VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Queering Ava Lure; My Burlesque Journey Into TikTok

This project is a culmination of research looking into theories of gender performance related to trends precipitated by pop-cultural figures and interviews with community-level performers in combination with my own exploration as a burlesque performer pivoting onto new social media platforms after the rise of COVID-19. In it, I explore if and how performers use autobiographical information to form their personas and how class pageantry and exaggerated femininity factor into the queer femme persona. In addition, I discuss how a persona is performed in digital spaces as opposed to in a live venue and what issues of believability and accessibility arise, focusing on fidelity of persona and on how concepts of queerness and non-conservative femininity face issues of censorship on social media. This project aims to question and compare the success of the queer femme persona in either live or online venues. This project consists of a reel of selected Tiktok videos from my collected works over the course of completing this project. These videos display themes of self-celebration, transformation, feminized labour, and mental health, as well as depictions of a mundanity / glamour dichotomy.

Advisor: Cesare-Schotzko, Nikki
Biodistribution and Fate of Intravenously-delivered First Trimester Human Umbilical Cord Perivascular Cells in a Murine Model of Systemic Inflammation

Immunomodulation is a major property underlying the therapeutic benefit of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). A lack of detailed biodistribution and fate investigations is limiting our understanding of the relative roles of paracrine secretion and passive phagocytosis in MSC immunomodulation. I investigated the biodistribution and fate of IV-delivered first trimester human umbilical cord perivascular cells (FTM HUCPVC) in a murine model of inflammation. I hypothesized that IV administered FTM HUCPVC MSC will attenuate lung inflammation in a murine model of systemic inflammation, in a time-dependent manner. Immunohistochemistry and cytokine arrays were used to assess FTM HUCPVC biodistribution, apoptosis, impact on immune cells and cytokine levels. FTM HUCPVC localized to the lungs, associated with immune cells, and, despite limited persistence, mediated a reduction in proinflammatory mediators. Results demonstrate a significant role for the innate immune system in MSC immunomodulation and provide insight for potential bolstering of MSC therapy through the immune system.

Keywords: Inflammation
Mesenchymal stem cells
Advisor: Librach, Clifford
Assessing the Role of Sleep in Shaping Hippocampal Engram Connectivity in CA3-CA1

Memories are stored in engrams. Crucial to the formation of engrams is the enhancement of synaptic strength between the neurons co-active during learning. Sleep has been hypothesized as a state which drives the ‘offline’ synaptic modification. Recent studies now corroborate this account, uncovering sleep-dependent changes at the synaptic scale. However, the interaction between sleep and the strengthening of engram synapses had not been experimentally reported. We hypothesized that sleep supports the enhancement of engram-engram (E-E) connectivity that occurs during learning. We leveraged dual-eGRASP, a viral labeling strategy which tags converging inputs from engram and non-engram presynaptic populations onto postsynaptic engram and non-engram dendrites, to assess the synaptic connectivity patterns of mice that were sleep deprived after contextual fear conditioning. Our results showed no effect of learning or sleep deprivation on the E-E connectivity in CA3-CA1. Additional experiments are needed to validate this result.

Keywords: Engram
Hippocampus
Learning
Memory
Sleep
Synapses
Advisor: Frankland, Paul W
Exploring the Role of Heavy Metal Pollutants on the Physiology of Commercially Relevant Fish from Atlantic Canada

The Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy have documented increases in heavy metal pollutants. Whether species from distinctive water column zones (epipelagic, mesopelagic, demersal) are differently accumulating heavy metals and experiencing negative impacts on their physiology was the focus of this work. Benthic and anadromous species were also examined for additional effects of residing in areas of higher pollution such as near sediment and rivers. Morphometrics were recorded and muscle, liver and kidney biopsies for heavy metal profiles were assessed. The highest heavy metal levels were in epipelagic and demersal species, accompanied by the greatest reductions in growth (weight for length) compared to historical values. Anadromous and benthic species overall had the highest levels of heavy metals, reductions in growth and presence of spine curvatures. Thus, fish are accumulating heavy metals at levels dependent on their location in the water column, associated with negative impacts on their growth and physiology. 

Keywords: Atlantic fish
Ecotoxicology
Heavy metals
Spine curvatures
Advisor: Wittnich, Carin
Solar Transformative Processes in Hatshepsut´s Coronation Scenes in the Red Chapel

Queen Hatshepsut stands out among the minority of women who have held the role of king of Egypt thanks to the unique methods that Hatshepsut used in order to obtain this position. Among these procedures, her complex iconographic programs should be highlighted. As such, the Red Chapel in the Temple of Karnak proves to be an invaluable source as its complex iconographic program presents key moments of her rule – the most intriguing being her coronation ceremony. However, there is reason to believe that these scenes also contain an underlying symbolic and cosmological meaning. In the following study, I aim to bring these themes to light by analyzing the iconographic elements of these scenes and the diverse texts that accompany them, focusing on the order and various iconographic details of Hatshepsut´s crowns, and the visual effect they would have had on the ancient viewer.

Keywords: Coronation
Crowns
Hatshepsut
Iconography
Red Chapel
Solar rebirth
Advisor: Goebs, Katja
Wegner, Mary Ann Pauls
Class, Gender, and Nationalism in ‘Aziza Amir and Fatma Rushdie’s Films

This thesis examines the works of lower-class Egyptian women filmmakers during the first half of the 20th century, focusing on the films of ‘Aziza Amir and Fatma Rushdie in particular. After contextualizing their films in the political and intellectual atmosphere of the time, I analyze two of ‘Aziza Amir’s works as a screenwriter and four of Fatma Rushdie’s works as an actress. I demonstrate that both women strategically used their films to interrogate, challenge, and/or reproduce the Egyptian nationalist and feminist discourse of the time, particularly as it related to gender, class, nationalism, and national identity. I argue that both women made significant contributions to popularizing and disseminating the language and ideals that would then become the trademark of the Gamal Abdel-Nasser era starting in 1952.

Keywords: Arab Cinema
Class
Cultural Production
Egyptian Feminism
Egyptian Nationalism
Women's History
Advisor: Mojab, Shahrzad
Simulation-assisted Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cell Band Alignment using Two-step Ionic Doping

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells have tunable optoelectronic properties, enabling CQD solar cells to absorb solar radiation inaccessible to many existing liquid-processed semiconductors. I explore herein routes to increasing stability and performance in CQD solar cells through modifications of the active layer, aided by simulation and implemented experimentally. I find that the results of these simulations provide an avenue to improving device performance experimentally. Based on these results, I implement a fluoride ionic doping procedure which allows for greater control of doping characteristic of solar cells by inducing greater p-type characteristic. Based on this procedure, the improvements in VOC, FF, and PCE that I predicted via simulation are observed experimentally, with fluoride-doped devices showing a maximum performance of 12.7% AM1.5 PCE. This work showcases the potential of device simulations to assist in further device performance improvements and provides recommendations for a path to commercialization of CQD solar cells.

Keywords: band alignment
colloidal quantum dot
fluoride doping
scaps
solar cell
Advisor: Sargent, Edward
Sexual Violence and Mental Health: The Role of Attitudes, Beliefs and Disclosure

This paper analyzes how rape myths, sexual attitudes and disclosure behaviours influence symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD in survivors of sexual violence on campus.To address the research questions, data were analyzed from a large study of 934 undergraduate women at universities in Ontario. Results from spearman’s correlations showed a significant but weak relationship between rape myth acceptance and anxiety, and Communion sexual attitudes and depression. All types of disclosure were associated with increased symptoms of the mental health outcomes measured. Regression analyses yield only a significant result with health disclosure, rape myth acceptance and Birth Control sexual attitudes predicting changes in anxiety scores. Mediation analyses found formal disclosure to partially mediate victimization and anxiety, depression and PTSD. Disclosure to health services partially mediated the relationship between victimization and PTSD. This study emphasizes the need for greater institutional efforts to educate students on the resources available to them, and the need for more research on student’s experiences with disclosure.

Advisor: Stermac, Lana
Vibration and Attitude Control of Square Solar Sails using Tip Vane Null Motion

This thesis covers the development and simulation based implementation of a control law used to concurrently control the vibration and attitude of a square solar sail using dual gimballed corner-attached reflective vane actuators. An introduction to the topic is presented along with the prerequisite mathematical foundation needed to follow the thesis. Following that, a flexible structural dynamics model of the solar sail is developed using a Rayleigh-Ritz expansion to model the coupled rotational and elastic dynamics of the system. Next, a control law is developed using Lyapunov control design to concurrently damp structural vibrations as well as reorient the sail to a desired attitude. Subsequently, a control allocation process is presented to tackle the underconstrained nature of the tip vane actuators such that desired control forces can be realized as closely as possible. Finally, simulation results using the control law with the structural dynamics model are presented to demonstrate the improvement in vibration damping using the augmented PD control law developed as opposed to a simple PD control law.

Keywords: attitude control
control allocation
control systems
solar sails
structural dynamics
vibration control
Advisor: Damaren, Christopher J.
Understanding Equity in Intermittent Water Supplies: A Distributed Pressure-dependent Demand Model

Intermittent Water Supplies (IWSs), providing water for less than 24 hours a day, are associated with demanding management, extra costs, low water quality, and inequity. In this study, a new distributed pressure-dependent demand model is developed to measure volumetric equity using two metrics: volumetric equity and the Gini coefficient. The model consists of a reservoir and a pipe with a slot along the crown of the pipe acting as an unrestricted orifice. A residential pipe and an equivalent pipe, representing a network regardless of its structural details, were analyzed under different steady, pressure deficient scenarios to explore the opportunities to improve equity. The results suggest that overdesigning IWSs with larger pipes and feeding the system from multiple points near high-density settlements improve equity. Accordingly, hilly areas should be supplied with higher pressure and pipes near the reservoir should be prioritized for leakage inspection and reduction.

Advisor: Meyer, David DJ
Investigating Occupants’ Hold Behaviours on Smart Thermostats using Data Mining and Machine Learning

This thesis investigated three aspects of hold behaviour on smart thermostat. First, the behavioural patterns of occupants’ settings were discovered by using association rule mining. The results suggest that it is very common for users to continuously use holds to adjust indoor temperature rather than using pre-set schedules of setpoint temperatures. Second, logistic regression and clustering analysis were adopted to determine the potential environmental and context factors that drive occupants to create a hold. It was found that the indoor or outdoor temperature are the most common and important potential driving factors. Last, the energy impact of hold behaviours is investigated by using predictive models. The results shows that the runtime increase due to holds is possibly linearly related to the Setpoint Temperature Demand Change, a metric that considers both temperature change and length of a hold.

Keywords: data mining
machine learning
occupant behaviour
smart thermostat
Advisor: Touchie, Marianne
Using Accelerometers to Score a Multi-domain Return-to-play Assessment for Youth Post-concussion

Clinical guidelines recommend using multi-domain assessments to determine when youth may return-to-play after a concussion. However, multi-domain assessments are rarely used as they are difficult for clinicians to administer and score. This thesis describes the ideation, development, and evaluation of a system to identify movements-of-interest during a return-to-play assessment for youth (R2Play) with the aim of reducing clinician cognitive load. The system uses a low-cost accelerometer, a threshold-based algorithm, and two classifiers to automatically log initiation times, movement errors, and hesitations. To facilitate development, data was collected from 15 adults performing tasks simulating these movements. The developed algorithms achieved an ICC of 0.892±0.064 for initiation time, and F1 scores of 0.621±0.148 and 0.422±0.224 for hesitations and movement errors. Preliminary validation was performed on youth athletes (n=3) during R2Play. The system developed in this research is a step toward consistent scoring and lowering clinician cognitive load in multi-domain assessments.

Keywords: Concussion
Machine learning
Rehabilitation
Return-to-play
Wearable sensors
Advisor: Biddiss, Elaine
Scratch, Shannon
Reinforcement Learning Approach for Solving the Optimal Stopping Problem

The optimal stopping problem is concerned with finding an optimal policy to stop a stochastic process to maximize the expected return. This problem is critical in stochastic control and can be found in many different fields, such as operations research and finance. In this thesis, we model the optimal stopping problem as a Markov decision process and propose to solve it via a model-free value-based reinforcement learning approach, named delta-V. We consider two types of optimal stopping problems: the standard optimal stopping and the regenerative optimal stopping, which differ in their transition dynamics once the stopping action is executed. Then, we incorporate the unique structural properties of the optimal stopping problem into our algorithm design. We test our proposed approach in three cases and compare with three existing reinforcement learning algorithms. The results show that our delta-V method is able to outperform benchmark algorithms in all three cases.

Keywords: Markov Decision Process
Operations Research
Optimal Stopping
Reinforcement Learning
Stochastic Control
Advisor: Lee, Chi-Guhn
Ultimate Response of Viscoelastic-plastic Damping Systems for Tall Buildings

The viscoelastic coupling damper (VCD) was developed to provide supplemental distributed damping to all modes of vibration and provide a multi-hazard design solution for tall buildings. The VCD system consists of viscoelastic damper panels that are bolted to steel beams, cast in the concrete structure. In seismic regions, ductile shear links are incorporated in the VCD system. During large earthquakes, the VCD exhibits a viscoelastic-plastic response as the steel links yield, limiting the forces imposed on the structure. Full-scale specimens were designed and tested to validate the ultimate response of the VCD links fabricated with conventional North American grades of steel. Numerous design details were also investigated to maximize the deformation capacity of the steel links. The experimental program showed that the VCD links are able to achieve more than the required inelastic link rotation while developing values of overstrength that are similar to those achieved by typical shear links.

Keywords: damping
hysteretic
links
steel
viscoelastic
Advisor: Christopoulos, Constantin
Cortical Excitability and its Relationship with Clinical Symptoms in Alzheimer’s Dementia

Electroencephalography (EEG) studies of Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD) have shown evidence of cortical hyper-excitability, however, its relationship with cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) remains unclear. Objectives: First, we conducted a system review and meta-analyses to quantitatively synthesis the evidence of cortical excitability in AD and its relationship with clinical symptoms. Next, we compared dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) excitability between AD and older healthy individuals using transcranial magnetic stimulation paired with EEG and assessed its relationship with cognition and NPS in AD. Hypothesis: We hypothesized increased cortical excitability in AD would be inversely associated with cognition and positively associated with NPS. Results: There is increased motor cortex and DLPFC excitability in AD as compared to healthy individuals. Additionally, DLPFC excitability was inversely associated with global cognition and executive functioning, and positively associated with NPS burden in AD. Conclusions: These findings help in understanding the mechanisms underlying AD and its associated clinical symptoms.

Keywords: Alzheimer's Dementia
cognition
cortical excitability
neuropsychiatric symptoms
transcranial magnetic stimulation
Advisor: Kumar, Sanjeev
Patient and Clinician Perspectives on Content for a Decision Aid for Implant Dentistry

Implant-based therapies are a reliable treatment for the replacement of missing teeth based on decades of research and clinical use. Treatment planning is a complex process, and patients would benefit from information designed to facilitate their decision-making; however, no evidence-based decision aids exist in this field. This project aims to investigate patient and clinician perspectives on the relative importance of items to include in a decision aid for implant dentistry using an online two-round modified Delphi survey of patients, prosthodontists, periodontists, and oral surgeons across Ontario, Canada. Results report clinicians and patients identify multiple variables as important to include in a decision aid; however, significant differences exist between groups on the relative importance of items. This study suggests that development of a decision aid to meet the needs of all participant groups may be challenging, and involve further collaboration in order to address the collective needs of patients and clinicians.

Keywords: Dental Ethics
Dental Implants
Patient-Centred Care
Prosthodontics
Shared Decision Making
Advisor: Dempster, Laura
Chvartszaid, David
Exploring Experiences of Harm in Competitive Dance

The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of harm in competitive dance, specifically focusing on interactions between dancers and instructors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 competitive dancers and data were analyzed thematically. Three main themes were generated: harmful experiences in dance, social identities and harm, and rationalization of harmful experiences. Findings demonstrate the existence of harm in competitive dance and demonstrates that social identity influences experiences of harm. Furthermore, findings demonstrate that dancers rationalize harmful experiences through downplaying harm and cost-benefit analysis of experiences. Based on this research, strategies for harm prevention and intervention in the dance environment are recommended, and suggestions are posed for future research.

Advisor: Stirling, Ashley
Mechanisms of Lipotoxicity by Palmitate in ß-cells

Obesity chronically elevates circulating saturated free fatty acids which can mediate ß-cell dysfunction. The roles of ß-cell insulin signaling and ß-cell nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-1 receptor in this process remains unclear. First, upregulation of insulin signaling with bisperoxovanadate in islets partially prevented palmitate-induced reduction in insulin secretion and AKT activation in vitro, revealing a role of ß-cell insulin resistance in palmitate-induced ß-cell dysfunction. Next, we generated ß-cell specific NOD1-null mouse (ßKO) to investigate role of NOD1 in palmitate-induced ß-cell dysfunction. Disposition index (DI) was reduced in ethylpalmitate-infused control mice, while DI of ethylpalmitate-infused ßKO was comparable to DI of vehicle-infused mice. Islets isolated from JNK1-null mice were protected from NOD1-induced ß-cell dysfunction in vitro. These data reveal a role of NOD1-JNK1 axis in palmitate-induced ß-cell dysfunction. These findings reveal ß-cell insulin resistance and innate immunity receptors as novel mechanisms that could be targeted for manipulation in preserving ß–cell function.

Keywords: Innate immunity
Obesity
ß-cell insulin resistance
ß-cell lipotoxicity
Saturated FFA
Type 2 diabetes
Advisor: Giacca, Adria
News Media Framing of Climate Change in Canada: A Provincial Analysis of 2015-2018

This thesis analyzes the framing of climate change in the most circulated news titles from six different Canadian provinces. While previous scholarship on Canadian news framing of climate change has focused on nationally circulated news media, this provincial analysis shows there are significant differences in the framing of climate change between different provinces and nationally circulated media. Some of these differences follow regional patterns, particularly in terms of a West-East divide in the use of business and industry voice, article balance, and environment as an issue theme. The use of risk and benefit frames was particularly unique in Alberta’s Calgary Herald, wherein regional economic interests were emphasized more so than in any other news title looked at. News articles were also qualitatively analyzed to reveal important differences in narrative construction between articles with identical frame use. This highlights the importance of combining quantitative and qualitative methods in this research area.

Keywords: Canadian Regionalism
Climate Change
Climate Discourse
Discourse Analysis
Frame analysis
News Media
Advisor: Olive, Andrea
An Open-source Framework for the Generation of RISC-V Processor + CGRA Accelerator Systems

Course-Grained Recongurable Architectures (CGRAs) are programmable hardware devices containing coarse-grained processing elements that can perform ALU-like functions and having word-wide programmable interconnect. CGRAs are promising platforms for the implementation of domain-specific accelerators. In this thesis, we present a framework for building hybrid processor/accelerator systems to realize compute-kernel acceleration. Each system comprises a RISC-V processor and a CGRA. The proposed framework can generate the system automatically integrating CGRAs generated by the open-source CGRA-ME tool [4], and the RISC-V processor from the PULP project [8]. In an experimental study, several RISC-V+CGRA systems are generated, and we observe an order-of-magnitude speedup vs. software and considerable speedup vs. a vector processor on four. With the hybrid system generation capabilities integrated into the CGRA-ME framework, it now permits hybrid system generation with different types of CGRA architectures, enabling a variety of new research on processor + accelerator architectures and programming models.

Advisor: Anderson, Jason H