VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Detection and tracking of single SPIO labeled cells using MRI

Non-invasive imaging techniques that enable the detection of cells are finding a wide range of applications in medicine and research. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) labeled cells is a promising imaging technique for cell tracking, but has traditionally been limited by its detection sensitivity. The ability to detect fewer cells or single cells with MRI would enable many new applications and would also provide more precise information of cell fate. In the current work, a methodology for detecting single SPIO-labeled cells using the FIESTA (Fast Imaging Employing Steady State Acquisition) pulse sequence on a clinical 1.5 T MRI scanner is presented. In the first part, single cells are detected in vitro as discrete signal voids on MR images and correlated with single cells detected using optical microscopy. The effect of resolution and SNR on the detection threshold for single SPIO labeled cells in vitro was then studied. Based on these results, an expression that predicts the minimum detectable mass of SPIO required to detect a single cell was derived. In the next section, we demonstrate that single macrophages could be detected in mouse brain, in vivo. Optical validation was provided by co-registering signal voids on MRI with single cells visualized using confocal microscopy. In the final section, we track the growth of single breast cancer cells in a mouse model of cancer metastasis to brain. Single SPIO-labeled breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231BR) were detectable on MR images allowing the visualization of the initial delivery and distribution of cells as well as the growth of tumours from a subset of these cells within the whole intact brain volume.
Hamiltonian cycles in sparse graphs

The subject of this thesis is the Hamiltonian Cycle problem, which is of interest in many areas including graph theory, algorithm design, and computational complexity. Named after the famous Irish mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton, a Hamiltonian Cycle within a graph is a simple cycle that passes through each vertex exactly once. This thesis provides a history of the problem, a survey of major results, as well as a detailed account of the author's original contributions with respect to sparse graphs. The first of these is the "Stonecarver's Algorithm", which is successful in finding Hamiltonian Cycles in random regular graphs. The second gives upper and lower bounds on the creation of a specific obstruction to Hamiltonicity under the context of the Stonecarver Algorithm. Finally, the third is a theorem which strengthens Barnette's Conjecture.
Evaluation of current injection as an active islanding detection method, under the UL1741 standard configuration

This thesis proposes an islanding detection method for electronically-interfaced distributed generation units, and evaluates it under the UL1741 anti-islanding test configuration. The proposed method injects a disturbance signal into the system through either the direct axis (d-axis) or the quadrature axis (q-axis) current controllers of the interface converter. This thesis analyzes the effects of both d-axis and q-axis current injections on the voltage waveform at the point of common coupling upon islanding occurrence. Signal injection through the d-axis controller causes voltage amplitude modulation, whereas signal injection through the q-axis controller causes frequency deviation from the preislanding value of 60 (Hz). Based on this analysis, different monitoring strategies are proposed to obtain an islanding indicator. PSCAD/EMTDC simulations indicate that disturbance injection by the q-axis controller provides a reliable islanding indicator. This thesis concludes that the proposed method satisfies the UL1741 test requirements.
Peer victimization and adjustment

This study assessed the frequency of physical, verbal and relational victimization and examined the conditions under which maladjustment is associated with peer victimization. Information about victimization, social support, and social involvement was collected from 393 students (165 males, 226 females) aged 12 to 15 years. The Youth Self-Report ( YSR) (Achenbach, 1991a) was used to obtain information adjustment. Victimized children reported higher levels of adjustment difficulties than a non-victimized comparison group, with 18% falling into the clinical range on the YSR. While victimization appeared to be more strongly related to internalizing problems, the relationship between victimization and externalizing was equivocal in that this relationship disappeared when the effect of bullying was controlled for. Social support and social involvement were examined as potential moderators of adjustment, and protective factors for children who reported high levels of victimization. Contrary to the expectation that perceived social support and self-reported social involvement would moderate the negative effects of victimization, no support was found for such models. However, support was found for a main effects model where both victimization and social support were predictors of adjustment. Results indicated that students who are frequently victimized by their peers at school and feel that they have a limited social support network are more likely to report having adjustment difficulties. The information from this study is limited in that it is not clear whether the clinically significant behavioural and psychological difficulties reported by these individuals were present prior to their experiences of being victimized, or they were the result of being victimized. However, the results of this study stress the importance of attending to students who present as victims of peer harassment because they may be at risk for a range of clinically significant behavioural and psychological difficulties. This study extended current research by examining the association between victimization and externalizing and internalizing while controlling for the effects of bullying. It also examined the association of various types of self-reported victimization and duration of victimization with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The implications of these findings for future research and intervention from a risk and resilience perspective are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords: Aggressiveness in children
Harassment
Students, Crimes against
Bullying
School discipline
School environment
School violence
Applications of descriptive measures in risk management

We address the classical problem in statistics of estimating an unknown distribution based on a given series of observations, from the point of view of interpolating primary shape features. Despite its popularity in Finance, standard measures of shape have long been recognized to be unsatisfactory, due to their extreme sensitivity to outliers and poor sample efficiency. These difficulties seem to be largely overcome by a new system: the so called L-moments. During the last decade the use of L-moments over classical moments has been supported by numerous simulation experiments but until present, no formal validation has been presented to explain these findings. In Chapter 1 we address these issues from a theoretical viewpoint. L-moments are treated as members of a general class of descriptive measures, which are shown to outperform classical moments based on two criteria: qualitative robustness and global efficiency. In Chapter 2, we study the existence of models with good explanatory power in the directions described by L-moments. Our main contribution is to present a new class of parametric families of distributions, which are capable of interpolating an arbitrary finite set of L-moments. Our methodology is based on the representation of certain subsets of quantile functions by means of positive measures and the concept of entropy for making up for missing information. The calibration of these families is accomplished by simply matching sample L-moments. The feasibility of this method is justified almost surely and a numerically tractable algorithm for its implementation is presented. In Chapter 3 we study the approximation properties of the proposed parametric models, as the number of L-moments constraints grows. The uniform convergence of quantile estimates is derived from the convergence in L 1-norm of the corresponding spectral measures. We also study the behavior of these approximating densities subject to empirical constraints. Bounds for the convergence rates of these estimators are provided. In Chapter 4, we complement theoretical results by testing the effectiveness of the proposed families of distributions for modelling the distributional behavior of real financial data.
Writing at loss: nation and nuclearism in the twentieth-century English novel

Twentieth-century English literature often reflects a profound sense of loss, both personal and collective. Besides novels that deal with loss thematically (e.g., war, illness, religious or ideological disillusionment), certain texts encode loss on a structural or stylistic level without explicitly acknowledging its object or accounting for the kinds of desire it produces. This second group can be said to participate in what psychoanalytic accounts define as “melancholia”: a state of unresolved mourning in which the grieving subject is unable, or refuses, to relinquish the lost object and to seek emotional substitutes for it. Successful mourning or working through of loss requires narrating it, finding words that stand for—and eventually stand in for—sorrow and fear. A narrative melancholia therefore works paradoxically, and in opposition to normative models of consolation-through-storytelling: it preserves a sense of unbearable longing for the lost object within and beyond the novel's demands of coherence, chronology, closure, and resolution. This study explores two types of loss that resist individual and social attempts at mourning: one loss incurred in the past, and one threatened in the future. The devolution of the British empire overturned long-cherished beliefs in Englishness as an omnipotent, benevolent, and civilizing force in the world. Part I of the project, “Old Intimacies: Englishness After Empire,” looks at Ford Madox Ford's 1915 novel The Good Soldier and Julian Barnes's England, England (1998) as hybrids of elegy and satire, narrative surveys of the fragmented legacy of Englishness that avoid the temptation to pick up the pieces through a fictional re-imagining of coherent nationality. Part II of the study, “Nuclearism: Mourning the Future,” turns to the Cold War fears of nuclear destruction that culminated in England in the mid 1980s, which generated a collective sense of being bereft of a future. Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook (1962), Graham Swift's Waterland (1983), and a 1982 comic book entitled When the Wind Blows, by Raymond Briggs, each stage the melancholia of a future cut short through a prophetic voice that seeks relief in storytelling but simultaneously undermines the consolatory functions of its own narrative.
Characterization of biological targets of Nedd4: ENaC and commissureless

Nedd4 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase comprised of a C2 domain, 3–4 WW domains and a Hect domain. Nedd4 transfers ubiquitin to substrates to which it is specifically bound via the interaction between its WW domains and the PY motifs (L/PPxY) found in targets such as the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and Commissureless (Comm). Ubiquitin marks a protein for degradation or provides a sorting signal. Nedd4 functions as a suppressor of ENaC at the cell surface when it binds to ENaC, thereby facilitating entry of the channel into endocytic and degradative pathways. Mutations affecting the ENaC PY motif cause Liddle's syndrome, a hereditary form of hypertension caused by increased cell surface stability and activity of ENaC. By measuring the binding affinity (Kd) between WW domains of Nedd4 and the PY motif of the ENaC β-subunit, we found that this interaction and ENaC regulation relies on the integrity of Pro, Tyr and Leu residues in an extended PY motif sequence (PPxYxxL). Moreover, the presence of a higher affinity interaction towards a divergent WW domain (WW3*) in Nedd4s was correlated with a more potent ability to regulate ENaC. The affinity between Nedd4 and its substrate, therefore, is an important determinant of the efficacy of Nedd4 activity. To extend our studies on Nedd4, we characterized the Drosophila Nedd4 (DNedd4). We found that dNedd4 regulates cell surface stability of Comm and Roundabout (Robo). Comm is required to internalize Robo to enable a CNS axon to cross the midline a single time. DNedd4 binds the PY motifs of and ubiquitinates Comm, steps that are required to recruit both Comm and Robo into the endocytic pathway. Comm mutants that are refractory to DNedd4 activity cannot internalize Robo in cells and cannot interact genetically with Robo. Loss of DNedd4 activity or overexpression of DNedd4 suppresses or enhances the effect of Comm on Robo protein function respectively. DNedd4 and ubiquitination, therefore, play an integral role in changes in axonal sensitivity to guidance cues at the CNS midline. Collectively, these studies show a role for Nedd4 in regulating cell surface stability of ENaC and the Comm/Robo complex.
A comparison of learning outcomes, processes, online readiness, participation and subjective experiences in online and classroom-based cultural competence courses

Although many schools of social work have begun to incorporate new instructional technologies as complements to classroom courses or as distance education offerings, there is still a paucity of research demonstrating the efficacy of this approach, particularly with respect to clinically-focused content areas. In addition, there is a gap in the social work literature between constructivist theory and its application in online environments. This study begins to bridge this gap by examining the learning outcomes, learning processes, readiness for online learning, participation and subjective experiences with a sample of 113 clinical practitioners who participated in either an online or a classroom-based cultural competence course. The study used a mixed-method approach, where the primarily quantitative design was complemented by a small number of semi-structured, qualitative interviews. Qualitative feedback on learning outcome using the Multicultural Competence Inventory (MCI, Sodowsky et al., 1994) suggests that this instrument may have questionable validity for use with diverse ethno-cultural populations, however, further research is needed. Although participants in both conditions rated the course positively overall, significant differences between the online and classroom groups were found on the course evaluation indices (measures of learning processes, Hiltz, 1990). The online context was not as satisfactory to students, instructors were rated significantly less positively by the online students, and online students scored significantly lower on interest in the subject and synthesis of knowledge than their classroom-based peers. In addition, the online context was experienced as a less collaborative environment than the classroom format. The Online Learning Readiness Scale (Mock and Pavlechko, 2000) was not conclusively associated with learning outcome; however, online participants had significantly higher scores than their classroom peers. Participation in the online course was low for both students and instructors. Important qualitative themes for online students included feelings of isolation and frustration with the technology, with participants emphasizing the importance of subjective experiences and connectedness. Overall, the qualitative findings suggested that constructivist pedagogy fits well with clinically-oriented online social work courses, and that including a variety of instructional strategies to enhance participation is important.
Factors affecting adoption and implementation of a community-based children's mental health program: the Tapp-C example

While the efficacy of a number of interventions for various children's mental health problems has been established in academic and research laboratories, these interventions are not widely used in community children's mental health centers. Indeed, this "research-practice gap" in children's mental health service has been identified as one of the most pressing issues facing children's mental health. The present study examined the adoption, implementation, and adaptation of The Arson Prevention Program for Children (TAPP-C) by professionals in applied community settings. TAPP-C is collaborative, community-based assessment and intervention program for juvenile firesetters that was developed at a teaching hospital and disseminated to community-based settings throughout Ontario, Canada. Questionnaire data were gathered from community professionals, including children's mental health professionals and fire service professionals, who had attended educational events offered by TAPP-C. Questionnaire data were also gathered from administrators of the community agencies affiliated with these professionals. These data were used to evaluate the effects of the following factors on program adoption, level of use, and fidelity: (a) characteristics of the adopter, including innovativeness, concern about juvenile firesetting, self-efficacy for addressing firesetting, and attitudes toward TAPP-C; (b) characteristics of the program, including perceived complexity, perceived compatibility with existing practice and perceived relative advantage over existing practice; (c) dissemination experiences, including exposure to TAPP-C educational strategies and perceived availability of TAPP-C expert consultation; and (d) perceived inter-organization collaboration in the local community. Results indicated that adoption of TAPP-C was primarily related to perceived characteristics of the innovation and dissemination experiences. Level of use of TAPP-C, on the other hand, was primarily related to the respondents' self-efficacy for addressing firesetting, their dissemination experiences, and their perception of inter-organization collaboration in their local community. Interestingly, the majority of community professionals reported high levels of implementation fidelity. The implications of these findings for closing the research-practice gap in children's mental health are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords: Child mental health services
Child health services
Fire behavior in children, Prevention
Pyromania in children, Prevention
Planar PIV in fibre laden flows

Two dimensional shear flows of water, oil and oil-fibre suspensions of 0.01%, 0.025% and 0.05% mass consistency were examined using particle image velocimetry (PIV). A square obstacle that block 50% of the flow area in a rectangular flow cell induced shear. PIV measurements were taken at various positions on the plane of symmetry, adjacent to the square and in the wake region. The data shows that the higher viscosity of the oil results in a much larger boundary layer thickness than that of water and reattachment to the square that does not occur with water. The data also indicates that fibre loading causes a reduction in the intensity of vorticity and velocity fluctuations at the fibre length scale. Two dimensional shear flows of water, oil and oil-fibre suspensions of 0.01%, 0.025% and 0.05% mass consistency were examined using particle image velocimetry (PIV). A square obstacle that block 50% of the flow area in a rectangular flow cell induced shear. PIV measurements were taken at various positions on the plane of symmetry, adjacent to the square and in the wake region. The data shows that the higher viscosity of the oil results in a much larger boundary layer thickness than that of water and reattachment to the square that does not occur with water. The data also indicates that fibre loading causes a reduction in the intensity of vorticity and velocity fluctuations at the fibre length scale.
Rates of abortions following exposure to antidepressants: a meta-analysis

Objectives. (1) To estimate population baseline rates of spontaneous (SAs) and therapeutic abortions (TAs); (2) determine whether women taking antidepressants have increased risks/rates. Methods. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Healthstar, Toxline, Psychlit, Cochrane database, and Reprotox were searched for cohort studies published 1966–2002 reporting SAs and TAs in women taking antidepressants, compared to non-depressed women. Results. Of 15 potential articles, 6 cohort studies provided extractable data. All matched on important confounders. Baseline control rates (CI95%) were 8.7% (7.5%–9.9%, n = 2033) and 6.0% (3.3%–8.7%, n = 2033) for SA and TA, respectively. Antidepressant rates were 12.4% (10.8%–14.1%) and 8.5% (6.0%–11.1%), with significant risk increases of 3.9% (1.9%–6.0%) and 2.9% (0.5%–5.3%), respectively. RRs were 1.52 (1.22–1.89, n = 3567) for SA and 1.47 (1.14–1.89, n = 3552) for TA. No differences were found among antidepressant classes. Conclusions. Although this meta-analysis indicates that maternal exposure to antidepressants may be associated with a significantly increased risk for spontaneous abortions and therapeutic abortions, depression per se may also be associated with abortive properties.
Factors contributing to the literacy success of Spanish-speaking kindergarten and first grade children

Two exploratory studies were conducted. Study 1 explored the English written language performance of Latino/Florida kindergarten students with English as a Second Language and English-speaking Ontario kindergarten students. Study 2 investigated the relation between English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) levels assigned kindergarten and first grade Florida students and their performance on English written language proficiency measures. In Study 1 the scores of the Florida students were compared with those of Ontario students under three conditions. Study 1 showed Florida students performed in a similar way as both groups of Ontario students who had a similar amount and type of early literacy instruction. The results of Study 2 showed significant differences on all measures in the literacy performance of children assigned different ESOL levels. Scatterplots revealed a considerable range of reading and spelling performance within each ESOL level. Both studies lead to suggestions concerning programming for the literacy success of young Latino students.

Keywords: English language, Study and teaching (Elementary)
English language, Ontario
Bilingualism in children, Ontario
Reading comprehension, Ability testing
Reading comprehension, Florida
Reading (Primary), Ability testing
Reading (Primary), Ontario
Bilingualism in children, Florida
Children, Language
Children, Ontario
Reading (Primary), Ability testing
Reading (Primary), Florida
English language, Study and teaching (Elementary)
English language, Florida
Reading comprehension, Ability testing
Reading comprehension, Ontario
Children, Language
Children, Florida