VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
From Intervention to Evaluation: Assessing the Effectiveness, Acceptability and Feasibility of a Physical Activity Intervention for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness

Individuals with serious mental illness experience physical health comorbidities and report a lower quality of life. Physical activity may be one way to target both the mental and physical health of this population. This study examined the feasibility and acceptability of a PA intervention with a local mental health housing organization. Program effectiveness was measured through changes in mental health, quality of life, and physical activity from pre- to post intervention. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance and effect sizes were used to compare changes between intervention (N=5) and control (N=5) groups, while deductive thematic analysis was used to analyze interview responses. There were no significant group effects on the outcomes; there was a significant effect of time on total mental health scores, as well as anxiety and depression subscales. Participants, trainers and a key organizational stakeholder viewed the program as acceptable and feasible, and provided suggestions to improve future programs.

Keywords: mental health
mental illness
physical activity
quality of life
Advisor: Sabiston, Catherine M
Confronting Hostile and Benevolent Sexism

Although previous research has investigated how women are perceived when they confront sexism, few studies have compared confrontations of hostile and benevolent sexism. This research examines how perceptions of confronters differ depending on whether sexism is hostile (Study 1) or benevolent (Study 1 and 2) and whether the confronter is male or female. In Study 1, targets who confronted were liked and approved of, but only by female participants. Female targets were also seen as bigger complainers when responding to benevolent sexism, suggesting that challenging benevolent sexism may be costly for women due to the subtlety of benevolent prejudice. In Study 2, targets who confronted were viewed as less likeable, less appropriate, and greater complainers compared to targets who did not confront. These results inform how people may be perceived by others when confronting sexism and establishes that perceptions of confronters differ depending on whether sexism is hostile or benevolent.

Keywords: confronting prejudice
prejudice intervention
sexism
stereotyping
Advisor: Chasteen, Alison
The Application and Extension of a Generic Hospital Simulation Model to Predicting Patient Flow in a Hospital

Historically, fiscal year budgets determine the capacity requirements for hospitals with reactionary measures called surge protocols implemented when the planning falls short of demand. At present there is no methodology with which the short-term capacity is evaluated beyond the use of surge protocols. This thesis proposes to address this issue through the application of a generic hospital simulation model to create an operational tool for the University Health Network to predict bed demand for the coming week. The predictive model is initialized from the actual bed occupancy and the planned elective surgical slate. Arriving patients are randomly generated from historical data to simulate future bed occupancy over the forecasting window. Given a forecast of the hospital state, the hospital can avoid the use of costly surge protocols by proactively discovering and planning for events such as increased demand in the near future.

Keywords: Capacity
Forecast
Hospital
Occupancy
Prediction
Simulation
Advisor: Carter, Michael
Investigating Chronotherapeutic Interventions for the Treatment of Depression

Major depressive disorder is one of the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorders, and has widespread negative impacts on both the individual and on society. Current standard treatment options for depression have significant limitations, including side effects, contraindications, and barriers to accessing care. Chronotherapies, which make use of sleep and circadian rhythms, provide a promising alternative treatment route for depression. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), bright light therapy (BLT), and combined chronotherapies used to treat depression were systematically reviewed. Both CBT-I and BLT have evidence to support their efficacy in treating depression; combined therapy including sleep deprivation, BLT and/or sleep phase advance may also be effective. We propose a novel combined chronotherapeutic treatment, consisting of telehealth CBT-I and BLT, which we believe would be efficacious, accessible, and which would help to relieve the considerable burden of depression in Canada.

Keywords: Chronotherapy
Circadian
Depression
Insomnia
Sleep
Telehealth
Advisor: Shapiro, Colin M
Deconstructing Whiteness: An Analysis of Dominant Perceptions of Chinese University Students

Through analysis of results from four in-depth interviews and two online forums, this thesis examines the current views White Canadian university students hold about Chinese students at the University of British Columbia. Drawing on critical Whiteness studies and Foucauldian critical discourse analysis, this study aims to examine the complex ways White hegemony is perpetuated on university campuses. The results reveal that historical constructions of Chinese Canadians as foreign and threatening were perpetuated at the university. Additionally, the results show that although the interviewed students recognized the existence of racism on campus, they minimized its effects and denied the level of privilege they held. The thesis concludes by exploring the larger policy and educational implications of these views, as well as the possible consequences for Chinese students.

Keywords: Chinese Canadians
Discourses
White Hegemony
Whiteness
Advisor: Dei, George JS
Confidence in Crisis: An Investigation of Education

In 2016, Ontario’s Ministry of Education unveiled their ‘new’ vision for the purpose of education with the 21st Century Competencies document: to equip students with ‘competencies’ “to solve messy, complex problems” of a “competitive, globally connected, and technologically intensive world” (Ministry of Education, 2016, p. 3). In an effort to unpack the influences of this vision, I track how the standardization movement reshapes the influence of public emotion on the goals and purposes of education in United States and Canada. From this history, I consider why the public remains optimistic about an anxious education system when presented with evidence of its failure, and it further considers the price of this optimism. I conclude with a reflection on the potential of metacognition to not only alleviate anxious relations in education but also encourage truly “critical,” “creative,” and “collaborative” education practices encouraged in the document. (Ministry of Education, 2016, p. 3).

Keywords: 21st Century Competencies
anxiety
confidence
crisis
metacognition
optimism
Advisor: Bialystok, Lauren
Effects of Bark Derived Nanocellulose on Gas Separation Membranes

Few works have been done around the application of cellulose nanofibers (CNF) for membrane gas separation processes. There are no reports in the literature for using bark-derived CNF for their gas separation potential. In this study, cellulose acetate (CA) and polyetherimide (PEI) asymmetric membranes were prepared incorporating bark-derived CNF with different levels of lignin. Composites were thermally and structurally characterized. Single gas permeation of CO2 and N2 was studied to determine the gas separation performance of the membranes. The thermal stability of the CA/CNF composites increased 15 °C, whereas the degradation temperature of the PEI/CNF composites was not significantly affected. Adding CNF to the membranes resulted in an increase of the porosity. The nanocomposites showed a trade-off between gas permeance and the selectivity. However, the bleached PEI/CNF and CA/CNF composites showed a 10-fold and 2-fold increase, respectively, in CO2 permeance without compromising the ideal CO2/N2 selectivity.

Keywords: cellulose acetate
cellulose nanofiber
gas separation membranes
lignin
polyetherimide
Advisor: Farnood, Ramin R
Tabe, Shahram
Determination of Key Factors Affecting Start-Up Phase Particulate Matter Emissions in a Modern Wood Stove

This research investigates the effect of inlet air flow-rate and airflow location on PM emissions during the start-up phase in a modern wood stove. To do this, the airflow directed towards the fuel bed was increased over the start-up period and compared to the baseline case. The experimental setup consists of a wood stove equipped with instruments to measure temperature, wood burn-rate, O2 and CO2 volume fractions, and the PM emission rate over time. An order of magnitude reduction in start-up phase PM emissions per unit of energy was found when adding additional fuel-bed air during start-up. Furthermore, it was observed that an excess amount of secondary air entered the wood stove during the start-up phase, leading to sub-optimal combustion conditions. In future studies, it is recommended to further optimize the primary and secondary airflow rates during start-up and to further standardize the test methodology to reduce variance.

Keywords: combustion
emissions
pm
smoke
wood
wood stove
Advisor: Thomson, Murray J
The Impact of Menstrual Phase on Outcomes of Females with Concussion

This study examined the impact of menstrual phase, oral contraceptive use and post-menopausal status (collectively referred to as reproductive states) during time of injury on female post-concussion outcomes during the acute phase of recovery. A total of 83 female participants (ages 17 - 71) recruited from a concussion clinic at a rehabilitation hospital were included in the analysis. Personal health information and Rivermead Post-Concussion Questionnaire (RPCQ) scores were collected. Descriptive, bivariate regression and multivariable regression models were performed. The reproductive states were not associated with RPCQ scores during the first week of recovery; however, females taking oral contraceptives had significantly higher RPCQ scores two weeks post-injury. The other reproductive states do not appear related to RPCQ scores up to 2 weeks post injury. Being on birth control was independently associated with more symptomatology.

Keywords: Brain Injury
Concussion
menstrual cycle
post concussion symptoms
Sex
Women's Health
Advisor: Colantonio, Angela
Modelling of Endothelial Cell Migration and Angiogenesis in Microfluidic Cell Culture Systems

Tumour-induced angiogenesis involves growth of new blood vessels from existing vasculature in response to signals induced by the undernourished part of tumour tissue. Due to high costs and ethical issues associated with in vivo experiments, significant efforts have been undertaken to develop computational models and physiologically relevant 3D in vitro assays to study angiogenesis in a highly controllable and accessible manner. Our goal was to utilize existing modelling techniques and apply them to an in vitro environment to model endothelial cell (EC) migration and angiogenesis inside the tubeless microfluidic angiogenesis assay. Here we leverage two continuum models which are implemented using the Method of Lines and discretized in space using the finite difference approximation. The aim was to simulate EC angiogenic response under different VEGF concentrations and investigate microfluidic device geometry as a potential parameter that can accelerate angiogenesis.

Keywords: angiogenesis
computational modelling
endothelium
vasculature
Advisor: Young, Edmond
Parental Communication and Reflective Practice among Youth Sport Parents

Parents can enhance their children’s intrinsic motivation, and competence by providing positive feedback and encouraging them to become involved in decision making and problem-solving activities (Babkes Weiss, 1999); however, there is limited research available that has demonstrated how parents might learn to engage in these supportive behaviours with their child. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine whether increasing parents’ awareness of communication influences parent-athlete communication behaviours. Ten athletes between 13-15 years of age, and one of their parents were recruited (total N = 20). Parents and athletes completed pre- and post-study interviews and surveys. Parents also participated in a workshop and completed at least one audio diary entry per week over the course of six weeks. The findings indicated that reflective practice and increased awareness of parent-child communication led parents to engage in more autonomy supportive parenting, and to be less critical of their child’s performance.

Keywords: Parent-child communication
Parenting practices
Parenting styles
Reflective practice
Self-awareness
Youth sport
Advisor: Tamminen, Katherine A
CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK (CIRAF)

Disruptive events (e.g., earthquakes or floods) causes severe damage to civil infrastructural systems, and there is need to extend the focus of traditional design practices to include resilience-based design techniques which can help in defining preventive actions and measures to mitigate their effect. This study presents a framework to assess fragility and resilience of a single or interconnected civil infrastructural system following a disruptive event. Once the specifications regarding the infrastructural system, fragility databases, component's damage state correlation, recovery models, and upgrade models are identified, then the framework can be used to quantify overall resilience following an extreme event. A state of the art engineering tool is also developed using the framework that would enable the stakeholders to compare different upgrade strategies through an easy to use web interface. A case study of typical nuclear power plant is used to assess resilience by considering multiple upgrade strategies using the framework.

Keywords: bayesian network
fragility
functionality
resilience
software
Advisor: Kwon, Oh-Sung
Christopoulos, Constantin
THE PREVALENCE OF VESTIBULAR AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN SENIORS EXPERIENCING FALLS AND A FEASIBILITY STUDY ON A VESTIBULAR REHABILITATION PROGRAM IN SENIORS WITH FALLS, VESTIBULAR IMPAIRMENT AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Background: Cognitive impairment (CI) and vestibular impairment (VI) increase fall risk.VI prevalence was assessed at fall prevention programs (FPPs). Feasibility of a vestibular rehabilitation (VR) was tested for patients with CI and VI, experiencing falls. Methods: VI prevalence was assessed at FPPs. The feasibility of a 12-week VR program was tested at a Memory clinic in patients with VI, CI and experiencing falls. Results: In FPPs 26/29 (89.7%) seniors had VI, 23/29 (79.3%) had CI and 20/29 (69.0%) had both. Of 424 Memory Clinic patients, 49.1% experienced falls (27.0%-no falls; 23.7%-missing fall history). 23.2% patients fell in the past year, 34/48 were contacted, 14/34 agreed to be screened, 12/14 were screened, 8/12 (66.7% prevalence) had a VI and 7/8 (87.5% recruitment) participated; 5-VR and 2-control. 1/7 (85.7% attrition) patient attended follow-up. Conclusion: VI and CI is common in seniors experiencing falls. VR is not feasible for this population.

Keywords: Balance
Cognitive Impairment
Falling
Geriatrics
Vestibular Impairment
Vestibular Rehabilitation
Advisor: Tartaglia M.D., FRCPC, Dr. Carmela
Comparing the Effectiveness of Cardiac Rehabilitation: Peripheral Artery Disease, Coronary Artery Disease, and Concomitant Disease

It is unclear if patients with PAD, CAD, and BOTH (PAD and CAD) differ in clinical profile, exercise prescription, and change in health outcomes at baseline or completion of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Analysis of a CR database (n=9,701) indicated that compared to CAD, PAD and BOTH were older (62.5±11.1 vs. 69±10.7 and 68.6±9.7 years, P<0.01), had lower aerobic fitness (19.7±6.3 vs. 15.4±4.8 and 15±4.3 ml.kg-1.min-1 , P<0.01), more likely to have diabetes (24.8% vs. 36.9% and 41.9%, P<0.01), and prescribed slower exercise paces (84.4±14.1 vs. 72.2±15.0 and 70.0±14.9 meters/minute, P<0.01). There were no significant differences between PAD and BOTH for these characteristics. After matching groups, PAD had a significant, but smaller improvement in VO2peak compared to CAD (1.8±3.3 vs. 2.9±3.6 ml·kg1·min-1, P<0.01) following six months of CR. These results suggest that patients with PAD differ upon entry and respond differently to CR compared to patients with CAD.

Keywords: cardiac rehabilitation
cardiorespiratory fitness
coronary artery disease
peripheral artery disease
Advisor: Thomas, Scott G
Composition of Wildfire-Derived Particulate Matter and Impacts on House Dust after A Major Wildfire

The wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada was the costliest disaster in Canadian history to date, burning over 2000 homes in Fort McMurray and over 1.5 million acres of forest land. Since wildfire smoke has been shown to induce pulmonary oxidative stress and contain gene mutagens, there are significant concerns over the long-term health impacts of exposure to wildfire smoke and residual house dust. In this work, we characterize the chemical composition of the smoke generated from the wildfires, and impacts on indoor house dust. Both fire smoke particulate matter and house dust samples were collected in the area, during and after the wildfire respectively. A high-throughput method was developed to extract polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from house dust. The spatial differences are discussed in this report.

Keywords: Fire Smoke
House Dust
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Wildfires
Advisor: Chan, Arthur W.H.
Mechanical Accommodations of Science Payloads for an Earth Observation Microsatellite

It has become clear that anthropogenic aerosol emissions have had a distinct impact on global surface temperature and climatic activity over the last century. Traditional methods of atmospheric observation such as ground-based or in-situ aircraft measurements represent laboursome campaigns that are limited to a few weeks. Small satellites for Earth observation provide an accessible platform to scientific organizations that can perform routine measurements over the course of years. To this end, the Space Flight Laboratory at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies is developing the DMSat-1 microsatellite on its NEMO platform. This thesis describes the mechanical accommodations for the science payloads: a multispectral polarimeter, and two grating spectrometers. A semi-passive thermal design that ensures acceptable performance of the polarimeter is described, and a structural interface which isolates the payloads from the harsh launch environment is presented. Finally, the development of the spacecraft dispenser system is discussed.

Keywords: aerosol
aerospace
mechanical
microsatellite
observation
satellite
Advisor: Zee, Robert E
Age differences in selective covert attention and associative memory

Deficits in inhibitory control are thought to underlie age-related reductions in associative memory, whereby poor inhibitory control facilitates associative priming of task-relevant and task-irrelevant information and enhances subsequent memory for these associations. However, the conditions under which task-irrelevant information influences associative memory are not entirely clear. This study examined the effect of covert selective attention to cued information on subsequent memory for cued and uncued stimuli. At encoding, participants made plausibility judgments for one of two object-color pairs (i.e. cued pair). Subsequent recognition of cued objects was lower in older than younger adults, but recognition of uncued objects did not vary by age. No age differences in associative memory for location or color were observed, though younger adults had better location memory for cued than uncued objects. Color memory was greater for cued than uncued objects for all participants. These findings are discussed within the inhibitory deficit hypothesis framework.

Keywords: aging
associative memory
covert selective attention
eye-tracking
inhibitory control
recognition memory
Advisor: Grady, Cheryl L
Olsen, Rosanna K
The Collision of Water and n-Heptane Droplets on Heated Sintered Porous Stainless-Steel Surfaces

The impact and evaporation of droplets impinging on heated porous substrates is relevant to applications including fire suppression by sprinkler systems, spray cooling of heated surfaces, and the deposition of fuel droplets on combustor walls. An experimental study was completed where pure water and n-heptane droplets were deposited onto hot porous, stainless steel surfaces. Initial surface temperatures were varied from 60°C to 300°C. The impact dynamics were photographed and analyzed via a high-speed camera. The Leidenfrost temperature was found to increase with an increase in the substrates porosity and was achieved with the n-heptane on the 5μm surface at 225°C and on the 100μm surface at 285°C. An empirical model was employed that accurately predicts the evaporation time of the n-heptane droplet in the film boiling regime. Surface temperature variations were measured at the point of impact and heat transfer coefficients were found to decrease with an increase in substrate porosity.

Keywords: evaporation
impact dynamics
n-heptane
porous media
stainless steel
water
Advisor: Chandra, Sanjeev
Calcite Scale Formation in the Green Liquor Handling System of the Kraft Chemical Recovery Process

The formation of calcite (CaCO3) scale in green liquor handling systems is a persistent problem in many kraft pulp mills. CaCO3 precipitates when its concentration in green liquor exceeds its solubility. In this work, a laboratory study was conducted to determine the effects of green liquor properties (temperature, TTA, causticity, and sulfidity) on the solubility limits of CaCO3. This new solubility data was used to develop a database of CaCO3 solubility in green liquor using the OLI Systems Inc. software. The second part of this work involved field studies at four kraft pulp mills in Canada and Sweden, to help understand scaling problems affecting the causticizing plants. The results help explain how CaCO3 scale forms in the green liquor handling systems. Understanding how CaCO3 scale is formed helps pulp mills develop viable strategies for mitigating the problem.

Keywords: calcium carbonate
kraft process
scale
solubility
Advisor: Tran, Honghi N
Papangelakis, Vladimiros G
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial Evaluating the Effect of Infliximab on General Cognition in a Population of Depressed Individuals with Bipolar Disorder Type I/II

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of adjunctive infliximab in mitigating cognitive symptoms in depressed bipolar individuals. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in outpatients between the ages of 18-65. Participants were randomized to receive adjunctive intravenous infliximab (at 5 mg/kg) or placebo (saline) at week 0, 2, and 6. Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) were used to determine cognitive performance. Generalized estimating equations were used to determine significance of between- and within-group effects. Results: Sixty individuals were enrolled (placebo n=31, infliximab n=29). Despite a significant within-group improvement in cognition from week 0 to week 12, there was no significant difference between infliximab and placebo (p>.05). Conclusions: Within-group improvement in cognition may be due to mechanisms yet uncharacterized. Inflammatory pathoetiology of mood disorders provide an impetus to investigate additional anti-inflammatory agents to mitigate transdiagnostic disturbances such as cognitive dysfunction.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory medication
Bipolar Depression
Cognition
Inflammation
Infliximab
TNF Inhibitor
Advisor: McIntyre, Roger S