VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Incorporating Waste Prevention Activities into Life Cycle Assessments of Residential Solid Waste Management Systems

The four papers of this dissertation explore themes related to waste prevention, the system boundaries, functional units and scale of life cycle assessments (LCAs) of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, as well as the transparency and consistency of the application of LCA methods. The first paper is a comparative analysis of the methodological choices and transparency of 20 LCAs of MSW that were recently published in peer-reviewed journals, and includes a comparison of their midpoint level impact values using statistical indicators. The second paper proposes a conceptual model, designated WasteMAP (Waste Management And Prevention), for evaluating LCAs of MSW which incorporate waste prevention. In WasteMAP, waste prevention through dematerialization is viewed as analogous to waste treatments so long as it does not affect the functional output (product services) of MSW-generating product systems. Papers 3 and 4 comprise the WasteMAP LCA case study. Paper 3 depicts product LCAs of wine and spirit packaging (conventional, lightweight and refillable, each type generating different quantities of waste) at the scale of the individual package and the municipality. At the municipal scale, the LCAs address impacts from the wine and spirit packaging supplied in the City of Toronto, Canada in 2008, and a waste prevention scenario which substitutes lighter weight and reusable containers. The lowest endpoint level impacts out of the five container types studied were associated with refillable containers and aseptic cartons. Paper 4 addresses the Toronto MSW management system and applies the WasteMAP model to allow for the comparison, on a functionally equivalent basis, of the LCA results of a reference scenario, based on 2008 data, with a scenario incorporating six types of waste prevention activities (prevention of unaddressed advertising mail, disposable plastic bags, newspapers, lightweight and refillable wine and spirit packaging, and yard waste). The findings highlight the benefits of waste prevention, and the relative significance of the decision to account for recycled content when modelling waste prevention. The endpoint level impact assessment results using the ReCiPe and Impact 2002+ evaluation methods are in keeping with the assumption in the waste hierarchy that waste prevention has a superior environmental performance.

Keywords: Life cycle assessment
Waste prevention
Waste management
Advisor: Maclaren, Virginia W.
Imaging Microvascular Changes Associated with Neurological Diseases

Microvascular lesions of the brain are observed in numerous pathological conditions including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Regional patterns of microvascular abnormality can be characterized using current neuroimaging technologies. When applied to mouse models of human disease, these technologies reveal cerebral vascular patterns and help uncover genotype-to-phenotype relationships. This thesis focuses on the development and testing of techniques for measuring two perfusion-related metrics in mouse brain regions, namely, cerebral blood volume (CBV) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and arterial spin labeling (ASL), respectively. The main developments for measurement of CBV have included: refinements to micro-CT specimen preparation; registration of micro-CT images to an MRI anatomical brain atlas; and masking of major vessels to calculate small-vessel CBV (sv-CBV). The development of this micro-CT technique provided reference values of CBV over neuroanatomical brain regions in wildtype mice. A separate study was conducted to assess regional sv-CBV in a mouse model of AD; this study was motivated by the prevalence of microvascular lesions in patients who suffer from AD. Significant regional differences in sv-CBV were found between AD-afflicted mice and controls. The main developments for measurement of CBF have included: design and implementation of accurate ASL slice positioning and optimization of inversion efficiency parameters. The development of this ASL technique provided reference values of CBF over neuroanatomical brain regions in wildtype mice. These techniques for measuring CBV and CBF over mouse brain regions could lead to improved characterization of vascularity in models of neurological diseases.

Keywords: cerebral blood volume
cerebral blood flow
mouse models
micro-computed tomography
magnetic resonance imaging
arterial spin labeling
Advisor: Sled, John G.
Automorphic L-functions and their applications to Number Theory

The main part of the thesis is applications of the Strong Artin conjecture to number theory. We have two applications. One is generating number fields with extreme class numbers. The other is generating extreme positive and negative values of Euler-Kronecker constants. For a given number field K of degree n, let Kˆ be the normal closure of K with Gal(Kˆ/[special characters omitted] = G. Let Gal(Kˆ/K) = H for some subgroup H of G. Then, [special characters omitted] where [special characters omitted]. When L(s, ρ) is an entire function and has a zero-free region [α, 1] × [−(log N) 2, (log N)2] where N is the conductor of L(s, ρ), we can estimate log L(1, ρ) and [special characters omitted](1, ρ) as a sum over small primes: [special characters omitted] where 0 < k < [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted]. With these approximations, we can study extreme values of class numbers and Euler-Kronecker constants. Let [special characters omitted](n, G, r1, r2) be the set of number fields of degree n with signature (r1, r2) whose normal closures are Galois G extension over [special characters omitted]. Let f(x, t) ∈ [special characters omitted][t][x] be a parametric polynomial whose splitting field over [special characters omitted](t) is a regular G extension. By Cohen's theorem, most specialization t ∈ [special characters omitted] corresponds to a number field Kt in [special characters omitted](n, G, r1, r2) with signature (r1, r2) and hence we have a family of Artin L-functions L(s, ρ, t). By counting zeros of L-functions over this family, we can obtain L-functions with the zero-free region above. In Chapter 1, we collect the known cases for the Strong Artin conjecture and prove it for the cases of G = A 4 and S4. We explain how to obtain the approximations of log(1, ρ) and [special characters omitted](1, ρ) as a sum over small primes in detail. We review the theorem of Kowalski-Michel on counting zeros of automorphic L-functions in a family. In Chapter 2, we exhibit many parametric polynomials giving rise to regular extensions. They contain the cases when G = C n, 3 ≤ n ≤ 6, Dn, 3 ≤ n ≤ 5, A4, A5, S4, S 5 and Sn, n ≤ 2. In Chapter 3, we construct number fields with extreme class numbers using the parametric polynomials in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4, We construct number fields with extreme Euler-Kronecker constants also using the parametric polynomials in Chapter 2. In Chapter 5, we state the refinement of Weil's theorem on rational points of algebraic curves and prove it. The second topic in the thesis is about simple zeros of Maass L-functions. We consider a Hecke Maass form f for SL(2, [special characters omitted]). In Chapter 6, we show that if the L-function L( s, f) has a non-trivial simple zero, it has infinitely many simple zeros. This result is an extension of the result of Conrey and Ghosh [14].

Keywords: Automorphic L-function
Strong Artin Conjecture
class number
Euler-Kronecker constant
simple zero
Maass L-function
Advisor: Kim, Henry H.
Interfacial Behavior of Immortalized Murine Hypothalamic Neurons Studied by an Acoustic Transverse Wave Biosensor

The objective of this thesis was to relate and link the physiological responses of the cells to the electrical responses or output obtained from the TSM acoustic wave sensor. In particular, the device was applied to the study of immortalized murine hypothalamic neurons (mHypoE-38 and -46 cell models) under a variety of conditions and stimuli. Cellular studies which lead to the production of detectable neuronal responses include neuronal deposition, adhesion and proliferation, alteration in the extent of specific cell-surface interactions, actin filament and microtubule cytoskeletal disruptions, effects of cell depolarization, solution tonicity, inhibition of the Na+-K+ pump via ouabain, effects of neuronal synchronization and the effects ligand-receptor interaction (glucagon). In addition, the introduction of drugs, neurotrophic factors (forskolin and beterferon), toxicity agents (NaOH, EtOH) and TiO2 nanoparticles were similarly investigated. A preliminary study conducted with mouse embryonic stem cells showed that not all cell lines are suitable for investigation with the TSM sensor at the current stage of sensor development. It has been found that control studies conducted with water as the solvent and the bare sensor substrate is insufficient to model the behavior of the sensor in the absence of cells. When biological buffers are used in addition to protein coatings the sensor responses are altered in magnitude and direction. To analyze the full range of cellular changes observed on the TSM sensor, the full impedance spectrum is required. As such in this thesis, the series and parallel resonant frequencies, the motional resistance, the maximum phase of the impedance and the static capacitance (fs, fp, Rm, θmax and Co were used to characterize the cellular responses observed. In the presence of cells fs shifts are largely influenced by the damping of the TSM resonator. The formation of cell-surface interactions and hence the increase in coupling and acoustic energy dissipation can be modeled as an additional resistor in the BVD model. Further sensor and cellular changes can be obtained by negating the effects of damping from fs with the use of Rm and θmax.

Keywords: Interfacial
Neurons
Behavior
Acoustic Transverse Wave
Biosensor
TSM
Detection
Depolarization
Synchronization
Surface adhesion
Glucagon
Ouabain
Oscillation
Advisor: Thompson, Michael
The Effects of Crosslinking on Foaming of EVA

The effects of crosslinking on EVA foaming are studied in this thesis. A fundamental approach was applied to describe the influences of crosslinking on EVA/gas viscosities, gas solubility and diffusivity in EVA, EVA foaming nucleation and early stage of bubble growth, which leads to a better understanding of the plastic foaming mechanism. Although crosslinked polyolefin foaming technology has been well applied in industry, more fundamental and thorough studies are demanded to understand the mechanism, which can serve to improve the present technology. The shear and extensional viscosities have been measured for the chemically crosslinked EVA with dissolved gas which could not be found from literature. Furthermore, by controlling the crosslinking agent amount, the polymer melt strength/viscosity can be controlled, so as to obtain optimum foam morphology. The crosslinking also has effects on the diffusivity and solubility of a blowing agent inside EVA. The solubility and the diffusivity of the blowing agent in the EVA decrease with the crosslinking degree increases. The diffusivity decrease makes more gas is utilized for the foaming rather than leak out of the polymer matrix quickly. This thesis also presents the fundamental studies on the effects of crosslinking on cell nucleation and early bubble growth. Theoretical work and in-situ visualization experimental results indicate that partial crosslinking leads to higher cell nucleation density and slower bubble growth, both of which benefit a fine-cell foam morphology generation. Last but not least, an optimized foaming process was conducted to produce chemically crosslinked EVA foams with large expansion ratios in a batch system, using a chemical blowing agent. The results determine that an optimal crosslinking degree is critical for the crosslinked EVA foaming with maximum expansion ratio. Furthermore, all research results not only benefit the foaming of crosslinked EVA, but also serve the better production of other crosslinked polyolefin foams.

Keywords: polymer foaming
crosslinking
EVA
Advisor: Park, Chul B.
Integrated Microfluidic Optical Manipulation Technique: Towards High Throughput Single Cell Analysis

An all-optical micromanipulation technique is presented in the framework of precise cell selection within a cell culture and multiplexed transport capabilities for microfluidic single cell analysis applications. The technique was developed by combining an optical tweezer setup with a novel integrated waveguide cell propulsion method referred to as end-face waveguide propulsion (EFWP). The EFWP technique delivers optical forces to a particle generating thrust. The thesis is divided into two sections: simulation and experimental validation. In the first section a new simulation technique based on ray optics theory (ROT) and the beam propagation method (BPM) is used to predict particle velocity and trajectory along a microfluidic propagation channel. In this work, the ROT-BPM technique is used to analyse and optimize the waveguide geometry to maximize particle velocity. Analysis of the impact of common microchip manufacturing limitations on velocity is performed to determine acceptable fabrication process tolerances. The second section presents experimental results of polymer microspheres and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells as biological targets. The experimental results are compared with simulations performed in the first section. Correction factors are added to the simulations to reflect the experimental device parameters. Thermal e_ects due to photon absorption within the fluidic channels are also investigated and corrected for. The final analysis indicates that the ROT-BPM technique developed in this work can be used to adequately predict particle velocity and trajectory path. EFWP currently delivers the fastest particle velocities compared to other optical micromanipulation techniques currently available in microfluidic applications. While the technique is focused on addressing chemical cytometry precise particle selectivity and high throughput needs, EFWP can also be used in many other single cell applications.

Keywords: Microfluidics
Microfluidic
lab on a chip
optical manipulation
waveguide
optical propulsion
Advisor: Lilge, Lothar
The Heart and Soul of Language Teaching: Making (Inter)connections between Holistic and Second Language Education in the Post-secondary Context

While much research has been conducted on the cognitive and methodological aspects of language pedagogy, there has been little research on the other essential aspects of teaching and learning, such as teacher presence. The aim of this doctoral research study was to discover, describe and document the various ways in which holistic education is operationalized in the Canadian post-secondary language teaching-learning context. Using French as a second language (FSL) instruction as a concrete example, the study was further aimed at developing a comprehensive understanding of what teachers do to facilitate holistic engagement in learning a second, foreign or additional language in the post-secondary classroom and beyond. Particular attention was paid to the various holistic interconnections and relationships involved in language teaching and the ways in which these helped to foster a spirit of inclusiveness, balance and connectedness in the language teaching-learning environment. This qualitative research inquiry utilized a blend of narrative and case study methodologies, and included a variety of data sources such as face-to-face (individual and focus group) interviews, classroom observations, and surveys. The research has been primarily informed by a core group of participants comprising of six FSL university instructors as well as a peripheral group of five other language instructors from both the college and university contexts. Students of the core participant group also lent their voices to this endeavor, thus providing a rich understanding of how they perceive their experiences of post-secondary language teaching. On the one hand, beliefs and assumptions underlying teachers’ approaches as well as the methods and strategies that they employ, constituted an important aspect of the investigation. However, on the other hand, significant emphasis was placed on the participants’ perspectives on teaching presence and how they seek to engage the whole student -- body, mind and spirit. The findings highlight the centrality of teaching presence as a fundamental element for maintaining flow and connectedness within and beyond the classroom. Implications include rethinking the relevance of teaching presence in the post-secondary language classroom and its potential for enhancing the teaching and learning experience, fostering positive emotions, building relationships and encouraging lifelong learning.

Keywords: Holistic Education
Second Language Education
Teaching Presence
French as a Second Language
Building Learning Communities
Advisor: Gagne, Antoinette
Particularly Responsible: Everyday Ethical Navigation, Concrete Relationships, and Systemic Oppression

In this dissertation, I articulate what I call a personal-is-political ethics, suggesting that the realm of human affairs long called ethics is inseparable from that which is today normatively called psychology. Further, I suggest that these names for this shared realm are situated in different discursive traditions which, therefore, provide different parameters for possible action and understanding. In my exploration of what it is to be human, I strategically centre ethical transgressions, particularly those that are mappable onto systemic forms of oppression. I explore personal-is-political enactments of sexism, ableism, racism, colonization, classism, ageism, and geopolitics, including situations in which several of these intersect with one another and those in which therapeutic, pedagogical, or parenting hierarchies also intersect with them. Without suggesting this is ‘the whole story,’ I closely read people’s narrations of ethical transgressions that they – that we – commit. I claim that such narrations shape our possibilities for harming others, for taking responsibility, and for intervening in others’ lives in an attempt to have them take responsibility (e.g., therapy with abuse perpetrators and critical pedagogy). I work to demonstrate the ethical and political importance of: the impossibility of exhaustive knowledge, the illimitable and contingent power relations that are ever-present and give shape to what we can know, and the ways our possibilities in life are constituted through particular contact with others. I explore ethical transgressions I have committed, interrogating these events in conversation with explorations of resonant situations in published texts, as well as with research conversations with friends about their ethical transgressions and how they make sense of them. I tentatively advocate for, and attempt to demonstrate, ways of governing ourselves when we are positioned ‘on top’ of social hierarchies – in order to align our responses and relationships more closely with radical political commitments.

Keywords: systemic oppression
ethics
performativity
différance
governmentality
subjectification
relationality
taking responsibility
power/knowledge
accountability
personal-is-political
deconstruction
narrative practice
racism
sexism
ableism
colonialism
decolonization
whiteness
masculinity
abuse
harm
invitational practice
complicity
reflexivity
self-critique
resonance
pedagogy
flows of becoming
queer theory
disability studies
critical social work
therapy
power
ethical narrative
political rationality
treatment violence
mad studies
antipsychiatry
psychology
gendered peer abuse
abuse intervention
abuse perpetration
intentional states
friendship
auto-ethnography
critical pedagogy
An Ethics Inaccessible to Liberalism
Advisor: Dehli, Kari
Path Graphs and PR-trees

The PR-tree data structure is introduced to characterize the sets of path-tree models of path graphs. We further characterize the sets of directed path-tree models of directed path graphs with a slightly restricted form of the PR-tree called the Strong PR-tree. Additionally, via PR-trees and Strong PR-trees, we characterize path graphs and directed path graphs by their Split Decompositions. Two distinct approaches (Split Decomposition and Reduction) are presented to construct a PR-tree that captures the path-tree models of a given graph G = (V, E) with n = |V| and m = |E|. An implementation of the split decomposition approach is presented which runs in O(nm) time. Similarly, an implementation of the reduction approach is presented which runs in O(A(n + m)nm) time (where A(s) is the inverse of Ackermann’s function arising from Union-Find [40]). Also, from a PR-tree, an algorithm to construct a corresponding Strong PR-tree is given which runs in O(n + m) time. The sizes of the PR-trees and Strong PR-trees produced by these approaches are O(n + m) with respect to the given graph. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an implicit form of the PR-tree and Strong PR-tree can be represented in O(n) space.

Keywords: Graph Theory
Algorithms
Advisor: Corneil, Derek
Flexible Radial Data Acquisition and Image Reconstruction Strategies for Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) has a high sensitivity (71- 100%) for detecting breast cancers. DCE-MRI is approximately twice as sensitive as mammography for patients who are genetically predisposed to breast cancer, who have an elevated lifetime risk (up to 85%) of contracting the disease, and who require rigorous screening. However, current methods of DCE-MRI often have difficulty distinguishing malignant from benign tumours, resulting in low positive predictive values (on average, PPV = 45%). The research in this thesis is motivated by the need for improvement in the ability of MRI to differentiate breast lesions. It is believed that the differentiation of malignant from benign lesions can be improved by acquiring images of high spatial resolution for visualizing morphological features of tumours and those of high temporal resolution for characterizing contrast-kinetic curves. However, simultaneously achieving high spatial and temporal resolution is limited by the inherent trade-off between speed and quality in MRI, requiring one to choose a particular balance of spatial and temporal resolution. In this thesis, novel techniques are presented that reduce the need to choose a spatiotemporal resolution before the scan. Flexible methods are presented that allow images to be retrospectively reconstructed with different balances of spatial and temporal resolution from the same dataset. Flexibility is achieved through radial sampling of k-space data, with 3D radial directions based on Multidimensional Golden Means (MGM) and Halton sequences. Radial sampling also allows constrained image reconstruction techniques such as Compressed Sensing and Prior-Image Constrained Compressed Sensing to be incorporated for reducing undersampling artifacts in high-temporalresolution images. This thesis demonstrates in 2D how such reconstruction algorithms are influenced by acquisition schemes and shows how reconstruction algorithms work in synergy with flexible radial sampling to provide improvements in the quality of breast MR images. The flexibility to choose any spatiotemporal resolution combined with better image quality in fast images could potentially improve the characterization of breast lesions screened by MRI.

Keywords: breast magnetic resonance imaging
Advisor: Plewes, Donald Bruce