VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Brain-computer Interface-controlled Functional Electrical Stimulation Therapy for Upper-limb Motor Rehabilitation

Functional electrical stimulation therapy (FEST) is one of the few interventions that can engage paralyzed muscles in task-oriented exercises, regardless of impairment level. The recent adoption of brain-computer interfacing (BCI) in neurorehabilitation has brought about a novel FEST approach: BCI-controlled FEST or BCI-FEST. In this new intervention, the BCI monitors the patient’s brain activity during therapy, and it triggers the stimulation when it detects an imagined or attempted movement. A single-channel BCI for clinical application was designed, developed, and integrated with FEST for arm and hand rehabilitation. In the first study of this work, the feasibility of having a therapist and a BCI operator deliver BCI-FEST to an individual with chronic stroke was evaluated. The BCI-FEST was safe and feasible, with no adverse events recorded in 80 hours of therapy. Most importantly, the intervention resulted in the participant experiencing meaningful improvements even after other conventional rehabilitation strategies had previously failed to produce a change. Based on the participant’s experience using the BCI in the stroke case study and the therapists’ feedback, the system was upgraded into a new version named KITE-BCI. Motivated by the preliminary results in stroke, BCI-FEST was evaluated in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). An interventional study was conducted to assess the feasibility of delivering BCI-FEST in a clinical environment and to understand the potential clinical efficacy of BCI-FEST upper limb motor rehabilitation in five individuals with subacute SCI. The new BCI-FEST was safe and feasible and with a setup time of 11 minutes, comparable to other technology-enhanced interventions. The average success rate of KITE-BCI in triggering the stimulation surpassed the 70% threshold for a reliable BCI system. In terms of clinical efficacy, three out of five participants demonstrated increased scores in self-reported assessments of independence. Furthermore, all participants demonstrated increased scores in observational assessments of motor function. In conclusion, the work presented here validates BCI-FEST as a safe, feasible, and clinically viable rehabilitation strategy and, more importantly, with promising clinical efficacy for improving voluntary arm and hand motor function following a stroke or SCI.

Keywords: brain-computer interface
functional electrical stimulation
motor rehabilitation
physical therapy
spinal cord injury
stroke
Advisor: Popovic, Milos R
Marquez-Chin, Cesar
Single Cell Transcriptional Approaches to Understanding the Life of Mammalian Neural Stem Cells

Adult neural stem cells (NSCs) build, maintain and are involved in repair of the mammalian brain. Adult NSCs reside within two distinct niches of the forebrain: the hippocampal dentate gyrus and the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) along the lateral ventricles. Both adult NSC populations exhibit specific functions within their niches: hippocampal NSCs produce granule neurons of the dentate gyrus involved in spatial learning and memory and V-SVZ NSCs produce neurons required for olfactory learning and oligodendrocytes for white matter development and repair. Adult NSCs derive from embryonic neural precursors which are tasked with building the brain. Unlike their adult NSC progeny, embryonic precursors produce a wide variety of neuronal and glial cell types during development. Whether adult NSCs are fundamentally different and intrinsically less multipotential than their embryonic predecessors are largely unknown. This thesis has addressed this by characterizing and comparing the molecular profiles of adult forebrain NSCs and their embryonic predecessors to ascertain whether they are similar or different. First, I performed single cell transcriptional profiling on embryonic neural precursors and identified a novel core signature for embryonic neural precursors that is largely maintained in adult V-SVZ NSCs indicating that the two populations are fundamentally molecularly similar. Second, I have coupled single cell transcriptional profiling with lineage tracing to follow different populations of embryonic precursors as they progress into adult V-SVZ NSCs. This analysis revealed that the transition from an embryonic precursor to an adult NSC does not involve a fundamental change in cell identity but rather reflects a conversion from an active to a dormant state. Third, I compared the molecular profiles of V-SVZ NSCs with hippocampal NSCs and show that both forebrain NSC populations share the same core signature and undergo similar transitions from embryogenesis to adulthood. These findings support a model in which NSCs of either hippocampal or V-SVZ origin possess conserved molecular properties regardless of their age or respective functions. This model further suggests that the different functions exhibited by NSCs at different ages may not be a product of intrinsic programming but may instead reflect the influence of the environment they reside in.

Keywords: Cell lineage and differentiation
Gliogenesis
Neural stem cells
Neurogenesis
Single cell RNA sequencing
Advisor: Miller, Freda D.
Kaplan, David R.
The Role of Soluble CD163, a Marker of Adipose Tissue Macrophage Activation, in the Etiology of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Obesity is the most well-established risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), although the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms have yet to be fully described. A growing body of evidence suggests that obesity directly induces chronic subclinical inflammation, which is strongly linked with T2DM risk. The discovery of increased macrophage infiltration in the adipose tissue of obese individuals has offered new insights into the potential importance of adipose tissue as a primary driver of chronic subclinical inflammation. To date, however, few studies have investigated the association of adipose tissue inflammation with the natural history of T2DM in humans. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the association of adipose tissue inflammation, assessed using the novel biomarker soluble CD163 (sCD163), with the longitudinal progression of disorders underlying T2DM, and to identify factors related to the development and progression of adipose tissue inflammation. We conducted a systematic review of the current evidence on the association of sCD163 with T2DM and its underlying disorders. Our analytical assessment used data from a longitudinal cohort of well-characterized adults at-risk for T2DM. Insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function indices were calculated using glucose and insulin measures obtained from 75g oral glucose tolerance tests collected at each clinic examination. sCD163 concentrations were evaluated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Our systematic review identified sixteen studies, demonstrating a consistent relationship between elevated sCD163 concentrations and insulin resistance, beta-cell dysfunction, and T2DM. Results from our analytical assessments showed that (1) changes in sCD163 concentrations over 6-years were longitudinally associated with impaired insulin sensitivity and beta-cell dysfunction, and with incident dysglycemia; (2) adipose tissue insulin resistance was associated with worsening adipose tissue inflammation as measured by increases in sCD163 and decreases in adiponectin concentrations; and (3) poor diet quality was associated with longitudinal changes in sCD163. Our findings on the association of sCD163 with changes in underlying pathophysiological disorders of T2DM support the concept of adipose tissue macrophage activation as an early abnormality in T2DM. Furthermore, the associations of sCD163 with adipose tissue insulin resistance and diet suggest that this phenomenon is responsive to early modification, setting the stage for future studies.

Keywords: Adipose Tissue
Biomarker
Lifestyle
Macrophage Activation
Obesity
Type 2 Diabetes
Advisor: Hanley, Anthony J
Modernism and the Sacred in the Music of Benjamin Britten

This dissertation examines English musical modernism through the lens of Benjamin Britten’s engagement with the sacred, focussing on his affinity for sacred and liturgical imagery both on and off the stage, and inside and outside of the church. Although Britten’s oeuvre is shot through with ideas and themes that are in direct conversation with both sacred traditions and cultural indices of modernism, scholars have only recently positioned him as an emblematic modernist composer. This overlook is due in no small part to his lifelong interest in exploring themes and musical structures drawn from the Anglo-Catholic church which put his music at odds with dominant discourses of high modernism. This dominant modernist discourse has been construed not only in terms of an avant-garde aesthetic, but in a distinctly secular opposition to tradition. I examine Britten’s pervasive use of the narratives, tropes, liturgies, and framework of the institutional church in England, arguing for the need to foreground the sacred in Britten interpretation more broadly. My analysis includes liturgical works (e.g. Rejoice in the Lamb Op. 30, Missa Brevis in D Op. 63) alongside others for non-liturgical contexts (“Chorale [after an Old French Carol],” Curlew River Op. 71, Children’s Crusade Op. 82). Understanding Britten’s modernism as an intentional engagement with the present by means of shared reference points and traditions, I argue these works are best understood in connection with Britten’s collaborations with clergy and church musicians, and his investment in the communities which sustained both. The constellation of issues I bring together in this study includes: (1) the tensions within our conception of Britten as both a modernist figure and as a composer of church music; (2) how familiar tropes of musical modernism in the twentieth century find new contexts and new significance through their rapprochement with the sacred and liturgical in the Britten repertoire; and (3) the untenability of a simplistic division of sacred and secular as it functions within Britten’s oeuvre. My approach is to clarify where tensions exist, rather than seeking to resolve them; indeed, such tension indelibly inflects Britten’s own engagement with both the sacred and the modernist.

Keywords: Benjamin Britten
Great Britain
Modernism
music history
sacred music
Twentieth Century
Advisor: Lee, Sherry
Aging and Referential Communication: Insights from Interactions with Artificial Agents

The global aging population has led to an increase in research on patterns of change across the lifespan. The evidence to-date suggests that older adults experience declines in sensory and cognitive abilities, however, less is known about changes in the language domain. Language is a fundamental component of everyday communication, not only in the context of interactions with humans but also with artificial agents. There are now increasing multidisciplinary efforts to develop technologies that provide assistance and/or companionship to older adults through spoken language interfaces (e.g., smart homes, social robots). Yet, there is little research on how effectively older adults communicate with artificial agents. Given that a key aspect of everyday communication with humans and artificial agents involves reference to objects in the here-and-now, this dissertation explores age-related differences in referential abilities. The goal is to advance our understanding of patterns of change in referential communication by drawing on insights from interactions with artificial agents. The first study, which explored how speakers design descriptions for different addressees (younger adult, older adult, computer), revealed that although older speakers produced more redundant information than younger speakers, they were similar in terms of performance measures (speech onset latency, speech rate, fluency). Intriguingly, effects were similar regardless of addressee type. The next study examined potential age-related differences in pragmatic inferencing during comprehension. Like younger adults, older listeners generated inferences based on relevant visual information, but had more difficulty suppressing these inferences when warranted (i.e., when a robot speaker had limited perceptual abilities). The final study, which explored the effect of redundant information in descriptions produced by a robot, revealed no age-related differences in real-time processing. Paralleling human-human studies, redundant information that helped to narrow listeners' visual attention facilitated comprehension. Together, the results show that patterns of referential communication with artificial agents are quite similar to previously-observed patterns with humans. Further, although meaningful age-related differences were sometimes found, many aspects of referential communication seem to be preserved in aging. These findings enhance our understanding of referential behavior in aging in the context of interacting with artificial agents and also inform the design of future technologies.

Keywords: Aging
Artificial agents
Pragmatic inference
Real-time processing
Referential communication
Social robots
Advisor: Chambers, Craig G
Culture and Private School Choice

In sociology, the role of education in cultural reproduction and, by extension, in the reproduction of class-based inequalities has been widely examined. School choice scholars have drawn on work exploring differences in cultural resources (e.g., capital) and comportments (e.g., habitus, concerted cultivation) to highlight the role of school choice in cultural reproduction. However, focus has generally been on differences between choosers and non-choosers, and on the choice between public school and other schooling options. As such, little is known regarding how, once they have decided to engage in private school choice, parents go about selecting specific schools. Moreover, while much attention has been given to practical and academic considerations in shaping parents’ school preferences, the role of cultural factors remains underexamined. When culture is considered, it is generally to examine class-based differences in resources and dispositions between choosers and non-choosers, neglecting potential differences among those engaging in choice. Finally, although parents engaging in school choice ultimately choose among schools to which their children are granted admission, little is known regarding schools’ selection of students/families and if cultural processes linked to homophily and cultural matching identified in other domains factor into these choices. This dissertation seeks to fill these gaps while arguing for a greater attention to the role of culture in furthering our understanding of all dimensions of private school choice. It does so – through distinct papers drawing on three sources of original data (interviews and a survey with parents engaging in school choice and interviews with private school administrators) – in three complementary ways: (1) by highlighting the centrality of culture and values in shaping parents’ preferences for and selection of private schools, (2) by showing how differences in access to field-specific cultural and social resources influence parents’ ability to fulfill their school choice wants and, by extension, to transmit advantages to their children, and (3) by drawing attention not only to the role of cultural matching in schools’ selection of students, but also to how these selection processes vary across schools with differing levels of selectivity and how parents’ cultural resources and dispositions interface with the interactive matching process.

Keywords: Cultural transmission
Culture
Inequality
Private school
School choice
Advisor: Childress, Clayton
Baumann, Shyon
Abandoning the Path of Least Resistance: Struggle in Health Professions Education

A significant challenge when assessing health-professions trainees is that our assessment methods tend to be retrospective. As such, we are missing the ability to assess how adaptive our students will be when they begin practising in the healthcare system. To address these gaps and to advance the science of health professions education, this dissertation draws on theories from psychology and the learning sciences to explore systems of instruction and assessment that develop adaptive expertise and the ability to continue learning in the future. In this dissertation, I investigate the relationship between productive failure and active generation, the flexibility of learning through struggle, and the role of conceptual knowledge formation when designing instruction that prepares students to learn in the future. I designed the studies in this dissertation to achieve the following research aims: 1) to characterize the relationship between productive failure and active generation, 2) to study whether the manipulation of pretesting questions by difficulty can support performance on future learning assessments, 3) to examine the role of prior knowledge when learning through struggle, and 4), to examine the role of conceptual knowledge as a cognitive mechanism when learning through failure. The results from my first study emphasize the crucial role of generation in learning. The results of my second study demonstrate that we can leverage testing using theories of productive failure to support the development of expertise and that the quality of the struggle experienced by the learner depends on the learner's prior knowledge. The results from my third study establish that productive failure allows students to develop conceptual knowledge that facilitates transfer. Collectively, the manuscripts presented here show how learning through struggle relates to conceptual knowledge development and preparation for future learning. These instructional design strategies have the value of accentuating the difference between performance and learning and ensuring that measures of learning are central to assessing learner’s success. Practically, the research lays the groundwork for designing educational interventions and curricula to develop pharmacist trainees who can be adaptive and flexible with their knowledge to solve future, unforeseen problems that will inevitably arise in their practice.

Keywords: adaptive expertise
desirable difficulties
health professions education
instructional design
preparation for future learning
productive failure
Advisor: Mylopoulos, Maria
Woods, Nicole N
Non-parametric Identification and Estimation of Demand and Preferences using Scanner Data

This thesis presents three essays on the partial non-parametric identification and estimation of demand and preferences using scanner data. In the first essay, I consider a critical real-world problem: the formal identification and estimation of food stamp fraud in the United States. It is shown that consumption choices can be used to bound fraud. The estimation procedure in this essay uses a standard assumption. In particular, it assumes that there exists a conditional quantile of consumption that coincides with an individual demand function. This assumption is strong, but useful for the structural estimation problem at hand. In the second and third essays, I propose flexible methods for estimating demand and preferences using scanner data that do not require this strong assumption. In the first proposed method, heterogeneity across consumers is introduced by assuming that the marginal rate of substitution is a random field. In such an environment, the theory of generalized functions can be used to test the integrability of expected demand at a parametric rate. If variation in preferences is small, then preferences can be recovered by approximating the relationship between preferences and demand with a first-order expansion and applying an analogue of the delta-method. In the second proposed method, individual-level heterogeneity is characterized by a distribution, and the heterogeneity across consumers is characterized by a Dirichlet process F over such distributions. Two frameworks for estimation are considered: a Bayesian framework in which F is known, and a hyperparametric (or empirical Bayesian) framework in which F is a member of a parametric family. Both methods are illustrated by applications to alcohol consumption.

Keywords: Demand
Non-Parametric
Preferences
Scanner Data
Advisor: Gourieroux, Christian
Organizational Responses to COVID-19 in Canadian Symphony Orchestras - Six Case Studies

This study is a collection of six case studies of Canadian orchestras which examines the differences in organizational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Case studies method is utilized to explore the connection between the various facets of the external environment and the orchestras. The research question “How do Canadian symphony orchestras monitor and respond to their organizational environment in relation to COVID-19?” frames the focus of the study to understand how various environmental and organizational contingencies affect the organizational actions in response to the crisis caused by the pandemic. Each case study is composed of a research report with a comprehensive description of the orchestra and its environment, a discussion of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a detailed account of how each orchestra has responded to the pandemic crisis. Five hypotheses are analyzed and discussed using a theoretical framework. The framework merges the basic concepts of resource dependency theory and population ecology theory and incorporates four different units of analysis. The results of the research revealed each case orchestra had unique traits, contingencies and the external environment that influenced the organizational actions they took to mediate the impact of the pandemic. In general, the large and more professional orchestras with more than 10 million dollars in annual revenue, focused on keeping their musicians working, maintaining their organizational presence in the community and increasing legitimacy through various partnerships. Medium sized orchestras with annual revenue between 1 to 10 million dollars, have focused on keeping their concerts and the existing audience base. Small and/or community-based orchestras with under a million in their annual revenue focused on keeping the organizational structure and reaching out to their existing donor/audience base. The pandemic has forced all six case orchestras to act fast and move most of their organizational functions online and make the online presence more permanent.

Keywords: Canadian music
case studies
organizational studies
symphony orchestras
Advisor: Elliott, Robin