VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Resource-Efficient Real-Time Polarization Compensation for MDI-QKD
Keywords: Fibre-based QKD
Polarization encoding
Polarization stabilization
Quantum communication
Quantum cryptography
Quantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution is information-theoretically secure and a promising candidate for security against quantum computers. However, experimental implementations might deviate from assumptions made in the security proofs and leave the system vulnerable. Measurement device-independent QKD (MDI-QKD) scheme closes all the loopholes on the detection side, which is the most susceptible part of QKD. Therefore, the state preparation part of QKD systems becomes the only source of imperfections that needs to be considered in the security proofs of MDI-QKD. We examine our polarization encoding module and how imperfection in its components can affect state preparation. Our experiment demonstrates the feasibility of generating a secure key with imperfect states prepared by off-the-shelf devices. Another practical challenge that we address in implementing fibre-based MDI-QKD is polarization compensation. Polarization variations due to temperature fluctuations and fibre birefringence are inevitable and require polarization stabilization. Before this work, polarization compensation schemes for QKD either reduced the key sharing cycle or required extra equipment, making them less scalable or commercially viable and preventing the wide adaptation of polarization encoding. We propose and implement a novel polarization compensation scheme in the MDI-QKD systems that avoids the abovementioned drawbacks by using part of discarded detections. Our scheme evaluates the polarization drift in real-time based on single measurements corresponding to decoy intensities. We successfully implemented this active polarization compensation for four hours over 40 km of buffered fibre spool without thermal insulation or vibrational isolation. This thesis is a decisive step toward making polarization encoding MDI-QKD practical and secure, paving the way to realizing a polarization encoding MDI-QKD network. Future networks could be hybrid (ground and satellite links), and polarization encoding is a suitable candidate if an efficient stabilization scheme for fibre links is present. To this aim, our novel compensation scheme solely relies on recycling detections and retains a simple structure for a user node so that expanding the network could be feasible in terms of cost and practicality. Also, it does not reduce the key-sharing cycle, which is essential in networks where the detection system is shared, and each user has limited access time.
Drinking in the Sea of Passion: Social Distinction, Public Sentiment, and Chinese Identity, 1680s-1930s
Keywords: alcohol
culinary infrastructure
jiu
literati scholars
popular culture
Qing dynasty

This dissertation delves into the significance of public drinking in late imperial Chinese society and its impact on the values and behavior of educated elites. Using a wide range of primary sources, including legal archives, memorials, cookbooks, literati anthologies, and poetry, I explore the different class-, status-, and gender-based perspectives on alcohol consumption and production. The dissertation specifically focuses on the growth of commercial drinking establishments during the Qing period and argues that the formation of public sentiments and identities was a bottom-up process, which created intricate links of interaction between Chinese elites and commoners. It thus challenges the conventional notion that late imperial popular culture was overwhelmingly based on Confucian scholars’ moral-political values by highlighting the transformative effects of public drinking on elite sensibility, sociability, and knowledge formation. Through five chapters, I examine the ways in which drinking habits and behavior of Chinese commoners influenced the moral-legal propriety, masculinity, femininity, social distinction, and sensibility of scholar-elites. Ultimately, this study reveals the important role of public drinking in shaping Chinese society and culture between the late imperial and Republican periods.
Delineating the Interaction between Liposomes and the Tumour Microenvironment
Keywords: 3D Imaging
Drug delivery
Liposomes
Nanoparticles
Tumour Microenvironment

Cancer nanomedicine offers promising characteristics such as protecting small molecules from early degradation, reducing systemic toxicity and prolonging blood circulation to increase drug accumulation in the tumour. The majority of clinically-approved anti-cancer nanomedicines are lipid-based nanoparticles. Studies have used animal survival graphs and tumour growth curves to identify potential candidates, but it is not obvious which cells within the tumour microenvironment contribute towards their therapeutic effect. The incomplete understanding of lipid nanoparticle behaviour at the cellular-level may have contributed towards the limited number of nanotherapeutic translations into the clinic. In my thesis, I focus on two aspects of nano-bio interaction to better understand how liposomes interact within the tumour microenvironment. First, I conducted an in-depth investigation into how a therapeutic lipid nanoparticle affects the cytodistribution within the tumour microenvironment. This revealed intrinsic properties unique to lipid nanoparticles and the cell types it predominantly impacted. Flow cytometry revealed that Doxil, a liposomal formulation of Doxorubicin, preferentially killed cancer cells, macrophages and neutrophils within a breast cancer tumour model. Immunofluorescent imaging of apoptotic cells, pharmacokinetic study and uptake and cell viability experiments further supported the findings to explain the delay exhibited by Doxil-treated tumours. By identifying cells predominantly killed by Doxil, we can better explain how and why liposomes uniquely cause a tumour growth delay and may guide the design of future nanocarriers against those predominant cell types and prolong the therapeutic effect. Second, I developed a simple tag for the three-dimensional (3D) mapping of liposomes in intact tissues. Prior to this tag, it was not possible to image liposomes in optically-cleared tissues because the typical processing step of rendering tissues transparent removed lipids. This will provide a means to visualize where liposomes distribute, how stable they are and how fast they degrade in vivo within a tumour using 3D imaging. Knowledge established from this thesis has the potential to optimize the design and selection of future formulations to obtain a longer and more responsive therapeutic effect.
Managing Tensions in Equitable Disciplinary Teaching
Keywords: Curriculum design
Disciplinary teaching
Earth Sciences
Equitable teaching
Instructor learning
Multiple case study

As representatives of a discipline and gatekeepers to disciplinary communities, faculty have a powerful role in defining what disciplines are and who has access. In exposing students to disciplinary conventions, instructors may present disciplinary norms as inflexible, which may limit access or make disciplines feel unwelcoming. Students may be faced with reconciling their culture’s ways of knowing with disciplinary ways of knowing, and instructors may face conflicts between preparing students for disciplinary expectations and providing an equitable classroom open to non-dominant ways of knowing and communicating. This multiple case study investigates how faculty think about disciplinary norms and equitable pedagogies, whether tensions arise in their disciplinary teaching, and how they manage those tensions. Findings indicate that tensions created opportunities for reflection and led to changes in teaching indicative of double-loop learning. Departmental tensions suggest a paradigm shift in Earth Science teaching pedagogy, and institutional tensions suggest that the university is undergoing organizational learning. This study also indicates that tensions occurred at multiple levels (individual, departmental, discipline, and institution/university) which has implications for challenges in making learning environments more equitable. Existing and potential approaches for addressing these challenges are discussed.
Determinants of Anishinabeck Infant and Early Childhood Growth Trajectories in Sandy Lake, Ontario
Keywords: Breastfeeding
Growth
Indigenous Health
Infant Feeding
Nutrition

Indigenous ways of knowing and being often focus on the health and wellbeing of future generations. Therefore, the health implications for children of First Nations women, who experience a disproportionate prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) compared to non-First Nations women living in Canada, are a priority. Infants born to women with GDM are more likely to have high birthweights, which may influence growth trajectories throughout childhood. Infant nutrition is a priority within this context, where breastfeeding can mitigate cardiometabolic disease risk. Therefore, as part of the Sandy Lake Health and Diabetes Research Project (SLHDP), a community-based research project with Sandy Lake First Nation, we collected longitudinal height and weight data for infants and children under 6 years of age and maternal and child health factors using questionnaires. With these data we characterized growth trajectories over the first 6 years of life and explored associations between early life factors and growth patterns. We also conducted a scoping review of the qualitative literature, and interviews with caregivers in Sandy Lake, to understand infant feeding experiences of Indigenous caregivers. Weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), and BMI-for-age (BAZ) z-scores were calculated using the World Health Organization (WHO) reference data and plotted using generalized additive models, which demonstrated that Sandy Lake infants and children had z-scores above the WHO reference population. Generalized estimating equations and logistic regression revealed a possible role for high birthweight, caregiver BMI, cigarettes in the home, alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and GDM in subsequent growth patterns. Results of the scoping review and the 26 interviews with 32 caregivers in Sandy Lake emphasized a variety of socioecological factors impacting infant feeding experiences with family and culture playing significant roles. In conclusion, this study is one of the first on Turtle Island (North America) to characterize First Nations infant and child growth and to consider related health and social factors. We identified that infant nutrition is impacted by a variety of factors, highlighting a need for systemic changes that address issues of inadequate income, food and water insecurity, and a lack of cultural safety.
Correlates and Prediction of Generalized Anxiety Disorder from Acoustic and Linguistic Features of Impromptu Speech
Keywords: Anxiety Prediction
Digital Health
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Machine Learning
Mental Health
Natural Language Processing

The diagnosis and tracking of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) require frequent interaction with mental health professionals, but there are not enough professionals to serve the demand. The ability to automatically detect anxiety disorders through samples of speech could be a valuable complement to conventional treatment and provide greater access to it. In this work, we explore acoustic and linguistic features of speech that correlate with anxiety and use those to predict above or below the screening threshold of GAD. A large number of participants (N = 2, 000) participated in a single online study session where they completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) assessment and provided an impromptu speech sample in response to a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Acoustic and linguistic speech features were a-priori selected based on the existing speech and anxiety literature, together with related features. Associations between speech features and anxiety levels were assessed using sex, age, and personal income included as covariates. The amount of speech had the most significant correlation with GAD-7 (r = −0.12; P < .001), indicating that participants with higher anxiety scores spoke less. Linguistic features acquired using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) were also significantly (P < .05) associated with anxiety. Using these acoustic and LIWC features to predict above or below a screening threshold of 10 for GAD, a logistic regression model achieved a mean AUROC = 0.57, SD = 0.03. The mean AUROC increased to 0.62 (SD = 0.03) when demographic information (age, sex, and income) was included indicating the importance of demographics when screening for anxiety disorders. The LIWC linguistic features are based on single-word counts and do not account for the surrounding word context. We attempted the same prediction based on greater context using a transformer-based neural-network model (pre-trained on large textual corpora) and fine-tuned on the speech transcripts. This model, which only uses the textual input, achieved an AUROC value of 0.64. When acoustic, LIWC, and the predicted output of the fine-tuned transformer-based model are combined into one model, the AUROC increased to 0.67 and further increased to 0.68 when demographic information was included. The results suggest that there is a signal of anxiety within such impromptu speech that may be useful as part of a system to screen for anxiety, detect relapse, or monitor treatment.
Feasibility of Skull Base Neuronavigation Using Optical Topographic Imaging Toward Guidance of Human and Robotic Drill Operators
Keywords: Mastoidectomy
Neuronavigation
Optical topographic imaging
Skull base
Target registration error
Temporal bone

Mastoidectomy is a surgical procedure that allows access to critical portions of the skull base in order to treat a broad range of conditions. Mastoidectomy requires enormous precision and focus in order to avoid critical structures such as veins or nerves, and often occurs at the beginning of long, complex skull base operations, leading to cognitive and physical fatigue before some of the most crucial portions of a surgery have occurred. Neuronavigation, the technique of using preoperative imaging and patient anatomy to generate a surgical roadmap, is often used to facilitate safe mastoidectomy in current clinical practice. Optical topographical imaging (OTI) is a form of neuronavigation that uses structured light projected onto the operative surface to facilitate co-registration of 3D space with preoperative imaging. This thesis endeavored to explore whether OTI-assisted neuronavigation could be combined with multi-parameter, realtime data collection of the mechanical parameters of mastoidectomy, with the ultimate goal of developing a platform to be used in the future for robotic mastoidectomy. First, a comprehensive review of the current body of literature surrounding robotic mastoidectomy revealed that previous investigators had not yet quantified the mechanical parameters of mastoidectomy. Our next step was to compare both OTI-assisted and free-hand mastoidectomy, which revealed that OTI-assistance led to shorter procedure times. This set of experiments also demonstrated that OTI navigation was accurate in the skull base, while highlighting room for improvement of the accuracy of OTI navigation. Following this, we used an iterative design approach to develop a platform for multi-parameter, real-time data collection during the drilling. This platform allows for the collection of data ranging from drill tip movement to force magnitude in all three dimensions throughout mastoidectomy. Ultimately, this body of work serves to advance the goal of robotic OTI-assisted mastoidectomy by demonstrating the feasibility of OTI-assisted neuronavigation in the lateral skull base and developing a platform which can be used to create a reference database of the mechanical parameters of mastoidectomy, effectively serving to quantify a previously qualitative process. Future projects may use this database, in combination with patient-specific preoperative imaging, to train roboticalgorithms to perform mastoidectomy.
The Ecological Consequences of Hummingbird Pollination for Plant Mating Systems
Keywords: Plant mating systems
Plant-pollinator interactions
Pollination ecology

Plant-pollinator interactions are an essential component of the ecology and evolution of natural and agricultural ecosystems, as they drive the ecological process of pollination and determine the outcomes of plant mating. My PhD thesis capitalized on plant-pollinator interactions in Heliconia tortuosa Griggs (Heliconiaceae) to understand the role of the ecological process of pollination as a driver of the outcomes of plant mating. The ecological process of pollination in H. tortuosa is exclusively mediated by territorial and trapline foraging hummingbirds. My PhD thesis combined a landscape-scale observational field survey, a variety of techniques of molecular biology, and a breadth of methods in statistical analysis to evaluate the interplay of ecology and evolution through the process of pollination. In Chapter 2, I found that patterns of pollen-mediated gene flow in H. tortuosa are characterized by a signature that is consistent with the behaviour of trapline foraging pollinators. I demonstrated that patterns of pollen-mediated gene flow can provide information to infer the foraging behaviour of pollinators. In Chapter 3, I found that deforestation altered the composition of the pollinator community through the decline of trapline foraging pollinators. This impact reduced the quality of pollen received by H. tortuosa individuals, as it reduced the genetic diversity of progeny and enhanced inbreeding. Given this perspective, I identified important implications for the conservation of plant-pollinator interactions. In Chapter 4, I found novel consequences of the foraging behaviour of pollinators for patterns of cross-fertilization and multiple paternity in H. tortuosa, with particular attention to the impact of trapline foraging. I demonstrated that variation in the foraging behaviour of pollinators can have divergent implications for the outcomes of plant mating. My PhD thesis demonstrated that disparities in the pollen transport mechanism can have profound implications for the ecology and evolution of plant mating. In particular, my PhD thesis revealed that the foraging behaviour of pollinators and the composition of the pollinator community are fundamental factors that determine patterns of pollen-mediated gene flow, self-fertilization, cross-fertilization, and multiple paternity in plants. Collectively, my PhD thesis contributed to a rich literature that has established a dialogue of ecology and evolution in the study of plant-pollinator interactions.
Influence of Chronic Disease and Comorbidity on Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnostic Testing
Keywords: Cancer prevention
Cancer screening
Chronic disease
Comorbidity
Multimorbidity

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Population-based CRC screening has been recommended by in Canada since 2001 and organized screening programs, which involve coordinated activities from screening through diagnosis, have been implemented in most Canadian jurisdictions. Those who have chronic comorbidities may be less likely to participate in all steps of the cancer preventive pathway due to the competing demands of chronic disease management. As some major chronic conditions are also associated with increased cancer morbidity and mortality, understanding the use of cancer preventive services in these populations is necessary to improve the effectiveness of screening programs.This dissertation aimed to determine whether major chronic medical and mental health comorbidities are associated with lower use CRC screening and follow-up diagnostic testing, focusing on the province of Ontario, Canada. The first study was a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effect of one “model” chronic condition – diabetes – on screening for CRC and other common cancers for which universal screening has been recommended (breast and cervical cancer). The second and third studies were longitudinal population-based cohorts using Ontario health administrative data, with the second study investigating the influence of diabetes, heart disease, renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and mental health conditions on periodic CRC screening test uptake, and the third study considering the effects of these conditions on follow-up diagnostic testing receipt. The first study found that diabetes was associated with lower likelihood of breast and cervical cancer screening, while the results for CRC screening were mixed. There were significant methodological limitations in the evidence base, including the focus on one-time screening in opportunistic settings and the use of cross-sectional designs and self-report data. The second and third studies found that major chronic conditions were associated with lower rates of periodically becoming up-to-date with CRC screening and with receiving follow-up testing. Having multiple medical conditions or comorbid medical and mental health conditions exacerbated these relationships. The findings of this thesis highlight that organized screening programs may need to consider additional strategies to reduce breakdowns in the cancer preventive pathway and improve appropriateness of screening for people with comorbidities.
The Impact of Indoor Air Quality and Exposure to Indoor Air Pollutants on Cognitive Function
Keywords: carbon dioxide
essential oil
IAQ
machine learning
ventilation
work performance

In addition to the well-recognized comfort and health impacts, indoor air quality has been linked with cognitive function and further with work productivity and learning performance. Such cognitive impact has significant economic consequences and may serve as an additional incentive for IAQ improvement. However, our current understanding of this link is limited, with the causal agents not identified and the mechanisms not understood. This thesis explores the cognitive impact of IAQ through firstly synthesizing existing experimental investigations of the role of CO2 and ventilation in affecting cognitive function and identifying the causes of discrepancies in the literature and then conducting human exposure experiments to assess cognitive responses to exposures to emissions from a strong source. The results of the review suggest a strong link between ventilation rates and cognitive function but mixed and sometimes contradictory effects of CO2 on cognitive performance even after controlling for inconsistency in experimental designs. The exposure experiments saw a few significant changes but mostly trends in decision-making patterns towards more impulsive behaviour with subjects exposed to emissions from an essential oil diffuser using scented lemon oil or non-scented grapeseed oil. Further, methods were developed for characterizing emissions sources and monitoring long-term air change rate and pollutant removal rates to facilitate future research on IAQ and cognitive performance. Findings in this thesis suggest a clear correlation between overall IAQ and cognitive performance and a less definitive link between specific pollutants, such as CO2, PM, and VOCs, and distinctive brain functions including executive functioning, memory, and response inhibition. Despite the complexity of controlling airborne exposure and assessing cognitive function, understanding the cognitive impact of IAQ is crucial for the health and performance of building occupants and the development of the building industry.