VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A Critique of School Board Selection Practices and the Under-representation of Racialized Educators in the Principalship

Abstract School leaders are “ultimately responsible for how well students are doing and the extent to which achievement is improving” (Ontario. Ministry of Education, 2012b, p. 2). With changing demographics leading to an increased population of racialized stakeholders, schools must be responsive to the diverse needs of students and ensure equity of outcomes. This qualitative study identified factors contributing to continued under-representation of racialized educators in formal school leadership roles. Interview data collected from senior level personnel of three Greater Toronto Area (GTA) school boards was used to consider the question: How might current school board selection, identification, and subsequent hiring practices contribute to the under-representation of racialized school principals? This research utilizes anti-racism and critical race theories and Whiteness studies as conceptual frames for analysis. The twelve participants who were identified by their respective school board and/or colleagues, articulated their understanding of their district’s recruitment, identification and selection process for school leadership. Participants also shared their perceptions regarding the outcomes and/or patterns of under-represented racialized educators promoted into the principalship for their board. An analysis of the responses and an in-depth review of the literature uncovered prevailing dominant conceptualizations of leadership, derived from mainstream educational leadership scholarship. Problematically, the unique knowledges, perspectives, and lived experiences of racialized educators are siloed in the educational leadership scholarship and excluded from the mainstream literature used to identify and select school leaders. These findings have significant implications for who and how school leaders are selected, given that leaders who demonstrate Equity-based leadership models have particular competencies and skills that include identifying and removing barriers for marginalized students. Understanding the relationship between hiring and the under-representation of racialized educators in the cadre of school leaders is imperative, given Ministry mandates to close achievement gaps. This research contributes to greater understanding of the ways social identities can be determinants of advancement within systems of education that reflect an absence of marginalized identities within the ranks of school leadership.

Keywords: educational leadership
principal selection
racism
school leadership
whiteness
Advisor: Dei, George S
Spatializing Modernity: Colonial Contexts of Urban Space in Modern Japanese Literature

This dissertation examines representations of modern urban space in the literary works of Meiji and Taishō writers such as Natsume Sōseki, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, and Akutagawa Ryūnosuke. This project took its initial inspiration from Karatani Kōjin’s and Komori Yōichi’s historically grounded approach to literary criticism; it is thus similarly historical in its uncovering of prose fiction, travelogues, and essays. Drawing on the work of Seiji Lippit, which links the spatial narrative to the construction of Japan’s imperial subject, the present study investigates how these texts not only represent urban space as symbolic of Japan’s ‘colonial modernity,’ but actively construct and legitimize it. This dissertation contributes to a recent surge in scholarship connecting Japanese colonialism and modernity, and seeks to contextualize the formation of Japan’s modern urban space within its colonial history. In each of the four chapters, a different kind of spatial power relation will be read against its formative historical backdrop, beginning with the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) and concluding with Japan’s 1931 invasion of Manchuria. Chapter 1 and 2 respectively examine the implications of power in constructs of metropole/colony and urban/rural. Chapter 3 analyzes the train as a space in which various power relations are condensed and compacted, and Chapter 4 engages in a discussion on the discursive space of modern hygiene. By revealing how these particular spatial power relations construct and reinscribe a singular Eurocentric narrative, and by exploring how the heterogeneity of spaces represented in these texts overthrows such homogenizing concepts, I will denaturalize and destabilize seemingly self-evident ideas that gave rise to the spatial power structures which undergird the formation of a homogeneous (Western/Japanese) modernity.

Keywords: Colonial Space
Japanese Literature
Japanese Modernity
National Identity
Urban Sapce
Advisor: Sakaki, Atsuko
Understanding the Link between Dairy Foods and Type 2 Diabetes: An Investigation Using Dairy Fatty Acid Biomarkers

Increasing evidence points to an inverse association between dairy intake and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) risk, however results from studies relying on self-reported questionnaires to assess dairy intake have been inconsistent and few have looked at dairy’s effect on T2DM’s underlying disorders, namely insulin sensitivity and β-cell dysfunction. Dairy (non low-fat options) contains high amounts of saturated (SFA) and naturally occurring trans fatty acids (TFA), yet recent studies suggest that different types of SFA and TFA have different metabolic effects, with dairy-derived fatty acids potentially being protective. Nonetheless, there are limited data on dairy fatty acids’ impact on the underlying pathophysiology of T2DM. In my doctoral research I (1) measured baseline dairy fatty acids 15:0, t16:1n9, c9,t11 CLA, and t18:1n11 in the 4 serum FA pools [phospholipid (PL), cholesteryl ester (CE), triglyceride (TG), and non-esterified (NEFA)], and identified factors that modify their distribution across serum pools; (2) evaluated longitudinal associations of dairy fatty acids with insulin sensitivity and β-cell function over 6 years; and (3) applied statistical methods for combining biomarker and self-reported dietary intake data to evaluate associations of dairy intake on 6yr incident dysglycemia prediction. Data from 444 adults at high risk for T2DM were analyzed. Insulin sensitivity and β-cell dysfunction were calculated from 75g oral glucose tolerance tests. Study 1 showed that proportions of dairy fatty acids differ by pool. Dairy intake was associated with PL and CE fatty acids, while higher circulating TG fatty acids were markers of dysmetabolism. In study 2, PL and CE fatty acids were positively associated insulin sensitivity and β-cell dysfunction longitudinally, while TG fatty acids were negatively associated. Study 3 demonstrated that in models with multiple biomarkers, principal components analysis combining dietary and biomarkers discriminated dysglycemia status better than individual measures alone. Overall, these results highlight the complex distribution of dairy fatty acids in serum and the heterogeneity of their associations with T2DM pathogenesis.

Keywords: cohort
dairy
fatty acids
nutrition
saturated fat
trans fat
Advisor: Hanley, Anthony J
Bazinet, Richard P
Resolving Pulsar Emission with Cosmic Microscopes

Radio emission from many pulsars exhibits scintillation - an interference pattern in frequency and time, caused by light travelling through the ionized interstellar medium via multiple paths, separated by tens of astronomical units. If one were able to trace back these paths, one would effectively be able to observe the pulsar from slightly different angles, thus forming a very high angular resolution image of the pulsar. The resolution increases as the scattering region is located closer to the source, similar to a microscope. In this thesis, I aim to measure the emission using two such “microscopes”: the Black Widow pulsar, whose binary companion has an ionized outflow, and the Crab pulsar, which is embedded in a young supernova remnant. I develop a new way to directly measure the impulse response function of a scattering screen, through bright, impulsive pulses. This is used to coherently remove the effects of scintillation in the Black Widow pulsar, revealing intrinsic emission two orders of magnitude shorter than the scattering time. I study the interstellar scattering screen of the Black Widow using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), revealing the scintillation to be governed by a single, highly anisotropic screen. The same VLBI data is used to study the radio eclipse of the black widow pulsar, as it is occulted by its companion’s outflow. At 327 MHz, the pulsar is eclipsed in continuum, lending further evidence that the eclipse is caused by absorption, and not through time smearing of pulses. Near the radio eclipse, I discovered highly magnified pulses, boosted by factors of up to 70 at specific frequencies. The eclipsing material from the companion is acting like a lens, and the strongest events clearly resolve the emission regions, affecting the narrow main pulse and parts of the wider interpulse differently. Finally, I study the scintillation of giant pulses in the Crab pulsar. The dominant scattering screen is within the Crab nebula itself, resulting in spatial resolution of order the size of the light cylinder. The spectra of giant pulses correlate at ∼ 5%, implying the giant pulse emission region is resolved, and there is tentative evidence that the scintillation patterns of the main pulse and interpulse are offset in time, which would imply a physical separation of order the light cylinder radius.

Keywords: ISM
Pulsars
Radio Astronomy
VLBI
Advisor: van Kerkwijk, Marten
Pen, Ue-Li
Growing Land, Growing Law: Race, Urban Politics, and the Governance of Vacant Land in Boston from 1950

Drawing on archival research, document analysis, stakeholder interviews, and ethnographic work, this study takes an historical approach to analyze the governance of vacant land in the era of neoliberal urban governance in Boston. Previous academic and bureaucratic scholarship has established a well-worn narrative about vacant land as a critical urban problem and the importance of municipal interventions to return it to its “highest and best use.” This study investigates the physical production and ideological construction of vacant land located primarily in several historically low income racialized neighbourhoods in Boston, as well as two programmatic fixes designed by the municipality to address it: community gardening in the 1970s, and urban farming beginning around 2010. In this thesis, I contend that the identification of land as vacant is a social and administrative process that signals vacancy as an object of governance constructed alongside ideologies of the “waste” of racialized populations and their spaces. Vacancy extends the power of “blight” used to justify eminent domain takings of racialized neighbourhoods under urban renewal, while simultaneously fitting the conditions of urban development under neoliberalism and seeming, like other tools of urban planning, impartial to race. I argue that constructing vacant land in racialized neighbourhoods as an urban problem actuates particular kinds of neoliberal governance assemblages designed to yield its “highest and best use,” and to govern racialized populations via the rollout of seemingly community-friendly programmatic fixes. By analyzing the role of vacant land in racialized neighbourhoods as a tool used to ensure the productive capacity of land in the capitalist city, this study offers significant insights into the relationship between race and uneven urban development. This study also contributes to knowledge about urban governance by analyzing the workings of an important tool through which the heavy-handed power of the municipality, derided under neoliberalism, is both constructed and justified.

Keywords: Race
Urban governance
Vacant land management
Advisor: Valverde, Mariana
A True-Triaxial Laboratory Seismic Velocity Experiment Under In Situ Stress Conditions: A Comparison With In Situ 3D Stress and Velocity

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a greater understanding of borehole perturbation on the in situ 3D stress field, including observations of the stress field made from a borehole, with a specific focus on seismic velocity surveys. Commonly overlooked concepts of material anisotropy, nonlinear elastic constants, and the effects of σ2 on rock failure are investigated in the laboratory and are subsequently applied to field data. Beginning with an isotropic mine possessing a known 3D velocity structure and in situ stress field of the unexcavated rock mass, an elastic true-triaxial test is used to replicate the in situ stress path of a rock sample from a tunnel designed to maximize excavation damage. Velocity surveys were conducted along the tunnel roof and sidewalls with calibrated sensors and are comparable to laboratory frequencies. However, tensile stresses present in the tunnel sidewall are not replicated during this experiment, therefore acoustoelastic theory is used to describe some of the nonlinearity of the in situ sidewall velocities. In situ P-wave velocities are reproduced experimentally within the associated uncertainties. Another true-triaxial test is performed replicating the stress path of a rock sample located in the tunnel’s roof. Identifying which stress magnitudes and ratios result in significant acoustic emission while focusing on the experimentally elusive σ2. Seismic velocity surveys along all three axes and polarizations are taken at every significant stress path step, giving insight into the influence of crack density and orientation on seismic surveys. These results are then applied to borehole breakouts for interpretation of 3D stress in an anisotropic environment. Using televiewer breakout data, unconfined compression strengths (UCS) and velocities from hydrostatic triaxial experiments on core samples from two boreholes in a deep mine. Additionally, an analytical solution for borehole stress concentrations produced in Python is used to perform a study on the effects of pivotal borehole parameters such as inclination, deviation, and material anisotropy. The results prove the commonly used isotropic assumption is incorrect, and considering material anisotropy, in addition to the role of axial (σ2) stresses, explains breakouts seen along highly anisotropic heterogeneous boreholes.

Keywords: 3D Stress Measurements
Borehole Geophysics
Experimental Laboratory Seismology
Seismic Velocities
Space Mining
True-triaxial Stress
Advisor: Young, R. Paul
Milkereit, Bernd
Inference of Computational Models of Alternative Polyadenylation and Splicing

Instructions from the genome are first copied to make messenger RNAs, which are then translated to make proteins. To expand the repertoire of these instructions, cells can modify the messenger RNAs in different ways. Two such modifications are alternative polyadenylation and alternative splicing. Using RNA-Seq data and deep learning, we trained computational models that can be applied to sequences in the genome to predict tissue-specific polyadenylation and splicing patterns. Presented with multiple alternative polyadenylation sites, the polyadenylation model can predict the probability each site would be selected for cleavage and polyadenylation. Similarly, given alternative exons, the splicing model can predict which exon would more likely be included. The performance of these models in predicting polyadenylation and splicing patterns for genomic regions not observed during training is evaluated, and an analysis of what the models have learned reveals sequence elements that are known to influence these cellular processes. Importantly, these computational models are trained on genome-wide patterns based on the reference genome but can generalize to individual variations. Each model can thus be viewed as a simulator, where the genotype of an individual can be fed in as an input, and the output describes how the individual's mutations affect the mechanisms of polyadenylation and splicing in different tissue types. The relevance of these models for problems in genomic medicine is described, and proof-of-concept applications are demonstrated.

Keywords: computational biology
deep learning
genomic medicine
machine learning
polyadenylation
splicing
Advisor: Frey, Brendan J
Personality, Incorporated: Psychological Capital in American Management, 1960-1995

Personality, Incorporated traces the history of personality testing in American corporate management from 1960 to 1995. Through three case studies, this dissertation takes up the twinned history of psychological techniques, as deployed by a cadre of “consulting psychologists,” and the psychological capacities conjured by these techniques. Personality, Incorporated make two core arguments. First, it argues that personality tests aimed to incite and channel employees’ psychological capacities as forms of economic value. Psychological tests did not simply measure static traits, but they also actively elicited and mobilized affects, subjectivities, and differences, that they then harnessed for corporate value production. Second, this dissertation argues that late twentieth-century corporations were not just sites for the application and circulation of psychological knowledge, but they also served as important experimental laboratories for investigating human’s interpersonal, emotional, and cognitive capacities. A core contribution of this dissertation is to identify, investigate, and interrogate the specific form of value mobilized at this intersection of personality tests and management practices: “psychological capital. As an analytic category, psychological capital names how human beings’ psychological capacities are enlisted into circuits of economic value, with the aid of psychological techniques that can measure and incite these capacities. Psychological capital circulates as an intangible yet nonetheless measurable form of capital that was made visible, measurable, and valuable through psychological techniques of personality testing and training amidst economic, social, and cultural changes of the knowledge economy. This dissertation offers a new way to think about psychological tests: as tools designed to mobilize and channel psychological capacities, to elicit and cultivate the very characteristics that they purported to measure. In weaving together histories of psychology, science and corporate capitalism with critical scholarship on affect and value, this dissertation excavates how psychological tests have become corporate techniques that shape contemporary selfhood.

Keywords: Business History
Critical Management Studies
History of Capitalism
History of Psychology
Personality Testing
Science and Technology Studies
Advisor: Murphy, Michelle
Brown, Elspeth H.
Novel Insights in Ankylosing Spondylitis Biology: Mouse and Human Studies

Little is known about the mechanisms underlying the clinical overlap of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). There is also a lack of reliable serological biomarkers to guide AS management. AS is a complex, male-dominant disease with HLA-B27 being the strongest genetic association. The ank/ank mouse is a murine model with serological and pathological features similar to human AS. Lipocalin 2 (murine Lcn2/human LCN2) is a secreted anti-microbial glycoprotein produced in multiple tissues including joint and gut. Given the functions of lipocalin 2 in infection, inflammation and bone remodeling, our aim is to assess whether lipocalin 2 is a key mediator of the gut-joint axis in AS and whether it would serve a better marker for treatment outcomes. The association of LCN2 with HLA-B27 and sex in patients is also analyzed. Chapter 2 shows that aberrant levels of Lcn2 are associated with ankylosis and gut pathology in ank/ank mice, indicating a potential mechanism underlying the overlap of AS and IBD. The interplay of gut inflammation and ankylosis in contributing to elevated Lcn2 levels suggests that the ank/ank mouse is a relevant animal model for the gut-joint interactions, as seen in AS. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) plays a role in aberrant Lcn2 pathway in this AS model. Chapter 3 confirms the elevation of serum LCN2 in AS patients. Levels of LCN2 are associated with coexisting IBD and with the degree of ankylosis. The relationship of HLA-B27 positivity and sex with LCN2 implicates a host-microbe interaction underlying the gut-joint axis in AS. Chapter 4 demonstrates that normalization of LCN2 could be viewed as a treatment target in AS. Serum LCN2 served a more sensitive biomarker for treatment outcome in 89% of AS patients. HLA-B27 status and sex does affect LCN2 as a readout for assessing treatment outcome. The discovery of aberrant Lcn2/LCN2 reveals a relevant mechanism underlying the gut-joint axis in AS. The effect of PPARγ on aberrant Lcn2 pathway sheds lights on novel therapeutic targets for the disease. More knowledge of the dysregulation of Lcn2/LCN2 pathways will contribute to better AS management and more effective treatment strategies.

Keywords: ank/ank mouse
Ankylosing Spondylitis
lipocalin 2
treatment outcome
Advisor: Inman, Robert D
Exploring the Contribution of Vitamin D and Periodontitis on Glycemic Outcomes

Type 2 diabetes is an important public health problem. Though there are various known risk factors, much of the disease etiology is largely unexplained. Vitamin D insufficiency and periodontitis are independently associated with diabetes, and both amenable to therapeutic action. Periodontitis is pro-inflammatory response to oral microbiota resulting from the accumulation of plaque. Vitamin D is shown to have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, and may possibly influence periodontitis. But the mechanism of how serum vitamin D and periodontitis function together is unclear. The overall goal of this dissertation is to assess the effect of serum vitamin D and periodontitis on dysglycemia. This dissertation consists of three manuscripts each addressing key research gaps through advanced analytical techniques and using diverse data sources. The first manuscript was a systematic review of randomized controlled trials assessing the effect of oral vitamin D supplementing on inflammatory and glycemic markers among adults with overweight/obesity, a group at risk for obesity-induced inflammation, and related outcomes such as insulin resistance and diabetes. The second manuscript examined joint effects of serum vitamin D insufficiency and periodontitis on insulin resistance, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes using data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The results from this cross-sectional study showed synergistic joint effects between vitamin D3 insufficiency and periodontitis on diabetes. This supported the rationale for the final manuscript, which used causal mediation analysis techniques to decompose total effects into natural direct and direct effects. The final study investigated the mediating role of periodontitis in the association between serum vitamin D3 insufficiency and follow-up fasting plasma glucose using data from the Oral Infections, Glucose Intolerance and Insulin Resistance Study, a longitudinal cohort. In conclusion, these studies are the first to assess joint effects and causal mechanisms between vitamin D insufficiency, periodontitis and glycaemia.

Advisor: Rosella, Laura C