VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
NIRS as an access pathway: Investigating the effect of auditory distractions on the prefrontal hemodynamic response to a music imagery task

Recently, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been investigated as a safe, non-invasive brain response measurement technology for potential use in brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. Previous NIRS studies examining the intentionally-activated hemodynamic response have been performed in constrained environments, with no consideration given to the effects of extraneous sensory stimuli. This thesis investigated the overall effect of various conditions of auditory stimulation on the prefrontal hemodynamic response to a music imagery task in 13 able-bodied adults. In general, both the sensitivity and specificity of participant responses decreased significantly in each of the three conditions of auditory distraction investigated (i.e. background noise, startling noises, and a combination of background and startling noises) when compared to the control condition (i.e. silence). These results suggest that extraneous auditory stimuli do have an effect on the intentionally-activated prefrontal hemodynamic response, an effect that must be considered when developing a robust NIRS-based BCl.
Early childhood tooth decay: knowledge, practices, and training needs of pediatricians and family physicians in Canada

Objectives. To assess the knowledge of Early Childhood Tooth Decay (ECTD), and examine the current preventive oral health-related practices and training among Canadian pediatricians and family physicians providing primary care for children younger than 3 years. Methods. A cross-sectional, mailed, self-administered nationwide survey of a random sample of 1,928 pediatricians and family physicians was conducted. Results. A total of 523 completed surveys were returned. Mean knowledge scores among pediatricians and family physicians were 14 ± 2.7 (standard deviation) and 13 ± 3.2, respectively; 74% and 52% reported inspecting teeth; 60% and 44% reported counseling regarding dental care; 3% and 3% reported recommending the first dental visit for children before the age of one; 18% and 22% reported receiving no oral health training in medical school or residency, respectively. Conclusions. Lack of dental knowledge and training were reported barriers that limited respondents in playing an active role in child oral-health promotion.

Keywords: Dental caries in children
Physicians, Canada
Stakeholders' perceptions of their influence and that of others on the decision making processes in Ontario's CAATs and public universities

The goal of this study was to ascertain stakeholders' perceptions of their influence and that of others on the decision making processes in Ontario's public postsecondary education institutions. The objectives are to contribute to the understanding of college and university decision making processes; to highlight the role of stakeholders in the processes of defining institutional policy and direction; to illuminate how substantive issues are managed and resolved in Ontario's publicly funded colleges and universities; and to add to the small amount of available literature addressing this area in the province of Ontario and in Canada. The literature reveals that influencing the decision making processes in postsecondary education institutions is predominantly a triangular exercise involving administrations, boards of governors, and faculty. However, in Ontario, according to the evidence produced in this study, influence and power overwhelmingly reside with senior administrations, academic senates, and faculty members in general. Faculty, though not an identified stakeholder in this study, were frequently referred to by respondents as being powerful influencers. Based on the findings of this study, a more comprehensive study is recommended using a wider cross section of the institutions' community, and multiple methods of inquiry. Four public postsecondary education institutions in the province of Ontario were selected for case studies. Key individuals from five stakeholder groups in each institution were interviewed. These groups were the governing board, senior administration, academic senate, academic/college council, student association, and faculty association/union. In addition, an official from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities was interviewed. The data were interpreted qualitatively within the theoretical frames of influence theory, stakeholder influence, and institutional decision making.

Keywords: Colleges of applied arts and technology, Administration
Universities and colleges, Administration
Universities and colleges, Ontario
Droplet formation and rheology in roll coating

A laboratory device has been designed and built to simulate film splitting in roll coating, which occurs through filament stretching and breakup. At high speeds and for some coatings, the breakup leads to unwanted misting. In our simulator, a fluid sample is initially held between two closely-spaced small disks, and then the top disk is pulled upward at a high, constant rate of acceleration to mimic coating machine conditions. Formation and breakup of the resulting filament are observed using a high-speed video camera, and the images are analyzed by software to obtain the number and size of droplets. Tests with various Newtonian fluids, at a Weber number of 30, show that one droplet forms at low Ohnesorge numbers, and that more and smaller droplets form at Oh numbers above 0.1. Associative polymer solutions, prepared to be weakly-elastic fluids like coating liquids, produced even more and smaller droplets, but only for Ohnesorge numbers in the range of 0.01 to 0.1. Simplified coating formulations, which were both shear thinning and elastic, generated smaller but more droplets than those of equivalent Newtonian fluids and than those of associative polymer solutions which were less elastic. The effects of acceleration, initial film thickness and surface tension, as well as solids content of formulations, are studied as well.
Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) allelic variants: Involvement in type 2 diabetes

To determine the involvement of the three common apolipoprotein E (ApoE) alleles (E2, E3 and E4) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and body mass index (BMI), we considered data from two groups of Polish Caucasians: 317 DM2 patients recruited from a diabetes clinic and 155 non-diabetic control individuals from a factory in the same geographical region. We studied the sexes separately and used logistic regression and analysis of covariance with age as a covariate to evaluate hypotheses. ApoE polymorphisms were determined by RFLP-PCR analysis of DNA. There was significant evidence for negative correlation of the ApoE2 variant with DM2 in females. For the DM2 subjects, BMI decreased significantly with age, overall, in males and females, but this effect did not vary with ApoE allele type.
Civil society and indigenous language education in Bangladesh: language education as an international development activity

This research is situated at the intersection of language planning, language education, and international development. The role of civil society actors in indigenous language education in Bangladesh was explored through qualitative field research into the areas of program implementation, language planning, advocacy and research. In addition, this study examines the relationships between different civil society actors and other stakeholders, including donors, government and indigenous peoples, that inform the broader context in which these activities take place. An analysis of these roles and relationships allows us to better understand the implications of language education as a development activity, including issues of sustainability, autonomy, technical merit, and grassroots involvement. Of primary importance is the finding that the majority of language education initiatives for indigenous languages in Bangladesh are extra-linguistic in nature, driven by international organizations and drawing on international norms for their rationale, rather than linguistic or cultural motivations.

Keywords: Language and languages, Study and teaching
Language and languages, Bangladesh
Civil society, Bangladesh
Economic development, Bangladesh
The relationship between thinking dispositions, epistemic beliefs, and disjunctive reasoning

The relationship between thinking dispositions, epistemic beliefs, and disjunctive reasoning was examined in 65 young adults. Participants completed six disjunctive reasoning tasks where optimal performance on each task required the exhaustive consideration of all logically possible states of the world. Thinking dispositions and epistemic belief scores, as measured on a self-report questionnaire, and cognitive ability were examined as predictors of disjunctive reasoning. Cognitive ability and reflectivity, but none of five epistemic belief predicted optimal disjunctive reasoning performance. Thinking dispositions and epistemic beliefs were also found to be related, supporting previous claims that the two constructs are theoretically similar. Results are discussed in the context of understanding the inter-relationships of factors affecting problem-solving performance.

Keywords: Cognitive psychology
Thought and thinking
Reasoning
Developmental psychology
"Music is the weapon": Music as an anti-colonial tool for Aboriginal people in Toronto

This thesis examines how music can function as an anti-colonial weapon. By adopting an Indigenous anti-colonial framework, this thesis critically examines how music as a public medium can transgress dominant, racist narratives and create powerful avenues through which Aboriginal identity can be articulated and experienced by Aboriginal people. Ten formal interviews were conducted with Aboriginal musicians, traditional singers, and behind the scenes music industry people involved with the Aboriginal community of Toronto. Interview candidates included singers from local drum groups, such as Eagle Heart Singers, Red Spirit Singers, Morning Star River, and Spirit Wind. Award winning musicians such as Lucie Idlout, Leela Gilday, and Derek Miller also contributed their insights, as well as the founder of Rez Bluez, Elaine Bomberry. These interviews uncovered that, within Toronto, music is building vital connections to Aboriginal cultures, generating visibility of contemporary Aboriginal identities within public realms, and fostering relationships between Black and Aboriginal communities through musical genres such as blues and hip-hop. Overall, this thesis argues that music has the potential to be a revolutionary tool that Aboriginal people can use to decolonize themselves and their nations.

Keywords: Indigenous peoples, Music
Indigenous peoples, Canada
Indians of North America, Music
Indians of North America, Canada
Indians of North America, Ethnic identity
Indians, Music
Singularity resolution and the black hole information paradox

Two pervasive problems in the physics of black holes are explored in this thesis. Particularly, the problematic existence of curvature singularities in generic solutions of classical gravity and the black hole information paradox are reviewed. The paradigm of string theory and, especially, its low-energy limit, supergravity, is used throughout as a tool for understanding these problems. In the first part of this thesis, a string theory mechanism for the resolution of a class of naked, gravitationally-repulsive singularities is explored, particularly in the region where the system is not supersymmetric. This is the enhançon mechanism, which arises from purely string theoretic quantum corrections to the low-energy gravitational description. It is found that the physics of this system is particularly rich, involving no less than three appropriate phases for various values of the energy. A wide class of enhançon solutions is found and its description in several duality-equivalent frames is considered, settling a number of outstanding questions as to the correct physics, with implications for the dual field theory. Then, progress towards a microscopic understanding of the entropy of black holes is reported. A set of four-charge, four-dimensional geometries that is completely smooth, free of event horizons, has non-zero angular momentum and satisfies a supersymmetric mass-charge relation is found. The properties of this set, nicknamed fuzzballs, are amenable to an interpretation as microstates of an associated black hole, extending recent ideas as to the resolution of the information paradox. If such an interpretation is correct then it implies some unknown properties of the associated dual conformal field theory.
Radio-frequency thermal therapy of renal cell carcinomas

Radio-frequency thermal therapy is a minimally invasive technique used to destroy solid tumours by elevating tissue temperature above 55°C. This technique is being investigated as an alternative to surgical management of renal cell carcinoma. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the changes in tissue dielectric properties at high temperatures and to incorporate this knowledge into a mathematical model to predict the thermal damage during RF thermal treatment of kidney. An experimental system was built to measure dielectric properties (at 460 kHz) at high temperatures of kidney cortex and fat. Results showed that these properties change significantly during heating due to both temperature and structural processes. A dynamic theoretical model was developed to calculate the voltage, temperature rise and extent of thermal damage in kidney, based on Arrhenius damage integral. The accuracy of predictions was verified with measurements of temperature rise and extent of coagulation in kidney, ex vivo.
The role of writing in EFL students' learning from texts: a case study in a Thai university

This research explored how writing may foster EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students' learning of content and language from English texts. The first phase of the study involved naturalistic observations over 4 months of 1 Thai EFL instructor and 15 female undergraduate students in a reading class at a major university in Thailand, interviews with the instructor and her students, then examination of samples of class materials and students' writing. In addition, for one month the students kept written logs of their uses of writing in connection with reading. In the second phase of the research, the students performed reading and writing tasks while thinking aloud, then I interviewed them about their uses of writing in their reading. Analyses of the oral and written data indicate that their writing contributed to the students' text-based learning through combinations of: (a) writing allowing students to notice gaps in their knowledge; (b) writing prompting students to assume the role of writers; (c) writing involving careful thinking; (d) writing urging students to review, rethink, think further about, and use information in the source texts and, sometimes, study related texts; and (e) whatever was written down being available for review, reflection, and revision. Writing before and after reading as well as self-initiated writing while reading showed the potential to enhance students' learning from texts by drawing their attention to text language forms and other related forms, so they could use them strategically, familiarizing students with text characteristics, enhancing text comprehension and retention, eliciting positive emotions, and promoting responsive reading. The descriptions in this thesis may help guide EFL policy makers, curriculum designers, material developers, and instructors to make informed decisions about the benefits for students' learning from their incorporating certain types of writing into EFL reading lessons.

Keywords: Second language acquisition
English language, Study and teaching
Learning strategies
English language, Composition and exercises
Reading comprehension
Deuterium trapping in tungsten

Tungsten is one of the primary material candidates being investigated for use in the first-wall of a magnetic confinement fusion reactor. An ion accelerator was used to simulate the type of ion interaction that may occur at a plasma-facing material. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) was the primary tool used to analyze the effects of the irradiation. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was used to determine the distribution of trapped D in the tungsten specimen. The tritium migration analysis program (TMAP) was used to simulate thermal desorption profiles from the D depth distributions. Fitting of the simulated thermal desorption profiles with the measured TDS results provided values of the D trap energies. Deuterium trapping in single crystal tungsten was studied as a function of the incident ion fluence, ion flux, irradiation temperature, irradiation history, and surface impurity levels during irradiation. The results show that deuterium was trapped at vacancies and voids. Two deuterium atoms could be trapped at a tungsten vacancy, with trapping energies of 1.4 eV and 1.2 eV for the first and second D atoms, respectively. In a tungsten void, D is trapped as atoms adsorbed on the inner walls of the void with a trap energy of 2.1 eV, or as D2 molecules inside the void with a trap energy of 1.2 eV. Deuterium trapping in polycrystalline tungsten was also studied as a function of the incident fluence, irradiation temperature, and irradiation history. Deuterium trapping in polycrystalline tungsten also occurs primarily at vacancies and voids with the same trap energies as in single crystal tungsten; however, the presence of grain boundaries promotes the formation of large surface blisters with high fluence irradiations at 500 K. In general, D trapping is greater in polycrystalline tungsten than in single crystal tungsten. To simulate mixed materials comprising of carbon (C) and tungsten, tungsten specimens were pre-irradiated with carbon ions prior to D irradiation. Deuterium trapping could be characterized by three regimes: (i) enhanced D retention in a graphitic film formed by the C+ irradiation; (ii) decreased D retention in a modified tungsten-carbon layer; and (iii) D retention in pure tungsten.
Mechanics of nanoporous gold

Selective dissolution, also known as de-alloying, is a corrosion process by which an element of a binary alloy is selectively removed using an electrochemically well controlled process. The product of this process represents a porous material with a sponge like aspect that is created by randomly interconnected ligaments. In the present research were studied two different compositions of AgAu alloys: Ag77Au23 and Ag72Au28. Both materials were de-alloyed by means of electrochemical dissolution. The measured Young's modulus indicated very low values, around 100 MPa. This is the lowest value measured for this type of nanoporous material up to now.Compared with other measured values from the literature (7 GPa to 12 GPa [29]) for the same type of nanoporous material fabricated in similar conditions our measured values were found extremely small.
Chemical and biochemical characterization of multistranded guanine-rich DNA supramolecules

An alternative platform technology for modifying nucleic acid structure without changing its original chemical DNA structure is examined. In this platform, multiple DNA strands interact by non-covalent bonding to form a new structure of DNA supramolecule. This thesis focuses on the study of multistranded guanine-rich DNA supramolecules that are stabilized by guanine-guanine interactions. Structural variations are observed among DNA supramolecules formed by different guanine-rich oligonucleotides. The guanine-guanine interactions in DNA complexes formed by telomere-like sequences, for example d(T15G4T2G4), are different from that in the complex formed by d(T15G15 ) called frayed wires. A new type of intermolecular Multistrand Guanine-Guanine interaction (MGG) is found to exist contributing to the stabilization of frayed wires. This MGG interaction can be differentiated from the canonical guanine tetrad through both strand association stoichiometry and chemical reactivity of dimethyl sulphate at the N7 site of guanine. The MGG interaction observed in frayed wires does not require the N7 sites of the guanine bases to form stable complexes; therefore, methylation by dimethyl sulphate at N7 sites does not hinder the formation of frayed wires. This phenomenon does not occur in complexes stabilized by guanine tetrads. The manifestation of different guanine-guanine interactions arises from two factors: the number of contiguous guanines and the availability of the N7 sites in the guanine base in the sequence. The thermal stability of the d(T15Gn) DNA complexes is determined by various factors. These factors include the nature of guanine-guanine interaction, the number and arrangement of the contiguous guanines within the DNA sequences, and the balance between the stabilization force of the guanine bases versus the unfavorable contribution of the non-guanine portion within the oligonucleotide sequences. Our data indicate that frayed wires are resistant to enzymatic degradation by common nucleases. Ligands bound to frayed wires are also protected from degradation. Frayed wires stabilized by MGG interaction may be used as a carrier for biologically active molecules.
Objective test for fatigue

An objective test for the determination of fatigue-level can help to reduce accidents caused by human errors due to fatigue. In this study, eyelid dynamics, pupil dynamics, and eye movements were examined as possible objective measures of fatigue. A fixation task and several algorithms that can measure accurately the physiological parameters were developed. With these algorithms, pupil size can be measured with an accuracy of ±0.47mm, percentage of eyelid closure can be measured with an accuracy of ±5.8% and vergence stability can be measured with an accuracy of ±0.28°. Results of a pilot study with three subjects demonstrated that the percentage of eyelid closure is consistently correlated with fatigue. Other reliable indicators of fatigue are blink rates, number of long blinks, and vergence stability. A weighted normalized function of these four parameters was suggested as a reliable measure of fatigue-level.
Kernel support for deterministic redundant execution of shared memory workloads on multiprocessor systems

Motivated by future processors that will contain an abundance of execution cores, we believe redundant execution will be a practical method for increasing system security and reliability. However, redundant execution relies on the premise that duplicating external inputs identically to a set of replicas will produce identical outputs. Unfortunately, multithreaded applications exhibit non-determinism that breaks this premise, especially on the multiprocessors that will be widely available in the future. This thesis presents a method for deterministically replicating the accesses to shared memory made by concurrent threads in a kernel level redundant execution system. Our approach relies on user space annotations, which define sequential regions in the application that the kernel will schedule deterministically. Further, we show that these annotations can be largely derived from the use of locks already present in the application and that replication can be achieved with only modest overhead.