VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
"Education? It is irrelevant to my job now, it makes me very depressed ... ": Exploring the health impacts of precarious employment among highly skilled recent immigrants in Mississauga, Ontario

This collaborative research explores the relationship between precarious employment and health among skilled immigrants in Mississauga, Ontario. In-depth interviews are used to examine the experiences of precarious employment and perceptions of subsequent health impacts among twenty-two recent immigrants. The findings indicate that mental health impacts are most prevalent as a result of lack of income, loss of employment-related skills, loss of social status and family pressure. These health concerns are also extended to family members. In addition to mental health, physical health is also impacted by employment circumstances through high levels of stress and strenuous working conditions. Further, mental and physical health are also affected indirectly through reduced access to health care services. Additional research is required to examine the long-term effects of these employment impacts. Moreover, reconsidering government initiatives and polices involving employment among skilled immigrants is necessary.
Dental hygiene quality assurance programs and related behavioural change: a comparative study of British Columbia and Ontario

The study objective was to compare the impact of two models of quality assurance (QA) programming on change in professional behaviour. The survey compared dental hygienists from British Columbia (BC) where continuing education (CE) time requirements exist and Ontario (ON) where a self-directed learning (SDL) approach is administered. Results demonstrated appropriate practice behaviour change was similarly implemented in both provinces. ON dental hygienists selected learning activities yielding appropriate change opportunities significantly more than BC dental hygienists. Small to moderate, positive correlations were demonstrated between SDL and participation in learning activities, change opportunities and change implementation. It is concluded that SDL is enhanced through QA programming, and SDL is positively correlated with quality outcome measures. Exclusion of CE time requirements did not negatively affect change implementation, and SDL positively impacted appropriate selection of learning activities. This suggests more productive use of learning time substantiating implementation of SDL in QA programming.

Keywords: Dental hygiene, Quality control
Critical theory and the spectacle of the CAAT program review: a Foucauldian discourse analysis

Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs), frequently referred to as the community college system, regularly undergo reviews of the diploma, degree and certificate programs that are offered. This dissertation studies the site of program review as a location for considering language as it is used in higher education, specifically the shift of discourses which originally framed the development of CAATs in Ontario from "access" and "community" to education as product and as driven by economic concerns. The program review offers the researcher a locale for study where many different voices intersect in the consideration of higher education. These voices include faculty, administration, industry and students. The language which is used in program reviews--and which I expand to an understanding of discourse--provides evidence of what we understand education to be in the site-specific location of a program within an Ontario college. The problem identified is the constraint of certain discourses upon our understanding of education in the community college and the absence of other discourses that allow for a fuller conversation about the public role of higher education. Specifically, my understanding of the central problem is twofold: first, education has become viewed as a product of the community college system; second, the neo-liberal ideologies which cause us to consider education as a product also cause us to see people as products of the system. In sum, particular kinds of discourses prevent us from understanding education as serving any purpose other than the fulfillment of economic purposes for the state. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this dissertation considers the policies shaping program reviews and the language used by reviewers themselves in a single case study of a program review at an Ontario college. The dominant discourses, informed by Foucault's consideration of the juridico-political, economic and scientific manifestations of historic ideologies are identified. Counterdiscourses are also identified as are discourses "in absentia"--those discourses as manifestations of ideology which become marginalized, disenfranchised, silenced or, more significantly, invisible ("unvoiceable"). Finally, this dissertation identifies the role of "problematization" and emanicipatory research potentials to serve more inclusive program reviews.
Design of a 5 DOF flexible fixture for robotic assembly

Fixturing is an important requirement for many manufacturing and assembly operations. If flexible manufacturing and assembly system are to be truly flexible then the fixturing must also be flexible. A novel grasping strategy and gripper for fixturing in 3-D is presented for robotic assembly. The proposed fixture has three fingers, each equipped with a suction cup, to ease the grasping process and increase attaching flexibility. Using this method, the designed fixture is sufficiently general in order to fully grasp a variety of generic parts. To position suction cups, several linkage-based mechanisms are employed. Pneumatic cylinders and electrical motors are used as actuators to solve the space limitation and weight problem. Software has been developed to calculate the relative positions and angles in the mechanism as required for reconfiguration. A novel localization method is established to compensate for errors related to initial dislocation of the part due to low accuracy part bins from which parts are grasped. Several force and mechanism simulations are provided to verify the function and performance of the fixture.
Protein and lipid assemblies in bovine brain myelin

The precise functions of the major myelin proteins remain unknown, even after much research in the field. The work presented herein investigates myelin protein function by identifying protein-binding partners and by co-localizing proteins to isolated myelin membrane microdomains. Towards this goal, co-immunoprecipitation analysis of the Triton-soluble extract revealed that a portion of the major myelin proteins MBP, PLP and the small isoform of MAG (S-MAG) formed a complex in myelin. The PLP-MBP-S-MAG complex also contained p42 MAPK, some phosphorylated proteins and likely occurs in the periaxonal region or paranodal loops of myelin. Flotation of the Triton-insoluble extract on sucrose density gradients revealed two low-density fractions (B1 and B2), both indicative of lipid rafts since they were enriched in GalC, cholesterol, and contained the GPI-linked NCAM120. The rafts had size-isoform specificity for PLP, MAG, and MAPK, while actin and tubulin were localized primarily to B2. The differential protein composition of B1 and B2 suggests distinct functions of these two myelin microdomains. Furthermore, the characterization of myelin extracts led to the identification of MEK and CD44, which had not been previously shown to be in myelin. Also, an ER similar to ERbeta and caveolin-1 were identified in myelin membranes by 2D-PAGE, mass spectrometry and western blotting. These proteins had also not been previously shown to occur in myelin. Knowledge of the function of myelin protein interactions is central to understanding myelin formation, compaction, maintenance and dynamic functions such as communication with the axon.
Mechanism of neuronal damage following mild in-vitro traumatic neuronal injury

Thus, sublethal stretch injury results in elevated ROS that are tolerated by the cultures, but imparts neurons with decreased resiliency to secondary excitotoxic insults specifically associated with NMDAR-triggered NO production via the coupling of NMDA receptors to PSD-95. The result of this interaction is further ROS production specifically associated with toxic nitrogen radical species, leading to non-apoptotic cell death. Traumatic brain injury mechanisms are categorized into primary injury and secondary injury. Primary injury is defined as the injury resulting from the initial mechanical event (direct injury), whereas secondary injury is the delayed damage arising from the signaling pathways triggered by the primary insult. Unlike primary injury, secondary injury may be amenable to treatment and pharmacological intervention. Using primary cortical neuronal cultures grown on flexible silastic membranes, we established parameters needed to mechanically stretch cells to a degree and duration that itself produces sublethal injury. Although the cells survived the stretch, it imparted them with an enhanced vulnerability to secondary excitotoxic insults specifically associated with NMDAR activity. The increased vulnerability to NMDA was dependent on Ca2+ influx through NMDARs. Stretch had no detectable effect on NMDA receptor function or synaptic activity, indicating that postsynaptic mechanisms downstream from NMDARs may be responsible. Following sublethal stretch, neurons exhibited a transient reduction in mitochondrial potential. Secondary NMDA insults prevented complete mitochondrial repolarization, and cultures exhibited both TUNEL staining and DNA laddering on gel electrophoresis---hallmarks of apoptosis. However, caspase 3 activation was not observed, and treatment with a pan caspase inhibitor z-vad-FMK did not attenuate vulnerability to NMDA, suggesting against a classical apoptotic mechanism. Moreover, apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and endonuclease-g did not translocate into the nucleus, suggesting against caspase independent apoptotic mechanisms. Stretched neurons exhibited a rapid production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which were well tolerated by the cultures. The secondary NMDA insult caused greater ROS production and increased cell death, TUNEL immunoreactivity, and protein nitration. NOS inhibition reduced the enhanced vulnerability and DNA fragmentation. Dissociating NMDARs from PSD-95 with TAT fusion peptides also reduced the enhanced vulnerability of stretched cultures to NMDA, and reduced ROS production and nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity.
Life history study of first-generation South Asian immigrant teachers' experiences of joining and working in the Canadian teaching force

Examining the life histories of four first-generation South Asian immigrant teachers by using in-depth interviews and phenomenological research, this qualitative study explores evolution, continuities and changes in these teachers' pedagogies, worldviews, relationships, and identities in response to their geographic, cultural and professional relocations. It identified the challenges and opportunities they faced and the strategies they used in negotiating their entrance and place in the Canadian teaching force. The findings both enrich and challenge existing theories of teachers' re-socialization, agency, identity negotiation, and multiculturalism. The participants emerged as knowledgeable, compassionate and capable educators. Adapting to the new context, they exhibited varied and flexible pedagogy, bringing a holistic perspective to their multicultural classrooms. Once settled, they engaged in the available professional development activities and took on leadership roles in their schools. The findings have crucial implications for immigrant teacher training programs and teacher professional development in Canadian, multicultural, and comparative contexts.
Circuits for high-density low-power content-addressable memories

This thesis presents two novel circuits that increase memory density and reduce power consumption in Content-Addressable Memories (CAM). The proposed ternary CAM (TCAM) cell uses a four-transistor (4T) static storage element to achieve ternary implementation in the same area as previously reported binary CAM cells. This reduction in cell size improves TCAM density by 25%. The proposed match-line (ML) sensing scheme dynamically allocates less current to match-lines with more mismatches. This mismatch-dependent current allocation reduces power consumption by 60%.
Application of time-frequency filtering to chirp coded tissue harmonic imaging

In this simulation study, the use of coded excitation methods for improving the performance of harmonic ultrasound imaging systems is described. Specifically, the use of chirp coded transmission waveforms is examined with the objective of extracting the second harmonic backscattered signal within one transmission cycle. An efficient method for predicting the transient nonlinear field from a focused transducer has been developed. Filtering schemes which utilize properties of chirps in the joint time-frequency domain were examined. Such filters take advantage of the fact that the harmonic components of a backscattered chirp are separable in time-frequency space. Specifically, filters based on the fractional Fourier transform (FrFT) and Chirplet transforms were investigated. The effectiveness of both schemes in eliminating the undesired compression sidelobes in the case of non-overlapping echoes has been demonstrated through simulations.
Formal definitions of Key Exchange models and the effects of restrictions on adversaries

When defining security for Key Exchange, there are two popular ways to base such definitions. The first is indistinguishable based definitions and the second is simulation based. This thesis will focus on indistinguishable based definitions and how variations on these definitions relate to each other. Emphasis will be placed on the addition of session ids to a key exchange protocol and the effect they have on the definition of security. Lastly, we will briefly study limitations of an adversary for one of the model definitions presented.
Performance improvement of case-based reasoning systems by integrating them with feature selection techniques

In order to extend the capabilities of case-based reasoning (CBR), we propose the ensemble for case-based reasoning (E4CBR) method, where an ensemble of CBR classifiers is combined with spectral clustering and logistic regression. The case-base of each CBR classifier is formed first by applying the spectral clustering to group the case-base (training set) into non-overlapping case-bases, then the logistic regression ranks the features in each individual case-base. To predict the label of an input (test) case, each classifier in the ensemble predicts a label, and the aggregation component of E4CBR combines the labels using the CBR approach. We report the evaluation of E4CBR on three public real biological data sets and also on an online retail web store. We also compare the classification error with a single CBR classifier applied to our data sets. In our experiments, we use TA Zcy;---a computational framework for CBR systems. Our results show that E4CBR reduces the classification error of our CBR classifier. Based on our empirical results, our aggregation method outperforms the existing aggregation methods in CBR. Finally, we compare our list of discovered gene expression values and biomarkers with the lists of selected genes and biomarkers from other studies for the microarray and mass spectrometry data sets.
Wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for 10 Gb/s optical links

The recently approved IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) standard is an economical solution to the existing speed bottlenecks in short reach local and metropolitan area networks. One of the primary challenges in implementing 10 GE is the design of cost-effective, wide dynamic range and low power optical receivers. The dynamic range of an optical receiver depends on the performance of the transimpedance amplifier (TIA). In this work, a high speed TIA suitable for all short to medium reach 10 Gb/s applications, including 10 GE and OC-192 SONET, was implemented in IBM's mature 0.5mum SiGe BiCMOS technology. A new parallel feedback topology employing both shunt-shunt and shunt-series feedback was utilized to achieve wider dynamic range than a conventional common-emitter shunt-shunt feedback design. Given an optical overload specification, the parallel feedback architecture can use a larger feedback resistor resulting in improved noise performance. The fabricated TIA had a total area of 1 x 1 mm2 and featured a dynamic range of 18.4 dBm; over which it maintained a bit error rate (BER) less than 10-12. The power consumption was 189mW from a 3.3V supply. This represents a 55% power savings when compared to previously reported state of the art designs.
Glutamate genes in obsessive-compulsive disorder including childhood onset cases and neuroimaging

There is growing evidence for a substantial genetic contribution to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Candidate genes within the glutamate system were selected for the current project based on converging lines of evidence implicating altered cortico-striatal glutamatergic neurotransmission in OCD. Objectives. (1) Analyzing for association between OCD and variation within selected glutamate candidate genes; and 2) Testing for association of glutamate genes with neuroimaging phenotypes in a pediatric OCD sample. Methods. We initially tested for association between OCD diagnosis and the gene encoding the Glutamate Receptor, Ionotropic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) 2B (GRIN2B) subunit in 130 small nuclear families of adults with OCD. This was followed by a study of GRIN2B, GRIN 1 and GRIN2A in a larger multi-site sample (249 families) of adults and children with OCD. The third family-based study (157 families) focused on the glutamate transporter gene Solute Linked Carrier, Family 1, Member 1 (SLC1A1). Genetic variants found to be associated with OCD were subsequently tested for association with neuroimaging phenotypes derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MR spectroscopy (MRS) studies of 29 children with OCD. Results. A positive association between variants of GRIN2B and OCD were identified in the initial family-based study. Similarly, in the larger multi-site sample a two-marker haplotype in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of GRIN2B was associated with OCD (p= 0.0008), in addition to a promoter region variant (p=0.02). In SLC1A1, a 2-marker haplotype was significantly associated with OCD (p=0.005 after permutation testing); a finding that was stronger in transmissions to male compared with female offspring. Significant associations were identified between left orbitofrontal cortex volume and GRIN2B (p=.02), increased thalamic volume and SLC1A1 (p=.03), and decreased anterior cingulate glutamatergic concentration and GRIN2B (p=.02). Conclusions. In summary, associations were identified between variants of GRIN2B and SLC1A1 and OCD, in addition to preliminary associations between these genes and structural and metabolic phenotypes derived from MRI and MRS. These findings provide further support for the role of glutamate in OCD pathogenesis. It is hoped that these investigations have suggested etiologic factors in OCD that may in turn lead to improved prediction of persons at risk, and design of new treatments.
The impact of diagnostic uncertainty on antibiotic prescribing for pediatric respiratory tract infection

Antibiotic misuse for viral upper respiratory tract infections (URI) in children is a significant public health problem. We determined the influence of clinical features (age, general appearance, fever), which increase diagnostic uncertainty in children with URI, on antibiotic prescribing for URI using clinical judgment analysis. We created 16 scenarios of children with URI and distributed them to 540 pediatricians and family practitioners in Ontario by mail survey. Logistic regression was used to determine the association of these and demographic variables with antibiotic prescribing. Two hundred fifty-seven physicians responded. Poor general appearance, fever above 38.5Â°C and age over 2 years were associated with prescribing, whereas, parental pressure for an antibiotic was not. Physician demographic characteristics associated with antibiotic use were: family practitioner, female physician, larger number of patients seen per week and increased physician age. Thus, clinical factors, suggestive of more serious infection, contribute to diagnostic uncertainty and are associated with antibiotic use for pediatric URI.
Continuity in primary care and its impact on investments in health capital. an application and extension of the grossman model of the demand for health

This thesis examines continuity in primary care within the framework of an economic model of health. Grossman's Model of the Demand for Health explores how individual factors such as education affect the efficiency in the production of health investments and the resulting addition to one's stock of health. This thesis posits that continuity of care also increases the efficiency of investments in health and uses this theoretical framework to look at continuity of care and its impact on the demand for health. The main objectives of this study were to: determine what individual patient characteristics are associated with continuity of care; assess the relationship between continuity of care and health status; assess the relationship between continuity in primary care and ambulatory care utilization; and study the effect of the presence of a chronic condition. The study used data from the 1994 National Population Health Survey and linked it ambulatory care and hospitalization data. Continuity was measured by Bice and Boxerman's COC index. The analyses included multivariate regression to model continuity of care with individual-level variables and ambulatory care utilization. Stratification on the basis of whether or not a patient had a chronic condition was also used to look at the effect of this variable on the relationship in question. A strong relationship was found between continuity in primary care and patient age, retirement and income. Increasing continuity was associated with decreasing rates of medical hospitalizations, indicating a possible relationship between continuity and health. A negative association was found between continuity in primary care and the number of visits made per patient. This relationship was not affected by individuals' chronic disease status. Expenditures appeared to be unrelated to continuity of care, except among patients with chronic conditions, where the relationship was found to be negative. This study demonstrated an association between continuity of care and the demand for medical care. These findings support the hypothesis that with greater continuity, patients realize greater returns on the investments in their health capital. As a result, they derive more health benefits and experience a reduced demand for health and for further health care.