VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Human Neutrophil Peptides: A Novel Agonist of Platelet Activation and Aggregation

INTRODUCTION: Platelets are involved in the inflammatory and thrombotic complications associated with atherosclerosis. Human neutrophil peptides (HNP), released from activated neutrophils, demonstrate inflammatory effects related to lesion development. HNP bind the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LR) family member LRP1 and LRP8 is the only member on platelets. HYPOTHESIS: HNP enhance platelet activation and aggregation through interactions with LRP8. METHODS: Platelet activation and aggregation in response to HNP were determined using flow cytometry and aggregometry. Activation was also examined in the presence of recombinant LRP8 and in LRP8 knockout platelets. RESULTS: HNP activate platelets as determined by P-selectin expression and the formation of microparticles. HNP sensitize platelets enhancing their aggregatory response to ADP. Lastly, LRP8 plays a role in HNP-induced platelet activation. CONCLUSIONS: With an improved understanding of the mechanism by which HNP induce platelet activation, we may be able to devise therapeutic strategies to treat patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: atherosclerosis
inflammation
alpha-defensins
Advisor: Zhang, Haibo
Damage-tolerant Control System Design for Propulsion-controlled Aircraft

This thesis presents a damage-tolerant flight control system design for propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA). PCA refers to an emergency piloting strategy that flight crews use throttle modulation only to achieve the attitude control of aircraft in case of conventional flight control system failures. PCA also refers to a conceptual or experimental aircraft that is installed with such automated thrust-only control system. When an aircraft undergoes structural damage to its airframe, lifting or control surfaces which cause conventional control system failures, PCA is adopted as an alternative control approach to stabilize the aircraft. However, the control of the damaged aircraft poses complications in stability recovering as unmodeled uncertainties and perturbed dynamics have significant impact on flight dynamics. Therefore, the PCA flight control system should have a high level of robustness against such model uncertainties, aerodynamics parameter deviations, and model perturbations. This thesis presents the study of robust PCA control system design using H infinity-based robust control method. The developed controllers are tested through both linear and nonlinear simulations. A comprehensive evaluation is performed for several different emergency scenarios. The results demonstrate the advantages of the newly-designed robust flight control architecture over the existing optimal controller in dealing with model deviations due to structural damage.

Keywords: aerospace engineering
control engineering
aircraft flight control
Advisor: Liu, Hugh
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Airframe and Engine for Emissions Reduction

Consideration of the environmental impact of aircraft has become critical in commercial aviation. The continued growth in air traffic has come with increasing concerns and demands to reduce aircraft emissions and this has imposed new constraints on the de- sign and development of future airplane concepts. In this work, an environmental design framework has been developed to design and optimize aircraft for specific environmental metrics. Multidisciplinary design optimization is used to optimize aircraft by simulta- neously considering airframe, engine and mission design. The environmental metrics considered include fuel burn, landing-takeoff NOx and fuel burn per distance flown. Additional concepts such as the design of large aircraft for short ranges are also presented. Multi-objective optimization is also used to illustrate the tradeoffs between the various environmental objective functions.

Keywords: Aerospace
Optimization
Advisor: Martins, Joaquim R. R. A.
Carbon Copies: The United States, Eu ETS and Linkage

Although many nations have recognized the need to protect the Earth’s climate, human activities are continuing to result in a change in greenhouse gas levels that threaten to result in a detrimental change in the Earth’s climate in terms of ongoing human life. The EU ETS has been developed and implemented in Europe as a key tool to meet the goals set by the Kyoto Protocol. Much political debate has arisen in recent years regarding the implementation of a carbon-trading regime in the United States. Many commentators have recognized that the success of any proposed carbon regime will be determined by how well it is tailored to fit certain economic realities in the United States. However, the adequacy of proposed carbon trading frameworks with regard to potential linkage to existing systems, namely the EU ETS, raises additional considerations. My study seeks to expose these considerations for debate and determine whether existing political considerations in the United States are adequate for the establishment of future linkages or whether further measures are required.

Keywords: law
emission trading
linking
carbon
Advisor: Green, Andrew
The Possible Impacts of "Enlightened Shareholder Value" on Corporations' Environmental Performance

This paper argues that “enlightened shareholder value” (“ESV”) offers a “third way” between the shareholder primacy and stakeholder theories of the corporation; one that maintains the creation of shareholder value as the corporation’s primary function, but requires directors to take into account the environmental impact of the corporations’ operations. ESV requires directors to “have regard to”, among other things, “the impact of the company’s operations on…the environment.” The obligation to “have regard to” should be interpreted as a procedural duty requiring directors to inform themselves as to the environmental impact of the corporation’s operations, which may in itself cause directors to reallocate corporate resources to environmental protection. ESV may also improve corporations’ environmental disclosure and impact social norms of corporate behaviour with respect to the environment. Any negative impact of ESV on present shareholder returns is justified by the obligation to avoid imposing foreseeable severe or irreparable environmental harm on future generations.

Keywords: directors' fiduciary duties
enlightened shareholder value
environmental law
Advisor: Anand, Anita
Green, Andrew
The Race for Equality, But How Do We Remove the Hurdles? Affirmative Action Lessons for the U.K. from Canada

The new Equality Bill in the UK attempts to bring domestic law regarding positive action into line with EU norms. The author addresses two key criticisms of the provisions, namely: a) that they allow positive discrimination; and b) that they will be ineffective in practice. It is argued that the first criticism is misconceived; preference of a minority candidate where they are equally as qualified as a male candidate simply recognises that equality is not about treating everybody the same, but having a relevant reason for treating them differently. The second criticism is more compelling. The author recommends that the UK make the transition to a systemic model and impose positive duties on employers in a similar vein to that which has developed in Canada. However, a delicate equilibrium must be achieved; special treatment of women and minorities regardless of merit is not conducive to a society that values diversity.

Keywords: Employment
Affirmative Action
Advisor: Langille, Brian A.
Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Pancreatic Beta-cells

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been implicated in pancreatic beta-cell loss contributing to diabetes mellitus, however the molecular mechanisms of ER stress-induced apoptosis are unclear. In the first project of this thesis, the contribution of ER stress in proinflammatory cytokine-mediated beta-cell dysfunction and apoptosis is examined. Although exogenous cytokine treatment did induce unfolded protein response (UPR) genes, increased chaperone capacity had no effect on apoptosis induction, insulin biosynthesis and insulin secretion. Thus, ER stress is most likely not an important pathway in cytokine toxicity under our experimental system. The second project develops a pathophysiological model of ER stress based on the mutant misfolded insulin of the Akita mouse. Microarray analysis was conducted and we observed early induction of ER chaperone and ER-associated degradation (ERAD) genes, followed by a large increase in pro-apoptotic genes with mutant insulin expression. A detailed analysis of the ER stress response in this system is presented.

Keywords: Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress
Beta Cells
Advisor: Volchuk, Allen
The Role of Civil Society Organizations in the Net Neutrality Debate in Canada and the United States

This thesis investigates the policy frames employed by civil society organizations (CSOs) in the network neutrality debate in Canada and the United States. Network neutrality is defined as restrictions on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to respect freedom of expression on the Internet and not seek to prevent innovative competition nor control the services or content available to users. The primary question under investigation is the policy frames of CSOs in the debate. The second question is whether CSOs have influenced policy outcomes in either legislation or regulation. The focus of the analysis is on regulatory agencies (CRTC and FCC); proposed legislation in Parliament and Congress is also analyzed as well. By examining the arguments advanced by various policy participants (government, ISPs, and CSOs), common points can be identified that may help the participants come to agreement.

Keywords: Internet policy
telecommunications regulation
Canada
United States
information policy
network neutrality
frame analysis
Internet
Advisor: Clement, Andrew
Caidi, Nadia
Disc1 Mutant Mice Subjected to Chronic Social Defeat Stress as a Model of Gene-Environment Interaction in Schizophrenia and Depression

Human genetic data suggests DISC1 (Disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1) is a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia and depression. Disc1 Q31L-/- mutants show depression-like behaviour and Disc1 L100P-/- mutants schizophrenia-like behaviour. Heterozygous mutants show an intermediate phenotype. In a gene-environment interaction study, we exposed heterozygotes to chronic social defeat (CSD) stress and phenotyped behaviour. Disc1, Bdnf(III) and Pde4b mRNA levels were also measured. Moreover, as epigenetic mechanisms may mediate some effects of CSD, we also exposed wildtype mice to CSD concurrently with the histone deacetylase inhibitor valproate. We found that CSD increased anxiety in L100P-/+ mutants, and that levels of Disc1, Bdnf(III) and Pde4b mRNA were higher in this mutant. Valproate treatment did not correct CSD-induced behavioural changes. In conclusion, we have demonstrated an interaction between a strong susceptibility gene for psychiatric disease and an environmental manipulation similar to stressors known to affect mental illness.

Keywords: gene-environment interaction
social defeat
Disc1 mutant mice
schizophrenia
depression
animal model
disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (Disc1)
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf)
phosphodiesterase 4b (Pde4b)
valproate
histone deacetylase (HDAC)
epigenetics
Q31L
L100P
Advisor: Wong, Albert Hung Choy
Dynamic Testing of Soft and Ultra-soft Materials

A modified Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) system is used to determine the mechanical properties of soft and ultra-soft materials. An aluminum bar is introduced to reduce the impedance mismatch between the test system and sample. The small signal of the forces was measured by a quartz crystal gauge system. The high precision Laser gap gauge (LGG) system was used to measure the deformation of samples. The compressive tests of Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB), fresh CPB and Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and the fracture toughness tests of PMMA were conducted to approve the legitimacy of our modified SHPB system. From these experiments, the efficiency and economy of the modified SHPB system were attested.

Keywords: Soft and Ultra soft
SHPB
quartz crystal
laser gap gauge
Advisor: Xia, Kaiwen
The Impacts of UV Direct Photolysis and UV/H2O2 Advanced Oxidation Processes on the Formation of Nitrosamines and Organic Chloramines from Subsequent Chlor(am)ination

Ultraviolet direct photolysis (UV) and the advanced oxidation process UV/H2O2 are new technologies in the water treatment industry. Both treatments can cause the transformation of organic compounds. Nitrosamines and organic chloramines are disinfection by-products (DBPs) formed from the reaction of organic nitrogen compounds during chlorination or chloramination (chlor(am)ination) disinfection. It is therefore possible for UV and UV/H2O2 to affect the organic compound precursors for nitrosamines and organic chloramines and thus their formation from subsequent chlor(am)ination. The precursor compounds, UV and H2O2 doses used for UV or UV/H2O2, and alkalinity were found to have an effect on the formation of nitrosamines and organic chloramines during bench-scale experiments. Full scale studies found UV and UV/H2O2 had different effects on the formation of different nitrosamine species and organic chloramine concentrations, and that a potential correlation existed between the formation of organic chloramines from chlorination and the formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine from chloramination.

Keywords: drinking water
nitrosamines
UV/H2O2
Advisor: Susan, Andrews
TASHA-MATSim Integration and its Application in Emission Modelling

Microsimulation is becoming more popular in transportation research. The purpose of this research is to explore the potential of microsimulation by integrating an existing activity-based travel demand model with an agent-based traffic simulation model. Differences in model precisions from the two models are resolved through a series of data conversions, and the models are able to form an iterative process similar to previous modelling frameworks. The resulting model is then used for emission modelling where the traditional average-speed model is improved by exploiting agent-based traffic simulation results. Results from emission modelling have demonstrated the advantages of the microsimulation approach over conventional methodologies that rely heavily on temporal or spatial aggregation.

Keywords: Micro-simulation
MATSim
TASHA
Traffic Simulation
Emission Modelling
Travel Demand Model
Advisor: Miller, Eric
High-precision Cone-beam CT Guidance of Head and Neck Surgery

Modern image-guided surgery aids minimally-invasive, high-precision procedures that increase efficacy of treatment. This thesis investigates two research aims to improve precision and integration of intraoperative cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging in guidance of head and neck (H&N) surgery. First, marker configurations were examined to identify arrangements that minimize target registration error (TRE). Best arrangements minimized the distance between the configuration centroid and surgical target while maximizing marker separation. Configurations of few markers could minimized TRE with more markers providing improved uniformity. Second, an algorithm for automatic registration of image and world reference frames was pursued to streamline integration of CBCT with real-time tracking and provide automatic updates per scan. Markers visible to the tracking and imaging systems are automatically co-localized and registered with equivalent accuracy and superior reproducibility compared to conventional registration. Such work helps the implementation of CBCT in H&N surgery to maximize surgical precision and exploit intraoperative image guidance.

Keywords: Image-Guided Interventions
Cone-Beam CT
Surgical Navigation
Image Registration
Head and Neck Surgery
Advisor: Siewerdsen, Jeffrey H.
Studying the Predictors of Clinical Heterogeneity in Boys with Severe Hemophilia A

Persons with severe hemophilia A exhibit significant variations in clinical phenotype; approximately 10% are milder bleeders. This study explored factors that might contribute to this inter-patient heterogeneity. Using a multi-center prospective study following boys with severe hemophilia A on a tailored primary prophylaxis regimen, age at first joint bleed, body mass index, protocol adherence and family activity level were modeled on the age at escalation from once-weekly to twice-weekly and alternate day infusions. Escalation, based on bleeding frequency, served as a surrogate marker of bleeding severity. We also assessed the roles of clinical and hemostatic parameters in predicting age at first joint bleed using a cross-sectional study. Results suggest that a delayed first joint bleed indicates later escalation (milder bleeding pattern) and that a longer lag time is associated with an earlier onset of joint bleeding. Larger studies are needed to definitively identify predictors of clinical heterogeneity in these patients.

Keywords: hemophilia A
severe
predictors
bleeding phenotype
clinical heterogeneity
musculoskeletal burden
age at first joint bleed
body mass index
hemostatic parameters
bleeding severity
Advisor: Feldman, Brian M.
Automatically Identifying Configuration Files

Systems can become misconfigured for a variety of reasons such as operator errors or buggy patches. When a misconfiguration is discovered, usually the first order of business is to restore availability, often by undoing the misconfiguration. To simplify this task, we propose Ocasta to automatically determine which files contain configuration state. Ocasta uses a novel {\em similarity} metric to measures how similar a file's versions are to each other, and a set of filters to eliminate non-persistent files from consideration. These two mechanisms enable Ocasta to identify all 72 configuration files out of 2363 versioned files from 6 common applications in two user traces, while mistaking only 33 non-configuration files as configuration files. Ocasta allows a versioning file system to eliminate roughly 66\% of non-configuration file versions from its logs, thus reducing the number of file versions that a user must manually examine to recover from a misconfiguration.

Keywords: configuration problem
configuration file
identify configuration file
similarity metric
troubleshooting system failure
versioning file system
misconfiguration
system recovery
operator errors
Advisor: Lie, David
Simulation and Compensation of Ionospheric Phase Phase Scintillation Noise in Spotlight SAR Data

This thesis addresses the problem of refocusing smeared SAR images caused by ionosphere phase scintillation noise. A SAR data is smeared when the received signal experiences phase irregularities due to platform orbit deviation, target movement, or, in this thesis, ionospheric scintillation noise due to trans-ionosphere propagation is analyzed. A SAR simulator is constructed to generate stripmap and spotlight data that satisfy theoretically predicted performances under ideal conditions. The simulator is incorporated with ionospheric phase scintillation models to analyze the broadening effect on system’s PSF. Degraded simulation spotlight data are used to test the proposed compensation algorithm. This thesis proposes a two-dimensional polynomial phase fitting algorithm to compensate scintillation noise. This work discusses some requirements of the scene in order to carry out the compensation and what is gained and lost in the process. A successful application of the proposed algorithm to TerraSAR-X data is also presented.

Keywords: RADAR
SAR
ionospheric noise
remote sensing
Advisor: Fotopoulos, Georgia
Adve, Raviraj
Back Amorphous-crystalline Silicon Heterojunction Photovoltaics: Fabrication Methodology

Back Amorphous-Crystalline silicon Heterojunction (BACH) solar cells which combine the benefits of back contact and heterojunction silicon solar cells have been fabricated at the University of Toronto. p- and n-type amorphous silicon deposited at low temperature (~<200 oC) by DC Saddle-Field PECVD system forms interdigitated hetero-emitter and base contacts on the rear-side. A photolithography approach using thermal oxide for electrical isolation demonstrates the proof-of-concept. Three methods for fabricating simplified and advanced BACH cells were explored. The best performing 1 cm2 cell showed an AM1.5G conversion efficiency of 8.11%, VOC = 0.536 V, JSC = 20.1 mA/cm2 and FF = 75.5%. The BACH cell performance is limited by poor surface passivation and un-optimized cell design. With completely low temperature processing, highly passivated front and rear surfaces, and independent optimization of front-side optical antireflective features and rear-side electrical junctions and contacts, the BACH cell has the potential of becoming highly cost competitive.

Keywords: Photovoltaic
Solar Cell
Back contact
Heterojunction
BACH
Silicon PV
Advisor: Kherani, Nazir P.
Zukotynski, Stefan
Directive-based General-purpose GPU Programming

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have become a competitive accelerator for non-graphics applications, mainly driven by the improvements in GPU programmability. Although the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) is a simple C-like interface for programming NVIDIA GPUs, porting applications to CUDA remains a challenge to average programmers. In particular, CUDA places on the programmer the burden of packaging GPU code in separate functions, of explicitly managing data transfer between the host and GPU memories, and of manually optimizing the utilization of the GPU memory. We have designed hiCUDA, a high-level directive-based language for CUDA programming. It allows programmers to perform these tedious tasks in a simpler manner, and directly to the sequential code. We have also prototyped a compiler that translates a hiCUDA program to a CUDA program and can handle real-world applications. Experiments using seven standard CUDA benchmarks show that the simplicity hiCUDA provides comes at no expense to performance.

Keywords: GPGPU
CUDA
data-parallelism
programming language
directive-based language
compiler
Advisor: Abdelrahman, Tarek S.
Geometric Control of Linear Patterned Systems

An interesting type of distributed system is a collection of identical subsystems that interact in a distinct pattern. A notable example is a ring, more commonly referred to as a circulant system. It is well known that control problems for circulant systems can be simplified by exploiting their common connection with the shift operator. Based on an examination of the algebraic properties underlying this connection, we identify a broader class of systems that share common base transformations. We call it the class of linear patterned systems. Members with meaningful physical interpretations include symmetric circulant systems, triangular Toeplitz systems and certain hierarchical systems. A geometric approach is employed to study the basic control properties of patterned systems, including controllability, observability and decomposition. Controller synthesis for several stabilization problems is then considered, and we show that a patterned solution to the problems exists if a general solution exists.

Keywords: geometric control
patterns
circulant
linear systems
Advisor: Broucke, Mireille E.
A Class Apart? The Legal Profession in Upper Canada from Creation to Confederation, 1791-1867

This thesis examines the role of the legal profession in Upper Canada from 1791 to 1867. In particular it focuses on whether or not the legal profession became the elite that they were set up to be. It examines the reasons behind choosing the legal profession as the elite. Between the creation of Upper Canada and Confederation there were several political and economic changes and I examine how these changes impacted the legal profession and the role that they had to play in the legal profession. I argue that while the legal profession failed to become the aristocratic elite that the early Upper Canadian leaders hoped for, it did become distinctively Upper Canadian.

Keywords: Law
History
Legal Profession
Upper Canada
Advisor: Phillips, Jim