VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Direct Pen Input and Hand Occlusion

We investigate, model, and design interaction techniques for hand occlusion with direct pen input. Our focus on occlusion follows from a qualitative and quantitative study of direct pen usability with a conventional graphical user interface (GUI). This study reveals overarching problems relating to poor precision, ergonomics, cognitive differences, limited input, and problems resulting from occlusion. To investigate occlusion more closely, we conduct three formal experiments to examine its area and shape, its affect on performance, and compensatory postures. We find that the shape of the occluded area varies across participants with some common characteristics. Our results provide evidence that occlusion affects target selection performance: especially for continuous tasks or when the goal is initially hidden. We observe how users contort their wrist posture during a simultaneous monitoring task, and show this can increase task time. Based on these investigations, we develop a five parameter geometric model to represent the shape of the occluded area and extend this to a user configurable, real-time version. To evaluate our model, we introduce a novel analytic testing methodology using optimization for geometric fitting and precision-recall statistics for comparison; as well as conducting a user study. To address problems with occlusion, we introduce the notion of occlusion-aware interfaces: techniques which can use our configurable model to track currently occluded regions and then counteract potential problems and/or utilize the occluded area. As a case study, we present the Occlusion-Aware Viewer: an interaction technique which displays otherwise missed previews and status messages in a non-occluded area. Within this thesis we also present a number of methodology contributions for quantitative and qualitative study design, multi-faceted study logging using synchronized video, qualitative analysis, image-based analysis, task visualization, optimization-based analytical testing, and user interface image processing.

Keywords: human-computer interaction
pen computing
hand occlusion
interaction techniques
tablet
human factors
graphical user interface
image processing
stylus
hand
Advisor: Balakrishnan, Ravin
Analysis of the Nucleioprotein Complexes Essential for P1 Plasmid Partition

For all organisms, segregation and proper intracellular localization of DNA are essential processes in ensuring faithful inheritance of genetic material. In prokaryotes, several different mechanisms have developed for efficiently moving chromosomal DNA to proper cellular locations prior to cell division, and the same holds true for bacterial plasmids. Low-copy-number plasmids and bacterial chromosomes encode active partition systems to ensure their inheritance within a bacterial cell population. One of the well-studied models of partition is that of the P1 plasmid in E. coli. The partition system encoded by the P1 plasmid is known as parABS - ParA is the partition ATPase, ParB is the partition site binding protein and parS is the partition site. The goal of this thesis was to investigate the nucleoprotein complexes essential in the P1 plasmid partition reaction. First, I examined how a single ParB dimer can bind its complicated arrangement of recognition motifs in parS to initiate the partition reaction. I then characterized a novel ParA interaction with the host nucleoid that is critical for proper P1 plasmid dynamics in vivo. Finally, I demonstrate how ParA can act as an adaptor between the nucleoid and the partition complex; effectively allowing the plasmid to use the nucleoid as a track for its intracellular movement and localization. My thesis work provides evidence towards a model that explains the P1 plasmid partition mechanism.

Keywords: Bacterial Chromosome Dynamics
Plasmid Partition
Advisor: Funnell, Barbara E.
A Theory-based Analysis of Coercion in Addiction Treatment

The use of coercion to induce entry to addiction treatment is controversial and a large body of research has accumulated considering ethical issues, benefits, and repercussions. However, development of evidence-based policy and practices is hampered by limitations of existing literature. Theoretical and empirical work on self-determination suggests that perceptions of coercion have negative implications for motivation, behaviour change, and psychological well-being; however, these insights have not generally informed research on coerced treatment. The present work seeks to further understandings of the meaning and effectiveness of coerced addiction treatment through a theory-based, prospective study of coercion and treatment processes. The sample includes 276 adults admitted to an outpatient counseling program for alcohol- and drug-related problems. At admission, participants completed questionnaires on motivation, perceived coercion, and pressures to enter treatment. Two months later, a second questionnaire assessed engagement in treatment and substance problem severity (follow-up rate = 74.3%). Retention was determined via self-report and agency records. Analysis was guided by a conceptual model based on Self-Determination Theory. Perceived coercion at admission was associated with greater pressures from legal and informal sources, and lower substance problem severity. Fewer than half (45.7%) of participants were still attending treatment at 2-month follow-up. Clients who reported greater coercion were more likely to leave treatment within the first 2 months, and to qualify that decision by statements indicating a lack of perceived need for continued treatment. Greater autonomous motivation was associated with higher client confidence in treatment, and lower perceived coercion and greater informal pressure were associated with greater resolution of substance problems in the weeks following admission. This work contributes empirical evidence to ongoing debates over the legitimacy of coerced addiction treatment by reframing relevant concepts in terms of client perspectives and evaluating the impact on treatment processes. Results raise questions about previous conclusions of the effectiveness of coerced treatment and suggest many future avenues for research. In particular, research is needed to evaluate the longer-term implications of coercion and the changing nature of perceptions and motivation during treatment.

Keywords: addiction treatment
coercion
help-seeking
self-determination theory
legal mandate
motivation
Advisor: Rush, Brian
Regulation of Canonical and Non-canonical NF kappa B Signalling in Lymphocytes by the Bcl10-MALT1 Complex

The NF kappa B family of heterodimeric transcription factors is activated by many stimuli, and lead to the upregulation of countless genes. Not surprisingly, NF kappa B plays a critical role in many aspects of cellular function. In T and B lymphocytes, antigen receptor stimulation leads to the activation of NF kappa B through a signal transduction cascade involving the Bcl10-MALT1 complex. We hypothesized that this complex may be critical to signalling cascades other than those emanating from antigen receptors. B cell activation factor of the TNF family (BAFF) activates non-canonical NF kappa B heterodimers that promote B cell survival. Here, we show that MALT1 is required for BAFF-induced phosphorylation of NF kappa B2 (p100), p100 degradation and RelB nuclear translocation in B220+ B cells. TRAF3, a known negative regulator of BAFF-R mediated signaling, interacts with MALT1 in a manner which is negatively regulated by BAFF, and TRAF3 levels are enhanced in MALT1-/- B cells. MALT1-/- CD21highCD23low (MZ) B cells show a defect in BAFF-induced survival and MALT1-/- x BAFF-transgenic (Tg) mice have decreased MZ and B1 B cell levels compared to BAFF-Tg mice. In agreement with this in vitro data, phenotypes associated with over-expression of BAFF including increased serum immunoglobulin titres, spontaneous germinal center (GC) formation, and immune complex deposition in the kidney were found to be dependent on B cell-intrinsic MALT1 expression. Our results demonstrate a novel role for MALT1 in biological outcomes induced by BAFF-mediated signal transduction. The mechanism by which the Bcl10-MALT1 complex regulates antigen induced NF kappa B activation in T cells remains controversial. To shed light on this regulatory network, we conducted biochemical purification of Bcl10, and identified Uev1a, a known regulator of antigen receptor mediated NF kappa B activation. We hypothesized that mms2, and structurally similar molecule to Uev1a, may also impinge on NF kappa B activation. Mms2 overexpression in 293T cells inhibited the Bcl10-induced activation of an NF kappa B sensitive luciferase. Lymphocyte development and antigen receptor induced activation occurs normally mms2-/- mice. However, class switched serum immunoglobulins, and survival responses to DNA damage inducing gamma-irradiation, are decreased in mms2-/- mice. Therefore, mms2 is dispensible in vivo for lymphocyte function and development, but is required for DNA damage responses.

Keywords: NF kappa B
Signalling
Advisor: Mak, Tak Wah
Aesthetics of Expenditure: Art, Philosophy, and the Infinite Faculty

The dissertation re-examines the philosophy of Georges Bataille within the context of post-Kantian aesthetics and argues for a re-evaluation of Bataille’s notion of expenditure [depenser] within this context. The dissertation argues further that the artistic practice of Robert Smithson is an exemplary case of an ‘aesthetics of expenditure.’ It is our contention that Bataille’s cosmic-energetic philosophy finds a complementary material expression in Smithson’s abstract geology and its confrontation with post-Kantian aesthetics. We will argue that this occurs through Smithson’s varying strategies, which are grouped conceptually according to the broader logic of their expression:seriality, sedimentality, monumentality, and meandering. While Smithson’s own references to Bataille in the early 1970s are discussed in detail, it is not our position that Smithson was enacting Bataille’s philosophy ‘aesthetically’; rather, by reading Bataille’s evaluation of Kant’s aesthetics and teleology in relation to Smithson’s artistic practice, we emphasize instead that the politics of disgust shared by both figures advance a radical decentring and repositioning of the human in relation to planetary and geological forces. If, as geologists now agree, our present age is that of the Anthropocene1, our argument is that Bataille and Smithson anticipate this precarious condition analytically, and, perhaps more importantly, that their analysis suggests further important diagnostic considerations at the level of social organization and political composition that might help defer, if not entirely prevent, the catastrophic end of this all-too-human period.

Keywords: aesthetics
philosophy
art history
teleology
expenditure
anthropocene
Immanuel Kant
Georges Bataiile
Robert Smithson
Gilles Deleuze
Jacques Derrida
Advisor: Boler, Megan
Tax, Time and Territory: The Development of Early Childhood Education and Child Care in Canada and Great Britain

This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

Keywords: Child Care Policy
Early Childhood Education Policy
Advisor: Simeon, Richard
Development and Evaluation of the iWalker: An Instrumented Rolling Walker to Assess Balance and Mobility in Everyday Activities

The rollator is a mobility aid commonly used to facilitate balance and mobility for individuals with cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, or neurological deficits. Despite its popularity, there are also reports of adverse effects related to walker use linked to increased fall risks. Studies examining the effectiveness and consequences of rollator use have employed standard laboratory-based measurement methods that rely on performing specific tasks within a short time period and under controlled conditions, potentially limiting generalization to mobility in the everyday context. An instrumented rolling walker (iWalker) was developed as an ambulatory measurement tool applicable to the assessment of balance outside of the lab or clinic for assistive device users. The iWalker autonomously collects measurements of the upper and lower limb behaviour related to balance, walker kinematics, and video of the immediate spatial environment. The design and development of the iWalker is first described, followed by two studies characterizing the involvement of the upper limbs for balance in standing and walking that served to address gaps in the literature and evaluate the utility of the upper limb measures. Overall, the upper limbs can become the primary effectors of balancing forces when lower limb capabilities are compromised. When lower limb involvement was experimentally constrained, the upper limbs became the primary effectors of balance control in healthy, young adults. In older adults, individuals demonstrating the highest upper limb usage during walking were associated with the largest reduction in frontal plane stepping parameters (i.e., step width). A third study evaluated the applicability of the iWalker to assess everyday mobility in a series of in-patients recovering from neurological injury (i.e., stroke, traumatic brain injury). Patients demonstrated significantly different upper limb balancing behaviour in everyday situations compared to in-laboratory assessments. Furthermore, the iWalker captured behaviours that may be precursors to falling, such as collisions, stumbling and lifting the assistive device. The implications of these studies on assessing the effectiveness of rollators and feasibility of using the iWalker in follow-up efforts are discussed.

Keywords: Assistive Devices
Gait
Postural Control
Ambulatory Monitoring
Advisor: McIlroy, William E.
Bilingual Dialogic Book-Reading Intervention for Preschool Children with Slow Expressive Vocabulary Development: A Feasibility Study

The purpose of the study was to examine the feasibility of a dialogic book-reading intervention for bilingual preschool children with expressive vocabulary delays. The intervention was provided in English and Spanish concurrently to an experimental group of six children, while six children were in a delayed treatment control group. Dialogic book-reading has been shown previously to be effective with monolingual children, and the current study was the first to extend it to bilingual children. The children participating in the study were 22 – 41 months-old and were recruited from the waiting list of an agency providing speech-language services. The intervention was provided in English in the children’s homes by the primary investigator and in Spanish by the children’s mothers, who were trained in the techniques of dialogic book-reading. Thirty fifteen-minute sessions in each language using dialogic book-reading strategies were provided to each child in the intervention group over six weeks. The study examined the acquisition of ten target words selected for each child in English and Spanish separately, in addition to overall increases in the children’s vocabularies. The children in the intervention group learned significantly more target words in each language following the intervention than did the children in the control group. The children in the intervention group were also able to produce the acquired words at a delayed posttest six weeks following the posttest. The intervention also led to an improvement in the ability of the children in the intervention group to stay focused on book-reading tasks. The gains in the overall vocabulary of the children in the two groups did not differ significantly. The mothers’ evaluations of the intervention revealed their satisfaction with the approach. The mothers were successful in learning dialogic book-reading strategies and stated that they felt empowered to improve their child’s vocabulary development.

Keywords: vocabulary development
expressive vocabulary delay
late-talkers
dialogic book-reading
bilingualism
early intervention
parent-administered intervention
Advisor: Eriks-Brophy, Alice
Costs Incurred by Families of Children Newly Diagnosed with Cancer in Ontario

Problem: Financial strain has been reported by families of children with cancer. However, the specific costs and their impact on these families remain unknown. Objectives: (a) to identify the costs incurred by families of children newly diagnosed with cancer in Ontario, (b) to determine the variables that influence these costs, and (c) to explore the impact of these costs on families. Conceptual Framework: The conceptual framework incorporated the social, economic, disease, and treatment cost predictors with the direct and indirect cost of illness components. Setting: Two university-affiliated tertiary paediatric hospitals in Canada. Sample: English speaking parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer who were receiving treatment. Design: A prospective concurrent mixed method design. Instrumentation: The Ambulatory and Home Care Record © (AHCR) (Guerriere & Coyte, 1998) was used to record costs and an interview guide was developed to explore the impact of these costs on families. Procedure: Parents recorded the resources consumed and costs incurred during one week per month for three consecutive months beginning the 4th week following diagnosis and listed any additional costs incurred since diagnosis or between the face-to-face interviews. Parents also discussed the impact of these costs on their families in an audio taped interview. Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics and multiple regression modelling were used to describe families’ total costs (expressed in 2007 Canadian dollars) and to determine factors that influenced them. Descriptive qualitative content analytic methods were used to analyze the transcribed interview data. Results: In total, 99 parents including 28 fathers and 71 mothers completed three sets of cost diaries. The mean total three month expenditure was $28,475 (SD $12,670; range $2013 to $79,249) per family. There were no statistically significant factors that influenced families’ direct costs; however, 23% of the variance for indirect costs was explained by inpatient tertiary hospitalizations, language spoken at home, and distance to the hospital. Parents described the costs associated with their child’s illness and coping and management strategies used to lessen the financial impact including managing their expenses and seeking ways to increase their cash flow. Significance: Findings will inform health professionals and policy makers about families who are faced with potentially catastrophic costs following their child’s diagnosis with cancer.

Keywords: Cost of Illness
Pediatric Oncology
Family Perspective
Mixed Methods
Advisor: Stevens, Bonnie
Elucidating Differences in Osteoclast Activation Mechanisms: Looking for Targets to Prevent Pathological Bone Resorption

Inflammatory bone diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease lead to increased bone loss in the inflamed areas. The multinucleated bone resorbing cells, the osteoclasts, present in these diseases are larger than normal, and these larger osteoclasts (10+ nuclei) resorb more bone and more often than smaller osteoclasts (2-5 nuclei). Thus, the focus of this thesis was to determine if there are differences in mechanisms of osteoclast activation between large and small osteoclasts. Experiments using authentic rabbit osteoclasts and RAW 264.7-derived osteoclasts revealed differences in the expression of a number of activating factors; with large osteoclasts expressing higher levels of activating receptors (RANK, IL-1RI, TNFR1 and integrins αv and β3), as well as enzymes involved in cellular resorption, while small osteoclasts expressed higher levels of an alleged fusion receptor and the inhibitory receptor, IL-1RII. Further studies revealed that large osteoclasts more readily responded to stimulation by IL-1 compared to small osteoclasts and at lower concentrations suggesting this is a result of their higher expression of activating receptors. Differences in responses to the IL-1 isoforms, IL-1α and IL-1β, were also seen in large osteoclasts: IL-1α generated more large osteoclasts over the course of differentiation, while IL-1β induced changes in cell morphology and in the induction of integrin β3 phosphorylation. These observations suggested that differences in osteoclast responses are induced by IL-1α and IL-1β and it led to the hypothesis that there are differences in signaling between large and small osteoclasts. To elucidate differences in signaling mechanisms a signaling pathway microarray was used which revealed higher expression of Vegfa in large compared to small osteoclasts. Osteoclast differentiation with RANKL increased Vegfa gene expression in a time-dependent manner and VEGF-A secretion was elevated in populations enriched for large osteoclasts. Furthermore, mechanistic studies with inhibitors of transcription factors involved in differentiation revealed that RANKL-mediated Vegfa expression in large osteoclasts was regulated by the NF-κB pathway via induction of Hif1α. These results support the hypothesis that signaling differences exist between large and small osteoclasts and implicates VEGF-A in osteoclast hyperactivity in inflammatory conditions.

Keywords: Osteoclast
Resorption
Bone
Interleukin-1
VEGF
Advisor: Manolson, Morris Frank