VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Co-Assembled Drug-Silica Materials for Antimicrobial and Antidegradative Dental Applications

Resin composite dental fillings are exposed to significant challenges in the oral cavity, and fail after 5-7 years. Biodegradation and cariogenic bacteria at the filling-tooth interface weaken this critical region and may cause secondary caries or mechanical failure. Similarly, bacterial colonisation of the dental implant-gingiva interface, both immediately after implant placement or later in the implant service life, may cause implant failure. Systemic antibiotics are frequently prescribed prophylactically before implant surgery, or to treat later infection. However, concerns around antibiotic resistance and allergies have led to calls to reduce antibiotic use, despite their ability to increase implant success by over 200,000 patients/year. Local delivery of antimicrobial agent in a controlled, long-term (decades) manner from a restorative adhesive directly to the filling-tooth interface may reduce bacterial load and extend restoration service life. Antimicrobial delivery directly to the implant-gingiva interface from the implant neck should also reduce bacterial load and improve implant outcome without the negative effects of systemic antibiotics. Traditional mesoporous silica (MS), as particles in restorative adhesive or an implant coating layer, may be an ideal drug reservoir and release vector. However, the post-synthesis loading of drug within MS remains challenging, resulting in low load (

Keywords: biomaterials
bodegradation
dental caries
dental implants
drug delivery
nanomaterials
Advisor: Finer, Yoav
Hatton, Benjamin D
THE "INDIAN" OF FOUR CONTINENTS: READING FOR HORIZONTAL RELATIONS OF VIOLENCE, COMPLICITY, AND THE MAKING OF WHITE SETTLER COLONIALISM

This research study asks: How do we theorize the place of non-Black people of colour vis-à-vis Indigenous peoples and Black people in North America? Paying attention to transnational power relations, and colonial entanglements of differential racialization, I particularly inquire into the place of South Asian diaspora in North America. This study draws upon critical Indigenous, Black, anti-caste, and transnational feminist theories to argue for the urgent need to place analyses of white settler colonialism here in conversation with other entangled histories, presented through discrepant spatialities and temporalities, in order to examine what we know and have yet to learn about entanglements of race, Indigeneity, gender, sexuality, caste, and relations of labor. My “unlikely archive” (Lowe, 2015) of complicity consists of a wide array of legal, representational and cultural artifacts. Drawing upon Edward Said’s contrapuntal reading of texts, and Lisa Lowe’s methodology of paying attention to past conditional temporality, this study travels from analyzing lingering coloniality in a series of photographs titled An Indian from India by a contemporary South Asian artist to Bengal of 19th century where I study Neel Darpan, an anti-colonial protest play. In both these chapters, I show how anti-colonial resistance narratives can often replicate the logics of Empire and leave the very people who are the most marginalized subjects of history as subaltern, silent, and vestigial. My chapter on the figure of the wide circulation of the "Indian Queen" in 18th century Europe examines how she is formed at the nexus of race, coloniality, and capitalism but also understudied or suppressed histories of Europe's Crusades against its Muslim Other. This analysis places anti-Muslim sentiments of the Old World into a much- needed conversation with conquest of the New World. In my last chapter, I study "Indian Arrival Day" a national holiday in the Caribbean celebrating the first arrival of Indians as indentured laborers. This chapter adds to the growing scholarship that moves us away from binaries of free versus unfree or coercive labor and towards more complex readings of modern racialized division of labor.

Keywords: complicity
immigration
indentureship
race
settler colonialism
South Asians
Advisor: Tuck, Eve
The Public Good: Eugenics and Law in Ontario, 1910 to 1938

In the early twentieth century, interest in eugenics swept the world. Seen as a scientific solution to social ills of the day like prostitution, venereal disease and the supposed rise in “feeble-mindedness,” its principles were based on the notion that humanity could be improved through selective breeding, as was already being done with plants and animals. Many jurisdictions, including thirty American states as well as Alberta and British Columbia in Canada, implemented legislation which required certain “unfit” individuals to undergo reproductive sterilization. Others passed legislation requiring pre-marital certificates of medical “fitness.” Surprisingly, Ontario never followed suit. This has led to the assumption that “not too much” of a eugenic nature happened in that province. However, by investigating the relationship between eugenics and law using primary sources relatively unknown to historians of medicine, science and technology, I have found evidence of considerable eugenic activity in Ontario. This dissertation focusses on the period from 1910 to 1938 and three specific legal processes. First, I examine the story of Dr. Forbes Godfrey, MPP, who, between 1910 and 1921, introduced eight private members’ bills in the legislature, four to implement sterilization and four to implement marriage restrictions. All eight failed to pass. Second is the story of three Royal Commissions, established in 1917, 1929, 1938, which all recommended eugenic solutions to the problems they were set up to consider. Once again, none of their proposed eugenic solutions were adopted. Third is the story of industrialist A. R. Kaufman and the Parents’ Information Bureau he incorporated to promote birth control and sterilization. This work led to a 1936 criminal prosecution now known as the Eastview Trial in which the judge determined, partly because of an argument based explicitly on eugenic principles, that distributing birth control information and devices served the “public good.”

Keywords: birth control
eugenics
marriage restrictions
Ontario
public health
sterilization
Advisor: Krementsov, Nikolai
Ghostly Vengeance: Spiritual Pollution, Time, and Other Uncertainties in Acholi

This dissertation is an ethnography that describes problems of spiritual upset in northern Uganda, where the repercussions of recent war (1986—2008) intermingle with older legacies of colonial and post-colonial violence. Based on 14 months of fieldwork in the Gulu and Amuru Districts of the Acholi sub-region, it describes spiritual effects and affects in ordinary life, encompassed by what many Acholi people understand in the concept of “dirty things,” or ajwani. The pollution of ajwani manifests in phenomena such as cen (sometimes interpreted as ghostly vengeance), malevolent spirit possession, misfortune, premature death, and other uncanny problems with unclear or uncertain causes. The ethnography shows that while ajwani can be broadly understood as the manifestations of spiritual pollution caused by transgressions of a moral order, this order—or orders—is the site of myriad epistemic and ethical collisions. The thesis thus considers how transgression is variously understood in Acholi, and how ghostly vengeance and other dirty things act as contextual, contingent, and subjunctive phenomena through time. The work features interlocutors of varied religious orientations and social positions, and shows how they consider spirit forces to be subjunctive —be they living or dead, human or extra-human. It further suggests that the contingency of ghostly vengeance and other dirty things points to the ways in which the distress such phenomena cause, and the timely responses they demand, provoke and reflect immanent and imminent ethical challenges in Acholi. In so doing, the thesis contributes ethnographic exposition to the anthropological literatures on violence, ritual, social repair, and authority in post-war Acholi; haunting, religiosity and Christianity(ies); contemporary witchcraft and conspiracy; and ordinary ethics.

Advisor: Lambek, Michael
Sanders, Todd
International Law and Transboundary Fresh Water Resources: A Dispute Resolution Perspective

Transboundary fresh water resources are rapidly depleting while human dependency on them continues to grow, suggesting that disputes between states over such resources are increasingly likely to arise. Whereas the dominant focus in the literature is on preventing transboundary fresh water disputes, this thesis addresses the complementary need for effective resolution of such disputes if and when they do arise. Scholarship and practice tend to belittle the utility of international law principles and dispute resolution mechanisms in this context. After identifying possible extra-legal reasons for the limited role of international law in the resolution of transboundary fresh water disputes, the thesis turns to the possible legal reasons. It examines, first, the applicable principles of international water law and, second, the available dispute resolution mechanisms. Findings from an original database of transboundary fresh water disputes that arose between 1920 and 2017 around the world lead to a conceptual reassessment of the roles that the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization and no significant harm are conventionally understood to play. The thesis proposes a reformulation of these two principles, together with the duty to cooperate, that might better guide states in the resolution of transboundary fresh water disputes. The thesis then canvasses the types of dispute resolution mechanisms available to states, and argues that restoring an earlier form of arbitration as a quasi-diplomatic process would increase the appeal and potential effectiveness of this mechanism, given the unique character of transboundary fresh water disputes. Finally, the ongoing Nile River dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt is used to illustrate the difference that the proposed reforms might make in the resolution of this, and other, transboundary fresh water disputes.

Advisor: Knop, Karen
Molecular Mechanisms of Embryonic Wound Healing

Embryos have a striking ability to heal wounds rapidly and without scarring. Embryonic wound repair is a conserved process, driven by polarization of cell-cell junctions and the actomyosin cytoskeleton in the cells around the wound to coordinate cell movements. However, the mechanisms of junctional and cytoskeletal polarization during embryonic wound repair are unclear. To investigate the upstream signals that mediate cell polarization around wounds, I used quantitative in vivo microscopy in Drosophila embryos to show that the endocytic machinery localizes to the wound margin, in a process dependent on calcium and actomyosin contractility. Blocking endocytosis with pharmacological or genetic approaches disrupted wound repair, E- cadherin trafficking, and actomyosin polarization. E-cadherin overexpression also resulted in reduced actin accumulation around wounds and slower wound closure. Reducing E-cadherin levels in embryos in which endocytosis was blocked rescued actin localization to the wound margin. Together, these results demonstrate a central role for endocytosis in wound healing and indicate that polarized E-cadherin endocytosis is necessary for actomyosin remodeling during embryonic wound repair. I next identified reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a critical signal that promotes polarized junctional rearrangements around wounds in Drosophila and zebrafish embryos. Blocking ROS production significantly inhibited wound healing, and severely impaired junctional trafficking and actomyosin accumulation around the wound. ROS can post-translationally modify proteins by oxidizing electron-rich cysteine residues. The Drosophila ortholog of Src kinase, Src42A, contains several putative redox-sensitive cysteines, and has been implicated in E-cadherin trafficking during morphogenesis. I found that embryos mutant for Src42A[C471], a conserved cysteine that is oxidized in zebrafish leukocytes upon wounding, displayed impaired wound healing and myosin polarization, indicating that oxidation of Src42A[C471] is required for efficient tissue repair. Together, my results detail mechanisms by which polarization of junctions and the cytoskeleton are regulated during the coordinated cell movements that drive wound healing in vivo.

Advisor: Fernandez-Gonzalez, Rodrigo
Understanding access to HIV-related and gender-affirming healthcare for trans women with HIV in Canada: A mixed methods study

Background: Trans women living with HIV (WLWH) have lower access to HIV care compared to cisgender (cis) people living with HIV. US-based research describes barriers (e.g., trans stigma) and facilitators (e.g., integration of gender-affirming and HIV care) to HIV care engagement among trans WLWH. Scant research has explored factors associated with HIV or gender-affirming care access among trans WLWH in Canada. This three-paper dissertation aims to expand an intersectional and social ecological understanding of the experiences of trans WLWH in Canada accessing HIV, gender-affirming, and other types of healthcare. Methods: A transformative, convergent parallel, mixed methods design was used whereby quantitative and qualitative data were rigorously collected and analyzed, then purposefully merged. Quantitative data was drawn from baseline cross-sectional survey data collected 2013-2015 from the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS) (n=54 trans WLWH/n=1422 participants) and analyzed using descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses. In-depth semi-structured individual interviews (25-100 minutes) were conducted with a purposive sub-set of trans WLWH (n=11) 2017-2018 who completed the baseline CHIWOS survey, analyzed using framework analysis. Qualitative and quantitative results were merged by comparing data and considering how results converged, diverged, or expanded understanding. Inequities were highlighted and recommendations made, consistent with a transformative design. Results: Three empirically-based chapters report on: (1) the HIV care cascade and factors associated with HIV care cascade outcomes (ever accessed HIV care, received any HIV care in the past year, currently use antiretroviral treatment (ART), ART adherence, and virological suppression); (2) transition and gender-affirming healthcare experiences of trans WLWH; and (3) resilience and empowerment exhibited by trans WLWH as they navigate intersecting stigmas in healthcare settings. Conclusions: Findings suggest a need for multi-level interventions to address barriers to accessing care. Intersecting stigmas were a pervasive barrier to accessing multiple types of healthcare. Trans WLWH resist and reduce stigma in healthcare settings; however, widespread stigma-reduction training for providers, administrators, and students is recommended. These findings inform a trajectory of social work research, theory development, and practice at policy, organizational, and individual levels, all of which may further contribute to health equity for trans WLWH in Canada.

Keywords: gender affirmation
healthcare
HIV
stigma
transgender
Advisor: Newman, Peter A
Socioeconomic Inequalities in Distributions of Birth Outcomes: A Cross-National Comparative Study of Canada and the United States

Background: Despite well-established associations between entire distributions of birth outcomes (i.e., birth weight and gestational age) and health outcomes across the life course, the extant literature on socioeconomic inequalities has focused almost exclusively on examining inequalities in their high-risk range (i.e., low birth weight and preterm birth). Objective: To examine if, and why, socioeconomic inequalities in low birth weight and preterm birth extend to inequalities over the entire distributions of birth weight and gestational age, in Canada and its peer nations. Methods and aims: A scoping review was conducted to understand how researchers have conceptualized and analyzed social inequalities in distributions of birth outcomes (Aim 1). Data from the U.S. 2006 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) (N=892,635) were used to measure and explain socioeconomic inequalities across distributions of birth outcomes (Aim 2). Harmonized data from the 2006 U.S. PRAMS and the 2006 Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey (MES) (N=61,230) were used to examine whether socioeconomic inequalities in distributions of birth weight and gestational age vary between two comparable countries, Canada and the United States. Results: This dissertation uncovered the presence of socioeconomic inequalities not only in low birth weight and preterm birth, but also over the entire distributions of birth weight and gestational age. Compared to the United States, Canada was characterized by more favourable birth-outcome distributions (i.e., a greater proportion of infants weighing between 2500 and 4000 grams and born between 37 and 41 weeks of gestation), both for the full populations and between similar socioeconomic groups. Observed individual level characteristics could not fully explain cross-national disparities, pointing to the explanatory power of unobserved (and perhaps structural) factors. Conclusions: Applying a distributional lens to investigate health inequalities within and between societies provides further insights regarding the population-level scope of the problem of health inequalities. Socioeconomic inequalities are present over the entire birth outcome distributions, which have implications both for clinical guidelines and population health prevention strategies.

Advisor: Siddiqi, Arjumand
Leibniz and the Principle of Sufficient Reason

Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason (PSR) is the claim that everything has an explanation. It rules out brute facts, inexplicable primitives, and purely random events. On the usual view, Leibniz grounds the PSR in purely descriptive truths. On my view, Leibniz grounds the PSR in this being the best of all possible worlds. God only creates the best, and a world in which the PSR is true is better than a world in which it is false. For the PSR ensures that the world has an explanatory structure, the investigation of which facilitates human happiness. This way of grounding the PSR faces at least two problems. The first problem is that it presupposes that the PSR is a contingent principle, even though most commentators take it to be necessary. But I argue that Leibniz is indeed committed to the contingency of the PSR. I demonstrate this by showing how, for Leibniz, PSR-violating entities such as vacua, atoms, and indiscernible bodies are possible but not actual. I also argue that the contingency of the PSR does not conflict with Leibniz’s other modal commitments. In particular, it does not conflict with the modal status of his principle of the identity of indiscernibles, nor with the modal status of his theory of truth. The second problem is that this way of grounding the PSR seems to be circular. For the PSR cannot be partially grounded in God’s choice of the best if God’s choice of the best is itself grounded in the PSR. I argue that Leibniz avoids this problem by grounding God’s choice of the best not in the PSR, but in God’s aim to maintain his own happiness. A suboptimal world would compromise God’s happiness, so he only creates the best. This constitutes a novel interpretation of Leibniz’s view that God has created the best of all possible worlds.

Keywords: Best of all possible worlds
Leibniz
Principle of sufficient reason
PSR
Advisor: Rozemond, Marleen
The Nonsovereign Subject and Sexual Violence in Contemporary North American and Russian Culture

Through stories about sexual violence, societies confront the condition of nonsovereignty that underlies the reality of suffering, self- and other-inflicted, in the lives of sexed beings. Analyzing theoretical, fictional, and popular media texts, written in the United States, Canada, and Russia from the 1980s to the 2010s, this dissertation formulates a structural approach to narratives about sexual violence and nonsovereignty. This approach avoids naturalizing the opposition between the “progressive” West and “traditional” Russia, enabling more informed discussions of cultural narratives about sexual violence and a more critical use of the discursive tools available for dealing with it. I identify three modes of approaching the problem of sexual violence: reparative, radical and prosaic. These modes shape subject positions and patterns of power relations. Each chapter analyzes the structure of a particular mode, its manifestations in cultural myths and in specific texts, and ultimately, its limitations. Chapter 1 discusses the reparative mode, which aims to heal the subject or the world, and its manifestations: the Western speakout model in Sapphire’s Push (1996) and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak (1999), and the Russian ideal of kenosis in Viktor Astafiev’s “Lyudochka” (1989) and Guzel Yakhina’s Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes (2015). Reparative projects can be totalizing and easily appropriated by neoliberalism and conservative nationalism. The radical mode, discussed in Chapter 2, seeks to avoid appropriation by foregrounding identification with trauma. I analyze its manifestations in North American discourses of feminist and queer negativity and the Russian “literature of evil.” Reading Kate Zambreno’s Green Girl (2011) and Vladimir Sorokin’s Marina’s Thirtieth Love (1987), I argue that the radical mode reinscribes abjection as a source of empowerment and supports identity politics and structures of inequality. Chapter 3 formulates the prosaic mode, which focuses on processes of adaptation and survival without resolution or liberation. Reading Lyudmila Petrushevskaya’s The Time: Night (1992) and Tamara Faith Berger’s Maidenhead (2012), I articulate a prosaic vision of the subject as headquarters for self-maintenance in a world both sustaining and hostile. Understanding the three modes as at once fundamental and mutable, I argue for their critical and pragmatic use in debates about sexual violence.

Keywords: feminism
negativity
psychoanalysis
queer theory
sexual violence
trauma
Advisor: Jagoe, Eva-Lynn