VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Oral Health for Long-term Care Populations: From Pneumonia Pathogenesis to Front-line Oral Care Provision
Keywords: Oral health
Long-term care

Oral health has dramatically improved in most industrialized countries over the latter half of the 20th century. However, profound oral health disparities still exist especially for those most at risk of developing oral diseases and associated systemic consequences such as populations residing in long-term care facilities. Despite the growing body of literature that supports the link between oral microflora and the importance of oral hygiene in limiting the risk of pneumonia development, there are still gaps in our knowledge to effectively manage this risk. The research included in this dissertation sought to further our understanding of oral health and oral care in the context of pneumonia pathogenesis (chapter 3) and, by exploring the perspective of various stakeholders in oral health, we sought to further understand the factors that influence care provision (chapter 5). Additionally, a novel knowledge translation approach was tested to challenge traditional oral care interventions in order to promote improvements in front-line oral care practices (chapter 6). The relationship between oral microflora, oral care and pneumonia was found to be complex. It directs us to consider converging risk factors including a patient’s health status, health behaviours and access to oral care services. Different professional groups were found to possess different definitions of oral health, which influenced both their motivation to provide care as well as their focus of care. Definitions of oral health could also potentially influence the saliency of different types of oral care information to different targeted groups; therefore, this should be considered in developing education and training initiatives aimed at improving the provision of oral care. An appreciative knowledge translation approach was found to be effective in bridging the gap between oral care knowledge and the provision of care. Regardless of the type of intervention chosen, organizations were reported to play a crucial role in promoting oral health and supporting the successful implementation of oral care programs.
Slow Flow of Viscoelastic Fluids Through Fibrous Porous Media
Keywords: mechanical engineering
rheology
fluid mechanics
particle image velocimetry
piv
porous medium
cylinder array
periodic array
viscoelastic flow
creeping flow
slow flow
boger fluids
polymer solutions
fluid elasticity
periodic structures
cylinders

This thesis reports on an experimental study of slow viscoelastic flow through models of fibrous porous media. The models were square arrays of parallel cylinders, with solid volume fractions or ‘solidities’ of 2.5%, 5.0%, and 10%. An initial study using a Newtonian fluid provided a baseline for comparison with results for two Boger fluids, so that the effects of fluid elasticity could be determined. Boger fluids are elastic fluids that have near constant viscosities and can be used in experiments without having to account for shear-thinning effects. The experimental approach involved measurements of pressure loss through the three arrays and interior velocity measurements using particle image velocimetry (PIV). For the Newtonian flows, pressure loss measurements were in good agreement with the analytical predictions of Sangani and Acrivos (1982). PIV measurements showed velocity profiles which were symmetrical and independent of flow rate. Pressure loss measurements for the Boger fluid flows revealed that the onset of elastic effects occurred at a Deborah number of approximately 0.5, for both fluids and the three arrays. Flow resistance data collapsed for the two Boger fluids, and increased with solidity. For all three models, the flow resistance increased monotonically with Deborah number, reaching values up to four times the Newtonian resistance for the 10% model. PIV measurements showed that the transverse velocity profiles for the Newtonian and Boger fluids were the same at Deborah numbers below the elastic onset. Above onset, the profiles became skewed. The skewness, like the flow resistance, was observed to increase with both Deborah number and solidity. In the wake regions between cylinders in a column, periodic flow structures formed in the spanwise direction. The structures were staggered from column to column, consistent with the skewing. As either Deborah number or solidity increased, the flow structures became increasingly three-dimensional, and the stagger became more symmetric. An analysis of fluid stresses reveals that the elastic flow resistance is attributed to additional normal stresses caused by shearing, and not by extension.
Transition Metal Catalysis: Activation of CO2, C–H, and C–O Bonds En Route to Carboxylic Acids, Biaryls, and N-containing Heterocycles
Keywords: organic chemistry
synthesis
transition metal catalysis
carbon dioxide
organozinc reagents
carboxylic acids
nickel
C-H activation
biaryls
palladium
heterocycles
ruthenium
diamines
cyclic peptides
asymmetric hydrogenation
rhodium

Transition metal catalysis is a powerful tool for the construction of biologically active and pharmaceutically relevant architectures. With the challenge of continually depleting resources that this generation of scientists faces, it is becoming increasingly important to develop sustainable technologies for organic synthesis that utilize abundant and renewable feedstocks while minimizing byproduct formation and shortening the length of synthetic sequences by removing unnecessary protecting group manipulations and functionalizations. To this end, we have developed four new methods that transform inexpensive starting materials to valuable products. This dissertation covers the following key areas: 1) activation of CO2 for a mild and functional group tolerant synthesis of carboxylic acids, 2) oxidative twofold C–H bond activations as a strategy toward biaryls, 3) migratory O- to N-rearrangements in pyridines and related heterocycles for the preparation of N-alkylated heterocycles, and 4) asymmetric hydrogenations of cyclic imines and enamines en route to chiral 1,2- and 1,3-diamines and macrocyclic peptides.
Essays in Industrial Organization: Market Performance
Keywords: durable goods monopoly
pharmaceutical company
follow-on drugs
entry deterrence
Industrial Organization
strategic behavior

This thesis consists of three papers. Industries that motivated this analysis range are exclusive clubs (Chapter 1) and pharmaceuticals (Chapters 2 and 3). A common thread is the study of the strategic behavior of monopoly or monopoly-like firms and the implications of such behavior. Chapter 1 studies an “invitation only” strategy for a durable goods monopolist. “Invitation only” functions as a commitment device, enabling the extraction of more profit than the conventional durable goods setting. In addition, the effectiveness of commitment devices in profit-extraction can be compared: each commitment device is modeled as an extra condition in the profit maximization of the general durable goods monopolist, enabling straightforward comparisons across commitment devices. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the effect of patent protection on innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular competition to produce drugs that follow-on from pioneer drug discovery, and any feedback effects on pioneer innovation. Despite the conventional notion, I show that longer patent protection may reduce or distort the incentives of innovation: with longer patents, the increased need of pioneer inventors in deterring the production of follow-on drugs may translate to less profitability for the pioneer inventor. Chapter 2 serves as a background and a literature review for Chapter 3. It explains the multi-stage drug discovery process and the phenomenon of follow-on drugs; it reviews strategic entry deterrence theories and summarizes the behavior of brand-name drug firms in deterring generic entry studied in the literature; it also reviews the optimal patent length and breadth literature. Chapter 3 presents several observed puzzles in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a unified explanation for these puzzles within a strategic entry deterrence model. The central conclusion is that under some general conditions, longer patent life distorts incentives for innovation and lowers research productivity: pioneer research is discouraged relative to follow-on research; inexpensive R&D projects are discouraged, and ceteris paribus expensive projects are favored instead, especially those with large clinical trial costs. Other predictions from the model accord with industry observations, including mid-development cancellations of potential drugs for non-medical reasons and early development of follow-on drugs in large markets.
{Spatial Tactile Feedback Support for Mobile Touch-screen Devices
Keywords: Mobile device
Tactile feedback
Touch screen
User Interface

Mobile touch-screen devices have the capability to accept flexible touch input, and can provide a larger screen than mobile devices with physical buttons. However, many of the user interfaces found in mobile touch-screen devices require visual feedback. This raises a number of user interface challenges. For instance, visually-demanding user interfaces make it difficult for the user to interact with mobile touch-screen devices without looking at the screen---a task the user sometimes wishes to do particularly in a mobile setting. In addition, user interfaces on mobile touch-screen devices are not generally accessible to visually impaired users. Basic tactile feedback (e.g., feedback produced by a single vibration source) can be used to enhance the user experience on mobile touch-screen devices. Unfortunately, this basic tactile feedback often lacks the expressiveness for generating vibration patterns that can be used to convey specific information about the application to the user. However, the availability of richer information accessible through the tactile channel would minimize the visual demand of an application. For example, if the user can perceive which button she is touching on the screen through tactile feedback, she would not need to view the screen, and can instead focus her visual attention towards the primary task (e.g., walking). In this dissertation, I address high visual demand issues found in existing user interfaces on mobile touch-screen devices by using spatial tactile feedback. Spatial tactile feedback means tactile feedback patterns generated in different points of the user's body (the user's fingers and palm in this work). I developed tactile feedback hardware employing multiple vibration motors on the backside of a mobile touch-screen device. These multiple vibration motors can produce various spatial vibration patterns on the user's fingers and palm. I then validated the effects of spatial tactile feedback through three different applications: eyes-free interaction, a map application for visually impaired users, and collaboration support. Findings gained through the series of application-oriented investigations indicate that spatial tactile feedback is a beneficial output modality in mobile touch-screen devices, and can mitigate some visual demand issues.
Microfluidic Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry: Methods and Applications
Keywords: Digital Microfluidics
Mass Spectrometry
Microchannel
Electrospray ionization
Interfaces
matrix assisted laser desorption ionization

Since the introduction of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI), there has been an unprecedented growth of biomolecule analysis using mass spectrometry (MS). One of the most popular applications for mass spectrometry is the field of proteomics, which has emerged as the next scientific challenge in the post-genome era. One critical step in proteomic analysis is sample preparation, a major bottleneck that is attributed to many time consuming and labor-intensive steps involved. Microfluidics can play an important role in proteome sample preparation due to its ability to handle small volumes of sample and reagent, and its capability to integrate multiple processes on a single chip with the potential for high-throughput analysis. However, to utilize microfluidic systems for proteome analysis, an efficient interface between microfluidic chip and mass spectrometry is required. This thesis presents several methods for coupling of microfluidic chips with ESI-MS and MALDIMS. III Three microfluidic-ESI interfaces were developed. The first interface involves fabricating a polymer based microchannel at the rectangular corners of the glass substrates using a single photolithography step. The second interface was build upon the previous interface in which a digital microfluidic platform was integrated with the microchannel in a “top-down” format. The integrated microfluidic system was used for inline quantification of amino acids in dried blood spots that have been processed by digital microfluidics. The third interface was formed by sandwiching a pulled glass capillary emitter between two digital microfluidic substrates. This method is a simpler and more direct coupling of digital microfluidics with ESI-MS as compared to the method used for second interface. Finally, a strategy using a removable plastic “skin” was developed to interface digital microfluidics with MALDI-MS for offline sample analysis. We demonstrated the utility of this format by implementing on-chip protein digestion on immobilized enzyme depots.
Facing the Glass Wall: The Effects of Perceived Characteristics of Career Boundaries on Immigrant Professional Identity Salience and Career Outcomes
Keywords: career boundaries
immigrant

The present study examines the effects of characteristics of perceived career boundaries (permeability, stability, legitimacy) on immigrant professionals’ subjective career outcomes in a longitudinal design. Based on social identity theory framework, I propose a model that examines how immigrant professionals’ perceptions of career boundaries influence two important areas for establishing a satisfying career and successful social integration in Canada: (1) perceptions of career-based success (career satisfaction and career anxiety) and (2) subjective well-being (life satisfaction and regret for immigrating to Canada). I further propose that perceptions of career boundaries act on subjective career outcomes through the quality of employment individuals obtained and the salience of immigrant professional identity. Perceived characteristics were assessed (N = 227) at Time 1, and measures of subjective career outcomes, employment quality, and immigrant professional identity salience were obtained (N = 101) at Time 2, six months later. In addition to the survey study, 12 immigrant professionals were interviewed for an in-depth understanding of the career experiences of immigrant professionals and immigrant professional identity salience. The longitudinal design of the study provides support for the temporal dimension of perceived characteristics; immigrant professionals’ initial perceptions about the career boundaries still predicted their beliefs about career-based success and subjective well-being six months later. Also, the findings provided some support for the mediating effects of employment quality and immigrant professional identity salience on the relationship between perceived characteristics and subjective career outcomes. This study sheds light on the relationship between the perceptions formed by immigrant professionals of the obstacles that they face in integrating into their new labour market, the employment decisions they take, and the impact this has on their sense of career and life well-being. It also reveals the way in which subjects invoke the intersectional identity of “immigrant professional” as a result of their experiences, and of the effect that this has on them. The findings can inform the practice of the various parties assisting the integration of immigrant professionals into the workforce, an ever-growing and not well-understood group of workers that populate many of today’s workplaces.
Process Evaluation of the Evidence-based Practice Identification and Change Intervention to Improve Neonatal Pain Practices
Keywords: process evaluation, intervention fidelity, Evidence-Based Practice Identification and Change intervention, measurement, content validity, construct validity, knowledge translation, infants, pain

Pain management in hospitalized infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit continues to be substandard despite the development and availability of evidence-based guidelines. The Evidence-based Practice Identification and Change (Lee et al., 2009) strategy is a multifaceted tailored intervention that has been used to promote evidence-based practice. However, the process of delivering the components of the intervention is not well understood and no valid measure for evaluating the fidelity of intervention implementation exists. The overall objective was to develop and determine the face validity, content validity, construct validity, feasibility, and clinical utility of the Process Evaluation Checklist. Three prospective studies were conducted. In Study 1, the face and content validity of the Process Evaluation Checklist was determined. In Study 2, the construct validity of the Process Evaluation Checklist was examined by assessing the fidelity of implementing the Evidence-based Practice Identification and Change intervention in a clinical setting. In Study 3, the feasibility and clinical utility of the Process Evaluation Checklist was determined. Overall, the face and content validity of the Process Evaluation Checklist was achieved. The intervention was implemented with high fidelity, supporting the construct validity of the measure. A Research Practice Council, with assistance from an external facilitator and internal facilitators, implemented multifaceted knowledge translation strategies in the form of constant reminders to improve sucrose administration practices. Post intervention admission orders were significantly more likely to include sucrose, and odds of being administered sucrose were 13 times greater compared to baseline. Beginning support was provided for the content and construct validity, feasibility, and clinical utility of the Process Evaluation Checklist for use with complex interventions. Using this measure to monitor intervention fidelity in different contexts and with different users over longer periods of time will provide additional support to the validity of the Process Evaluation Checklist.
Interface Plasmon Polariton Waveguides and Sensors
Keywords: Plasmonics
Optics
Microfluidic

Consider a nearest neighbour random walk Xn on the d-regular tree Td, where d ≥ 3, conditioned on Xn = X0. This is known as the random walk bridge. We derive Gaussianlike tail bounds for the return probabilities of the random walk bridge on the scale of n1/2. This contrasts with the case of the unconditioned random walk, where Gaussian-like tail bounds exists on the scale of n. We introduce the notion of the infinite bridge, which is known to arise as the distributional limit of the random walk bridge. We also establish some preliminary facts about the infinite bridge. By showing that the Brownian Continuum Random Tree (BCRT) is characterized by its random self-similarity property, we prove that the range of the random walk bridge converges in distribution to the BCRT when rescaled by Cn–1/2 for an appropriate constant C.
Three-dimensional Immobilization of Proteins within Agarose Hydrogels using Two-photon Chemistry
Keywords: 3D patterning
Protein immobilization

Three-dimensional biomolecule patterned hydrogels provide cellular microenvironments that mimic in vivo conditions. We are particularly interested in the fabrication of materials to spatially control stem cell differentiation towards the creation of tissue analogues. To this end, we have designed a 3D protein patterning system where differentiation factors were immobilized within distinct volumes through two-photon chemistry, which provides 3D control since the excitation volume is limited to the focal point of the laser. Agarose hydrogels were modified with 6-bromo-7-hydroxy-coumarin (Bhc) protected amines or thiols, which upon two-photon excitation are deprotected in defined volumes yielding reactive amines or thiols. Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) was immobilized onto agarose-thiol-Bhc through either disulfide bond formation with agarose thiols or the physical interaction between human serum albumin (HSA) and the albumin binding domain (ABD). The use of biological binding pairs also provides mild immobilization conditions, minimizing the risk for bioactivity loss. Similarly, two differentiation factors for retinal stem progenitor cells were simultaneously immobilized: 1) ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF); and 2) N-terminal sonic hedgehog (SHH). Maleimide modified binding proteins, such as maleimide-streptavidin; react with exposed thiols, yielding 3D patterns of covalently immobilized streptavidin in agarose hydrogels. Growth factors are then introduced as fusion proteins with binding domains, such as biotin-CNTF, for complexation and thus 3D immobilization. By combining multiple binding systems with two-photon patterning, we were able to simultaneously 3D immobilize proteins towards the creation biomimetic hydrogels.
Emergent Ordinaries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center: An Ethnography of Extra/Ordinary Encounter
Keywords: Soldiers
United States
Violence
Medical Anthropology
War
Masculinity
Ordinary
War on Terror

Based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation explores the inextricable relationship of the ordinary and extraordinary which characterizes the lives of U.S. soldiers severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and rehabilitating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. in 2007-2008. Living among their fellows and families at Walter Reed, the precariousness which marks injured soldiers’ bodies and lives takes on a feeling of ordinariness. And though these injured soldiers and their families do not quite coalesce into a community, their shared experience of being in common with each other—of sharing Walter Reed’s particular and precarious ordinary—helps make life there bearable. Through a poetics of the extra/ordinary I explore how injured soldiers’ ordinariness bristles against inescapable invocations of patriotic sacrifice; the ways soldiers’ everyday movements are marked by being post-traumatic; and the reconfigurations of intimate social relations and masculinity such experiences occasion and out of which the possibilities and limits of a future life emerge. I show that in this moment of life—one which unfolds in a space saturated with narratives of heroic patriotic sacrifice and histories of war and the remaking of men—ordinariness becomes central to injured soldiers’ current experiences and also to the future selves and social configurations they are oriented towards. I demonstrate how injured soldiers’ lives are also always attached to something that exceeds the ordinary; that they are extra/ordinary. But I argue that such extra/ordinariness is an amplification of life’s less notable uncertainties; that all lives are extra/ordinary. Against the over-determining frames of heroism and trauma within which U.S. soldiers are figured, especially in post-9/11 America, I argue that injured U.S. soldiers’ experiences are neither simply knowable, nor unimaginable but recognizable as specifically tethered to, commensurable with, and distinguished from, more ‘ordinary’ others.