VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Directors Duties under the CBCA:Shareholder Theory versus Stakeholder Theory Consideration of Stakeholder Theory's Legal and Moral Supremacy

Traditional scholarship on corporate law evidences the lack of analysis undertaken to understand the interconnectivity between businesses and the societies in which they operate where , scholarship and case law had favored shareholder primacy. However, an analysis of Section 122 of the Canadian Business Corporations Act (CBCA), reveals that the ambiguous language of director’s duties under the CBCA allows for the courts to continue modernize the law inclusive of stakeholder rights without requiring statutory amendments. Therefore, this thesis argues that courts have the flexibility to interpret that directors are within their duties to balance the rights of both shareholders and stakeholders. In fact, this thesis argues that stakeholder theory is superior to shareholder theory in consideration of law and morality. By concluding that stakeholder theory is the new accepted standard in Canadian Corporate law, this paper offers directors guidance on how to perform their role in accordance with the CBCA.

Keywords: law
directors duties
shareholder theory
stakeholder theory
Advisor: Lee, Ian B.
Online Environmental Control of Multiple Devices using Transcranial Doppler (TCD) Ultrasonography

Individuals with severe impairments may use brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies in order to interact with their external environment. One non-invasive brain-monitoring technology which may be suitable for this purpose is transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD). Previous research has shown that TCD is useful in detecting changes in cerebral blood flow velocities after the performance of cognitive tasks which are often lateralized towards a specific hemisphere of the brain. However, to date, TCD has not been used in a BCI system. This thesis first explores TCD in an offline study, showing that on average, accuracies of 80.0% are attainable with user-specific training data and 74.6% with user-independent training data. Furthermore, consecutive sequential lateralizations do not decrease classification accuracies. In a subsequent online experiment, a TCD-BCI system yielded an average accuracy of 61.4%, but revealed key findings about the effects of user motivation and error streaks in an online system.

Keywords: TCD
Brain Computer Interface
Advisor: Chau, Tom
UN Fact-finding Inquiry Commissions for Assassinations of Prominent Individuals

UN Fact-Finding Inquiry Commissions established for assassination of prominent individuals are unique fact-finding commissions not only because of their international nature but also because they are investigating a crime that could be prosecuted. These commissions resemble domestic inquiry commissions but do not have the same investigative powers as domestic commissions. The role of fact-finding commissions is limited to an investigation of facts; they do not adjudicate issues and determine civil or criminal liability. The commissions investigating assassinations do not replace criminal investigations that would be conducted prior to prosecution to the crime. Such commissions must be cognizant of the impact of the procedures they use to obtain information on the admissibility of evidence at the criminal trial. The increase in the creation of fact-finding inquiry commissions is part of the efforts to end impunity.

Keywords: United Nations Inquiry Commissions
Advisor: Roach, Kent
Addressing Variability in Drug Quality: Finding The Right “Quality” Framework(s)

Background: In many countries, a significant proportion of medicines traded and consumed are of poor or variable quality. Meanwhile, failures in appropriately framing and responding to the problem have led to a proliferation of public health and governance challenges. Objective: To examine the issues exacerbating the trade and consumption of medicines of poor or variable quality, as well as present locally relevant strategies. Methods: Analytic triangulation was applied to the synthesis of publicly available documents. Results: Where economic and regulatory environments are less structured, supply chain security strategies that fixate on ‘counterfeits’ often fail in limiting the prevalence of poor quality medicines. In addition to a multivariate drug quality classification chart, three quality frameworks are presented for examining appropriate policy strategies in mediating drug quality. Conclusion: These tools can assist stakeholders in determining more locally relevant and context-specific strategies, while interrogating the proposition for greater transparency vis-à-vis drug quality.

Keywords: counterfeit drugs
global health
health policy
development
Advisor: Pennefather, Peter
Kohler, Jillian Clare
The New Zealand Food Bill and Global Administrative Law: A Recipe for Democratic Engagement?

The New Zealand Food Bill is being passed amidst stern criticism of its content and the influence on it by multi-national corporations and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, whose food-safety standards motivated the bill. These concerns illustrate the large democratic and legitimisation deficits in global governance. One response to these criticisms and concerns is global administrative law, which focuses on promoting administrative law tools to enhance accountability. However, an examination of the Food Bill reinforces two main critiques of global administrative law: that it excludes addressing substance of international law and brackets democracy. I argue the limited GAL approach cannot be justified and the significant gaps in its approach require that it engage with democracy. I analyse the possibilities of global administrative law to engage with (to acknowledge and adopt) three theories of global democracy - deliberative, cosmopolitan, and radical pluralism. I argue deliberative democracy offers the most accessible option.

Keywords: global administrative law
international law
democracy
global governance
global democracy
administrative law
GAL
Codex
food bill
globalisation
Advisor: Karen, Knop
Incremental Power Grid Verification

Verification of the on-die power grid is a key step in the design of complex high performance integrated circuits. For the very large grids in modern designs, incremental verification is highly desirable, because it allows one to skip the verification of a certain section of the grid (internal nodes) and instead, verify only the rest of the grid (external nodes). The focus of this work is to develop efficient techniques for incremental verification in the context of vectorless constraints-based grid verification, under dynamic conditions. The traditional difficulty is that the dynamic case requires iterative analysis of both the internal and the external sections. A solution in the transient case is provided through two key contributions: 1) a bound on the internal nodes’ voltages is developed that eliminates the need for iterative analysis, and 2) a multi-port Norton approach is used to construct a reduced macromodel for the internal section.

Keywords: EDA
Power Grid Verification
Advisor: Najm, Farid N.
Comparison of the Performance of a Triangular Chuck Locked Bur Turbine Assembly with the Traditional Circular Friction Lock Design

Background: Chucks typically use a friction fit design to grip the circular shank of the bur. ProDrive Systems Inc. developed a triangular chuck locked bur. Objective: To compare speed, smoothness of cut, bur jams or breaks between the original circular(OEM) or ProDrive(PD) turbine assemblies. Materials and Methods: Kavo 635B, Star 430, and Midwest Tradition handpiece designs were tested on an Engineering Test Platform using Macor blocks. Sixty cuts were performed per handpiece, for a total of one hundred and eighty cuts per handpiece design. The cuts were photographed using a dissecting microscope. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA and Chi-squared tests. Results: No overall improvement in speed was seen, however individual handpiece variation was observed. The Kavo-PD broke less often than Kavo-OEM combination. No differences were noted from a bur jam standpoint. Conclusion: Our results do not support the claims made by ProDrive of being superior to the OEM chuck.

Keywords: Macor
ProDrive
Advisor: Clokie, Cameron
Spatial Extent of Beta Oscillatory Activity in and between the Subthalamic Nucleus and Sustantia Nigra Pars Reticulata of Parkinson's Disease Patients

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is accompanied by a significant amount of beta β-band (11Hz-30Hz) neuronal and local field potential (LFP) oscillatory activity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN). The aim of this study was to measure the spatial extent of β coherent activity in the STN and coherence between STN-SNr in PD patients OFF levodopa by systematically varying the vertical distance between two microelectrodes. We found significant β-LFP coherence across the dorsoventral extent of STN. Spatially extended beta LFP was positively correlated with the mUPDRS scores of the PD patients in the OFF state. Additionally, a significant coherence was found between β-LFPs in dorsal STN and dorsal SNr. These data suggest that the whole STN may be entrained within the β band in PD patients OFF meds. The finding of coherence between STN and SNr suggests that β oscillations synchronize both the input and output nuclei of the basal ganglia.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease
Oscillation
Basal ganglia
Microelectrode recordings
Advisor: Hutchison, William D.
NMDAR-dependent Synaptic Plasticity at the Calyx of Held Synapse

NMDARs are indispensable for developmental plasticity in the mammalian brain, but their roles in vivo are difficult to ascertain as NMDAR-knockouts are lethal. To circumvent this problem, we utilized NR1-knockdown mice to examine plasticity at the calyx of Held-MNTB synapse in the auditory brainstem. Previous work shows NMDARs at this synapse are rapidly down-regulated following the onset of hearing (P12), leading to the hypothesis that transient NMDAR expression is indispensable for modulating functional and morphological remodelling during development. We tested this by performing electrophysiological recordings, fluorescence tracing in vitro, and auditory brainstem responses in vivo, and surprisingly found that reducing postsynaptic NMDARs appears to promote functional maturation via presynaptic mechanisms in the absence of morphological and acoustic transmission differences in the mature calyx. This suggests a novel role for NMDARs to function as an activity-dependent control for setting the pace of consolidation and maturation in the calyx of Held synapse.

Keywords: NMDAR
NR1-KD
calyx of Held
glutamatergic synapse
plasticity
development
Advisor: Wang, Lu-Yang
Homo-FRET Imaging of CEACAM1 in Living Cells using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Polarization Microscopy

Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) undergoes homotypic and heterotypic cis- and trans- interactions that regulate processes including metabolism, immune response, and tumorigenesis. To better understand and eventually control CEACAM1’s numerous roles, we characterized the localization, homotypic cis-oligomerization, and regulation of CEACAM1 at the molecular scale using steady-state TIRFPM homo-FRET imaging in living cells. We established the anisotropy sensitivity of our TIRFPM platform using Venus monomers and dimers, which had significantly different anisotropy values. Heterogeneously distributed across the plasma membrane, CEACAM1-4L-EYFP was a mixture of monomers and oligomers, with a slightly more monomeric population at the high intensity regions. In addition, perturbation with ionomycin or α-CEA pAb increased CEACAM1 monomers, potentially in a localized manner. Although limited in detecting any anisotropy differences between CEACAM1-4L-EYFP and monomeric G432,436L-CEACAM1-4L-EYFP populations, TIRFPM homo-FRET imaging can be a useful tool for studying membrane protein self-association with proper controls and studies that focus on relative anisotropy changes.

Keywords: Fluorescence polarization microscopy
CEACAM1
Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy
Oligomerization
Advisor: Yip, Christopher M.
Mechanical Characterization of Aortic Valve Interstitial Cells and their Nuclei using Atomic Force Microscopy

The cellular mechanical environment, including the elasticity of the extracellular matrix, profoundly affects cellular mechanical and biological responses. This responsiveness depends on and may influence the inherent mechanical properties of the cell and the nucleus. In this thesis, the local and global elastic moduli of valve interstitial cells (VICs) cultured on substrates of varying stiffness were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). A novel AFM technique used to directly determine nuclear elastic moduli in situ was also tested and preliminary results for VIC nuclear elasticity and isolated VIC nuclei elasticity were presented. This study confirmed that both local and global elasticity of VICs were sensitive to substrate compliance, and demonstrated that the nucleus was consistently two to four times stiffer than the cytoplasm and that isolated VIC nuclei were significantly softer than the intact nuclei in situ. It also provides practical guidelines for efficient AFM-based measurement of cell mechanical properties.

Keywords: Atomic force microscopy
cell mechanics
nuclear mechanics
heart valve
Advisor: Sun, Yu
Simmons, Craig Alexander
Rhodium-catalyzed Intermolecular Hydroacylation of Unactivated Alkenes and Application to the Total Synthesis of Octaketide Natural Products

Transition metal-catalyzed olefin hydroacylation represents an atom-economical approach for the synthesis of valuable ketone products. To date, the intermolecular variant of this reaction suffers from several drawbacks, which include limited substrate scope, poor reactivity and/or regioselectivity for non-activated, non-chelating alkene substrates, and competitive reductive decarbonylation pathways that lead to catalyst decomposition. Herein, we report the linear-selective intermolecular hydroacylation of a wide range of electronically diverse olefins with salicylaldehydes employing catalyst loadings as low as 2 mol%. A unique reactivity profile is observed for the chiral C2-symmetric phosphoramidite ligand employed in our catalyst system, and thus, we outline progress made towards the synthesis of new phosphoramidite ligands. We have applied our methodology in the total synthesis of nine octaketide natural products belonging to the dothiorelone, cytosporone, and phomopsin families. Due to recent reports demonstrating the anticancer activity of cytosporone B (Csn-B), we will also discuss progress towards the synthesis of Csn-B analogues.

Keywords: Hydroacylation
Octaketide natural product
Rhodium-catalysis
Advisor: Dong, Vy Maria
SAT-based Automated Design Debugging: Improvements and Application to Low-power Design

With the growing complexity of modern VLSI designs, design errors become increasingly common. Design debugging today emerges as a bottleneck in the design flow, consuming up to 30% of the overall design effort. Unfortunately, design debugging is still a predominantly manual process in the industry. To tackle this problem, we enhance existing automated debugging tools and extend their applications to different design domains. The first contribution improves the performance of automated design debugging tools by using structural circuit properties, namely dominance relationships and non-solution implications. Overall, a 42% average reduction in solving run-time demonstrates the efficacy of this approach. The second contribution presents an automated debugging methodology for clock-gating design. Using clock-gating properties, we optimize existing debugging techniques to localizes and rectifies the design errors introduced by clock-gating implementations. Experiments show a 6% average reduction in debugging time and 80% of the power-savings retained.

Keywords: Design Debugging
Boolean Satisfiability
CAD
Advisor: Veneris, Andreas
Path Planning Algorithms for Autonomous Border Patrol Vehicles

This thesis presents an online path planning algorithm developed for unmanned vehicles in charge of autonomous border patrol. In this Pursuit-Evasion game, the unmanned vehicle is required to capture multiple trespassers on its own before any of them reach a target safe house where they are safe from capture. The problem formulation is based on Isaacs’ Target Guarding problem, but extended to the case of multiple evaders. The proposed path planning method is based on Rapidly-exploring random trees (RRT) and is capable of producing trajectories within several seconds to capture 2 or 3 evaders. Simulations are carried out to demonstrate that the resulting trajectories approach the optimal solution produced by a nonlinear programming-based numerical optimal control solver. Experiments are also conducted on unmanned ground vehicles to show the feasibility of implementing the proposed online path planning algorithm on physical applications.

Keywords: autonomous vehicles
guidance
path planning
border patrol
Pursuit-Evasion
optimal control
Advisor: Liu, Hugh H. T.
Evaluation of Bank Branch Growth Potential Using Data Envelopment Analysis

Banks occasionally employ frontier efficiency analyses to objectively identify best practices within their organizations. Amongst the frontier efficiency analyses identified in the literature, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was found to be one of the leading approaches. DEA has been successfully applied in many bank branch performance evaluations using traditional intermediation, profitability and production approaches. However, there has been little focus on assessing the growth potential of individual branches. This research presents six models that examine four perspectives of branch growth. Each model was applied to the branch network of one of Canada’s top five banks to gauge the growth potential of individual branches and to provide tailored improvement recommendations. Using various analysis methodologies, the results of each model were examined and their functionality assessed. Based on these findings, three models were deemed to produce significant results, while the remaining three failed to attain viable results.

Keywords: DEA
Data Envelopment Analysis
Operations Research
Efficiency
Frontier Analysis
Bank Branch
Advisor: Paradi, Joseph C.
Ubiquitous Reactivation and Targeted Preservation of MeCP2 Expression in a Mouse Model of Rett Syndrome

Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is predominately caused by mutations of the MECP2 gene. As neuronal apoptosis is not observed in RTT patients and MeCP2-deficient mice, the neurological deficits may be reversible. To address this, we reactivated MeCP2 expression ubiquitously in MeCP2-deficient mice after symptom onset. Our results showed that life span, behavioural performances, EEG activity, thermoregulation, and daily rhythmic activity were significantly improved after MeCP2 reactivation. Furthermore, the extent of improvement was dependent upon the efficiency of MeCP2 reactivation. To assess the role of the catecholaminergic system in Rett syndrome pathophysiology, we selectively preserved MeCP2 function within tyrosine hydroxylase expressing cells. We observed a significant improvement in the life span of male rescue mice and reduced sudden unexplained death rates in female rescue mice. Behavioural performances and EEG patterns were also significantly improved.

Keywords: Rett syndrome
MeCP2
behaviour
electroencephalography
catecholamine
thermoregulation
daily rhythmic activity
Advisor: Eubanks, James
The Effects of Bilirubin and its Oxidation Products on the Structure and Function of White Matter

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) results in secondary brain injury caused partially by blood and its metabolites. Survivors of ICH are often left with severe disabilities, therefore, decreasing the extent of this secondary injury may improve functional outcome of patients. Incubation of mouse brain slices with partially oxidized bilirubin, a neurotoxic blood breakdown product, caused a dose- and time-dependent decrease in axonal function, suggesting a reduced number of conducting myelinated axons. These effects did not occur when tissue was incubated with non-oxidized bilirubin. Injection of bilirubin into the corpus callosum of mice caused functional impairment of unmeylinated axons; however, immunohistochemical staining of the tissue showed evidence of structural damage to both oligodendrocytes and axons. This data provides evidence for functional and structural damage to white matter in the presence of partially oxidized bilirubin Therefore, diminishing the duration of presence of bilirubin and its oxidation in the brain warrants study as a means of decreasing secondary brain injury after ICH.

Keywords: bilirubin
bilirubin oxidation products
intracerebral hemorrhage
white matter
Advisor: Macdonald, Robert Loch
Lateral Diffusion of Phospholipids Measured using 31P Centreband-only Detection of Exchange Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Lateral diffusion of phospholipids is a process essential to membrane function, and can be measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). This project will use CODEX (Centerband-Only Detection of Exchange), the most highly-evolved NMR experiment combining magic angle spinning with exchange sensitivity, to measure lateral diffusion. 31P CODEX NMR measurements were performed on phospholipids in small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) in a high viscosity solution to slow the rotational tumbling of the SUV and minimize its influence on the CODEX decay. For SUV composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), alone or mixed with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (POPG) or cholesterol (CHOL), 31P CODEX spectra showed well-resolved resonances for POPC and POPG, with monoexponential decays for both, from which the correlation time for molecular motion could be extracted. The lateral diffusion coefficients were determined, and fell in the range of 1.0 - 3.3 x 10-12 m2s-1 at 10°C, which agree with established literature values for POPC and POPG.

Keywords: nuclear magnetic resonance
lateral diffusion
Advisor: Macdonald, Peter Moore
Moduli Space Techniques in Algebraic Geometry and Symplectic Geometry

The following is my M.Sc. thesis on moduli space techniques in algebraic and symplectic geometry. It is divided into the following two parts: the rst part is devoted to presenting moduli problems in algebraic geometry using a modern perspective, via the language of stacks and the second part is devoted to studying moduli problems from the perspective of symplectic geometry. The key motivation to the rst part is to present the theorem of Keel and Mori [20] which answers the classical question of under what circumstances a quotient exists for the action of an algebraic group G acting on a scheme X. Part two of the thesis is a more elaborate description of the topics found in Chapter 8 of [28].

Keywords: Pure Mathematics
Algebraic Geometry
Symplectic Geometry
Advisor: Jeffrey, Lisa
Neural Activation During Emotional Face Processing in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Impaired social interaction is one of the hallmarks of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Emotional faces are arguably the most critical visual emotional stimuli and the ability to perceive, recognize, and interpret emotions is central to social interaction and communication as well as healthy development. There is however, a paucity of studies devoted to neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying emotional face processing in adolescents with ASD. Through an implicit emotional face processing task completed in the MEG, we examined spatiotemporal differences in neural activation during angry and happy emotional face processing. Results suggest atypical frontal involvement in ASD adolescents during angry and happy face processing. In particular, orbitofrontal activation in participants with ASD was found to be delayed but greater in amplitude, relative to controls.

Keywords: Emotion
Autism
Cognitive Neuroscience
Advisor: Taylor, Margot