VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Application of EID to Large-screen Group View Displays in Nuclear Power Plant Control

Large screen displays (LSDs) are claimed to support situation awareness and team collaboration in the nuclear domain. However, these claims are not supported by empirical evidence. The focus of this research project is to design novel LSDs for a Candu C6速 power plant. A work domain analysis was performed on the Candu 6 turbine and electrical distribution systems, resulting in part-whole decomposition and abstraction hierarchy models. Information display requirements were subsequently extracted to design EIDs. An incident was created to demonstrate how EID displays will facilitate operator task performance. In addition, experimental data collected for adapted displays was analyzed for inter-rater reliability.

Keywords: Ecological Interface Design
Group-view Displays
Human Factors
Large-screen Displays
Nuclear Industry
Advisor: Jamieson, Gregory A
Investigation of the Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Intracranial Hemorrhage and Miscarriage in alphaIIb Integrin Mediated Fetal and Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia

Investigation of the Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Intracranial Hemorrhage and Miscarriage in anti-alphaIIb Integrin Mediated Fetal and Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia Darko Zdravic Master of Science Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology University of Toronto 2017 Fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is a life threatening bleeding disorder often leading to bleeding diatheses including intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Miscarriages have also been reported; however the frequency of pregnancy loss has not been investigated. Approximately 85% of FNAIT cases are anti-beta3 mediated, whereas anti-alphaIIb mediated FNAIT makes up 3-5% of cases, although their polymorphic frequencies are similar. We hypothesized that anti-alphaIIb antibodies target trophoblasts during pregnancy, causing impaired placental perfusion and miscarriage in alphaIIb mediated FNAIT. Miscarriages were observed in the majority of immunized alphaIIb-/- mothers, and their placentae showed ischemic appearances with vascular and structural abnormalities, poor perfusion in the labyrinths, and decreased circulating fetal erythrocytes. Neonates developed severe thrombocytopenia and ICH. In vitro experiments demonstrated that anti-alphaIIb antisera significantly inhibited endothelial cell migration and invasion. The results of our studies suggest that a lower reported incidence of anti- alphaIIb mediated FNAIT may be due to miscarriage.

Keywords: animal model
antibody
placenta
platelets
thrombocytopenia;
Advisor: Ni, Heyu
Space Museums: Technical and Cultural Considerations

This thesis uses Alice Gorman's Space Race Model as a starting point for assessing how space heritage is narrativized in two national museums. The Space Race Model privileges the heroic actions of a small set of people and risks eclipsing alternative historical narratives, whether from marginalized communities, opposing standpoints, or feminist standpoints. Research was conducted at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. Through the examination of text panels, object placement and exhibit context, this thesis shows that the Space Race Model is not the only way in which space is communicated to the museum visitor. These museums rely on internationalist narratives that disturb the traditional rhetoric of space flight and highlight international co-operation in space exploration and travel. There is extensive evidence of gender neutral language, and content that draws attention to histories of inequality and violence within space history.

Keywords: Museology
Outer space
Advisor: Krmpotich, Cara
A Gradient-based Multistart Algorithm for Multimodal Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Problems Based on Free-form Deformation

Environmental and economic factors motivate the pursuit of more fuel-efficient aircraft designs. Aerodynamic shape optimization is a powerful tool in this effort, but is hampered by the presence of multimodality in many design spaces. Gradient-based multistart optimization uses a sampling algorithm and multiple parallel optimizations to reliably apply fast gradient-based optimization to moderately multimodal problems. Ensuring that the sampled geometries remain physically realizable requires manually developing specialized linear constraints for each class of problem. Utilizing free-form deformation geometry control allows these linear constraints to be written in a geometry-independent fashion, greatly easing the process of applying the algorithm to new problems. This algorithm was used to assess the presence of multimodality when optimizing a wing in subsonic and transonic flows, under inviscid and viscous conditions, and a blended wing-body under transonic, viscous conditions. Multimodality was present in every wing case, while the blended wing-body was found to be generally unimodal.

Keywords: Aerodynamic Shape Optimization
Free-Form Deformation
Gradient-Based
Multimodal
Advisor: Zingg, David W.
Representative Stall Model of Regional Aircraft for Simulator Training Using a Spline Shape Prescriptive Modeling Approach

Loss-of-control following aerodynamic stall remains the largest contributor to fatal civil aviation accidents. Aerodynamic models past stall are required to train pilots on stall recovery techniques using ground-based simulators, which are safe, inexpensive, and accessible. A methodology for creating representative stall models, which capture essential stall characteristics, is being developed for classes of twin-turboprop commuter and twin-engine regional jet aircraft. Despite having lower fidelity than type specific stall models generated from wind tunnel, flight test, and/or CFD studies data, these models are configuration adjustable and significantly cheaper to construct for high angle-of-attack regimes. Baseline specific stall models are modified to capture changes in aerodynamic coefficients due to configuration variations from a baseline to a target aircraft. A Shape Prescriptive Modeling approach combining existing theory and data using least-squares splines is used to make coefficient change predictions. Initial results are satisfactory and suggest that representative models are suitable for stall training.

Keywords: Aerodynamic model
Flight simulation
Human factors
Pilot training
Spline regression
Stall characteristics
Advisor: Grant, Peter R.
High-level Synthesis of Datacenter Services

Field programmable gate arrays have become of great interest for implementing datacenter applications due to high performance gains over traditional compute hardware at a fraction of the energy consumption. In parallel, more hardware designers are adopting high-level synthesis for its rapid development process. It stands to reason that high-level synthesis tools will be widely used to build datacenter applications in the near future. In this work, we propose that entire datacenter services be implemented using only field-programmable gate arrays and present a case for this. We propose and provide prototype support for an enhancement to a production high-level synthesis tool, Vivado HLS, which allows users easily to build distributed systems strictly in hardware. Finally, we demonstrate operation of our feature by implementing a simplified version of web search using our enhancement.

Keywords: Datacenter
Field Programmable Gate Array
High-Level Synthesis
Advisor: Choww, Paul
Assessing the Interrater Reliability of Goniometric Measurements of a Range-of-motion Battery

Limited information exists on the interrater reliability (IRR) of range-of-motion (ROM) measurements that are deemed relevant for future clinical and research applications. Addressing these gaps was the primary motivation of this thesis. Thirty participants had their ROM capacity measured by three raters using a manual goniometer. Both with and without imposing uni-articular and multi-articular constraints on ROM, ankle dorsiflexion, first metatarsophalangeal dorsiflexion, hip flexion and extension, and shoulder flexion ROM were measured. Relative and absolute consistency was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC[2,k]) and standard error of measurements (SEM), respectively. All measurements exhibited good or excellent IRR (ICC >0.6) except the multi-articular measure of ankle dorsiflexion. SEM values ranged from a low of 3.7째 to a high of 7.2째. Results suggest that all measures, with the exception of multi-articular ankle dorsiflexion, exhibit adequate levels of IRR to be used for future clinical and research purposes.

Keywords: goniometry
interrater
intrarater
range of motion
reliability
Advisor: Beach, Tyson A.C.
The Genomics of Drug Response in Head and Neck Cancer

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide with a consistently poor five-year survival rate of ~50%. A major contributor to these poor clinical outcomes is the broad scope of therapeutic guidelines that fail to address underlying molecular heterogeneities. To elucidate genomic correlates of drug sensitivity for a targeted approach, we characterized the molecular profiles of 33 HNC cell lines for their somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and copy number aberrations (CNAs). In this process, we developed a novel and reliable method for calling SNVs in cell lines with high precision and recall. Using a selected panel of drugs derived from high-throughput screening, we computed half maximal inhibitory concentration values and activity areas and correlated these sensitivity metrics with recurrent genomic features. We found several candidate CNA and SNV predictors of drug response of interest and demonstrate the feasibility of pharmacogenomics studies for HNC.

Keywords: cancer cell line
computational biology
drug sensitivity
head and neck cancer
pharmacogenomics
precision medicine
Advisor: Boutros, Paul C.
Evaluating the Impact of Novel Bone Marrow Cell-secreted Factors, C19orf10 and C1orf54, on Immunomodulation, Lung Cell Proliferation, and Resistance to Injury

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells possess significant immunomodulatory and tissue-reparative capacity, and have been shown to promote recovery from lung injury, predominantly through their secretion of paracrine factors. As such, previous work in our lab endeavoured to search for novel factors, through the screening of a bone marrow cell expression library, and identified two previously unknown proteins, C19orf10 and C1orf54. In this project, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of these proteins, by assessing their capacity to modulate macrophage behaviour, and promote reparative and protective processes in epithelial and endothelial cells. While C1orf54 was found not to be involved in any of the evaluated cellular processes, C19orf10 was found to inhibit mCSF-induced macrophage migration, and promote endothelial cell proliferation. These findings suggest that C19orf10 may possess immunomodulatory and/or pro- angiogenic properties, and also serve to inform further evaluation of the roles of C19orf10 and C1orf54, by eliminating a number of potential functions.

Keywords: Acute lung injury
Bone marrow
Paracrine factors
Advisor: Waddell, Thomas K
Population Genomics and Mutational History of the Invasive, Epidemic Clone of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, Causal Agent of White-nose Syndrome in Bats

Since the 2006 detection of White-nose Syndrome (WNS) in New York,~6.7 million bats have died in North America. WNS is caused by the ascomycete fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Evidence points to a single introduction in North America from Europe. In Europe, pathogen populations are genetically diverse and sexually reproducing. Here, bats survive even when infected. While in North America mortality is high. Based on multi-locus sequence studies, the North American fungal population is clonal without evidence of recombination. I compared SNPs with whole-genome Illumina sequencing of 37 isolates from 2008 to 2015 which represented current range of epidemic in Canada and US. I asked two questions: First, does the pathogen population represent one clonal expansion? Second, in the course of this expansion, is recombination occurring? Genomic diversity consistent with mitotic recombination was detected among isolates from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Our observation shows that the pathogen is evolving.

Keywords: Bats
Evolutionary biology
Fungal epidemic
Fungal genetics
Pseudogymnoascus destructans
Whitenose syndrome
Advisor: Kohn, Linda
Anderson, James
Mixed-integer Linear Programming Models for Least-commitment Partial-order Planning

The central thesis of this dissertation is that the Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) technology can be effective in producing a least commitment partial-order plan (POP). A POP is a set of actions and ordering constraints between some pairs of actions such that every linear execution of actions that is consistent with the ordering constraints achieves the goals of the planning problem. In the context of Automated Planning, least commitment approach aims to generate POPs that delay the decisions of a plan to its execution time, allowing an autonomous agent to be flexible in terms of how the POP is executed. In this dissertation, we formally define the least commitment POP of a planning problem as a plan with the minimum total action cost and maximum number of linearizations. We formulate this problem as a MILP model and investigate the efficiency of solving it using the commercial MILP solvers.

Keywords: classical planning
flexibility
least commitment
mixed-integer linear programming
optimization
partial-order planning
Advisor: Beck, Christopher J.
Cire, Andre A.
Deep Extubation Protocol for Total Intravenous Anesthesia following Ambulatory Elective Dental Surgery in Pediatric Patients: A Pilot Study

Background: There are currently no detailed protocols in the literature to guide deep extubation following total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA), particularly for dental procedures. Objective: To adapt and modify a pre-existing deep extubation protocol and to determine the success rate and incidence of complications using the described protocol in children undergoing dental surgery using TIVA. Method: Fifty healthy children 4-12yr of age who required general anesthesia for dental surgery were recruited. Deep extubation was performed using the adapted standardized deep extubation criteria and step-wise protocol checklist. Success rate of deep extubation and incidence of complications were assessed. Results: The deep extubation success rate was 95.5%. The two most common respiratory complications were upper airway obstruction (32.5%) and mild oxygen desaturation (SpO2

Keywords: Deep extubation
Dental surgery
Dentistry
General anesthesia
Pediatric
Total intravenous anesthesia
Advisor: Casas, Michael
Gender Differences in the Commute to School and Work through Time and Space in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada

Previous research on gender and mobility has pointed to differences between male and female travel patterns, but little attention has been paid in transportation planning practice to gender differences in travel demand. This thesis explores gender differences in the school and work commute through the life cycle and over time and space in effort to inform policies that begin to address the needs of a diverse population. The results suggest that school-aged males use active modes more than females, but females use active modes more than males during the years of labour force participation. Adult men continue to use the automobile to travel to work, while females make up a greater proportion of transit riders than males. Mode share differences increase with age, but have decreased since the 1980s. The relationship between male and female travel mode also differs depending on many factors including distance, time, and place.

Keywords: commute
gender
life cycle
school
transportation
work
Advisor: Buliung, Ron
Incentives and Barriers to Adopting Aquaponic and Biofloc Systems in Canada

Aquaponic and biofloc systems can contribute to increasing food security while reducing environmental impacts of aquaculture. Other countries are promoting and investing in aquaponics to increase their competiveness in the food and marine sector but there are a limited number of aquaponic and biofloc facilities in Canada. Give the limited research regarding the adoption of commercial aquaponic and biofloc systems, this thesis identifies influences and barriers of implementing biofloc and aquaponic systems in Canada. Through interviews with aquaponic facilities, aquaculture facilities, government officials and biofloc professionals, this research provides insight into the aquaponic and biofloc industry in Canada. This thesis found that there is potential for an increase in both systems in Canada. Adoption of these systems would increase with collaboration and partnership opportunities, examples of profitable systems, increased access to sustainable energy, grants or benefits for creating jobs, grants for implementation and support for sustainable initiatives.

Keywords: aquaculture
aquaponics
biofloc
canada
Advisor: Shear, Harvey
A Novel Delivery System Using Chitosan Glycerophosphate to Deliver Bone Morphogenetic Protein Type-2 to Enhance Anterior Cruciate Ligament Graft Integration

There are over 100, 000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions performed a year in the U.S. alone and this number is on the rise. Augmenting these reconstructions with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) has proven successful in the past. Using a new delivery method for the BMP was anticipated to yield similar beneficial results on ACL graft healing, with a delivery method that was more amenable to arthroscopic surgery. The release kinetics of the chitosan gel used for protein delivery in this study showed a release pattern consistent with that required for local BMP delivery. Histology revealed a slow degradation of the gel over time, however imaging and biomechanical testing revealed its weakness. Those specimens treated with the gel (with or without BMP) had less bone growth (p

Keywords: ACL
anterior cruciate ligament
BMP
bone morphogenetic protein
chitosan
protein delivery
Advisor: Richards, Robin R
Hydrogen Plasma Passivation of Ultra-thin Ozone-grown Silicon Oxide

A novel low-temperature passivation technique using an ozone-grown silicon oxide film on crystalline (100) silicon treated with hydrogen plasma is developed and optimized using the Response Surface Methodology. Four-fold enhancement of excess minority carrier lifetime, up to 30 μs, is achieved with only ~1 nanometer of oxide grown. Using parallel angle resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, it is found that the concentration of silicon sub-oxide states at the silicon – silicon oxide interface, and within the silicon oxide film, are reduced. Also, first successful ozone-grown oxide, hydrogen-plasma passivated, metal-insulator-semiconductor devices are demonstrated. A change in the device’s current – voltage characteristics from an Ohmic to a Schottky contact is seen after treatment with the hydrogen plasma. It is proposed that the formation of chromium – hydrogen bonds in the interfacial oxide region causes an increase in the Schottky barrier that impedes majority carrier flow.

Advisor: Kherani, Nazir P
From Brickyard to Greenspace: The Production of Nature at the Don Valley Brickworks

This thesis examines the redevelopment of the Don Valley Brickworks from a former brick-making facility to an urban park. Through an exploration of the social, political, and economic forces that contributed to the production of the site, this thesis demonstrates the relationship between the production of nature, processes of urbanization and urban political economy, and uneven spatial development in the city. Using three theoretical frameworks â the production of nature, production of space, and urban political ecology - this research examines the social and political origins and implications of environmental change, emphasizing the relationship between environmental transformation and social differentiation. The findings of this research demonstrate that the key actors involved in the redevelopment of the site were operating within the context of an urban sustainability agenda, and did not control their circumstances, but rather mobilized based on the resources that they were able to access within their particular context.

Keywords: don valley brickworks
production of nature
urban green space
urban political ecology
urban sustainability
Advisor: Prudham, Scott
The Impact of Changing Precipitation Frequency on Hydrology, CO2 Exchange, and Plant Productivity in a Temperate Poor Fen

Climate change projections for many areas around the Earth show a shift in rainfall patterns towards larger, but less frequent events. The implications for peatlands are hypothesized to be drier surface conditions and a net release of CO2 but there is lack of evidence for this claim. The objective for the project was to investigate the effects of varying rainfall frequencies on peatland hydrology, CO2 exchange, and plant productivity among three different plant communities from a poor fen located in Southern Ontario. In both field and laboratory experiments, vegetation plots and mesocosms were subjected to rainfall treatments that varied in frequency, but not total amount. This thesis shows that decreased precipitation frequency may result in drier near-surface conditions in peatlands, leading to reduced CO2 uptake/ enhanced CO2 release and a plant community shift towards ericaceous shrub dominance.

Advisor: Duval, Timothy P
Automatic and Featureless Sim(3) Calibration of Planar Lidars to Egomotion Sensors

This thesis aims at generalizing the process of extrinsically calibrating two rigidly attached sensors on a mobile robot. Recent work in this area is revisited and its theory extended to the problem of recovering the Sim(3) transformation between a planar lidar and a monocular camera, where the scale of the camera trajectory is not known a priori. An efficient algorithm with only a single tuning parameter is implemented and studied. The robustness of the approach is tested on realistic simulations in multiple environments, as well as on data collected from a handheld sensor rig. Results show that, given a non-degenerate trajectory and a sufficient number of lidar measurements, the calibration procedure achieves millimetre-scale and sub-degree accuracy. Moreover, the method relaxes the need for specific scene geometry, fiducial markers, and overlapping sensor fields of view.

Keywords: calibration
camera
extrinsic
lidar
robotics
vision
Advisor: Kelly, Jonathan
The Effect of Social Cognition and Emotional Experience on Performance during a Narrative Storytelling Task

This study explored how emotional expression and emotion understanding contribute to performance on a storytelling task. Given the cognitive nature of a storytelling task, it was hypothesized that negative emotions would inhibit performance, while understanding of the story characterâ s emotions would facilitate performance, and that these two variables would interact, to demonstrate a moderated relationship with the outcome variable. Six to nine year-olds engaged in a storytelling task, during which they were prompted to tell a story about a wordless picture book, and then identify the story characterâ s emotions. Automatic facial expression coding software, Emotient, recorded the emotions experienced during this task. The results demonstrated that anger and frustration negatively predicted performance, while emotion understanding positively predicted performance. The interaction between anger and frustration, and emotion understanding, was not statistically significant. The implications of this study will inform research in oral language fluency, social cognitive development, and self-regulation of emotion.

Keywords: Emotion
Narrative
Oral language
Advisor: Woodruff, Earl