VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Primary Health Care Performance Measurement and Accountability in Ontario

Ontario was used to explore the meaning, approaches, and measures of accountability, and examine the connection between primary health care (PHC) key attributes, performance measurement and accountability. This research study used qualitative research methods design and a theoretical framework to guide the inquiry, collection, analysis and interpretation of data (i.e., documents and 28 semi-structured interviews). This study offers empirical knowledge about the scope of accountability in PHC—who is accountable to whom, for what and how is accountability implemented and measured. These insights are valuable lessons for other jurisdictions, and suggest future research topics for scholars. This study found that in a public contract model, the key aspects of the PHC system performance measurement are: access to and utilization of insured services; and cost of reimbursing private providers. These are components of financial and political accountability of the funder. PHC providers and clinics have multiple lines of accountability. Clinical performance accountability is implicit and not routinely monitored. PHC providers are self- regulated and trust is placed on them to deliver evidence based care to achieve desirable patient outcomes. In this governance structure, metrics used in PHC are those that are easy to measure and within the control of clinicians. Metrics involving co-production of services and tacit use of clinical knowledge are left out because it is complex to get access to this data from disparate standalone systems, which results in low measurability of many services. If data sources could be linked, it may be feasible to align PHC performance and accountability with the four key PHC attributes: access, person-focused care, coordination and comprehensiveness. With this, relevant metrics can be fed back to PHC providers and publicly reported to enable patients to exercise their right as consumers to select care from high performing PHC teams. The latter could advance accountability in PHC.

Keywords: Connection between primary health care key attributes
performance measurement and accountability
Dimensions of accountability in primary health care
Governance in primary health care
political and clinical accountability in primary health care
Primary health care accountability
Primary health care performance measurement
Advisor: Deber, Dr. Raisa
A Concept for Maritime Monitoring Onboard Formation-Flying Microsatellites

This thesis project explores maritime traffic monitoring as a novel remote sensing application of formation flying microsatellites carrying Synthetic Aperture Radar and Automatic Identification System payloads. Maritime monitoring has broad utility, including security, environmental, and safety applications. Transmitted Automatic Identification System data can be received from spacecraft in low Earth orbit, and is an established method of tracking ocean vessels, by monitoring their self-reported position, speed, heading, and identification data. However, in high-traffic areas spaceborne signal detection probability is reduced; additionally, ships that are not transmitting the required data cannot be detected, and ships that are transmitting incorrect data cannot be identified as such. Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery provides a complementary source of data, which can be acquired independently of weather or solar illumination conditions, and in which ocean vessels can be algorithmically detected. If multiple images are acquired simultaneously from different perspectives, additional information can be derived, such as ship target velocity measurements. No current missions host co-located Automatic Identification System and Synthetic Aperture Radar payloads. A planned mission will fly co-located payloads in an uncontrolled formation, using non-concurrent observations. This thesis proposes a novel mission concept involving formation-flying microsatellites equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar and Automatic Identification System receiver antennas, for the purpose of maritime traffic monitoring. Received position and velocity reports are propagated to the time of the image acquisition, and multiple simultaneously acquired images are used to estimate the velocity of each target detected in the imagery, enabled by precise formation-flight inter-satellite baseline knowledge for image co-registration. A RANdom SAmple Consensus matching algorithm is adapted for the purpose of matching targets detected in the imagery with received ship position reports, and is used to find corresponding targets and identify outliers for further investigation. Additionally, software simulation environments are developed and demonstrated for mission planning purposes. Separate simulation environments allow a mission planner to analyze the performance of multiple concurrent observations, or spacecraft formations, given specified observation and ship traffic scenarios. The target matching method is then demonstrated on actual remote sensing data, and the results are compared with similar scenarios in the mission planning simulation environment.

Keywords: AIS
microsatellites
SAR
Advisor: Zee, Robert E
Fotopoulos, Georgia
Propoetides

Propoetides by Dean Burry A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Faculty of Music University of Toronto Abstract Propoetides is the prologue to the opera Il Giudizio di Pigmalione (The Judgment of Pygmalion) and was inspired by the following description from Ovid’s Metamorphosis: Nevertheless, the immoral Propoetides dared to deny that Venus was the goddess. For this, because of her divine anger, they are said to have been the first to prostitute their bodies and their reputations in public, and, losing all sense of shame, they lost the power to blush, as the blood hardened in their cheeks, and only a small change turned them into hard flints. The fifteen-minute work is scored for seven vocal soloists, women’s chorus, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion, piano and strings. This setting of the myth (the libretto by the composer, with Italian translation by Sara Maida-Nicol) places Pygmalion as an Italian high-fashion magazine photo editor disgusted by Women’s Rights marchers who protest around him: a modern interpretation of the classical Propoetides. Photo editing techniques, including filtering, warping, cropping, layering, transparency, colour adjustment and cutting and pasting, are all incorporated into the score which explores, through tonality and dissonance, a violent dichotomy between equal human rights and traditional roles and models of women in society. Ovid’s story, and the opera’s libretto, builds on the idea of perfectionism. The ancient Greek notion of the golden ratio or divine proportion (1.618) has been exploited to rigidly define beauty for centuries and also is woven into the score of the opera, subtly influencing duration, harmony and texture. Propoetides theatrically and musically portrays the conflict for and against feminism, struggling against the kind of attitudes fostered both by Ovid’s myth two thousand years ago and the digitally altered, and influential, images so ubiquitous in modern media.

Keywords: feminist
galatea
opera
ovid
photoshop
pygmalion
Advisor: Hatzis, Christos
The p53-like Protein CEP-1 is Required for Meiotic Fidelity in the C. elegans Germline

The production of gametes with the correct genome content relies on the formation of crossovers (CO) during meiosis. This involves the deliberate creation of programmed double strand breaks (DSB) in the DNA and their accurate repair by homologous recombination between paternal and maternal chromosomes. The sites of COs serve as physical connections between homologous chromosomes and allow them to segregate accurately during the first meiotic division. Thus, in addition to generating genetic diversity, COs are critical for maintaining genome stability. Multiple studies have hinted at a role for the p53 family in meiosis, but the mechanism behind this is poorly understood. Here, I describe novel roles for the p53-like protein CEP-1 in ensuring meiotic fidelity in the C. elegans germline. I show that CEP-1 collaborates with the meiotic protein HIM-5 to regulate the formation and accurate repair of SPO-11-dependent DSBs. In addition, using a cep-1 separation-of-function allele, I demonstrate that cep-1 and him-5 suppress erroneous nonhomologous end-joining activity to commit DNA repair to HR. Furthermore, I also detail the novel roles I uncovered for the C. elegans homolog for the breast cancer susceptibility gene 1, BRC-1, in maintaining genome stability. Like CEP-1, BRC-1 collaborates with HIM-5 during physiological conditions to promote the creation and accurate repair of meiotic DSBs. On the other hand, BRC-1 cooperates with CEP-1 to safeguard genetic information following exposure to ionizing radiation. Together, CEP-1, HIM-5 and BRC-1 form multifunctional hubs that coordinate distinct, but interconnected, pathways to maintain genome integrity in the C. elegans germline.

Keywords: BRC-1
BRCA1
CEP-1
DNA repair
meiosis
p53
Advisor: Derry, William Brent
Consequences of Plant Invasion in a Peri-urban Ecosystem: A Case Study of the Invasive Vine Vincetoxicum rossicum

The impacts of non-indigenous invasive plant species on peri-urban ecosystems are known to be highly variable and are the subject of much debate within the discipline of invasion ecology. Yet, there is a desperate need to quantify those impacts, investigate the potential for control and engage with the stakeholders that are affected by invasion. Using the invasive species Vincetoxicum rossicum in and around Canada’s Rouge National Urban Park, I 1) quantify its impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functionality, 2) examine the effectiveness of a bio-control agent (Hypena opulenta) in reducing the reproductive ability of V. rossicum in different light environments, 3) examine the ecological significance of rare and functionally unique species, and whether or not those species are disproportionately affected by V. rossicum invasion, and 4) examine stakeholder valuation of ecosystem services that are threatened by the spread of V. rossicum. I show that V. rossicum invasion is associated with significant declines in plant biodiversity and the impairment of several ecosystem functions including aboveground biomass production, floral resources and the diversity and abundance of local pollinators. I then show that, contrary to previous laboratory work, defoliation of V. rossicum by H. opulenta in shade conditions results in significantly greater seed production via a compensatory growth response. Then, through a combination of modelling simulations and empirical data collection I show that there are no general trends regarding the ecological significance of rare and/or functionally unique species, but that some rare plant species are ecologically important in the face of invasion. Then, by employing stakeholder analysis, I show that park-user knowledge of V. rossicum, operationalized as “ecological engagement”, results in significantly greater valuation of ecosystem services, but also that there is substantial neutrality and disagreement about the ecological impact of V. rossicum among stakeholders. As V. rossicum invasion is undoubtedly having negative impacts on ecosystem functions and services, this work points to the need for continued research on the potential for control options. Furthermore, given that the spread of V. rossicum is prolific in urban environments, conservation practitioners would do well to develop more effective communication strategies that can engage local stakeholders.

Keywords: Biological control
Biological invasion
Conservation
Ecosystem functioning
Ecosystem services
Functional Ecology
Advisor: Cadotte, Marc W
Isaac, Marney E
The Politics of Luck.

This dissertation considers the place of luck in political life through examination of the political thought of Thucydides, Aristotle, and Machiavelli. I turn to these thinkers because, in my view, they approach the idea of luck from a strongly skeptical, deflationary, and psychological vantage point. By contrast, contemporary political theorists and philosophers often reify the idea of luck as something “out there” in the world—for example, in the literatures on “luck egalitarianism” and “moral luck.” These contemporaries have turned to the idea of luck in order to gain leverage on issues of governance, distributive justice, ethical responsibility, and political agency. However, precisely because Thucydides, Aristotle, and Machiavelli offer more conceptually nuanced and psychologically acute reflections on both the idea of luck itself and its role in political life, they offer better resources for clarifying these perennial issues. In particular, for these thinkers, the idea of luck is a piece of “folk wisdom” that arises only because of the limitations of human agency: when agents prove incapable of foreseeing and controlling significant events, then luck is invoked in order to describe what has happened. Yet even if the idea of luck inheres in intellectual beliefs and psychological orientations rather than in the warp and weft of reality itself, these attitudes still play critical roles in political life. Ultimately, I construct a dialogue between Aristotle, Thucydides, and Machiavelli regarding the virtues of both political leaders and ordinary citizens that constitute efficacious political agency in the face of contingency. Practical wisdom (and, to a lesser extent, courage) comes to light as the key virtue at issue because leaders and citizens call upon this virtue in particular when they respond to ostensible good or bad luck.

Keywords: Aristotle
Chance
Luck
Machiavelli
Practical wisdom
Thucydides
Advisor: Balot, Ryan
Making History in High Medieval Styria (1185-1202) - The Vorau Manuscript in its Secular and Spiritual Context

This dissertation focuses on the historical, social, and political context of the Vorau manuscript (Stiftsarchiv Vorau Codex 276), a collection of more than a dozen Middle High German poems from the late eleventh to the mid-twelfth century in addition to Otto of Freising’s Gesta Friderici I. imperatoris. When taken together, the manuscript’s disparate assortment of texts creates a roughly coherent history of the world from Genesis down to about 1160. Compiled by the Augustinian canons of the Styrian house towards the end of the twelfth century under the provost Bernard I, the manuscript references local historical events and individuals that were intimately tied to the region’s monastic houses. The Otakars (1055-1192) and Babenbergs (1192-1246) were the founders and advocates of a large number of the monastic communities, and this dissertation argues that the interplay of interests between the Styrian court and its religious houses forms the backdrop to the Vorau manuscript’s creation. These interests centred on the political legitimacy, social relevance, and stability of both parties that resulted from a monastery’s role in creating a history of a dynasty through commemorative practices and historical writing. This emphasis on dynasty and heritage was also a key aspect of crusading movement of the twelfth century, playing up the importance of dynasty and heritage in the context of salvation history and increasing demand for the commemorative services offered by canons and monks. The spiritual and secular importance of dynastically driven historical consciousness at Styria’s monasteries and its court constitute the context which imbued the texts of the Vorau manuscript with relevance for its composers and subsequent users.

Keywords: Crusades
Historiography
Kaiserchronik
Middle High German
Twelfth century
Vorau
Advisor: Stock, Markus
Ghosh, Shami
DNA Methylation Modifications Associated with Glucocorticoid Sensitivity and Clinical Subtypes of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex chronic disease with an unknown etiology that is primarily characterized by the presence of a highly debilitating fatigue that fails to resolve after sufficient rest. Additionally, patients must present other nonspecific symptoms relating to pain, unrefreshing sleep, cognitive impairment, and autonomic dysregulation in order to be diagnosed with ME/CFS, resulting in a population with highly heterogeneous symptom profiles. Previous research has consistently observed long-lasting changes in the immune system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a neuroendocrine system that regulates stress response. As a prototypical medically unexplained disease, environmental factors are believed to play a major role in the onset and manifestation of ME/CFS symptoms. These enduring differences may be partly explained through epigenetic modifications, referring to heritable gene expression alterations in the absence of mutations, which are known to reflect environmental, genetic, and stochastic influences on gene expression. This thesis explored the epigenetic modifications associated with the immune and neuroendocrine differences in ME/CFS. Specifically, DNA methylation across the genome was examined in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of ME/CFS patients, and immune response was tested by measuring in vitro sensitivity to glucocorticoids, a class of hormones that serve as an HPA axis effector. Differential methylation in ME/CFS was significantly enriched in immune response and cellular signaling genes, and was localized to 4,699 sites, which may serve as potential biomarkers. Two ME/CFS immune subtypes were observed according to glucocorticoid sensitivity. Integration of methylation and clinical data via machine learning discovered 4 clinical subtypes that were differentiated by T cell response genes, physical functioning, and post-exertional malaise. These results suggest that DNA methylation modifications are a feature of ME/CFS pathology. The identified potential biomarkers and clinical subtypes may be implemented in future work to better understand and clarify the biological differences related to specific ME/CFS symptoms.

Keywords: chronic fatigue syndrome
DNA methylation
epigenetics
HPA axis
immune response
myalgic encephalomyelitis
Advisor: McGowan, Patrick O
Targeting IgV-like Domain Immune Checkpoint Receptors with Novel Nucleic Acid and Protein-Based Therapeutics

The immune system is heavily regulated by negative checkpoint pathways; a network of cell signaling events governed by immune inhibitory ligand-receptor interactions. Physiologically, these negative checkpoint pathways are crucial for maintenance of self-tolerance in peripheral tissues. These pathways are often usurped by tumors as a mechanism to dampen anti-tumor immune responses. Clinically, the targeted blockade of PD-1:PD-L1 and CTLA-4:CD80/86 checkpoint ligand-receptor interactions using monoclonal antibodies has proved to be a viable means to provoke effective and durable anti-tumor responses. Conversely, agonists that stimulate these natural immunoinhibitory signaling pathways could potentially serve as immune-suppressants for treating patients with inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. The central theme of this thesis was to derive novel biotherapeutics that agonize or antagonize clinically-relevant checkpoint receptors. Specifically, the thesis focuses largely on targeting checkpoint receptors with short, single-stranded oligonucleotides, termed DNA aptamers, which bind molecular targets with affinity and specificity rivalling that of monoclonal antibodies. As a proof-of-principle, I first describe the derivation of DNA aptamers which bind to murine PD-1 and antagonize the PD-1:PD-L1 pathway to release anti-tumor immune responses and suppress the growth of a murine colon carcinoma tumor implant in-vivo. Second, I report the development of aptamers that bind to CD200R1 and agonize this inhibitory receptor. Strikingly, these anti-CD200R1 agonists were found to act as strong immunosuppressant’s in mouse models of transplant rejection and allergy. Lastly, I described the engineering of a novel multimeric fusion protein, consisting of the extracellular IgV-like domain of the checkpoint ligand VISTA, fused to a short helical pentamerization domain derived from the cartilage oligomeric matrix protein. This soluble agonist readily inhibited T-cell activation in-vitro, and suppressed inflammation in models of transplant rejection and autoimmune hepatitis. Notably, this construct represents the first agonist targeting the as-of-yet discovered VISTA-receptor to stimulate immunoinhibitory signaling in-vivo.

Keywords: Aptamer
Autoimmunity
Immunomodulation
Immunotherapy
Inflammation
Oncology
Advisor: Gariepy, Jean
Examining host specificity of Chrysochus spp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) to inform management of invasive dog strangling vine Vincetoxicum rossicum (Apocynaceae)

Native insects have the capacity to form novel associations with invasive plants, which in some cases may allow them to exploit the invaders as hosts. To date, little work has been done to predict these novel associations and their outcomes before they occur. By conducting host-specificity tests on native North American Chrysochus spp. (C. auratus, C. cobaltinus, and their hybrid) with the European invasive vine, Vincetoxicum rossicum and North American Apocynaceae plants, this thesis: (1) addresses the question as to whether native Chrysochus spp. will form a novel association with the vine; (2) predicts the outcomes of such an association; (3) suggests ways to improve the potential biotic resistance of these beetles to reduce the spread of this vine; (4) compares host specificity results of these North American beetles with their European congener C. asclepiadeus, in order to enhance predictions of its ecological host range. Feeding, survival, oviposition, and development tests with North American Chrysochus at all life stages demonstrate: (1) V. rossicum may act as an ovipositional sink for eastern C. auratus; (2) the vine could be a source of food for C. cobaltinus when the plant expands its range westward; and (3) Chrysochus hybridization will not increase use of this invasive vine. In addition, host-specificity tests conducted here show that C. auratus, which does not feed or develop on Asclepias spp. in its natural ecological host range, will complete development on plants in this genus when exposed under lab conditions. This false positive for host plant specificity suggests that, in this genus, the predicted ecological host range of the European congener (C. asclepiadeus) of the two North American species may have been overestimated. Overall, my findings highlight: (1) the importance of predicting novel associations before they occur in the field; (2) demonstrate how the testing of native relatives of biological control candidates can enhance ecological host-range predictions for classical agents; and (3) increase our knowledge about the potential outcomes of novel associations between introduced V. rossicum and North American Chrysochus spp.

Keywords: biological control
Chrysochus spp.
invasive species
novel associations
Vincetoxicum rossicum
Advisor: Smith, Sandy M