Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-71). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-192). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Objectives. In this thesis I have, together with game developer and publisher Paradox Interactive, designed and implemented a level editor tool for use in their game Magicka 2. With this tool users can create, edit and share custom Challenge levels in the game. I have also done a more in-depth scientific study of usability in such level editor tools, especially pertaining to the disparity between various controller input schemes and platforms. Methods. I have performed a literary study of articles and books relevant to the field of game design, user interface design, general usability, controller input schemes and any other topic I found relevant. I have paired this with a study of similar level editor tools and their user interfaces and features in other console and PC games. This knowledge, together with feedback from both expert and non-expert testing, has then been analyzed and used to design and implement both the user interface and the features of the level editor. Results. Results of the literary study, level editor tool study and testing are presented together with their impact on the design of the user interface and all implemented features. The results of each iteration of the Challenge Creator are presented as well. Lastly, all results are analyzed and a set of design heuristics for creating a similar level editor tool is presented. Conclusions. I conclude that creating a platform independent level editor tool with high usability is very much possible, but that designing such a tool becomes far more difficult with each new platform and controller input scheme supported. I also conclude that additional features and further increase in tool complexity loses significant impact if the core user interface is lacking in usability. I also conclude that more time and testing will be needed to further empirically validate the design heuristics. Lastly, I conclude that additional iterations will be required upon the Challenge Creator to improve its usability in light of already known and established design flaws.

BRAF(V600E), the most commonly mutated oncogene in melanoma, is found in about half of patients. By hyperactivating the MAPK pathway, this mutation promotes cell growth and proliferation. Melanocytic BRAF(V600E) alone, however, is insufficient to cause melanoma and rather promotes the development of benign nevi (moles). The goal of our initial studies was to better understand how genetic and environmental risk factors interact with the BRAF(V600E) oncogene to induce melanoma. The two most prominent risk factors for melanoma development are exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and pale skin pigmentation; particularly in the case of individuals with the “redhead” phenotype, who carry inactivating mutations in the MC1R G-protein coupled receptor. It has commonly been thought that redheads are at highest risk for melanoma development due to poor protection from genotoxic UV radiation from the sun. Using a melanocyte-specific, inducible Braf(V600E) mouse model, we have shown that an inactivating mutation in Mc1r which causes a redhead phenotype in mice, confers a significant UV-independent elevation in melanoma risk, relative to black and albino animals. The mechanism of accelerated UV-independent oncogenesis was found to be dependent on the synthesis of the red/yellow pheomelanin pigment. While these experiments were on-going, a novel small molecule inhibitor of the BRAF(V600E) oncogene, vemurafenib, began showing promising results in clinical trials. The observation that half of patients were experiencing significant tumor regression was unprecedented, but was soon followed by vemurafenib-resistant disease progression. Based on the fact that acquired drug resistance is a major obstacle to good therapeutic outcomes, we began investigating mechanisms of BRAF inhibitor resistance. A panel of BRAF(V600E) human melanoma cell lines that were initially sensitive to PLX4720 (a pre-clinical analog of vemurafenib), were chronically treated with the oncogenic BRAF inhibitor until resistance developed. These paired resistant and sensitive cell lines were characterized in terms of drug sensitivity and activation of cell signaling pathways. Multiple different patterns of drug resistance were found. The diversity of resistance mechanisms in these studies agrees with the diversity which others have found in the literature, suggesting that melanoma cells may be uniquely adaptable to circumventing BRAF(V600E) oncogene addiction.

Not available / text

The aim of this thesis was to explore and describe foodwork and meals for older persons with dementia and their partners in ordinary homes. Descriptive and explorative designs were used in the four papers this thesis is based on. Longitudinal data, including older home-living unlike-sex twins, were analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics. An ethnographic approach was used to describe everyday life for persons with dementia. Interviews with partners and staff were analysed using thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis, respectively. The results revealed that, among home-living older persons, there is an association between a person’s cognitive ability and nutritional status; i.e. low cognitive ability leads to increased risk of malnutrition. For home-living persons with dementia and their partners, foodwork and meals sometimes changed, meaning that shopping, preparing food and eating as well as social interaction become complicated, which seemed to lead to transitions in roles, routines and relations. There was foodwork that the persons with dementia could perform, and participants expressed a desire that abilities and independence be preserved. However, support was sometimes needed, and it was emphasized that this was based on the person’s needs, wishes and problems. In conclusion, there is an association between decreased cognitive ability and increased risk of malnutrition. Furthermore, foodwork and meals affected both persons with dementia and their partners. Therefore, early intervention whereby both partners in a couple get individually adjusted support is of importance. Consequently, a person-centred care approach can be useful in arranging the support.

Two-port polarization independent electro-optically wavelength tunable filters based on asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure in LiNbO3 substrate have been developed for 1.55μm application. The operation principle is based on Mach-Zehnder interference and TE↔TM mode conversion. Fabrication parameters for channel waveguides, interferometers and mode converters have been optimized. 7μm wide single mode straight channel waveguides were produced by diffusing 1050-1100A thick Ti into LiNbO3 substrate. Insertion loss of 3.6dB was achieved for both TE and TM polarization. Mach-Zehnder interferometer performance was optimized by testing the Y-branch on samples cut in half length compared to complete device. Best results were obtained from samples that were produced by diffusion at 1025 degC for 11 hours of 1050A thick Ti film, and by diffusion at 1025 degC for 12 hours of 1090A thick Ti film. Metal electrodes were added to one arm of asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers to evaluate electro-optic modulation. Modulation depth as high as 99.6% for TE mode and 98.9% for TM mode were obtained. TE↔TM mode conversion was demonstrated on straight channel waveguides with conversion efficiency greater than 96% utilizing 500 strain inducing SiO2 grating pads with 21μm spatial period. Two-port polarization independent electro-optically tunable wavelength filters were produced based on the optimized parameters described above. The -3dB bandwidth of the filter is 2.4nm. The nearest side lobe to the main peak is more than 13dB below the central lobe for both TE polarization and TM polarization. A thermal tuning rate of -0.765nm/degC is obtained. An electrical tuning range of 12.8nm and a tuning rate of 0.08nm/V were achieved.

Most descriptions of the rise of the Canadian welfare state emphasize that traditional social welfare institutions were always inadequate and it took the Depression to demonstrate the need for better, more comprehensive arrangements. Beyond the enlightening influence of the Depression, the rise of current welfare state institutions is attributed to the efforts and influences of politicians, unions, social reformers, and intellectuals. This myth about the rise of the welfare state has been so widely accepted that there has been little effort expended in examining pre-welfare state social insurance arrangements. The findings of this case study of the Independent Order of Oddfellows of British Columbia (IOOFBC) sickness insurance indicate that before 1930 there was an extensive formalized system of social insurance. The study also reveals that rather than having demonstrated the inadequacies of the traditional welfare mechanisms, the severe economic conditions of the Depression devastated the existing social insurance arrangements which created the impetus for the rise of the welfare state. Up until 1930, membership in a fraternal organization, like the Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF), was one of the most important sources of sickness/health insurance and life insurance throughout the world. Fraternal insurers were able to provide insurance at a lower cost than commercial insurers through their non-profit motive and their use of screening and peer monitoring practices to alleviate problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. Until 1930, 13% of the population in British Columbia had sickness/health insurance coverage through fraternal membership. Critics of fraternal insurance argued that while fraternal insurers may have had low costs, they led a financially precarious existence due to their hazardous pricing practices. An analysis of IOOFBC lodges for the period 1891 to 1950 reveals that this is not a good explanation of the decline of fraternal insurance. Even with the most hazardous of pricing practices, IOOFBC lodges had almost no probability of being bankrupted by high claims. Early in lodge operations, surplus revenues were invested in assets, like the lodge hall, which generated revenues that subsidized lodge operations and benefit payments. Given that fraternal insurers were viable, why was fraternal membership not an important source of insurance coverage after the Depression? An analysis of the memberships of four IOOFBC lodges over the period 1891 to 1980 reveals that the devastation of fraternal memberships in the Depression promoted the growth of alternative (commercial and government) insurance arrangements. In the 1930s, more workers than ever before were without sickness insurance coverage. As the probability of suspension for non-payment of dues tripled, workers would have had little expectation of remaining in a fraternal membership long enough to collect sick benefits that were primarily needed after age 45. Through and after the Depression, IOOFBC lodges abandoned their insurance functions. Lodge memberships had "aged" so much between 1930 and 1945 that the increased lodge benefit liabilities made reforming the IOOFBC's beneficial systems impractical. If changes were not made to the IOOFBC subordinate lodges' dues and benefits, lodges would have had to potentially draw on their assets to meet their inflated obligations. The solution adopted was to abandon sick benefits altogether as members who had always been opposed to the insurance.

This thesis is a record of two research strands that have been intertwined during the development over a four year period of a classroom curriculum for an elective Geology 12 course in a new school. It discusses traditional belief systems identified as common to the practice of senior science and how one teacher wanted to challenge those beliefs to produce a working curriculum that would focus on long term learning within the framework of an externally prescribed curriculum and a provincially mandated external final exam that counted for 40% of the students mark. The teacher, working on her own in a portable for the first two years was in the unenviable position of being supplied with textbooks with a foreign focus and with supplies that as the title suggests were of little use over the long term. By Christmas of the first year a number of major problems had been identified, these problems falling into two major categories - developing strategies for long term learning that, within the operational constraints of grade 12, would enable the students to take far more responsibility for their own learning, and second, developing a science research programme for acquiring the resources, principally through field work, that were identified as being necessary for the programme. The major concerns within these two problem areas were identified and a four year timeline was developed for implementation. On the pedagogical side, after examining some of the literature on learning, particularly that around the area of cooperative learning that has had a substantial focus in recent years in a number of local school districts, reflecting on what worked for me in terms of my practice over 27 years of science teaching, I chose to focus on the Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL), out of Monash University, Australia as my working framework for learning. The process of developing this classroom curriculum was framed as a qualitative individual action research project over time as, within my professional life, there were no other teachers involved with the geology programme within the school, and at the same time being in a portable isolated me from my peers-l had no choice but to be self contained and self reliant. The pedagogical side of the process saw the evolvement of a programme that differed significantly in many ways from traditional senior science teaching. This is not to say that many teachers are not already reflecting on and trying to improve practice but for most of them it is through quiet reflection, discourse and evolution much as it had been for me until this time. For me this was the first time in my career that I was able to develop a programme from the very beginning. The thesis details the development of a multi-level learning strategy with an underlying theme being the development of more metacognitive students. The programme entails the identification of prior learning, reflective and collaborative practice, multiple processings of content and skills, peer assessment, and semi-formal reflective assessment. For many students, particularly during my first two years, most of these strategies were completely foreign to their cultural expectations of the teacher's role as dispenser of information to be regurgitated back through formal assessment. During the last two years these challenges to student thinking have been far less dramatic as I am now a known quantity in the school and the students taking my course expect to be working at becoming more independent long term learners. The programme is also built on the premise that for geology, relevant hands-on activities are an integral part of the learning process, and this other research strand is also explored and described. This is the story of the two research strands by which a semi-independent multi-level learning environment has been developed and implemented with a high degree of hands-on activities. Although a formal assessment of the programme is almost impossible to do within the constraints of my working environment, the personal feedback that I receive from the students, parents and colleagues indicates that it has been successful.