UVicSpace | Institutional Repository
UVicSpace is the University of Victoria’s open access scholarship and learning repository. It preserves and provides access to the digital scholarly works of UVic faculty, students, staff, and partners. Items in UVicSpace are organized into collections, each belonging to a community.
For more information about depositing items, see the Submission Guidelines.
Recent Submissions
Revelatory economics: Discerning prudence and realizing theosis in Latter-day Saint southern Alberta
(2026) Campbell, C. William; Rudnyckyj, Daromir
This dissertation examines how Latter-day Saints in southern Alberta use revelation as an epistemological technique for discerning prudence in social-material matters. Drawing on long-term participant observation with Latter-day Saints in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, I show that revelation functions not only as a spiritual experience but as a structured knowledge practice for deciding what to do in matters as diverse as household finance, welfare, entrepreneurship, and municipal policy. Revelation is not an alternative to rational calculation but a technique for bringing together rational calculation, scripture, affect, and social obligations (among other things) in the pursuit of discerning prudence.
I argue that the best way to understand how and why Latter-day Saints subject economic decisions to revelation is as a way of cultivating what I call divine-human capital, the capacities that constitute a person’s latent characteristics as divine beings in potentia. In Latter-day Saint theology, humans are already the same kind of being as God, distinguished only by degree. Exaltation names the gradual realization of this inherent divinity and is a form of human theosis. Within this continuous human-divine framework, discernment through revelation becomes a means of developing attributes such as obedience, contextual judgement, and covenantal alignment, capacities understood as both inherently human and, when fully realized, constitutive of exaltation. By cultivating these attributes through the practiced deployment of revelation in even mundane moments of economic discernment, each decision becomes part of the incremental realization of theosis. The revelatory technique therefore both expresses an inherent subjectivity and increments the individual towards a fuller realization of that subjectivity.
Out of this analysis of revelation in LDS economic life I develop a broader analytic. Revelatory economics describes economic epistemological practices that both disclose and cultivate a subjectivity. Rather than treating decisions about work, care, or finance as merely instrumental, the analytic reveals how people use techniques of discernment that draw on an understanding of who they already take themselves to be and to become that person more fully. In this framework, economic reasoning is simultaneously epistemological and ontological, a way of knowing what is prudent and of shaping the self toward a desired form.
Seen to be done: Credibility, performance, and legitimacy in R v McLeod et al.
(2026) Sapic, Lauren; Calder, Gillian; O’Bonsawin, Christine
This thesis explores how legal credibility is built and challenged in high-profile Canadian sexual-assault trials, through the single embedded case study of the R v McLeod et al. (the 2018 World Junior sexual assault proceedings, or "R v McLeod et al."). With specific attention to the court's reasons and credibility analysis, this thesis examines the acquittal of five former Canadian World Junior hockey players, followed allegations of group sexual assault after a Hockey Canada Foundation Gala and Golf event in June 2018. At the time the charges were laid, all five accused were playing professional hockey, including four in the NHL.
In an era of media saturation and institutional crises, Canadian courts are increasingly expected not only to deliver justice, but to be seen to do so. I refer to this concept as "mediatized justice," a cultural-legal paradigm where courts must perform this "fairness" as much as courts may enact it procedurally. Despite legal reforms intending to curb rape myth-based reasoning within sexual assault procedures, the Canadian criminal justice system continues to struggle to accommodate the complexities of trauma testimony and fairness, particularly where powerful institutions, intense publicity, and multiple accused are involved.
Drawing on feminist legal theory (in particular, Judith Butler's concept of grievability), critical legal theory, and media spectacle theory, this thesis applies critical discourse analysis to the judgment, institutional statements, and media coverage. I examine how legal actors navigate the tension between the presumption of innocence and the realities of trauma, memory, and evidentiary rules. A close reading of Justice Maria Carroccia's decision reveals that while rape myths were formally rejected, the decision still relied on credibility markers, such as affect regulation, evidentiary clarity, and timeline analysis in a manner that I argue is trauma incompatible. I also analyze Hockey Canada's efforts to manage public perception, as well as the post-trial discourse around judicial neutrality and activism. Rather than calling for retributive outcomes or symbolic reform or for the court to act in an "activist" manner, this thesis advocates for procedural and evidentiary shifts that center trauma-informed fairness. This can prompt a reconsideration of what it means for courts to adjudicate legitimacy of the complainant in high profile sexual assault trials, and in the age of media visibility.
3D bioprinted skin co-culture model with air liquid interface (ALI) stratification for investigating microbiome-skin cell interactions.
(2026) Díaz González, Giselle Yolanda; Willerth, Stephanie; Tuffs, Stephen
Chronic wounds pose a serious and persistent public health challenge, resulting in devastating patient consequences and imposing a substantial economic strain on healthcare systems. Conventional treatments frequently fail because they target only single characteristics of the wound rather than addressing the complex, interconnected cycle where the microbiome and microenvironment play crucial roles in perpetuating inflammation. To develop effective biotherapies, advanced in vitro models that accurately replicate the complex skin microenvironment are urgently needed. Existing models, such as two-dimensional (2D) cultures and animal models, lack the necessary physiological complexity, are hindered by species-specific differences, and present ethical concerns.
Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has emerged as a powerful alternative, enabling the creation of in vitro skin models that more closely mimic human in vivo conditions. The primary goal of this work was to investigate the clinical need, design, and verification of a 3D bioprinted stratified skin co-culture model suitable for studying the intricate interactions between the skin microbiome and cutaneous cells. Constructs were generated using extrusion-based bioprinting (EBB) with a high-viscosity, fibrin-based bioink containing co-cultured human keratinocytes (HEKa) and fibroblasts (HDFs), successfully creating a multi-layered structure replicating the epidermis and dermis. Crucially, epidermal stratification was induced through the Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) methodology to replicate the primary air-liquid barrier where bacteria reside and ensure comprehensive host-microbe dynamics.
The functional maturity and interactions between the host-microbiome within the model were validated through biochemical signaling detection of cytokines through Human Cytokine/Chemokine Panel A 48-Plex Discovery Assay®, analyzing conditioned media collected pre- and post- inoculation with Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), the results confirmed a colonization model capable of restoring the cutaneous barrier and maintaining a stable homeostatic environment through active molecular communication.
Furthermore, achieving comprehensive analysis of this full-thickness, high-viscosity hydrogel construct required optimizing bioprocessing techniques. This process involved utilizing cryoslicing methodology, following specific protocols for cryopreservation infiltration using sucrose and optimal cutting temperature (O.C.T) solution, to preserve scaffold integrity and facilitate accurate microscopic evaluation. Optimized staining procedures, including Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) for scaffold stratification development, DAPI immunofluorescence staining for structural morphology, Safranin-O for extracellular matrix (ECM) components, and Gram staining for bacterial characterization, were then employed. This comprehensive framework provides a crucial standardization for creating and analyzing complex 3D skin models, offering a valuable, controllable, reproducible in vitro platform. Ultimately, this research aims to facilitate the efficient development of novel biotherapies that encompass microbiome homeostasis to effectively and efficiently address chronic wounds.
Decision tree methodology for electronic health record (EHR) clinical data endpoints
(University of Victoria, 2026) Kasdorf, Kale
This study explores the use of decision tree models on electronic health record (EHR) data to support clinical decision-making in intensive care units (ICUs). The publicly available Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) MIMIC-IV eICU dataset, spanning 20 hospitals and over 35,000 deidentified patient encounters, was analyzed to identify relevant tables and variables. Decision trees were developed in KNIME, a data science software, starting with simple algorithms, which were iteratively refined into more complex and realistic predictive models. Initially, the simple models achieved high predictive performance, although overfitting and unrealistic splits were observed. Further development of these models produced slightly worse predictive performance, but addressed the overfitting and generated more realistic and interpretable predictions. This study establishes a preliminary pipeline for applying decision trees to ICU EHR data and highlights the need for ongoing refinement to improve predictive reliability.
Investigating the role of Vsx1 in bipolar cell differentiation of the mouse retina
(University of Victoria, 2026) Kerridge, Amalie; Chow, Robert; Ruiz, Alberto; Hamilton, Finn; Symanski, Julian
This project investigates the role of the homeobox transcription factor Vsx1 in regulating bipolar cell (BPC) subtype differentiation in the developing mouse retina. Bipolar cells are a diverse class of interneurons that relay visual signals from photoreceptors to ganglion cells and contribute to parallel visual processing pathways. Previous studies have shown that Vsx1 is expressed in specific bipolar cell subtypes, including BC1a, BC2, BC3a, BC6, and BC7. However, genetic loss of Vsx1 does not alter the overall number of bipolar cells, suggesting that Vsx1 may regulate subtype identity rather than cell survival.
To investigate this possibility, single-cell RNA sequencing of BPCs were analyzed to identify transcriptional changes associated with Vsx1 loss. Clustering and gene expression analyses revealed altered transcriptional profiles in several bipolar cell subtypes and increased expression of markers associated with Type 5a bipolar cells. These findings suggest that certain bipolar cells may undergo transcriptional respecification in the absence of Vsx1 and adopt a type 5a-like fate. To validate this, immunofluorescent labeling of Sox6 (a type 5a BPC marker) will be performed in wild-type and Vsx1 knockout retinas and analyzed using confocal microscopy."