VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Psychology of Ritual: An Empirical Investigation of Ritual’s Regulatory Functions and Psychological Processes

Traditionally, ritual has been studied from broad sociocultural perspectives. Recently, however, psychologists have begun turning their attention to the study of ritual, uncovering the causal properties driving this puzzling yet universal aspect of human behavior. With growing interest in the psychology of ritual, the aim of this dissertation was twofold: First, I propose an integrative theoretical framework of ritual that organIntroizes recent empirical work from psychology and the cognitive and neuroscience fields. In this framework I propose that all ritual serves three regulatory functions. Namely, rituals regulate (1) social behaviors, (2) goal states, and (3) emotions. I explain each function by drawing on bottom-up and top-down processes, and suggest that all forms of ritual are a result of some combination of these two levels of psychological processing. Second, I use the framework to generate testable predictions and outline seven experiments as part of this research program. In Studies 1 and 2, I found evidence that novel rituals strengthen ingroup ties but at the expense of outgroup distrust (Study 1), a bias response that is amplified as a ritual becomes more effortful (Study 2). In Study 3, I found that minor variations in the amount of (mis)matching in a ritual sequence predicts differences in group functioning. In Studies 4 and 5, I found evidence to suggest that how a ritual is created, in terms of its physical features, depends on the underlying motivational context (Study 4). As a built-in regulatory mechanism, the embodiment of ritual allows a group to anticipate future goal states, with physical styles of ritual either helping or hindering collective performance (Study 5). The last two studies examined the role that personal ritual plays in mitigating anxiety. In Study 6, I found that ritual is capable of muting the neuroaffective response to failure. Finally, the findings from Study 7 suggest that ritualized movements minimize anxiety by blocking out surrounding emotional stimuli. The current research contributes to the growing interest in the psychology of ritual. Together, by appreciating the value of psychological theory and experimental methods, the current dissertation broadens our understanding of ritual and human behavior more generally.

Keywords: emotions
group bias
group processes
joint coordination
performance
ritual
Advisor: Inzlicht, Michael
Monitoring Depth of Anaesthesia through 40-Hz ASSR

Awareness during general anaesthesia is a devastating experience that frequently leads to post traumatic stress disorder for years after the incident. The rate of intra-operative awareness with memory formation is estimated between 1 to 2 per thousand operations, the rate increases in patients with less healthy physical status. The thesis proposes an anaesthesia monitoring system, that accurately measures depth of anaesthesia (DoA) through 40-Hz auditory steady state response (ASSR). With accurate and fast DoA measuring the monitor can reduce the incidence of awareness during surgical operation. On a preliminary stage to anaesthesia monitoring 40-Hz ASSR is recorded from 26 subjects while awake and asleep. The signals variation are studied during wakefulness and N3 stage of sleep. The cycles at the two stages are classiﬁed with as low as 0.5% error rate. On the anaesthesia monitoring stage data is recorded from 32 human subjects before, during and after induction of anaesthesia, while anaesthesia is being maintained, and during emergence from anaesthesia. The buried under electroencephalogram (EEG) 40-Hz ASSR cycles are extracted with a novel adaptive multi-level denoising algorithm. The proposed algorithm enabled the system to extract ASSR cycles over short periods of time which is of crucial importance in monitoring anaesthesia, increase accuracy and signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the extracted cycles. The modiﬁed fuzzy c-means clustering scheme, proposed to improve clustering performance in noisy data bases where no prior information about the level of noise and signal energy is available, is used for clustering the ASSR cycles. The DoA index is deﬁned and determined at each cycle based on the clustering information of the cycle and the previous ones. The accuracy of DoA index is validated through the subjects’ medical markers, clinical parameters and the recorded Bispectral index (BIS). DoA index is veriﬁed to be accurate; and able to detect fast transitions between diﬀerent levels of anaesthesia. The computed DoA indices detected the induction of anaesthesia on average 55 seconds faster than BIS; were able to detect small changes in DoA during maintenance and were robust to tracheal intubation which has a negative eﬀect on EEG and BIS.

Keywords: 40-Hz ASSR
Depth of anaesthesia
Fuzzy C-means
Wavelet denoising
Advisor: Hatzinakos, Dimitrios -
MAST CELLS IMPROVE CARDIAC FUNCTION TRANSIENTLY AFTER AN MI AND MODULATE DIFFERENTIATION/PROLIFERATION STAGE OF MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS THROUGH PDGF

Mast cells (MCs) were originally considered as just multifunctional effectors of allergy. However, recent studies have indicated their involvement in other physiological and pathological processes. The existence of MCs in the myocardium has been recognized. However, the exact function of these cells in cardiac pathology remains undefined. Aside from their remarkable potential to produce and release of a wide array of bio-active mediators, a dramatic increase in MC numbers following myocardial infarction suggests their importance in the cardiac wound healing process. I hypothesized that MCs can perform reparative functions when implanted to the site of cardiac injury. MCs were prepared from bone marrow, studied, and implanted into the myocardium of a mouse model of myocardial infarction. The results indicated MC implantation transiently improved cardiac function. Further investigation demonstrated that the beneficial impacts of MC implantation were associated with greater angiogenesis and myofibroblastic responses, which countered the augmented inflammatory response. Additionally, studies of MC-mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) interactions demonstrated that MSCs oscillate between proliferative and more-differentiated states and that MCs promote proliferation and suppress myogenic differentiation in MSCs through platelet derived growth factor and its downstream mediators miR-143/145. The pro-proliferative actions of MCs enlarge the MSC pool prior to differentiation, thereby ultimately facilitating elevated MSC-origin myofibroblast numbers. These new insights unveil beneficial MC involvement in cardiac repair and regeneration beyond their role in post-MI early inflammation.

Keywords: Cell therapy
Heart failure
Mast cell
Mesenchymal stem cells
Myocardial infarction
Tissue repair
Advisor: Li, Ren-Ke
Building on Borrowed Time: The Temporal Horizons of Infrastructural Breakdown in the Delta of Semarang

Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork and one month of archival research, this doctoral thesis describes the predicament of residents of a coastal sub-district in the city Semarang, Indonesia. They must constantly adapt to the sinking foundations of their houses as well as dysfunctional drainage infrastructure. As neighbourhoods threaten to sink below sea level, daily incidents of tidal flooding demand timely adaptation and constant repair of houses and river banks. “Building on Borrowed Time” portrays the multiple ways of enduring this situation, exploring the divergent and often contradictory temporalities that congregate around water. It argues that residents endure a situation of chronic breakdown. It is through the logic of chronic breakdown that ecological transformations as well as political shifts are analyzed in this thesis. While it describes the temporal horizons of breakdown from the perspective of riverside residents, it also offers a historical account of the emergence of coastal settlements in late colonial times. Here, state interventions force indigenous coastal dwellers into a marginal position regarding the city’s spatial and political configuration. Today, in view of the region’s advanced disconnect from the ‘modern’ spaces of the city, the post-colonial state’s concern with sanitation, crime, and ecological degradation explains the emergence of a specific governance of local time. This governance reproduces a present in which ecological disaster in the lives of coastal dwellers is recursive and requires constant managing. Drawing on Cazdyn’s notion of the ‘chronic’ and Povinelli’s concept of ‘quasi-events,’ I show that state agencies, through neighbourhood-level organs of power and bottom-up development schemes, cultivate a ‘meantime’ that does not produce lasting relief, but further “colonizes” the future. An ethnography of the present reveals the temporal practices of this meantime, such as repair and maintenance of infrastructure. These practices effectively replace development (“pembangunan”) projected in plans with continuous but desultory stacking-up (“peninggian”) and fixing of infrastructure. While a spirit of ‘real’ development converges upon the area, driven by crisis scenarios of Dutch and Indonesian water experts, these plans are characteristic of a neoliberal remaking of lifeworlds that ultimately reinforces the chronic.

Keywords: Disaster
Java
Temporality
Tidal Flooding
Urban Transformation
Advisor: Li, Tania M
Barker, Joshua
Illness- and Gender- Related Identity Processes and Psychosocial Well-being among Young Breast Cancer Survivors: A Mixed Method Study

The purpose of the current investigation was to explore Identity Integration, defined as the reformation of post-illness identities, and its impact on psychosocial well-being among young breast cancer survivors. Two key aspects of identity were assessed: a) illness-related identity—women’s experience of themselves in relation to developing breast cancer and b) gender-related identity—women’s experience of themselves in relation to stereotypic and hegemonic gender constructions. A triangulation mixed method design was utilized to collect data on identity processes and related shifts among young breast cancer survivors. In the quantitative inquiry, 113 young women breast cancer survivors, diagnosed at age 36.25 (SD=5.89), mostly between stages I-III (93.9%) completed a measure of illness-related identity: the Impact on Self-Concept Scale (ISCS), four measures of gender-related identity: Gender Role Socialization Scale (GRSS), Objectify Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS), Mental Freedom Scale (MF), and Silencing the Self Scale (SS), as well as two measures of well-being: the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), and the Experience of Embodiment Scale (EES). As predicted, the illness- and gender-related identity subscales were significantly correlated with both measures of well-being. In the multiple regression models, GRSS and MF significantly predicted FACT-B scores, R2=40.0%. In contrast, OBCS and MF predicted EES scores, R2=61%. In the qualitative inquiry, 12 women between the ages of 24 and 44 at diagnosis participated in one interview about identity processes and related shifts before, during, and after their breast cancer experience. Six core dimensions of women’s identity emerged in the Constructivist Grounded Theory analysis: 1) Loss and Adversity, 2) Connection to the Physical Body, 3) Social Power Related to Bodily Experiences, 4) Internalization Versus Rejection of Gender- and Illness-Related Discourses, 5) Relational Connections, and 6) Meaning and Life Goals. Related to the centrality of body experiences in these emergent themes, the results suggested that identity was intertwined with bodily experiences and was therefore referred to as ‘embodied identity’. Taken together, findings from the study highlighted a critical relationship between young women’s altered bodies, illness- and gender-related identities, and their psychosocial well-being after a breast cancer experience. Unlike previous research in psychosocial oncology, which considered identity as disconnected from the body, this study underscored the importance of examining identity through an embodied lens. Theoretical innovation and clinical implications for psychological intervention are discussed.

Keywords: breast cancer survivors
embodied identity
embodiment
mixed method
quality of life
Advisor: Piran, Niva
Fundamental Studies of the Physics of an Argon Microcavity Discharge

Simulations of DC microcavity discharges in Ne predict that they are sustained by high energy (beam) electrons, which dominate at low pressure(< 500 Torr). Additional analytical studies of beam-dominated, cold-cathode discharges have identified three primary populations of the electron energy distribution: low-, mid- and high-energy electrons, with only the latter two contributing to the external current. Simulations are conducted in this thesis using COMSOL alongside data from the LXCat plasma database to compute important parameters. It is found that fields are ~10 Vμm-1, while the mean free path lengths of various processes are ~ 10 - 1000's of μm, therefore comparable to microdischarge dimensions. This implies a large rate of loss of energetic electrons as well as a pressure-dependent preference for particular reactions (depending on the gas, ionization rather than excitation). These insights are used to investigate DC microdischarges, which are fabricated as 3×3 arrays of 20×20 μm2 microcavities in silicon using standard semiconductor processing. An effective and reproducible protocol for the residue-free etching polyimide PI 2611 using standard reactive ion etching and an O2/N2 chemistry has been developed. Experiments have been conducted in Ar/air, under varied pressure conditions. Emission from N2(C3Πu) - N2(B3Πg) (N2(C-B)) nitrogen second positive system (SPS) is used as the probe, showing a progressive diminution of the N2( C-B) signal attributed to the decrease in the Ar excitation rate due to the increased population of beam electrons. Voltage-current measurements also reveal characteristics consistent with behaviour expected from the population model of segregated mid- and high-energy electrons. A diatomic ro-vibrational model has been developed based on the Dunham expansion to simulate the N 2(C–B) (0-0) transition. Fits to the spectral data have been used to extract rotational temperature, Trot, whose behaviour under different pressure conditions has been examined. Trot ranges from room temperature to ~1100 K. Trot is found to be least (~ 300 K and flat) at the highest pressure investigated (272 Torr). Other pressures show a gradual increase with applied voltage. A puzzling instability is found at ≥ 300 Torr, unexpected from the literature. Several possible reasons are proposed, but no definitive explanation is currently known.

Keywords: Electrical discharges
Microcavity discharges
Microdischarges
Microplasmas
Silicon microcavity discharges
Advisor: Ruda, Harry
Chemoprevention in Kidney Cancer

Background: This thesis is a composition of three studies that explore the role of statins in kidney cancer. Furthermore, I evaluate the potential for different interpretations from the same data depending on the method of classifying medication use. Methods: The first study was a population-based case-control study evaluating the association of statin use with risk of incident kidney cancer. The second study was a systematic review and meta-analysis reviewing the current evidence relating statins with kidney cancer survival outcomes. The final study was a population-based cohort study evaluating the association of statin use with survival. In the observational studies, I used fractional polynomials for the primary analysis to allow for a non-linear relationship between cumulative exposure and the risk of the outcome. I also compared risk estimates obtained by different methods of classifying medication exposure. Results: The population-based case-control study included 10,377 incident cases of kidney cancer and 35,939 matched controls. Increasing cumulative use of statins was not associated with kidney cancer risk. I identified 12 studies for inclusion in the systematic review and meta-analysis and found that statin use was significantly associated with markedly improved cancer-specific and overall survival. However, none of these studies evaluated cumulative use. In the population-based cohort study of 9124 patients with incident kidney cancer, increasing cumulative use of statins was associated with minimal improvement in cancer-specific and overall survival. The association of statin use with kidney cancer risk or survival varied depending on the method of classifying exposure. Conclusions: This thesis does not support the use of statins for the prevention or adjunctive treatment in kidney cancer. Furthermore, risk estimates in pharmacoepidemiology may be sensitive to the method of classifying exposure.

Keywords: carcinoma
renal cell
drug utilization
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor
humans
pharmacoepidemiology
Advisor: Juurlink, David N
Bimaterial Lattices With Anisotropic Thermal Expansion

Numerous structures that are used in the aerospace and automobile industries, microelectronics, and civil engineering are subject to large variations of temperature. The deformations caused by temperature can be dangerous because they lead to thermal stresses and failure if materials with mismatched thermal expansion are joined. On the other hand, thermal extensions can be used to achieve desirable displacements in structures. In this work, we use bimaterial lattices made of two materials and empty space that combine low weight with high stiffness and structural robustness. The lattices can serve as adapters that eliminate or mitigate dangerous thermal stresses, as elements for fine tuning in optical systems, or as thermal actuators. To perform these functions, the lattices must be anisotropic, which can be achieved if the lattice consists of non-identical anisotropic cells. Each cell is composed of an irregular triangle made of one material surrounded by a skewed hexagon made of another material. The overall performance of the lattice is defined by six hexagon skew angles and the ratio of the two coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) of the lattice materials. The cells are connected to adjoining cells at three points; changes in the distances between these points as a function of temperature can be tailored. The primary goal of the research is to elaborate general principles and algorithms to design lattices, select material, and improve structural efficiency. Several adaptive lattices are designed including a polygonal ring connector to prevent distortion in cylindrical optical components, a lattice preventing shaft and collar sticking, and lattices controlling the total deflection of two substrates. Lattices providing predetermined displacements in desirable directions have been studied, and it was demonstrated that different temperature supplied to different cells of a polygonal ring connector can be used for fine tuning of optical lenses. Finally, thermal actuators - a switch, tweezers, and a valve - are designed. In terms of overall performance, the actuators are slow but do not exhibit hysteresis: their thermal expansion depends on temperature but not on preceding thermal history. The forces and deflections they achieve compare favorably with piezoelectrics and shape memory alloys.

Keywords: Adaptive lattices
Anisotropic thermal expansion
Bimaterial lattices
Thermal switch
Thermal valve
Thjermal tweezers
Advisor: Steeves, Craig A
Physiological Roles of the XB130/Tks5 Scaffold Protein Interaction for the Regulation of Cell Homeostasis

XB130 is a scaffold protein that regulates cell growth, survival and migration by forming dynamic complexes with other proteins that mediate signal transduction cascades for the regulation of cell function. Yeast two-hybrid screening identified another scaffold protein, tyrosine kinase substrate 5 (Tks5), as XB130’s top putative binding partner. We hypothesized that as scaffold proteins, XB130 and Tks5 interact to facilitate the formation of distinct molecular complexes for the mediation of signal transduction, which is required for the regulation of cellular processes, like growth, survival and migration for cell homeostasis. In the present study, we characterized the structural interaction between XB130 and Tks5 by demonstrating that XB130 N-terminal polyproline rich motifs bind to a WWY ligand binding motif in the 5th SH3 domain of TKS5. Tks5 is a well studied protein in cell migration processes. This study demonstrated that Tks5 plays a role in cell proliferation and survival of airway epithelial cells. Additionally, the XB130/Tks5 interaction was shown to regulate cell proliferation, growth and survival via EGFR/Src/PI3K signaling. Surprisingly, we discovered that XB130 and TKS5 play contrasting roles in cell migration; XB130 promotes lamellipodia formation and lateral cell migration, whereas TKS5 promotes podosome formation and extracellular matrix degradation for cell invasion. Consequently, XB130 was shown to dissociate from TKS5 to interact with Rac1 for the assembly and activation of the Rac1/PAK/WAVE2 lamellipodia pathway, whereas, Tks5 mediates the Cdc42/PAK/N-WASP podosome pathway for regulation of stimulus-dependent cytoskeletal rearrangement and cell morphology changes. In conclusion, the dynamic relationship between XB130 and TKS5 facilitates distinct protein-protein interactions and complex formation for the mediation of signal transduction and regulation of cell proliferation, survival and motility. Our data suggests that these dynamic scaffold protein interactions may be a common mechanism for proteins to form unique signaling complexes that facilitate the regulation or enhancement of different physiological or pathophysiological conditions.

Keywords: AFAP1L2
Airway epithelial cells
Cell motility
SH3PXD2A
Signal Transduction
Tyrosine kinase signaling
Advisor: Liu, Mingyao