VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Environmental Complexity on the Purging of Deleterious Mutations
Keywords: Behavioural Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Evolutionary Genetics
Population Genetics
Sexual Conflict
Sexual Selection

Mutations at condition influencing loci are expected to be maladaptive with respect to non-sexual fitness and also negatively affect mating success. Natural and sexual selection should thus act concordantly at these loci. Recent studies find male preferential harassment of high-condition females reduces their fitness relative to low-condition females. Thus, sexual selection appears to hinder natural selection. The ecologically simple environments of these studies exaggerate male harassment towards high-condition females. I tested the effects of environmental complexity in reducing the negative sexual conflict effects that might cause a misalignment of natural and sexual selection. Using Drosophila melanogaster, I quantified mating interactions in environments differing in complexity. I measured the purging rate of mutations from populations evolving in these environments. I found that environmental complexity modulates the rate at which mutations are purged and speculate on a causal mechanism that implicates a concordance of natural and sexual selection to explain these results.
Perfectionism and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Investigating the Mediating Effect of Emotion Dysregulation
Keywords: Emotion Dysregulation
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Perfectionism

The present study examined the associations among perfectionism, emotion dysregulation, and GAD. Eighty participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing perfectionistic tendencies, difficulties in emotion regulation, and symptoms of GAD. The purpose of this study was to examine emotion dysregulation as a potential mediator in the relationship between perfectionism and GAD. Results indicated that general emotion dysregulation statistically mediated the relationship between the socially prescribed dimension of perfectionism and GAD. In addition, specific difficulties in emotion regulation, including deficits in acceptance of emotions, emotional clarity, impulse control, and access to effective regulation strategies, fully mediated the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and GAD symptoms. Implications for treatment and future research directions are discussed.
Right-sided Cardio-pulmonary Relationships in Endurance Athletes: Potential Long-term Consequences of Higher Pulmonary Pressure Generation during Exercise
Keywords: Athlete's Heart
Pulmonary Pressure
Resistance
Right Ventricle
Strain

Endurance-trained athletes (ETA) demonstrate physiologic cardiac adaptations, however few demonstrate indicators of reduced right-heart (RH) performance. This subset of ETA has not been characterized; they may be among those who generate higher pulmonary pressures (PP) during exercise. With RH catheterization during a graded-exercise protocol, PP during exercise were measured in 7 untrained controls and 16 ETA, with “high” and “low” pressure-generators (HPG, LPG) identified within our ETA cohort. Potential impacts of high-pressure states on long-term RH function were investigated with Echocardiography. A wide range in PP was produced in both cohorts, despite uniform RH enlargement in ETA. Compared to LPG, HPG athletes with peak-systolic PP over the median of 49mmHg demonstrated reduced resting RV systolic strain (p=0.04), slowed RV diastolic rate (p=0.03), and large left-atrial size (p
Therapist Self-disclosure with Clients from Diverse Backgrounds
Keywords: countertransference
diversity
multi-cultural counselling
psychoanalytic
qualitative
therapist self-disclosure

The psychological literature on therapist self-disclosure in counselling and psychotherapy has shown to be a beneficial tool in working with clients’ in-session. Current research on therapist self-disclosure suggests that not all therapy skills have been successfully adapted when working with clients of from diverse backgrounds. Using a grounded theory approach, nine therapists were interviewed about the ways in which they use self-disclosure with clients from differing social locations than themselves. Four major themes emerged from the data: 1) Understanding Therapist Self-Disclosure; 2) Conceptualizing ‘Diversity’; 3) Contexts in which Therapists Conceal Themselves from the Client; and 4) Contexts in which Therapists Reveal Themselves to the Client. The results showed that participants were more inclined to disclose sooner and with greater comfort when working with someone from a similar ethno-cultural background whereas they were more cautious and less inclined to disclose to a client if they were from an unfamiliar cultural background.
Violence, Literacy, and Adult Learning: How does Parkdale Project Read Meet the Needs of Learners who have Experienced Violence and Trauma?
Keywords: adult education
adult literacy
literacy
parkdale
trauma
violence

Violence and trauma can negatively affect adult’s ability to learn. Literacy instructors must bear in mind many adult learners have histories of violence and trauma that may affect their experience of the classroom. This ethnographic case study of Parkdale Project Read, and how it meets the needs of learners who have experienced violence and trauma, develops context-specific knowledge that is grounded in experience. By examining Project Read as an organization, and participants’ supportive relationships, this study will contribute to a better understanding of how violence and hardship are addressed within a practical adult literacy context. The goal of this research is to introduce local knowledge into the violence and adult literacy literature, and to better understand the relationship between violence and adult literacy through interviews with staff, tutors, and learners at Parkdale Project Read.
Non-invasive Cardiac Diagnostic Tests in Ontario: Temporal Trends in Utilization and Association with Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease
Keywords: Cardiac imaging
Cardiology
Comparative effectiveness
Epidemiology
Resource utilization
Temporal trends

Contemporary temporal trends in utilization of graded exercise stress test (GXT), myocardial perfusion scanning (MPI), stress echocardiography (stress echo), and cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) are unknown. The optimal initial testing strategy to evaluate stable coronary artery disease (CAD) is also unknown. We conducted a repeated cross sectional study of the adult population of Ontario in order to assess the temporal trends in utilization of these modalities and a retrospective inception cohort study in order to compare the relationship between differing initial testing strategies and the presence of obstructive CAD on downstream angiography. Our results indicate stable utilization patterns for GXT and MPI. We had insufficient data to make definitive conclusions regarding the temporal trends for CCTA and stress echo. An initial diagnostic strategy consisting of CCTA, MPI or stress echo was not significantly different than an initial strategy with a GXT in detecting obstructive CAD on downstream angiography.
Cost Effective Deployment of Heterogeneous Networks and the Effect of Pilot Contamination
Keywords: HetNet
MIMO
Pilot Contamination
Wireless Communication

Network densification by means of adding more antennas to the macro base station (MBS) or by placing single antenna small cell access points (SC AP) have great potential in meeting the growing user demand in wireless cellular networks. While more resources, properly used, is always better, these entail greater deployment cost. In this thesis we investigate how to achieve the highest sum rate in a two-tiered heterogeneous network (HetNet) combining MBSs and SCs under a cost constraint. We show that when ignoring the overhead of uplink training for channel estimation, it is more cost effective to deploy MBSs equipped with a large number of antennas; leading to a large-scale multiple input multiple output (LS-MIMO) system. On the other hand, with even a relatively low cost of training, it is beneficial to deploy SC APs. We then investigate the effect of training on LS-MIMO networks and develop a lower bound on the per user ergodic rate when uplink training, inter-cell interference, and pilot contamination are considered.
Recovery of Boreal Forest Carbon Pools Following Stem-only Harvesting in Quebec, Canada
Keywords: bioenergy
boreal forest
carbon cycling
carbon modelling - CBM-CFS3
climate change
stem-only harvesting

Forêt Montmorency (FM), Quebec, provides an opportunity to use a 77-year chronosequence to evaluate the effects of stem-only harvesting on carbon cycling in a balsam fir-white birch boreal forest. By comparing empirical estimates of 19 carbon pools with those simulated in the Carbon Budget Model (CBM-CFS3), it is possible to assess the accuracy of model assumptions in predicting stand-level carbon dynamics. Although CBM-CFS3 was able to predict total ecosystem carbon within 10% of the empirical mean at stand maturity, many of the dead organic matter (DOM) pools deviated from field observations, indicating that model initialization of DOM pools did not adequately simulate the 1000 year history of C transfers and stand dynamics prior to the harvesting event. Future modifications to CBM-CFS3 initialization assumptions may be required to more accurately simulate the long-term effects of natural disturbances on carbon pools over time for this forest region.
Skeletal Muscle Metabolic Dysfunction in Patients with Malignant Hyperthermia
Keywords: 31P-Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Exercise
Malignant Hyperthermia
Metabolism
Skeletal muscle

Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) is a disorder where susceptible individuals show a hypermetabolic reaction to anaesthetics. A subset of MH-susceptible (MHS) patients experience muscle weakness, fatigue and exercise intolerance. Additionally, some individuals with heat or exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis (MH-like reactions) show MH susceptibility. The purpose of this study was to assess skeletal muscle metabolism and exercise performance, to define metabolic phenotypes in MH patients. Phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) and blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI were performed to evaluate skeletal muscle metabolism. Participants then performed exercise tests to assess aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity, and muscle strength. 31P-MRS revealed MH patients, particularly those with severe muscle symptoms, had significantly lower oxidative phosphorylation ATP production than healthy controls, accompanied by impaired aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Impairments were similar between patients with MH-like reaction (MHS-L) and MHS. Chronic mitochondrial damage is proposed as the pathophysiological mechanism for metabolic and functional impairment in MHS and MHS-L patients.
Host Cellular Responses to Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Keywords: gonorrhea
macrophage
phosphoinositides

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a human-restricted pathogen associated with increasing morbidity as antibiotic-resistant strains spread globally. N. gonorrhoeae possesses sophisticated mechanisms to survive the host immune response, in which CEACAM1, a host receptor, plays a central role. Gonococcal Opa protein-bound CEACAM1 inhibits host cells such as CD4+ T cells. This inhibitory activity has been attributed to recruitment of protein tyrosine phosphatases but evidence suggests CEACAM1 modulates other signaling pathways. In Chapter 2, I found that the inositol phosphatases, SHIP-1 and SHIP-2, associated with gonococcal-bound CEACAM1, as did the inositol signaling lipids, PIP3 and 3,4-PIP2. To explore the functional outcome of the SHIP-CEACAM1 association, I investigated the response of human macrophages to gonococci in Chapter 3. I found that N. gonorrhoeae skews macrophages to the M1 phenotype and I discovered Opa-specific differences in macrophage cytokine secretion. This work expands the knowledge of gonococcal immune evasion and CEACAM1’s inhibitory role in that strategy.
Studies in Caenorhabditis elegans Olfaction and Learning
Keywords: Discrimination
Learning
Olfaction

Olfactory processes have been extensively studied in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, but much remains unclear regarding both the initial steps of olfactory signal discrimination and components further downstream, in which olfactory memories act to guide behavior. In this work, we identify lrn-3(mm200), a mutant with a broad range of olfactory learning deficits, using a novel screening approach. We then turn to the longstanding question of how worms are able to discriminate between odorants whose signals are transduced via the same secondary messengers, in the same neuron, and show that the apparent discrimination is the result of arrestin-mediated desensitization of odorant receptors. Finally, we show differential signaling by minor G-protein alpha subunits does not play a role in behavioral plasticity after olfactory learning. These experiments demonstrate a rapid technique for identification of learning mutants, and suggest that olfactory discrimination in C. elegans may be more limited than previously thought.
Abuse Liability of Controlled-release Oxycodone Formulations
Keywords: Abuse Liability
Controlled-Release
Oxycodone
Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacokinetics

Controlled-release opioid formulations may have differential abuse liability profiles related to rates of drug delivery. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover study, the abuse liability of a single 40mg intact oral dose of three controlled-release oxycodone formulations (Apo-oxycodone CR®, OxyNEO®, and OxyContin®) were compared by performing pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic analyses in 11 non-dependent recreational opioid users. OxyContin® was not available for 6 participants due to product expiry of discontinued product. Assessments included the primary outcomes of Drug High and Drug Liking ratings, and secondary measures of subjective effects, psychomotor performance, pupillometry and plasma oxycodone concentrations. The longer time to peak plasma concentrations of OxyNEO® versus Apo-oxycodone CR® and OxyContin® was paralleled by a reduction in the early subjective effects of Drug High post-dose. Overall, the formulations produced comparable positive and negative subjective effects suggesting that they have similar abuse liability profiles when taken intact orally.
Policing in Toronto Schools: Race-ing the Conversation
Keywords: education
policing
race
schools
securitization
Toronto

In 2008, fully armed and uniformed police officers were deployed to thirty public high schools in Toronto to patrol the hallways on a full-time basis. The permanent assignment of police to the city’s schools represents an unprecedented turn toward a disciplinary strategy rooted in a paradigm of security and surveillance. This institutional ethnography traces the chronology of the program, exploring how race-absent official discourses of safety and relationship building are used not only to legitimize the program but also to conceal how it works to produce and sustain social inequalities in schools. I argue that racial power is constitutive of the SRO program itself—that it is not simply an effect or consequence of the program’s existence but the very instrument through which it operates. As such, a framework for school discipline that is rooted in equity and justice would require the complete removal of police officers from school spaces.
Exploring the Relationship between Intercultural Competence and Academic Success among English for Academic Purposes Students
Keywords: communicative
competence
EAP
IDI
intercultural
language

The objectives of language education have evolved from focusing on linguistic outcomes to contextualized language use. Conceptualizations of communicative competence have further broadened beyond the language-specific and culture-specific skills of the target language community to recognize the need to communicate and function in a wide variety of social situations with diverse interlocutors. This requires intercultural communicative competence. This study applied mixed methods to examine whether this can be observed among students in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context. Students’ intercultural communicative competence was assessed using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), student self-reflections, and teacher feedback. Students’ academic success in the EAP program was assessed using course marks, teacher feedback, and students’ self-reflection. The findings suggest that students with high intercultural competence tend to have greater academic success in their EAP studies and identify some characteristics of these students.
Sexual Satisfaction, Identity and Sero-adaptation: An Investigation into Personality and Behavioural Correlates of Bareback Identity and Behaviour in Men Who Have Sex with Men
Keywords: Barebacking
Gay and Bisexual Men
HIV
LGBT
Men who have sex with men
Sexuality

Barebacking, or condomless anal intercourse in the presence of risk of contracting HIV, has emerged as a common phenomenon between men who have sex with men (MSM). The present cross-sectional study investigated psychological correlates of barebacking behaviour and identity, as well as how MSM increase their sexual satisfaction while reducing risk of HIV transmission. Two hundred and fifty-six MSM across Canada and the US were recruited for an online survey. Men who engaged in barebacking were significantly more likely to be HIV-positive, be higher in sexual sensation-seeking, meet sexual partners online, and use substances before and during sex. Self-identified barebackers were also more sexually satisfied than nonbarebackers. Further, MSM who engaged in barebacking were found to use more sero-adaptive strategies, which are harm-reduction techniques to reduce risk of HIV transmission such as strategic positioning and taking PrEP. Barebacking should be framed within the context of recent advancements in biomedical HIVtreatment and prevention.
Effect of Low Density Lipoproteins on the Progression of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Keywords: cholesterol
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Low-density lipoproteins
lysosomal lipase
STAT3

Hypercholesterolemia is a known risk factor for many cancers, including Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). CLL is incurable with conventional chemotherapy and it would be valuable to develop strategies to prevent CLL cells from progressing to the point of causing symptoms that require treatment. Statin drugs have been shown to prolong the time to first chemotherapy treatment, suggesting that one strategy to slow the progression of CLL may be to lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol. The studies in this thesis were designed to investigate how LDLs affect CLL cells. The results indicate that LDLs enhance a number of signaling pathways in CLL cells in vitro that are associated with leukemic growth. These biological effects depend on the internalization and subsequent breakdown of LDL particles into various components. Overall, the results provide a biological rationale for using methods to decrease LDL-cholesterol such as diet and/or statins to slow disease progression.
Motivation To Use Animal Assisted Therapy Among Psychotherapy and Counselling Graduate Students
Keywords: Animal- Assisted Therapy
Counselling Psychology
Human- Animal Bond

Though there is evidence of the benefits of incorporating Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) in counselling, this therapy is obscure to many Canadian students. This online study explored Canadian counselling and clinical psychology graduate students' attitudes toward, and perceptions of, AAT. Responses obtained from 224 students indicated that 37% of students are motivated to use AAT and 48% are motivated to learn more about it. Participants with higher motivation were more likely to be females, older, counselling students, and have pets. Students recognized many advantages of using AAT, such as improving health and reducing stress, but also identified important concerns for the welfare of clients. Furthermore, students reported receiving no AAT materials or supervision in their academic programs, but the majority of them are interested in attending symposiums or workshops on AAT. These findings can be used to increase awareness of students’ interest in educational and professional programs on AAT.
Beyond Animal Testing: Open Rescue, Sentient Empathy and Research-informed Theatre - As an Extension of Ourselves...At our Sentient Best!
Keywords: Animal Ethics
Animal Testing
Research-Informed Theatre
Sentient Empathy as Activism
Social Justice Education
Speciesism

If sentience is defined as the capacity of living beings to experience sense, cognition and feelings, then the concept of sentient empathy can be described as the direct identification with, understanding of, and affection to another animal's situation, feelings, and motives. As a pressing social issue, can an awareness of animal testing within universities elicit sentient empathy among a wider public? This thesis explores this question by analysing the findings from interviews with three ‘open rescue’ activists. It then examines the possibilities of utilizing Research-Informed Theatre (RIT) for sharing the interview findings, with a view toward eliciting sentient empathy among the public.
Integrated Feeds for Electronically Reconfigurable Apertures
Keywords: antenna
beam-steering
leaky-wave
reconfigurable
reflectarray
transmitarray

With the increasing ubiquity of wireless technology, the need for lower-profile, electronically reconfigurable, highly-directive beam-steering antennas is increasing. This thesis proposes a new electronic beam-steering antenna architecture which combines the full-space beam-steering properties of reflectarrays and transmitarrays with the low-profile feeding characteristics of leaky-wave antennas. Two designs are developed: an integrated feed reflectarray and an integrated feed transmitarray, both of which integrate a leaky-wave feed directly next to the reconfigurable aperture itself. The integrated feed transmitarray proved to be the better architecture due to its simpler design and better performance. A 6-by-6 element array was fabricated and experimentally verified, and full-space (both azimuth and elevation) beam-steering was demonstrated at angles up to 45 degrees off broadside. In addition to the reduction in profile, the integrated feed design enables robust fixed control of the amplitude distribution across the aperture, a characteristic not as easily attained in typical reflectarrays/transmitarrays.
Salivary Melatonin Levels in Pregnant Women with Insomnia: A Prospective Cohort Study with Two Comparison Groups
Keywords: Insomnia
Melatonin
Pregnancy
Treatment

Insomnia in pregnancy is associated with depression, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and preterm labor. In normal pregnancies, maternal plasma melatonin levels increase significantly as pregnancy proceeds, reaching its peak near term. However, the role of melatonin in insomnia during pregnancy is not known. The objective of this study was to measure nocturnal saliva melatonin levels in pregnant women with and without insomnia. Results did not show a significant difference in melatonin levels between insomniac (treated and untreated) and healthy pregnant women in all trimesters. However, sub-group analysis showed significantly lower melatonin levels in untreated insomniac pregnancies compared to healthy pregnancies and those treated with sleep medications. Results of this study confirmed lower levels of nocturnal melatonin in untreated pregnancies with insomnia. Future research is needed to investigate the safety and efficacy of melatonin supplementation for the treatment of insomnia in pregnancy, replacing psychotropic drugs.