VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
From Behind the Scenes to Under the Skin: The Social Bodily Experiences of Stressful, Gendered Work in Police Communicators

Gender and work are complex social determinants of health. Little is known about how they intersect to shape health inequities. Differences in the acute strains and chronic stressors of particular occupations are systematically related to other socially structured categories, such as gender. Physiological representations of social structures like gender can be discerned through acute and chronic stress responses at work. The body cumulatively records the complexity of the social world, like work, translating gendered work into health inequities. Police communications (911 call-takers/dispatchers) is a gendered, high-stress occupation that requires intense emotion work and persistent social interactions. Engaging in this type of high-stakes emotionally demanding work – that I hypothesize is embodied – has the potential to shape health along gendered divisions of labour. Allostatic Load (AL) – a framework used to assess physiological dysregulation due to prolonged secretion of stress hormones – represents a construct through which the material embodiment of social life can be demonstrated. Long-term dysregulation, however, is the accumulation of repeated short-term responses that have become dysfunctional. Thus, acute physiological responses and AL, as biological registrations of social life, are used to examine how gendered work shapes health. Eighty-one communicators were individually observed as they worked. Participants wore a heart-rate-variability (HRV) monitor and received take-home questionnaires and salivary cortisol kits. Blood and physiological markers were collected for AL scores. A subset of 25 acutely stressful events also occurred, after which, saliva samples were collected for cortisol and oxytocin responses. Results indicate gender plays a role in the relationship between emotional labour and AL. Furthermore, the experience of posttraumatic stress is associated with increased AL. During acutely stressful events, changes in cortisol, oxytocin, and HRV are evident. Central to social stress responses, these physiological changes are differentially predicted by gendered workplace stressors. Findings suggest that gender structures might influence health through conformity to norms and the associated stress these relational beliefs/acts provoke. Furthermore, associations between physiological and subjective stress also point to mechanisms through which cumulative exposures to stressful events might increase the risk of stress-related disorders. Implications for future research on this biological embedding of gendered social experiences are discussed.

Keywords: Allostatic Load
Emotional Labour
Gender
Occupational Stress
Police Communicators
Advisor: Einstein, Gillian
Publication and Registration Bias in Randomized Clinical Trials

The research literature has identified the impact of publication bias in randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The prospective registration of RCTs provides a means to mitigate publication bias by allowing researchers to explore a source of trial information, that may or may not be published. This thesis offers a critical appraisal of the compliance in prospective registration and results publication of RCTs. This thesis includes three studies. The first study evaluated the publication bias and prospective registration in digital health RCTs in ClinicalTrials.gov. To expand the scope of this study beyond a single trial registry, the second study examined the global prospective registration, the reporting of the trial registration number (TRN), and the publication rates of digital health RCTs registered in any of the World Health Organization (WHO) registries. To improve the external validity beyond the realm of digital health RCTs, the third study provided an empirical analysis of the prospective registration, the inclusion of TRN, and the selective registration bias in all RCTs registered in any of the WHO registries, and published in any PubMed-indexed journal in 2018, ten years after the adoption of the 7th revision of the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH). The overall results showed that (1) nearly one third of all digital health RCTs remain unpublished (27% and 34.5% in the first and second study respectively), (2) the compliance in prospective registration of RCTs remains low (29.3%, 38% and 41.7% in the first, second and third study respectively), and (3) the compliance in reporting the TRN in published RCTs was low (49%, 52% and 71.2% in the first, second and third study respectively), and (4) a new form of bias was detected “Selective Registration Bias”, with an increased (biased) tendency of the investigators to register a trial only when intending to publish the trial. The majority of RCTs (95.7% and 85.1% in the second and third study respectively), that were registered retrospectively, were registered within one year before submitting the RCT manuscript for journal publication. Addressed to editors, investigators and ethics committees, this thesis proposed several recommendations to inform the future development of best practices to mitigate the publication and registration bias in evidence-based medical research. This thesis proposed several recommendations to inform the future development of best practices to mitigate the publication and registration bias in evidence-based medical research.

Keywords: Clinical Trials
Digital Health
Health Informatics
Publication Bias
Randomzied Controlled Trials
Trial Registry and Registration
Advisor: Cafazzo, Joseph A
In Situ Bioprinting of Planar Biomaterials and Tissues

The goal of regenerative medicine is the synthesis of replacement tissue by positioning vital cells in three-dimensional (3D) patterns representing the arrangement, characteristics and functionality of natural tissue. The largest organ in humans - skin - possesses a unique hierarchical structure, comprised of cell populations whose fate and functionality is governed by their position. In severe burn injuries, effective strategies that ensure prompt and effective wound closure are essential for survival. Acellular substitutes require grafting and thus cause additional wounds, while cellular substitutes need long culture times, typically 3 - 4 weeks. In this thesis, a handheld instrument is presented that enables bioprinting of architected planar biomaterials and tissues in an approach that is compatible with in vitro and in vivo applications. Enzymatically, ionically, or light polymerizable biopolymer solutions that may contain skin cells are spatially organized to geometries resembling the skin using a microfabricated printhead and deposited onto a target surface. Homogeneous and architected (i.e., bi-layered and stripe-patterned) sheets are consistently formed and characterized. Cell-laden tissues were studied in vitro. Proof-of-concept experiments in small (murine) and big animal (porcine) wound models demonstrate the compatibility of the approach with in vivo requirements. The presented strategy enables the formation of organized soft tissues in a one-step manner that does not require multi-axis printhead translation or manipulation of printed constructs. With macroscopic and microscopic target surface specificity, in situ bioprinting shows great promises as an alternative bio-fabrication method for making tissue substitutes on arbitrary surfaces.

Keywords: Bio fabrication
Bio printing
Microfluidics
Regenerative medicine
Skin Substitutes
Advisor: Guenther, Axel
The Associations between History of Psychosis, Neuropsychological Performance and Functioning in Remitted Later-life Major Depression

Observational studies report that psychotic major depressive disorder (PMD) has poorer functional outcome than non-psychotic major depression (NPMD), but this finding could be explained by less robust recovery and residual symptoms in PMD. In addition, neuropsychological performance is worse in PMD than NPMD, both acutely and in remission. The overarching goal of this research is to examine the relative contributions of a history of psychosis and neuropsychological performance to impaired everyday function in remitted major depressive disorder (MDD). This thesis examined this question via three projects. The first investigated the optimal method to assess functioning in later-life depression through a systematic review of existing assessment instruments. Two instruments, the Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills and the Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument, were best suited to our measurement needs. In our second and main project, we examined whether history of psychosis is associated with poorer everyday functioning in remitted later-life MDD and, if so, whether this relationship is explained by neuropsychological performance. As hypothesized, history of psychotic features and poorer neuropsychological performance each independently predicted worse functioning, but the association was much stronger for neuropsychological performance, especially processing speed. In comparison to an age and gender-matched group with no history of psychiatric disorder, the effect size of functional impairment in patients with remitted PMD was large, whereas the impairment was small to moderate in NPMD. In our third project, we explored a potential mechanism for vulnerability to psychosis and neuropsychological and functional deficits in depression: sustained hypercortisolemia, measured using hair cortisol concentration and analysed with correlation coefficients. We found no clinically significant relationship between cortisol and history of psychosis, cognition or functioning. To further investigate the mechanism of impaired neuropsychological performance and function in remitted PMD, we propose a line of research examining the microstructure and function of brain white matter.

Keywords: Clinical research
Cognition
Cortisol
Functioning
Psychotic depression
Quantitative
Advisor: Flint, Alastair J
Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach to Multimodal Adaptive Traffic Signal Control

With perpetually increasing demand for transportation as a result of continued urbanization and population growth, it is essential to increase the existing transportation infrastructure. Optimizing traffic signals in real time, although is one of the primary tools to increase the efficiency of our urban transportation networks, is a difficult task, due to the non-linearity and stochasticity of the traffic system. Deriving a simple model of the intersection in order to design an appropriate adaptive controller is extremely challenging, and traffic signal control falls under the challenging category of sequential decision-making processes. One of the best approaches to resolving issues around adaptive traffic signal control is reinforcement learning (RL), which is model-free and suitable for sequential decision-making problems. Conventional discrete RL algorithms suffer from the curse of dimensionality, slow training, and lack of generalization. Therefore, we focus on developing continuous RL-based (CRL) traffic signal controller that addresses these issues. Also, we propose a more advanced deep RL-based (DRL) traffic signal controller that can handle high-dimensional sensory inputs from newer traffic sensors such as radars and the emerging technology of Connected Vehicles. DRL traffic signal controller directly operates with highly-detailed sensory information and eliminates the need for traffic experts to extract concise state features from the raw data (e.g., queue lengths), a process that is both case-specific and limiting. Furthermore, DRL extracts what it needs from the more detailed inputs automatically and improves control performance. Finally, we introduce two multimodal RL-based traffic signal controllers (MCRL and MiND) that simultaneously optimize the delay for both transit and regular traffic, as public transit is the more sustainable mode of transportation in busy cities and downtown cores. The proposed controllers are tested using Paramics traffic microsimulator, and the results show the superiority of both CRL and DRL over other state-of-practice and state-of-the-art traffic signal controllers. In addition to the advantages of MiND, such as its multimodal capabilities, significantly faster convergence, smaller model, and elimination of the feature extraction process, our experimental results show significant improvements in travel times for both transit and regular traffic at the intersection level compared to the base cases.

Keywords: Deep Reinforcement Learning
Multimodal Traffic Signal
Reinforcement Learning
Traffic Signal Control
Advisor: Abdulhai, Baher
Palladium and Nickel Catalyzed Transformations Forming Functionalized Dihydroisoquinolinones, Chromans, Dihydrobenzofurans and Oxindoles

Transition metal catalysis has been at the forefront of synthetic organic chemistry as it represents new and powerful methods to forge carbon–carbon in high atom- and step-economy. The Lautens group has been particularly focused on Pd- and Rh-catalysis in stereo- and regioselectively generating functionalized heterocycles. In chapter 1, a Pd- and Ni-catalyzed cycloisomerization reaction of aryl iodides to alkyl iodides, known as carboiodination, is described. In the Pd-catalyzed variant, a diastereoselective Pd-catalyzed carboiodination reaction of enantioenriched carboxamides generating dihydrosioquinolinones is explored. The transformation was the key step in the formal synthesis of (+)-corynoline. In the Ni-catalyzed variant, 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles are generated in excellent yield and an enantioselective variant employing a dual ligand system is disclosed. In chapter 2, a Pd-catalyzed diastereoselective anion-capture cascade reaction is discussed. Building on the Pd-catalyzed carboiodination reaction en route to (+)-corynoline, a Pd-catalyzed aryl cyanation is discussed. The alkyl nitrile was synthesized in high yield and d.r. The second method generates borylated chromans as a single diastereomer in good yield. The alkyl boronate was further functionalized to showcase its utility. In chapter 3, a Pd-catalyzed domino process harnessing carbopalladation, C–H activation and π-system insertion to generate spirocycles is reported. In the first method, benzynes are inserted to give spirodihydrobenzofurans and spirooxindoles. A significant limitation in the first method pertains to the low regioselectivity observed. To circumvent these problems, in the second method, polarized alkynes are inserted in >20:1 r.r.

Keywords: Anion Capture Cascade
Carbohalogenation
C-H Activation
Nickel
Palladium
Advisor: Lautens, Mark
Dynamic Analysis and Design of Metabolic Networks

Mathematical models of biological networks play an important role in metabolic engineering through their ability to provide a complete systems level understanding of the numerous interactions that govern metabolism, and consequently cellular function. Models of metabolism are extensively used to design these networks to achieve various engineering and pharmacological objectives. Constraint-based models of metabolism assume that metabolism operates under a pseudo steady state and represent them only in terms of their reaction stoichiometry and fluxes. The numerous regulatory interactions that constitute metabolism are not considered, and the dynamics of the networks cannot be deciphered using constraint-based models. In contrast, kinetic models can represent all of the interactions in the metabolic network, and also facilitate studying the dynamic characteristics of metabolism. Nonetheless, computational limitations encountered during various stages of kinetic model development and use limit their widespread adoption for model-based prediction and design. This thesis aims to address some of these limitations using the metabolism of Escherichia coli as an example. First, we demonstrate the use of kinetic models to characterize the steady state behaviour of a bistable metabolic network with a positive feedback loop, and to design this bistable network to produce at the highest possible steady state. Next, we explore the use of metabolic network topology and structure to assess the ability of the network to exhibit more than one steady state. We also show how this assessment can be used to design networks with either monostable or multistable topologies. Finally, we develop two scalable frameworks to assess the structural identifiability and estimability of parameters in a kinetic model of a metabolic network, based on steady state data. The application of these frameworks to determine the quality and quantity of experiments necessary to generate the steady state data required for estimating all model parameters is also shown. The methods developed and demonstrated in this thesis aim to improve the adoption of kinetic models to design metabolic networks exhibiting bistability. They also provide alternative avenues for parameter estimation in kinetic models using steady state data, while reducing the quantity of time course data needed for kinetic model parameter estimation.

Keywords: bistability
identifiability
kinetic models
metabolic engineering
parameter estimation
systems biology
Advisor: Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan
Cluett, William R
The Effects and Outcomes of Simple Bone Cysts

Introduction: Simple bone cysts (SBCs) are a common benign condition in paediatric orthopaedics. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the impact of simple bone cysts on children related to social interactions, perceptions and physical activity participation. This thesis additionally set out to investigate the inter-relationship between subjective and objective outcomes using qualitative and quantitative methods to more fully understand the impact of SBC on children and their families. Methods: Qualitative methods were used to investigate the experiences of patients and families with SBC, specifically related to perceptions and activity participation. These results were then combined with patient reported quantitative outcome data related to physical function in a mixed methods study. Next, a series of statistical analyses were used to identify potential predictive patient and cyst features related to subjective and objective outcomes. Finally, a digital software program using pixel intensity was employed to measure an objective outcome of healing typically reported by radiologists. Results: Children perceive their experience of SBC more similar to injury than to an illness; SBCs cause some anxiety for both children and parents; and we identified shortcomings in the decision-making process around SBC treatment. Overall children with SBC achieve good functional outcomes and remain highly active. Function at the time of diagnosis is strongly associated with functional outcomes. Finally, the digital software is able to detect some differences between healed and not healed SBCs but was not able to identify clear ranges of intensities related to healing grades. Conclusions: The use of subjective and objective data provided a better understanding of outcomes of SBC. While some of these finding may be integrated, it is unlikely that a single measure will fully capture the outcomes of the disease. Studying the interrelationships between different types of measurement has led to a more fulsome understanding of the outcomes and effects of SBC in children.

Keywords: Bone Cyst
Children
Mixed Methods
Outcomes
Qualitative Research
Advisor: Wright, James G
The Opto-electronic Characterization of Indium Oxide for the Photocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide.

The electronic characteristics of the photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide by hydrogenation via an hydrolyzed indium oxide system is investigated herein. In-situ photoinduced current transient-temperature spectroscopy, electron quantum efficiency, photoconductivity time decay, and other types of optical and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements were carried out on In2O3-xOHy nanorod and Biz-In2-zO3-xOHy nanoparticle systems. We show several continua of photoconductive defect states exist within the system and that the average defect energies increase by 0.2eV in changing from argon to hydrogen atmosphere but decrease from 0.87eV to 0.76eV in changing from hydrogen to a mixed carbon dioxide and hydrogen atmosphere. From XPS results, a decrease in the binding energy of the In3d and an increase in the binding energy of the O1s spectra are seen indicating heterolytic dissociation. Under a mixed H2+CO2 atmosphere, a shrinkage of the O vacancy and OH shoulder is also seen. From in-situ constant temperature photocurrent decay measurements, we show an increase in the asymmetric distribution of grain surface potential barriers of In2O3-xOHy nanorods from vacuum to a mixed atmosphere. The sample with lower surface potential correlates with a higher CO rate. XPS binding energy measurements of Biz-In2-zO3-xOHy show that post hydrogen immersion leads to a corresponding increase in the hydroxyl shoulder in the O1s spectra, with a maximum binding energy increase from H2 protonation of 0.6eV. For highly doped Biz-In2-zO3-xOHy a reduction to bismuth and indium metal phase is seen correlating with decreased CO rates. An increasing positive binding energy shift with increased Bi substitution under only H2 and only CO2 atmospheres correlate with increased Lewis acidity in Biz-In2-zO3-xOHy systems. In addition, we have examined varying the stoichiometry of sputtered In2O3-x thin films and measured their photodegradation activity in rhodamine-B dye under white light. We show that the base degradation rate of ﬁlms with high indium content was enhanced by more than four times by pre-introducing H2O2 as an oxidizing agent. XPS and Hall measurements indicate an increase in oxygen vacancy content and a corresponding ionizing eﬀect.

Advisor: Kherani, Nazir P.