VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Spatial Resolution and Contrast Uniformity of Various Printers

For several common inkjet, laser and thermal dye printers, a method of evaluating prints that is not associated with the level of dental expertise of the observer is introduced. In addition, an automated analysis that mimics the observations made by observers is tested. Metrics that are evaluated in this study include spatial resolution, contrast uniformity, the type of paper, and overall observer preference. The results demonstrate that observer preference is associated with a high print contrast uniformity and with the use of glossy paper, but not with increased spatial resolution. The automated analysis produced results that were in general agreement with the observer data for spatial resolution, which concluded that the Lexmark C543DN printer produced prints with the highest spatial resolution. A thermal dye printer (Kodak CMI1000) produced prints with the highest contrast uniformity, and the print most favored by observers overall was produced by the Kodak ESP-9 inkjet printer on Kodak Everyday Glossy Photo paper.

Keywords: printer
contrast uniformity
spatial resolution
automated analysis
contrast resolution
Advisor: Lam, Ernest W.
Development of Collection Methods and Comparison of In vivo Biodegradation of Urethane-modified and bbisGMA based Resin-composites

Background: Human salivary esterases have been shown to degrade dental resin composite restorations in vivo. Objective: To optimize in vivo protocols to recover biodegradation products and to compare the biostability of urethane-modified-bisGMA- (ubis) and bisGMA-based (bis) commercial resin composites. Methods: Class V and III composite restorations were placed in patients using adhesive and composite resin. Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF), plaque and a 2-minute oral rinse with 20% ethanol in saline (n=10) were collected immediately and 7-days after restoration placement. Samples were analyzed for biodegradation products using high performance liquid chromatography. The oral rinse protocol was then used to compare the bis and ubis composite resins (Z250, 3M; TPH, Dentsply) (n=58). Results and conclusions: The bisGMA composite matrix derived product, bishydroxypropoxyphenylpropane (BisHPPP) was only detected from oral rinse collected immediately after restoration placement. There was no statistical difference in the amount of bisHPPP collected from bis and ubis composite resins. This research was supported by CIHR (MOP 68947).

Keywords: biodegradation
resin composite
dentistry
human salivary derived enzymes
Advisor: Tam, Laura
Finer, Yoav
Verb Aspect and World Knowledge in the Mental Representation of Text: Evidence from Eye Movements

Reading involves the dynamic construction of a mental model corresponding to the situation described in a text. This representation draws on the semantic and grammatical content of the text and also involves inferences for unstated information and the sequencing of events in time. In the current study, an eye-tracking methodology was used to explore the critical role of grammatical aspect in this process. The results showed that, following an event expressed in imperfective aspect, the reading of a necessarily later event was slowed compared to when the earlier event was expressed in perfective aspect. However, the effect depended on world knowledge—when the first event was typically of short duration, it did not evoke an "ongoing" interpretation to the same degree compared to when it was of long duration. The results highlight comprehenders' use of world knowledge and subtle grammatical cues in the representation of event information during on-line reading.

Keywords: Verb aspect
World knowledge
Reading
Language comprehension
Situation models
Eye movements
Advisor: Daneman, Meredyth
Chambers, Craig
The Legacy of Cuerrier: Issues Unresolved, Questions Unanswered

A large body of jurisprudence has developed in Canada criminalizing the conduct of HIV positive persons who transmit or expose others to the HIV infection in an equivocal attempt to be seen to be doing something about individuals who are perceived to be driving the HIV epidemic. Convictions have been obtained for charges ranging from aggravated assault to, most recently, murder. The Cuerrier judgement, a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, left a number of issues unresolved. Given the ambiguities in the decision, this Thesis will address the unfortunate consequences resulting from the Cuerrier’s decision. The conclusion I will attempt to reach is that criminalization is an inadequate strategy to prevent further HIV infection, its increased use in practice is misguided, and counterproductive to public health goals, thus alternatives to the routine criminalization of HIV transmission that may enhance the goals of public health should be considered.

Keywords: Criminalization
HIV transmission and exposure
Advisor: Cook, Rebecca J.
An Interconnection Network for a Cache Coherent System on FPGAs

Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) systems now comprise many processing elements that are processors running software and hardware engines used to accelerate specific functions. To make the programming of such a system simpler, it is easiest to think of a shared-memory environment, much like in current multi-core processor systems. This thesis introduces a novel, shared-memory, cache-coherent infrastructure for heterogeneous systems implemented on FPGAs that can then form the basis of a shared-memory programming model for heterogeneous systems. With simulation results, it is shown that the cache-coherent infrastructure outperforms the infrastructure of Woods [1] with a speedup of 1.10. The thesis explores the various configurations of the cache interconnection network and the benefit of the cache-to-cache cache line data transfer with its impact on main memory access. Finally, the thesis shows the cache-coherent infrastructure has very little overhead when using its cache coherence implementation.

Keywords: FPGA
Cache Coherence
Interconnection Network
Protocols
Multiprocessor
muti-thread
Pthread (Posix Thread)
programming model
parrallel programming
shared-memory model
Advisor: Chow, Paul
Poor Glycemic Control is Associated with Neuroretinal Dysfunction in Short-wavelength Cone Pathways of Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Studies demonstrate short-wavelength cone pathway dysfunction in patients with diabetes and no clinically visible DR. Poor glycemic control, as measured by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), is a strong risk factor for DR. We hypothesized that raised HbA1c was associated with short-wavelength cone sensitive visual evoked potential (S-VEP) and electroretinogram (sERG) dysfunction. Forty adolescents with diabetes and 39 controls were tested using the S-VEP. Latencies to a short-wavelength stimulus were delayed in patients at low contrasts. Patient S-VEP latencies were not associated with HbA1c when controlling for age and time since diagnosis. Twenty-one adolescents with diabetes and 19 controls were tested using the sERG. Implicit times of the b-wave were delayed but not associated with HbA1c when controlling for time since diagnosis.Patient PhNR amplitudes were reduced. A one-unit increase in HbA1c was associated with a 15% sERG PhNR amplitude reduction (p=0.004). The sERG PhNR may be a potential biomarker for DR.

Keywords: type 1 diabetes
adolescents
diabetic retinopathy
short-wavelength
S-cone
visual evoked potential
electroretinogram
photopic negative response
hemoglobin A1c
glycemic control
Advisor: Westall, Carol
An Integrated Approach to Detecting Communicative Intent amid Hyperkinetic Movements in Children

Hyperkinetic movement (HKM) can encumber nonverbal communication of preference. Caregiver and clinician interpretation of preference are recognized as a valuable but limited proxy translation. It is known that biomechanical signals can differentiate among movement patterns in various populations. We hypothesize that preference is encoded in HKM; to test this hypothesis we propose a unified approach to detect preference within HKM, fusing observational and quantitative techniques while incorporating caregiver and clinician perspectives. We illustrate this method through two case studies; in the first case preference is detectable by both visual (fair agreement) and accelerometer classification (68.5% accuracy) whereas in the second case preference is only detectable by accelerometer-based classification with 62.9% accuracy. The proposed procedure may enable researchers to effectively explore communicative movement patterns in children with HKM. The findings warrant further investigation into potential communicative patterns in HKM.

Keywords: Hyperkinetic Movement
Communication
Advisor: Chau, Tom
Investigation of the Formation and Photo-activity of Titanium Dioxide and Polyelectrolytes

Anatase titanium dioxide was synthesized using a hydrothermal treatment of bis(ammonium lactato) titanium dihydroxide (ALT) under a variety conditions. Heating the precursor produces highly crystalline particles that do not undergo a crystal phase transition upon calcination; however, it does remove a layer of surface adsorbed lactate. Three titanium-polyelectrolyte composites (PAA, PAH, and PEI) were formed through electrostatic polymer chain collapse. In order to gain a measure of the relative photo-activity of these various samples the interaction and de-colouration of methylene blue (MB) was investigated. The composite particles were not active whereas the non-composite titanium dioxide and solution phase PAA were individually active. MB was found to form dimers with anionic PAA through electrostatic interaction; however, there was no difference in the de-colouration rate of these dimers versus the monomers. Finally, it was found that pre-irradiating the polyelectrolyte prior to combining with MB decreases the de-colouration rate.

Keywords: Titanium Dioxide
Photo-activity
Polyelectrolytes
Advisor: Goh, M. Cynthia
A Textual Analysis of Book Reviews of Critically Acclaimed & Chick Lit Novels, 1998-2008

This study explores the hierarchy of symbolic value between literary and genre fiction through a discourse analysis of book reviews of chick lit and critically acclaimed books published between 1998-2008 in leading review publications such as The New York Times, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist. Genre fiction is typically accorded less symbolic value than literary fiction, and, at times, distaste for genre fiction has lead to distaste for its audience. Evidence for these assertions can be found in the type of language employed in book reviews of chick lit and critically acclaimed novels, especially in the use of adjectives, opinion words, as well as terms used to describe writing techniques, characters, authors, and reading publics.

Keywords: Reading
Genre Fiction
Advisor: Dilevko, Juris B.
Interactive Effects of Flaxseed Oil and Trastuzumab on the Growth of Breast Tumours Overexpressing HER2

Flaxseed oil (FO), rich in α-linolenic acid, has been shown to inhibit breast cancer growth. One suggested mechanism is through modulation of HER2 expression and signalling. This study determined the effect of FO on the growth of established HER2-overexpressing breast tumours (BT-474) and its interaction with two doses of a primary anti-HER2 therapy, trastuzumab (TRAS), in athymic mice. FO alone had no effect on tumour size, cell proliferation and apoptosis. TRAS (2.5 and 5 mg/kg) reduced tumour size and cell proliferation but had no effect on apoptosis. TRAS (2.5 mg/kg) combined with FO reduced tumour size and cell proliferation and increased apoptosis compared to TRAS (2.5 mg/kg) alone and was just as effective as 5 mg/kg TRAS. TRAS (5 mg/kg) resulted in almost complete tumour regression with or without FO. In conclusion, FO has no effect on BT-474 tumour growth but can enhance the effectiveness of low dose TRAS.

Keywords: Nutrition
Breast Cancer
Advisor: Thompson, Lilian
Glypican-3 Stimulates the WNT Signaling Pathway by Facilitating/Stabilizing the Interaction of WNT LIigand and Frizzled Receptor

Glypican-3 (GPC3) belongs to a family of cell surface proteoglycans. GPC3 regulates the activity of several morphogens and growth factors that play critical roles during development. Disrupting the function of GPC3 leads to disease, including the overgrowth disease Simpson Golabi Behmel Syndrome (SGBS) and Cancer. Previous work has shown that GPC3 is over expressed in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), and that HCC proliferation is stimulated through GPC3 mediated activation of the Wnt signaling pathway. Glypicans are known to regulate Wnt signaling in a variety of model organisms including Drosophila and mouse. This work investigates the hypothesis that GPC3 stimulates Wnt signaling by facilitating/stabilizing the interaction between Wnt and its receptor Frizzled (Fzd). Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that GPC3 is able to bind both Wnt and Fzd. The binding of GPC3 to Fzd is mediated by the GPC3 glycosaminoglycan chains and by the cysteine rich domain of Fzd.

Keywords: Glypican-3
Glypicans
Frizzled
Wnt pathway
Cell Signaling
Advisor: Filmus, Jorge
Multiple Simultaneous Specification Attitude Control of a Mini Flying-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The Multiple Simultaneous Specification controller design method is an elegant means of designing a single controller to satisfy multiple convex closed loop performance specifications. In this thesis, the method is used to design pitch and roll attitude controllers for a Zagi flying-wing unmanned aerial vehicle from Procerus Technologies. A linear model of the aircraft is developed, in which the lateral and longitudinal motions of the aircraft are decoupled. The controllers are designed for this decoupled state space model. Linear simulations are performed in Simulink, and all performance specifications are satisfied by the closed loop system. Nonlinear, hardware-in-the-loop simulations are carried out using the aircraft, on-board computer, and ground station software. Flight tests are also executed to test the performance of the designed controllers. The closed loop aircraft behaviour is generally as expected, however the desired performance specifications are not strictly met in the nonlinear simulations or in the flight tests.

Keywords: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Flying-Wing
Convex
Multiple Simultaneous Specification
Performance
Simulation
Hardware-in-the-loop
Dynamics
Attitude
Aircraft
Autopilot
Advisor: Mills, James
A Proposal for Principle-based Securities Regulation for Canada

This paper argues in favour of principle-based securities regulation for Canada. The author examines the current state of Canadian securities regulation and why change is needed. The author then examines the characteristics of principle-based regulation and contrasts it against rule-based regulation while exposing the advantages and disadvantages of both regulatory models. In proposing a principle-based model for Canadian securities regulation, the author looks to the use of this type of regulation in the capital markets of certain Canadian provinces, the United States and the United Kingdom and then examines certain attributes of Canadian capital markets that have to be considered in the application of principle-based securities regulation to Canada. In supporting principle-based regulation as the modern form of securities regulation, the author discusses lessons learned from the global financial crisis and how those lessons can be applied in the promotion of principle-based securities regulation for Canada.

Keywords: Securities Regulation
Principle-Based Regulation
Canadian Capital Markets
Advisor: Fadel, Mohammad
Perceptions of Plastic Surgeons, Orthodontists, and Laypersons to Altered Facial Balance

Objective: To quantify the acceptability of facial asymmetry to plastic surgeons, orthodontists and the lay population. Methods: Facial images were animated with one of six asymmetries: jaw and nasal deviation, interocular distance, ocular height, angulation, and shape. Evaluators were asked to judge the faces based on their visual acceptability. Results: There were no differences between the groups except for in the evaluation of ocular shape. Mandibular deviation of 4mm, and nasal deviation of 3mm was judged as unacceptable. 9% rounder and 18% flatter eyes were considered unacceptable. Hypertelorism and inferior ocular dystopia was unacceptable after a change of 2mm. Hypotelorism and superior vertical dystopia was unacceptable after a change of 2.5mm. Ocular angulations of 5.5 degrees superiorly and 3.5 degrees inferiorly were unacceptable. Conclusions: Plastic surgeons, orthodontists, and lay people find specific facial asymmetries to be unacceptable at similar levels of deviation.

Keywords: Facial Asymmetry
Perception
Advisor: Forrest, Christopher
"Wealth and Stealth": The 21st Century Challenge to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Education and Services in Canada

This qualitative study explored the information available on abortion, contraception and parenting from websites accessible to internet users in Canada. The research questions focused on a comparison of pro-life and pro-choice websites on the discourse in Canada around reproductive rights. A textual analysis was conducted of five websites, with data analyzed using phenomenological research methodology. Themes emerged highlighting key differences between pro-choice and pro-life websites. Pro-choice websites offer accurate and up-to-date information presented in a static resource format, while pro-life websites offer value-laden and inaccurate information presented in an interactive, user-friendly fashion. The analysis highlights how the internet, as an emerging 21st century information resource, is also a site of production for reproductive rights discourse in Canada. These results have direct implications for social work practice and policy, particularly emphasizing the need for client referrals to accessible and accurate websites, and engagement with reproductive rights advocacy and public health education.

Keywords: women's health
feminist critical discourse analysis
social work
qualitative research
abortion
contraception
parenting
internet
media
pro-choice
pro-life
sexual health education
feminism
anti-choice
Advisor: Alaggia, Ramona
Characterization of Common Cartoid Artery Geometry and its Impact on Velocity Profile Shape

Clinical and engineering studies of carotid artery disease typically assume that the common carotid artery (CCA), proximal to the bifurcation, is relatively straight enough to assume fully-developed flow. However, a recent study from our group (Ford et al) showed the surprising presence, in vivo, of strongly skewed velocity profiles in mildly curved CCAs. In this thesis we aim to understand how CCA geometry affects velocity profile skewing. The left and right normal CCAs of 32 participants (62±13 yrs), randomly chosen from NIH’s VALIDATE study (N~450) were digitally segmented from aortic root to bifurcation. It was shown that each segmented CCA could be divided into nominal cervical and thoracic region and that each region could be approximated by planar circular arches. Subsequent CFD simulations of CCA parametric models suggested strong velocity profile skewing both at the inlet and outlet of cervical segment and the effect of various geometric parameters were investigated.

Keywords: Cardiovascular Bioengineering
Biofluidics
Advisor: Steinman, David
Neural Correlates of Bilingual Reading Development

The present study is a novel investigation of neural mechanisms underlying reading development in bilingual children compared to monolinguals. We asked how do bilingual children learn to read when faced with phonological processing across two languages? Both behavioral measures and functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) were used to observe any similarities or differences in brain activity between bilingual and monolingual readers. The behavioral findings corroborate a bilingual reading advantage; bilinguals were faster and more accurate than monolinguals when reading words. fNIRS data showed bilinguals demonstrated greater activation in classic language areas as compared to monolinguals. Taken together, this research advances contemporary scientific controversy concerning types of processing underlying reading and its maturational development over time. Ultimately, this research may have translational significance in education to situate normative developmental reading milestones in bilingual children, which is vitally important in developing effective therapies for bilingual children at risk for reading disorders.

Keywords: fNIRS
cognitive neuroscience
bilingualism
reading development
Advisor: Petitto, Laura-Ann
Adenosinergic and GABAergic Modulation of Neuronal Activity in the Hypoxia-tolerant Pond Snail Lymnaea Stagnalis

The role of inhibitory compounds such as adenosine and GABA in modulating neuronal activity in invertebrate species is not well described. Here I investigate their role in modulating excitability of cluster F neurons in the pedal ganglia of Lymnaea stagnalis. Receptor-specific agonists and antagonists were used to determine that the inhibitory effects of adenosine were mediated through the adenosine A1 receptor, and that action potential frequency varied linearly with intracellular calcium concentrations. These effects had a seasonal dependence, as neurons were resistant to adenosinergic modulation during the summer months. GABAergic modulation of neuronal activity was also seasonal as demonstrated by ionic plasticity in GABAergic transmission. GABA application led to inhibition or excitation of electrical activity in neurons obtained during the fall and winter months, respectively. These effects were mediated through the GABA(A) receptor because of sensitivity to GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline and were likely due to differential cation-chloride cotransporter activity.

Keywords: adenosine
hypoxia
GABA
invertebrate
Advisor: Buck, Leslie
Synthesis of Heterocyclic Chiral Diamines and Use of Diamine-based Chiral Guanidines to Determine Enantiopurity of Amino Acids

The chiral vicinal diamine moiety is “privileged” and is widely found in catalysts and bio-active compounds. A series of seven chiral vicinal diamines with heterocyclic substituents have been synthesized with great enantiospecificity via the resonance assisted hydrogen bond driven diaza-Cope rearrangement reaction using 1,2-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1,2-diaminoethane and heterocyclic aldehydes as starting materials. This thesis will also discuss the development of a new guanidine-based chiral shift rea-gent for determining the enantiopurity and the absolute configuration of α-amino acids by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. The chiral shift reagent is easily synthesized from the commercially-available 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-diaminoethane. This method is advantageous over many previously described procedures for determining amino acid enantiopurity as it does not require prior derivatization of the analyte.

Keywords: chemistry
organic
amino acid
optical purity
enantiomer
stereoselective
diamine
vicinal diamine
chiral diamine
synthesis
heterocycle
guanidine
chiral shift reagent
NMR
Advisor: Chin, Jik