VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Clinical Outcomes and Capacity to Consent to Electroconvulsive Therapy in Patients with Schizophrenia and Patient Experience with Legally Mandated Treatment
Keywords: Electroconvulsive Therapy
Legally Mandated Treatment
Schizophrenia

Background: Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating psychiatric illnesses and affects 1% of people globally. Objectives: To evaluate the experiences of patients with schizophrenia who were legally mandated to treatment. To evaluate the clinical outcomes for incapable and capable patients with schizophrenia who were treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Methods: For the first objective, we searched 4 electronic bibliographic databases and completed a systematic review of qualitative studies. For the second objective, we completed a chart review of all inpatients with schizophrenia who were treated with at least one acute course of ECT. Results: Patients who were legally mandated to receive treatment reported both positive and negative experiences. Incapable and capable patients experienced treatment response with limited cognitive impairment. Conclusions: Addressing patients’ concerns could lead to better attitudes towards legally mandated treatment. ECT appears to be a safe and effective procedure regardless of capacity status.
Effect of Cognitively Engaging Physical Activity on Executive Functions in Children
Keywords: children
cognition
executive functions
physical activity

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether cognitively engaging physical activity (PA) impacts executive functions (EFs), and whether affect and fitness mediate or moderate this relationship. A randomized controlled trial was utilized to assess changes in EFs following a 20-minute Dual Task, PA Task, or Cognitive Task. EFs were assessed using the Stroop Task, Trail Making Task, and Forward Working Memory Task. 38 children (Mage=11.95 years, SD=0.49) participated. Repeated measures ANOVA showed significant main effects for time on inhibition scores (p
Latent Modelling of Urban Data: Enriching Computational Analysis in Urban Studies by Applying Novel Methods
Keywords: Computational Sociology
Latent Methods
Machine Learning
Mixed Integer Linear Programming
Representation Learning
Urban Studies

Within Urban Studies, increasing appetite for computational analysis has produced research reliant on a limited set of methods. This has resulted in a lack of exploration of newer methods which may be applicable. These methods restrict the scope of research by failing to consider nuance which can be modeled in contemporary methods. Here we look to demonstrate how latent variable models empower the field to draw nuanced conclusions from big data. First, we show that New York City income can be better predicted with a supervised latent variable model than with existing techniques. Second, we show that information about neighbourhood change can be extracted from social media data using latent embeddings. Finally, we present a method for learning disentangled embeddings for big data. The success of latent variable models in all of these applications demonstrates how the study of urban change can expand in scope by employing more nuanced approaches.
Brain Protection for Aortic Arch Surgery: A Randomized Trial of Axillary Versus Innominate Artery Cannulation – The ACE CardioLink-3 Trial
Keywords: aortic surgery
axillary artery
cognitive dysfunction
diffusion weighted MRI
innominate artery
neuronal biomarkers

Neuroprotection remains the cornerstone of successful aortic surgery however there is no consensus as to the optimal strategy. We compared the safety and efficacy of innominate to axillary artery cannulation for delivering antegrade cerebral protection (ACP) during proximal aortic arch surgery. This randomized study allocated 111 individuals to either innominate or axillary cannulation. The primary safety outcome was the appearance of new severe ischemic lesions on the postoperative compared with the preoperative diffusion-weighted (DW)- MRI. The primary efficacy outcome was the between-groups difference in total operative time. 102 individuals were included in the primary safety analysis. New severe ischemic lesions occurred in 19 participants (38.8%) in the axillary vs. 18 (34%) in the innominate group (p for non-inferiority = 0.0009). Total operative times were comparable (p for superiority = 0.47). Our DW-MRI assessments indicate that ACP with innominate cannulation is safe and affords similar neuroprotection to axillary cannulation during aortic surgery.
Biocompatibility of Poly-3-amino-4-methoxybenzoic Acid-Gelatin Hydrogel as a Novel Therapy for Cardiac Arrhythmia
Keywords: arrhythmia
biomaterial
cardiology
conductive
polymer
toxicity

After myocardial infarction, the nonconductive nature of fibrotic tissue results in ventricular dysfunction by electrically uncoupling the remaining viable cardiomyocytes in the scar region. The uneven conductive properties between normal myocardium and scar tissue may result in arrhythmias leading to sudden cardiac death or heart failure. Our laboratory has synthesized a conductive biomaterial polymer, poly-3-amino-4-methoxybenzoic acid-gelatin (PAMB-G), that can re-synchronize myocardial contraction in vivo. To evaluate the potential of PAMB-G for clinical application, its toxicity must be assessed. I found that PAMB-G was non-cytotoxic to cardiomyocytes and stem cells. The therapeutic dose of PAMB-G was below biomaterial’s no-observed-adverse-effect-level. The infarct rat hearts injected with PAMB-G have similar toxicity parameters (body weight, organ-brain ratios, hematologic parameters, serum parameters, and histology) compared to those injected with saline up to 3 months. PAMB-G did not result in any reproductive toxicity. In conclusion, PAMB-G is a non-toxic conductive biomaterial that should proceed to clinical evaluation for patients with desynchronized contraction.
Modelling Guided Attention using Learned Target-category Associations
Keywords: Attention
Attentional guidance
Computational modeling
Learning
Scene perception
Visual perception

In addition to saliency and goal-based factors, a scene’s semantic content has been shown to guide attention in visual search tasks. Here, we ask if this rapidly available guidance signal can be leveraged to learn new attentional strategies. In two variants of the scene preview paradigm (Castelhano Heaven, 2010), participants searched for targets embedded in real-world scenes with target locations linked to scene gist. In one experiment, we found that activating gist with scene previews significantly increased search efficiency in a manner consistent with formal theories of skill acquisition. In the second experiment, search efficiency significantly increased across the experiment; however, this learning effect did not differ between preview condition. Results from a computational model suggest that, when preview information is useful, stimulus features may amplify the similarities and differences between exemplars.
Assessing the Impact of Curing on Chloride Penetration Resistance of the Concrete Cover Zone
Keywords: Chloride Penetration
Concrete Cover
Differential Hydration
Electrical Resistivity
Performance Test
Sorptivity

There is a lack of rapid test methods for accurately assessing the impact of curing on the differential hydration through the depth of the concrete cover as well as the impact on chloride penetration resistance. In the absence of adequate performance assessment tools, prescriptive curing specifications have been adopted for concretes exposed to chlorides and other exposures, such as in CSA A23.1-19. There is a desire to switch to a performance specifications for curing, particularly by the precast concrete industry, that could be used to assess the impact of using of accelerated heat curing methods widely used to obtain high early-strength gain and maturity. Two methods are presented and evaluated in this thesis. The first involves proling the initial rate of absorption of a sodium chloride solution. The second makes use of embedded arrays of electrodes to map the formation factor with depth, enabling a multi-mechanistic approach to the problem.
Distinct CSF1 Microenvironments Maintain Monocytes within a Perivascular Bone Marrow Niche
Keywords: bone-marrow
CSF1
microenvironment
monocyte
niche

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells reside within specialized niches. Colony stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) might serve as a monocyte niche factor given its critical role in regulating survival, proliferation, and differentiation of myeloid lineage cells. However, the role of CSF1 in adult monopoiesis and its functionally important cellular sources remain uncertain. Here, we show that conditional deletion of Csf1 in adulthood regulated monocyte abundance independent of its effects on bone development. Bone histology revealed monocytes reside near sinusoidal endothelial cells (ECs) and leptin receptor (Lepr)-expressing perivascular stromal cells. Concomitantly, targeted in vivo deletion of Csf1 from sinusoidal but not arteriolar ECs selectively reduced Ly6Cnegative monocytes in the bone marrow and blood. Combined depletion of Csf1 from both Lepr-expressing perivascular stromal cells and ECs had additive effects, further decreasing classical Ly6Chigh cells. Thus, different monocyte subsets are supported by distinct cellular sources of CSF1 within a perivascular bone marrow niche.
Relationships between 12,13 Metabolites of Linoleic Acid and Cognitive Performance in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Keywords: cognitive decline
executive function
linoleic acid
oxylipins
type 2 diabetes mellitus
verbal memory

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is linked with diabetes-related cognitive decline. Oxylipins are bioactive molecules derived from polyunsaturated free fatty acids. Hydrolysis of cytochrome p450-derived epoxides into diols by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) are of relevant interest due to their involvement in diabetic microvascular disease. Methods: This thesis examines peripheral concentrations of 12,13-species of linoleic acid (LA)-derived oxylipins and associations with cognitive performance in patients with T2DM or prediabetes. Cognition was assessed through multiple cognitive tests evaluating domains including executive function and memory. Serum oxylipin concentrations were measured via ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass-spectrometry. Results: Serum concentrations of 12(13)-EpOME and 12,13-DiHOME were negatively associated with executive function. Serum concentrations of 12(13)-EpOME were also negatively associated with verbal memory. Conclusions: In T2DM, concentrations of 12,13-species of LA-derived oxylipins were negatively associated with cognitive performance, suggesting a possible role in the pathogenesis of diabetes-related cognitive decline.
Towards End-to-end Learning of Monocular Visual-inertial Odometry with an Extended Kalman Filter
Keywords: deep learning
localization
robo-centric EKF
supervised deep learning
visual inertial odometry

Classical visual-inertial fusion relies heavily on manually crafted image processing pipelines, which are prone to failure in situations with rapid motion and texture-less scenes. While end-to-end learning methods show promising results in addressing these limitations, embedding domain knowledge in the form of classical estimation processes within the end-to-end learning architecture has the potential of combining the best of both worlds. In this thesis, we propose the first end-to-end trainable visual-inertial odometry (VIO) algorithm that leverages a robo-centric Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The EKF propagates states through a known inertial measurement unit (IMU) kinematics model and accepts relative pose measurements and uncertainties from a deep network as updates. The system is fully differentiable and can be trained end-to-end through backpropagation. Our method achieves competitive results among state of the art classical and learning based VIO methods on the KITTI dataset.
Identifying Clinical Subtypes of Patients with Post-Concussion Syndrome: Evaluating Brain-Behaviour Relationship with a Computational Approach
Keywords: Concussion
Diffusion Imaging
Machine Learning
Neuropsychiatry
Post-Concussion Syndrome
Resting State fMRI

To better capture the heterogeneity of the symptoms of patients with Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS), we hypothesized that brain changes could be used to separate the patients into clinical subtypes. Subject specific structural and functional connectomes were created based on Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) and Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI), respectively. We identified the structural and functional connectivity differences between the PCS patients (N=83) and the healthy controls (HC, N=13) with a random forest algorithm; then identified subtypes of PCS, using a gaussian mixture model. Based on structural and functional connectivity, we observed 2 subtypes; a sub-group that had similar connectivity and behavioural profiles (i.e. neuropsychiatry, symptoms) as the HCs and a subgroup that showed great deviation from the first subgroup and HCs. Defining PCS subtypes will allow us to move towards precision medicine in PCS patients and a better understanding of the heterogeneity in presentation and recovery.
Metabolism Regulates Phenotype of Inner Annulus Fibrosus Cells Within Tissue Engineered Constructs
Keywords: Biomaterials
Metabolism
Tissue engineering

Previous work has suggested a link between metabolism and inner annulus fibrosus (iAF) cell phenotype; however, tissue engineering approaches rarely consider the impact of cellular metabolism on matrix accumulation. It was hypothesized that growing iAF cells on multi-lamellar scaffolds in a low-glucose medium would activate a signalling pathway that would allow the cells to maintain their phenotype, thereby contributing to a more functionally appropriate ECM. iAF tissues grown in low-glucose maintained their native phenotype and showed activation of the AMPK-PGC-1α-Sox9 signalling axis. Inhibition of PGC-1α led to a loss of the iAF cell phenotype demonstrating a link between phenotype and metabolism. Exogenous ATP and salicylate treatment led to increased tissue accumulation but loss of the iAF phenotype. These studies have provided novel insights into the pathways that regulate the iAF phenotype within tissue engineered constructs, and whose findings may facilitate the identification of the conditions needed for IVD tissue regeneration.
The Role of Career Self-determination Theory in the Retraining Experiences of Professional Immigrants in Canada
Keywords: Career Psychology
Career Self-Determination Theory
Immigrant Professionals
Immigration
Vocational Wellbeing

Professional immigrants come to Canada with valuable skills, education, and hopes for future career success. However, they are often met with barriers to desired employment which impact vocational, physical, and psychological well-being. During the adjustment process, immigrants strive to fulfill basic needs, both physical and psychological in nature. This study explored the role of a recent psychology theory titled career self-determination theory (CSDT) in the retraining experiences of professional immigrants in Canada. Specifically, this study examined how professional immigrants negotiated, fulfilled, and were influenced by, three key determinants in CSDT: career autonomy, career competence, and career relatedness. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, qualitative interviews were analyzed. Results indicated evidence for the key themes posited by CSDT, as well as relevant subthemes, and suggest the importance of need fulfillment within vocational contexts and a consideration of self-determination in career development. Findings provide preliminary theoretical contributions to the CSDT framework and practical implications for supporting professional immigrants.
Mapping Partition: The Cartographic Construction of Pakistan
Keywords: Cartography
Imagined Geographies
Imperialism
Nationalism
Pakistan
Partition

In the summer of 1947, a British barrister who had never before set foot in India used paper maps to sketch out the lines that would lead to its partition. Today, the border he designed is one of the most militarized and surveilled spaces on earth. Thousands of floodlights installed along its perimeter render it visible from space in a bright orange hue, underscoring the power of pencil lines drawn decades ago. In this thesis, I investigate how British and Muslim political interests used cartography to construct, reinforce, and contest ideas of nationhood and statehood during India’s partition; and show how maps can at once be used as tools of colonial intervention and decolonial struggle.
Does Pronoun Resolution Incorporate Antecedent Semantics?
Keywords: eye tracking
philosophy of language
pronoun resolution
psycholinguistics
psychology of language
reference

Pronouns (she, they, ...) are semantically underspecified and convey minimal information about their intended referents. Their interpretation is often described in relation to mental models that encode possible referents. On classic memory reinstatement accounts, this process involves "reactivating" a pronoun’s antecedent. Contemporary work adopts an indexical approach, combining referential interpretation with attentional binding. Here, the pronoun acts as a cue to directly refer to an attentionally restricted candidate. The current study explored a key element of the indexical account, namely whether there is any processing relationship between an antecedent expression’s semantics and a subsequent coreferential pronoun. To assess this, the task involved novel situations where unfolding actions entailed that a previous description for an object was or was not viable at the point when a subsequent pronoun was encountered. The results demonstrate that pronouns have indexical meaning and are not mediated by activating antecedent semantics in memory representations.
A Computer Vision Approach to Analyse Sleep in Infrared Video
Keywords: Computer Vision
Deep Learning
Machine Learning
Obstructive and Central Apnea
Position Detection
Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a respiratory disorder characterized by repetitive interruptions of breathing during sleep. About 10% of the population have sleep apnea. Depending on the presence of breathing effort, respiratory events during sleep are divided into obstructive and central events. The severity of sleep apnea is often associated with sleeping position. Choosing the appropriate treatment relies on identifying types of apneas and detecting sleep positions during apneas. Available diagnosis methods are expensive, need a trained technician to set up, and require attachment of sensors to the user, rendering them inconvenient during sleep. To address these problems, this thesis proposes non-contact computer vision-based algorithms that automatically analyze and track movement on infrared videos to detect sleep position and to differentiate obstructive from central apneas. These algorithms can be used to develop an affordable and easy-to-use home assessment technology that could help physicians choose suitable treatments.
Try Smarter, not Harder: The Role of Exploration in Infant Persistence
Keywords: Cognitive Development
Exploration
Imitation
Infancy
Persistence
Utility Maximization

The ability to persist through difficulty is central to learning. However, effort is costly and limited, requiring humans to be scrupulous in their deployment of effort. While repetitive engagement in unsuccessful behaviours may lead to disengagement, exploration may present the promise of success and information gain as previously untried behaviours are tested. Using post-hoc behavioural coding, we explore how infants distribute their effort across imitative and exploratory behaviours, examining whether infants rationally disengage from unsuccessful behaviours and increase novel behaviours to buffer this disengagement. Indeed, infants spent more time engaged in exploratory behaviours overall, and those individuals who prioritized exploration relative to imitation early in trials stayed engaged for longer overall. Thus, infants do not randomly persist, but rather calibrate to evidence of the utility of their efforts. Further, exploration may play a unique role in persistence by providing new avenues for engagement without utility loss.
High-frequency Oscillations in Children with Epilepsy and Neural Oscillations that Support Attention
Keywords: Attention
Epilepsy
High frequency oscillations
Phase resetting

Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by frequent and recurrent seizures and interictal discharges. Children with epilepsy are known to manifest significant behavioural and psychosocial comorbidities, most commonly attention deficits. The causes of these impairments are poorly understood. Brain regions that generate seizures are known to express high-frequency oscillations (HFOs), but challenges in automated detection of these events hinder efforts to understand how they relate to neurocognitive deficits in children with epilepsy. In this thesis, I first present an HFO detection framework that I validate on multiple published datasets and intracranial recordings from SickKids. Second, the HFO detector is applied to intracranial recordings from children with epilepsy undergoing an attention-demanding task. My findings demonstrate that HFOs are associated with the disruption of attentive behaviour in children. I further show that this may be mediated by impairment of neural oscillations within the anterior cingulate cortex that support attention.
The Quest for Autonomy: Transformations of South Asian Women Immigrants in Canada
Keywords: Autonomy
Feminist standpoint
Immigrant Women
Narrative inquiry
Patriarchy
South Asia

This study explores how South Asian immigrant women in Canada perceive autonomy and the transition of their decision making process after experiencing Canadian post-secondary education. Through using feminist standpoint as a theoretical framework and narrative inquiry as a research approach, the study found out: The prevalence of patriarchy was stronger before immigration. A greater sense of autonomy has been achieved through Canadian educational and professional experience and financial independence. Awareness regarding patriarchy exists among the participants, with evidence of acceptance of patriarchy and resistance towards patriarchy. Greater happiness and confidence are achieved after immigration through sacrifice, struggle, and conformation with evidence of a subdued presence of patriarchy. This study has shown a nuanced way of understanding autonomy. The participants try to find subtle ways of showing their confidence which contributes to the current feminist literature concerning the autonomy of educated South Asian immigrant women.
Age- and Sex-dependent Changes in Fear Memory Expression
Keywords: amygdala
development
early life
fear
memory

Fear learning is essential to survival, and is differentially expressed across our lifetime. Fear memories, while long-lasting and robust, can be attenuated by extinction, which is considerably less effective and can lead to relapse. While extinction in young animals leads to permanent fear erasure, in adult rodents extinction is inefficient, and fear memories tend to resurface. Two key brain areas, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala, are necessary for extinction learning. We investigated spontaneous recovery of auditory fear memory nine days after training in P15, P18, P21, P25 and P30 mice. We found that females exhibit this extinction switch between P21 and P25, whereas males may display an earlier switch between P18 and P21. Our future work will use optogenetics to precisely manipulate the mPFC-BLA circuit involved in fear extinction to determine the exact contribution of this circuit to the switch in extinction learning taking place in early life.