VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Motivation To Use Animal Assisted Therapy Among Psychotherapy and Counselling Graduate Students

Though there is evidence of the benefits of incorporating Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) in counselling, this therapy is obscure to many Canadian students. This online study explored Canadian counselling and clinical psychology graduate students' attitudes toward, and perceptions of, AAT. Responses obtained from 224 students indicated that 37% of students are motivated to use AAT and 48% are motivated to learn more about it. Participants with higher motivation were more likely to be females, older, counselling students, and have pets. Students recognized many advantages of using AAT, such as improving health and reducing stress, but also identified important concerns for the welfare of clients. Furthermore, students reported receiving no AAT materials or supervision in their academic programs, but the majority of them are interested in attending symposiums or workshops on AAT. These findings can be used to increase awareness of students’ interest in educational and professional programs on AAT.

Keywords: Animal- Assisted Therapy
Counselling Psychology
Human- Animal Bond
Advisor: Schneider, Margaret S
Beyond Animal Testing: Open Rescue, Sentient Empathy and Research-informed Theatre - As an Extension of Ourselves...At our Sentient Best!

If sentience is defined as the capacity of living beings to experience sense, cognition and feelings, then the concept of sentient empathy can be described as the direct identification with, understanding of, and affection to another animal's situation, feelings, and motives. As a pressing social issue, can an awareness of animal testing within universities elicit sentient empathy among a wider public? This thesis explores this question by analysing the findings from interviews with three ‘open rescue’ activists. It then examines the possibilities of utilizing Research-Informed Theatre (RIT) for sharing the interview findings, with a view toward eliciting sentient empathy among the public.

Keywords: Animal Ethics
Animal Testing
Research-Informed Theatre
Sentient Empathy as Activism
Social Justice Education
Speciesism
Advisor: Goldstein, Professor Tara
Integrated Feeds for Electronically Reconfigurable Apertures

With the increasing ubiquity of wireless technology, the need for lower-profile, electronically reconfigurable, highly-directive beam-steering antennas is increasing. This thesis proposes a new electronic beam-steering antenna architecture which combines the full-space beam-steering properties of reflectarrays and transmitarrays with the low-profile feeding characteristics of leaky-wave antennas. Two designs are developed: an integrated feed reflectarray and an integrated feed transmitarray, both of which integrate a leaky-wave feed directly next to the reconfigurable aperture itself. The integrated feed transmitarray proved to be the better architecture due to its simpler design and better performance. A 6-by-6 element array was fabricated and experimentally verified, and full-space (both azimuth and elevation) beam-steering was demonstrated at angles up to 45 degrees off broadside. In addition to the reduction in profile, the integrated feed design enables robust fixed control of the amplitude distribution across the aperture, a characteristic not as easily attained in typical reflectarrays/transmitarrays.

Keywords: antenna
beam-steering
leaky-wave
reconfigurable
reflectarray
transmitarray
Advisor: Hum, Sean V
Salivary Melatonin Levels in Pregnant Women with Insomnia: A Prospective Cohort Study with Two Comparison Groups

Insomnia in pregnancy is associated with depression, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and preterm labor. In normal pregnancies, maternal plasma melatonin levels increase significantly as pregnancy proceeds, reaching its peak near term. However, the role of melatonin in insomnia during pregnancy is not known. The objective of this study was to measure nocturnal saliva melatonin levels in pregnant women with and without insomnia. Results did not show a significant difference in melatonin levels between insomniac (treated and untreated) and healthy pregnant women in all trimesters. However, sub-group analysis showed significantly lower melatonin levels in untreated insomniac pregnancies compared to healthy pregnancies and those treated with sleep medications. Results of this study confirmed lower levels of nocturnal melatonin in untreated pregnancies with insomnia. Future research is needed to investigate the safety and efficacy of melatonin supplementation for the treatment of insomnia in pregnancy, replacing psychotropic drugs.

Keywords: Insomnia
Melatonin
Pregnancy
Treatment
Advisor: Ito, Shinya
Koren, Gideon
The Abiotic Internet: Internet Mediation Through Organizational Practice at Na-Me-Res

This thesis examines the role of the internet in sustaining the organizational practices of Toronto’s Native Men’s Residence (Na-Me-Res) by attempting to answer the question; how essential is the internet in sustaining the delivery of Na-Me-Res’s key programs and services? The theoretical framework employed in the course of this study synthesizes the concept of indirect interactions borrowed from Ecology Studies (Moon, Moon, Keagy, 2010; Wootton, 1994) with a Systems Theory (Capra Luisi, 2014; Luhmann, 1986) approach to explicating social patterns within complex organizations. Semi-structured interviews, visual aids, and non participatory observations were employed with a view to investigating the internet’s role in supporting Na-Me-Res’s operations from the background of daily practice. The results illuminate that the internet can be framed as an abiotic resource within the organization, one that is indirectly implicated in the lives of clients and residents as a socially mediated technology resource.

Keywords: abiotic resources
essential services
internet as resource
social technology needs
systems theory
technology practice
Advisor: Shade, Leslie R
Maternal High Fat Diet Alters the Transcriptional Response to Glucocorticoid and Immune Challenge in the Amygdala and Hippocampus of Adult Rat Offspring

Maternal overnutrition during pre- and post-(peri)natal periods of development has previously been suggested to increase offspring risk for developing psychiatric disorders. The mental impacts are often accompanied by altered expressions of glucocorticoid receptors (GR), which regulate the inflammatory response to stress. In this study, rats were acutely injected with corticosterone (CORT) and/or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in adulthood after perinatal exposure to maternal high-fat diet (HFD) to examine its effects on responding to stress. Gene transcript analyses in the amygdala and hippocampus revealed higher immunosuppressive activity and altered abundance of genes associated with anxiety- and depressive-like behavior compared to rats perinatally exposed to standard diets. These effects were sex and brain region-specific, and appeared to coincide with levels of GR. Epigenetic analyses suggest impairments in the DNA methylation machinery to be related to these diet differences. Hence, perinatal HFD incurs differential immune responses to stress in the rodent brain.

Keywords: DNA methylation
HPA-axis
Limbic system
Maternal high-fat diet
Neuroinflammation
Stress
Advisor: McGowan, Patrick O
"I Got Accepted": Perceptions of Saudi Graduate Students on Factors influencing their Application Experience

This qualitative study aims at examining a number of challenges faced by Saudi students in the process of learning English while studying in an anglophone country. Through the lens of gatekeeping scholarship, progressive educational theory and formal, non-formal and informal learning modalities, certain factors such as the students’ linguistic background and their current experience were explored in an effort to shed light on these challenges. This study sought to uncover lesser known factors which come into play when predicting the success of Saudi students who study overseas. I examined students’ perceptions about their English learning experience in Saudi Arabia and Canada and how prior learning facilitates acceptance into graduate programs. Discourse analysis was conducted on data collected mainly through semi-structured interviews and analysis of the students’ letters of intent and curriculum vitae. Barring special circumstances, the IELTS was found to be the defining factor in successful graduate applications.

Keywords: active learning
ESL
Graduate
learning types
Saudi students
university admission
Advisor: Piccardo, Enrica
Vascular Modulation of Resting-state fMRI Functional Connectivity

Widely used in resting-state fMRI functional connectivity measurement (fcMRI), the BOLD signal is an indirect measure of neuronal activity, inherently modulated by vascular physiology. Notably, cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) varies across individuals irrespective of neuronal changes, with unknown implications, compromising fcMRI interpretation. This work quantifies the relationship between CVR and resting motor fcMRI in healthy young adults. We modulate CVR within each individual, altering vascular tension through end-tidal CO2 (PETCO2), and measure fcMRI during hypercapnic, hypocapnic and normocapnic states. PETCO2 significantly influenced CVR and fcMRI, but with different directionalities. Resting motor fcMRI was significantly positively associated with CVR across the group, however, the CVR-fcMRI relationship was highly subject dependent. Furthermore, the relationship was not mediated by BOLD signal fluctuation amplitude. This work demonstrates and quantifies a major vascular modulator of resting fcMRI among healthy individuals. We suggest that correcting for CVR in fcMRI is important in studying healthy and diseased brains.

Keywords: Cerebrovascular reactivity
fMRI
Functional connectivity
Functional MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging
Resting-state
Advisor: Chen, J. Jean
Strother, Stephen C
Stalin’s Baku Curve: A Detonating Mixture of Crime and Revolution

The paper Stalin’s Baku Curve, a Detonating Mix of Crime and Revolution presents a brief insight into the earliest periods of activities of one of the most ominous and yet still insufficiently understood political figures of the 20th century – Joseph Stalin. The major emphasis of the work is made on Stalin’s period in Baku in 1902-1910. A rapidly growing industrial hub providing almost half of the world’s crude oil, Baku was in the meantime a brewery of revolutionary ideas. Heavily imbued with crime, corruption and ethnic tensions, the whole environment provided an excellent opportunity for Stalin to undergo his “revolutionary universities” through extortion, racketeering, revolutionary propaganda and substantial incarceration period’s in Baku’s famous Bailov prison. Along with this, the Baku period brought Stalin into close contact with the then Russian secret police, Okhranka, that left an indelible imprint on Stalin’s character and ruling style as an irremovable leader of the Soviet empire for almost three decades. By tracing life of young Stalin in Baku the paper tries to provide an insight into what Dmitry Volkogonov (a famous Russian historian) identified as “the subterranean worm and the silent chrysalis before it hatched a steel-winged butterfly”.

Advisor: Levine, David
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Trial Evaluating the Effect of Intranasal Insulin on Cognition and Emotional Processing in Individuals with Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder

Aim: Available evidence indicates that individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) differentially respond to emotionally valenced information alongside impairments in cognition; however, the exact underlying pathophysiological mechanisms subserving these deficits have yet to be elucidated. This thesis represents a proof-of-concept study informed by extant evidence implicating altered brain metabolism and function in individuals with MDD. Methods: Subjects (N=35) were randomized to receive 40 IU QID placebo (n=16) or insulin (n=19) in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study to examine the effects of intranasal insulin on measures evaluating mood, neurocognition, and quality of life. Results: No significant differences were observed on any primary measures of interest following analyses. However, methodological limitations (i.e., significant carryover/practice effects) should be taken into consideration for interpretation. Conclusion: Intranasal insulin did not demonstrate an effect on mood, neurocognitive/ neuropsychological, or quality of life metrics. Approaches for future trials with intranasal insulin in this clinical population are discussed.

Keywords: Cognition
Emotion
Intranasal Insulin
Major Depressive Disorder
Treatment Resistance
Advisor: McIntyre, Dr. Roger S.
Examining Agreement and Variability among National and International Guideline Treatment Recommendations for Asthma and Bronchiolitis

Background: There may be variability in guideline recommendations for a condition. Objective: To determine variability among asthma and bronchiolitis recommendations and related factors. Design/Methods: Kappa, guideline variability index (GVI), and univariable and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Results: The overall kappa for asthma was 0.03 unweighted and weighted ((95% CI, -0.01, 0.07)(95% CI, -0.01, 0.10)) and bronchiolitis was unweighted 0.32 (95% CI, 0.16, 0.52) and weighted 0.15 (95% CI, -0.01, 0.5). The mean [SD] asthma GVI was 1.7 [0.48] and bronchiolitis was 1.17 [0.92]. Using a multivariable linear regression, mean level of evidence (0.54 (95% CI, 0.0, 1.09)) and mean strength of recommendation (−0.68 (95% CI, -1.30, -0.07)) were significantly associated with variability among asthma guidelines. Conclusions: There was variability among guideline treatment recommendations. Mean level of evidence and mean strength of recommendation significantly contributed to variation in guideline recommendations for asthma but not for bronchiolitis.

Keywords: asthma
bronchiolitis
child
clinical practice guideline
pediatric
recommendations
Advisor: Parkin, Patricia C
Cohen, Eyal
Simplified Model for Nonlinear Frequency-dependent Soil with Shallow Foundation

This thesis introduces a new approach to seismic Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) analysis method for shallow foundation using simplified models. The study is inspired by the increasing number of interest amongst engineers and researchers in the nonlinear behavior of shallow foundation as the behavior is unavoidable. The conventional methods of capturing this phenomenon includes a detailed Finite Element Method (FEM) model. However, due to large computational effort in modeling and analysis, it is not a feasible option in the current practice. In this thesis, a method is proposed where macro element for static inelastic behavior and a recursive parameter model for frequency-dependent dynamic characteristics of soil-foundation system are integrated. The proposed method is verified in the two dimensional parametric space of frequency and inelasticity. Then, a practical application example of the proposed modelling method is presented.

Keywords: Frequency dependent soil
Macroelement
Shallow foundation
Soil-Structure Interaction
Advisor: Kwon, Oh-Sung
Functionalization of Cellulose Nanocrystals with PEG-metal-chelating Diblock Copolymers via Controlled Conjugation in Aqueous Medium

The surface of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was successfully functionalized with metal chelating diblock copolymers via HyNic-4FB conjugation. Two types of PEG-metal-chelating block polymers with hydrazinonicotinate acetone hydrazine (HyNic) end groups were synthesized: mPEG-PGlu(DTPA)18-HyNic and mPEG-PGlu(DTPA)25-HyNic. These two polymers both had a methoxy PEG (M ~ 2000 Da) block that differed in the mean degree of polymerization of the metal-chelating block. They were characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy and gel-permeation chromatography (GPC). 4-Formylbenzamide (4FB) groups were introduced onto the surface of CNCs and quantified through their reaction with 2-hydrazinopyridine. The polymers were grafted onto the surface of CNCs via bis-aryl hydrazone bond formation, and the kinetics of this reaction was explored by UV/Vis spectroscopy. The CNCs were also labeled with rhodamine and Alexa Fluor® 488 dyes. Students in our collaborator's group in Pharmacy are examining applications of these materials as radiotherapeutic agents for cancer treatment.

Keywords: Cell imaging
Cellulose nanocrystals
Drug delivery
Nanomedicine
Advisor: Winnik, Mitchell A
Design and Characterization of the UTIAS Anechoic Wind Tunnel

The anechoic open-jet wind tunnel facility at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies was updated and characterized to meet the needs of current and future aeroacoustic experiments. The wind tunnel inlet was resurfaced and flow-conditioning screens were redesigned to improve the freestream turbulence intensity to below 0.4% in the test section. The circular nozzle was replaced with a square secondary contraction that increased the maximum test section velocity to 75 m/s and improved flow uniformity to over 99% across a usable cross-sectional area of 500 mm × 500 mm. Acoustic baffles were installed in front of the wind tunnel inlet and foam wedges were installed in the anechoic chamber. The overall background sound pressure levels in the chamber were improved by 8-18 db over the range of operational freestream velocities. The anechoic chamber cut-off frequency is 170 Hz and the reverberation time for a 60 dB sound power decay is 0.032 s.

Keywords: aeroacoustic
anechoic
wind tunnel
Advisor: Lavoie, Philippe
Potassium Catalyst Mobility and its Effect on Co-gasification Kinetics

The mobility of potassium catalyst in various gasification environments was investigated. Tools and methods were developed for mobility studies: (1) intra-particle and inter-particle mobility of potassium was observed with imaging Time-of-Flight – Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, (2) a versatile, bench-scale, flow system was designed to study the effect of reaction conditions, feed injection, and pretreatment protocols on the gasification kinetics. Mixed feeds of non-catalyzed and catalyzed feedstocks showed a variety of behaviour attributed to inter-particle mobility. Synergistic behaviour, where total gasification profile improved over the combined separate reactivity, was observed. In other cases, a decrease in combined performance (antagonism) was attributed to catalyst contact with aluminosilicate poisons in certain feedstocks. Preheating of chars, allowing pre-dispersion of potassium, produced higher reactivity than sudden injection. The latter better simulates the reaction history of particles in fluidized-bed gasifiers and indicates that catalyst mobility kinetics will have an effect on gasifier performance.

Keywords: catalysis
co-gasification
Advisor: Mims, Charles A
Social Network Analysis of Asynchronous Discussion in Online Learning

Online learning is often informed by constructivist principles aimed at encouraging collaborative knowledge building through asynchronous online discussion. Social network analysis is uniquely suited to studying these socio-cognitive processes because it emphasizes interactions rather than the attributes of individual participants. This paper uses social network analysis to explore the networks formed by different types of interaction in online discussion and to analyze the ways in which each type of interaction is related to the others. The resulting insights will help instructors design and monitor online courses to facilitate knowledge building as well as to assess both the quality and the quantity of student contributions.

Keywords: asynchronous discussion
constructivism
knowledge building
online learning
SNA
social network analysis
Advisor: Brett, Clare
The Effect of Mechanical Ventilation on Lung Epithelial Cell Fate

Premature infants who are subjected to mechanical ventilation (MV) are prone to lung injury that may result in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease characterized by simplification of normal lung complexity. MV induces pulmonary apoptosis and halts alveolar development. However, it is unknown whether ventilation-induced apoptosis is associated with autophagy. I propose that lung epithelial cells subjected to injurious mechanical stretch exhibit cell death by a complex interplay between autophagy and apoptosis. The aims of this thesis are first, to determine the role of autophagy in mechanical stretch-induced lung epithelial cell death, and secondly, to determine the significance of upstream ceramide signaling. I demonstrate that MV of day 7 newborn rat lung as well as mechanical cyclic stretch of fetal rat lung epithelial (FRLE) cells rapidly induces autophagy as shown by increased ATG5-12, ATG7 and LC3B-II production, and autophagosomal formation. Prolonged MV and stretch also induces apoptosis that was attenuated by class III PI3K inhibition as well as by Atg7 siRNA knockdown. By contrast, inhibition of autophagic flux by Bafilomycin A1 enhanced FRLE apoptosis in response to mechanical stretch. Sphingolipid analysis revealed that ceramide levels, in particular of C16 ceramide, were rapidly elevated in response to MV and stretch. C16 ceramide treatment triggered similar temporal activation patterns of autophagy and apoptosis in FRLE cells as seen with mechanical stretch, and activation of both pathways by C16 ceramide was abrogated by Atg7 siRNA knockdown. Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1 (SMPD1) was activated by ventilation and stretch, and its inhibition prevented FRLE cell death by autophagy and apoptosis. These results demonstrate that MV (stretch)-induced SMPD1 activity leads to ceramide accumulation, resulting in lung epithelial apoptosis via autophagy, and identifies SMPD1 as a potential therapeutic target for limiting ventilation-induced BPD.

Keywords: apoptosis
autophagy
BPD
ceramide
lung
ventilation
Advisor: Post, Martin
Cadmium-induced Autophagy and Autophagic Contribution to Cell Death in Cadmium-treated Mesangial Cells

Cadmium (Cd) is a nephrotoxic metal that has a number of consequences for renal function. Cells exposed to Cd may have methods to counteract toxic effects with processes like autophagy. Autophagy is an intracellular degradation system that delivers cytoplasmic constituents to the lysosome. This study investigated the mechanism of Cd-induced autophagy, and the relationship between autophagy and cell survival. At 10 µM exposure for 24 hours, Cd-induced autophagy was found to be reactive oxygen species-independent, and suppressed with thapsigargin treatment, suggesting the necessity of intracellular Ca2+. Inhibition of the Jun-N-Terminal Kinase resulted in the greatest suppression of Cd-induced autophagy. Autophagy was found to be protective against cell death elicited by the toxic metal, and the absence of autophagy resulted in increased apoptosis in mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. This study adds insight to the mechanism and protective effects of Cd-induced autophagy, and provides the groundwork for future experiments.

Keywords: Apoptosis
Autophagy
Cadmium
Cell Death
Cell Survival
Mesangial Cells
Advisor: Templeton, Douglas M