VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Interpersonal Emotion Regulation in a High Performance Varsity Volleyball Team
Keywords: Emotion Regulation
High Performance Sport
Interpersonal Emotion Regulation
Sport Psychology

An instrumental case study approach was used to investigate the use of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) in high performance varsity female volleyball athletes. Athletes reported using a variety of emotion-improving (verbal/positive feedback, cueing teammates about emotions, humour and non-verbal strategies), and emotion-worsening IER strategies, in addition to choosing not to engage in IER in some instances. The factors that were found to influence IER included athletes’ roles, social norms, the volleyball context, athletes’ preferences for IER, and interpersonal factors (i.e., relationship quality, personality, and relatability). Athletes also discussed how they learned to regulate their teammates’ emotions, and the concept of ‘automaticity’ in which some IER behaviours become almost automatic or done out of habit. This study has theoretical implications regarding the distinction between emotion regulation versus affect regulation, athletes’ preferences and perceived effectiveness of IER, and the use of emotion worsening strategies in sport.
Residual Micro-strain in Root Dentin after Canal Instrumentation Measured with Digital Moire Interferometry
Keywords: Endodontics

This study evaluated the residual micro-strain and the presence of micro-defects in root dentin following nickel-titanium instrumentation of canals in teeth maintained in hydrated and non-hydrated environments. Eighteen premolars were divided into two experimental groups (ProTaper Universal, Wave-One) and one control group (hand files). Nine specimens were maintained in deionized water and nine specimens were kept in ambient conditions for 72 hours. Digital moirĂŠ interferometry (DMI) was used to qualitatively determine the residual micro-strain distribution pattern in root dentin produced by instrumentation. Subsequently, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and polarized light microscopy (PLM) were used to detect the micro-defects. DMI showed a dentinal strain relaxation behavior in hydrated specimens whereas, root dentin from non-hydrated specimens showed localized regions of micro-strain concentrations. Micro-CT and PLM did not reveal obvious dentinal micro-defects in all groups. These findings suggested that the biomechanical response of root dentin to instrumentation was influenced by hydration.
Neurophysiological Signals Parametrically Track Subjective Conflict during Intertemporal Choice
Keywords: anterior cingulate cortex
conflict negativity
corrugator activity
decision conflict
intertemporal choice
pupil dilation

When choosing between equally desirable options, how is decision conflict represented in the brain? We measured neurophysiological signals that are believed to reflect decision processes in different brain regions as participants made intertemporal decisions. Participant-specific delayed rewards (e.g., $20.30 in 10 days)â generated based on each participant's hyperbolic discount functionâ were presented to parametrically vary the amount of decision conflict in different choice pairs. We found that conflict negativity and pupil dilation track varying degrees of conflict, suggesting the anterior cingulate and locus coeruleus/norepinephrine system are implicated in value comparison and conflict monitoring processes. We show that the neuroeconomic and psychophysiological approaches can be integrated to better understand the neural systems and processes underlying decision making.
The Protein Arginine Deiminases: Inhibitors and Characteristics
Keywords: chemsitry
drug discovery
medicinal chemistry
multiple sclerosis
pharmaceutical sciences
Protein arginine deiminases

The Protein Arginine Deiminases: Inhibitors and Characteristics MSc Pharmaceutical Sciences Convocation year of 2015 Elizabeth Joanne Curiel Tejeda Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences University of Toronto Protein arginine deiminases (PADs) are Ca2+ dependent enzymes involved in the post-translational modification of proteins through citrullination. Overexpression of PAD2 and PAD4 has been observed in a number of neurodegenerative diseases. In this thesis, two broad investigations were undertaken to look at the expression patterns of endogenous PADs and how they provide means to the development of disease modifying treatments. First, a BODIPY-based fluorescent probe was designed to assess the expression levels in vitro and in vivo of endogenous PAD. Secondly, medicinal chemistry approaches were adopted to design a library of novel non-covalent compounds to establish a structure activity relationship on PADs and identify a potential hit. Results indicated that a BODIPY-based biomarker was a feasible approach to monitor PAD enzymes in vivo. Through structure-activity relationship investigations, it was established that small heterocycles on an amino acid side chain were contributing to the inhibitory activities towards PADs.
The Requirement of B-cell Lymphoma Maloney Murine Leukemia Virus Insertion Region-1 Homolog for the Proliferative Effects of Glucagon-like Peptide-2 in the Murine Small Intestine
Keywords: bmi-1
GLP-2
intestinal stem cells
proliferation
radiation
transit-amplifying cells

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) stimulates growth of the intestinal epithelium upon nutrient ingestion. The goal of the present study was to determine which crypt cell population GLP-2 activates to induce its proliferative effect. It was hypothesized that GLP-2-induced proliferation requires a full complement of B-cell specific Mo-MLV insertion region-1 homolog (Bmi-1) in the small intestine, assessed using the Bmi-1enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (eGFP)/+ mouse model. The acute (1d) and chronic (11d) proliferative response to GLP-2 in the transit-amplifying zone was impaired in Bmi-1eGFP/+ crypts compared to Bmi-1+/+ crypts. Chronic GLP-2-treated Bmi-1eGFP/+ mice had an adaptive growth response to GLP-2 in which the epithelial cell migration rate was increased. After a lethal dose of ionizing-radiation, the Bmi-1eGFP/+ intestine also had an impaired proliferative response to chronic (18-19d) GLP-2 treatment. Therefore, a full genetic complement of Bmi-1 is required for GLP-2’s proliferative effects in the physiological and pathological settings.
Word Representation Using A Deep Neural Network
Keywords: Morphology
Natural Language Processing
Recurrent Neural Networks
Recursive Neural Networks
Word Embedding

Word representation or word embedding is an important step in understanding languages. It maps similar words to vectors that are close in space. In this thesis, we introduce a deep neural network model called the Character-Morphology-Word network (CMW) for word representation. We implemented our CMW model and trained it on the Wikipedia corpus. We compared our model against two past approaches in a number of word-embedding tasks and found that, while the average performance of our model is not as good as the past approaches, our model achieves comparable precision and, in one task, our model outperforms these approaches. We also used our model to generate random text and found that our model produces words in the vocabulary and can produce lexical-correct text. The results of our research indicate that a deeper neural network can be used to represent words and ultimately, help solve related Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks.
Exploring the Integrated Curriculum: A Critical Analysis of the Ontario Ministry of Education's Language Curriculum Document
Keywords: holistic
integrated curriculum
James Beane
Ontario Ministry of Education
pedagogy
Susan Drake

Students demonstrate increased engagement and knowledge retention when they are able to make connections between the text and the outside world. Despite the real world not being formed into neat subjects, the Ontario curriculum is. Through integrated curriculum, Susan Drake and James Beane argue that students are better equipped to become life-long learners and global citizens. As leading professionals in the field of integrated curriculum, this document analysis utilizes inductive analysis to explore the Ontario Ministry of Educationâ s 2006 curriculum document for Language (Revised) to determine if Drake and Beaneâ s approaches are explicitly stated. Results found that neither approach was explicitly stated, although the Ministry utilized similar integrated approaches as presented by Drake, while desired student outcomes aligned with Beane. The Ontario Ministry of Education should consider the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary frameworks of Drake and Beane when producing future editions of the Ontario curriculum documents.
Pertussis Vaccine Effectiveness and Waning Immunity
Keywords: Immunity
Pertussis
Vaccine effectiveness

A resurgence of pertussis cases among immunized and unimmunized individuals raised questions about vaccine effectiveness and waning immunity. We performed a test-negative case-control study, utilizing Ontario administrative and laboratory data. We used crude and adjusted multivariable logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) comparing the odds of cases being vaccinated against that of controls. Vaccine effectiveness was calculated as (1-OR)x100. There were 5,867 individuals available for analysis (486 test-positive cases and 5,381 test-negative controls). Vaccine effectiveness was 80% (95%CI, 71%-86%), 84% (95%CI, 77%-89%), 62% (95%CI, 42%-75%), and 41% (95%CI, 0-66%) at 15-364 days, 1-3 years, 4-7 years, and ≥8 years since last immunization, respectively. The odds of developing pertussis increased 27% (95%CI, 20%-34%) per year from last immunization. Acellular, compared to whole cell, vaccine priming was associated with a two-fold increased risk of pertussis. These results have important policy implications for optimizing pertussis control and to spur vaccine development.
Atypical Neural Synchronization during a Socially Relevant Inhibitory Control Task in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder
emotional face processing
inhibitory control
magnetoencephalography
theta band synchronization

Impairments in inhibitory control may underlie and exacerbate the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly restricted and repetitive behaviours. Current models suggest that ASD can be characterized by atypical patterns of neural synchronization among distributed brain regions. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we investigated patterns of inter-regional phase synchronization in children with and without ASD during an emotional go/no-go task that tested inhibitory control in the presence of happy and angry faces. We observed reduced theta band synchronization in children with ASD in happy face trials which involved regions that are important for inhibitory control: the right inferior frontal gyrus, right orbitofrontal cortex, and right inferior parietal lobule. This study provides new insight into the biological basis of inhibitory control in social contexts in children with ASD.
A Retrospective Study of Stainless Steel Crowns as a Posterior Permanent Tooth Restoration
Keywords: Extracoronal
Permanent
Prefabricated
SSC
Stainless Steel Crown
Survival

Purpose: This retrospective cohort study assessed the long-term clinical and radiographic outcomes of the stainless steel crown (SSC) as a posterior permanent tooth restoration. Methods: Study included 271 patients registered at Mount Sinai Hospitalâ s Dentistry Clinic for Persons with Special Needs. A total of 2621 posterior restorations were documented: 766 SSCs, 1651 amalgams, and 204 composite resins. Radiographic analysis of SSCs included 127 bitewing, and 118 periapical films. Results: Ten year survival rate for new SSC and amalgam restorations was 79.2% and 63.5%, respectively. Ninety-one SSC failures included loose/lost SSCs (24) and chronic periodontal disease (25). Ninety-three percent of alveolar bone loss measurements from mesial and distal sites were
Characterizing the Structure and Function of the Cytoplasmic Domains of Ptch1
Keywords: Hedgehog
Hh-signalling
Ptch1

The Hedgehog (Hh)-pathway is a critical signalling cascade that determines cell fate and is required for embryonic and postnatal development. A central component of this molecular-genetic pathway is the receptor for the Hh-ligands, Patched-1 (Ptch1), a 12-pass, transmembrane glycoprotein that is essential for Hh-signalling. Despite its essential role in Hh-signalling, it is still unclear how Ptch1 mediates canonical Hh-signalling through Smo, though intracellular regions of Ptch1 have been suggested to be involved. We show that the deletion of the cytoplasmic â middle loopâ (ML) domain (a.a. 584-734) generates a Ptch1 mutant that, despite binding to ligand, constitutively suppresses Hh-signaling and increases the length of primary cilia. The constitutive activity due to deletion of this region is reversed, by further deletion of the cytoplasmic C-terminal domain (CTD) (a.a. 1162-1432). We show that the intracellular ML and CTD of Ptch1 are dispensable for canonical Hh-signalling.
Exploring the Relationship between Motor and Frontoparietal Brain Networks in Upper Limb Motor Outcome Post-stroke
Keywords: chronic stroke
frontoparietal
motor
network
resting state fMRI
task-switching

Background: A network-approach may help understand how extensive neural changes arise from localized damage. Given that motor and frontoparietal networks are implicated in motor learning, these networks may also be implicated in motor re-learning post-stroke. This thesis studies the relationship between motor and frontoparietal networks and movement post-stroke. Methods: Twenty-seven chronic stroke participants underwent behavioural assessments and magnetic resonance imaging. The resting state connectivity (rs-connectivity) within (intra-network) and between (inter-network) motor and frontoparietal networks were correlated with behavioural scores. Results: Intra-network: i) Participants with higher rs-connectivity between the primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area have less hand impairment and greater motor function; ii) Participants with higher rs-connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and mid-ventrolateral prefrontal cortex have less hand impairment. Inter-network: participants with higher rs-connectivity between the motor and frontoparietal networks have greater motor function. Conclusion: Connectivity of motor and frontoparietal networks may be a biomarker of movement post-stroke.
Discontinuation Patterns of Substances of Abuse in Pregnancy in a Cohort of Women Seeking Addiction and Parenting Support: A Mixed Methods Study
Keywords: Addiction
Mixed Methods
Pregnancy
Social Work
Substance abuse
Women's Health

Background: Substance use during pregnancy is a major public health concern, stemming from potential physical and psychosocial harms to both the mother and child. Objective: It was my aim to characterize substance use patterns throughout pregnancy and explore the reasons that women attribute to these patterns of use. Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to investigate a group of women that attend(ed) Breaking the Cycle (BTC). BTC is a â one-stopâ comprehensive service available to pregnant or parenting women who have substance use issues. Results: Through a chart review (N=470), I found that the greatest number of women used tobacco and cannabis for the duration of pregnancy (N=231 and N=101, respectively), while the proportion of women continuing opioid use was comparably high (61.8%). The results from the two focus groups highlighted the importance of self-efficacy and quality relationships for women who are trying to make positive changes to their substance use during pregnancy.
Study of Phosphorus Behaviour in Levitated Silicon-iron Droplets
Keywords: Engineering
Kinetics
Metallurgy
Solar Grade Silicon
Thermodynamics

While the treatment of relatively inexpensive ferrosilicon alloys is a potential refining route in order to generate solar grade silicon, phosphorus is one of the more difficult impurities to remove by conventional processing. In this project, electromagnetic levitation was used to investigate the dephosphorization of ferrosilicon alloy droplets exposed to H2-Ar gas mixtures under various experimental conditions including, refining time, temperature (1450째C-1720째C), H2-Ar gas concentrations and flow rate, iron alloying content, and initial phosphorus concentration. Reaction rates increased with higher refining times, temperatures, and H2 gas concentrations. With unknown parameters associated with the kinetics of gas phase reactions, the approach involved comparison of apparent activation energies derived for the chemical reaction and gas diffusion steps of the dephosphorization process. The phosphorus removal rate is thought to be controlled by the interfacial reaction step; further work is required to confirm this conclusion.
EFL Learners' Perceptions of (In)formality: Address Forms in Interaction with Other (In)formal Register Markers
Keywords: EFL learners
formality
perception
pragmatic competence
sociolinguistic competence
stylistic variation

Perception and production of stylistic variation is an important aspect of sociolinguistic and pragmatic competence. Whereas most research has focused on the production of (in)formal variants by native speakers, this study compares perceptions of formality by English-dominant (ED) speakers and advanced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners measured on a 5-point Likert scale for 20 examples of e-mail workplace communications in which (in)formal greetings, address forms, and vocabulary are variously combined as three register markers. Participants also reported how certain they felt about their formality ratings on a 4-point Likert scale, and identified features that they considered significant in their perceptions of formality. Statistically significant differences between the two participant groups emerged in 11 of the formality and 12 of the certainty ratings. A trend which needs to be substantiated by further research was observed suggesting that the EFL learners found address forms more and vocabulary less salient than the ED speakers.
Intergenerational Transmission of Values on Parenting and Education
Keywords: Adaptation
Case Study
Education
Life-Span
Parenting
Values

This project provides a detailed portrait of the intergenerational transmission of values on parenting and education. The parenting process is commonly observed between the parent and child, but it is also influenced by the parentâ s relationship with his or her parents, and the individualâ s surrounding environment, culture, and history. In order to understand the intricate nature of human relationships, I used a rare collection of archival data from the first Canadian Mental Hygiene (Canadian Mental Health Agency) movement in the 1920s. I studied one normative family through the archival data and conducted my own series of interviews with a member of this family. Using multiple methods, I analyzed three generations and coded the data by emergent themes. The results indicate that each generation fosters distinct parenting practices and highlight the complexity of human adaptation and relationships, and the need to study human development within a relational developmental systems framework.
Use of Need for Closure Scale to Predict and Affect Individual Tendency for Design Fixation
Keywords: Design Fixation
Fixation
Need for Closure

Not all individuals may be equally susceptible to design fixation. I sought to identify characteristics that could predict and affect individual tendency for design fixation, and explored the use of Kruglanski’s Need for Closure Scale for this purpose. The Need for Closure Scale is an individual/dispositional difference variable, as well as an environmental variable that can be manipulated in the laboratory. I devised two experiments that involved developing concepts for which an example solution was provided. The first experiment investigated whether correlations exist between participants’ score on the Need for Closure Scale and the degree of fixation in concepts elicited. A pilot experiment and second experiment investigated whether environmentally-induced Need for Closure could be used to change participants’ likelihood to fixate. Significant results were found in the first and second experiments, supporting that Need for Closure can be used to predict and affect individual tendency for design fixation.
Identification of CD Marker Expression and Neutrophil Surface Marker Changes in Health and Disease using High-throughput Screening Flow Cytometry
Keywords: high throughput flow cytometry
neutrophils
Periodontal Disease

Neutrophil hyperactivation can contribute to tissue damage in inflammatory diseases. Although many cell-surface proteins are known to be expressed on neutrophils there is no comprehensive study of the surface-markers that can be used to phenotype neutrophils. Neutrophils subpopulations isolated (blood and oral rinses) from healthy and chronic-periodontitis patients were screened against a panel of 374 known Cluster of Differentiation (CD) antibodies to identify cell-surface markers specific to neutrophils. This screen identified CD11b+, CD16b+, and CD66c+ as markers that are always expressed on neutrophils. Cell-sorting with an antibody against CD11b/CD16b/CD66c allowed for the enrichment of mature neutrophils, yielding populations of up to 99%, confirming the validity of these markers when isolating neutrophils. These findings provide a simple method for isolating neutrophils from humans, and thereby establish a validated method that allows for the accurate identification of neutrophils. This knowledge will be crucial for identifying neutrophil subtypes associated with neutrophil-mediated inflammatory diseases.
A Microfluidic Device for Producing Controlled Collisions Between Two Soft Particles
Keywords: Hele-Shaw flow
Hydrodynamic trap
Model Predictive Control

We report the design and operating characteristics of a computer-controlled microfluidic device for the confinement and manipulation of two particles in a viscous fluid undergoing a two-dimensional extensional flow. Using this device, two particles are trapped at two stagnation points in a circular slot having three alternating fluid inlets and outlets which are connected to a pressure-controlled liquid reservoir. By employing a control algorithm based on theoretical flow pattern and model predictive control, two particles can be steered to arbitrary target positions within the slot by adjusting the fluid flow rates into and out of the slot. Thus, two soft particles can be trapped indefinitely at two different points, and be manipulated along arbitrary, independent trajectories in the slot. This device is suitable for investigation of coalescence between drops, and adhesion between vesicles by achieving collisions between two particles at precise contacting forces and glancing angles.