VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Foundations of Children’s Sympathy: Recognition and Regulation of Anger and Sadness

I tested how the recognition and regulation of specific distress-related emotions (i.e., anger and sadness) contribute to children’s tendency to feel sympathy. These relations were examined in an ethnically diverse Canadian sample of 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 300, n = 150 in each age group; 50% female). Across age groups, higher scores on both anger and sadness regulation independently predicted higher levels of sympathy. In addition, having a lower threshold to detect sadness predicted higher sympathy through the better regulation of sadness. In contrast, this indirect effect was not found for the anger-specific emotion variables. These results suggest that the nuances of children’s specific emotional capacities, particularly those related to sadness, are important to our understanding of the process by which children arrive at sympathy.

Keywords: Anger
Children
Emotion recognition
Emotion regulation
Sadness
Sympathy
Advisor: Malti, Tina
The CARD™ System for Improving the Vaccination Experience at School: Results of a Small-scale Implementation Project on Student Symptoms

Background: Many students fear vaccinations. We implemented a novel, multifaceted knowledge translation intervention in the school vaccination setting incorporating evidence-based coping strategies—The CARD™ System (C-Comfort, A-Ask, R-Relax, D-Distract)—and evaluated impact on knowledge, symptoms, coping strategies, and fidelity. Methods: Five experimental schools (ES) and five control schools (CS) in a controlled clinical trial. ES students completed a knowledge/attitudes survey during a CARD™ educational session and selected coping strategies before vaccinations. CS students received the usual vaccine lesson. Nurses recorded strategies used and students rated symptoms. Fidelity to CARD™ was evaluated. Results: CARD™ increased knowledge and coping strategy use. Distraction, deep breathing, support and privacy were most selected. CARD™ (vs. control) was associated with less high fear and high dizziness; pain and vaccination rate did not differ. High fidelity to CARD™ components was observed. Discussion: CARD™ improves student symptoms during school-based vaccinations. Research in different settings is recommended to confirm results.

Keywords: Children
Fear
Needle
Pain
School
Vaccination
Advisor: Taddio, Anna
When Word Learning Heuristics Meet Cross-situational Word Learning: A Comparison Between Monolingual and Bilingual Toddlers

Monolingual children reportedly rely more heavily on the Mutual Exclusivity Principle (MEP) than bilinguals in word learning. However, past work has only examined toddlers’ use of MEP after a single labelling. Here, we examine monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds’ reliance on the MEP to learn novel colour labels. Importantly, cross-situational statistics linked a particular label to a particular colour – but not to a particular object. As a secondary question, we asked whether the fact that past studies have presented children with atypically-coloured objects (e.g., turquoise dogs) may have influenced how readily children attached novel labels to colour terms rather than objects. Preliminary results suggest that monolinguals and bilinguals were equally successful in learning novel colour labels, but learning only occurred when the objects were atypically-coloured. We conclude that researchers need to carefully consider the richness of children’s home learning environments to better understand development in diverse language settings.

Keywords: Bilingualism
Infant development
Monolingualism
Statistics
Word learning
Advisor: Johnson, Elizabeth K
A Multiplexed, Point-of-Care Detection System for Dengue

There is a growing need for diagnostic technologies which can provide accurate disease detection using sensitive, reliable, and inexpensive methods. A lot of research has been directed towards developing efficient point-of-care devices that enable the parallel detection of multiple analytes, in small-volume samples, with high sensitivity and in a short time. This motivates us to explore a platform for multiplex testing i.e. measuring multiple analytes at the same. Hence, we propose a microfluidics based optical detection system, for diagnosis of dengue biomarkers using bead-based immunoassays. Simultaneous detection of dengue antigen and antibody is crucial for prevention and diagnosis of dengue infection. The outcome of this study generates the first-generation prototype of a system capable of both classifying the microspheres and measuring the amount of specific biomarker.

Keywords: biomarkers
Dengue
Flow Cytometry
Microfluidics
Advisor: Aitchison, Stewart J
Neck Strength-endurance Assessment: Potential Utility in Sport-related Concussion

Neck strength may modify the risk of sport related concussion by controlling head acceleration during high risk impacts. The majority of literature evaluates maximal neck strength leaving other parameters less-explored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess neck strength-endurance in male and female athletes. We hypothesized: (1) females would perform poorer on the neck assessment compared to males; (2) athletes with a history of concussion would perform poorer than those with no history of concussion. Neck strength-endurance (flexion, extension, left and right flexion) was assessed in ninety-seven (n = 97) interuniversity athletes. The majority (68%) of participants failed one or more directions of the neck assessment, and most often in flexion (38%) and bi-lateral flexion (33%). There were no significant differences in neck strength-endurance between participants with and without history of concussion or between sexes. These results support assessing neck parameters in an attempt to reduce direction-specific deficits.

Keywords: cervical muscle
concussion
neck strength
prevention
resistance training
sport related concussion/SRC
Advisor: Hutchison, Michael G
Going With Your Gut: How Does Believing Emotions are Helpful Versus Harmful Shape the Decision-Making Process?

What we believe about emotions shapes how we approach emotions in our lives. I propose that individuals vary in their beliefs about whether emotions are helpful versus harmful for decisions and that these beliefs shape how individuals make decisions: those who believe emotions are helpful should be more likely to listen to their emotions when making decisions. I first validated a scale to assess these beliefs (Study 1) and then tested my hypotheses (Studies 2-4). People who believe emotions are helpful were more likely to habitually listen to their emotions when making decisions (Study 2), they had a stronger link between habitually seeking pleasure and impulsive decisions (Study 3), and a stronger link between feeling distressed and prosocial decisions (Study 4). These data suggest that people’s beliefs may be an important driver of how they make decisions: for people who believe emotions are helpful, the emotions they experience during decisions were stronger drivers of their actual decisions.

Keywords: decision making
emotion
emotion beliefs
Advisor: Ford, Brett Q.
Hutcherson, Cendri
Reflectarray Antennas for Multiple-beam Satellite Applications

With the demand for high data rate communications systems continually increasing, there is a need for high-gain antennas which can meet increasingly difficult requirements while occupying less volume. This is especially true in satellite communications applications. Modern communications satellites use a coverage scheme which services a geographical region with a set of narrow spot beams which differ in frequency and/or polarization, allowing for increased capacity through frequency reuse. One solution to generate this coverage is to place a set of feeds in front of an offset reflector whereby each feed generates a separate beam. However, this generally requires multiple reflectors, which occupy mass and volume on the satellite that could be used for other services. In this thesis two methods are investigated that could potentially reduce the number of reflectors required. The results could also be useful for non-satellite applications which employ multiple-beam antennas that use feed displacement.

Keywords: Antenna
Reflectarray
Satellite communications
Advisor: Hum, Sean V
Alternative Spaces of Sex Education: A Look into the Lived Experiences of Young Queer Women

The classroom is a formative space for young women to learn about sexuality and sexual health; however, sexual health education is often engrained in heteronormative expectations of sexuality, which exclude the experiences and health concerns of young queer women. This provokes the question of where, and how, young queer women learn about sexual health. This project draws on 29 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with young queer women who attended public high school in Toronto. The results illustrate the exclusion of queer sexual health in Ontario’s Grades 9-12 1998 sex education curriculum, and both the benefits and drawbacks of learning about sex and sexuality from friends, family, the Internet, clinics and community organizations. This analysis of spaces of education expands our knowledge of how and where young queer women learn about sexual health, with the hope to ultimately improve sexual health education for young queer women in Toronto.

Keywords: Gender and Sexuality
Geographies of Education
LGBTQ+
Queer Geography
Sexual Health Education
Advisor: Wakefield, Sarah
Thompson Sampling with Belief Update for Piece-wise Stationary Multi-armed Bandit Problem

We propose new variants of Thompson sampling for an extension of the multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem, called the piece-wise stationary MAB, in which the reward distributions for the arms are piece-wise stationary and will shift at some unknown time steps. Several algorithms have been proposed, but they show poor performance or require large memory and computation. Different from existing works, we consider distinctive stationary periods as states, which are only partially observable, and estimate the distribution of the states, called the belief state. The integration of Thompson sampling and belief update leads to two variants of Thompson sampling: Thompson sampling with Belief Update - Finite (TS-BU-Fin) and Thompson Sampling with Belief Update - Infinite (TS-BU-Inf). Extensive empirical studies show that our algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art algorithms with advantages in memory and computation requirement.

Keywords: Bayesian approach
Belief state
Multi-armed bandit problem
Non-stationary
Power prior
Thompson sampling
Advisor: Lee, Chi-Guhn
Does Incidental Auditory Learning Facilitate Memory-guided Attention? A Behavioural and Electroencephalogram (EEG) Study

Can implicit associations facilitate auditory target detection? Participants were exposed to audio-clips (half included a lateralized pure tone). Participants then took a surprise memory test in which they detected a faint lateralized tone embedded in each audio-clip and indicated if the clip was (i) old or new; (ii) recollected or familiar, and; (iii) if the tone was on the left, right, or not present when they heard the clip at study. The results show good explicit memory for the clip, but not for tone location. Target detection was faster for old than for new clips but did not vary according to the target-context associations. Neuro-electric activity revealed an old-new effect at midline-frontal sites as well as a significant difference between clips that had been associated with the location of the target compared to those that were not. The implications of these findings in the context of memory-guided attention are discussed.

Keywords: attention
auditory
EEG
ERP
implicit
memory
Advisor: Alain, Claude
Moscovitch, Morris
The Association of Individual-level Characteristics with Aging and Health Care Utilization among Older Women and Men

Older adults typically have the highest health care utilization of any age group. There are very few studies focused on older adults who are low-cost users (LCU) of the health care system. Understanding this population may be a key way to understand the determinants of healthy aging and wellness. In addition, the ways in which gender modifies the correlates of health-system use is explored. This thesis systematically reviews successful aging and health care utilization among older women and men. A study is then presented to better understand the sex-stratified individual-level factors associated with health care utilization for older adults. The results of these studies converged to suggest that certain health decisions made by clinicians, policy-makers, and older adults themselves, can be tailored to a person’s sex or gender. Further, the thesis highlights several sex/gender-based nuances in the health of older adults that should be explored in future research. Les personnes âgées ont généralement le taux d'utilisation des soins de santé le plus élevé parmi tous les groupes d'âge. Très peu d'études ont été menées sur les personnes âgées qui utilisent le système de santé à faible coût. Comprendre cette population pourrait être essentiel pour comprendre les déterminants du vieillissement en bonne santé et du bien-être. En outre, les moyens par lesquels le sexe modifie les corrélats de l'utilisation du système de santé sont explorés. Cette thèse passe systématiquement en revue le vieillissement et l'utilisation des soins de santé chez les femmes et les hommes âgés. Une étude est ensuite présentée pour mieux comprendre les facteurs individuels–stratifiés par sexe–liés à l'utilisation des soins de santé par les personnes âgées. Les résultats de ces études suggèrent que certaines décisions de santé prises par les cliniciens, les responsables politique et les personnes âgées elles-mêmes, peuvent être adaptées au sexe ou au genre d'une personne. En outre, la thèse met en évidence plusieurs nuances liées au sexe / genre dans la santé des personnes âgées qui devraient être explorées dans de futures recherches.

Keywords: Aging
Gerontology
Health Care Utilization
Health Systems Use
Neighbourhood Quality
Advisor: Rochon, Paula
A Novel Near-infrared Spectroscopy Brain-computer Interface for the Detection of Emotional Valence in Children

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) are being investigated as an access pathway to communication for individuals with physical disabilities as they bypass the need for voluntary motor control to operate. However, to date, minimal research has investigated the use of BCIs for children. This thesis describes the development of a paediatric brain-computer interface to identify positive and negative emotional states from changes in hemodynamic activity of the pre-frontal cortex. To train and test the BCI, 10 typically developing children aged 8-14 underwent a session of emotion induction trials while their hemodynamic activity was measured with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). BCI performance was evaluated both offline, using cross-validation, and online, using real-time prediction results. Offline differentiation rates were comparable to studies with adult populations, and online prediction was feasible, yet failed to surpass the 70% accuracy threshold of ‘effective’ BCI use. Interparticipant and intersession variability in BCI performance was also investigated.

Keywords: Access pathway
Affective state
Brain-computer interfaces
Near-infrared spectroscopy
Pediatric brain-computer interface
Advisor: Chau, Tom
Impact of Backwash on Biofiltration-related Nitrogenous Disinfection By-product Formation

Previous studies have reported that biofilm extracted from full-scale biofilters can serve as nitrogenous disinfection by-product (N-DBP) precursors. Detached biofilm could escape during filter ripening and form N-DBP upon chloramination. This study examined the potential breakthrough of biofilm and N-DBP precursors during filter ripening at two water treatment plants (WTPs). The presence of biofilm was estimated by total adenosine triphosphate levels (tATP); N-DBP formation potential (FP) tests were conducted to quantify N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and haloacetonitrile precursors. While tATP peaks in filter effluent were observed post backwash at both WTPs, temporary increases of effluent NDMA FP were only observed during filter ripening where particle-associated NDMA precursors served as the dominant contributor. Overall, biofilters examined in this study demonstrated a consistent removal of NDMA FP regardless of the filter ripening process.

Keywords: Backwash
Biofilm
Biofiltration
Disinfection By-Products
Filter ripening
N-Nitrosodimethylamine
Advisor: Andrews, Robert C
Andrews, Susan A
Current Math Teacher Perceptions of STEM Careers

This study explores teachers’ perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education and what role it plays in today’s mathematics classroom. The following three research questions are explored. How do currently practicing teachers perceive their understanding of STEM education and STEM careers in the math classroom? How do currently practicing teachers perceive their students’ degree of intrinsic motivation in mathematics? How do currently practicing teachers perceive the use of gamification as a means to affect students’ level of intrinsic motivation in the math classroom? Key findings include the following: teachers valued STEM career discussion in the classroom as it offers a channel through which knowledge can be transferred, teachers build rapport with students when they draw upon their own experience with STEM careers. Better understanding of gamification at the classroom level is recommended before it can be a useful medium for motivating students in math.

Keywords: Engineering Education
STEM
Advisor: Chignell, Mark
Towards the Development of a Sensor for Measuring Soil Stresses in the Cyclic Simple Shear Apparatus

In locations with seismic activity, structures are susceptible to damage or failure due to soil liquefaction. Determining the horizontal stresses in soil before and during cyclic loading, which is a fundamental challenge in geotechnical engineering, is important for interpreting liquefaction susceptibility and predicting foundation response to earthquake loading. The applicability of various existing sensing devices and concepts for measuring stresses in soil were investigated. Six passive and two active sensor systems were designed and evaluated when buried within a soil specimen. The evaluations showed that none of the sensors functioned well in soil, even for those that minimized diaphragm deflection to mitigate soil arching effects. Major limiting factors observed in the results included hysteresis, non-linearity, lack of repeatability, and effects of placing sensors in soil. The disturbance induced by sensor placement in soil appears to be a dominating factor acting against reliable measurement of horizontal stresses, even under laboratory conditions.

Keywords: Sensor
Soil Liquefaction
Soil Stress
Advisor: Azhari, Fae
Ghafghazi, Mason
Testing Trade-offs in Dispersal and Competition in a Guild of Semi-aquatic Backswimmers

Theory has proposed that a trade-off causing negative covariance in competitive and colonization abilities (the competition-colonization trade-off) is an important mechanism enabling coexistence of species across local and regional scales. However, empirical tests of this trade-off are limited, especially in naturalistic conditions with active dispersers; organisms capable of making their own movement decisions. I tested the competition-colonization trade-off in two co-occurring flight-capable semi-aquatic insect backswimmers (Notonecta undulata and Notonecta irrorata). Using field mesocosm experiments and laboratory experiments, I measured components of dispersal and competition to determine if and how the competition-colonization trade-off enables coexistence in this system. This thesis reveals that backswimmer species exhibited clear differences in dispersal behaviour and yet competition proved to be multi-faceted and context-dependent. This work suggests that in active dispersers, there is a great deal of complexity in competition and dispersal. Future studies of the competition-colonization trade-off in naturalistic communities should incorporate these complexities.

Keywords: backswimmers
coexistence
competition
competition-colonization trade-off
dispersal
ecology
Advisor: McCauley, Shannon
A Direct Role for Interferon-alpha in the Disruption of B Cell Tolerance in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the production of pathogenic anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA). A central mediator of SLE is Interferon-Alpha (IFNα), which is elevated in the blood of SLE patients. IFNα is thought to contribute to ANA production indirectly through the activation of T cells and dendritic cells; however, IFNα has been shown to have a number of direct stimulatory effects on B cells in vitro. This thesis examined the direct impact of elevated IFNα levels on B cell tolerance mechanisms in vivo. It was found that the elevation of IFNα alone in murine models of B cell tolerance was associated with significant increases in autoantibody production and impairment of many B cell tolerance mechanisms. These results suggest that elevated IFNα levels in SLE patients may directly drive the production of pathogenic ANA, and highlight IFNα as a potential therapeutic target in this disease.

Keywords: Autoimmunity
B Cells
Interferon-Alpha
Lupus
SLE
Advisor: Wither, Joan E.
Ultrasound-targeted microRNA-26a Therapy for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) affect ~5% of adults and are characterized by vessel inflammation, aortic smooth muscle cell (haSMC) depletion and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. microRNA-26a (miR-26a) regulates haSMC function but is reduced in human AAA. We induced targeted delivery of miR-26a or scrambled-control miR to the infrarenal aorta of a clinically relevant rat AAA model using ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD). An additional control group received no therapy. In-vitro, haSMCs were stimulated with the inflammatory interleukin-1β (IL-1β; 20ng/ml) and transfected with miR-26a, antimiR-26a and scrambled-control miR. In-vivo, UTMD of miR-26a downregulated inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and TGF-β) and elastolytic enzymes (MMP-2 and MMP-9), leading to reduced ECM degradation and AAA dilation. In-vitro, miR-26a downregulated TGF-β signaling (SMAD1 and SMAD4) and differentiation markers (ACTA2 and TAGLN) but enhanced haSMC proliferation, which alludes to a phenotypic switch towards greater haSMC survival. Thus, this study demonstrates a promising miRNA-based UTMD therapy for AAA.

Keywords: Aneurysm
Aorta
miRNA
Advisor: Leong-Poi, Howard
Relative Orbit Acquisition and Maintenance of Satellite Formations Using Ground-Based Guidance and Control

Small satellite formation flying missions are positioned to deliver rapid advancement in the application of space-based infrastructure. These missions rely on robust guidance and control systems to effectively manage the spatial distribution of spacecraft within a formation. To this end, development of a ground-based guidance and control system is presented in this thesis; this system uses impulsive maneuvers to reconfigure and maintain orbital satellite formations with arbitrary relative geometries and numbers of spacecraft. A delta-v optimal guidance and control system in an operational software architecture is described, and the stages of development are validated through simulated scenarios and flight-representative hardware-in-the-loop testing. The system performance is then verified with analysis of on-orbit results from initialization and station-keeping operations of the HawkEye 360 Pathfinder formation. Successful formation flying operations for the HawkEye 360 Pathfinder mission are ongoing and continue to be scheduled around payload operations with minimal operator input required.

Keywords: Constellation
Control
Distributed Space Systems
GNC
Guidance
Satellite Formation Flying
Advisor: Zee, Robert E