VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Ontario’s Energy - A Review of the Present and a Proposal for Future Development

The work presents a framework for analyzing complex decision making in policy from the perspective of planning power supply mix for Ontario. Concepts of sustainability are introduced and analyzed followed by an in-depth view of two case studies. The first analyzes the power supply mix for Ontario and the second analyzes policy impacts in Germany and Denmark. A linear programming model, including energy storage is then developed that would yield an optimized sustainability based development policy for electricity production in Ontario. Future work is recommended to calibrate and run the model. The analysis discusses the new model in relation to the first case study and provides a mechanism to evaluate tradeoffs traditionally unquantifiable, to yield a strategic plan for electricity development in Ontario.

Keywords: Ontario Supply Mix
Power optimization
Advisor: Karney, Bryan William
Peace Through Health: Theory and Practice of the International Pediatric Emergency Medicine Elective (IPEME)

This thesis seeks to evaluate the International Pediatric Emergency Medicine Elective (IPEME) as a case study of a peace-through-health initiative. Using the reasoning of Scolnik (2006), IPEME is first evaluated in terms of narrow, short-term outcomes and subsequently considered in terms of the greater body of peace-through-health work. A novel evaluation tool was designed to examine change in students’ ethical and professional attitudes over the course of the four-week elective. Supplementary qualitative data was collected to shed light on evaluation findings and provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the IPEME curriculum. Ethics and professionalism were defined in terms of the WHO 5 Star Global Criteria for Global Doctors conceptualized by the World Health Organization (Boelen, 1996). This research discusses these findings in light of the study’s limitations and considers their implications for IPEME as a medical elective and for its contribution to the greater body of peace-through-health work.

Keywords: Peace Through Health
Medical Elective
Collaboration
Peacebuilding
Evaluation
IPEME
Advisor: Cockerill, Rhonda
An Active Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antenna

This thesis focuses on a type of antenna known as the reflectarray antenna. In particular, it looks at the design of an active reconfigurable reflectarray antenna, which has not received much attention in the reflectarray community. Potential applications include deployment as a high gain, reconfigurable antenna for communication links, and as a spatial power combiner. The reflectarray element is an aperture-coupled patch that accepts a linearly polarized wave, phase shifts and amplifies the guided-waves in the transmission lines, and then re-radiates an orthogonally polarized wave. Stability analysis of the element, experimental results of the designed phase shifter and simulation and experimental results of the element are presented. Fabrication details of a 48 element reflectarray and challenges faced during experimental characterization of the elements are also discussed. The two dimensional beamforming capability and amplifying nature of the array are successfully demonstrated and veri fied, indicating robustness to phase errors and oscillating elements.

Keywords: antenna
reflectarray antenna
active integrated
reconfigurable
amplifying
beam steering
Advisor: Hum, Sean Victor
The Role of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Neurabin in Anxiety- and Depression-like Behaviours

Neurabin, a cytoskeletal protein, has been shown to be required for normal dopamine signalling, and dopaminergic systems have been previously implicated in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders, including generalized social anxiety disorder. And results from neuroimaging studies have implicated the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in depression and anxiety disorders. However, lesion studies have failed to produce the expected deficits. Here, we demonstrate that the injections of muscimol and midazolam into the ACC reduced anxiety- and depression-like behaviours, and that complete absence of neurabin reduced anxiety-like behaviour but increased depression-like behaviour. However, reduction of neurabin by injecting neurabin-targeted siRNA into the ACC reduced anxiety-like behaviour but did not affect depression-like behaviour. This study provides evidence that the imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory activity in the ACC alters affective disorders, and that neurabin may be critical for the modulation of these behaviours.

Keywords: anterior cingulate cortex
neurabin
anxiety
depression
siRNA
microinjection
Advisor: Zhuo, Min
Misfolding of Particular PrP and Susceptibility to Prion Infection

Pathogenesis of prion diseases in animals is associated with the misfolding of the cellular prion protein PrPC to the infectious form, PrPSc. We hypothesized that an animal’s susceptibility to prions is correlated with the propensity of an animal’s PrPC to adopt a β-sheet, PrPSc-like, conformation. We have developed a method which uses circular dichroism (CD) to directly calculate the relative population of PrP molecules that adopt a β-sheet conformation or the ‘β-state’, as a function of denaturant concentration and pH. We find that the PrP from animals that are more susceptible to prion diseases, like hamsters and mice, adopt the β-state more readily than the PrP from rabbits. The X-ray crystal structure of rabbit PrP reveals a helix-capping motif that may lower the propensity to form the β-state. PrP in the β-state contains both monomeric and octameric β-structured species, and possesses cytotoxic properties.

Keywords: Prion protein
prion disease
prion susceptibility
protein misfolding
circular dichroism
analytical ultracentrifugation
Advisor: Chakrabartty, Avijit
Protein-protein Interaction Between Two Key Regulators of One-carbon Metabolism in Saccaharomyces cerevisiae.

One-carbon metabolism is an essential process that is conserved from yeast to humans. Glycine stimulates the expression of genes in one-carbon metabolism, whereas its withdrawal causes repression of these genes. The transcription factor Bas1p and the metabolic enzyme Shm2p have been implicated in this regulation. I have shown that Bas1p physically interacts with Shm2p through co-immunoprecipitation. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), I have also shown that the interaction between Bas1p and Shm2p occurs at the promoter of two genes in the one-carbon metabolism regulon and that the binding of Shm2p requires Bas1p. Using a yeast-two hybrid system, I have systematically truncated Bas1p from the C-terminal end to find a region responsible for the interaction with Shm2p. My data suggest that Shm2p is directly bound to Bas1p at the promoters of glycine regulated genes where it regulates the transcriptional activity of Bas1p in response to changes in glycine levels.

Keywords: One-Carbon Metabolism
Gene Regulation
Advisor: Bognar, Andrew
The Development of a Laser-induced Incandescence System

The ability to accurately measure solid particulate levels in various applications ranging from engines to laboratory flames has become very important in the past few decades. A new approach to measuring soot levels called laser-induced incandescence was investigated. An apparatus was designed and built in order to measure soot levels in an atmospheric laminar diffusion flame with the intent of conducting proof-of-concept measurements. The apparatus utilized highly focussed optics while collecting time-resolved data using fast PMTs which allowed measurement of both time and spatial domains. Although noise and other technical problems proved to be a concern, measurements with reasonable agreement with published results for temperature (2800 K) and the primary particle soot size (6.3 +/- 2.5 nm) were achieved within the flame. Noise issues with the apparatus prevented accurate soot volume fraction measurements from being obtained. Numerous suggestions have been made as to how to improve the experiment for future use, potentially in a high pressure environment.

Keywords: Laser-Induced Incandescence
LII
soot diagnostics
Advisor: Gulder, Omer L.
The Role of Hepoxilins in an Asthma-like Mouse Model

Asthma is a chronic respiratory illness where the airway occasionally constricts, becomes inflamed, and is lined with excessive amounts of mucus. There are many lipid mediators involved in this inflammatory response. Hepoxilins are biologically active hydroxyepoxy eicosatrienoic acid metabolites of arachidonic acid, formed through the 12-lipoxygenase pathway. Our goal in this study was to identify if hepoxilins had a direct effect on smooth muscle contractions, to identify the source of hepoxilins in asthmatic-like mouse model, and to determine if blocking this pathway reduced inflammation associated with ovalbumin sensitization. We found that hepoxilins had no direct effect on smooth muscle contraction. We identified the bronchiolar epithelium as a major source of hepoxilins in OVA-challenged mice. We demonstrated that baicalein inhibits total lung resistance in the OVA-treated mice, but also found that the drug in-vivo is not specific for 12-lipoxygenase.

Keywords: Hepoxilins
Asthma
Advisor: Post, Martin
Neurophysiological Correlates of Self-monitoring Differentially Moderate the Relation Between Maternal Depression and Children's Behaviour Problems

Research in developmental psychopathology has advanced our understanding of emotional dysregulation underlying children’s behavioural problems and their association with maternal depression. Neurophysiological measures may further clarify these relations. The ERN (error-related negativity) is an event-related potential commonly used to assess self-monitoring, with large amplitudes reflecting internalizing and small amplitudes reflecting externalizing symptoms. The present study investigated the effect of ERN amplitude on the relation between maternal depression and internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of children referred for aggressive behaviour. ERN amplitudes were recorded while 50 children (8-10 years of age) engaged in a go/no-go emotion induction task. Results indicated an association between high ERN amplitudes and internalizing behaviour and between small ERN amplitudes and externalizing behaviours for children with depressed mothers. These findings suggest that the degree of self-monitoring (indexed by ERN amplitude) moderates the relation between maternal depression and psychopathological outcomes in children.

Keywords: Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology
Advisor: Lewis, Marc D.
Mexican-American Parents’ Working Hours, Parental Involvement, and Adolescent Academic Achievement

In order to better understand the specific mechanisms that may hinder high educational achievement among Latino students, this study explored the impact of parental working hours on parental involvement and school outcomes across three generations of Mexican-American youth. Results from a longitudinal data set revealed that constrained parental availability, related to increased working hours, had an impact on the amount of parental involvement for third generation students, but not on their academic outcomes. For first-generation students, parental monitoring (a form of parental involvement) was a significant positive predictor for grade 8 and 10 reading scores as well as high school completion among second-generation students. Results from this study suggest that increased parental monitoring may be beneficial for higher academic outcomes for first and second generation students. Future research will need to investigate what types of parental involvement may influence third generation students.

Keywords: parental work hours
Mexican-American students
parental involvement
academic achievement
generational differences
Advisor: Hong, Guanglei
Musculoskeletal Injury in Professional Dancers: Prevalence and Associated Factors. An International Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Purpose: To determine the prevalence and factors associated with injury in professional ballet and modern dancers, to explore dancers’ attitudes and perceptions of injury, and to assess if dancers are reporting their injuries and reasons for not reporting injuries. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in professional ballet and modern dance companies in Canada, Denmark, Israel, and Sweden. Results: The point prevalence of injury in dancers is high (55% ballet; 46% modern) and most have chronic pain. Years dancing professionally and rank were associated with injury in ballet dancers. Attitudes towards injury vary and some dancers are continuing to dance when injured. Greater than 15% of all injured dancers have not reported their injury. Conclusions: Injury is common in dancers and there is an urgent need to investigate interventions to help control injury and understand the long-term implications of these conditions in this population.

Keywords: Occupational Health and Safety
Dance
Advisor: Cassidy, J. David
The Presynaptic F-box Protein FSN-1 Regulates Synapse Development via Retrograde Insulin Signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans

Synaptogenesis entails the development and establishment of functional synapses, which form the fundamental unit of communication in the nervous system. Initially identified in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), the FSN-1, F-box protein family has emerged as evolutionarily conserved binding partners of PHR family proteins, which regulate synaptogenesis. Previously, we have shown that FSN-1 and RPM-1 form a SCF/FSN-1/RPM-1 ubiquitin ligase complex that negatively regulates synapse growth by downregulating presynaptic targets, like the MAP kinase pathway. For my master’s thesis, I used a combination of both candidate and forward genetic approaches to identify additional components of signaling pathways that are regulated by FSN-1 during synaptogenesis. Our studies are among the first to suggest diverging roles for these partners and provide the first evidence for a mechanism through which the F-box protein regulates synaptogenesis via retrograde insulin/IGF/FOXO signaling and glucosaminidase/O-GlcNAc modifications.

Keywords: Synaptogenesis
Insulin Signaling
FSN-1
Advisor: Zhen, Mei
Quantifying the Effects of Radiation on Tumour Vasculature with High-frequency Three-dimensional Power Doppler Ultrasound

Recent evidence suggests that radiation may have a significant effect on tumour vascu lature in addition to damaging tumour cell DNA. It is well established that endothelial cells are among the first cells to respond after administration of ionizing radiation in both normal and tumour tissues. It has also been suggested that microvascular dysfunction may regulate tumour response to radiotherapy at high doses. However, due to limitations in imaging the microcirculation this response is not well characterized. Advances in high-frequency ultrasound and computation methods now make it possible to acquire and analyze 3-D ultrasound data of tumour blood flow in tumour micro-circulation. This thesis outlines the work done to test the hypothesis that single dose 8 Gy radio- therapy produces changes in tumour blood vessels which can be quantified using high- frequency power Doppler ultrasound. In addition, the issue of reproducibility of power Doppler measurements and the relationship between histopathology and power Doppler measurements have been examined.

Keywords: Ultrasound
Power Doppler
Advisor: Czarnota, Gregory J.
The Impact of Lesser Snow Goose Herbivory on Above and Belowground Nutrient Dynamics in Two Sub-Arctic Ecosystems

In order to determine the impact of lesser snow goose (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) herbivory on above and belowground nutrient dynamics, a grazing and nutrient addition experiment was conducted in two habitat types utilized by snow geese near Churchill, Manitoba. Forage plant nutrition, soil microbial biomass, and inorganic and organic soil nutrients were measured in relation to the timing of grazing, over two consecutive summers. Soil was collected from the rhizosphere to determine the influence of foliar herbivory on root-microbe interactions. Primary productivity in both habitats is co-limited by the availability of both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Aboveground defoliation either caused a reduction or no change in soil microbial biomass nutrients (carbon (C), N, or P). Defoliated shoots had higher N concentrations and did not show compensatory growth within the season. Root biomass was somewhat reduced with grazing, but higher whole plant N content suggests that grazing does not compromise N-uptake.

Keywords: lesser snow geese
microbes
rhizosphere
nitrogen
Advisor: Jefferies, Robert L.
Cut Once, Measure Everywhere: The Stability of Percentage of Students Above a Cut Score

Large-scale assessment results for schools, school boards/districts, and entire provinces or states are commonly reported as the percentage of students achieving a standard – that is, the percentage of students scoring above the cut score that defines the standard on the assessment scale. Recent research has shown that this method of reporting is sensitive to small changes in the cut score, especially when comparing results across years or between groups. This study extends that work by investigating the effects of reporting group size on the stability of results. For each of ten group sizes, 1000 samples with replacement were drawn from the May 2009 Ontario Grade 6 Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The results showed that for small group sizes – analogous to small schools – there is little confidence and that extreme caution must be taken when interpreting differences observed between years or groups.

Keywords: large-scale assessment
standardized tests
cutting score
measures
accountability
student improvement
academic achievement
school trends
EQAO
statistics
Advisor: Childs, Ruth A.
Quantitative Evaluation of Simulated Enamel Demineralization and Remineralization Using Photothermal Radiometry and Modulated Luminescence

Detection modalities that can evaluate the early stages of dental caries are indispensable. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the efficacy of photothermal radiometry and modulated luminescence (PTR-LUM) to non-destructively detect and quantify simulated enamel caries. Two experiments were performed based on the PTR-LUM detection mode: back-propagation or transmission-mode. Artificial demineralized lesions were created in human molars and a subset was further exposed to an artificial remineralizing solution. PTR-LUM frequency scans were performed periodically during de/re-mineralization treatments. PTR data was fitted to a theoretical model based on optical and thermal fluxes in enamel to extract opto-thermophysical parameters. Lesion validation was performed using transverse microradiography (TMR). Optical and thermal properties changed with the development and repair of the caries lesions while theory-derived thicknesses paralleled those determined microradiographically. These trends coupled with the uniqueness-of-fit of the generated parameters illustrate the efficacy of PTR- LUM to non-destructively detect and quantify de/re-mineralized lesions.

Keywords: Artificial enamel caries
photothermal radiometry
modulated luminescence
demineralization
remineralization
quantitative diagnostics
Advisor: Mandelis, Andreas
Finer, Yoav
Assessing the Natural Variability in the Fish Communities of the Lakes of the Northern Bruce Peninsula

To monitor and assess direct anthropogenic impacts on an aquatic system requires knowledge of its natural variation. The goal of this study explored natural variation in the lake fish communities of the northern Bruce Peninsula, which may act as a reference condition for other studies. The results of this study indicated there has been a shift towards more small-bodied, native species present in the fish communities, potentially a result of beaver activity in the area. A second goal was to calculate gear sampling efficiencies to enable the design of efficient monitoring protocols for fish communities in small, shallow lakes. It was concluded that a wide variety of gears are required to assess the fish species composition in a lake. Fine-mesh hoops were the most effective gear; however, saturation was never obtained for boat electrofishing; therefore, additional research is required to determine effectiveness relative to the fine-mesh hoop net.

Keywords: Bruce Peninsula
aquatic ecology
community ecology
fish communities
Advisor: Mandrak, Nicholas E.
Harvey, Harold
Synthesis, Characterization, and Hydrogenation Activity of Group 10 Metal Complexes Featuring Bulky Phosphine Ligands

Bulky, electron-rich phosphine ligands facilitate unique reactivity in various chemical systems and can stabilize metal species in unusual oxidation states or environments. Routes to bulky bis(phosphine) chelating ligands that mimic the sterics of the exceptionally bulky tri-tert-buylphosphine are explored with the ultimate goal of preparing novel catalyst systems of group 10 metals capable of hydrogenation. Attempts to target bulky phosphines from phosphinimine precursors highlight some interesting phosphinimine reactivity, however attempts to reduce the phosphinimine bond revealed limitations. Bis(aminophosphine) ligands present an alternate route to bulky bis(phosphines) and allow for tunability of the environment around phosphorus. The coordination of these ligands with palladium and nickel exhibit a novel bonding mode in which C-H or N-H activation of the ligand occurs to form strained metallacycles. Prepared compounds showed some activity as catalysts under hydrogen and isomerized 1-hexene to 2-hexene, offering support for their potential use as hydrogenation catalysts.

Advisor: Stephan, Douglas
Molecular Phylogeny of the Snake Genus Oligodon (Serpentes: Colubridae), with an Annotated Checklist and Key

The snake genus Oligodon, known for its egg-eating feeding behaviour, is a taxonomically and systematically challenging group from South and Southeast Asia. This work provides the first phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus, and includes a checklist and key to the species. I use approximately 1900 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA sequence data to infer the relationships of these snakes, and I examine congruence between the molecular phylogeny and hemipenial characters. A hypothesis for the position of Oligodon within the Colubridae is also proposed. I discuss the implications of the phylogeny for previous taxonomic groupings, and consider the usefulness of the trees in analysis of behaviour and biogeography.

Keywords: Evolutionary Biology
Phylogeny
Oligodon
Advisor: Murphy, Robert W.
Detecting changes in fish communities in response to habitat rehabilitation: a comparison of multimetric and multivariate approaches

Bioassessment can be performed through several methods and with different bioindicators. In Canadian Areas of Concern (AOC), fishes are used as a proxy for site condition. The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), a multimetric index for biological assessment, has been applied to fish data across Canadian AOCs to detect recovery. Previous studies, however, have indicated the IBI is not sensitive to assemblage changes characteristic of later stages of recovery. In this study, the IBI and multivariate methods were applied to data from two AOCs, the Detroit and St. Clair rivers. The results revealed that the IBI is susceptible to species substitutions within metric categories. The substitutions produced high variability within narrative ranks and rendered the IBI insensitive to changes, detected by multivariate methods, in the fish assemblage. In the absence of reference sites, the multivariate analyses were supplemented with the development of a reference condition based on best professional judgment.

Keywords: Index of Biotic Integrity
multivariate
bioassessment
fish community
Advisor: Jackson, Donald Andrew
Mandrak, Nicholas E.