VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Investigation of Arterial Geometry as a Local Risk Factor for Carotid Atherosclerosis

There is little doubt that disturbed hemodynamic forces play a role in the development of focal atherosclerotic lesions; however, these forces are difficult to measure directly. Instead, it has been proposed that artery geometry, as the primary determinant of local hemodynamics, could be a clinically feasible surrogate &ldquo;local&rdquo; risk factor for atherosclerosis. To date this hypothesis has not been satisfactorily tested, owing to superficial geometric surrogates of disturbed flow, small sample sizes (effect of systemic factors) and/or confounding effects of disease on geometry. The primary objective of this thesis was to test this &ldquo;geometric risk hypothesis&rdquo; via direct association of definitive geometric factors and an early atherosclerosis marker (e.g. wall thickness), made possible through our access to magnetic resonance imaging and risk factor data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities&rsquo; Carotid MRI sub-study. First, it was shown that the 3D geometry of the carotid bifurcation could be characterized rapidly and reliably, even for routine clinical acquisitions. Second, two novel individual geometric variables were proposed, inspired by the influence of flare and tortuosity on flow separation, which were shown to improve the prediction of disturbed flow burden compared to &ldquo;conventional&rdquo; shape-based geometric variables. Third, these redefined geometric factors, but not their shape-based counterparts, were shown by multiple regression to be independent predictors of wall thickness, but only after thoroughly accounting for the secondary effects of wall thickening on geometry. These findings provide strong evidence for the geometric risk hypothesis of atherosclerosis in humans group study, and provide important guidance for future investigations of geometric risk; however, the incremental value of optimized geometric risk factors is questionable relative to conventional cardiovascular risk factors, which challenges their future clinical usage as additional non-modifiable local risk factors.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis Caroitd hemodynamics disturbed flow
Advisor: Steinman, David
Can I Be a Good Social Worker? Racialized Workers Narrate their Experiences with Racism in Every Day Practice

Social work imagines itself as a site of goodness and justice. My thesis illustrates the ways in which commitments to the profession’s social justice-oriented ideals are ruptured when racialized social workers name the operation of racism within everyday sites of professional practice. I show how colonial and imperial constructions of helping (moral superiority and goodness) continue to shape the hegemonic scripts about the role and practices of social work, reinscribing white dominance in social work knowledge production. Historically, racialized bodies have been constituted as Others, subjects to be regulated, controlled and ‘saved’ within the colonial project. I examine the dilemmas that emerge when racialized Others become the helpers and attempt to perform a normative identity that is constructed through white dominance. In this study, I provide a detailed analysis of twenty-three semi-structured interviews with racialized social workers. I trace the production of the profession’s values and notions of good practice within their narratives. I specifically explore the moments in which ‘good’ practice and commitments to the values of the profession break down in everyday work with clients and co-workers. Racist encounters with clients appear as overwhelming occurrences within workers’ narratives, and a complex paradox is revealed: the discursive arrangements within social work that constitute good, social justice-oriented practice, are the very same discourses that disavow the operation of racism. Within these moments workers are left questioning whether or not they can be ‘good social workers’ because the act of naming racism appears to be incompatible with their commitments to the values that shape what is recognized as good social work practice. The narratives presented in this thesis point to the trespasses, erasures and individualizing discourses that secure whiteness at the exact moments in which race is made invisible. I contend that, when workers name racism, their very presence is destabilizing to a social work profession that needs to construct an image of itself as a site of goodness. Social work must examine the colonial continuities that construct contemporary practices, and to make visible the ways in which hegemonic scripts shaping justice and goodness reinstall whiteness and collude with racism.

Keywords: Critical race studies, Colonialism, Racial neoliberalism, Whiteness
Racism, Racial violence, Social Work, Social Justice
Advisor: Razack, Sherene
The Medieval Reception of Firdausī's Shāhnāma: The Ardashīr Cycle as a Mirror for Princes

Based on a broad survey of the reception of Firdausī’s Shāhnāma in medieval times, this dissertation argues that Firdausī’s oeuvre was primarily perceived as a book of wisdom and advice for kings and courtly élites. The medieval reception of the Shāhnāma is clearly manifested in the comments of medieval authors about Firdausī and his work, and in their use of the Shāhnāma in the composition of their own works. The production of ikhtiyārāt-i Shāhnāmas (selections from the Shāhnāma) in medieval times and the remarkable attention of the authors of mirrors for princes to Firdausī’s opus are particularly illuminating in this regard. The survey is complemented by a close textual reading of the Ardashīr cycle in the Shāhnāma in comparison with other medieval historical accounts about Ardashīr, in order to illustrate how history in the Shāhnāma is reduced to only a framework for the presentation of ideas and ideals of kingship. Based on ancient Persian beliefs regarding the ideal state of the world, I argue that Ardashīr in the Shāhnāma is represented as a Saviour of the world. Within this context, I offer new interpretations of the symbolic tale of Ardashīr’s fight against a giant worm, and explain why the idea of the union of kingship and religion, a major topic in almost all medieval Persian mirrors for princes, has often been attributed to Ardashīr. Finally, I compare the Ardashīr cycle in the Shāhnāma with nine medieval Persian mirrors for princes to demonstrate that the ethico-political concepts contained in them, as well as the portrayal of Ardashīr, remain more or less the same in all these works. Study of the Shāhnāma as a mirror for princes, as this study shows, not only reveals the meaning of its symbolic tales, but also sheds light on the pre-Islamic roots of some of the ethico-political concepts presented in the medieval Perso-Islamic literature of wisdom and advice for kings and courtiers.

Keywords: Firdausi
Shahnama
Shahnameh
Philosopher-King
Ardashir-i Babakan
Restoration of the Good Religion
Ikhtiyarat-i Shahnama
Political propaganda
Ideal king
Savior of the World
Advice and wisdom literature
Persian legends
Medieval Persian historiography
Persian myths
Zoroastrian
Persian legends
Persian Book of Kings
Haftvad
World Saviour
Zoroastrian eschatology
Verse chronicles
Fürstenspiegel
Andarz
Medieval Persian Literature
Ardahir’s battle against a giant worm
Medieval Persian Mirrors for Princes
giant worm
Selections from the Shahnama
Ordeal of Molten Metal
ideal kingship
Persian epics
Medieval Reception of Shahnama
World Renovation
Medieval Persian history
Church-State Relations
Union of kingship and religion
Ardashir’s Testament
Zoroastrian symbols
Mirrors for Princes
Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī
Advices of Ardashir
Book of Government
Apocalyptic literature
Sage-King
Artaxšīr ī Pābagān
Persian Literature
Persian historical epics
dragon-slaying hero
Advisor: Subtelny, Maria Eva
Species of Science Studies

Following Merton (1942) science studies has moved from the philosophy of science to a more sociologically minded analysis of scientific activity. This largely involves a shift away from questions that bear on the context of justification &ndash; a question of rationality and philosophy, to those that deal with the context of discovery. This thesis investigates changes in science studies in three papers: sociocultural evolutionary theories of scientific change; general trends in science studies - especially concerning the sociology of science; and a principle component analysis (PCA) that details the development and interaction between research programmes in science studies. This thesis describes the proliferation of research programmes in science studies and uses evolutionary theory to make sense of the pattern of change.

Keywords: Sociology of Science
Social Theory
Evolutionary Theory
Principal Component Analysis
Science Studies
Advisor: Blute, Marion
Baber, Zaheer
An Investigation of Laptop Classrooms and the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

This research study is an investigation that describes how intermediate mathematics teachers use laptop technology in their classrooms and the influence of this technology on mathematics teaching and learning using the framework of the Ten Dimensions of Mathematics Education (McDougall, 2004). This study was a qualitative analysis of the experiences of six teachers, as well as the classroom environments they created with the use of technology. Data were gathered using a variety of methods including observation, field notes, interviews, and surveys. Previous research suggests that mathematics teachers have not used laptops frequently, and when they are used, they are used in traditional ways. This study shows that there is potential for mathematics teachers to be effective implementers of laptop technology. The role of the teacher in the studied one-to-one laptop classrooms became one of a facilitator. These teachers were able to be more student-centred in their delivery of the mathematics curriculum. These teachers were also more creative and they were able to use multiple resources to demonstrate mathematical concepts. Because of the wide variety of resources available, these laptop classrooms were more exploratory in nature. These teachers faced barriers such as students being distracted and the extra time it took to plan lessons. The participants indicated that these barriers could be overcome by being patient with their students and by collaborating with their colleagues. Using the framework of the Ten Dimensions of Mathematics Education, it was found that the presence of a one-to-one laptop environment in these classrooms influenced mathematics teaching and learning in a few key areas. The teachers in this study perceived that meeting individual needs, increased use of manipulatives and technology, and appropriate use of assessment techniques were the aspects that changed the most when laptops were present in the classroom. One-to-one laptop technology can change the teaching and learning that takes place in schools. The researched classrooms became more student-centred, exploratory, and engaging for students. Thus, this study shows that the presence of laptop technology has the potential to move mathematics classrooms towards a more reform vision of teaching and learning.

Keywords: teaching mathematics
laptop technology
Advisor: McDougall, Douglas Emerson
The Self Power Map and its Image Modulo a Prime

The self-power map is the function from the set of natural numbers to itself which sends the number n to nn. Motivated by applications to cryptography, we consider the image of this map modulo a prime p. We study the question of how large x must be so that nn a mod p has a solution with 1 ≤ n ≤ x, for every residue class a modulo p. While nn mod p is not uniformly distributed, it does appear to behave in certain ways as a random function. We give a heuristic argument to show that the expected x is approximately p2 log &phis;(p − 1)/&phis;(p − 1), using the coupon collector problem as a model. Rigorously, we prove the bound x < p2−α a for sufficiently large p and a fixed constant α > 0 independent of p, using a counting argument and exponential sum bounds. Additionally, we prove nontrivial bounds on the number of solutions of nn ≡ a mod p for a fixed residue class a when 1 ≤ n ≤ x, extending the known bounds when 1 ≤ n ≤ p − 1.

Keywords: self power map
exponential sums
number theory
coupon collector problem
cryptography
Advisor: Murty, V. Kumar
Inkjet-printed Light-emitting Devices: Applying Inkjet Microfabrication to Multilayer Electronics

This work presents a novel means of producing thin-film light-emitting devices, functioning according to the principle of electroluminescence, using an inkjet printing technique. This study represents the first report of a light-emitting device deposited completely by inkjet printing. An electroluminescent species, doped zinc sulfide, was incorporated into a polymeric matrix and deposited by piezoelectric inkjet printing. The layer was printed over other printed layers including electrodes composed of the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), doped with poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and single-walled carbon nanotubes, and in certain device structures, an insulating species, barium titanate, in an insulating polymer binder. The materials used were all suitable for deposition and curing at low to moderate (<150°C) temperatures and atmospheric pressure, allowing for the use of polymers or paper as supportive substrates for the devices, and greatly facilitating the fabrication process. The deposition of a completely inkjet-printed light-emitting device has hitherto been unreported. When ZnS has been used as the emitter, solution-processed layers have been prepared by spin-coating, and never by inkjet printing. Furthermore, the utilization of the low-temperature-processed PEDOT:PSS/nanotube composite for both electrodes has not yet been reported. Device performance was compromised compared to conventionally prepared devices. This was partially due to the relatively high roughness of the printed films. It was also caused by energy level misalignment due to quantization (bandgap widening) of the small (<10 nm) nanoparticles, and the use of high work function cathode materials (Al and PEDOT:PSS). Regardless of their reduced performance, inkjet printing as a deposition technique for these devices presents unique advantages, the most notable of which are rapidity of fabrication and patterning, substrate flexibility, avoidance of material wastage by using drop-on-demand technology, and the need for only one main unit operation to produce an entire device.

Keywords: inkjet printing
printed electronics
nanomaterials
pulp & paper
Advisor: Farnood, Ramin
Designing Synthetic Gene Circuits for Homeostatic Regulation and Sensory Adaptation

Living cells are exquisite systems. They are strongly regulated to perform in highly specific ways, but are at the same time wonderfully robust. This combination arises from the sophistication of their construction and operation: their internal variables are carefully controlled by complex networks of dynamic biochemical interactions, crafted and refined by billions of years of evolution. Using mod- ern DNA engineering technology, scientists have begun to circumvent the long process of evolution by employing a rational design-based approach to construct novel gene networks inside living cells. Currently, these synthetic networks are relatively simple when compared to their natural counter- parts, but future prospects are promising, and synthetic biologists would one day like to be able to control cells using genetic circuits much in the way that electronic devices are controlled using electrical circuits. The importance of precise dynamical behaviour in living organisms suggests that this endeavour would benefit greatly from the insights of control theory. However, the nature of bio- chemical networks can make the implementation of even basic control structures challenging. This thesis focusses specifically on the concept of integral control in this context. Integral control is a fun- damental strategy in control theory that is central to regulation, sensory adaptation, and long-term robustness. Consequently, its implementation in a synthetic gene network is an attractive prospect. Here, the general challenges and important design considerations associated with engineering an in-cell synthetic integral controller are laid out. Specific implementations using transcriptional regu- lation are studied analytically and then in silico using models constructed with commonly available parts from the bacterium Escherichia coli. Finally, using a controller based on post-translational signalling, an on-paper design is proposed for an integral-controlled biosynthesis network intended to allow a population of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells to actively regulate the extracellular concentration of a small molecule.

Keywords: synthetic biology
control theory
genetic engineering
microbiology
computational biology
molecular biology
Advisor: McMillen, David
Dynamic Descriptors in Human Gait Recognition

Feature extraction is the most critical step in any human gait recognition system. Although gait is a dynamic process yet the static body parameters also play an important role in characterizing human gait. A few studies were performed in the past to assess the comparative relevance of static and dynamic gait features. There is, however, a lack of work in comparative performance analysis of dynamic gait features from different parts of the silhouettes in an appearance based setup. This dissertation presents a comparative study of dynamic features extracted from legs, arms and shoulders for gait recognition. Our study partially supports the general notion of leg motion being the most important determining factor in gait recognition. But it is also observed that features extracted from upper arm and shoulder area become more significant in some databases. The usefulness of the study hinges on the fact that lower parts of the leg are generally more noisy due to a variety of variations such as walking surface, occlusion and shadows. Dynamic features extracted from the upper part of the silhouettes posses significantly higher discriminatory power in such situations. In other situations these features can play a complementary role in the gait recognition process. We also propose two new feature extraction methods for gait recognition. The new methods use silhouette area signals which are easy and simple to extract. A significant performance increase is achieved by using the new features over the benchmark method and recognition results compare well to the other current techniques. The simplicity and compactness of the proposed gait features is their major advantage because it entails low computational overhead.

Keywords: Gait Recognition
Gait Analysis
Feature Extraction
Biometrics
Advisor: Hatzinakos, Dimitrios
Structural - functional Analysis of Plant Cyclic Nucleotide Gated Ion Channels

The Arabidopsis thaliana genome encodes twenty putative cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (CNGC) genes. Studies on A. thaliana CNGCs so far have revealed their ability to selectively transport cations that play a role in various stress responses and development, however, the regulation of plant CNGCs is not yet fully understood. Thus, in this study I have attempted to analyze the structure-function relationship of AtCNGCs, mainly by using suppressor mutants of the rare gain-of function mutant, cpr22. The A. thaliana mutant cpr22 resulted from an approximately 3kb deletion that fused the 5’ half and the 3’ half of two CNGC-encoding genes, AtCNGC11 and AtCNGC12, respectively. The expression of this chimeric CNGC, the AtCNGC11/12 gene confers easily detectable characteristics such as stunted morphology with curly leaves and hypersensitive response-like spontaneous lesion formation. Through a suppressor screen, twenty nine new alleles were identified in AtCNGC11/12. Since the cytosolic C-terminal region contains important regulatory domains, such as a cyclic-nucleotide binding domain, eleven cytosolic C-terminal mutants, S17, S35, S81, S83, S84, S100, S135, S136, S137, S140 and S144, were analyzed. A detailed analysis of two mutants, S100 (AtCNGC11/12:G459R) and S137 (AtCNGC11/12:R381H), suggested that G459 and R381 are important for basic channel function rather than channel regulation. Site-directed mutagenesis and fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) showed that these two amino acids influence both intra- and inter-subunit interactions that are involved in stabilizing the tertiary structure of the channel. In addition, calmodulin binding domain(s) (CaMBD) and cyclic nucleotide binding domain(s) (CNBD) of some of AtCNGCs were studied using computational modeling and biophysical analyses. The data indicated that AtCNGC12 has two CaMBDs in both N- and C- cytosolic termini, whereas AtCNGC11 has only one CaMBD located in the N-terminal region of the channel. In addition, a thermal shift assay suggested that AtCNGC12 has higher affinity to bind cAMP over cGMP. Taken together, the current study contributes to identify key residues for channel function and provides new insights into CaMBD and CNBD in plant CNGCs.

Keywords: CNGC
calmodulin binding, cyclic nucleotide binding
cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel
pathogen resistance
cpr22
Arabidopsis
Advisor: Yoshioka, Keiko
Wireless Neural Recording and Stimulation SoCs for Monitoring and Treatment of Intractable Epilepsy

This dissertation presents the system architecture and implementation of two wireless systems-on-chip (SoCs) for diagnostics and treatment of neurological disorders. It also validates the SoCs as an electronic implant for preoperative monitoring and treatment of intractable epilepsy. The first prototype SoC is a neural recording interface intended for wireless monitoring of intractable epilepsy. The 0.13um CMOS SoC has 64 recording channels, 64 programmable FIR filters and an integrated 915MHz FSK PLL-based wireless transmitter. Each channel contains a low-noise amplifier and a modified 8-bit SAR ADC that and can provide analog-digital multiplication by modifying the ADC sampling phase. It is used in conjunction with 12-bit digital adders and registers to implement 64 16-tap FIR filters with a minimal area and power overhead. In vivo measurement results from freely moving rodents demonstrate its utility in preoperative monitoring epileptic seizures. Treatment of intractable epilepsy by responsive neurostimulation requires seizure detection capabilities. Next, a low-power VLSI processor architecture for early seizure detection is described. It the magnitude, phase and phase synchronization of two neural signals - all precursors of a seizure. The processor is utilized in an implantable responsive neural stimulator application. The architecture uses three CORDIC processing cores that require shift-and-add operations but no multiplication. The efficacy of the processor in epileptic seizure detection is validated on human EEG data and yields comparable performance to software-based algorithms. The second prototype SoC is a closed-loop 64-channel neural stimulator that includes the aforementioned seizure detector processor and is used for preventive seizure abortion. It constitutes a neural vector analyzer that monitors the magnitude, phase and phase synchronization of neural signals to enable seizure detection. In a closed loop, abnormal phase synchrony triggers the programmable-waveform biphasic neural stimulator. To implement these functionalities, the 0.13um CMOS SoC integrates 64 amplifiers with switched-capacitor (SC) bandpass filters, 64 MADCs, 64 16-tap FIR filters, a processor, 64 biphasic stimulators and a wireless transmitter. The SoC is validated in the detection and abortion of seizures in freely moving rodents on-line and in early seizure detection in humans off-line. The results demonstrate its utility in treatment of intractable epilepsy.

Keywords: Implantable SoC
Seizure detector
Closed-loop neurostimulator
Epilepsy treatment
CMOS
wireless implantable IC
Advisor: Genov, Roman