Background: Heart failure is a clinical syndrome characterised by key symptoms that can be distressing to the affected individual and those caring them. These symptoms are associated with poor quality of life and a high rate of repeated hospital admission in people with heart failure. Thus, the rapid detection and management of symptoms linked to heart failure is important for people and their families. Current evidence related to heart failure is dominated by those of young age, a reduced ejection fraction, and male sex. To support more inclusive and equal symptom assessment and management in heart failure for the entire population, studies that include individuals with all forms of heart failure are essential.
Aim: This thesis investigated the full spectrum of symptoms and associated factors in people living with and dying from all forms of heart failure. Methods: A sequential, multiple studies design including three studies was adopted, underpinned by critical realism and the Situation-Specific Theory of Heart Failure Self-care. Study 1 was a mixed-methods systematic review and narrative synthesis of existing literature to explore the full spectrum of symptoms experienced by people living with heart failure, and to compare these to those outlined within the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the management of the syndrome. Study 2 was a secondary analysis of data derived from a randomised control trial of disease management conducted in Australia that included people of varying ages. The analysis investigated sex-stratified differences in symptoms and symptoms change over one year across the full range of heart failure subtypes. Study 3 was a descriptive qualitative study exploring the full spectrum of symptoms, and heart failure-associated breathlessness in the Turkish socio-cultural-behavioural context.
Results: Study 1 indicated that people with heart failure experienced many symptoms, and these symptoms can be very diverse and affected by multiple factors. As well as typical and less typical symptoms identified from the current European Society of Cardiology Guidelines, 37 other symptoms were identified. This includes a dry mouth, numbness in hands/feed, feeling drowsy, difficulty sleeping, and feeling anxious/nervous. Age (younger versus older) and setting (hospital versus community) were associated with various European Society of Cardiology Guidelines’ symptoms. There was a paucity of data on women’s symptoms in the current literature. Study 2: Sex-stratified differences were detected in the secondary analysis of the symptomatic status of the trial cohort at baseline and at one-year follow-up. Different factors were associated with worsening symptom trajectory on a sex-specific basis; for men, this included a history of hypertension and non-English-speaking background; and for women, a history of coronary artery disease and presenting with acute pulmonary oedema. Women with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction had worse symptomatic profiles over one year than women with reduced or mildly reduced ejection fraction. Study 3: Among 20 Turkish individuals with self-reported heart failure, 31 physical and 7 psycho-socio-behavioural symptoms were reported. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, knowledge and awareness of heart failure and breathlessness were poor among Turkish individuals. The socio-cultural-behavioural context affected their breathlessness and self-management strategies. They expressed a need for adequate education, psychological support, and long-term management strategies.
Conclusion and Implications: This PhD found a more diverse range of symptoms among the heart failure population than have previously been described. Symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, drowsiness, dry mouth, and feelings of anxiety and nervousness—though less typical—require attention to improve their management in heart failure. Additionally, socio-demographic and clinical profiles affect individual experiences of different symptoms. In routine clinical practice, identification of this more diverse range of symptoms can be achieved by applying a more individualised person-centred symptom assessment protocol. Consequently, health care providers can then support self-management strategies to enable appropriate person-centred symptom assessment.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
Qualification Level: | Doctoral |
Subjects: | > |
Colleges/Schools: | > |
Supervisor's Name: | Johnston, Professor Bridget |
Date of Award: | 2024 |
Depositing User: | |
Unique ID: | glathesis:2024-84542 |
Copyright: | Copyright of this thesis is held by the author. |
Date Deposited: | 05 Sep 2024 09:31 |
Last Modified: | 05 Sep 2024 13:31 |
Thesis DOI: | |
URI: | |
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Doctoral Thesis Completion Award Application
Doctoral Thesis Completion Award Application (PDF)
Use this form to:
- apply for a doctoral thesis completion award
A limited number of awards are available each academic term to support doctoral students who are within the last two terms of program completion (term of award plus one additional term). The intention is to assist highly qualified, full-time doctoral students to complete their thesis writing and defence.
Priority will be given to applicants who identify as Indigenous*
*For the purpose of this award, an Indigenous person is one who is a citizen or member of a First Nations community (Status/Non-Status), Métis, or Inuit as defined in the Canadian Constitution Act 1982. To protect the integrity of Indigenous graduate students eligible for specific funding, those identifying as Indigenous must be verified by the Office of Indigenous Relations at the University of Waterloo through the Indigenous verification process .
Value: Varies
Eligibility and Requirements:
Applicants must:
- be registered full time in a PhD program
- be in good academic standing with a realistic plan of completing their degree within 1-2 terms of receiving the award (term of award plus one additional term)
- not have previously received this award
Preference will be given to doctoral students who are no longer receiving minimum funding and/or have experienced research interruptions that were beyond their control.
A change of enrolment status to part-time, inactive, withdrawal or degree completion during the term in which the award is paid will require repayment of all or part of the award. Repayment amounts are recalculated based on the University of Waterloo tuition refund policy . Any inquiries regarding OSAP/provincial student loans should be directed to the Student Awards and Financial Aid Office .
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Fall term – july 15 , winter term – november 15 , spring term – march 15 .
Where the advertised deadline falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline date will be the following Monday.
Application process, notification, and payments:
- Applicants will submit their complete application to their department co-ordinator.
- Departments review and submit the applications to their Faculty.
- The Faculty sends forward their top four applications to Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) and notifies those that were not selected for Faculty endorsement.
- GSPA ranks, makes final selections, and notifies applicants of the results.
- Awards will be applied to the student's Quest account at the beginning of each term.
APOL 988 Dissertation Writing in Applied Apologetics II
In this course, the doctoral candidate will compose the middle chapters of a dissertation based on the candidate’s research and organization of content.
For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog .
Course Guide
View this course’s outcomes, policies, schedule, and more.*
*The information contained in our Course Guides is provided as a sample. Specific course curriculum and requirements for each course are provided by individual instructors each semester. Students should not use Course Guides to find and complete assignments, class prerequisites, or order books.
This course is the first course dedicated primarily to the writing of the dissertation for the PhD in Applied Apologetics. All assignments in this course are devoted to completing compelling drafts of both the introductory sections (introduction/statement of thesis/literature review) and first major portions of the body of the argument of the dissertation. Completion of this course should allow students to complete a major percentage of their dissertation project and prepare them for matriculation into the next phase of their dissertation writing.
Course Assignment
No details available.
After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations , the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.
These assignments require the student to submit progressive portions of his/her dissertation for review and evaluation.
These assignments ask the student to interface with mentor feedback and interpret any necessary improvements/changes that need to be applied to his/her dissertation. Each assignment will be 4-6 pages in length.
This quiz seeks to evaluate the student’s readiness as he/she embarks on the dissertation writing process. This quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 4 true/false, short-answer questions, and will have a 15-minute time limit.
These quizzes verify that the student is having regular meaningful discussions with his/her dissertation mentor. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 4 true/false, short-answer questions, and will have a 15-minute time limit.
These quizzes will evaluate what elements of the dissertation are being submitted at different intervals of the dissertation-writing process. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 2 essay questions, and will have a 30-minute time limit.
This quiz evaluates the student’s readiness for an additional reader to be assigned to the dissertation project. This quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 5 true/false questions, and will have a 15-minute time limit.
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Design and Fabrication of Polymer/Graphene Laminate Thin Films
dc.contributor.author | Croft, Zacary Lane | en |
Liu, Guoliang | en | Moore, Robert Bowen | en | dc.contributor.committeemember | Morris, Amanda | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Esker, Alan R. | en |
Chemistry | en | 2024-09-06T08:00:20Z | en | 2024-09-06T08:00:20Z | en | 2024-09-05 | en | The development of graphene-based electronics may produce a new generation of electronic devices with enhanced performance over traditional materials. However, quality graphene electronics will require large-area, continuous graphene film produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which is typically not stable when free-standing. Instead, CVD graphene may be coupled with polymer thin films to produce polymer/graphene laminates (PGLs), which show improved mechanical stability and good electrical conductivity over large areas. For example, single-layer graphene (SLG) has been coupled with polyetherimide (PEI) to produce thin film audio speakers with significantly enhanced energy efficiency compared to traditional speaker designs. However, the poor design and fabrication of PGLs may degrade the interfacial interactions of polymers with graphene and make the interface more susceptible to deformation. Interfacial weakening then limits their long-term reliability and performance in micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), in which materials are constantly subjected to dynamic loads. In this dissertation, we construct a framework for developing PGL thin films with controlled interfacial properties based on the rational design of polymer substrates and careful consideration of fabrication-induced defects. We evaluate this framework from several angles. First, the design of PEI/SLG film thickness is explored for controlling mechanical mixing and composite Young's modulus. Then, the role of thermal annealing during PEI/SLG fabrication is examined and its effect of mechanical mixing studied. Finally, we investigate mechanical fatigue in PEI/SLG thin films under dynamic loading with different pre-tensions. The design of mechanical properties in PGLs is crucial for ensuring long-term stability and operational performance. The Young's modulus is an important mechanical parameter governed by mechanical mixing in PGLs, and better mechanical mixing is facilitated by improved stress transfer efficiency at the polymer/graphene interface. Thus, the control of mechanical mixing through PGL design is an important research topic for developing PGL thin films with good mechanical performance. To this end, we evaluated the design of PEI/SLG thin films with precisely controlled thicknesses to afford control over mechanical mixing and the composite Young's modulus. PEI concentrations of 3–6 wt% were used to spin-coat PEI/SLG films at precisely controlled thicknesses of ~200–1000 nm, which enabled the design of PEI/SLG thin films based on thickness control. The design of PEI/SLG film thickness afforded control over the volume fraction of SLG, which is related to the composite Young's modulus of the films via the well-known mixing rule. To validate this approach, we measured the composite Young's modulus of PEI/SLG films and modelled the relationship between modulus and film thickness (i.e., volume fraction) using the mixing rule. However, we found that linear regression analysis yielded an unexpectedly high effective Young's modulus of 1.12 ± 0.05 TPa for SLG. Further investigation revealed the larger-than-expected value was due to the gradual deterioration of mechanical mixing between SLG and PEI at film thicknesses > 250 nm. Overall, our results demonstrate that the control of mechanical mixing in PGL thin films is achievable through the physical design of film thickness, which fits well within the proposed framework for PGL development. The fabrication of PGL materials is another important topic for controlling PGL properties. For example, the transfer process required for removing PGL thin films from a CVD substrate is known to introduce mechanical defects and electronic doping if improper processing conditions are used. However, little is known about the impact of thermal annealing on the properties of PGL materials. Normally, thermal annealing is thought to aid in the removal solvent and stress after polymer deposition on SLG, but we show that thermal annealing instead induces substantial structural damage and reduced film properties when poor conditions are used. Specifically, thermally annealing PEI/SLG in air past the Tg of PEI (~217 °C) caused widespread structural damage due to oxidation of the underlying Cu substrate. This conclusion was supported through an in-depth mechanistic investigation of annealing-induced deformation. First, changing the annealing atmosphere to high-purity nitrogen prevented widespread structural deformation from occurring during annealing, regardless of temperature. Second, the onset of film deformation during annealing in air was strongly associated with temperatures above the glass transition temperature of PEI. Finally, Arrhenius analysis yielded an activation energy of 159 kJ/mol for the deformation process, almost twice that associated with Cu oxidation and instead closer in scale to that of glass transitions in amorphous polymers. A physical failure mechanism was proposed based on the in-plane shrinkage of PEI during the glass-to-rubber transition caused by the release of internal stress induced by spin-coating. In-plane contraction of PEI would then cause compression of SLG as internal stress was released, which we confirmed from a significant blue-shift in the 2D band of SLG by ~30 cm-1 after annealing both with and without visible deformation. Importantly, we demonstrate that common secondary processing steps, like thermal annealing, will have critical effects on film properties if conditions are not properly controlled. The mechanical fatigue and cycling stability of PGL thin films is another topic of interest for developing reliable PGLs with long operational lifetimes. Mechanical failure analysis might be used to evaluate failure mechanisms governing interfacial fatigue in PGL thin films. However, little work has been done understanding mechanical fatigue in PGLs. To this end, we explore the use of mechanical bulge testing for the evaluation of cycling fatigue in PGLs and construct a custom instrument, known as a bulge test apparatus (BTA), to perform fatigue measurements. In general, our BTA test platform provides a means of analyzing different fabrication/design conditions. To test its use, we prepared PEI/SLG thin films with different tensioning weights between 0 and 30 g. Then, the well-established methods for bulge testing were applied to the dynamic loading of PEI/SLG using the BTA. Specifically, the evolution of bulge-test-derived pre-stress in PEI/SLG was monitored as a function of cycle number and tensioning weight, which revealed large fluctuations in pre-stress with mechanical cycling up to ~200k cycles, which was unexpected for these films. To investigate the underlying mechanism, we further employed Raman spectroscopy, optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the strain state of SLG before and after cycling and probe for structural changes. Raman measurements revealed that mechanical cycling induced a large redshift in the 2D and G peak positions of SLG by ~25.4 and ~10.1 cm-1, respectively, for 30 g-tensioned PEI/SLG, with similar shifts observed for 20 g-tensioned films. Optical and SEM images showed possible changes in the surface structure of SLG after cycling accompanying the shift in Raman characteristics. We discuss the possibility of interfacial failures involving in-plane slippage and out-of-plane buckling of SLG based on our results. If validated, the use of BTA may provide future insight regarding mechanical fatigue and failure at the PGL interface during dynamic loading. The practical relevance of methods for determining the influence of design and fabrication characteristics in PGLs will no doubt be invaluable for further development. Additional work in this area will be necessary to connect our analytical approach by BTA to underlying failure mechanisms in PGLs. | en | Due to its record-breaking properties, graphene has tremendous promise for use in next-generation consumer electronics, like ultra-thin audio speakers and flexible displays. However, on its own, single-layer graphene (SLG) is not stable enough for practical uses. Therefore, in this dissertation, I construct a framework for developing polymer substrates to stabilize and enhance graphene based on the design and fabrication of polymer/graphene laminates (PGLs). To explore this framework, I design polyetherimide (PEI)/SLG thin films with controlled mechanical properties, evaluate fabrication-induced defects, and develop an analytical approach for measuring mechanical fatigue in these films. The ability to precisely control thin film mechanics has important implications for the application of PGLs. However, it is challenging in PGL systems to enhance mechanical properties due to the limited amount of graphene that is used. Therefore, I show that the design of PEI/SLG film thickness can effectively control mechanical reinforcement, even at very low loadings of graphene. I further investigate the design of a controlled pre-tensioning in PEI/SLG and show that tensioning can be used to modify the mechanical response. However, using a custom mechanical testing platform, I also determine that mechanical fatigue may increase with pre-tensioning as well. The impact of fabrication procedures on the properties of PGL thin films is another important aspect of PGL development that is often overlooked. Specifically, thermal annealing may introduce residual contamination and/or structural defects that reduce material properties. Therefore, I present a detailed study of thermal annealing-induced structural failures in PEI/SLG films, which shows that annealing at high temperature induces substrate oxidation and structure damage in the films. The results of this annealing study demonstrate the potential negative effects of fabrication on PGL development. Finally, this dissertation ends by discussing future directions in PGL design and fabrication that will need to be addressed in the coming years for further development of PGL thin film electronics. | en | Doctor of Philosophy | en | ETD | en | vt_gsexam:41281 | en | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/121082 | en | en | en | Virginia Tech | en | In Copyright | en | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en | graphene | en | dc.subject | polymers | en |
dc.subject | thin films | en |
dc.subject | MEMS | en |
dc.subject | mechanics | en |
dc.subject | interfaces | en |
Design and Fabrication of Polymer/Graphene Laminate Thin Films | en | Dissertation | en | Chemistry | en | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en | doctoral | en | Doctor of Philosophy | en | Original bundle
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Lack of critical reflection. Probably the most common reason for failing a Ph.D. dissertation is a lack of critical analysis. A typical observation of the examination committee is, "The thesis is generally descriptive and a more analytical approach is required.". For doctoral work, students must engage critically with the subject matter ...
Data on the proportion of PhD students who fail their dissertations are scarce. A 2011 analysis of more than 26,000 doctoral students in the United Kingdom by the Higher Education Funding Council ...
Peteris. 8,291 30 40. This answer could be seen as slightly misleading. OP is in a situation where they have been warned by the supervisor that they could fail the PhD if they submit with the current results. In that situation, the chances of actually failing the PhD are much higher than in the average case.
To summarise, based on the analysis of 26,076 PhD candidates at 14 universities between 2006 and 2017, the PhD pass rate in the UK is 80.5%. Of the 19.5% of students who fail, 3.3% is attributed to students failing their viva and the remaining 16.2% is attributed to students leaving their programme early. The above statistics indicate that ...
Teach undergraduates that doing a PhD will require them to embrace failure. ... In the end, my thesis was a potpourri of the characterization of six proteins, but it was a rewarding experience.
Even though I didn't produce a publishable body of work by the time I made my mid-Ph.D. pivot, I came to appreciate that the years I spent on failed experiments weren't wasted. I had gained numerous skills, both hard and soft, that enabled me to work efficiently on something new. For instance, I knew how to quickly read papers, which helped ...
Dissertation and PhD failure is caused by personal problems and can be the result of academic brunt. Whatever the reasons are, students are often the major drivers of the problems and so face the most consequences. Rather than grunt and bemoan your workload, or belittle your chances, or leave your academic integrity under question, or find ...
Introduction. The doctoral journey is known to be challenging. Attrition rates support this notion: 33-70% of those who start their PhD never finish (Jones Citation 2013).Also, Castelló et al. (Citation 2017) revealed that one-third of a sample of doctoral students who were still enrolled had at some point intended to drop out.In addition, of those who reach the finish line, the majority do ...
Teach undergraduates that doing a PhD will require them to embrace failure. Students must learn that a doctoral degree isn't for everyone — and that not doing one might be a better option. My ...
PhD students are extremely prone to experiencing failure. All academics are much more likely to experience failure (repeatedly) in contrast to other professions. But there are strategies to learn how to better deal with 'academic failure'. Contents Dealing with failure in academiaWhat counts as 'academic failure'?#1. Understand that all academics encounter failure#2.
PhD tips - Dealing with "failed" experiments "PhD tips" is an ongoing series of blog posts written by postdocs and aimed at graduate students at the University of Oxford (Department of Biology). I wrote this in April 2021. [Update Dec 2022: this article is now published in The Microbiologist] Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well.
Dissertation Process. The dissertation process may impact a PhD student's success in completing the degree. Ali and Kohun divide the PhD program into four stages: Stage 1 - Preadmission to Enrollment, Stage II - First Year through Candidacy, Stage III- Second Year to Candidacy, and Stage IV - Dissertation Stage (1).
Most dissertations are 100 to 300 pages in length. All dissertations should be divided into appropriate sections, and long dissertations may need chapters, main divisions, and even subdivisions. Students should keep in mind that GSAS and many departments deplore overlong and wordy dissertations.
In fact, there's a disturbing consistency to grad school failure. I'm supervising a lot of new grad students this semester, so for their sake, I'm cataloging the common reasons for failure. ... Einstein's Ph.D. dissertation was a principled calculation meant to estimate Avogadro's number. He got it wrong. By a factor of 3.
A PhD researcher writing a dissertation has a substantial goal before her. Yet, many people writing a dissertation have additional responsibilities, such as teaching, being a loving spouse, a faithful friend, or a present parent. As I was teaching while writing my dissertation, I often heard the mantra "put students first."
1st Law of PhD Failure - Choosing the wrong dissertation adviser. Choosing your dissertation adviser is one of the most important decisions of your academic career and one recipe for disaster is to choose a dissertation adviser because you 'like' him or her or because you find this person 'cool' meaning charismatic, well-published ...
But I am not a failure. Note:This narrative originally appeared as a series of posts on Lorie's blog and has been republished here with her permission. No one prepared me for the worst possible outcome of a dissertation defense: Failure. Yet, after waiting outside in the hallway for over 90 minutes, I was certain of it.
Fifty PhD students agreed to participate in the study. Students were primarily women (58%), white (74%), and continuing-generation college students (78%). ... A., Maltese, A. (2017). " Failure is a major component of learning anything": The role of failure in the development of STEM professionals. Journal of Science Education and Technology ...
Lorie Owens, or PhDiva (@Dissertating) as she is commonly known in academic Twitter circles, paints a vivid picture of how she failed at her first dissertation defense. This narrative originally…
The Harvard University Archives' collection of theses, dissertations, and prize papers document the wide range of academic research undertaken by Harvard students over the course of the University's history.. Beyond their value as pieces of original research, these collections document the history of American higher education, chronicling both the growth of Harvard as a major research ...
No. Universities will not let you defend if there is the slightest chance you will fail. It reflects very poorly on the department in front of external examiners if PhD candidates fail a defense. Also planning the defense is a lot of hassle for your department, no one wants to do the work twice. You will be ok.
This exciting graduate student competition highlights research in a fast-paced and fun way that's enjoyable for everyone in attendance. One scholar. One slide. One panel of judges. And three minutes ot give it all they've got.
Background: Heart failure is a clinical syndrome characterised by key symptoms that can be distressing to the affected individual and those caring them. These symptoms are associated with poor quality of life and a high rate of repeated hospital admission in people with heart failure. Thus, the rapid detection and management of symptoms linked to heart failure is important for people and their ...
Doctoral Thesis Completion Award Application (PDF) Use this form to: apply for a doctoral thesis completion award; A limited number of awards are available each academic term to support doctoral students who are within the last two terms of program completion (term of award plus one additional term). The intention is to assist highly qualified ...
This course is the first course dedicated primarily to the writing of the dissertation for the PhD in Applied Apologetics. All assignments in this course are devoted to completing compelling ...
A physical failure mechanism was proposed based on the in-plane shrinkage of PEI during the glass-to-rubber transition caused by the release of internal stress induced by spin-coating. ... doctoral: en: thesis.degree.name: Doctor of Philosophy: en: Files. Original bundle. Now showing 1 - 1 of 1. Name: Croft_ZL_D_2024.pdf Size: 8.51 MB Format ...