VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Beyond Pleasure: Effects of Depression, Anhedonia, and COVID-19 Stress on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Reward Functioning
Keywords: Depression
Eudaimonia
Mindfulness
Reward
Self-Affirmation
Stress

Reward processing encompasses multiple psychological processes, including appraisals of the incentive value of a reward (reward valuation), behavioral motivation to earn it (reward wanting), and affective responses to its receipt (reward liking). Disruptions in reward processing and the vulnerability of this system to chronic stress are argued to contribute to the development of a depressive disorder and anhedonia specifically. However, research has been limited to examining responses to “hedonic” rewards as the study of “eudaimonic” reward processing presents methodological challenges. Addressing these aims, this study developed the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Incentive Delay Task (HEID) for a comprehensive assessment of reward processing across multiple reward domains, including hedonic (HE), eudaimonic (EU), and neutral-intrinsic (NT-I) rewards. The central objectives were to examine the effects of (1) depression and anhedonia-related symptoms (e.g., wellbeing, anhedonia), (2) chronic stress exposure, using the COVID-19 pandemic and case fatality rates (CFR) as objective stress measures, and (3) interventions, such as the cultivation of dispositional mindfulness and self-affirmation, on reward processing across multiple reward domains. Two samples of participants were recruited, before (N = 180) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 189), completing self-report measures of depression, anhedonia, wellbeing, and mindfulness, and the HEID. Participants during COVID-19 were also randomly assigned to one of three induction conditions (Stressor Salience, Self-Affirmation, Control) to investigate stress and intervention effects. Consistent with hypotheses, (1) depression and anhedonia were associated with impaired reward processing; however, depression was more robustly associated with impairments in reward wanting, particularly the wanting of EU rewards, while reward valuation and liking were uniquely implicated in anhedonia. Chronic stress hypotheses (2) were partially supported, such that COVID-19 was associated with blunted reward wanting across reward domains (particularly NT-I), but not reward valuation and liking. Consistent with theory (3), self-affirmation helped buffer the effects of stress on reward wanting, but only at high CFR, while dispositional mindfulness was associated with greater wellbeing during COVID-19 by virtue of enhanced reward valuation and liking. This study provides new insights into reward pathways underlying stress, depression, and wellbeing/anhedonia, shedding light on disruptions to target in treatment.
The Ghost in the Machine: Organ Transplantation and the Phenomenology of Embodiment
Keywords: Disability Studies
Embodiment
Medical Sociology
Organ Transplantation
Sociology of Culture

This dissertation examines phenomenological embodiment via an analysis of the experiences of solid organ transplant recipients. Attending to breakdown at the level of the body, I show that embodiment is a duality made up of (a) an actor’s set of “embodiment knowledge,” developed via practical activity throughout the lifecourse and (b) the flesh and blood of their physical body. Chapter two deploys this understanding of embodiment to improve our understanding of the illness experience. Specifically, I demonstrate how thinking about illness from the perspective of phenomenological embodiment clarifies the existing literature on the illness experience and provides a coherent, generalizable framework with which to understand the subjective experience of illness. Chapter three examines bodily breakdown in the context of transplant institutions, and shows that breakdown at the level of the body provokes a situation that facilitates the discursive construction of the body in the image of biomedicine. Chapter four attends to the experience of rehabilitation after transplant surgery. In this chapter, I show that embodiment is not a discrete phenomenon (as it is generally understood in contemporary sociological theory). Rather, embodiment is best understood as being made up of distinct but overlapping phenomenological layers. Chapters two-four of this dissertation are presented as stand-alone articles.
Predictors of and Reasons for Early Discharge from an Inpatient Withdrawal Management Service
Keywords: addiction
against medical advice
early discharge
inpatient
substance use disorder
withdrawal management

Early discharges, also known as against medical advice discharges, are a significant concern in inpatient withdrawal management settings. Early discharges are associated with negative outcomes for patients and are costly for the healthcare system. A recent scoping review found gaps in the literature regarding patient perspectives, and a lack of research exploring predictors of early discharge according to demographic factors such as sex or gender which are known to influence healthcare experiences. It is vital to advance our understanding of patient perceptions of early discharges and what may predict them in order to prevent early discharges from occurring.The aim of this research was to investigate possible predictors of early discharge and patient experiences of early discharge from an inpatient withdrawal management service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This aim was accomplished using 2 studies. A retrospective cohort study using administrative health data was conducted to examine independent predictors of early discharge among patients admitted to an inpatient withdrawal management service between 2016 and 2020. Sex-stratified analyses using logistic regression and generalized estimating equations revealed that weekends and younger age were the strongest predictors of early discharge for both males and females. Among females only, being part of an ethnic minority group predicted early discharge. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore patient perceptions of precipitants and processes related to early discharge. Thirteen people who had recently experienced an early discharge participated in the study and reported that precipitants to early discharge included external pressures, concerns about COVID-19, and dissatisfaction. Participants also described hitting a wall or reaching a breaking point prior to early discharge. Further, they often described difficult conversations about their desire to leave early and had mixed perceptions of their early discharge experience. This research demonstrates that there may be opportunities to prevent early discharges by responding to sources of dissatisfaction and exploring contributing factors during high-risk times such as weekends. Further, this research indicates that patient experiences could be improved by modifying processes associated with early discharge when they cannot be prevented.
How Approaches to Value Creation, Appropriation, and Distribution by Private-sector Organizations Address the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
Keywords: Climate Change
Global South
Mixed Methods
New Stakeholder Theory
Poverty and Inequality
Sustainable Development Goals

This dissertation investigates how organizational approaches to value creation, appropriation, and distribution affect the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). My objective is to contribute to strategic management theory by showing how organizational governance and design influence the achievement of socioenvironmental objectives.The first core chapter investigates how e-commerce firms operate in disadvantaged urban communities. The study argues that spatial inequalities are associated with socioeconomic disparities experienced by disenfranchised consumers living in Brazilian favelas (urban slums). E-commerce firms make fewer products available and charge higher delivery prices to customers inside Brazilian favelas than they do to customers immediately outside favelas, despite the absence of infrastructure impediments at the favela borders. This phenomenological chapter investigates firm heterogeneity in these practices. The second core chapter of my dissertation (authored jointly with my doctoral supervisor, Professor Anita M. McGahan) investigates how firms design incentives compatible with environmental protection. The new institutional economics identifies the challenges of governing common-pool resources and the difficulties of internalizing environmental externalities into regular market transactions. New stakeholder management theory suggests that firms may avoid the tragedy of the commons by aligning incentives with critical proximate stakeholders. This chapter integrates and evaluates these theoretical claims by analyzing the activities of Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics company, regarding Amazon rainforest preservation. The third core chapter of my dissertation investigates the unintended consequences of efforts to enfranchise low-income favela dwellers into the labor market. This research contributes to the management literature by showing that, while interventions designed for enfranchisement may effectively achieve targeted economic outcomes, they paradoxically may lead participants into discriminatory systems where they are stigmatized on the exact same characteristics of their prior disenfranchisement. The SDGs were developed in 2015 through widespread consultation across countries, governments, private-sector leaders, expert scholars, and other stakeholders in the global community. These goals set an agenda for addressing the most pressing and important problems of the 21st century. The central contribution to knowledge of this dissertation is to identify the theoretical and phenomenological implications of this agenda in three empirical settings where these problems are particularly acute and compelling.
Instructor Goals and Practices related to STSE (Science, Technology, Society and the Environment) in the Teaching of Undergraduate Engineering Students
Keywords: Engineering
Higher Education
STSE
Teaching

Given the role of science and technology in creating and mitigating our society’s biggest challenges, undergraduate engineering programs must build in opportunities for students to explore the complex relationship between science and technology, encourage citizenship and action on critical social issues, and consider the impact of engineering’s work on society and the environment– the hallmarks of STSE (Science, Technology, Society and the Environment) education. The goal of this research was to explore instructor teaching goals and practices, and more specifically their goals and practices related to the use of STSE perspectives in their own teaching of undergraduate engineering students. The study also sought to identify the challenges and enabling factors that engineering instructors experience in utilizing STSE-related practices. This study employed an online survey with 180 participants at four universities in Ontario, designed to provide an initial understanding and broad overview of STSE in the context of engineering education. Following the survey, 12 instructors who had completed the survey were interviewed, to help provide a deeper understanding of instructor goals and practices related to their teaching and teacher identity, and the relationship between their teaching goals and practices and an existing STSE theoretical framework. The study draws from the literature on K-12 STSE education, teaching in higher education, instructor views of teaching engineering, and STSE-related practices and philosophies in engineering education. The study found that engineering instructors employ a diversity of goals and practices in their teaching, and demonstrate a strong bend towards real-world applications. Instructors demonstrated moderate support for STSE, with a strong orientation towards problem solving and design, but shared concerns about exploring issues of social justice and fairness and the possibility of imposing bias on students. This is reflective of work in engineering education that highlights the historically apolitical nature of engineering and its resonance in undergraduate engineering programs. Finally, a reframing of STSE is offered to acknowledge the role of problem solving alongside a more holistic issues-based exploration in engineering, which aligns with recent work on sociotechnical thinking and social responsibility in engineering education.
The Prevalence of Depression and Its Impact on Employment Earnings among Canadian Labor Force Participants
Keywords: Canada
Depression
Epidemiology
Labor Force
Longitudinal Analysis
MDE

Depression is among the largest health capital threats to Canada’s labor force population. It is unclear how depression prevalence has been behaving over time among the Canadian working-age population, and its impact on and co-occurrence with labor market outcomes, such as employment earnings. In this dissertation, I quantify trends in major depressive episode (MDE) prevalence among various segments of the Canadian labor force and determine how experiencing depression influences employment earnings trajectories over the working life. My first study employed a cross-sectional time series methodology to quantify the trend in the prevalence of annual MDEs among different segments of the Canadian labor force from 2000 to 2016. Findings suggest that prevalence of annual MDEs was stable between 2000 and 2016; average prevalence of annual MDEs over this period was roughly double that among those unemployed or not participating in the labor force compared to those who were employed. My second study linked annual administrative tax records to population health data to determine how experiencing a MDE influences employment earnings over the subsequent decade among working-aged Canadian men and women. Using a propensity score-matched cohort design and longitudinal multi-level modeling, results suggested a crude, cumulative ten-year earnings loss of ~$71,000 CAD for working-aged women and ~$115,000 for working-aged men who experienced a MDE. My last study employed parallel latent growth modeling to quantify the number of concurrent trajectories of depression-related mental health and employment earnings over a 19-year period. The study examined an American cohort entering the labor force in 1997, followed until 2017. Four latent classes were uncovered: one class with stable poor mental health and the lowest earnings (~$32,000 USD in 2017), and three classes with stable positive mental health and earnings ranging from ~$39,500 to $196,000 in 2017. Being a woman, Black or Hispanic, poor adolescent socioeconomic status, adolescent marijuana use, and overweight body weight in 1997 was associated with higher odds of belonging to the poor mental health, lowest earnings class. Taken together, this dissertation highlights the persistent nature of depression prevalence and its longstanding impact on earnings among labor force participants over the past 20 years.
Mental Health in Canadian Elite Sport
Keywords: athlete mental health
athlete well-being
high-performance sport
Olympic athlete
Paralympic athlete
sport organization

Research on mental health has flourished in recent years (e.g., Vella et al., 2021), however, much of the research in this area has relied on cross-sectional designs, and there is limited work studying mental disorder among Canadian athletes. Research is also needed to understand the effect that Canadian sport environments can have on athletes’ mental health. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the mental health experiences of elite Canadian athletes. Studies One and Two evaluated the prevalence of symptoms of mental disorders (depression, anxiety, and eating disorders) among elite Canadian athletes, and explored how athletes’ symptoms of mental disorders changed over the course of a pandemic year. Data were collected through surveys that were completed at four times by elite Canadian athletes (ntime1 = 186, ntime2 = 142, ntime3 = 123, ntime4 = 108). Study One relied on data from time one, while Study Two relied on data from all four time points. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, and latent growth modeling. Symptoms of mental disorder were very prevalent among this population at baseline (~40%), and did not change over time. Stress and training load were correlated with symptoms of disorder, and there were some differences in the prevalence and changes in disorder symptomology over time between men and women. The purpose of Study Three was to understand how elite sport training environments in Canada impact the mental health of the athletes who train within them. Thirty-two Canadian athletes participated in one semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Sport environments played a role in athletes’ perceptions of stigma and their willingness to seek help which impacted their overall mental health experiences. Together, these studies provide a more complete picture of Canadian athletes’ mental health and may inform interventions and policies designed to support athlete mental health.
Power Corrections and Rapidity Logarithms in Soft-collinear Effective Theory
Keywords: Effective Field Theories
Hadron Scattering
Jet Physics
Particle Physics
Resummation
Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

In this thesis a recent formulation of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory is used to study power corrections to collider observables. The techniques and concepts developed here are primarily demonstrated in the context of the Drell-Yan process, but are also broadly applicable in processes involving high-energy collimated colored particles. First, we make progress towards the resummation of power-suppressed logarithms in processes which involve the hard interaction of two jets. We identify and compute the anomalous dimensions of all the operators that contribute to two-sector processes at $O(1/q^2)$. These anomalous dimensions are necessary to resum hard processes at next-to-leading power, although an additional observable-dependent step of matching and running is necessary to complete the full resummation. We also demonstrate how the overlap subtraction prescription for loops extends to these subleading operators. Next, we study the origin of rapidity logarithms using a formulation of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory in which infrared degrees of freedom are not explicitly separated into modes. We consider the Sudakov form factor with a massive vector boson and Drell-Yan production of lepton pairs at small transverse momentum as demonstrative examples. We find that rapidity divergences introduce a scheme dependence into the effective theory and are associated with large logarithms appearing in the soft matching conditions. This scheme dependence may be used to derive corresponding rapidity renormalization group equations. Finally, we examine the Drell-Yan process at next-to-leading power, where we derive a factorization of the differential cross section in the small-$q_T$ hierarchy with $q^2\gg q_T^2\gg\Lambda_{\mathrm{QCD}}^2$. We show that the cross section may be written in terms of matrix elements of power-suppressed operator products which contribute to $O(q_T^2/q^2)$ coefficients of the usual parton distribution functions. The factorization formula allows power-suppressed logarithms in each of the relevant factors to be resummed. We discuss the cancellation of rapidity divergences and the overlap subtractions required to eliminate double counting at next-to-leading power.
Bioengineering Functional Grafts for Tracheal Regeneration
Keywords: Airway Grafts
Biomaterials
Bioreactor
iPSC
Tissue Engineering
Trachea

Long-segment tracheal obstruction and malignancy lead to a poor prognosis for patients, for which tracheal transplantation is the only definitive treatment option. Tracheal transplants primarily fail due to lack of tracheal function as well as immune rejection, both of which are attributed to the tracheal epithelium. Tracheal tissue engineering approaches developed till date do not promote epithelial maturation, leading to graft failure. Therefore, to meet this clinical need, we developed two approaches for producing functional tracheal grafts: 1) in vitro generation of fully differentiated biomaterials-based epithelial grafts for application in airway defects and 2) ex vivo generation of long-segment tracheae, with a functional epithelium, in a bioreactor. For the first approach, we defined quantitative selection criteria for engineering airway grafts using biomaterials. Based on these criteria, we developed a composite biomaterial of Silk Fibroin and Collagen Vitrigel Membrane (SF-CVM) that allowed epithelial maturation of primary airway progenitors and provided mechanical stability for surgical manipulation. Primary airway progenitors are limited in their ability to expand and differentiate reliably, therefore we generated airway progenitors using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-APs) for both of our approaches. We differentiated hiPSC-APs on SF-CVM grafts towards functional ciliated and goblet cells. We further demonstrated their successful integration and viability in a pig airway defect survival model. For the second approach, we repopulated long-segment de-epithelialized pig tracheae with hiPSC-APs in a perfusion-based bioreactor. The resulting grafts exhibited uniform attachment of hiPSC-APs and their differentiation into a pseudostratified epithelium with goblet cells. Overall, we achieved pre-clinical application of hiPSC-derived airway grafts. We also advanced the field of tracheal tissue engineering by developing mature hiPSC-derived long-segment tracheal grafts ex vivo. Our tissue-engineered approaches hold immense promise for fabricating recipient-derived tracheal grafts, which will not only evade immune rejection but also provide organ functionality, and therefore significantly enhance the viability of tracheal transplants.