VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Role of Branched Chain Fatty Acids in Cardiometabolic Disorders Underlying Type 2 Diabetes in the PROMISE Cohort
Keywords: Branched chain fatty acid
Cardiometabolic
Diabetes

Various fatty acids are linked with risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), although the branched chain fatty acids (BCFA) are under-investigated. This thesis aimed to (1) systematically review the available literature on the association of BCFAs with cardiometabolic disorders; and (2) investigate the relationship of BCFAs across 4 serum fractions with dietary intake and analyze the longitudinal association between BCFAs and pathophysiological disorders underlying T2DM. Three of the 4 studies identified in our review reported significant inverse associations between circulating BCFAs/monomethyl BCFAs and insulin sensitivity. Correlations between total dairy and BCFAs showcased pool specific results. Our longitudinal analysis documented heterogenous results that were largely modest in magnitude and significance. Most notably, iso15:0 and anteiso15:0 (NEFA) were positively associated with measures of insulin sensitivity while iso14:0 and anteiso14:0 (NEFA) were inversely associated with the same measures. Our findings highlight the need for additional research on BCFAs and their role in cardiometabolic outcomes.
The Effects of USMB Combined with Fractionated Radiation Therapy on Tumour Vasculature and the ASMase-Ceramide Pathway
Keywords: ASMase
Cancer
Ceramide
Microbubbles
Radiation
Ultrasound

Radiation therapy induces damage to tumor cells directly or indirectly via DNA damage, leading to tumor response. Previous studies have indicated that radiation therapy can be enhanced when combined with the vascular targeting effects of ultrasound-stimulated microbubbles (USMB). This USMB radioenhancement occurs via the activation of acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase). Clinical studies are currently looking into implementing USMB alongside radiation therapy to treat cancer patients. The work presented in this thesis determined the effects of fractionated radiation therapy combined with USMB on the tumor vasculature. Mice were divided into 3 categories, ASMase wild type, ASMase double knockout and ASMase wild type treated with sphingosine-1-phosphate. The results demonstrated the enhancement of cell death and reduced vasculature in combination treatments. Power Doppler ultrasound was used to observe vascular changes non-invasively. In conclusion, USMB can induce vascular disruption in an ASMase dependent manner, while enhanced tumor cell death potentially occur independent of ASMase activity.
A Mathematical Model of Promoter Methylation in the Circadian Clock
Keywords: Asymptotic analysis
Bifurcation theory
Circadian biology
Epigenetics
Mathematical biology
Nonlinear dynamics

Recent experiments suggest that DNA methylation plays a role in altering the period of the circadian clock. We add a mechanistic perspective to these findings by showing that DNA methylation contributes to period regulation in a simple mathematical model of the circadian clock. Perturbative analysis reveals that methylation only compresses the period in a certain limit, similar to the experiments that motivated this work. Analysis of a reduced model suggests that methylation regulates the period through a two-step mechanism involving Hopf bifurcations. Our reduced model is similar in structure to a model studied by Kim and Forger. We show how both models can be obtained as approximations of a more detailed model. Finally, we show that methylation may allow the clock to operate with effectively altered parameters for the non-methylated promoter states. Our entire analysis supports the argument that DNA methylation plays an important regulatory role in the circadian clock.
“Next Stop, Sayville”: COVID-19, Precarious Labour, and Queer Memory Work on Fire Island
Keywords: COVID-19
Fire Island
leisure
mental health
precarious labor
safe haven

Grounded within the experience of seasonal workers on Fire Island, New York during the Summer 2020 vacation season, this thesis exists at the intersection of COVID-19, precarious labour, and queer memory work. Examining the impulse toward forgetting held by many community members on the island, the author parses out the concept of “safe havens,” exploring both their value and their limitations – most acutely in relation to 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests. Turning inward, Evans explores the difficulty of embodied research creation amid overwhelming grief and personal loss. Finally, he uses oral history interviews conducted with Fire Island colleagues to position the concepts of recreation, refusal, and reciprocity as integral to an understanding of Fire Island during COVID-19. Through the modalities of oral history and autoethnography, Evans engages in a historiographical project that centres subjects often left out of Fire Island’s storied past and present.
Effects of Mild Corrosion on the Tensile Strength of Reinforced Concrete Specimens with Transverse Cracks
Keywords: Accelerated Corrosion
Corrosion of Steel Reinforcement
Reinforced Concrete
Tension Stiffening

The effect of mild corrosion on the tensile response of reinforced concrete was studied. Ten 700 mm-long specimens were fabricated with varying reinforcement ratios. Transverse cracks were generated on all specimens by uniaxial tension to 0.3% strain. At this stage, lower reinforcement ratios led to higher tension stiffening. Half of the specimens were then placed in a corrosion chamber for eight weeks for accelerated chloride-induced corrosion under a continuous 5 wt.% NaCl solution spray. Subsequent tensile tests on corroded and uncorroded specimens suggested that mild corrosion slightly improved the tension stiffening behaviour, increased the structural capacity by 4.7% to 9.4%, and only slightly reduced stiffness by 2.8% on average. These results imply that timely maintenance at early-stage corrosion can be effective in preventing loss of capacity that further corrosion will undoubtedly cause. Future research will examine the effects of severe corrosion, longitudinal cracks, and simultaneous corrosion and loading.
Examining the Measurement Invariance and Psychometrics of the Drug Abuse Screening Test for Adolescents (DAST-A) in Justice-Involved Youth
Keywords: drug abuse
justice-involved youth
measurement invariance
psychometrics
screening
substance use disorder

Substance abuse can be a risk factor for reoffense and potential rehabilitation barrier for justice-involved youth; to address this need, reliable and valid assessment tools are critical. The psychometric properties of the DAST-A, a well-established drug use survey, have not yet been explored in youth justice samples. We examined the measurement invariance and psychometrics of the DAST-A in 741 (Nfemales=105) justice-involved youth. The tool showed strong internal consistency in the overall sample and subgroups (males, females, White, Black youth; α=.87-.92), and good convergent and concurrent validity. Logistic regression results indicated that, with each unit increase in DAST-A total score, the odds of being diagnosed with a SUD increased by 23% (overall sample; predictive validity). The predictive findings were more robust for White youth compared to Black youth; a different cut-off score was recommended for Black youth as a result. The DAST-A demonstrated configural invariance across groups, supporting a unidimensional structure.
Is Pragmatically Delivered Prehabilitation Cost-effective Compared to Usual Care? A Cost-effectiveness Analysis
Keywords: Cost-effectiveness analysis
Economic evaluation
Health economics
Healthcare quality improvement
Prehabilitation
Preoperative optimization

A significant and growing proportion of major surgeries are undertaken in high-risk patients, where the rate of surgical complications and associated burdens are disproportionately high. Surgical prehabilitation describes the process of increasing physical and psychological reserve prior to surgery to improve postoperative outcomes and reduce the risk of harm. The impetus toward implementing prehabilitation among hospitals has followed burgeoning empirical evidence regarding its safety, feasibility, and efficacy. This thesis investigated the economic merit of prehabilitation to inform the emergent hospital implementation decision-making context. A cost-effectiveness analysis from a hospital perspective was piloted using data from a clinical trial of a pragmatic model of prehabilitation, including three iterations of prehabilitation delivery, for high-risk surgical patients in Ontario, Canada. This work contributed novel, understudied, preliminary insight regarding the economic merit of prehabilitation implementation from a hospital perspective and informed the design of future prehabilitation economics research.
“There are no shadows that cannot be illuminated:” Memory, Museality, and August Sander’s Portraits of Persecuted Jews
Keywords: Ethics
Jewish Studies
Museum Studies
Photography Studies
Visual Studies

This thesis focuses on August Sander’s Portraits of Persecuted Jews and investigates its stakes for memory and memorializing Jewishness through a visual analysis and consideration of the sub-collection’s museological functions. By focusing on Sander’s work, this thesis demonstrates how the Portraits of Persecuted Jews might be seen to contest the National Socialist visual regime, which drew on photography as a means of creating and reinforcing stereotypes of Jewishness—as part of a bureaucratic process with the core objective of elimination. I explore how the Portraits of Persecuted Jews in exhibited, published, and archival form can be used to inform readings of Jewish identity and Holocaust history—to ask how these interpretations are read when considered en masse. By focusing on representations of the face, embodiment, and the relationship between singularity and the collective—I contend that Sander’s portraits centre humanization above all else.
Advancing a Safeguarding Culture in Sport: Sports Journalists' Coverage of Athletic Abuse, Harrassment and Discrimination
Keywords: Athletes
Equity-deserving
Maltreatment
Safe Sport
Safeguarding Culture
Sports Journalism

Sports journalists play a key role in making issues visible and mobilizing discussion through their coverage. The purpose of this thesis was to explore how sports journalists’ coverage of athlete maltreatment could advance a safeguarding culture in sport. A qualitative constructionist approach guided semi-structured interviews with 12 sports journalists and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three main themes were generated: journalistic implications of social justice orientations in sport and society, safeguarding people and their stories and journalistic outlooks on advancing a safeguarding culture. Findings position sports journalists as safeguarding agents given how they construct their role in relation to values-based strategies and in alignment with the proactive, coordinated, multi-agency approach needed to advance a safeguarding culture in sport. Applied recommendations for stakeholders across sport and journalism, and directions for future research across both areas are discussed.
Application of Tabulated Chemistry to Laminar Co-flow Diffusion Flames at Atmospheric and Elevated Pressures
Keywords: chemistry
computation
tabulated

Numerical simulations of combustion can be very computationally expensive, particularly when combustion of the complex fuels frequently found in aircraft gas turbine engines is considered. The large chemical mechanisms required to simulate flames involving these fuels become computationally prohibitive when realistic combustion conditions are used. In order to render these simulations tractable, this thesis investigates chemistry tabulation techniques, which have the potential to significantly reduce the computational costs of simulating reacting flows. In this thesis, four different tabulation techniques will be assessed by applying the methods to the prediction of steady, laminar, co-flowflames. The tabulation techniques considered are the flame prolongation of intrinsic low dimensional manifold (FPI) method, the steady laminar flamelet method (SLFM), the flamelet/progress variable (FPV) method, and the radiative flame prolongation of intrinsic low dimensional manifold (RFPI) method. These techniques are all applied to ethylene flames at atmospheric pressure, methane flames at 5 atm and 10 atm, and Jet A surrogate flames at atmospheric pressure. The results are compared to those obtained for the same case obtained using detailed chemistry, both with and without low-Mach preconditioning. This comparison facilitates the discussion of the relative merits of the tabulation techniques in relation to each other and to detailed chemistry.
200GS/s Analog to Digital Converter Frontend in SiGe BiCMOS
Keywords: ADC
BiCMOS
Frontend
Switched Emitter Follower
THA

This thesis investigates time-interleaved analog to digital converter front end circuits for use in next-generation fiber optic receivers capable of 200 GS/s with analog bandwidths reaching up to the Nyquist frequency. Measurements were conducted on an existing time-interleaved ADC front end which displayed record-breaking performance while sampling at 200 GS/s. A full four-way 200GS/s time-interleaved ADC front end employing a novel architecture was designed and fabricated in a 55nm SiGe BiCMOS process technology. The constituent track and hold amplifier was measured and achieved a record-breaking 101 GHz of track mode bandwidth. Finally, a 60GHz digitally-controlled oscillator was also designed and fabricated in 22nm FDSOI-CMOS technology with the goal of producing on-chip high-frequency clock signals to enable a full time- interleaved ADC front end system on chip.
Semidirect Products of ∞–Operads
Keywords: higher category
infinity-operad
operad
product
semidirect
straightening

We provide a construction of an ∞–operad from a functor BG −> Op ∞ encoding the action of a group G on a given unital ∞–operad whose underlying ∞–category is a Kan complex. This construction, restricted to classical operads in Set viewed as ∞–operads, coincides with the semidirect product construction. Taking this as the definition of semidirect product of ∞–operads, we show that the action of G on the given ∞–operad is equivalent to the trivial action if and only if the corresponding semidirect products are equivalent. We then outline how one might generalize this result to operads in Top and use this to show that the semidirect product of the real version of the little n–disks operad with SO(n − 1) or SO(n − 2) for n even or odd respectively corresponding to the usual action is equivalent to the semidirect product corresponding to the trivial action.
The Impact of Long-term Glycemic Control on the Autonomic Nervous System in Healthy Individuals
Keywords: autonomic nervous system
glycemic control
heart rate variability
resting-state functional connectivity

High blood glucose in patients with diabetes has profound impacts on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the brain. However, the relationship between blood glucose and the nervous system in healthy individuals is unclear. This thesis aims to understand the relationships amongst glycemia, the ANS, and brain function. Glycemia was indexed by glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), ANS function was assessed through heart rate variability (HRV), and brain function was assessed by functional connectivity on neuroimaging. Higher HbA1c was significantly correlated with lower root-mean-square of successful difference (RMSSD), log-transformed high frequency HRV (log(HF-HRV)), and low frequency HRV (log(LF-HRV)). Higher RMSSD and log(HF-HRV) were also significantly correlated with increased network connectivity in the central autonomic and salience networks. Further, HRV significantly mediated the relationship between HbA1c and functional connectivity in the salience network. These findings suggest the presence of a link between glycemia and the brain through the ANS.
NVCaracal: A Deterministic Database for Non-volatile Main Memory
Keywords: database

Deterministic databases provide strong serializability while avoiding concurrency-control related aborts by establishing a serial ordering of transactions before their execution. Recent work has shown that they can also handle skewed and contended workloads effectively. These properties are achieved by batching transactions in epochs and then executing the transactions within an epoch concurrently and deterministically. However, the predetermined ordering leads to long-latency transactions having a more significant performance impact on these databases. As a result, they have mainly been designed as main-memory databases, which limits the size of the datasets that can be supported. We design a deterministic database for non-volatile main memory (NVMM) called NVCaracal that supports larger-than-DRAM datasets and fast failure recovery. We minimize the performance impact of NVMM's higher latency compared to DRAM by exploiting NVMM's byte addressability and the batching mechanism used in deterministic databases. Our evaluation shows that NVCaracal achieves up to 79% of DRAM performance.
Wilderness Search for Lost Persons Using an Aerial-Terrestrial Multimodal Robot Team
Keywords: hybrid robots
multimodal robots
wilderness search and rescue

This Thesis considers the use of a team of multimodal robots capable of switching between aerial and terrestrial locomotion modes in wilderness search and rescue. It presents a novel search planning method that coordinates the robots to maximize the probability of locating a mobile target in the wilderness, potentially, last seen on an a priori known hiking trail. It has two major components: (i) target-motion prediction, and (ii) probability-guided multimodal robot search-trajectory generation. In the former subproblem, the formulation of 3D probability curves captures target distributions under the influence of a priori known trails. In the latter, the use of a tree structure represents decisions involved in multimodal probability-curve-guided search planning, which enables simultaneous optimization of trajectory generation and mode selection. Through simulations, it has been demonstrated that multimodal robotic search teams, coordinated via the trajectory planning method presented, clearly outperform their unimodal counterparts in terms of search success rates.
The Need for Shared Health Governance, Mutual Collective Accountability, and Transparency in COVAX
Keywords: Accountability
COVAX
COVID-19
Governance
Transparency
Vaccines

This study addressed the question: to what extent does COVAX employ shared health governance, mutual collective accountability, and transparency? We conducted a multi-method qualitative study triangulating document analysis and key informant interviews. Data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results demonstrate that each of COVAX’s co-convening organizations are governed by and formally accountable to their individual boards. This structure for accountability, however, is ineffective when decisions are made collaboratively. As a result, most effective accountability for COVAX comes from informal accountability mechanisms such as media scrutiny. Furthermore, COVAX lacks transparency and has not achieved its goals to date. These results demonstrate that COVAX does not employ shared health governance or mutual collective accountability. These results also illuminate barriers to successful global collaboration and contribute to the literature about the roles of good governance, transparency, and accountability in global health initiatives.
PR-MRC: MRC Construction using Non-statistical Sampling
Keywords: Cache
Miss ratio curve
Phase detection
Sampling

Miss ratio curves (MRCs) play an important role for visualizing and deciding on an effective cache size for a given workload. Unfortunately, generating exact MRCs require processing and memory overheads that are not practical for online use in production systems. Previous approximate algorithms employ statistical sampling where the set of sampled keys is decided based on satisfying a random sampling condition. We introduce a new approximation algorithm that employs non-statistical sampling where the set of sampled keys is decided based on prior knowledge from previously accessed keys. Our algorithm, called PR-MRC (Pattern Recognition MRC), only updates the MRC when the access pattern is changing. We evaluate PR-MRC using publicly available traces. More than eighty MRCs were generated and compared to the exact MRC. Results show up to 5.5% lower throughput for MRC generation compared to existing approximation algorithms, while achieving improved MRC accuracy.
Multimodal Unsupervised Deep Learning Algorithms for Fall Detection
Keywords: Anomaly Detection
Computer Vision
Deep Learning
Fall Detection
Machine Learning
Video

Falls are one the major cause of both death and injury in people over 65 years of age. Fall detection is critical to minimize the risk that falls pose. Existing methods of fall detection require constant use, invade privacy and/or struggle with practical implementation. This thesis seeks to explore video fall detection as an anomaly detection problem. A novel fall data set is explored to compare multiple modalities from a performance and privacy aspect. Infra-red cameras are found to perform the best, while depth cameras provide the most privacy. Various methods of multi-modal fusion and a novel loss function are explored to improve performance. This method was able to achieve 0.925 AUC ROC and 0.125 AUC PR, improving on individual modalities by 0.03 AUC ROC and 0.05 AUC PR.
Dancing Memory: Exploring the Personal Experience through the Dramaturgy of Movement (and vice vesa)
Keywords: Body-mind relationship
Dance improvisation
Dance narratology
Dancer's body
Physical theatre
Somatic memory

This study focuses on practise as a research approach to act against the critical problem of contemporary performance arts—the commodification of a performer’s body and soul. How can this problem be overcome? The research sees the solution in appealing to personal experience and embodied memories. What role do personal memories play in creating the dramaturgy of movement performance? How can somatic memory be used to restore the dancer's authenticity, values, truths, and spirit? What are the choreographic and dramaturgical practises and approaches to working with bodily memory? This investigation is an exegesis of an artistic work, a dance performance, devoted to the stages of a woman’s life and created with appeal to the personal, familial, and transgenerational experience. The research reveals the topics of improvisation, embodied memories, dance narratology, collaborative creation, and the body- mind relationship, using improvisational movement and reflective conversations as the main methods.
Simulating Behaviour of a Person-following Delivery Robot in Pedestrian Environments
Keywords: Last-mile Delivery
Person-following Robots
Robot Delivery
Robot-Pedestrian Interaction

As e-commerce continues to grow, the demand for fast and efficient last-mile delivery is increasing. Person-following robots are a solution that is now beginning to be deployed to assist foot couriers in performing last-mile delivery tasks in public areas, such as underground pedestrian walkways and malls. Although they have proved their capacity to operate successfully in uncrowded spaces like warehouses, it is still uncertain whether their performance would be satisfactory in crowded, complex environments. This study proposes a simulation approach for evaluating the performance of a commercial person-following delivery robot, EffiBOT, in dynamic pedestrian environments. Laboratory experiments are conducted to understand EffiBOT’s operating characteristics. Based on the empirical observation, a computer simulation model of EffiBOT is developed in the pedestrian simulator MassMotion. The model is calibrated and validated with the experimental data. Lastly, research limitations and recommendations for future work are identified.