VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Ontology, Etiology, and Moral Psychology of Action: Aristotle and Today

Aristotle’s theory of action answers two central questions in Action Theory today: What causes action? What role do psychological attitudes play in action? Chapter 1 dispels misunderstandings about Aristotle’s theory of causation. Influential interpretations assume that Aristotle’s material, formal, and final causes are explanatory only as constituents of an efficient-causal event, and that all efficient causes are productive. Productive efficient causes are those for which the effect is numerically distinct from the causal activity of the cause. Aristotle makes neither assumption. Instead, he thinks that some efficient causes are not productive, and that material, formal, and final causes are explanatory in their own right rather than as constituents of efficient-causal events. Chapter 2 argues that Aristotle countenances four causes of action: Agents’ bodies are material causes of their self-movements, their occurrent psychological attitudes (such as desire and decision) are formal causes, agents themselves, as self-movers actualizing a particular potentiality, are efficient causes, and agents’ goals are final causes. This view challenges the prevailing assumption that psychological attitudes are efficient causes of actions. They are instead formal causes—paradigms for acting and parts of what defines the sort of action that the action is. Aristotle’s four-causal view makes progress in addressing problems for recent theories of action. Chapter 3 treats Davidsonian and Anscombean theories, the most prominent. Davidsonians face the problem of deviant causal chains (where psychological attitudes cause actions accidentally) and of the disappearing agent (the agent herself plays no role identifiable as agency). Anscombeans encounter the problem of deviant formal causation (a foreseen side-effect is wrongly counted by the theory as part of the intended aim) and of disappearing agency (without appeal to psychological attitudes, it is difficult to account for agential control). Aristotle's account makes headway on these problems. Chapter 4 treats constitutivist theories, which insist that agential control over action is at least partially constitutive of the action rather than a matter of antecedent efficient causes. Existing constitutivist accounts misconceive the causal role or range of psychological attitudes that are relevant for agential control. Constitutivists can advance by understanding psychological attitudes as Aristotelian formal causes of action.

Keywords: Action
Ancient Philosophy
Aristotle
Causation
Responsibility
Advisor: Gerson, Lloyd P
Tranexamic Acid Modulation of Excitatory and Inhibitory Amino Acid Receptors: A Potential Mechanism for Postoperative Seizures

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is an antifibrinolytic drug that is used worldwide to reduce blood loss in a variety of hemorrhagic conditions. TXA causes seizures and myoclonic spasms, particularly during the postoperative period, and these seizures are associated with a higher incidence of neurological complications, longer recovery times, and higher mortality rates. The molecular mechanisms underlying TXA-associated seizures remain poorly understood and there are no effective treatment or prevention strategies. One potential mechanism by which TXA may give rise to seizures is by shifting the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission. Specifically, TXA could promote hyperexcitability by enhancing the function of excitatory amino acid receptors (NMDA, AMPA, and kainate receptors). Alternatively, TXA could cause disinhibition by reducing the activity of inhibitory receptors (GABA and glycine receptors). The purpose of this thesis is to identify molecular targets that are sensitive to clinically relevant concentrations of TXA. TXA is a structural analogue of the amino acid glycine. Thus, we hypothesized that TXA acts as an agonist at the glycine binding site of the NMDA subtype of glutamate receptor. Alternatively, we postulated that TXA acts as a competitive antagonist of the glycine receptor. Further, we postulated that drugs that reverse TXA actions on excitatory or inhibitory receptors can be used to mitigate or prevent TXA-associated seizures. First, we determined the clinically relevant concentrations of TXA by measuring drug levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients. We found that peak TXA concentration in the CSF of patients was 200 ÎźM. Next, we showed that TXA 200 ÎźM was sufficient to increase network excitability in cortical slices and reduce the resting membrane potential in mouse neurons. TXA had no effect on excitatory receptors at clinically relevant concentrations. Conversely, TXA competitively inhibited both GABAA and glycine receptors but the potency of TXA was highest for glycine receptors that generate a tonic inhibitory current. Finally, the general anesthetics isoflurane and propofol reversed TXA-mediated inhibition of glycine receptors and attenuated the effect of TXA on network excitability. Collectively, these results identify a potential mechanism for TXA-associated seizures and drugs that could be used to treat or prevent seizures.

Keywords: Glycine
Ion channels
Seizures
Tonic current
Tranexamic acid
Advisor: Orser, Beverley A
Mazer, David
THE PECULIAR FAMILY BUSINESS OF FAMILY CHILD CARE: POLICY AND REGULATION AFFECTING EMOTIONAL LABOUR IN CAREGIVING

In Ontario, Canadaâ s licensed family child care system, there is a dissonance between expectations embedded in state-licensed family child care regulation and policy, and the lived experience of regulated family child care providers. Gender, social class and more recently, race/ethnicity intersect to exacerbate complicated working conditions for the care providers leading to poor recognition and financial compensation from both parents and the state. I have combined an analysis of the historical development of the care model with my own qualitative investigation of the everyday experience of 11 regulated care providers in Toronto, their material circumstances and the emotional labour they invest in caring for young children. Detailing the historical development of the system shows that the core elements of the contemporary care model can be traced through its child welfare lineage dating from 19th century child saving, and from foster care to family child care, which remains largely unchanged since the inception of regulation in 1978. The elements I have examined are the role of the mandatory home visitor in relation to the care provider and their occupational segregation; the bureaucratic expectations of the state as implemented in a private domain; and the social construction of the care provider as someone who requires surveillance to provide quality care for children, particularly because of her vulnerable location as a low-income, self-employed worker. I have identified these elements for discussion to support a case for change in the contemporary care model. Poor recognition and compensation have been compounded by the deeply entrenched funding model dependent on child care fee subsidies to parents. This circular challenge of an outdated funding model supporting outdated gendered assumptions about a care model is at the heart of the puzzle to solve for jurisdictions that have foisted self-employment on regulated care providers working in their own homes. I conclude with policy and research recommendations for licensed family child care agencies and the Ontario government.

Keywords: family child care
family day care
funding model in family child care
home visitors in family child care
Ontario foster care to family child care
Advisor: Livingstone, David W
"It hath no bottom" and is "beyond beyond": Shakespeare on the Mystery of Love

Abstract This thesis examines how Shakespeare represents love. Love is resistant to definition because its experience is entirely subjective, yet Shakespeare does not retreat from any attempt to represent selfless love, which contrasts to the more easily comprehended mechanisms and effects of desire. Shakespeare’s works suggest that love can be both eros and agape at the same time. The experience of being in love constitutes one’s subjectivity: these works show that to know oneself is to know what is worth dying for, and in this regard love is stronger than death. This thesis argues that Shakespeare views love as a mystery, yet also as something profoundly real and revolutionary. Shakespeare intersects Christianity’s belief in the mystery of divine love with the experience of romantic and sexual love; he uses theology and the experiences of religious faith to express the possibilities of secular love. Shakespeare makes the sacred secular: he reinvents spiritual love as a human experience, and in turn his works elevate human love and characterize it as a religious experience. Further, these texts suggest that secular love can be an access point for the experience of divine love; that is, human love participates in the divine mystery of God’s love. The transformative possibilities that accompany moments of love are communicated through the mystery of poetry and theatrical performance: it is through artifice and illusion that we are able to understand the experience and meaning of love. In his construction of subjectivity, Shakespeare’s texts suggest that radical selflessness is paradoxically the pathway to becoming most fully the self. This thesis considers both Shakespeare’s dramatic works and his poetry. This dissertation contextualizes Shakespeare’s writing within the larger Christian culture of early modern England and also considers contemporary theory and criticism. The mysteries of love, of faith, and of the possibilities of the imagination do not merely intersect in Shakespeare’s works; these ideas gain meaning and are understood precisely through their intersections.

Keywords: Early Modern
Love
Religion
Shakespeare
Subjectivity
Theatre
Advisor: Levenson, Jill
Galbraith, David
The Quantification and Prediction of Graduate School Performance

In today’s competitive job market, many students graduate with a bachelor’s degree and move on to pursue higher education in hopes of standing out from the crowd. As the number of graduate students has steadily increased in the recent years, there is also growing interest in understanding how to cultivate successful graduate careers. Surprisingly, there has been little empirical work examining this topic. The current dissertation has two primary aims: 1. to quantify graduate school performance and 2. explore some of the potential predictors of success. Because publication output is believed to be the most valuable metric of success, the primary focus was on publications. Chapter 1 examines the publication trajectories of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty members to establish a benchmark of success. Junior faculty members had twice the number of publications as post-doctoral fellows, who had twice the number of publications as senior graduate students. Chapter 2 and 3 aim to better accurately quantify a researcher’s scientific output beyond just the number of publications with the introduction of a new bibliometric index called the zp-index. The zp-index, compared to other bibliometric indices, better discriminated the productive output of high-functioning academics. Finally, Chapter 4 identifies potential personality predictors of graduate school performance. Industriousness was a key variable that predicted publication success. Results across the studies provide practical recommendations to apply to the current graduate school system and highlight some potential avenues for future research on this understudied topic.

Keywords: Performance
Personality
Psychometrics
Scientometrics
Advisor: Peterson, Jordan B.
Andersen, Judith P.
Systematic Analysis of Protein-RNA Interactions in Drosophila

Post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, through the control of mRNA splicing, polyadenylation, nuclear export, localization, translation, and stability, is essential for achieving appropriate temporal and spatial patterns of protein expression. This regulation is mediated by trans-acting factors, such as RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and non-coding RNAs, which associate with specific mRNA targets through the recognition of sequence- or structure-based cis-elements present in the transcripts. The genomes of most organisms encode hundreds of RBPs, each of which likely associates with hundreds of mRNAs. Thus, a genome-wide view of the regulation being mediated by all trans-factors is essential for a complete understanding of post-transcriptional control. While post-transcriptional regulation is crucial in all biological systems, it has a particularly prominent role during early embryo development, as during this time there is no transcription from the zygotic genome of the embryo, and, thus, gene expression and development is controlled entirely post-transcriptionally. In this thesis, I describe my efforts towards obtaining a global understanding of post-transcriptional regulation in early Drosophila melanogaster embryos, through the development and use of synthetic antibodies as tools to identify, genome-wide, RBP-mRNA interactions. First, I demonstrated that synthetic antibodies generated against RBPs can be used as tools to identify RBP-associated mRNAs through immunoprecipitation-based approaches, or, conversely, to disrupt RBP-mRNA interactions. I then used synthetic antibodies to identify the entire complement of mRNAs associated with 3 developmentally-important RBPs: the double-stranded RBP Staufen, the TRIM-NHL protein Brain Tumor, and the PUF protein Pumilio. Computational analyses of these mRNAs revealed: (1) novel cis-elements likely mediating the mRNA-binding activity of Staufen and Brain Tumor; (2) that, unexpectedly, Brain Tumor and Pumilio function largely independently of each other in early embryos; and, (3) a novel role for Brain Tumor in promoting mRNA decay, which was demonstrated through a transcriptome-wide analysis of mRNA levels in brain tumor mutant embryos. To facilitate a truly genome-wide analysis of RBP-mRNA interactions, we developed a high-throughput pipeline for production of synthetic antibodies, and used this pipeline to generate 279 antibodies against 61 RBPs. In future this pipeline and the antibodies generated will allow for global studies of post-transcriptional regulation.

Keywords: Drosophila embryogenesis
Maternal-to-zygotic transition
Post-transcriptional regulation
RNA-binding protein
RNA cis-regulatory element
Synthetic antibody
Advisor: Lipshitz, Howard
Smibert, Craig
Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Using α-Fe2O3

There is a global need to reduce the use of fossil fuels due to the negative impacts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions on climate change. An alternative to a carbon-based energy system is therefore necessary, and hydrogen is considered one of the most promising energy carrier replacements. This thesis focuses on the renewable production of hydrogen via photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting using Earth-abundant iron oxide (α-Fe2O3, or hematite) as a photoanode. Hematite is considered a promising semiconductor candidate for PEC water oxidation due to its strong absorption of visible light, long-term stability under operating conditions, and low cost. However despite these benefits, rapid recombination of charge carriers and sluggish water oxidation kinetics have hindered its commercial applicability. Here, we have demonstrated that the effective application of three-dimensional nanoscaffolds, composed of a transparent conducting oxide, can significantly enhance the electrochemical surface area of solution-processed iron oxide thin films. The underlying scaffolds were also found to enhance the activity of the surface catalysts due to an electronic “spacer” effect, and light absorption was increased within the disordered structures due to effective trapping of photons and increased catalyst loading. Following this, we demonstrated that the solution-processed films, which were initially PEC-inactive, could be activated via high-temperature treatment under flowing hydrogen gas. The result was the formation of a non-stoichiometric α-Fe2O3-x photocatalyst that suppressed charge recombination and increased photoactivity. This photoactivity was further correlated to the build-up of charged species at the photoanode surface that mediate the water oxidation reaction. Finally, to improve the kinetics of our newly activated material, we functionalized our α-Fe2O3-x thin films with a stable homogeneous iridium co-catalyst. The co-catalyst was found to greatly enhance the activity of the system, and extensive electrochemical testing revealed that this was almost entirely due to improved kinetics at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface.

Keywords: Hematite
Nanomaterials
Photoelectrochemistry
Water Oxidation
Advisor: Ozin, Geoffrey
Power and Politics in Venezuelan Higher Education Reform, 1999-2012

This dissertation explains why Venezuelan state and government elites were able to successfully design, adopt, and implement some higher education reforms but not others during the presidencies of Hugo Chรกvez (1999-2012). Conceptualizing universities as political institutions that occupy a liminal position within the borderlands of state and society, and using an approach that emphasizes the relational and procedural nature of political change, I compare four higher education initiatives advanced by Venezuelan reformers: a series of universalization programs, the 2001 Organic Education Law, the 2009 Organic Education Law, and the 2010 University Education Law. My analysis reveals that the adoption and implementation of these initiatives primarily depended upon how the distribution of institutional autonomy and capacity between the state and the oppositional university sector conditioned the strategic choices of key actors. In the case of universalization reform, actors within the executive branch were enabled by considerable autonomy relative to oppositional forces in the agenda-setting, design, and adoption stages of reform, while material capacity facilitated the implementation process. In the legislative arena, reformers relied upon similar institutional autonomy to set the agenda and design the three bills, but the constitutional guarantee of university autonomy and an increasingly deft use of intra- and inter-institutional connective structures (including governing councils, faculty unions, and student organizations) allowed the oppositional universities to form a cohesive bloc that constrained reformers and prevented the full implementation of any new legislation. This dissertation therefore challenges accounts of the Venezuelan state as exceptionally strong, provides a detailed account of extra-parliamentary opposition to the Chรกvez government, and foregrounds the university as an important but significantly understudied political actor in the context of state-society relations.

Keywords: Higher education reform
State-society relations
Venezuelan politics
Advisor: Bejarano, Ana MarĂ­a
Caring for Caregivers: Establishing Resilience through Social Capital

There is growing agreement in the research literature that informal caregivers play a crucial role in supporting high needs populations as well as contributing to the sustainability of formal healthcare systems. This dissertation uses a convergent parallel design consisting of three main research phases: analysis of secondary qualitative data from two case studies providing supports to informal caregivers of community-dwelling high-needs persons, including both seniors and children with complex medical needs; collection and analysis of primary qualitative interview data from providers involved with the case studies; and qualitative interviews with informal caregivers and care providers from across Ontario. The dissertation applies social capital theory as a conceptual framework to analyze how care providers and informal caregivers perceive different formal approaches to supporting informal caregivers as contributing to caregiver resilience. Within the policy and academic literature, there has been increased recognition for supporting people and their informal caregivers. Yet, this focus remains largely at the individual level, and caregiver burden and burnout continues to be assessed solely as a byproduct of the complex (mainly medical) needs of the care recipient. The findings from this dissertation suggest the importance of cultivating broader understandings of the â caregiver problemâ in order to identify, support, and assess networks of support (both formal and informal). Applying social capital theory and the concept of resilience, this dissertation identifies the importance of the healthcare system and connecting people to it and within it. This dissertation provides evidence for supporting the development of formal and informal ties, particularly at the bridging and linking levels to improve a care networkâ s access to resources and produce longer-term capacity and resilience. The use of social capital presents a novel conceptual advance in research on caregiver resilience, the relationship between caregiver and system sustainability, and the benefits that can derive from the multidimensional aspects of social capital.

Keywords: Informal caregivers
older adults
Policy
Resilience
Social capital
Social networks
Advisor: Williams, Paul A.
Homicide in North Italy: Bologna, 1600-1700

The North Italian Papal State of Bologna suffered high and at times increasing rates of interpersonal homicide throughout eleven sampled years of the seventeenth century. The powerful criminal court of Bologna, the Tribunale del Torrone, prosecuted homicides as capital crimes through the deployment of inquisitorial process and a public image of impartial justice; but its officers remained unable to overcome deep impulses to revenge and vendetta among the various populations of the city and hinterland. In sentencing homicides, judges erred on the side of exile over execution, and when judges attempted to condemn participants in vendetta to death, they found themselves made party to revenge violence. The court’s inability to effectively police interpersonal violence was indicative of a developing state whose institutions and social structures were failing. Socio-economic crises of the early-seventeenth century contributed to this deteriorating situation. In particular, the Great Plague of 1630 overturned social norms and, in the “world upside down” that followed, ordinary Bolognesi of the contado committed more homicides in pursuit of gain or in protection of fragile resources. The stresses of endemic rural poverty bore heavily on rural violence. From rural bases, republican and oligarchic factions of urban nobility launched a renewed assault on papal authority in the mid-sixteenth century. A civil war broke out in the city’s streets, and homicide rates peaked at levels exceeding any thus far documented in early modern Europe. Officers of government bodies and of the criminal court were killed on multiple occasions. This dissertation contextualizes these trends through interdisciplinary approaches to the history of violence and homicide in the west, and by qualitative analysis of patterns emerging from quantitative data collection. By combining these two approaches, the massive wave of mid-century violence is placed into a long history of Bologna’s failure to establish a meaningful civil society.

Keywords: Bologna
early modern
Europe
homicide
Italy
violence
Advisor: Terpstra, Nicholas