VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Facial Expressions Interact with Facial Structures to Predict Inferences of Trust

Emotional expressions give rise to inferences about a person's trustworthiness (Todorov Oosterhof, 2008). In this study I propose that such inferences are magnified or reduced depending on the observed individuals' facial structures that cue babyface and matureface features. The results showed that for male targets with babyface features, happy expressions led to greater trust inferences relative to a neutral expression condition, but angry expressions did not change trust inferences relative to the neutral condition. In contrast, for male targets with matureface features, anger expressions led to decreased trust inferences relative to a neutral expression condition, while happy expressions did not change trust inferences relative to the neutral condition. Thus, the current study revealed that the combination of emotional expressions and facial features most strongly elucidates trust inferences in male targets. More broadly, this research suggests factors that signal dependence or dominance may influence how emotional expressions are interpreted.

Advisor: Leonardelli, Geoffrey
Impett, Emily
Characterizing Smelt Shattering in a Recovery Boilers

In a kraft chemical recovery boiler, smelt is shattered into thousands of small droplets by one or more high pressure steam jets to increase smelt dissolution rate and reduce the likelihood of dissolving tank explosion. The safety implications of dissolving tank explosion due to inadequate smelt shattering dictate in-depth study of this phenomenon. An experimental apparatus was used to simulate the smelt shattering process using water as molten smelt and air as steam. The objective is to study gas-liquid interaction and to create guidelines for safer and more efficient smelt shattering operation. Experimental results showed that mean droplet size decreases when impingement distance is decreased and gas flow rate is increased. The atomization performance varies between different nozzle geometries and the atomization efficiency can be improved by changing the impingement angle.

Advisor: Bussmann, Markus
Tran, Honghi
Designing ORCIDS: Organizational Communications and Information Distribution System

Communication between employees is one of the key factors in success of an organization. The nature of work in many organizations requires employees to be constantly mobile and participate in multiple teams. Traditional communication technologies such as Telephone are not efficient and effective. Designing a system that meets organizational objectives and matches users' behaviour requires a multidisciplinary approach. ORganizational Communication and Information Distribution System (ORCIDS) acknowledges the social nature of humans and facilitates users' communication through a novel communication paradigm. ORCIDS integrates the tools and sources of information and allows users to access them throughout their tasks. Following human centred design paradigm, user analysis is carried out using concepts from organizational behaviour and collaboration with industry. User analysis is the basis for defining system requirements. Then, system functionalities are characterized. System architecture is then designed to facilitate system functionalities. Finally, the designed system is evaluated and a prototype is implemented.

Keywords: Human centered design
Middleware
Organizational Communications System
Pervasive computing
Publish/Subscribe
Advisor: Sousa, Elvino
Investigating the Interplay of Cyclic Nucleotide Gated Ion Channel 2 and Auxin in Immune Signaling

Cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels (CNGCs) are non-selective, ligand-gated cation channels present across eukaryotes. In Arabidopsis the CNGC family contains 20 members, which are believed to play important roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses, ion homeostasis, and development through their Ca2+ conducting abilities. Several CNGCs have been implicated in plant-pathogen interactions through genetic studies. The defense, no death mutants dnd1 and hlm1/dnd2 are null mutants of the closely related Arabidopsis CNGCs, CNGC2 and CNGC4, respectively, and have distinct autoimmune phenotypes. Though these mutants have been well characterized phenotypically, CNGC-mediated signal transduction is poorly understood. In order to understand CNGC2-mediated defense signaling, I have investigated the first dnd1 suppressor mutant, repressor of defense no death 1 (rdd1-1D). In this thesis, I aimed to understand the molecular mechanism by which rdd1-1D is able to suppress dnd1-conferred phenotypes. Current data indicates that rdd1-1D is a loss-of-function mutation in the auxin biosynthesis gene YUCCA6.

Advisor: Yoshioka, Keiko
L1 and L2 Narrative Development in Emergent Bilinguals

This study investigated the development of oral narrative production in L1 and L2 in English-Hebrew emergent bilingual children and the associations between narrative abilities in both languages. Participants included 33 younger cohort in JK and 24 older cohort in SK. The children's scripts (general descriptions about events) were elicited at two time points over one year. The study included various measures of macro and micro dimensions of narratives that reveal cognitive and linguistic development. Children were able to produce generalized scripts in both languages. L1 narratives have been developing on various complexity indices of macro and micro dimensions, while emergent L2 has been developing on narrative productivity. A cross-linguistic association was noted at the end of grade1 with increased Hebrew language proficiency. The findings suggest that cross-linguistic relations may be independent of linguistic distance. Educational and clinical implications were discussed.

Keywords: Bilinguals
Event schema
Narrative development
Oral narrative production
Scripts
Advisor: Geva, Esther
A Twinge and a Wrinkle: Exploring the Role of Negative Affect in Self-control Processing

Emerging research in social neuroscience has implicated the involvement of negative affect in the instantiation of self-control, and that this involvement is moderated by personality characteristics. Few studies, however, have investigated whether self-control is related to established psychophysiological markers of negative affect. In this study, 70 participants completed an inhibitory-control task while we simultaneously measured the error-related negativity (ERN), an EEG event-related potential (ERP) related to certain kinds of self-control behavior; electromyographic (EMG) activity over the corrugator supercilii, the principle muscle involved in frowning; and PHLMS Acceptance, a personality measure of nonjudgment to emotions and thoughts. Corrugator activity was associated with error responses, and this association was moderated by Acceptance, but it was not associated with any other measurements of self-control; this suggests that corrugator activity is associated with self-control in context-specific ways, and this relation is uniquely shaped by the tendency to not regulate or evaluate emotions and thoughts.

Keywords: acceptance
behavior
electromyography
emotions
face
mindfulness
Advisor: Inzlicht, Michael
Gender as a Moderator of the Effects of D2 and D2 Dopamine Antagonists on Gambling and Amphetamine Reinforcement in Pathological Gamblers and Healthy Controls

This study investigated the roles of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors in gambling and amphetamine reinforcement and possible moderating effect of subject's gender in 24 pathological gamblers and 26 controls. Subjects received the D2R antagonist, haloperidol (3- mg), or D1-D2R antagonist, fluphenazine (3-mg) prior to a 15-minute slot machine game or 20-mg amphetamine in a placebo-controlled, counterbalanced, design. Haloperidol alone increased subjective positive states but decreased rewarding effects of gambling and amphetamine. Fluphenazine tended to decrease positive states but increased rewarding effects of the reinforcers. Effects were more pronounced in females and gamblers. The differential effects of antagonists suggest that D1R mediates gambling, and to lesser extent, psychostimulant reinforcement. The pattern of effects suggested an inverted-U relation between D1R stimulation and subjective effects, whereby antagonists increased or decreased reward depending on whether they promoted optimal, supra-optimal, or sub-optimal D1R signaling. This interpretation indicated low baseline D1R availability in females and gamblers.

Keywords: Amphetamine
Dopamine D1 receptor
Dopamine D2 receptor
Gender
Pathological gambling
Reinforcement
Advisor: Zack, Martin
The Role of Small Rho GTPases Rac1 and Rac2 in Macrophage Polarization

Macrophages are phagocytic cells of hematopoietic origin. They play an important role in both the adaptive and innate immune systems. Macrophages are able to polarize into either M1 or M2 macrophages based on their microenvironment. M1 macrophages are proinflammatory cells that are key regulators of the immune response but are also known to cause tissue damage and destruction. M2 macrophages are anti-inflammatory involved in wound healing. The key functional differences between these two cell types remains to be fully characterized. The Rac members of the Rho family of small GTPases are known to be regulators of macrophage functions however their roles in M1 and M2 macrophages is unknown. We have shown that M1 macrophages produce more ROS and NO compared to M2 cells. We found differences in morphological as well as functional features of M1 and M2 macrophages, which have important implications in their role in the immune response.

Keywords: GTPases
Macrophage
Polarization
Rac1
Rac2
Advisor: Glogauer, Dr. Michael
Resting-state Functional Connectivity Predicts Individual Treatment Outcomes of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Major Depressive Disorder

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an emerging treatment for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD). We recently found that treatment response to rTMS of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) was bimodal, with individual patients showing either minimal or marked improvement (Downar et al., 2013). Here, we tested whether treatment response could be predicted before initiating treatment. To this end, we trained support vector machine (SVM) classifiers on whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fcMRI) data to learn the treatment outcomes of 41 patients who received rTMS of the DMPFC. The SVMs classified patients with 90% accuracy (p = 0.035, corrected). Classification was based on 9 functional connections, with a pattern of positive and negative functional connectivity in non-responders and responders, respectively. This study represents the first step towards developing a screening tool that can direct treatment decisions.

Keywords: depression
dmpfc
dorsomedial prefrontal cortex
support vector machine
tms
transcranial magnetic stimulation
Advisor: Downar, Jonathan
Revolutionizing Sports: The Construction of Sports Culture in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 1957 - 1959

This thesis examines the construction of sports culture in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) in the late 1950s. Specifically, it focuses on the north's sports spectacles and sports programs in factories in the historical context of the DPRK's post-Korean War reconstruction efforts. Through the close examination of the state's official discourse and imagery in the media, it is clear that the Workers Party of Korea (WPK) considered sports to be an important cultural practice that needed to be revolutionized for the masses. By examining the state's efforts to "revolutionize" sports in the name of socialism, this thesis attempts to illustrate the numerous challenges of interpreting and implementing the WPK's centralized sports policies in the 1950s. In particular, the state's various sports organs were non-uniform and inconsistent in their interpretation and implementation of the Party's sports policies. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the DPRK's state-controlled sports enterprise was a system that was ultimately centralized, but not necessarily unified, consistent, or exclusively limited to the control of the state.

Keywords: Asia
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
DPRK
History
North Korea
Sports
Advisor: Schmid, Andre
Luong, Hy
The Role of p21 Activated Kinase 1 in Cell Spreading and Collagen Remodeling

Background: Cell adhesion and spreading on matrix substrates are fundamental processes contributing to periodontal wound healing. p21-activated kinases (PAKs) are involved in regulating cell spreading, the mechanism for which remains undefined. Objective: Examine the role of PAK-1 in collagen remodeling by cell extension formation. Methods: NIH-3T3 mouse fibroblasts were treated with control or PAK-1 siRNA. The number and length of cell extensions were measured in cells cultured on floating collagen matrices. Activated β1 integrins and focal adhesions per cell were measured. Further, cell contraction and collagen remodeling were examined. Finally, cell contractile activity was estimated. Results: PAK-1 knockdown cells exhibited fewer and shorter cell membrane extensions, reduced cell area, and reduced activated β1 integrin staining and focal adhesions per cell. PAK-1 knock-down cells showed reduced contraction and collagen fiber alignment. Conclusions: PAK-1 regulates cell adhesion to collagen by promoting the generation of cell extensions, which enhance tractional remodeling of collagen.

Advisor: McCulloch, Christopher
Hinz, Boris
YAP and TAZ are Mechanoregulators of TGF-β-Smad Signalling and Fibrogenesis

Kidney stiffening is an important process that precedes fibrosis. YAP and TAZ are mechanosensory proteins that bind to Smad proteins, the canonical mediators of pro-fibrotic TGF-β responses. We demonstrate that YAP/TAZ mediate mechanosensitive responses of fibroblasts to TGF-β and renal fibrogenesis through Smads. Unlike stiff surface effects, soft matrix sequestered YAP/TAZ in the cytosol and impaired TGF-β/Smad signalling. YAP/TAZ inhibition with verteporfin, a clinically approved drug, mimicked this attenuating effect. Surprisingly, we discovered that verteporfin drastically reduced YAP/TAZ expression which inhibited TGF-β/Smad signalling by destabilizing Smad3, an effect that likely underlies its anti-fibrotic activity. In vivo, verteporfin reduced YAP/TAZ and Smad2/3 levels, leading to markedly attenuated kidney fibrosis. Our data suggest that stiffness cooperates with TGF-β to augment fibrosis in a YAP/TAZ- and Smad2/3-dependent manner. Here, we identified a new tool to block the mechano-activation of pro-fibrotic TGF-β signalling, illustrating the potential for “mechano-interference” as a novel anti-fibrotic treatment strategy.

Keywords: Extracellular matrix
Mechanotransduction
Renal Fibrosis
Smad
TGF-β
YAP/TAZ
Advisor: Yuen, Darren A
Kapus, András
From Pedagogy to Participation: Progressive Youths' Paths to Formal Civic Engagement

Over the past decade, declining electoral engagement among young people has led to a proliferation of research preoccupied with how best to educate for "active citizenship." It is therefore within a context of heightened theoretical attention that this thesis embarks on a unique, retrospective exploration of the relationship between pedagogy and political participation for a diverse group of progressive young adult Canadians. Whereas young people are commonly deemed apathetic, this research conceives of this cohort as mountingly alienated from liberal, capitalist democracy. At the same time, however, this thesis conceives of young progressives‘ electoral participation as strategically necessary, insofar as the collective disengagement of these young adults has a well-documented tendency to benefit those political parties/candidates most radically averse to justice-oriented social change. Ultimately, this research concludes that the capacity of pedagogical interventions to engender participatory tendencies among progressive young people is therefore essential, albeit limited in important ways.

Keywords: canada
democracy
education
pedagogy
political participation
voting
Advisor: Mojab, Shahrzad
Digital Labcoat: An Active Learning Tool for Teaching the Scientific Method in the Social Sciences

Active learning methods have established themselves as the "gold standard" of teaching, and are recommended as part of good teaching practice. In high-enrollment university courses, incorporating active learning activities can be difficult, as they are often a resource-intensive undertaking, requiring large time commitments on the part of the instructor. By turning to online technologies, it may be possible to introduce low-cost implementations of active learning activities. To this end, we have created a web application called Digital Labcoat -- a tool for introductory social sciences courses that implements active learning methodology to engage students in the scientific method and improve scientific literacy. The present study examines the use the Digital Labcoat software in large university courses, and assesses its success at achieving its educational goals. The results establish Digital Labcoat as a feasible assessment tool that is associated with increased student understanding of the scientific method.

Keywords: Digital Labcoat
eLearning
online learning
scientific literacy
Advisor: Joordens, Steve
lprof: A Non-intrusive Request Flow Profiler for Distributed Systems

Applications implementing cloud services, such as HDFS, Hadoop YARN, Cassandra, and HBase, are mostly built as distributed systems designed to scale. In order to analyze and debug the performance of these systems efficiently, it is essential to understand the performance behavior of system requests, both in aggregate and individually. lprof is a profiling tool that automatically reconstructs the execution flow of each request in a distributed application. It infers the execution-flow from logs and binary code and thus does not require any modifications to the application. lprof first statically analyzes an application’s binary code to infer how logs can be parsed so that the dispersed and intertwined log entries can be stitched and associated to specific individual requests. We evaluate lprof on the four widely used distributed services mentioned above. The result shows that lprof ’s precision in request extraction is 90%, and lprof is helpful in diagnosing 65% of the random sampled real-world performance anomalies.

Keywords: Distributed system
Performance
Profiling
Static analysis
System logging
Advisor: Yuan, Ding
Innate Immune Responses to Infection with the Lyme Disease Pathogen in Diet-induced Obesity

This thesis reports the effects of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity (DIO) on infection the Lyme disease pathogen Borreali burgdorferi. Male and female mice were fed a HFD or normal diet (ND) and infected with B. burgdorferi. Bacterial burden, pathology, systemic leukocyte and cytokine responses, basal and Borrelia-elicited macrophage cytokine production, and neutrophil and macrophage and leukocyte bacterial uptake assays were performed. DIO was associated with increased bacterial DNA burden and Lyme carditis pathology, which were associated with attenuated Borrelia uptake and cytokine production by neutrophils and macrophages in infected mice. DIO-dependent increases in burden were most pronounced in TLR4-expressing mice and females. Unexpectedly, Borrelia infection alone caused weight gain in ND mice at a rate similar to HFD. Together, these results suggested that obesity may be a risk factor for and affect outcomes of Lyme disease in humans.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi
Diet-induced obesity
Immune
Innate
Macrophage
Neutrophil
Advisor: Moriarty, Tara J
Microsimulating Active Transportation Mode Choice using Smartphone-based Travel Survey and Transportation Tomorrow Survey Data

Using a new smartphone-based travel survey and a traditional travel survey, the Toronto Tomorrow Survey (TTS), a probit active transportation mode choice model is built and integrated into the GTAModel V4.0, an agent-based regional travel demand model for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). The model incorporates a set of traffic analysis zone (TAZ)-based built environment measures that can reflect the environment pedestrians experience, including land-use mix, pedestrian infrastructure, street safety factors, the presence of barriers, average elevation difference, and the presence of recreational space. The results show that pedestrian infrastructure and street speed have the most impact on the choosing walk and bicycle modes, while the impact of degree of land use mix is moderate. The model calibrated using TTS showed an acceptable degree of improvement, especially in walk mode choices. The smartphone-based travel survey has potential but needs to be more robust for further improvements.

Keywords: active transportation
bicycle
built environment
mode choice
smartphone-based travel survey
walk
Advisor: Miller, Eric J.
Modeling and Analysis of User-centric and Disjoint Cooperation in Network MIMO Systems

This thesis provides an analytical performance characterization of user-centric and disjoint cooperation for both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) network multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) systems, where base-stations (BSs) form clusters to jointly transmit information to and receive information from multiple mobile users. We specically focus on the user-centric BS clustering strategy in which cooperating cluster of neighboring BSs is formed for each user individually and the clusters for dierent users may overlap. We consider the random topology where the BSs and users form Poisson point processes to facilitate analysis. This thesis shows that as compared to with disjoint BS clusters, the eect of user-centric clustering is that it improves signal strength in both UL and DL, while reducing cluster-edge interference in the DL. As a result, user-centric clustering has larger ergodic rate gain in the UL than DL, while it has signicant rate gain for cluster-edge users in the DL.

Keywords: Beamforming
cooperative coomunications
coordinated multi-point (CoMP)
network MIMO
stochastic geometry
Advisor: Yu, Wei
Effects of Orthodontic Appliances on Diagnostic Quality of MR Images of the Head

Introduction: The influence of four common fixed orthodontic appliances on artifact formation and diagnostic quality of head MR images produced by a 3 Tesla MR scanner was studied. Methods: Stainless steel brackets, ceramic brackets, combination of ceramic brackets and steel molar tubes, and multistranded steel mandibular lingual retainers were embedded into custom made Essix® trays for each of 10 adult subjects. Head MR scans of nine regions were acquired for each subject wearing these trays. Sagittal T1-weighted, axial T2-weighted, axial gradient-recalled, axial diffusion-weighted, non-contrast axial MR angiography and axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MR sequences were included. Two neuroradiologists evaluated image distortions and diagnostic qualities of the 13860 acquired images. Results: Images were affected by appliance, head region and MR sequence. Conclusions: Head MR images are differentially affected by the presence of orthodontic appliances. The appliance, region imaged and MR sequence need consideration before imaging patients wearing different fixed orthodontic appliances.

Keywords: artifact
brackets
diagnostic quality
MRI
orthodontic appliances
retainers
Advisor: Suri, Sunjay