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Recent Submissions

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    Sequential decisions: A computational comparison of observational and reinforcement accounts
    (Public Library of Science, 2014-04-18) Sepahvand, Nazanin Mohammadi; Stottinger, Elisabeth; Danckert, James; Anderson, Britt
    Right brain damaged patients show impairments in sequential decision making tasks for which healthy people do not show any difficulty. We hypothesized that this difficulty could be due to the failure of right brain damage patients to develop well-matched models of the world. Our motivation is the idea that to navigate uncertainty, humans use models of the world to direct the decisions they make when interacting with their environment. The better the model is, the better their decisions are. To explore the model building and updating process in humans and the basis for impairment after brain injury, we used a computational model of non-stationary sequence learning. RELPH (Reinforcement and Entropy Learned Pruned Hypothesis space) was able to qualitatively and quantitatively reproduce the results of left and right brain damaged patient groups and healthy controls playing a sequential version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Our results suggests that, in general, humans employ a sub-optimal reinforcement based learning method rather than an objectively better statistical learning approach, and that differences between right brain damaged and healthy control groups can be explained by different exploration policies, rather than qualitatively different learning mechanisms.
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    Molecular characterization and expression analysis of chloroplast protein import components in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
    (Public Library of Science, 2014-04-21) Yan, Jianmin; Campbell, James H.; Glick, Bernard R.; Smith, Matthew D.; Liang, Yan
    The translocon at the outer envelope membrane of chloroplasts (Toc) mediates the recognition and initial import into the organelle of thousands of nucleus-encoded proteins. These proteins are translated in the cytosol as precursor proteins with cleavable amino-terminal targeting sequences called transit peptides. The majority of the known Toc components that mediate chloroplast protein import were originally identified in pea, and more recently have been studied most extensively in Arabidopsis. With the completion of the tomato genome sequencing project, it is now possible to identify putative homologues of the chloroplast import components in tomato. In the work reported here, the Toc GTPase cDNAs from tomato were identified, cloned and analyzed. The analysis revealed that there are four Toc159 homologues (slToc159-1, -2, -3 and -4) and two Toc34 homologues (slToc34-1 and -2) in tomato, and it was shown that tomato Toc159 and Toc34 homologues share high sequence similarity with the comparable import apparatus components from Arabidopsis and pea. Thus, tomato is a valid model for further study of this system. The expression level of Toc complex components was also investigated in different tissues during tomato development. The two tomato Toc34 homologues are expressed at higher levels in non-photosynthetic tissues, whereas, the expression of two tomato Toc159 homologues, slToc159-1 and slToc159-4, were higher in photosynthetic tissues, and the expression patterns of slToc159-2 was not significantly different in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissues, and slToc159-3 expression was limited to a few select tissues.
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    Is gestational hypertension protective against perinatal mortality in twin pregnancies?
    (Public Library of Science, 2014-04-14) Luo, Qi-Guang; Zhang, Ji-Yan; Cheng, Wei-Wei; Audibert, Francois; Luo, Zhong-Cheng
    Background Pregnancy-induced or gestational hypertension is a common pregnancy complication. Paradoxically, gestational hypertension has been associated with a protective effect against perinatal mortality in twin pregnancies in analytic models (logistic regression) without accounting for survival time. Whether this effect is real remains uncertain. This study aimed to validate the impact of gestational hypertension on perinatal mortality in twin pregnancies using a survival analysis approach. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 278,821 twin pregnancies, using the U.S. 1995-2000 matched multiple birth dataset (the largest dataset available for multiple births). Cox proportional hazard models were applied to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) of perinatal death (stillbirth and neonatal death) comparing gestational hypertensive vs. non-hypertensive pregnancies controlling for maternal characteristics and twin cluster-level dependence. Results Comparing births in gestational hypertensive vs. non-hypertensive twin pregnancies, perinatal mortality rates were significantly lower (1.20% vs. 3.38%), so were neonatal mortality (0.72% vs. 2.30%) and stillbirth (0.48% vs. 1.10%) rates. The aHRs (95% confidence intervals) were 0.34 (0.31–0.38) for perinatal death, 0.31 (0.27–0.34) for neonatal death, and 0.45 (0.38–0.53) for stillbirth, respectively. The protective effect of gestational hypertension against perinatal death became weaker over advancing gestational age; the aHRs in very preterm (<32 weeks), mild preterm (32–36 weeks) and term (37+ weeks) births were 0.29, 0.48 and 0.76, respectively. The largest risk reductions in neonatal mortality were observed for infections and immaturity-related conditions. Conclusions Gestational hypertension appears to be beneficial for fetal survival in twin pregnancies, especially in those ending more prematurely or for deaths due to infections and immaturity-related conditions. Prospective studies are required to rule out the possibility of unmeasured confounders.
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    Architecture, Capitalism, and Social Good
    (University of Waterloo, 2026-06-05) Mahvash, Kourosh
    This study aims to critically investigate the extent of meaningful contributions to social good through architecture given the political economic context within which it operates. It examines the capacity of architecture as a profession as well as the agency and ability of architects as individuals to make such contributions under the capitalist relations of producing space. These relations are defined within a theoretical framework comprised of four core concepts. Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, the notion of urbanization under capitalism, and Lefebvre’s concepts of the “lived space” and “the Right to the City” are the four theoretical foundations which along with a historical examination of the relationship between architecture and capitalism help the research establish its own four central organizing concepts of Agency, Aesthetics, Governance, and Activist Architecture. These four concepts are then used to form a thematic schema for research design. Adopting semi-structured interviews as the instrument of implementing its qualitative method, the process included the recruitment of thirty-six participants - thirty licensed architects based in Toronto, Canada and six key informants who are closely associated and intimately familiar with architecture. The participants’ responses were first subject to deductive thematic analysis before being further discussed and dissected using ‘suspicious interpretation’ method. The results illustrate the limited extent of contributions by architecture and architects to social good while revealing several paths to maximize such contributions within those limits. Architecture may not have a leading or central role in moving towards meaningful social reforms. Nonetheless, it could make meaningful contributions within its own domain of influence by adopting a purposeful social agenda, prioritizing social good over profit in its practices, distancing itself from exploitative labour processes within both creative and construction processes, reclaiming its political capacity, empowering end-users by allowing their active participation in the design process, and replacing entrenched professional privilege, elitism, and egoism with humility. This would allow architecture to contribute its fair share to the struggles for a socially, economically, and politically just future.
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    Super-Queeros: Transformations of Queer Feminist Representation in the DC Pride Comics Run 2021-2025
    (University of Waterloo, 2026-06-05) Grafton, Laura
    This thesis analyzes the narrative and visual strategies used in DC Comics’ DC Pride anthology series from 2021 to 2025, examining how these texts construct and evolve a “model Super-Queero” across this time period. Drawing on visual rhetoric, semiotics, narratology, and queer and feminist theory, this project argues that the DC Pride run does not simply represent queer identity, but actively produces a shifting model of acceptable queerness that reflects broader sociopolitical conditions in the United States (USA). Across the five-year run, I argue that the anthology moves from an emphasis on visibility, celebration, and reader identification toward increasing normalization, containment, and disidentification. Early issues position queer characters as sites of pride, and community, using visual and narrative techniques that invite readers, particularly queer readers, into processes of identification. However, as the series progresses, these same formal elements are reoriented to privilege legibility, safety, and social acceptance, encouraging distance from more disruptive or visibly queer expressions of identity. Through close analysis of recurring formal patterns and focused case studies of the DC Pride issues covers, opening stories, and the #Harlivy stories in the issues, this thesis demonstrates how mainstream comic media negotiates the boundaries of queer representation. While these characters have the potential to expand dominant models of queerness, their depiction within the DC Pride run often reinscribes normative expectations through stylistic containment and narrative framing. Overall, I argue that the model Super-Queero constructed across the anthologies reflects a broader cultural shift toward regulating queer visibility, highlighting the role of popular media in shaping not only how queerness is represented, but how it is understood, performed, and then made (un)acceptable within contemporary culture.