential to many industrial and chemical processes. In this work a phase behavior measuring chip was developed that can simultaneously determine the phase behavior of fluids at multiple combinations of temperature and pressure within the application’s scope. This phase chip testing method demonstrated a hundredfold decrease in the processing time comparing to the current industrial testing processes while maintaining experimental resolution and high accuracy (Chapter 3). At the same time, this work provides a platform for exploring CO2 mixture phase behavior, interface behavior, and mass transport. Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to valuable liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks is a sustainable approach to intermittent electricity utilization. Gas diffusion heterogeneous reaction electrodes facilitate effective CO2 mass transport to the catalyst, enabling electrolyzers to operate at the current densities required for industrial deployment. However, the complex interactions between a solid catalyst, liquid electrolyte, and gas reagents of heterogeneous electrodes significantly influence the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) performance. This work focuses on CO2 local availabilities/pressure (Chapter 4), microstructure wetting capabilities (Chapter 4), pH distribution (Chapter 5), and electromigration (Chapter 5) with the goal of improving the performance of the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) in practical systems. Together these efforts improve efficiencies, selectivities, and current densities of CO2 electrocatalytic systems, and advance the field of CO2 utilization more generally.

Keywords: Carbon dioxide utilization
CO2 reduction
Electrocatalysis
Microfluidics
Phase properties
Renewable energy
Advisor: Sinton, David
Predictive Impact of Rare Genomic Copy Number Variations in Infant Siblings of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and the display of restrictive, repetitive behaviors. Given the extensive genetic landscape of ASD, profiling genetic risk in individuals with a higher probability of developing the disorder due to family history would complement the observation of behavioral markers in infancy and assist in diagnosing ASD early in development when therapeutic interventions would be most beneficial. In this work, I present the first copy number variant (CNV) analysis in 288 prospectively recruited infant sibling cohort from 253 families as part of the Baby Sibling Research Consortium. By age 3, 103 siblings (35.8%) were diagnosed with ASD and 54 (18.8%) were developing atypically. Thirteen siblings had CNVs at ASD-relevant loci: 6 with ASD, 5 atypically developing, and 2 typically developing. Eleven of 157 infant siblings (7%) with a confirmed ASD diagnosis or who were deemed atypically developing at 36 months of age had a genetic finding that would have been predictive of their developmental outcome. Within these families, an ASD-related CNV in a sibling has a positive predictive value (PPV) for ASD or atypical development of 0.83. Most notably, I identified a 90 kb deletion of the third exon of PTCHD1-AS, located on chromosome X (Xp22.11), in 3 related male siblings with ASD. I present genomic and phenotypic data for 109 males and 45 females with disruptive variants in PTCHD1 obtained from ASD and clinical genetic datasets. Investigation of their phenotypes revealed that males with exclusive disruptions of the lncRNA present with an increased frequency of ASD and a Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP) and fewer comorbidities than males with deletions spanning the upstream protein coding gene PTCHD1. To further study the function of this gene, I have identified the syntenic transcript in the mouse brain and profiled its isoforms. Expression analysis on various brain regions identified highest expression in the mouse cortex, in early development (post-natal day 7). I have generated 3 mouselines with disruptions of Ptchd1-as, of which one is currently being characterized as part of a collaborative effort to uncover the function of this lncRNA.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Copy Number Variation
Microarray
Whole Genome Sequencing
Advisor: Scherer, Stephen W.