VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Measuring Post-Secondary Student Resilience Through the Child & Youth Resilience Measure and the Brief Resilience Scale

This thesis examines how the Child Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) measure post-secondary student resilience as viewed by the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada, which breaks down resilience into competence domains and adaptive resources. Cognitive interviews were conducted to assess item comprehension, with some items causing confusion with students. The two scales were administered in a survey instrument for a sample of 87 second- and third-year undergraduate students. Internal consistency reliability is high for both the CYRM-12 (Cronbachâ s alpha = .82) and the BRS (Cronbachâ s alpha = .83). Exploratory Factor Analysis yielded a 3-factor solution for the CYRM-12 representing family, friends and community, and a 1-factor solution for the BRS representing the ability to recover from stress. Scores from both scales indicate strengths in motivation and achievement orientation with more variability in familial relations and community belongingness. Limitations include a low response rate.

Keywords: Assessment
Mental health
Post-secondary
Resilience
Stress coping
Wellbeing
Advisor: Childs, Ruth
Minihumps: Characterizing a Coastal British Columbia Kokanee Population Recently Derived due to Anthropogenic Environmental Change

Sockeye Salmon have high levels of intraspecific diversity exhibiting multiple life histories and forms that allow it to make use of diverse and dynamic environments. Kokanee is the freshwater resident form of Sockeye Salmon. The Mini Hump Creek kokanee population, which inhabits a coastal lake in British Columbia, shares morphological features similar to the unique Black kokanee ecotype found in three populations from Japan and British Columbia. Unlike black kokanee, Mini Hump Creek kokanee spawn in shallow creeks. The evolution of the Mini Hump kokanee life history and morphological traits are potentially a response to environmental changes including water level changes and barriers to migration, which originated with logging and dam building in the 20th century. Genetic analysis using microsatellites confirms that the population clusters with other coastal kokanee in British Columbia, yet is genetically distinct from the coastal kokanee populations and is independent from other black kokanee populations.

Keywords: environment
evolution
kokanee
residual
salmon
Sockeye
Advisor: Krkosek, Martin
Simultaneous Execution of Multiple Radar Tasks using OFDMA

We develop the notion of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) to enable a radar to execute multiple tasks simultaneously. OFDMA, like the betterknown orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) radar, encodes information on subcarriers in the frequency domain. However, in an OFDMA-based radar, the information can correspond to independent tasks to be executed simultaneously; of specific interest here, as proof of concept, is to partition the OFDMA subcarriers to detect two targets simultaneously. Designing a broadband OFDMA signal is an efficient and resourceful way to achieve this, since, as we propose, the frequency domain information for each subcarrier can correspond to each task. Applied to a high-frequency surface wave radar, in presence of a realistic ocean clutter, our results show that the OFDMA framework allows us to combine adaptive transmit beampatterns with task execution. We also develop a subcarrier allocation scheme to maximize the probability of detection.

Keywords: High Frequency Surface Wave Radar
Ocean Clutter
OFDM
OFDMA
Radar
Signal Processing
Advisor: Adve, Raviraj S
To Conform or Innovate: Organizational Life Cycle of Independent Religious Schools in the Greater Toronto Area

This thesis presents the argument that private religious schools in Toronto experience competing forces of isomorphism (from their status as schools in a highly institutionalized setting) and innovation (from their position as a business in an open market environment). Assuming multiple roles as a business, non-profit, and educational institution augments the pressure they experience and forces them to search for strategies to manage the additional strain caused by conflicting forces. This mixed methods study captures interview data from senior leadership in 20 independent religious schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Findings conclude that schools follow an S-curve on an Organizational Life Cycle, which measures a schoolâ s level of establishment or legitimacy. Furthermore, schools in the study faced competing forces (or logics) of education, religion, financial sustainability, and community. Through an institutional entrepreneurship approach, schools strategically selected their location, identity, leadership, policies, social networks and new practices to improve organizational longevity.

Keywords: institutional entrepreneurship
institutional isomorphism
market innovation
organizational life cycle
private independent schools
religious faith-based
Advisor: Davies, Scott
Monsters and Machines: Reframing Horror Video Games through Representations of Technology

Horror video games are an important site for technological examination. This thesis will explore the specific conjunction between the information medium of video game technology (within the game) and the cultural phenomenon of the representation of technology predicated in games. This thesis will discuss the nature of information dissemination mediated by technology, in relation to both monster and player, in horror video games. Using a qualitative methodological approach from Mia Consalvo and Nathan Dutton, combined with my contribution of understanding horror (power, networks, sensation), this thesis will discuss the perception technology encourages once inundated in horror games. Through this perspective, the significance of technology in horror games contributes to overarching Western cultural ideologies concerning the role of technology. Four games will be discussed as examples; these games will elucidate the relationship between technology, the monster, and the player as a mediated and carefully curated connection.

Keywords: Horror
Ideology
Mediated
Representation
Technology
Video Games
Advisor: McArthur, Victoria
Sara, Grimes
Assessment of Serum MicroRNA Biomarkers for Differentiating Between Indolent and Aggressive Prostate Cancer in Active Surveillance Patients

A significant portion prostate cancer (PCa) patients on active surveillance (AS) eventually reclassifies to a higher risk-status due to occult, aggressive tumours or rapid disease progression. Reclassified patients receive delayed treatment, while patients with indolent PCa are subjected to unnecessary and invasive AS procedures. We assessed nine candidate serum microRNAs in two AS cohorts for prediction of patient reclassification. A â 3-miR scoreâ (miR-223, -24, -374) was significant for predicting reclassification (training OR 2.271, 95% CI 1.499-4.939; validation OR 5.512, 95% CI 1.502-20.229) and was independent of clinical markers in multivariable models. A 3-miR score + prostate-specific antigen (PSA) cutoff derived from the training cohort achieved an excellent negative predictive value of 89% and specificity of 81% in the validation cohort. The 3-miR score may be used in concert with PSA as a non-invasive biomarker panel to identify patients who can be safely monitored with a less intensive AS protocol.

Keywords: active surveillance
biomarker
microRNA
non-invasive
prostate cancer
Advisor: Bapat, Bharati
Examining Social Support among Elite Female Athletes and their Main Support Providers

Given the potential negative and positive outcomes associated with providing support, and the lack of research on the provision of support to elite female athletes, the purpose of this study was to explore the experience of providing and receiving support between five female Olympic athletes and their main support providers prior to, during, and after the Olympic Games. Five female Olympic athletes and each of their main support providers participated in one semi-structured interview. The results pertained to the purpose and types of support, the process of support provision, the outcomes of support, and the impact of organizational structures on support provision. The results of this study indicated that female Olympians rely heavily on their support provider for various types of support and suggested that while there are challenges associated with acting as an athleteâ s main support provider, there are benefits that can be derived from the provision of support.

Keywords: Elite Athlete
Female Athlete
Interviews
Qualitative
Social Support
Support Provision
Advisor: Tamminen, Katherine A
Adiposity, Aerobic Fitness and Depressive Symptomology in Children at Risk for Obesity

Elevated levels of adiposity in children have been tied to various pathologies including increased depressive symptomology. Aerobic fitness has been associated with reductions in adiposity and depressive symptomology and may moderate the association between these variables. This study examined this association. Five hundred and two children completed questionnaires on depressive symptoms, were tested for VO2 Peak , and underwent a DEXA scan to measure adiposity. Adiposity and aerobic fitness were tested as predictors of depressive symptomology while controlling for age, pubertal status and socioeconomic status. For boys, aerobic fitness but not adiposity was a significant correlate of depressive symptomology. The interaction between adiposity and aerobic fitness was significant. In girls, adiposity but not aerobic fitness was a significant correlate of depressive symptomology. The interaction between adiposity and aerobic fitness was not significant. These findings highlight sex-specific factors, which may inform targeted approaches to prevent and treat depressive symptoms in children.

Keywords: Adiposity
Children
Depression
Fitness
Advisor: Sabiston, Catherine M
Coaches' Interpersonal Emotion Regulation and the Coach-Athlete Relationship

There is evidence to suggest that athletes use self-regulation and interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) strategies to improve performance and relationships (Tamminen Crocker, 2013); however, there is little research examining coaches’ use of IER and how this is connected to the coach-athlete relationship. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore coaches’ attempts to regulate their athletes’ emotions within the context of the coach-athlete relationship. Using a longitudinal multiple case study approach (Stake, 1995), participants included three cases each consisting of one male coach and two female athletes (total N = 9) from individual varsity sports. Coaches and athletes participated in individual interviews, a two-week audio diary period, and a follow-up interview. Athletes’ and coaches’ emotion regulation strategies were analyzed using Gross’ (1998) process model of emotion regulation: situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. There were commonalities in the ways that participants perceived coaches used IER to regulate athletes’ emotions. With respect to the coach-athlete relationship (Jowett Meek, 2000), participants indicated that the quality of the relationship both influenced and was influenced by coaches’ attempts at IER with their athletes. A conceptual model outlining athletes’ emotions and emotion regulation, coaches’ IER, the coach-athlete relationship, and contextual factors was developed.

Keywords: Coach-athlete relationship
Coaching
Emotion regulation
Emotions
Interpersonal emotion regulation
Sport
Advisor: Tamminen, Katherine
Sport and Mental Health: Wavering Between Resilience and Vulnerability

When sport participation reaches competitive levels it can become entangled with stressors such as injury, performance pressures, and vulnerabilities including developing a strong athletic identity that may influence athletesâ experiences with mental illness. A life history methodology was used to explore an elite university athleteâ s experience with an adjustment disorder with mixed moods of depression and anxiety. Seven interviews were conducted and a dialogical narrative analysis was used. The participant developed a strong athletic identity during her sport career which, coupled with a damaging interpersonal relationship, contributed to a period of mental health challenges post-retirement from sport and graduation from university. The findings from this study lead us to question whether the significant support and special access to services provided to university sports stars potentially leaves such individuals vulnerable to feelings of isolation and helplessness once outside the university-athlete bubble and contribute to challenging transitions out of sport.

Keywords: adjustment disorder
athlete
elite sport
mental health issues
sport retirement
university sport
Advisor: Kerr, Gretchen
Not Just Roleplay: How Rules Shape Identity Exploration and Community Creation in LARP and Tabletop Games

Earlier research has shown that players use roleplaying in a number of contexts to explore identity, identity performance, and to better understand their personal interactions. One place this comes into play is in games where players play the role of a character other than themselves. This thesis looks specifically at analog games and examines the way that game rules shape playersâ ability to explore identity and social interaction through the game. I argue that game rules in these games help determine what questions players ask themselves and what kinds of interaction they explore. To better understand these types of games I look at the rules of a specific LARP, Dystopia Rising, and a specific tabletop game, Shadowrun, in detail in order to better understand how these rules have the potential to shape players exploration of identity and interaction.

Keywords: Community
Game
Identity
Identity Performance
LARP
Roleplay
Advisor: McArthur, Victoria
A Moderate In Vivo Lengthening Contraction Protocol Caused Muscle Damage in Mdx Mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a severe muscle wasting disease caused by the failure to produce dystrophin. Dystrophic mdx and healthy C57 mice (n=5/group/time point) were subject to 15 stimulated, in vivo lengthening contractions and examined following 0, 3, or 24 hours to determine if the severe dystrophic response to exercise could be reproduced with a moderate volume of contractions. As expected, the mdx mice exhibited greater force loss (p

Keywords: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Heat Shock Proteins
Lengthening Contractions
Skeletal Muscle
Advisor: Locke, Marius
The Everyday Evaluations of Public Participation by Urban Planners

Public participation evaluation research has identified a need for better tools to evaluate the effectiveness of this complex practice. Despite many theory-based evaluation approaches having been developed for public participation, practitioners are unlikely to incorporate structured evaluation into their work. By describing the informal and/or tacit judgements that urban planners make to improve their practice of public participation, this study seeks to understand what evaluation tools practitioners might actually use in their practice. Planners make tacit judgements of their practice of public participation, which have greater evaluation utility to them than structured theory-based techniques. Focus on tacit, unstructured judgements is a potential strategy for public participation research to have greater realisations in practice.

Keywords: evaluation
public participation
urban planning
Advisor: Klenk, Nicole
Characterization of Experimental Influenza Virus-Laden Bioaerosols and Aerosols of Respiratory Origin During Aerosol-Generating Medical Procedures

The characterization of infectious bioaerosols is required to identify related determinants of transmission by the respiratory route. The detection and quantification of influenza virus-laden bioaerosols remains a significant challenge in clinical and field settings. Additionally, medical procedures with the potential to generate aerosols may increase the risk of infection for healthcare workers. However, the characteristics and determinants of aerosol production, during potential aerosol generating procedures including intubation and bronchoscopy, remain poorly characterized. Here we assess performance characteristics of four commonly-used bioaerosol samplers for the collection of influenza A virus strains. We also quantify aerosol generation during experimental pig intubations and elective patient bronchoscopies. We show that low-volume filter and cyclone bioaerosol samplers perform best for both the collection of RNA and viable virus under varying environmental conditions. We also detect a non-significant increase in submicron aerosol particles during bronchoscopy and recover oral bacteria from the air during pig intubations.

Advisor: Mubareka, Samira
Overwintering Ecology of Head-started Blandingâ s Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in an Artificial Wetland Complex

The Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii), a species at risk, is expected to become extirpated in urban environments without anthropogenic mitigation. Rouge National Urban Park, along with the Toronto Zoo, is working to create wetland habitat, and is supplementing the existing population with head-starts; turtles raised for two years at the Zoo then released into the wild. The selection and availability of appropriate overwintering sites can minimize turtle mortality. This research examined environmental conditions influencing site selection by head-starts in an artificial wetland complex, 2014-2017. Temperature was determined to significantly influence site use by the turtles. Head-starts preferred cold water (2.16 oC Âą 0.37), close to the shore (

Keywords: Artificial Wetland
Blandingâ s Turtles
Emydoidea blandingii
Head-started
Overwintering
Advisor: Mandrak, Nicholas E
Cadotte, Marc W
Exploring the Pain Contest in Competitive Male Rowers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of a group of competitive male rowers, to enhance understandings of pain, identity, and embodiment in sport culture. Ethnographic methods such as participant observation and semi-structured interviews were employed to access the cultural norms and ideologies that were later used to explain the shared embodied practices and perceptions relevant to the group of male athletes under scrutiny. The application of Goffmanâ s theoretical framework of dramaturgy also helped to address the cultural significance of non-injury related pain and suffering in relation to social constructs, such as masculinity, identity, and self-objectification. Further, this study unpacks the cultural complexities of pain in rowing culture and vividly presents the ways in which rowers contextually interpret, convey, and experience their bodies through the analysis of three major themes: pain, efficiency, and closeness. Specifically, this study presents rich descriptions of the unique and paradoxical relationships male rowers developed with pain and their embodied identities. Ultimately suggesting that male rowers engaged in risky and painful practices to uphold idealized performances of idealized rower identities, to enhance meaningful male bonding and to avoid feelings of shame, humiliation, or rejection in the sporting context.

Keywords: culture
ethnography
Goffman
identity
rowing
sport
Advisor: Atkinson, Michael
Dialogue Among Civilizations? A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Collaboration Between the ‘West’ and the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2008-2016

International collaboration has become an increasingly common feature of academic work in recent decades. Engaging in such collaboration may be particularly challenging when relationships between host countries are tense or unpredictable, as they are between the ‘West’ and the Islamic Republic of Iran. On the other hand, however, collaboration may be facilitated by the many highly skilled Iranians who have migrated to Western countries. In this study, I explore research collaboration between the West and Iran through an analysis of co-authored publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection for the nine-year period between 2008 and 2016. The findings of the study are discussed in relation to two conceptual frameworks, namely the centres and peripheries model of the global academic system, and the concept of a ‘Dialogue among civilizations’.

Keywords: bibliometrics
collaboration
international
Iran
West
Advisor: Hayhoe, Ruth
Amino Acid Metabolism and Protein Requirements in Active, Adolescent Males Using the Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation (IAAO) Technique

We aimed to determine the protein requirements of active adolescents by utilizing the minimally invasive, Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation (IAAO) technique. Seven male participants (n=7; 13.8±0.5 years; 171±2.8 cm; 57.3±4.2 kg; 48.4±5.0 kg FFM; 0.3±0.2 years from peak height velocity (PHV); means±95% CI) each underwent 6 metabolic trials that included an acute bout of a variable intensity exercise, followed by the ingestion of 8 hourly meals providing a variable amount of protein (0.2 – 2.67 g·kg−1·d−1), 6 g·kg−1 of carbohydrate, and sufficient energy. Protein was provided as crystalline amino acid mixtures, modeled after the contents of egg protein, apart from tyrosine (40 mg·kg−1·d−1) and phenylalanine (30.5 mg·kg−1·d−1 of which 5.46 mg·kg−1 was L-[13C] phenylalanine over the final 4 drinks). 13CO2 enrichment in breath was determined by continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry and CO2 production by indirect calorimetry. Bi-phase linear regression indicated a breakpoint of the 13CO2 excretion (F13CO2) equivalent to an estimated average requirement (EAR) of 1.48 g·kg−1·d−1 (r2 = 0.54), with the upper 95% CI, which approximates the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of 1.78 g·kg−1·d−1. Our estimate exceeds the current protein RDA based on the factorial estimate of nitrogen balance for adolescents (0.9 g·kg−1·d−1). Therefore, suggesting that variable intensity exercise, as well as, the incorporation of a new determining method, increases daily protein requirements in active adolescents.

Keywords: Active adolescent
Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation
Nutrition
Protein Metabolism
Protein Requirement
Advisor: Moore, Daniel R
The Expression and Function of CCL5 in Early Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic cardiovascular disease initiated by the accumulation of lipid-loaded macrophages within the artery wall. Chemokines can have several potential functions in atherosclerosis. CCL5, an inflammatory chemokine, is considered proatherogenic. Since CCL5 expression is dramatically increased in early mouse atherosclerotic lesions, the goals were to identify which cells express CCL5 and the functions of CCL5 in early lesion development. CCL5 mRNA and protein were up-regulated both by myeloid and endothelial cells in lesions. Bone marrow transplantation studies demonstrated that CCL5 deficiency in bone marrow-derived cells transiently affected lesion myeloid cell content but did not significantly affect macrophage proliferation or monocyte recruitment. Additionally, CCL5 deficiency in non-hematopoietic cells had no effect on lesion parameters. These studies suggest that although CCL5 is expressed abundantly within lesions, the effects of CCL5 deficiency in early lesion development is minimal and this may be due to compensatory functions of related chemokines.

Keywords: atherosclerosis
CCL5
mice
RANTES
Advisor: Jongstra-Bilen, Jenny
Cybulsky, Myron