VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Neural Action of Androgens in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Brain Clock

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus is the locus of a master circadian clock that is critical in the temporal organization of circadian activity. The SCN coordinates the rhythmic secretion of gonadal hormones, and in turn, reproductive hormones may act on their receptors within the SCN to alter circadian function. Using transgenic mice that over-express androgen receptor (AR) only in neurons, the current study investigated the influence of neural AR on the function of the SCN. In particular, it addressed the effects of androgens on circadian behaviours as well as physiological responses to light within the SCN by measuring Fos response after a phase-shifting light pulse. It was found that transgenic mice demonstrate a smaller increase in Fos expression in response to a light pulse than do wildtypes. Interpretations of our findings, including the possible functional significance of AR within the SCN, are discussed.

Keywords: SCN
Androgens
Advisor: Monks, D. Ashley
Law as Information Processes

This thesis describes a new theoretical framework for characterizing legal systems and legal thought. Broadly speaking, legal systems can be characterized as undertaking three functional activities: the intake, processing and distribution of information. The thesis defines and explains what those three activities consist of, their interrelation and describes some of the emergent phenomena which arise as a result of their co-existence. Additionally, examples are provided which show elements of legal systems having behavior neatly predicted by information-first methods of analysis. The aim is to develop information-related tools to understand the function of legal systems and subsystems in society by reference to those three activities, and a robust set of fields and concepts are presented for future development.

Keywords: Information
Theory
Processing
Law
Intake
Output
Organization
Design
Advisor: Katz, Ariel
Children’s Moral Emotions and Negative Emotionality: Predictors of Early-onset Antisocial Behaviour

This study examined links between antisocial behaviour, moral emotions (i.e., sympathy and guilt), and negative emotionality in an ethnically diverse sample of 4- and 8-year-old children (N = 79). Primary caregivers reported their children’s antisocial behaviour, sympathy, and negative emotionality through a questionnaire and across a 10-day span via daily diary entries (n = 474 records). In a semi-structured interview, children reported their sympathy levels and guilt feelings. Children with high guilt in harm contexts and low negative emotionality were rated as less antisocial in both questionnaire and diary reports. For children with low guilt in exclusion contexts, low sympathy ratings predicted higher questionnaire-reported antisocial behaviour. For children with high guilt in prosocial omission contexts, high sympathy ratings predicted lower diary-reported antisocial behaviour. Lastly, high sympathy ratings predicted lower questionnaire-reported antisocial behaviour for children with low negative emotionality.

Keywords: antisocial behaviour
guilt
sympathy
negative emotionality
experience-based sampling
Advisor: Malti, Tina
Grusec, Joan
The Effect of Light Emitting Diode Phototherapy on the Rate of Orthodontic Tooth Movement - A Clinical Study

Increasing the rate of orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) can reduce risks such as periodontal disease and caries. This study investigated whether light emitting diode (LED) phototherapy could accelerate the rate of OTM. Orthodontic patients with bilaterally symmetric extraction of premolars were recruited. During space closure, LED phototherapy was applied to one side of the dental arch for a specified time and the contralateral side acted as the control. Space closure was measured immediately prior to, during and later in space closure. All 11 patients were compliant with LED application. The results revealed no significant changes in the rate of OTM with LED phototherapy over 3 months of extraction space closure. The findings were contrary to previous findings with laser phototherapy and could be related to the dosage or method of LED phototherapy delivery. Further investigations are needed to determine whether LED phototherapy application can influence the rate of OTM.

Keywords: orthodontics
tooth movement
phototherapy
light emitting diode
led
rate
clinical
otm
space closure
orthodontic
Advisor: Tompson, Bryan
Axiomatized Relationships between Ontologies

This work focuses on the axiomatized relationships between different ontologies of varying levels of expressivity. Motivated by experiences in the decomposition of first-order logic ontologies, we partially decompose the Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering (DOLCE) into modules. By leveraging automated reasoning tools to semi-automatically verify the modules, we provide an account of the meta-theoretic relationships found between DOLCE and other existing ontologies. As well, we examine the composition process required to determine relationships between DOLCE modules and the Process Specification Language (PSL) ontology. Then, we propose an ontology based on the semantically-weak Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture (CIMOSA) framework by augmenting its constructs with terminology found in PSL. Finally, we attempt to map two semantically-weak product ontologies together to analyze the applications of ontology mappings in e-commerce.

Keywords: ontology
ontologies
axiomatization
modularization
first-order logic
dolce
cimosa
psl
verification
ontology mapping
ontology decomposition
ontology composition
semantic augmentation
automated reasoning
Advisor: Gruninger, Michael John
Investigating the Role of Autophagy in Intracellular Apolipoprotein B Traffic and Very-low-density-lipoprotein Assembly and Secretion

Apolipoprotein B (apoB) is the main protein of very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). As apoB is translated and moves through the secretory pathway, lipids from cytoplasmic lipid droplets (LDs) are added to form VLDL particles. Without adequate lipid availability, apoB is misfolded and undergoes proteasomal degradation; however, evidence now shows that apoB can be degraded through autophagy. Inhibiting autophagy decreased apoB localization to autophagosomes in HepG2 cells, but also decreased apoB recovered from cells and media. Inducing autophagy increased apoB localization to autophagosomes and decreased apoB recovery. LDs are also degraded through autophagy however LDs were not affected by autophagy modulation in HepG2 cells. In primary hamster hepatocytes, inhibiting autophagy reduced apoB-autophagosome co-localization and increased LD numbers. These data suggest that autophagy may play a complex role in VLDL assembly by regulating degradation of both apoB and LDs. This dual role is more evident in primary hepatocytes indicating a potential physiological role.

Keywords: Apolipoprotein B
Very-low-density-lipoprotein
Autophagy
Lipophagy
Lipid droplets
Advisor: Adeli, Khosrow
Single Microphone Tap Localization

This thesis explores a single microphone tap localization interface for smartphones - Extended Touch(ET), that detects user-tapped locations on any neighboring surface. The algorithm combines accelerometer and microphone detection making it robust to noise, and does not require knowledge of surface parameters or sensor positioning. It uses acoustic signal as the feature vector and solves for tap inference in two phases - training and detection. The training phase builds a prior-model of the system by storing one or more templates of known tap locations. These templates are used in the detection phase to carry out a k-nearest neighbor classification to detect new tap locations. The algorithm achieves a 92% detection rate on knock taps. A method to detect contiguous tap locations is also proposed.

Keywords: computer engineering
machine learning
Advisor: Aarabi, Parham
Effects of Cadmium on Actin Glutathionylation and Focal Adhesions

The toxic metal ion cadmium (Cd2+) is pro-oxidant and specifically disrupts the actin cytoskeleton in renal mesangial cells. This study investigated the role of Cd2+-mediated redox modulation of actin through protein S-glutathionylation and the effects of cytoskeletal changes on focal adhesions (FAs) through a Ca2+/calmodulin dependent-protein kinase II (CaMK-II) pathway. Only at low concentrations of Cd2+ (0.5-2 μM) was there an increase in actin glutathionylation, which was a reactive oxygen species-independent, total glutathione-dependent effect. Immunofluorescence of the cytoskeleton suggests that increases in glutathionylation levels occurring under low [Cd2+] are protective in vivo. Higher concentrations (>= 10 μM) of Cd2+ resulted in loss of vinculin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) from FAs, concomitant with cytoskeletal disruption. Inhibition of CaMK-II preserved cytoskeletal integrity and focal contacts, while decreasing the migration of FAK-phosphoTyr925 to a membrane-associated compartment. This study adds further insight into the Cd2+-mediated effects on the cytoskeleton and FAs.

Keywords: cadmium toxicology
glutathionylation
ROS
actin cytoskeleton
focal adhesions
CaMK-II
Advisor: Templeton, Douglas M.
Synthesis and Characterization of New Luminescent Lanthanide Complexes

Luminescent lanthanide complexes are gaining an increasing amount of interest for their applications in various fields such as OLEDs, immunoassays, analytical sensors, and optical communication. They are promising candidates as light-emitting materials in OLEDs to overcome the difficulty of obtaining pure emission colors with conjugated polymers or small organic molecules. N,N-di(pyridin-2-yl)quinolin-8-amine, a novel blue-emitting ligand, was synthesized to coordinate to europium(III). Experimental studies led to insights of its reactivity with europium acetylacetonate complexes. A new Eu(III) complex based on the diazafluorene ligand was synthesized. A sharp emission band was observed, demonstrating that the Eu(III) ion was effectively sensitized by the intramolecular energy transfer of the ligand. Sensitization of europium(III) by the 3MLCT energy based on an iridium complex-ligand in a d-f bimetallic assembly was previously found to emit red light when irradiated with sunlight. 1-(quinolin-8-yl)butane-1,3-dione, a novel bridging ligand, was synthesized to prepare Eu-Ir complexes with potentially enhanced efficiencies.

Keywords: luminescence
lanthanides
Advisor: Song, Datong
Optimization and Modeling of FPGA Circuitry in Advanced Process Technology

We develop a new fully-automated transistor sizing tool for FPGAs that features area, delay and wire load modeling enhancements over prior work to improve its accuracy in advanced process nodes. We then use this tool to investigate a number of FPGA circuit design related questions in a 22nm process. We find that building FPGAs out of transmission gates instead of the currently dominant pass-transistors, whose performance and reliability are degrading with technology scaling, yields FPGAs that are 15% larger but are 10-25% faster depending on the allowable level of "gate boosting''. We also show that transmission gate FPGAs with a separate power supply for their gate terminal enable a low-voltage FPGA with 50% less power and good delay. Finally, we show that, at a possible cost in routability, restricting the portion of a routing channel that can be accessed by a logic block input can improve delay by 17%.

Keywords: FPGA
circuit design
advanced process technology
optimization
modeling
transistor sizing
transmission gate FPGA
Advisor: Betz, Vaughn
Spatial Criteria Used in IUCN Assessment Overestimate Area of Occupancy for Freshwater Taxa

Area of Occupancy (AO) is a frequently used indicator to assess and inform designation of conservation status to wildlife species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The applicability of the current grid-based AO measurement on freshwater organisms has been questioned due to the restricted dimensionality of freshwater habitats. I investigated the extent to which AO influenced conservation status for freshwater taxa at a national level in Canada. I then used distribution data of 20 imperiled freshwater fish species of southwestern Ontario to (1) demonstrate biases produced by grid-based AO and (2) develop a biologically relevant AO index. My results showed grid-based AOs were sensitive to spatial scale, grid cell positioning, and number of records, and were subject to inconsistent decision making. Use of the biologically relevant AO changed conservation status for four freshwater fish species and may have important implications on the subsequent conservation practices.

Keywords: Area of Occupancy
IUCN
freshwater conservation
quantitative spatial criteria
biological relevance
fish distribution
risk designation
COSEWIC
threatened fishes
threatened molluscs
Advisor: Jackson, Donald Andrew
Mandrak, Nicholas E.
The Surrogate Country System for WTO Antidumping Investigations against Non-market-economy Countries: China as an Example

This thesis examines the Surrogate Country System adopted by WTO members in their antidumping investigations against non-market-economy (NME) countries. In this paper, the Author points out that the existing relevant WTO regulations can easily become importing countries' tool of protectionism. Meanwhile, the obvious legal gap in the WTO laws helps the protectionism by leaving large discretion to importing countries. To reveal the irrationalities of the Surrogate Country System, this paper uses China, a typical NME country, as a sample to display how the system is applied in practice. Then, the paper examines the irrationalities of existing regulations. Towards above issues, the Author puts forward several proposals in Chapter 4. The Author argues for distinguishing transformational countries from NME countries. In cases involving transformational countries, the Author proposes a three-step methodology to calculate the normal value. The Author also provides several strategies for Chinese Government and exporters.

Keywords: Surrogate Country System
NME countries
WTO
Antidumping Law
Advisor: Trebilcock, Michael
Electrical Properties and Band Diagram of InSb-InAs Nanowire Type-III Heterojunctions

The electrical properties of nanowire-based n-InSb-n-InAs heterojunctions grown by chemical beam epitaxy were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. This heterostructure presented a type-III band alignment with the band bendings at 0.12 eV for InAs side and 0.16 − 0.21 eV in InSb. Analysis of the temperature dependent current voltage characteristics showed that the current through the heterojunction is caused mostly by generation-recombination processes in the InSb and at the heterointerface. Due to the partially overlapping valence band of InSb and the conduction band of InAs, the second process was fast and activationless. Theoretical analysis showed that, depending on the heterojunction parameters, the flux of non-equilibrium minority carriers may have a different direction, explaining the experimentally observed non-monotonic coordinate dependence of the electron beam induced current at the vicinity of heterointerface.

Keywords: Nanowire
III-V semiconductor
Nanotechnology
Electron Beam Induced Current
Advisor: Ruda, Harry E.
Integration, Test and Operation of the BRIght Target Explorer Payload

The BRIght Target Explorer mission consists of six nanosatellites, each equipped with an instrument capable of capturing defocused images of stars suitable for milli-magnitude accuracy differential photometry. BRITE is expected to provide information about the dynamics and life cycles of bright stars. The satellites are funded in pairs by Austria, Poland and Canada and designed at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Space Flight Laboratory. The present thesis document summarizes the contribution of the author to this project. This includes unit level integration, calibration, functional testing and science acceptance testing of the two BRITE Canada payloads; high level assembly and spacecraft level testing of the BRITE Canada spacecraft; sun stare testing and ground based observations of stars with engineering model instruments; launch campaign functional testing and preparations of UniBRITE, the first BRITE satellite funded by Austria; and on-orbit operations of UniBRITE.

Keywords: BRITE
nanosatellite
photometry
Advisor: Zee, Robert E.
Rucinski, Slavek
Extraordinary Military Powers and Right to Self Determination in Kashmir

This thesis examines the implications of the operation of the Armed Forces (Jammu &amp; Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (&ldquo;Act&rdquo;) on Kashmir from human rights perspective. It draws a comparison between the Act and the existing penal legislations in India. It proposes that the Act should be repealed and actions of the armed forces should be governed by the already existing penal legislations. It suggests amendment of similar state and central legislations conferring immunity to the armed forces. The precondition of approval of the Central Government for instituting a legal proceeding should be removed. It proposes constitution of special grievance cells at district levels to adjudicate cases against the armed forces before being referred to the higher courts. The thesis urges the Indian Government to approach the issue of Kashmir following principles of Ahimsa (&ldquo;non&ndash;violence&rdquo;) and Satyagraha (&ldquo;insistence on truth&rdquo;) adopted by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence struggle.

Keywords: law
military
human rights
kashmir
armed forces
India
Advisor: Roach, Kent
Redundancy-aware Electromigration Checking for Mesh Power Grids

Electromigration is re-emerging as a significant problem in modern integrated circuits (IC). Especially in power-grids, due to shrinking wire widths and increasing current densities, there is little or no margin left between the predicted EM stress and that allowed by the EM design rules. Statistical Electromigration Budgeting estimates the reliability of the grid by considering it as a series system. However, a power grid with its many parallel paths has much inherent redundancy. In this work, we propose a new model to estimate the MTF and reliability of the power grid under the influence of EM, which accounts for these redundancies. To implement the mesh model, we also develop a framework to estimate the change in statistics of an interconnect as its effective-EM current varies. The results indicate that the series model gives a pessimistic estimate of power grid MTF by a factor of 3-4.

Keywords: Electromigration Checking
Power Grids
Verification
Redundancy
Advisor: Najm, Farid N.
An Analysis of Rapid Response Team Calling Algorithms for Clinical Deficit Evaluation

This research examines the activation of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) through the Early Warning Score (EWS) model as a system of predicting adverse event outcomes. Modeling the input parameters of this system concluded that although conventional parameters associated with EWSs were predictive,the most predictive clinical and laboratory parameters are those of hematological and nephritic function, related to the model of multi-organ system decompensation. Upon examining different EWSs, the Modified Early Warning Score exhibited superior operating characteristics, however, it was not statistically different than other common EWSs from literature. Accounting for temporal features of the dataset shows that the International Normalized Ratio is the most predictive parameter, however, the hazard model exhibits poor discriminative ability. Therefore, clinically, parameters outside the EWS models are predictive of the outcomes in question, and their incorporation into future policy would serve to better inform the prevention of adverse events.

Keywords: clinical engineering
health science
medicine and surgery
system science
Advisor: Cafazzo, Joseph
Role of Extracellular-signal Regulated Kinase (ERK) and cAMP Response Element Binding Protein (CREB) in the Incubation of Nicotine Craving

Nicotine Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder. Relapse risk persists despite years of abstinence. Drug-associated cues have been demonstrated to induce craving and provoke relapse. Surprisingly, in human smokers, craving for nicotine increases or “incubates” with longer abstinence durations, a phenomenon that may explain persistent relapse liability. This incubation phenomenon also presents in animals trained to intravenously self-administer nicotine though the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Two proteins, ERK (Extra-cellular signal Regulated Kinase) and CREB (cAMP Response Element Binding protein) play important roles in learning, memory, and numerous aspects of drug addiction. We therefore examined whether changes in these proteins are associated with incubation of craving for nicotine in rats. We found increased nicotine-seeking behaviour after 14 days of abstinence (compared to 1 day) along with elevated ERK and CREB activity in the Accumbens brain region suggesting that these proteins may be involved in the incubation phenomenon.

Keywords: nicotine addiction
Extracellular-signal Regulated Kinase (ERK)
cAMP Response Element Binding Protein (CREB)
Fos
incubation of nicotine craving
Advisor: Le, Anh Dzung
Mitigating Risks Associated with Secondary Intravenous Infusions: An Empirical Evaluation of a Technology-based, Training-based, and Practice-based Intervention

Secondary infusions is a common method to deliver short infusions of intravenous (IV) drugs and fluids. Errors associated with this infusion method have led to patient safety concerns. This study's objective was to empirically evaluate interventions to mitigate secondary infusion risks. Three interventions, including a technology-based intervention (clamp detector on a smart pump), a training-based intervention (educational module), and a practice-based intervention (use of a separate pump for short infusions), were tested in a simulated inpatient unit. The technology-based intervention significantly decreased secondary clamp errors whereas the training-based intervention reduced complex pressure differential errors. The practice-based intervention was the only intervention that significantly decreased both secondary clamp errors and pressure differential errors, but introduced new risks due to mismanagement of residual volume in IV tubing. Study results highlight the need for a combination of mitigation strategies and can help guide the selection of interventions to reduce secondary infusion errors.

Keywords: Human Factors
High-fidelity Simulation
Intravenous Medication Safety
Secondary infusions
Piggyback Infusions
Medication Administration
Multiple Intravenous Infusions
infusion Pumps
Risk Mitigating Strategies
Advisor: Easty, Anthony
Trbovich, Patricia
Validation of Candidate Biomarkers for the Development of a Multi-Parametric Panel for Early Detection of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

High-throughput mass spectrometry has discovered a plethora of candidates in the biomarker field, however, subsequent verification and validation studies are urgently needed to assess the potential of novel biomarkers in the detection of pancreatic cancer. We have conducted extensive verification and validation studies on two of our most promising biomarkers CUZD1 and LAMC2 with a total of 715 blood samples. In our study, both markers demonstrated consistent diagnostic ability of early- and CA19.9 negative-PDAC cases. When used in combination with CA19.9, CUZD1 and LAMC2 were shown to significantly improve the performance of CA19.9 alone in the diagnosis of PDAC patients. We speculate that CUZD1 and LAMC2 may be good candidates to be used in a panel for monitoring PDAC patients who do not express CA19.9 levels as well as for an aid in screening high risk populations. Further validation of these two proteins is warranted.

Keywords: pancreatic cancer
early diagnosis
pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
biomarker
validation
Advisor: Diamandis, Eleftherios P.
Blasutig, Ivan M.