VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Role of Canadian Bison Producers in Conserving the Plains (Bison bison bison) and Wood (Bison bison athabascae) Bison
Keywords: Collaboration
Conservation
Plains Bison
Ranching
Stakeholder values
Wood Bison

This project examines the curious tension between conservation and commercial livestock production in a case study of Plains bison (Bison bison bison) and Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) in Canada. Despite a population of nearly 200,000 individuals, bison in Canada are species of conservation concern as over 90% exist in commercial production rather than for ecological conservation. Where conservation goals for bison include preserving wildness, genetic diversity, and ecological function, ranchers typically prioritize profits through artificial selection and intensive management. However, the Canadian Bison Association (CBA) — an organization committed to protecting the industry — has taken strides to identify with conservation. Interviews with CBA representatives and bison ranchers were conducted to understand the creation of and participation in conservation initiatives, as well as perspectives on the future of bison in Canada. Overall, the results inform bison conservation and contribute to the literature on stakeholder values in cross-jurisdictional wildlife conservation.
The Neurophysiological Effects of Intermittent Theta-burst Stimulation in Treatment-resistant Depression
Keywords: depression
electroencephalography
neurophysiology
TBS
TMS
TRD

Objective: To investigate the neurophysiological effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) when two daily iTBS sessions are delivered separated versus contiguous, and between responders versus non-responders. Methods: Transcranial magnetic stimulation- electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) was recorded at baseline and post-iTBS from a triple-blind trial 1:1 randomized separated: contiguous iTBS schedule. TMS-evoked potential components (N45, N100, P60, area under curve) were analyzed. Results: N100 amplitude decreased from baseline regardless of treatment schedule (F(1, 106.02=5.20, p=0.02). iTBS responders showed decreased N100 amplitude from baseline (F(1,102.13)=11.30, p=0.001, pcorrected=0.0004), and higher post-iTBS N45 amplitude (F(1, 94.14)=4.11, p=0.045, pcorrected=0.016). Conclusions: Our results provide evidence of iTBS effects on TMS-EEG measures in TRD. These findings uncover potential neurophysiological mechanisms suggesting that iTBS may enact antidepressant effects in part by restoring the balance between cortical inhibition and excitation.
The Platformization of TikTok: Examining TikTok’s Boundary Resources
Keywords: boundary resources
cultural production
platformization
social media platforms
TikTok

A fast-growing international success, ByteDance’s short video platform TikTok is an exceptional case study for examining how digital platforms expand infrastructurally and accumulate power. Unlike most leading social media companies, TikTok is a mobile-first platform (i.e., its web services are auxiliary to its mobile application), and it is not owned by an American or Chinese tech titan—Google, Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, and Microsoft (GAFAM) or Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT) (Kaye, Chen, and Zeng 2021). Yet it has achieved popularity comparable to major players in the social media ecosystem, and now grapples with balancing the interests of end-users with those of ‘platform-dependent’ institutional actors, including cultural producers. With this thesis, I interrogate how TikTok manages this challenge by studying the platform’s evolution through its boundary resources—i.e., the technical tools and informational resources and regulations that facilitate the creation of apps and services in relation to the platform (Eaton et al. 2015). This work serves as a response to calls from media scholars to view platforms as processes and to further social media historiography (Poell, Nieborg, and van Dijck 2019; Helmond and van der Vlist 2019). More specifically, this thesis contributes to the literature on platform studies because it focuses on an understudied aspect of platform power: boundary resources.
Facilitating Floorplan-based Design for Heterogeneous FPGAs
Keywords: CAD algorithms
Design automation
Field programmable gate arrays
Floorplanning

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are used for many applications due to their flexibility and reconfigurable nature. However, traditional FPGA implementation flows have been unable to keep pace with the increasing size and complexity of FPGA designs, adversely impacting designer productivity. As a result, some techniques have been used to make FPGA implementation flows more modular. These techniques often require the use of floorplan constraints. The goal of this thesis was to add the ability to implement FPGA designs with floorplan constraints to VPR, an open-source FPGA CAD tool. We present the algorithms that were implemented to allow VPR to run with floorplan constraints. We evaluate VPR flows with a variety of floorplan constraint scenarios across 3 FPGA architectures and 32 benchmark circuits. We found that VTR was able to adhere to a variety of floorplan constraints while maintaining comparable quality of results.
Ontario English-language Student Achievement and Growth in Math: Examining the Gap between Students with and without Disabilities
Keywords: EDI
EQAO
Mathematics
Ontario
Special education
Student achievement

This study analyzes the gaps in math achievement and growth between Ontario English-language students classified with and without disabilities. Some research suggests that early identification and intervention for math difficulty can reduce math gaps. Data come from merged Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) and Early Development Instrument (EDI) datasets for the EDI 2005, 2006, and 2008 student cohorts. Descriptive and longitudinal multilevel model analyses indicate that students with disabilities show increasing math gaps between Grade 3 and Grade 6 and decreasing gaps between Grade 6 and Grade 9. The EQAO math score theta values used in this study are not vertically scaled scores but can reveal gaps in students’ capacity to meet provincial math curriculum expectations. The study’s findings demonstrate the importance of examining math gaps between students with and without disabilities to explain the overall decline in Ontario student math achievement between Grade 3 and Grade 6.
VT Generalizing the Teach and Repeat Navigation Framework
Keywords: localization
mapping
obstacle detection
range sensing
SLAM

Visual Teach & Repeat (VT&R) achieves long-range and long-term autonomous path following through visual topometric mapping and localization. The system requires only a stereo camera for sensing, making it well-suited for many mobile robot applications involving GPS-denied environments. In this thesis, we present VT&R3, a new version of VT&R that generalizes its underlying teach and repeat navigation framework to work with lidar, radar, and possibly any rich sensor. We develop lidar and radar topometric mapping and localization pipelines that enable lidar/radar-based teach and repeat. We further extend the lidar pipeline with the ability to detect obstacles in changing environments, making obstacle avoidance during path following possible. We validate our pipelines through extensive evaluation using real-world datasets, including runtime analysis showing their online operation capability. Our results demonstrate surprising accuracy and robustness of lidar localization across varying weather and seasonal conditions, while radar localization remains competitive and has advantages in computation and storage requirements.
The Impact of Recreational Cannabis Legalization and COVID-19 on Injury-related Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations in Canada
Keywords: COVID-19
emergency department
hospitalization
injury
interrupted time series
recreational cannabis legalization

Background: The effects of recreational cannabis legalization (RCL) in Canada and the COVID-19 pandemic on the rates of injuries in the Canadian population are largely unknown.Methods: An interrupted time series analysis using population-based data from 2010 to 2021 was used to assess the population-level effect of RCL and COVID-19 on rates of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for injury. The Mantel-Haenszel method was used to estimate weighted odds ratios for injury-related ED visits after RCL only. Results: There were no notable changes in rates of ED visits or hospitalizations for injury after RCL; however, after lockdowns due to COVID-19 began there was an immediate decrease in ED visits for most injury types followed by gradual increases over time. Conclusions: These results have implications for Canadian and international public health policies, health planning, and injury prevention and mitigation measures.
Exploring Policy-mandated Building Design Requirements as an Intervention for Waste Diversion in Multi-residential Buildings: A Case Study of the City of Toronto
Keywords: chute systems
multi-residential buildings
socio-technical systems
technological fix
waste mangement

This research seeks to review a City of Toronto policy which specifies which waste sorting systems must be implemented into multi-residential building designs. The study draws on socio-technical systems and technological fix as theoretical frameworks to gauge how effective the required waste collection systems actually are and how well the users interact with the systems. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine property managers with different chute systems to gauge effectiveness. To expand the policy context, interviews with policy makers of design standards of chute designs in five municipalities were also conducted to explore the rationale behind their requirements. Findings show that some municipalities are starting to move away from technological waste chute systems. The technological chute systems were found to be regularly malfunctioning and needing maintenance and were also used incorrectly by residents—all of which led to more contamination. Efforts to increase waste diversion at MRBs through design will need the expertise of occupants and would benefit from more operational standards to understand diversion technology design flaws.
Exploring System Resilience within the North York Toronto Health Partners North York Community Access to Resources Enabling Support Program (NYCARES): A Pragmatic Case Study
Keywords: complex adaptive systems
health services research
integration
ontario health teams
resilience

Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) were implemented in 2019 as a model of health system organization to improve integration of care across Ontario. Health system integration and health system resilience are closely intertwined. North York CARES (NYCARES) is an OHT program developed to support patients with complex care needs transitioning from hospital to home. This thesis used NYCARES to study the OHT model’s integrative characteristics in practice, and its ability to respond to large scale crises, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment. An interpretive qualitative approach was used to explore program partners’ individual and collective program experiences. The results of this thesis highlight the complexity of Ontario’s healthcare systems and the necessity of approaching healthcare programs with a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) lens. Further research must be done to extend the application of CAS theory to healthcare contexts, with both system integration and system resilience in mind.
Effects of Theta Burst Stimulation of the Cerebellum on Tremor and Working Memory in Parkinson’s Disease
Keywords: Cerebellum
Parkinson's Disease
Theta Burst Stimulation
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Tremor
Working Memory

The cerebellum is involved in working memory and postural tremor. Theta burst stimulation (TBS) can modulate neural activity. We expect cerebellar intermittent TBS (iTBS) to reduce postural tremor amplitude and improve working memory in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. We also expect cerebellar continuous TBS (cTBS) to impair working memory in PD patients and controls. Five patients with PD and nine healthy controls received cerebellar iTBS, cTBS, and sham iTBS. After TBS, subjects performed four working memory tasks. Postural and rest tremor was measured before and after stimulation in each session. Cerebellar cTBS significantly impaired subjects’ performance only in the digit span backward task compared to sham. Tremor data was insufficient to investigate the effects of TBS on tremor as only one patient had tremor. The findings support the hypothesis that the cerebellum is involved in working memory, and this contribution may be disrupted by cerebellar cTBS but not iTBS.
Chemogenetic Activation of a Glutamatergic Ventrolateral Medulla Circuit Alters Breathing
Keywords: chemogenetic
control of breathing
preBötzinger Complex
respiration

Breathing is generated by complex respiratory circuits spanning many regions within the brain. The main drivers of the respiratory cycle are found within ventrolateral medulla. Inspiratory pattern is generated by a small region of the medulla known as the preBötzinger Complex (preBötC), which contains a population of glutamatergic neurons. Glutamatergic neurons can be identified through the expression of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2). We investigated whether chemogenetics, which employs designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs), could be used to activate (hM3Dq) or inhibit (hM4Di) VGLUT2-expressing neurons within the preBötC to manipulate respiration. We found that unilateral excitation of VGLUT2-expressing neurons using hM3Dq increased respiratory rate, while diaphragm and genioglossus amplitudes, inspiratory duration, and expiratory duration decreased. No changes in respiration were seen when inhibiting neurons using hM4Di. Our data suggest that chemogenetics can be used to manipulate respiration through excitation of VGLUT2-expressing preBötC neurons.
Investigation On the Composite Action Of Various Connections In CLT-Glulam T-Sections
Keywords: Adhesive
CLT
Composite Action
Connections
Glulam

In recent years, there has been much investigation into various timber products and ways to enhance structural behaviour. This research looks into investigating more efficient and compact sections, specifically by means of considering composite action in CLT-Glulam T-sections. Pine wood was selected to be studied for its material properties alongside a combination of four different mechanical and adhesive connections. By using these material and connection properties, a finite element model was constructed and calibrated in Abaqus. The finite element model was used to predict the behaviour of different full-scale CLT-Glulam sections. The Abaqus results show that an adhesive connection with perfect composite action can reduce deflections by 50% and increase maximum span length by 30%. A mechanical connection depends on its spacing and stiffness. For the particular connection in this study, the deflection reduction and span length increase were 30% and 15%, respectively.
Investigating Ion Mobility Separation of Phosphopeptide Isomers using Tapped Ion Mobility and Mass Spectrometry
Keywords: Data independent acquisition
Mass spectrometry
Phosphorylation
Proteomics
Trapped ion mobility spectrometry

The addition of phosphorylation to serine, threonine and tyrosine residues on proteins in eukaryotic organisms is an integral mechanism of cellular signaling. However, identification of phosphopeptide isomers, i.e. phosphopeptides with identical amino acid sequences and phosphate modifications on different residues, by mass spectrometry is challenging due to the lack of separation of such species by m/z and liquid chromatography. In this work, I investigated the separation of a library of 1497 synthetic phosphopeptide isomers using trapped ion mobility spectrometry combined with Data Independent Acquisition mass spectrometry. There are some examples of complete separation of co-eluting phosphopeptide isomer pairs by ion mobility, but the majority of phosphopeptide isomer pairs are not baseline resolved. Overall the results of this study suggest that utilizing trapped ion mobility in conjunction with mass spectrometry can completely separate some pairs of phosphopeptide isomers, and may be particularly useful when implemented as a dimension in data analysis.
Saccade Amplitude Encoding By Neuronal Classes in the Human Mesial Temporal Lobe
Keywords: cell type
human
mesial temporal lobe
neuronal coding
saccade
single unit

The link between single-unit-activity in the mnemonic structures of the brain and saccades during visual exploration has been subject to recent interest. Indeed, work has demonstrated directional tuning of single-units to either ipsiversive or contraversive saccades coupled with the differential activation and inhibition of narrow and broad-spiking units, respectively. However, the functional role of particular cell-types and their encoding of other saccade kinematics remains unclear. In this work, we assessed cell-class diversity in the human mesial temporal lobe (MTL) using three distinct methods to reveal a progressively greater number of functional cell types corroborated by differential baseline firing statistics. Furthermore, we identified the presence of units tuned to low-or high-amplitude saccades and demonstrate the inhomogeneity of such units across regions and cell classes. These findings comport well with the intertwinement of memory formation and exploratory viewing and break ground on the opportunity to dissect the cell-type-specific function of MTL visuomotor circuits.
Modeling the Bike Share Toronto Network
Keywords: bike share
cycling
microsimulation
rebalancing
Toronto

Bike Share Toronto is a docked bike share system in the City of Toronto which opened in 2011 and has since expanded to 625 stations across the city. This thesis examines the trends in bike share trips and station activity from 2017 through 2022 in order to inform a microsimulation model of the system. Each day in 2021 is then simulated with three different rebalancing strategies to evaluate the impact of such system management on the delay experienced by users. The study finds that the number and length of delays can increase dramatically without careful management and that optimizations in the rebalancing operations can improve efficiency. The goal of this model is to provide an operational tool that could be integrated into larger regional planning models.
High-school Principals’ Experiences of Building Positive Relationships with Students in Beijing, China
Keywords: Chinese education
Educational leadership
High school education
Principal-student relationship
Relational leadership

This qualitative study explores school principals’ experiences of building principal-student relationships (PSRs) in high schools in Beijing, China. Four aspects of relationship-building, namely, the meanings of PSR, the strategies of PSR construction, the facilitators, and the barriers of PSR-building are investigated. Many researchers have demonstrated that effective schooling is attributed to strong and positive relationships initiated by school administrators with their surroundings. In China, the national reform of education has given principals pressing missions of initiating and maintaining closer relationships with students. However, the phenomenon of PSR in Chinese schools remains unexplored. Accordingly, this research collected interview data from five Chinese high school principals who earned recognitions from principals in other schools, media news reports, and/or local educational authorities for their achievements in building and sustaining positive PSRs and identified meaningful themes through thematical analysis. Results of the analysis were organized into a conceptual framework of PSR-building in Chinese schools.
Evolvability of Sexual Dimorphism in Drosophila suzukii
Keywords: Drosophila
Evolution
Evolvability
Wings

The evolvability of sexual dimorphism is determined, in part, by the amount of sexually antagonistic genetic variation available to selection. Here I investigate genetic constraints to the evolution of sexual dimorphism in wing-shape in the invasive spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii. I find 8.04 times the genetic variation in trait combinations that can respond to concordant selection than can respond to antagonistic selection. I propose that patterns of stabilizing selection due to a well-adapted wing generate these patterns of genetic variation I observe. Finally, this work shows that concordant evolvability is high for this species and argue that this could allow the population to respond quickly in the future to sexually concordant selection which may make management of this species even more problematic.
Metal Characterization Oxidative Potential of Non-Tailpipe Vehicle Emissions
Keywords: metal characterization
non-tailpipe
oxidative potential
particulate matter
resuspended road dust
vehicle emissions

Non-tailpipe traffic emissions are an increasing health concern to communities residing in dense urban landscapes surrounded by high volumes of traffic. To understand potential negative health effects, approximately 170 non-tailpipe emission samples were collected across the City of Toronto in the form of resuspended road dust, brake dust, and tire dust. The samples were analysed using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) to detect the presence of trace metals. Trace metals associated with road dust, brake and tire wear were prominent in collected samples, including Ba, Cu, Fe, K, Ti, and Zn. Samples were analyzed for the oxidative potential (OP), a health relevant metric to quantify the toxicity of particulate matter (PM). Three in vitro assays were used: ascorbate (AA), glutathione (GSH), and dithiothreitol (DTT). Results showed OP in all three assays to be higher than ambient results. Real-time sampling of roadside PM revealed a potential need for better road dust cleaning tools.
The Impact of a Male Selected Chromosome on Fitness and Gene Expression in Drosophila melanogaster
Keywords: Drosophila Melanogaster
Experimental Evolution
Intralocus Sexual Conflict
Transcriptomics

Different phenotypes may optimize fitness in each sex; a unique evolutionary challenge because much of the genome is shared. To investigate the extent to which this conflict has been resolved, six populations of Drosophila melanogaster were maintained such that a pool of marked 2nd chromosomes were transmitted exclusively through males. Eliminating selection in females should cause phenotypes associated with the marked chromosome to shift closer to male specific fitness optima, assuming conflict is ongoing. Male mating success was significantly improved in males with marked chromosomes compared to those without. An Allele Specific Expression analysis identified several hundred genes with cis-regulatory differences between these two marked chromosomes. Under the hypothesis that sex-biased genes have been unable to diverge between the sexes as much as would be optimal, male-selected marked chromosomes should evolve under this experimental evolution regime to be “masculinized”. However, we detected no such pattern.