VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Making Meaning of von Hagens' Body Worlds: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Science Exhibitions

Body Worlds is a traveling exhibition of plastinated human cadavers that offers the general public an opportunity to experience the human body in a unique way. It has been met with controversy and awe; public reactions and responses have been mixed. This case study research explored visitor responses to this controversial science exhibition, and examined the meaning visitors made of their experience. Specifically, the following research questions directed this study: Within the context of the Body Worlds exhibition: (a) What meaning did visitors make and how did they respond to the exhibits? (b) What tensions and issues arose for visitors? and (c) What did this type of exhibition convey about the changing role of science centres and the nature of their exhibitions? The primary sources of data for this study were 46 semi-structured interviews with visitors to the exhibition, observation notes, and 10 comment books including approximately 20 000 comments. Data suggested that the personal, physical, and sociocultural contexts (Falk &amp; Dierking, 2000) contributed to visitor meaning meaning-making. The use of plastinated human cadavers within this exhibition raised ethical and moral questions and controversies about body procurement, use of human cadavers in display, representations of the bodies, and issues related to the sanctity of life. The tensions and issues identified by visitors demonstrated that messages (intended or unintended) located within Body Worlds were critically examined by visitors and called into question. Finally, data from this study suggested that an interdisciplinary approach to the presentation of science served to enhance accessibility for the viewer. This exhibition demonstrated that visitors responded positively and made personal connections when the arts, spirituality, edutainment, issues, and a combination of historical and contemporary museum practices were used to present science.

Keywords: Body Worlds
museum
informal learning
science centre
controversial issues
interdisciplinary
science exhibitions
Advisor: Pedretti, Erminia
Concurrent Memory Load, Working Memory Span, and Morphological Processing in L1 and L2 English

This study utilized the moving-window self-paced reading paradigm to investigate the processing of English morphemes by native speakers of English, Chinese, and Korean. The morphemes belonged to three distinct theoretical types: Stratum 1 derivation ({-ALADJ}, {-ITY}, and {-OUSADJ}), Stratum 2 derivation ({-NESS}, {-FULADJ}, and {-ERAGENT}), and inflection ({-SPL}, {-EDPAST}, and {-S3RDSGPRES}). Participants were presented with either (1) fully grammatical sentences which contained words featuring these morphemes or (2) ungrammatical sentences in which one word form lacked one of the morphemes when it was obligatory (e.g., Canada is one of the most *prosper and developed countries in the world). Half the sentences were presented with a concurrent working memory load, which consisted of remembering the result of a simple calculation (e.g., subtracting 3 from 95) while processing a sentence and reporting the number immediately thereafter. Reading times for the target word and the three words immediately following it were used as the main dependent variable. The background measures included a C-Test of English proficiency, a reading span task, a digits-forward task, a digits-backward task, and a detailed background questionnaire. In agreement with previous research, it was found that morphological violations tended to cause slowdowns in processing. Conversely, the presence of a concurrent memory load tended to cause speedups. Native speakers differed from non-native speakers by: (1) showing an early sensitivity to violations of Stratum 2 derivational morphology; (2) exhibiting a delayed response to violations of Stratum 1 derivation; and (3) not slowing down after violations of inflectional morphology. In addition, native speakers were the only group exhibiting no relationship between morphological processing on one side and short term-memory, working memory, and C-Test scores on the other. Overall, the similarity between native and non-native speakers was the greatest in the processing of Stratum 1 derivation. Crucially, the temporal pattern of the Korean participants&rsquo; responses to morphological violations in English placed them in an intermediate position between the English and Chinese native speakers, which was interpreted as evidence of L1 &ndash; L2 transfer in morphological processing. Notably, this transfer occurred between an agglutinative L1 and an unrelated mixed-type L2.

Keywords: Psycholinguistics
Memory
Second Language Acquisition
Morphological Processing
Morphology
Transfer
Automaticity
Self-Paced Reading
Advisor: Helms-Park, Rena
Regina: A Chamber Opera in One Act

Regina is a one-act opera based on the true story of Regina Jonas, the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the Jewish faith, in 1935. Jonas struggled to gain this recognition and subsequently perished in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. It was only in 1991 that another woman uncovered the papers that proved Jonas' legacy. This opera follows Regina, waiting to be uncovered in the piles of paper records locked away in East Berlin, and through vignettes of her past. This is paralleled with the story of Anna, who is desperately fighting against her Nazi father's legacy. Anna believes that, if she can uncover stories like Regina's, she will free herself of her father's torment. Regina is similarly haunted by her mother's ghost, whose discouraging words have shaped Regina's lifelong self-doubt. Both Regina and Anna need to be set free. This opera uses leitmotifs to differentiate the two main characters, but these themes are also often used as signifiers of the common struggles that both characters embody and represent. As well, they employ rhythmic and melodic styles that pervade both the vocal and instrumental parts throughout the opera, thus unifying the characters' goals. Because of the fact that the opera takes place in multiple time periods (sometimes simultaneously) the various choices of instrumentation and harmonic material often reflect these temporal shifts (for example, the accordion is often associated with Regina's path to ordination, her relationship with her rabbi, and a time of joy and calm before the war.) In addition, melodic and rhythmic motifs are used to represent specific as well as general events, such as the three-note 'ordination' theme and the two-chord repeated motif in the piano. The overall extended tonal style contributes to a largely lyrical setting of Maya Rabinovitch's libretto.

Keywords: Opera
Chamber Music
Rabbi
Jewish
Regina Jonas
Advisor: Kulesha, Gary
The Role of Consumer Interactions in the Consequences and Causes of Community Phylogenetic Structure

Phylogenetic structure measures patterns of evolutionary history within communities – are some communities composed of species more distantly or closely related than expected by chance? Due to common descent, closely related species are more ecologically similar, and so degrees of relatedness in a community may be good predictors of its ecology, more so than the number of species. Whether we are speaking of how phylogenetic structure arises as a consequence of ecological processes, or how phylogenetic structure affects the functioning of communities, the role of consumer organisms has received less attention than the role of resources. In this thesis, I ask what are the consequences and causes of phylogenetic structure of a potentially multi-level community, focusing on the underappreciated effects of consumer-resource interactions. In Chapter 2, I show how phylogenetic diversity of plant communities predicts the diversity and abundance of arthropods captured in a long-running biodiversity experiment better than species richness alone. In Chapter 3, I show how phylogenetic diversity and species richness interact to explain herbivore damage at a whole community level. In Chapter 4, I explore how phylogenetic structure of old field plant communities differs in plots of contrasting disturbance history, and speculate as to what factors – such as herbivory – may have contributed to these differences. In Chapter 5, I present a model which incorporates competition – through both resources and consumers of a focal trophic level – and environmental filtering, two factors which are thought to impact phylogenetic structure through their influence on ecological similarity. I show that environmental filtering interacts with competition to determine the coexistence of similar species, and that consumers may have different effects than do resources. My dissertation provides new insight into the importance of consumers in ecological communities, both through their effect on, and through their response to, patterns of evolutionary history in their prey.

Keywords: Community Ecology
Phylogenetic Ecology
Advisor: Abrams, Peter
The Role of GSK-3 in Mammary Gland Development and Oncogenesis

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) alpha and beta are central regulators of key developmental pathways, including Wnt, Hedgehog and Notch, which control stem cell activities and cellular differentiation. Both forms of GSK-3 are also regulated by receptor tyrosine kinases via the PI3K/Akt growth-promoting pathway and are involved in feedback mechanisms that maintain signaling homeostasis. These signaling systems have critical functions in mammary gland development and aberrations in them have been implicated in breast cancer. However, the role of GSK-3 in breast oncogenesis is unclear. Here, I provide evidence that maintenance of appropriate GSK-3 activity is necessary for normal acinar morphogenesis of mammary cells in the ductal/alveolar epithelium. Inadequate GSK-3 levels result in enlarged structures that often lack hollow lumens and resemble early premalignant breast cancer lesions. A potential contribution for PI3K signaling to this phenotype was identified as a PI3K inhibitor partially reversed the observed morphological defects. Mammary epithelial cell (MEC) identity also requires modulation of signals through the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. GSK-3-depleted mammary glands not only transdifferentiate into squamous epithelium but also develop highly proliferative adenosquamous carcinomas characterized by activated beta-catenin. Furthermore, beta-catenin appears to be required for both cell fate changes and tumorigenesis in the absence of GSK-3 function. Mammary tissues engineered to enable conditional deletion of beta-catenin in a GSK-3-null background also assumed an epidermoid cell fate with ensuing tumor formation albeit with a significantly longer latency and different histopathology. The metaplastic nature of tumors observed is similar to a rare yet aggressive form of human breast disease, metaplastic breast carcinomas (MBCs). Mammospheres (MS) generated from GSK-3 depleted MECs exhibited a less compact morphology compared to those with activated beta-catenin, which also exhibited an expansion of the CD24:CD49f double positive progenitor population and enhanced self-renewal. No MS were formed by MECs lacking GSK-3 and beta-catenin. ErbB2/Neu-mediated mammary tumor progression has been associated with Wnt/beta-catenin pathway activation. Loss of beta-catenin delayed tumor onset in a constitutively active ErbB2 mouse model but did not alter either the luminal characteristics of the ensuing tumors nor their metastatic potential. Collectively these studies indicate GSK-3 plays important roles in mammary gland function thereby suppressing mammary tumor formation.

Keywords: Breast Cancer
Signal Transduction
Mouse Model
Mammary Gland
Stem Cell
Tumorigenesis
Advisor: Woodgett, James
Locating Critical Care Nurses in Mouth Care: An Institutional Ethnography

Intubated and mechanically ventilated patients are vulnerable to respiratory tract infections. In response, the Ontario government has recently mandated surveillance and reporting of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Serious respiratory infections, and the related costs of additional care can be reduced in part, through oral hygiene. However, the literature asserts that oral care is neglected in busy, high-tech settings. Despite these concerns, little research has examined how mouth care happens in the critical care unit. The purpose of this institutional ethnography (IE) was to explore the social organization of mouth care in one critical care unit in Ontario, Canada. As a reflexive and critical method of inquiry, IE focuses on features of everyday life that often go unnoticed. In paying special attention to texts, the ethnographer traces how institutional forces that arrive from outside the practice setting coordinate experiences and activities. Inquiry began in the field with day/night participant observation to better understand the particularities of nursing care for orally intubated patients. Other data sources included reflexive fieldnotes, stakeholder interviews, and transcripts as well as work documents and artifacts. Over time, the analysis shifted from the critical care unit to the larger social context of Ontario’s Critical Care Transformation Strategy. Analysis traced the discursive and translocal social relations that permeate nursing work. Findings revealed a disjuncture between the ideals of VAP prevention and the actualities of mouth care. Tensions and contradictions emerged as nurses described their location within an expansive accountability network: nursing duties now extend beyond oral care to a controversial project of epidemiological surveillance. Patient comfort and safety now rest upon a hidden nursing agenda to overcome limited time, training and tools in oral care. Nurses worried that the effectiveness of preventative oral care was inhibited by technical problems of application that remain uninvestigated and unresolved. As a counterpoint to assertions that oral care is neglected, this study demonstrates how nursing knowledge and agency is obscured. Because international infection-prevention guidelines increasingly endorse oral care, novel research investigating the practice problems nurses encounter is warranted.

Keywords: oral hygiene
mouth care
ventilator-associated pneumonia
institutional ethnography
critical care
intensive care
nursing
Advisor: Angus, Janet Elizabeth
Mining the Medulloblastoma Genome and Transcriptome

Medulloblastoma is a devastating disease of the cerebellum, and the most common solid pediatric malignancy of the central nervous system. Recently, transcriptome-wide profiling has dissected medulloblastoma from one single disease into four disparate molecular subgroups – namely WNT, SHH, Group3 and Group4. Distinct genomic, cytogenetic, mutational and clinical spectra associated with these subgroups highlight the pressing need for targeted therapies, of which encouraging preliminary results have been generated. While the promise of personalized medicine is within our reach, improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving pathogenesis is critical to this process. The intent of my PhD thesis research was to characterize the molecular mechanisms contributing to medulloblastoma pathogenesis, and the clinical impact of these aberrations. Through a combinatorial use of genetic and epigenetic profiling, next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analyses we have identified subsets of tumors with transcriptional signatures that influence their clinical properties. Furthermore, our results have shed light on the establishment of the normal cerebellar cytoarchitecture, identifying a physiological glutamate gradient with critical implications to both cerebellar development and disease. This thesis stresses the importance of interrogating medulloblastoma in a subgroup-specific manner. Our findings demonstrate the utility of pursuing an integrated (copy number, mutational, transcriptional and epigenetic) molecular approach, to further our understanding of the pathobiology of medulloblastoma. Finally, we propose rationale therapeutic targets that may improve the treatment of aggressive variants of this disease.

Keywords: medulloblastoma
cancer
brain tumor
epigenetics
genomics
Advisor: Taylor, Michael
Understanding Genome Structure and Response to Perturbation

The past few decades have witnessed an array of advances in DNA science including the introduction of genomics and bioinformatics. The quest for complete genome sequences has driven the development of microarray and massively parallel sequencing technologies at a rapid pace, yielding numerous scientific discoveries. My thesis applies several of these genome-scale technologies to understand genomic response to perturbation as well as chromatin structure, and it is divided into three major studies. The first study describes a method I developed to identify drug targets by overexpressing human genes in yeast. This chemical genomic assay makes use of the human ORFeome collection and oligonucleotide microarrays to identify potential novel human drug targets. My second study applies genome resequencing of yeast that have evolved resistance to antifungal drug combinations. Using massively parallel genomic sequencing, I identified novel genomic variations that were responsible for this resistance and it was confirmed in vivo. Lastly, I report the characterization of chromatin structure in a non-eukaryotic species, an archaeon. The conservation of the nucleosomal landscape in archaea suggests that chromatin is not solely a hallmark of eukaryotes, and that its role in transcriptional regulation is ancient. Together, these 3 studies illustrate how maturation of genomic technology for research applications has great utility for the identification of potential human and antifungal drug targets and offers an encompassing glance at the structure of genomes.

Keywords: Genomics
Chemical Genomics
Chromatin
Drug resistance
Archaea
Advisor: Nislow, Corey
Bader, Gary D.
Bridging Understandings of Differences, Learning and Inclusion: Voices of Minoritized Students

Many Canadian children from minority status groups experience long-term academic complexities, influencing their sense of school belonging and engagement (Willms, 2003; Willms & Flanagan, 2007). Research demonstrates children with intersecting differences of race, ethnicity, language, and disability, and those in their middle years (10-13 years old), undergo heightened academic challenges (Blanchett, Klingner, & Harry, 2009; Cobbold, 2005). Within Toronto, one of the most diverse Canadian cities, this study explores the narratives of 6 middle years children with intersecting differences of race, ethnicity, language, and disabilities. The narratives highlight participants’ understandings of differences, learning, and inclusion. Specifically, what are marginalized children’s personal schooling experiences, and how may these insights support inclusive learning, teaching, and sense of belonging? Underpinned by conceptual lenses of (a) critical theory, from which stems critical pedagogy and critical multicultural education, and (b) the “new sociology of childhood” (Greene & Hogan, 2005), which includes social constructivist and participatory frames, this study employed qualitative narrative and critical discourse analysis research methods throughout 7 research sessions over a 4 month period. Accessing children’s multiple views, data collection included a “mosaic” (Clark & Moss, 2001) multi-method approach, such as semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, writing activities, imaginative story games, photography, and drawings. The children’s narratives are re-presented as portrait narrative summaries within this paper. Surfacing findings include two predominant themes: (a) Participants’ conceptualizations of differences, race, ethnicity, language, culture, disability, and autism. Participants’ views relate to theories of denying differences, colour blindness, White discourse, and Othering; and (b) Interconnecting factors of inclusive and exclusive elements contributing to participants’ overall sense of school belonging. Additionally this theme highlights matters of meritocracy, individualization, and the “good” student. Underscoring both themes are notions of normalcy, and deficit and deficient-based discourses. Inviting student voice into educational conversations and research processes, this study demonstrates the importance of listening to voices of children with intersecting differences, as they may adeptly advance areas of inclusion and diversity.

Keywords: disabilities/autism
ethnicity
race
language
intersecting differences
social science research
diversity
inclusion
narratives
critical discourse analysis
critical theory
new sociology of childhood
children as co-researchers
mosaic/multi-method research
social model lens of disability
middle years
Advisor: Gérin-Lajoie, Diane
Physiological Effects of Barley: Examining the Effects of Cultivar, Processing and Food Form on Glycemia, Glycemic Index, Satiety and the Physico-chemical Properties of β-glucan

Barley has been receiving increased attention as a human food due to the health benefits associated with β-glucan fiber and its potential as a low glycemic index (GI) functional food. Research has shown a relationship between the physico-chemical properties of β-glucan and the physiological effects, which may be altered by processing. However, it is not known if the physiological effects of consuming barley are affected by variations in chemical composition among cultivars or by common processing methods such as pearling or milling. The primary objective of this thesis was to characterize the effects of differences in cultivar starch and fibre content, level of pearling and milling on the GI, satiety and the physico-chemical properties of β-glucan. Nine barley cultivars varying in starch-type and β-glucan content were studied in three experiments in separate groups of ten healthy participants. Blood glucose and satiety ratings were measured and the GI was calculated. Total starch, total fibre, β-glucan, molecular weight (MW), solubility and β-glucan viscosity were determined in vitro. Results showed that GI varied by cultivar (CDC-Fibar, 26 ± 3 vs. AC-Parkhill, 35 ± 4, P < 0.05) and pearling (WG, 26 ± 4 vs. WP 35 ± 3, P < 0.05). When two cultivars were milled and processed to wet pasta the GI increased by 184% (P < 0.05). The pearled wet pasta had a significantly lower GI compared to the whole grain (P < 0.05). Boiled barley kernels tended to elicit greater satiety than white bread, but the difference was not significant. In both the boiled barley kernels and the wet pasta, pearling did not affect the MW, viscosity and solubility. MW did not significantly differ between cultivars but solubility and viscosity did (P < 0.05). The wet pasta had significantly lower MW, solubility, viscosity but not β-glucan content than the boiled barley kernels (P < 0.05). In conclusion, pearling did not have an effect but milling and extruding resulted in significant reduction in MW, solubility and viscosity. The GI of barley is influenced significantly by cultivar, pearling and milling. Further studies are required to determine the effect on satiety.

Keywords: Carbohydrates
glycemic index
Barley
beta-glucan
Advisor: Wolever, Thomas M. S.