VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Effects of Dopamine Antagonists on Gambling Reinforcement and the Impact of Prior Exposure in Pathological Gamblers and Controls

This study sought to determine the roles of D1 and D2 receptors in mediating gambling reinforcement in pathological gamblers and controls (n=24/group), and the influence of reward novelty on these effects. Subjects received D2 antagonist, haloperidol (3mg), or D1-D2 antagonist, fluphenazine (3mg) in a placebo-controlled, counterbalanced, two-session design. Incentive motivation and hedonic impact were assessed before and after a 15-min slot machine game. Haloperidol tended to increase pre-game motivation but reduce the priming effect of the slot machine, while fluphenazine increased positive mood ratings but reduced motivation to gamble. Haloperidol effects were stronger when it was received on the first session, while fluphenazine had stronger effects after prior drug-free exposure. Results suggest D1 signaling is central to reward expectancy and motivation to gamble, and that moderate stimulation increases positive affect while reducing motivation to gamble. D1 blockade may also enhance reinforcement of a familiar task by interfering with reward expectancy.

Keywords: dopamine
d1 receptor
d2 receptor
pathological gambling
haloperidol
fluphenazine
novelty
Advisor: Zack, Martin
Unsettling the Currency of Caring: Promoting Health and Wellness at the Frontlines of Welfare State Withdrawal in Toronto

What does the prevalence of stress and burnout in community-based work reveal about the impacts of welfare state withdrawal? Drawing on the experiences of frontline community organizers in Toronto, this research argues that welfare state withdrawal is subsidized by a ‘Currency of Caring’ whereby frontline community organizers are expected to fill gaps in the social safety net, working to a point of burnout if necessary, because they care. This research investigates how funders operating within this context can promote health and wellness in community-based work. Broadly, research findings provide insights into how neoliberalism and welfare state withdrawal shape frontline community work in ways that exacerbate stress and burnout, and impede systemic change efforts. In addition, research findings describe the limitations and possibilities for funders to be allies in collective change efforts by being invested in the health and wellness of frontline community organizers.

Keywords: community organizers
Welfare State Withdrawal
Neoliberal restructuring
Funding and Philanthropy
stress and burnout
non-profit industrial complex
health and wellness
Advisor: Wakefield, Sarah
Design and Development of a Contactless Planar Capacitive Sensor

The measurement of vital signs is a risk-free, inexpensive, and reproducible clinical practice that enables identification of physiological deterioration of patients before an adverse event occurs. However, studies show that manual clinical measurements of respiratory rate are intermittent, biased, and inaccurate. Therefore, a contactless planar capacitive sensor was developed and evaluated against a clinical reference method. Results show that the sensor is accurate (i.e. strong agreement with an average ICC value of 0.99 and an average BSI coefficient of 2.76 < 4 breaths/min clinical threshold) and unbiased (i.e. average mean difference of -0.02 breaths/min). The sensor has promise for respiratory rate monitoring of bedridden patients even during shallow breathing. Future work includes addressing technology limitations, conducting a clinical pilot with a diverse patient population, and exploring potential in sleep quality assessment.

Keywords: capacitive sensor
respiration monitoring
Advisor: Cafazzo, Joseph
Lipid Accumulation in CD11c-expressing Intimal Myeloid Cells Induces Chemokine Production Required for Leukocyte Recruitment to Early Atherosclerotic Lesions

Monocyte recruitment promotes the accumulation of myeloid foam cells in early atherosclerotic plaques. However, initial foam cells form prior to increased monocyte recruitment in hypercholesterolemic Ldlr-/- mice. These initial foam cells are derived from myeloid cells residing in the normal intima, and express integrin alphaX (CD11c). The goal of this thesis was to assess the role of initial foam cells in atherogenesis. The approach was to delete these cells by diphtheria toxin-induced apoptosis in Ldlr-/- bone marrow chimeras. Depletion of CD11c+ leukocytes resulted in significant reductions of intimal lipid accumulation, monocyte recruitment, intimal chemokine expression, but not endothelial cell adhesion molecule expression, at 10 and 21 days of hypercholesterolemia. These data suggest that lipid uptake by resident intimal CD11c-expressing myeloid cells during the earliest stages of atherosclerosis promotes chemokine production that is required for increased monocyte recruitment.

Keywords: Atheroscleorsis
Leukocyte Recruitment
Intimal Myeloid Cells
CD11c
Lipid Accumulation
Chemokines
Advisor: Cybulsky, Myron
Jongstra-Bilen, Jenny
Controlled Conjugation of [Cu,Zn] Superoxide Dismutase: An Active Tetramer

While the catalytically powerful [Cu,Zn] superoxide dismutase (SOD1) possesses great potential as a therapeutic, unfavorable properties in circulation limit its use in clinical medicine. The small, water soluble dimer is rapidly excreted by the kidney. Previous initiatives have been used to increase the mass of the enzyme (PEGylation, liposome encapsulation). This has resulted in highly heterogeneous mixtures of modified SOD1, which are difficult to characterize. Furthermore, these modified proteins have utilized foreign material that has shown to elicit an inflammatory response. We developed an improved strategy that creates a homogenous high molecular weight SOD1 based on combinations of the protein itself. This was accomplished through the addition of a site-specific, azide functionalized cross-linker to unmodified SOD1, followed by the conjugation of SOD dimers using CuAAC and a bis-alkyne linker to form a 64 kDa SOD tetramer. The final product, bis-SOD, presents the fully catalytic activity of the combined proteins.

Keywords: Superoxide Dismutase
Bioconjugation
Advisor: Kluger, Ronald
Spiritual Journal Keeping: An Ethnographic Study of Content, Materials, Practice, and Structure

This thesis reports the findings of an exploratory, ethnographic study of the spiritual journal keeping practices of Catholic university students at the 'Harbour House,' a Catholic student centre and parish operating on the campus of a large, Canadian university. Guided by the question,'How and why do Catholic students keep journals to document their spiritual lives?' it examines journal keeping in the context of Catholic spirituality, the relationships students have with their journals as spiritual documents, and the representations of information found in spiritual journals. Findings are organized under the themes of Content, Materials, Practice, and Structure, and demonstrate that spiritual journal keeping is a deeply personal activity that involves a variety of unique and individualized information practices and behaviours, developed and used in order to better navigate a vast and mysterious spiritual path, and to work towards spiritual growth.

Keywords: ethnography
information studies
information behaviour
journal keeping
spirituality
catholicism
Advisor: Hartel, Jenna
Robust Facility Location under Demand Location Uncertainty

In this thesis, we generalize a set of facility location models within a two-stage robust optimization framework by assuming each demand is only known to lie within a continuous and bounded uncertainty region. Our approach involves discretizing each uncertainty region into a set of finite scenarios, each of which represents a potential location where the demand may be realized. We show that the gap between the optimal values of the theorized continuous uncertainty problem and our discretized model can be bounded by a function of the granularity of the discretization. We then propose a solution technique based on row-and-column generation, and compare its performance with existing solution methods. Lastly, we apply our robust location models to the problem of ambulance positioning using cardiac arrest location data from the City of Toronto, and show that hedging against demand location uncertainty may help decrease EMS response times to cardiac arrest emergencies.

Keywords: optimization
facility location
healthcare operations
Advisor: Chan, Timothy
Induction of Tolerance: Mechanisms and Implications for Clinical Transplantation

Therapies that promote tolerance will improve outcomes in solid organ transplantation by eliminating the need for long-term immunosuppression. This thesis investigates two possible tolerance induction mechanisms: rapamycin induced expression of regulatory T cells and re-education of the immune system using syngeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Fibrinogen-like protein 2, a effector molecule of regulatory T cells, was also determined as a key mediator in the tolerance induction pathway as depletion of fibrinogen-like protein 2 lead to allograft rejection. The feasibility of using syngeneic hematopoietic stem cells for inducing allograft tolerance was studied by setting up a murine heart and bone marrow transplant model. Syngeneic T-depleted bone marrow transplantation resulted in a slight prolongation of the graft survival time compared to the animals reconstituted with total bone marrow cells. We provide compelling evidence to suggest that fibrinogen-like protein 2 and syngeneic hematopoietic stem cells can possibly be used to induce transplantation tolerance.

Keywords: Transplantation
Tolerance
Advisor: Levy, Gary A.
Arrays of Silicon P-i-N Nanowires for Antenna-enhanced and Polarisation Sensitive Detection of Light

A novel antenna effect is demonstrated in arrays of 500, 200 and 100 silicon nanowires embedded in silicon dioxide. The gratings are analyzed using spectral and polarisation resolved photocurrent microscopy. Resonant enhancements in the electric field and photocurrent response are observed at multiple wavelengths corresponding to coupling of incident radiation into the grating's multiple-scattering electromagnetic modes. The photoresponse retains the sinusoidal polarisation anisotropy expected in single nanowires. The resonances are modeled using electromagnetic scattering theory and show excellent agreement with measurement. An experimental quality factor of Q=10 was measured for the gratings, exceeding that of a single wire, but lower than expected from theory. The difference is ascribed to the finite length of the wires and their termination at ohmic contacts. Strategies to improve Q are discussed, and a grating is presented to resonantly enhance light detection at red, green and blue wavelengths for application as a colour imaging sensor.

Keywords: Nanowires
Silicon
Optical sensor
Advisor: Ruda, Harry E.
Silences and Empty Spaces - The Reintegration of Girl Child Soldiers in Uganda: Gendering the Problem and Engendering Solutions

This thesis examines the experiences of girl child soldiers in Uganda in order to explore the gender gaps that exist in post-conflict programming and to engender meaningful policy solutions that target these gaps. This thesis uses a gender lens to analyze the challenges faced by Ugandan girls and to explore how entrenched gender norms feed into a singular narrative of conflict &ndash; dangerous boys and traumatized girls &ndash; that renders particular combatants &ndash; and their unique needs &ndash; invisible. Adopting a feminist methodology that prioritizes the importance of girls&rsquo; narratives and self-perceptions, the author argues that girl child soldiers must be meaningfully included in the design and implementation of programming aimed at serving their needs. A participatory action research methodology is presented as a promising way forward. It can help address specific gendered challenges in the post-conflict environment, while also recognizing and drawing upon the resiliency and strengths of the girl child soldiers themselves.

Keywords: international criminal law
girl child soldier
Uganda
feminist methodology
participatory action research
participation
child protection
gender
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
Lord's Resistance Army
narratives
reintegration
international humanitarian law
armed conflict
Paris Principles
war-affected youth
human rights
Advisor: Nedelsky, Jennifer
Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Device for Automobile Applications

Driving with the cold engine increases fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emissions. A latent heat energy storage device has been proposed to recover waste heat and reduce engine warm-up time by using phase change materials (PCMs) as an energy storage medium. Two types of paraffin waxes and 50/50 mixture of the two have been examined to characterize their behaviors under repetitive heating/freezing. From the results, the heat transfer is more effective in the case of narrower spacing distances between the cooling plates and high circulating flow rate of the heat transfer fluid. A 50/50 mixture of two paraffin waxes also provides better heat transfer due to the possible existence of both conduction and natural convection. The results of the metal block simulation experiments demonstrated the potential of latent heat TES&rsquo;s for use in engine warm-up.

Keywords: Thermal energy storage (TES)
Latent heat
Phase change materials (PCM)
Paraffin wax
Advisor: Kawaji, Masahiro
Repair of CFTR Defects Caused By Cystic Fibrosis Mutations

Cystic fibrosis is caused primarily by deletion of Phe508. An exciting discovery was that CFTR’s sister protein, the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) containing the equivalent mutation (ΔY490), could be repaired by a drug-rescue approach. Drug substrates showed specificity, and their mechanism involves direct binding to the transmembrane domains (TMDs) since arginine suppressor mutations were identified in TMDs that mimicked drug-rescue to promote maturation. We tested the possibility of rescuing CFTR processing mutants with a drug-rescue approach. 1) Arginine mutagenesis was performed on TM6, 8, and 12. 2) Correctors were tested for specificity. 3) Truncation mutants were used to map the VX-809 rescue site. Correctors 5a, 5c, and VX-809 were specific for CFTR. VX-809 appeared to specifically rescue CFTR by stabilizing TMD1. Therefore, the TMDs are potential targets to rescue CFTR. Rescue of P-gp and CFTR appeared to occur by different mechanisms since no arginine suppressor mutations were identified in CFTR.

Keywords: Biochemistry
cystic fibrosis
CFTR
membrane protein
chloride channel
P-glycoprotein
arginine mutagenesis
VX-809
Advisor: Clarke, David M.
Chinese Bamboo and the Construction of Moral High Ground by Song Literati

This thesis investigates the bamboo aesthetic in Chinese literature and its relations to the self-fashioning of moral high ground, with particular focus on literary works produced by Song literati. The study deconstructs the bamboo aesthetic into two parts, the literary bamboo and the literati self, and explores the internal dynamic relations between them.

Keywords: bamboo
Literati
Morality
Chinese bamboo
bamboo aesthetic
Chinese aesthetics
Advisor: Sanders, Graham
Probing the Oligomeric Status of G Protein-Coupled Receptors by Forster Resonance Energy Transfer and Single-Particle Fluorescence

Much evidence indicates that G protein-coupled receptors can form oligomers, but the size and stability of those oligomers has not been well characterised. We used single-particle tracking (SPT) and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) to measure the oligomeric size of the M2 muscarinic receptor, a prototypical class A GPCR, in live cells. Single-particle intensity distributions that we obtained for the monomeric control CD86 and the dimeric control CD28 are nearly identical, and no conclusion about the oligomeric size of M2 receptors could be drawn from SPT measurements. FRET measurements allowed us to distinguish the monomeric control CD86 from the dimeric controls CD28 and caveolin-1, and the pattern of efficiencies produced by M2 receptors is similar to the pattern produced by the monomers but not the dimers. The view of M2 muscarinic receptors as transient oligomers appears to be the most consistent with other studies using different biochemical and biophysical techniques.

Keywords: Biophysics
Imaging
Advisor: Wells, James W.
The Design of Home Energy-management Interfaces: Effects of Display Type on Thermostat Temperature Selection

This thesis explores home energy management (HEM), an emerging field for interface design and sustainability. Section 1 introduces HEM’s broader context. In Section 2, I review the literature surrounding HEM. Section 3 outlines the usability study on the ecobee Smart Thermostat, to evaluate the technology’s ease-of-use, and better understand users’ experience with current HEM technology. Section 4 describes a “Critical Making” workshop, where participants investigated HEM through material interaction and discussion. Section 5 describes and evaluates the potential design spaces gleaned from previous sections. In Section 6, I return to the literature to investigate key concepts underlying the design intervention for the chosen design space. Section 7 describes my design intervention and experimental evaluation. In Section 8, I present the study results, which suggest enhanced display labelling had a significant and directional effect on user-selected temperatures. In Section 9, I discuss these results, study limitations, and make conclusions and recommendations.

Keywords: Human Factors
Cognitive Engineering
Interface Design
Usability
Sustainability
Thermostats
Energy
Conservation
Home Energy Management
Feedback
Programable Thermostat
Critical Making
Labelling
Controls
Thermal Comfort
Mental Models
Paper prototype
Heating
Behavior
Demand-side
Smart thermostat
Energy Efficiency
Advisor: Jamieson, Gregory Allan
The Influence of Autism-associated Genes on the Mouse Cerebellum, Assessed using a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Atlas

Autism and associated gene mutations can be studied with genetic mouse models. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of these animal models quantifies the impact of genetics on brain morphology. Using MRI, three genetic mouse models of autism were imaged: Neuroligin 3 R451C knock-in, Methyl-CpG binding protein-2 308-truncation and Integrin β-3 knock-out. Morphological differences were identified using a newly developed MRI mouse cerebellum atlas. The results show all three genes to alter cerebellar anatomy. Each studied gene affected a unique set of cerebellar structures. I hypothesize that the results and known behavioural phenotypes of the models are linked, with anatomy contributing to specific behaviours. In the future work section, a surface-based analysis method is presented to investigate the variance in cerebellum foliation across disease models and inbred strains. This work shows that autism risk-genes alter distinct regions of the cerebellum.

Keywords: Autism
MRI
Image analysis
Cerebellum
Advisor: Lerch, Jason
Photosynthetic-plasmonic-voltaics: Plasmonically Excited Biofilms for Electricity Production

Photosynthetic biofilms have much higher cell density than suspended cultures and when grown in a stacked waveguide configuration, can have orders of magnitude higher areal productivity. Evanescent and plasmonic growth of biofilm cultures have been demonstrated, solving issues with light penetration impeding growth, but thus far the technology has been limited to biofuel production applications. In this thesis, plasmonically excited cyanobacterial biofilms are used to produce electrical power in a photosynthetic-plasmonic-voltaic device. This approach uses red lasers to deliver light to cells via an optical waveguide through the generation of surface plasmons at the interface between a metal and dielectric, in this case a glass-gold-air interface. This gold film serves a dual purpose as a current collector for electrons generated at the cell surface. Experiments presented here demonstrate positive power output light response under both direct light and plasmonic excitation and produced equivalent power output of 6 uW/m2 under similar light power intensities.

Keywords: plasmonic cell growth
biophotovoltaics
evanescent cell growth
photosynthetic microbial fuel cells
microbial electrochemical technologies
Advisor: Sinton, David
Daily Experiences of Direct Contact and Media Contact

The present research examined how daily experiences of intergroup contact through social interaction (direct contact) and exposure to outgroups in media (media contact) facilitate improvements in intergroup attitudes. A longitudinal diary study was conducted whereby participants indicated the amount of direct contact and media contact they had each day, as well as their intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that direct contact and media contact both independently predicted improvements in intergroup attitudes. For direct contact, but not media contact, this relationship was moderated by the perceived negativity of the contact. Time-lagged analyses indicated that direct contact on a given day predicted improved intergroup attitudes on a subsequent day above and beyond direct contact on that day, but that media contact has little or no residual impact. This suggests that although media contact and direct contact may both be effective at promoting more positive intergroup attitudes, direct contact may have a more lasting impact.

Keywords: Intergroup Contact
Social Attitudes
Advisor: Page-Gould, Elizabeth
Development of a Sensory Feedback System for Lower-limb Amputees using Vibrotactile Haptics

Following lower-limb amputation, patients suffer from sensory loss within the prosthesis/residuum complex leading to diminished proprioception and balance. Artificial sensory systems have the potential to improve rehabilitation outcomes including better functional usage of lower-limb prostheses to achieve a higher quality of life for the prosthetic users. The purpose of this work was to develop and test the e fficacy of a vibrotactile feedback system for lower-limb amputees that may augment feedback during complex balance and movement tasks. Responses to different vibrotactile stimuli frequencies, locations, and physical conditions were assessed. Key outcome measures for this work were the response time and response accuracy of the subjects to the different stimulator configurations. Frequencies closer to 250 Hz applied to the anterior portion of the thigh resulted in the quickest reaction times. When multitasking, reaction times increased. These preliminary results indicate that vibrotactile sensory feedback may be viable to use by lower-limb amputees.

Keywords: vibrotactile feedback
haptic feedback
transfemoral amputees
sensory feedback
Advisor: Andrysek, Jan
Content Specificity of the Contralateral Delay Activity

The neural signature and cognitive architecture of how a visual stimulus reaches conscious awareness have not been conclusively determined. Recently, we have reported an ERP activity corresponding with a period of perceptual persistence which has been typically reported in working memory research, known as the contralateral delay activity (CDA). Specifically, we reported how the CDA can be used to track how on object fades in out of consciousness. Here, we report on the behaviour of the CDA when the type of item in this paradigm is manipulated between face, animal and object stimuli. We recorded EEG activity while participants viewed a bilateral Shape-from-Motion display and analyzed where and how large a CDA is observed. Our findings show that the CDA is generalizable to different item types fading from awareness, with no differences between item conditions. This work supports the content-invariant involvement of working memory processes in sustaining conscious awareness.

Keywords: Cognitive Neuroscience
EEG
CDA
Working Memory
Advisor: Ferber, Susanne