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  • Entropy, triangulation, and point location in planar subdivisions

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Langerman, S., Morin, P., Dujmovic, V., Iacono, J., and Collette, S.
    Abstract:
    A data structure is presented for point location in connected planar subdivisions when the distribution of queries is known in advance. The data structure has an expected query time that is within a constant factor of optimal. More specifically, an algorithm is presented that preprocesses a connected planar subdivision, G, of size n and a query distribution, D, to produce a point location data structure for G. The expected number of point-line comparisons performed by this data structure, when the queries are distributed according to D, is H' + O(H^{1/2}+1) where H'=H'(G,D)$ is a lower bound on the expected number of point-line comparisons performed by any linear decision tree for point location in G under the query distribution D. The preprocessing algorithm runs in O(n log n) time and produces a data structure of size O(n). These results are obtained by creating a Steiner triangulation of G that has near-minimum entropy.
    Date Created:
    2013-02-25

  • Information Management in the Canadian Federal Government: Principles, Practices and the Role of Information Professionals

    Resource Type:
    Report
    Creator:
    Stricker, Ulla de and Jordan, Isla
    Abstract:
    Information management (IM) in the Canadian public sector is a complex area involving many professions such as librarians, archivists, records managers and information technology professionals. This exploratory study looks at the literature and experiential (qualitative) evidence from IM professionals in order to paint a picture of information management principles and practice in the Canadian federal government. Personal interviews were conducted with 20 librarians, information managers, records managers and other information professionals. Responses indicated that although the public sector has made tremendous strides in IM, there is often a gap between IM policy and practice as shown by inconsistencies and confusion in day to day operations compounded by the decimation of federal libraries (which are repositories of external as well as government information). The study also looks at roles of librarians and other IM professionals now and in the future. These professionals are well positioned to help close the gap between information policy and practice, moving forward toward more coordinated and integrated practices in information management as well as making information accessible and usable for their clients. Such functions aid the Canadian public sector in becoming a more effective knowledge organization.
    Date Created:
    2013-04-02

  • Personal Learning Environments (PLEs): Ecologies for building student capability for lifelong learning

    Resource Type:
    Report
    Creator:
    Renon, Flavia
    Abstract:
    The purpose of this working paper is to examine the role of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) in higher education. This information will serve as a framework to inform a study of PLE use at Carleton University.
    Date Created:
    2013-04-30

  • Publishing Graduate Student Research in Geography: The Fundamentals

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Tudin, Susan and Ballamingie, Patricia
    Abstract:
    This paper offer practical advice on publishing graduate student research within the discipline of geography, addressing the following questions: why, when, where, what, how and with whom? Section 'The paper chase' delineates the importance of publishing, identifies potential material to publish, suggests venues in which to publish and offers pragmatic advice on how to negotiate the publishing process (with regards to peers, supervisors and editors). Section 'In library resources' discusses the effective use of library resources, demystifies the significance of impact factors and elucidates the history of Open Access publishing.
    Date Created:
    2013-09-18

  • Assessment Practice in Canadian University Libraries: Survey Results

    Resource Type:
    Report
    Creator:
    McKenna, Julie and Jordan, Isla
    Abstract:
    Accountability and data-informed decision-making are increasingly important for Canadian public institutions such as governments and universities. Canadian university libraries also appear to be placing more emphasis on evaluating and assessing their services and products. To discover more about the current assessment culture in Canadian university libraries, in 2007 Isla Jordan from Carleton University and Julie McKenna from the University of Regina conducted an online survey of services assessment practices in Canadian university libraries. The goals of this project were to gain a sense of assessment practices within the libraries and to provide a baseline for future comparisons and research into services assessment practice. Results showed that survey respondents were at different stages in assessing a variety of services and products. Respondents indicated that their libraries intended to increase their assessment activities in the future, particularly the LibQUAL survey.
    Date Created:
    2013-09-30

  • Vividness of visual imagery and incidental recall of verbal cues, when phenomenological availability

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Zakizadeh, Jila, Runge, Matthew, Faulkner, Andrew, D'Angiulli, Amedeo, Morcos, Selvana, and Chan, Aldrich
    Abstract:
    The relationship between vivid visual mental images and unexpected recall (incidental recall) was replicated, refined, and extended. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to generate mental images from imagery-evoking verbal cues (controlled on several verbal properties) and then, on a trial-by-trial basis, rate the vividness of their images; 30 min later, participants were surprised with a task requiring free recall of the cues. Higher vividness ratings predicted better incidental recall of the cues than individual differences (whose effect was modest). Distributional analysis of image latencies through ex-Gaussian modeling showed an inverse relation between vividness and latency. However, recall was unrelated to image latency. The follow-up Experiment 2 showed that the processes underlying trial-by-trial vividness ratings are unrelated to the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), as further supported by a meta-analysis of a randomly selected sample of relevant literature. The present findings suggest that vividness may act as an index of availability of long-term sensory traces, playing a non-epiphenomenal role in facilitating the access of those memories.
    Date Created:
    2013-01-02

  • Adaptive Plasticity in Wild Field Cricket’s Acoustic Signaling

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Fitzsimmons, Lauren P., Harrison, Sarah J., Thomson, Ian R., and Bertram, Susan
    Abstract:
    Phenotypic plasticity can be adaptive when phenotypes are closely matched to changes in the environment. In crickets, rhythmic fluctuations in the biotic and abiotic environment regularly result in diel rhythms in density of sexually active individuals. Given that density strongly influences the intensity of sexual selection, we asked whether crickets exhibit plasticity in signaling behavior that aligns with these rhythmic fluctuations in the socio-sexual environment. We quantified the acoustic mate signaling behavior of wild-caught males of two cricket species, Gryllus veletis and G. pennsylvanicus. Crickets exhibited phenotypically plastic mate signaling behavior, with most males signaling more often and more attractively during the times of day when mating activity is highest in the wild. Most male G. pennsylvanicus chirped more often and louder, with shorter interpulse durations, pulse periods, chirp durations, and interchirp durations, and at slightly higher carrier frequencies during the time of the day that mating activity is highest in the wild. Similarly, most male G. veletis chirped more often, with more pulses per chirp, longer interpulse durations, pulse periods, and chirp durations, shorter interchirp durations, and at lower carrier frequencies during the time of peak mating activity in the wild. Among-male variation in signaling plasticity was high, with some males signaling in an apparently maladaptive manner. Body size explained some of the among-male variation in G. pennsylvanicus plasticity but not G. veletis plasticity. Overall, our findings suggest that crickets exhibit phenotypically plastic mate attraction signals that closely match the fluctuating socio-sexual context they experience.
    Date Created:
    2013-07-22

  • The social biology professor: Effective strategies for social media engagement

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Katti, Madhusudan and Bertram, Susan
    Abstract:
    Evolutionary biology and ecology have always been collaborative enterprises, benefitting enormously from active communication of ideas among traditional academic networks of peers. The Internet age, with its thriving online social networks, offers new tools that can help our current generation of biologists to collaborate, and communicate with the public, more effectively. Having a dynamic web presence, being part of an active blogging, Facebook, or Google+ community, and being a strategic tweeter can help your research, teaching, and service programs. Below we outline how to be a strategically savvy and active social media scientist, and discuss some of the pitfalls to avoid wasting time. We highlight some ecologists and evolutionary biologists who are active in social media to help you understand the many ways social media can help you in your academic life.
    Date Created:
    2013-07-07

  • Circannual changes in stress and feeding hormones and their effect on food-seeking behaviors.

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Holahan, Matthew, Cahill, Shaina, and Tuplin, Erin
    Abstract:
    Seasonal fluctuations in food availability show a tight association with seasonal variations in body weight and food intake. Seasonal variations in food intake, energy storage and expenditure appear to be a widespread phenomenon suggesting they may have evolved in anticipation for changing environmental demands. These cycles appear to be driven by changes in external daylength acting on neuroendocrine pathways. A number of neuroendocrine pathways, two of which are the endocrine mechanisms underlying feeding and stress, appear to show seasonal changes in both their circulating levels and reactivity. As such, variation in the level or reactivity to these hormones may be crucial factors in the control of seasonal variations in food-seeking behaviours. The present review examines the relationship between feeding behavior and seasonal changes in circulating hormones. We hypothesize that seasonal changes in circulating levels of glucocorticoids and the feeding-related hormones ghrelin and leptin contribute to seasonal fluctuations in feeding-related behaviors. This review will focus on the seasonal circulating levels of these hormones as well as sensitivity to these hormones in the modulation of food-seeking behaviors.
    Date Created:
    2013-07-23

  • Flavonol-rich dark cocoa significantly decreases plasma endothelin-1 and improves cognitive responses in urban children.

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    D'Angiulli, Amedeo, Aragón-Flores, Mariana, Mukherjee, Partha S., Cross, Janet V., Gómez-Garza, Gilberto, Zhu, Hongtu, Chao, Chih-kai, Mora-Tiscareño, Antonieta, Franco-Lira, Maricela, Engle, Randall, Jewells, Valerie, Solorio, Edelmira, Weili, Lin, Medina-Cortina, Humberto, Torres-Jardón, Ricardo, Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian, and Ferreira-Azevedo, Lara
    Abstract:
    Air pollution exposures are linked to systemic inflammation, cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality, neuroinflammation and neuropathology in young urbanites. In particular, most Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) children exhibit subtle cognitive deficits, and neuropathology studies show 40% of them exhibiting frontal tau hyperphosphorylation and 51% amyloid-β diffuse plaques (compared to 0% in low pollution control children). We assessed whether a short cocoa intervention can be effective in decreasing plasma endothelin 1 (ET-1) and/or inflammatory mediators in MCMA children. Thirty gram of dark cocoa with 680 mg of total flavonols were given daily for 10.11 ± 3.4 days (range 9–24 days) to 18 children (10.55 years, SD = 1.45; 11F/7M). Key metabolite ratios in frontal white matter and in hippocampus pre and during cocoa intervention were quantified by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. ET-1 significantly decreased after cocoa treatment (p = 0.0002). Fifteen children (83%) showed a marginally significant individual improvement in one or both of the applied simple short memory tasks. Endothelial dysfunction is a key feature of exposure to particulate matter (PM) and decreased endothelin-1 bioavailability is likely useful for brain function in the context of air pollution. Our findings suggest that cocoa interventions may be critical for early implementation of neuroprotection of highly exposed urban children. Multi-domain nutraceutical interventions could limit the risk for endothelial dysfunction, cerebral hypoperfusion, neuroinflammation, cognitive deficits, structural volumetric detrimental brain effects, and the early development of the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
    Date Created:
    2013-08-02

  • Charting the role of the number line in mathematical development

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    LeFevre, Jo-Anne, Kamawar, Deepthi, Jimenez Lira, Carolina, Sowinski, Carla, Cankaya, Ozlem, and Skwarchuk, Sheri-Lynn
    Abstract:
    Individuals who do well in mathematics and science also often have good spatial skills. However, the predictive direction of links between spatial abilities and mathematical learning has not been firmly established, especially for young children. In the present research, we addressed this issue using a sample from a longitudinal data set that spanned 4 years and which includes measures of mathematical performance and various cognitive skills, including spatial ability. Children were tested once in each of 4 years (Time 1, 2, 3, and 4). At Time 3 and 4, 101 children (in Grades 2, 3, or 4 at Time 3) completed mathematical measures including (a) a number line task (0–1000), (b) arithmetic, and (c) number system knowledge. Measures of spatial ability were collected at Time 1, 2, or 3. As expected, spatial ability was correlated with all of the mathematical measures at Time 3 and 4, and predicted growth in number line performance from Time 3 to Time 4. However, spatial ability did not predict growth in either arithmetic or in number system knowledge. Path analyses were used to test whether number line performance at Time 3 was predictive of arithmetic and number system knowledge at Time 4 or whether the reverse patterns were dominant. Contrary to the prediction that the number line is an important causal construct that facilitates learning arithmetic, no evidence was found that number line performance predicted growth in calculation more than calculation predicted number line growth. However, number system knowledge at Time 3 was predictive of number line performance at Time 4, independently of spatial ability. These results provide useful information about which aspects of growth in mathematical performance are (and are not) related to spatial ability and clarify the relations between number line performance and measures of arithmetic and number system knowledge.
    Date Created:
    2013-08-29

  • Covariation and repeatability of male mating effort and mating preferences in a promiscuous fish.

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Godin, Jean-Guy and Auld, Heather L.
    Abstract:
    Although mate choice by males does occur in nature, our understanding of its importance in driving evolutionary change remains limited compared with that for female mate choice. Recent theoretical models have shown that the evolution of male mate choice is more likely when individual variation in male mating effort and mating preferences exist and positively covary within populations. However, relatively little is known about the nature of such variation and its maintenance within natural populations. Here, using the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) as a model study system, we report that mating effort and mating preferences in males, based on female body length (a strong correlate of fecundity), positively covary and are significantly variable among subjects. Individual males are thus consistent, but not unanimous, in their mate choice. Both individual mating effort (including courtship effort) and mating preference were significantly repeatable. These novel findings support the assumptions and predictions of recent evolutionary models of male mate choice, and are consistent with the presence of additive genetic variation for male mate choice based on female size in our study population and thus with the opportunity for selection and further evolution of large female body size through male mate choice.
    Date Created:
    2013-10-03

  • Can convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia) socially learn the degree of predation risk associated with novel visual cues in their environment?

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Barks, Patrick M. and Godin, Jean-Guy
    Abstract:
    For many animals, the ability to distinguish cues indicative of predation risk from cues unrelated to predation risk is not entirely innate, but rather is learned and improved with experience. Two pathways to such learning are possible. First, an animal could initially express antipredator behaviour toward a wide range of cues and subsequently learn which of those cues are non-threatening. Alternatively, it could initially express no antipredator behaviour toward a wide range of cues and subsequently learn which of them are threatening. While the learned recognition of threatening cues may occur either through personal interaction with a cue (asocial learning) or through observation of the behaviour of social companions toward a cue (social learning), the learned recognition of non-threatening cues seems to occur exclusively through habituation, a form of asocial learning. Here, we tested whether convict cichlid fish (Amatitlania siquia) can socially learn to recognize visual cues in their environment as either threatening or non-threatening. We exposed juvenile convict cichlids simultaneously to a novel visual cue and one of three (visual) social cues: a social cue indicative of non-risk (the sight of conspecifics that had previously been habituated to the novel cue), a social cue indicative of predation risk (the sight of conspecifics trained to fear the novel cue), or a control treatment with no social cue. The subsequent response of focal fish, when presented with the novel cue alone, was not influenced by the social cue that they had previously witnessed. We therefore did not find evidence that convict cichlids in our study could use social learning to recognize novel visual cues as either threatening or non-threatening. We consider alternative explanations for our findings.
    Date Created:
    2013-10-03

  • Neuroplasticity and the next wave of antidepressant strategies

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Hayley, Shawn and Litteljohn, Darcy
    Abstract:
    Depression is a common chronic psychiatric disorder that is also often co-morbid with numerous neurological and immune diseases. Accumulating evidence indicates that disturbances of neuroplasticity occur with depression, including reductions of hippocampal neurogenesis and cortical synaptogenesis. Improper trophic support stemming from stressor-induced reductions of growth factors, most notably brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), likely drives such aberrant neuroplasticity. We posit that psychological and immune stressors can interact upon a vulnerable genetic background to promote depression by disturbing BDNF and neuroplastic processes. Furthermore, the chronic and commonly relapsing nature of depression is suggested to stem from “faulty wiring” of emotional circuits driven by neuroplastic aberrations. The present review considers depression in such terms and attempts to integrate the available evidence indicating that the efficacy of current and “next wave” antidepressant treatments, whether used alone or in combination, is at least partially tied to their ability to modulate neuroplasticity. We particularly focus on the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, ketamine, which already has well documented rapid antidepressant effects, and the trophic cytokine, erythropoietin (EPO), which we propose as a potential adjunctive antidepressant agent.
    Date Created:
    2013-10-30

  • Getting ready for RDA: a modular approach to training library staff

    Resource Type:
    Poster
    Creator:
    Cross, Emma
    Abstract:
    Resource Description and Access is the new content standard coming Spring 2013, with national libraries using RDA effective March 30, 2013. Libraries need to address training for staff in all departments on how to interpret, catalogue and use RDA records.
    Date Created:
    2013-02-13

  • Inquiry-based training improves teaching effectiveness of biology teaching assistants

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Ellefson, Michelle R. and Hughes, William
    Abstract:
    Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are used extensively as undergraduate science lab instructors at universities, yet they often have having minimal instructional training and little is known about effective training methods. This blind randomized control trial study assessed the impact of two training regimens on GTA teaching effectiveness. GTAs teaching undergraduate biology labs (n = 52) completed five hours of training in either inquiry-based learning pedagogy or general instructional "best practices". GTA teaching effectiveness was evaluated using: (1) a nine-factor student evaluation of educational quality; (2) a six-factor questionnaire for student learning; and (3) course grades. Ratings from both GTAs and undergraduates indicated that indicated that the inquiry-based learning pedagogy training has a positive effect on GTA teaching effectiveness.
    Date Created:
    2013-11-11

  • Interruption of Ghrelin Signaling in the PVN Increases High-Fat Diet Intake and Body Weight in Stressed & Non-Stressed C57BL6J Male Mice

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Isaacs, Albert M., Abizaid, Alfonso, Patterson, Zachary R., and Parno, Tamara
    Abstract:
    Chronic social stress has been associated with increased caloric intake and adiposity. These effects have been linked to stress induced changes in the secretion of ghrelin, a hormone that targets a number of brain regions to increase food intake and energy expenditure and promote increased body fat content. One of the brain sites targeted by ghrelin is the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), a region critical for both the regulation of the stress response and the regulation of energy balance. Given these data, we examined the contribution of ghrelin receptors in the PVN to the metabolic and behavioral changes that are seen during chronic social stress in mice. To do this, mice were implanted with cannulae attached to osmotic minipumps and delivering either vehicle or the ghrelin receptor (growth hormone secretagogue receptor) antagonist [D-Lys-3]-GHRP-6 (20 nmol/day/mouse). Following a week of recovery, half of the animals in each group were exposed to chronic social defeat stress for a period of 3 weeks whereas the other half were left undisturbed. During this time, all animals were given ad libitum access to standard laboratory chow and presented a high-fat diet for 4 h during the day. Results showed that the ghrelin receptor antagonism did not decrease stressed induced caloric intake, but paradoxically increased the intake of the high fat diet. This would suggest that ghrelin acts on the PVN to promote the intake of carbohydrate rich diets while decreasing fat intake and blockade of ghrelin receptors in the PVN leads to more consumption of foods that are high in fat.
    Date Created:
    2013-09-17

  • Calling, Courtship, and Condition in the Fall Field Cricket, Gryllus pennsylvanicus

    Resource Type:
    Article
    Creator:
    Harrison, Sarah J., Thomson, Ian R., Bertram, Susan M., and Grant, Caitlin M.
    Abstract:
    Theoretically, sexual signals should provide honest information about mating benefits and many sexually reproducing species use honest signals when signalling to potential mates. Male crickets produce two types of acoustic mating signals: a long-distance mate attraction call and a short-range courtship call. We tested whether wild-caught fall field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) males in high condition (high residual mass or large body size) produce higher effort calls (in support of the honest signalling hypothesis). We also tested an alternative hypothesis, whether low condition males produce higher effort calls (in support of the terminal investment hypothesis). Several components of long-distance mate attraction calls honestly reflected male body size, with larger males producing louder mate attraction calls at lower carrier frequencies. Long distance mate attraction chirp rate dishonestly signalled body size, with small males producing faster chirp rates. Shortrange courtship calls dishonestly reflected male residual mass, as chirp rate and pulse rate were best explained by a curvilinear function of residual mass. By producing long-distance mate attraction calls and courtship calls with similar or higher effort compared to high condition males, low condition males (low residual mass or small body size) may increase their effort in current reproductive success at the expense of their future reproductive success, suggesting that not all sexual signals are honest.
    Date Created:
    2013-03-20

  • Visualizing Meaning : Managing Perception and Meaning in Visual Communication Design

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Craib, David
    Abstract:
    Visual communication designers strive to create effective visual messages that are easily perceived and meaningful, but various forms of visual noise can compromise their designs. A set of visual design criteria and tools, aimed to increase design efficiency and effectiveness will be developed through a literature review of communication-related disciplines, including psychology, linguistics, semiotics, communications studies, information theory and statistics design. A sampling of these criteria and tools will then be applied to case studies of web- and print-based visual presentations to research their viability, and expert interviews will further inform and develop the criteria list. The final criteria and tools, developed from the studies, will be used to build a prototype of a corporate at a glance presentation for a government organization, to research the usability of the criteria set. The research aims to develop visual communication design theory based on fundamental, interdisciplinary concepts that could, through further research, offer visual communication designers improved science-based design and research tools.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Engaged histories : Wendat women's souvenir arts of cultural preservation and entrepreneurial invention

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    De Stecher, Annette Windsor
    Abstract:
    The nineteenth century souvenir arts of the Wendat (Huron) women of Wendake, Quebec, works of virtuosity in technique and design, were sought after as collectibles by European visitors and Euro-Canadians, and today appear in substantial numbers in European, Canadian, and American museum collections. Although souvenir wares have been the object of study in the fields of anthropology and art history, an in-depth systematic analysis of the tradition, situated within a history of Wendat visual arts, had yet to be written. This study addresses two problems: First, the lack of a corpus of material to place nineteenth-century souvenir arts in the context of art from earlier periods created for ceremonial and community use and drawn both from archaeological and ethnological collections. Second, it addresses the need to explore the relationship among modes of production and to carry out a close reading of the imagery and women’s egalitarian status in Wendat society from pre- and early-contact periods through the nineteenth century. 1 argue that souvenir arts, produced during a period of intense change and challenges to Wendat identity and economic self-sufficiency caused by increasing settler populations and colonial pressures of assimilation, offer a site for the exploration of Wendat women’s economic and social roles in their community. I base these arguments in archival and historical research and in consultation with Wendat community members, who have provided important insight into symbolic content of the souvenir works and their significance for the Wendat as well as for European buyers. The development of souvenir arts was intertwined with the diplomatic and political agenda of Wendat community leaders, reflecting Wendat women’s agency in creating commercial works that inspired the admiration of European collectors, and could serve as ceremonial gifts that contributed to harmonious relations with settler communities.The research database of over 220 examples of Wendat and Eastern Great Lakes objects, on which my arguments are based, is the foundation for Appendix B and the illustrations referred to in the text. In keeping with the collaborative research methods of the thesis, I will present a copy of the thesis to Wendat Grand Chief Conrad Sioui, together with a DVD of the database.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cultural Mediations
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Sensory gating in Schizophrenia and its implications for auditory hallucinations : a combined time-frequency, event-related potential and neuroanatomical study

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Blais, Crystal Marie
    Abstract:
    Schizophrenia is a devastating disorder with cognitive deficits in a wide variety of domains. One prominent brain-based mechanism that has been proposed to account for a wide variety of deficits seen in this group is sensory gating, which refers to the ability to suppress extraneous sensory input in the environment. Impairments in this function have also been shown to be associated with positive symptoms in schizophrenia, including auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), which represent a core feature of the disorder; however, the neurophysiological basis of sensory gating dysfunction and its relationship to the state and trait of experiencing AVHs remain ill-understood. Furthermore, although the finding of sensory gating impairments in schizophrenia is robust, there is a substantial amount of variability in both schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, leaving questions regarding the validity of this measure as an endophenotype for schizophrenia. Event-related potential (ERP) and evoked power (EP) indices of sensory gating were assessed in 24 patients with AVHs and 24 healthy controls stratified into high and low suppressors. In patients specifically, structural volumes for cortical regions associated with both sensory gating and auditory hallucinations were assessed, and were correlated with electrophysiological measures of sensory gating, as well as with state and trait measures of AVHs. While it was suppressor type (i.e., low vs. high suppressors) rather than group (i.e., patients vs. controls) that differentiated participants with respect to most ERP and EP measures, patients did differ in a standard ERP measure of gating ability.  Analyses also showed differences in cortical volume (with an emphasis on temporal region) associations with state assessments, depending on the experimental condition in which the AVHs were experienced. Furthermore, sensory gating function (as indexed by several ERP indices) was shown to be influenced by volumes in temporal, hippocampal and anterior cingulate regions. The study revealed basic electrophysiological gating mechanisms to regulate AVH experiences. Results also point to the influence of cortical volumes in regions associated with AVHs (and the state vs. the trait of such experiences) on electrophysiological measures of sensory gating function.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctoral (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Facilitating Recommendation Uptake: The Role of Feasibility, Stakeholder Involvement, and Stakeholder Commitment

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Nadin, Shevaun
    Abstract:
    A central goal of program evaluation is to provide recommendations that will inform programming decisions. Yet, recommendations often do not translate into practice; wasting precious resources and thwarting evaluators‘ ultimate goal of social betterment. Despite identifying numerous variables related to evaluation use in general and recommendation uptake in particular, the literature on this topic derives almost exclusively from evaluators‘ practice-based observations. Moving beyond a 'shopping list‘ approach, with this research I sought to identify, empirically, the relative importance of facilitators of recommendation uptake. Moreover, this work draws on reports from those actually responsible for implementing evaluation recommendations, adding an important perspective to the use and recommendation uptake literature.Two studies were conducted with recommendation implementers; one using a structured Q-sort task, and the other using an open-ended interview method. The research questions were: i) are there different perspectives among implementers about the most important facilitators of recommendation uptake?; and ii) is there a subset of variables that reliably facilitate uptake regardless of the implementers‘ specific point of view?  Together the results suggest that there are indeed four unique implementer points of view regarding important facilitators of recommendation uptake. The results also suggest that stakeholder involvement in the evaluation process, stakeholder commitment to evaluation use, and the feasibility of the recommendation are reliable facilitators of uptake. This research has important theoretical and practical implications, and also reveals important avenues for future research on evaluation use.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Nunatsiavummi Sananguagusigisimajangit / Nunatsiavut Art History: Continuity, Resilience, and Transformation in Inuit Art

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Igloliorte, Heather Lynette
    Abstract:
    This dissertation provides a timely and critical assessment of Nunatsiavummiut [Labrador Inuit] visual arts, both historical and contemporary. While encounters with Nunatsiavummiut have been well documented for over four centuries, and a number of excellent studies from archeology, anthropology, ethnohistory and sociology exist, the art historical literature and documentation is scant. Museum collections, exhibitions and scholarly publications on Inuit art and visual culture have been noticeably devoid of Nunatsiavut content. In light of the advances the field of Inuit art has made in a little over half a century, the near-complete absence of Nunatsiavummiut visual culture from exhibitions and collections as well as from art historical texts is highly conspicuous. Yet despite the lack of an enduring arts industry, a cooperative system, institutional support or scholarly interest, the Nunatsiavut Territory continues to produce exceptional artists. This dissertation thus aims to fill a critical gap in Inuit art scholarship by providing an overview of Nunatsiavummiut artistic productions through time and across a variety of practices including sewing, grasswork, carving, and now also drawing, photography and other contemporary arts. Drawing on Visual Culture’s interdisciplinary theoretical toolkit as well as critical Indigenous research methodologies, this thesis provides a social history of Labrador Inuit visual culture spanning over four centuries of production, in order to illuminate how the complex history of contact, trade, cultural imperialism and Inuit resistance strategies have shaped the production of art in the region. It situates Labrador Inuit visual culture within broader discourses of contemporary Inuit art history. This dissertation argues that the production of Inuit art has played an integral role in fostering and safeguarding Inuit cultural knowledge throughout our long history of contact and exchange; that art making demonstrates the continuity and resilience of Nunatsiavummiut culture despite centuries of colonization; and that in this new era of self-governance, the arts hold the potential to assert and secure our unique cultural identity.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cultural Mediations
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Lake Diatoms as Indicators of Late Holocene Climate Variability in the Boreal Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Dalton, April Sue Rogers
    Abstract:
    This thesis is comprised of two manuscripts that focus on diatom ecological change through a late Holocene record from a 116.2 cm freeze core obtained from Danny’s Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. The diatom results indicate that climate in this region has been relatively stable through the past 3330 cal. yr BP, although three distinct diatom assemblages are recognized. Time-series analysis was also carried out on select diatom species from the Danny’s lake sediment core. We correlate the c. 89 and c. 145 year cycles with the 90 – 140 year Gleissberg cycle, while the c. 309-year cycle is attributed to the 300-year overtone of the 2115-year Hallstadt cycle. This research is part of a multi-proxy project mandated to determine late Holocene climate variability along the route of the economically important Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road (TCWR), a seasonal ice road that stretches 600 km from Yellowknife to Nunavut.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2013

  • A Key Distribution and Management Scheme for Clustered Ad Hoc Sensor Networks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Liu, Fei
    Abstract:
    Presently, the most practical approach for bootstrapping initial secret keys in sensor networks is to load keys into sensor nodes before they are deployed. However, some of them are vulnerable to impersonation attacks. We describe a novel key distribution and management scheme for clustered ad hoc sensor networks. The scheme uses the Boneh-Franklin’s ID-based encryption (IBE) scheme and Yi’s ID-based signature scheme to achieve mutual authentication between nodes. The signature scheme is used to distribute a cluster key which can be updated. We also derive a master key from the signature which can also be updated when needed. Our contribution is that we resolved the impersonation problems that exist in current key distribution schemes for ad hoc sensor networks. A timestamp is incorporated in the signing procedure, avoiding message replay attacks. Finally, This scheme can be extended to hierarchical ad hoc sensor networks.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2013

  • 3D Laser Imaging and Modeling of Iron Meteorites and Tektites

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fry, Christopher A.
    Abstract:
    3D laser imaging is a non-destructive method devised to calculate bulk density by creating volumetrically accurate computer models of hand samples. The focus of this research was to streamline the imaging process and to mitigate any potential errors. 3D laser imaging captured with great detail (30 voxel/mm2) surficial features of the samples, such as regmaglypts, pits and cut faces. Densities from 41 iron meteorites and 9 splash-form Australasian tektites are reported here. The laser-derived densities of iron meteorites range from 6.98 to 7.93 g/cm3. Several suites of meteorites were studied and are somewhat heterogeneous based on an average 2.7% variation in inter-fragment density. Density decreases with terrestrial age due to weathering. The tektites have an average laser-derived density of 2.41+0.11g/cm3. For comparison purposes, the Archimedean bead method was also used to determine density. This method was more effective for tektites than for iron meteorites.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Legalizing the imagination : an examination of how the geographic imagination of the new world led to its construction as free space within international law for the purpose of the English appropriation of North America

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Barr-Klouman, Agnes
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Legal Studies
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Distributed Multiple Access for the Uplink of Multi-cell OFDMA Networks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Dang, Jing
    Abstract:
    It is expected that wireless data services with diverse QoS requirements will account for most of the traffic in the future 4G networks. Current centralized scheduling requires a substantial amount of overhead when the number of wireless devices is very large in order to collect users’ CSI (Channel State Information). We explore a distributed scheduling method for the next-generation cellular networks, in which the scheduling decisions are performed jointly by the wireless devices and the BSs in order to reduce the complexity at the BSs and to reduce the protocol overhead. We propose a distributed multi-channel multiple access protocol for the uplink data transfer in TDD (Time-Division Duplex) mode for a multi-cell network. The protocol may be used as a low-overhead scheduling solution for delay-tolerant services especially with large numbers of devices, and can coexist with the legacy centralized scheduling schemes.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Investigation of Pedestrian Movement in Groups and in High-Density Bottlenecks Using Discrete Choice Modelling Framework

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Rashedi-Ashrafi, Zohreh
    Abstract:
    Walking as a non-motorized mode of transport is an essential component of sustainable environment. To increase the share of walking in transportation and accordingly to plan and manage pedestrian areas, a deep understanding of pedestrian movement behaviour is required. The aim of this thesis is to provide walking behaviour models based on discrete choice framework to study the behaviour of pedestrians in different situations. Data has been extracted from real-world video recordings of pedestrian crowds for calibration and validation purposes. In the first part of this thesis, the behavior of pedestrians walking in groups has been modeled based on the tendency of group members to maintain group unity. In the second part, a simulation tool has been developed to calibrate and validate a model presenting pedestrian behaviour at high density bottlenecks. The validation results confirm the acceptable performance of walking models proposed in both parts of the thesis.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Welfare Production in Canada and Tanzania: The Ismaili Imamat, Ismaili Community Institutions and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jiwani, Farzana Nanji
    Abstract:
    This dissertation examines the evolution in thinking about public policy devoted to social protection by drawing on welfare theory and its extensions, state-civil society frameworks, and transnational networks. It does this through case studies of the Ismaili Imamat, Ismaili community institutions, and AKDN in Canada and Tanzania. The key question posed is: How are we to understand the role in welfare provision of an evolving trans-state or perhaps international non-state cluster of institutions that have their origins and owe their existence to a religious faith? The importance of understanding hybridity, intermediary roles, scale, and regional configurations are highlighted. The dissertation comes to the following conclusions on the AKDN and welfare provision. First, regarding AKDN, although the Imamat level may be occupying that intermediary space and is involved in the orchestration and management of welfare production, the capacity for the mechanisms of the Imamat to also engage in a fully realized potential of a logic of hybridity is a more difficult proposition. AKDN is a culmination of elements that began in the Ismaili community, and it is still evolving. So the capacity to seamlessly engage in a logic of hybridity or not be confined to a particular sector or scale is an ongoing process. Second, regarding welfare provision, the focus on self-reliance and independence are important factors in meeting welfare needs. However, context is important. For example, in Canada, the Ismaili community institutions are more robust, highly professional, and are operating within the context of Canadian state welfare provision and other external services. This in not the case in Tanzania where community institutions are resource strapped and government or external services are unavailable. The extent of collaboration between the more comprehensive AKDN entities and community institutions in Tanzania are unresolved. Although there were pockets of collaboration between AKDN entities and government, it could be described as strategic cooperation rather than co-production. Finally, the level of Imamat engagement in welfare production demonstrated that innovation in this area is rooted in the need to break away from sector confinements and re-evaluate thinking about how and where welfare production can take place.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Public Policy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Unravelling the P-T-t History of Grenvillian Metamorphism in the Mazinaw Domain, Southeastern Ontario: Insights from Phase Equilibria Modeling and Geospeedometry

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    McCarron, Travis
    Abstract:
    P-T-t conditions of Grenvillian metamorphism were derived from mineral assemblages, growth zoning in garnet and monazite geochronology from metapelites of the Flinton Group in southeastern Ontario. Initial conditions of garnet growth determined through isopleth thermobarometry yielded 3.7 kbar and 515°C and geothermal gradients of 40°C km-1. Phase equilibria modeling revealed an increase from 615 to 715°C and 5.6 to 7.9 kbar across the study area. Forward modeling of growth zoning in a population of garnet porphyroblasts with the THERIA_G software revealed a clockwise path over the P-T interval 3.7 to 5.9 kbar and 513 to 615°C. Diffusional relaxation of growth zoning in relatively small porphyroblasts of the population provided an average heating rate of 2°C Ma-1. In situ U-Pb monazite geochronology revealed a major age population at 977 ± 4 Ma, interpreted to represent monazite growth at the expense of allanite near the peak conditions of garnet growth and metamorphism.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Place Matters

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Lioubachevskaia, Elena
    Abstract:
    This thesis explores past and present directions of architectural theories and designs of libraries with a focus on the study of the progression of cultural transmission methods, from oral to written and from written to digital. As recorded memory shifts from physical mediums to digital media in a virtual space the amount of physical space needed for housing the information diminishes. The tension between spatially embodied memory and digital memory raises a critical question: ‘WHAT IS THE CONTEMPORARY LIBRARY?’ We are witnessing a change in the way people share information. The impact of the current “information age” on architectural design is examined through a three part structure: first chapter will discuss Architectural Medium as the Message and the Message without the Architecture, second chapter will examine Architecture that Houses the Message as well as the Message without the Architecture, and third chapter will discuss the proposed Contemporary Library project.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Architecture
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Springtime in n'Daki Menan, the Homeland of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai: Babies, Cradleboards and Community Wrapping

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Nahwegahbow, Alexandra Kahsenniio
    Abstract:
    This is a study of how the tikinaagan (cradleboard) as an object related to pre-colonial Indigenous childcare can be metaphorically investigated as a model for traditional social frameworks that illustrate the central place and role of babies and young people within Anishinaabe families and communities. Through this, I approach the ornamentation and arrangement of a small cradleboard collected by Frank Speck in the early-twentieth century during his visit to the territory of n'Daki Menan in northeastern Ontario. By exploring the historical context in which this cradleboard was created, used, and collected I address the gaps in the early literature where the Indigenous voice and value placed on these objects were disregarded or overlooked. I argue that cradleboards, through their stylistic design and contextual power, have the ability to communicate traditional knowledge and values of parenting, family and community across generations to present day.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Art History
    Date Created:
    2013

  • On configuration and control of the thermal plant for fuel cell micro-cogeneration

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    McMurtry, Stephen James
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Sustainable Energy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • An Economic Analysis of Children's Behavior and Academic Experiences in Canadian Schools

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Ci, Wen
    Abstract:
    Using a confidential Canadian dataset of children and youth (National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth), I have provided empirical evidence of the school performance, bullying behavior, and language immersion of children in four chapters of the Ph.D. thesis. In the first chapter, the academic performance of children of immigrants is compared with that of their classmates of Canadian-born parents. The comparison starts when children are in kindergarten and continues until they grow up to become adolescents. In the second chapter, the bullying behavior of children is explored. This chapter focuses on the identification of causality between parental control and children’s bullying behavior, which is generally under-investigated in the existing literature. First, we build a theoretical model to capture the strategic dependence of children’s bullying behavior and the corresponding parental control. Then, we employ conditional fixed effects logistic estimation to test the theoretical conclusions. The empirical results support our hypothesis that stricter disciplinary measures taken by parents are more effective in deterring the child from bullying when all the other factors are held constant. The causality is carefully justified by making great efforts to account for all possible identification issues. Chapter 3 studies the children’s bullying behavior in a dynamic scenario by answering the question of when is the best time to stop bullying. Results from the semi-parametric propensity score matching suggest that early bullying detection and intervention contributes to a positive suppression effect on it. In the last chapter, we provide empirical evidence on who are in French immersion programs and who are more likely to drop out of French immersion. Results from the two-stage least-squares estimation indicate that children with higher reading ability are more likely to enter French immersion programs. Both simple logistic estimation and duration analysis
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Economics
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Endwall Flows in Transonic Turbine Cascades

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Taremi, Farzad
    Abstract:
    The results of an investigation of the midspan and endwall flows in transonic linear turbine cascades are documented here. A family of five turbine cascades with different levels of flow turning and aerodynamic loading were used for this study to quantify the effects of these parameters on loss generation in compressible flows. Experimental data on these flows are scarce in the open literature. In addition, the application of two different passive flow control techniques for reducing the endwall losses is examined here: these are referred to as endwall contouring, and airfoil pressure-side modification. The experimental investigations were conducted in the Pratt and Whitney Canada (PWC) High-Speed Wind Tunnel Laboratory at Carleton University. The measurements were made using a seven-hole pressure probe downstream of the cascades at both design and off-design Mach numbers. In addition to the measurements, surface flow visualization was conducted to assist in the interpretation of the flow physics. The results from complementary numerical investigations are also presented, and compared with the experimental data. Overall, the examined secondary flow structures are in agreement with previous low-speed findings. However, in contrast to low-speed results, the downstream mixing losses are mainly attributed to the dissipation of primary kinetic energy in the present study. Raising the exit Mach number results in weaker secondary flow structures and smaller secondary losses. The experimental results demonstrate that endwall contouring is a viable option for mitigating the secondary flows, particularly for the more highly-loaded cascade. The modification of the airfoil pressure surface is also found to provide a significant benefit in terms of endwall loss reduction. The differences between the measurements and the computational results highlight the need for detailed experimental investigations.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Towards Efficient and Fair Radio Resource Allocation Schemes for Interference-Limited Celluar Networks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bin Sediq, Akram Salem
    Abstract:
    The focus of this thesis is on studying the tradeoff between efficiency and fairness in interference-limited cellular networks. We start by characterizing the optimal tradeoff between efficiency and fairness in cellular networks, where efficiency is measured by the sum-rate and fairness is measured by the Jain's fairness index. Finding the optimal Efficiency-Jain Tradeoff (EJT) corresponds to solving potentially difficult non-convex optimization problems. To alleviate this difficulty, we derive sufficient conditions, which are shown to be sharp and naturally satisfied in various radio resource allocation problems. These conditions provide us with a means for identifying cases in which finding the optimal EJT can be reformulated as convex optimization problems. The new formulations are used to devise computationally-efficient resource schedulers that achieve the optimal EJT and surpass baseline schedulers in terms of EJT, median rate, and user satisfaction, without incurring additional complexity. Finding the optimal EJT in the long-term average rates in interference-limited cellular networks is tackled by designing an efficient inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) scheme to manage interference by coordinating the allocation of radio resources across multiple cells. The goal of the ICIC scheme is to solve a multi-cell weighted sum-rate maximization optimization problem. By identifying a separable structure and a network-flow structure, we show that such optimization problem is amenable to powerful optimization methods, including the primal-decomposition method, the projected-subgradient method, and the network-flow optimization methods. Using these optimization methods, we propose a polynomial-time distributed ICIC scheme that finds a near-optimum multi-cell resource allocations. In comparison with baseline ICIC schemes, the proposed scheme is shown to achieve higher gains in efficiency, Jain’s fairness index, cell-edge rate, and outage probability.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Negotiating power : gender and body politics in the new wave Japanese cinema

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Briciu, Bianca Otilia
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cultural Mediations
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Dynamics control approaches to improve vibratory environment of the helicopter aircrew

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Wickramasinghe, Viresh Kanchana
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Engineering English : a multimodal case study of one Engineering and two EAP textbooks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fontenelle, Renee
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Behavioural correlates of atypical brain morphology in individuals with high levels of autistic-like traits

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hill, Simon
    Abstract:
    The current study investigated whether atypical brain morphology extends to individuals in the normal population who are high in autistic-like traits. It was hypothesised that autistic-like traits would be negatively correlated with hemispheric lateralization and communication. Additionally, males and individuals enrolled in mathematically intensive university programs were expected to display higher levels of autistic-like traits than females and individuals enrolled in less mathematically intensive programs. A sample of 130 university students completed the AQ questionnaire and three measures of brain morphology to assess autistic-like traits as well as hemispheric lateralization and communication. Results indicated that autistic-like traits were not associated with measures of hemispheric lateralization or communication. Only group differences based on university program yielded significant results on the AQ. It was concluded that the measures were not sensitive enough to detect atypical brain morphology differences in the present sample or that these differences do not exist in subclinical populations.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Non-Native Production of Arabic Pharyngeal and Pharyngealized Consonants

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Alwabari, Sawsan
    Abstract:
    Grounded on the theoretical constructs of cross-language speech learning, this research investigates English L1 speakers’ production of Arabic pharyngeal and pharyngealized consonants (/ħ, ʕ/ and /tˤ, sˤ, dˤ, ðˤ/, respectively). Central to this study is how English speakers’ proficiency in Arabic affects their ability to produce these sounds differently. In particular, it examines the effect of Arabic proficiency on the production of pharyngealized versus non-pharyngealized consonants; pharyngeals versus non-pharyngeals; pharyngeal versus pharyngealized sounds; intra-category differences among the target consonants; and pharyngeal and pharyngealized consonants which differ in the adjacent vowel. The study adopts the posttest-only control group design in which Arabic learners and non-learners constitute the research groups. This thesis exploits Best’s (1995) perceptual assimilation model (PAM); Flege’s (1995) speech learning model (SLM) and principles of gestural phonology in interpreting the split-plot ANOVA results. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed based on the study results.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The General Counsel, Gatekeeping, and the Investor Public: Uneasy Bedfellows?

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Alipour Malamiry, Mahnam
    Abstract:
    This thesis examines the role of the general counsel across Canadian and American comparisons, specifically with reference to Enron, Livent, and Hollinger cases of fraud. General Counsel is in a unique position as both a business executive, and a law professional that can mediate their ethical obligations as a professional, as well as their fiduciary obligations as a corporate executive. Two models of responsibility will be examined: that of transaction engineer, and that of gatekeeper. Transaction engineer is primarily situated as a means of maximizing value for the corporation through the general counsel’s legal expertise, and this can include “loophole lawyering”. Counsel may be failing to provide adequate representation for corporate fiduciary responsibilities, as well as their ethical responsibility to not undermine the law in the pursuit of aggressive competitive advantage and short-term profit.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Legal Studies
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Characterization of a PEDOT:PSS Electrolytic Device Using an in situ Spectroelectrochemical Technique

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Barrera Ramirez, Eduardo Alberto
    Abstract:
    PEDOT:PSS, a conjugated polymer, has demonstrated great potential in emerging applications due to its variable conductivity and spectral attenuation. However, it is necessary to understand the relationship between these properties and the doping state of PEDOT:PSS. This work uses an in situ spectroelectrochemical experiment to measure conductance and spectral attenuation of PEDOT:PSS while being dedoped quasi-statically with lithium ions. Results show a reversible decrease in conductivity during dedoping with a maximum on/off ratio of 2500. The relationship between conductivity and doping state displays a sigmoidal shape with minimum conductivity at ~1.2mC of intercalated charge. Migration speed of lithium through PEDOT:PSS was found to have a power-law speed-time relationship, where the exponent was on average 0.715 for applied voltages of 2V-5V. This work provides important parameters to facilitate simulation of complex PEDOT:PSS polymer-electrolyte devices.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Improvement in Metal-on-Metal Bearing of Hip Implants with Advanced Stellite Alloys

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hu, Peishan
    Abstract:
    CoCrMo alloy Stellite 21 has been used as hip implant material decades. However, its limited metal-on-metal bearing has resulted in loosening in hip implants. Three advanced alloys, Stellite 720, Stellite 21 with increased 10 wt%Cr (named modified Stellite 21) and Stellite 21 with additional 0.4 ~ 0.6 wt%CrN (named nitrided Stellite 21), are proposed in this research to improve the bearing. The wear test is performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer. The corrosion tests are conducted in the simulated human body environment. The results demonstrate that the proposed alloys all exhibit better wear resistance than the conventional Stellite 21. The corrosion resistance of modified Stellite 21 is much better than that of Stellite 21 while Stellite 720 and nitrided Stellite 21 are worse than Stellite 21 in corrosion resistance. Modified Stellite 21 with combined superior wear and corrosion resistance properties is highly recommended.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Materials
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Impact of Socio-cultural Issues on Mature Women and Alcohol Use in Glasgow, Scotland: An Anthropological Exploration

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jones, Angeline Maria
    Abstract:
    This thesis explores the connection between women’s health and alcohol consumption in Glasgow, Scotland. The purpose of the project is to investigate how social, economic and other factors affect women’s alcohol consumption, and whether or not female alcohol consumption has a direct effect on women’s ill-health in Glasgow, Scotland. The data gleaned from participant observation and semi-structured interviewing of thirteen Glaswegian women provide evidence that female alcohol consumption is inseparable from issues of gender, identity, class, and power. The data will be examined using three unique levels of analysis: the individual, the societal, and the institutional. Such an examination helps to capture the lived reality of Glaswegian women. Furthermore, it situates women's alcohol use in the contemporary context of Scotland's political economy. Finally, the thesis concludes with a discussion of women’s alcohol use in Glasgow and its connection to the ‘Glasgow Effect’.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Anthropology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Leveraging Collective Intelligence in Participatory Design Research Using Information and Communications Technology

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Grigoriev, Michael
    Abstract:
    Design is in the midst of undergoing significant changes in its potential to engage large crowds of people using information and communications technology (ICT) in participatory processes. As design becomes increasingly tasked with playing a role in improving the human condition, it must determine how to best engage existing diverse knowledge from crowds and evolve beyond traditional design approaches to solve non-traditional problems. The notion of using information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) to aggregate diverse knowledge within participatory processes represents great promise, yet it must be better understood in an emerging design landscape. This research combines leading perspectives into a set of comprehensive guidelines to inform the use of ICT within participatory design research capable of engaging the collective intelligence of participants. It also documents the exploration and evidence of a social movement known as ‘Idle No More’ as potential for a future application of these guidelines.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Do malware warnings reduce the likelihood of installing bad software? The case of the Trojan Horse

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chowdhury, Wahida
    Abstract:
    My research focused on increasing computer security by reducing users’ likelihood of installing Trojan Horses: malware hiding inside attractive software. Social cognition research suggests that reading security warnings in software reviews could reduce the likelihood of installing malware. In Study 1, 43 undergraduates viewed user reviews of hypothetical games. Half the reviews were malware warnings. Ratings of the warnings’ strength were used to select strong and weak warnings for Study 2. In Study 2, 45 undergraduates viewed reviews of real computer games. I manipulated the strength and number of warnings in the reviews. Results showed the likelihood of installing a game was influenced by both the number and strength of malware warnings in reviews: two warnings reduced ratings of installation likelihood more than did one warning; strong warnings reduced the ratings more than did weak ones. Implications and limitations of the findings for social contributions to computer security are discussed.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Design Research for Instructional Graphics: A Focus on Fall Prevention Exercises for Older Adults

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Shamloo, Yasaman
    Abstract:
    Falls are a major cause of injury in old age and the leading reason for loss of independence. Regular exercise lowers the risk of falls among the elderly. The elderly display little motivation towards exercise programs. The objective of this interdisciplinary research is to explore the role that design research can play in increasing seniors’ motivation towards exercise, by creating recommendations for engaging exercise instructions. In order to investigate the role of design elements in exercise instructions, mixed research methods were utilized. The key findings of this research include, figure representations; acknowledge the benefits of exercise; and take advantage of the positive opportunities for exercising while multi-tasking. The findings resulted in design recommendations for exercise instructions that, when applied, could enhance motivation towards physical activity. Designers may use the findings from this research study as a guide for designing instructional graphics that contribute to motivating seniors in fall prevention exercise.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Dendroclimatic Signal in White Spruce (Picea Glauca) Ring-Widths, Central Northwest Territories

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Muise, Phil
    Abstract:
    White spruce samples were collected at 10 sites along a latitudinal gradient in the central Northwest Territories near treeline. Extending to 1643, the chronologies represent the oldest tree ring-width records in the region. Composite chronologies were developed: COMP1 is composed of five sites situated in the northern part of the sampling area; COMP2 is composed of the three southernmost sites. Growth patterns of COMP1 and COMP2 are highly synchronous until the 1930s. After the 1930s, COMP1 exhibits increasing growth, while COMP2 exhibits decreasing growth. COMP1 is positively correlated with summer temperatures and precipitation. COMP2 is inversely correlated with summer temperatures and May precipitation. Rising temperatures may have caused landscape scale patterns of moisture stress at COMP2 sites and improved growing conditions at COMP1 sites. The earlier onset of the growing season is hypothesized to have shifted the limiting factor for growth of COMP1 from July to June precipitation at ~1977.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Network Analysis of The Evolution of an Open Source Development Community

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fan, Zhaocheng
    Abstract:
    This research investigated the evolution of an open source development community by undertaking network analysis across time. Several open source communities have been previously studied using network analysis techniques, including Apache, Debian, Drupal, Python, and SourceForge. However, only static snapshots of the network were considered by previous research. In this research, we created a tool that can help researchers and practitioners to find out how the Eclipse development community dynamically evolved over time. The input dataset was collected from the Eclipse Foundation, and then the evolution of the Eclipse development community was visualized and analyzed by using different network analysis techniques. Six network analysis techniques were applied: (i) visualization, (ii) weight filtering, (iii) degree centrality, (iv) eigenvector centrality, (v) betweenness centrality, and (vi) closeness centrality. Results include the benefits of performing multiple techniques in combination, and the analysis of the evolution of an open source development community.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Technology Innovation Management
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Implementation of a Drop Test Impact Rig for Dynamic Testing of High Speed Craft Shock Mitigation Seats and Extraction of Modal Parameters

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zuneid Alam, Shaik
    Abstract:
    The high-g loads occurring at the seat-deck interface locations during slam impacts experienced on high-speed crafts in moderate to high seas results in serious potential for injury to the occupants. The need for a standard testing platform and experimental analysis to investigate a seat's effectiveness forms the major objective of research being carried out by Carleton University's Applied Dynamics Laboratory (ADL) in partnership with Defence Research and Development Canada-Atlantic (DRDC-Atlantic). A drop tower was designed and manufactured by the ADL for testing seats in order to characterize their shock mitigating effectiveness by simulating the severe conditions of a slam impact at sea through the use of singular impact testing. Further, in order to identify the seats' dynamic parameters from drop test data, the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA), a modal-analysis-based system identification method, was applied to two commercial shock-mitigating seats provided by DRDC-Atlantic.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Bendy: An Exploration into Gaming with Mobile Flexible Devices

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Lo, Jessica May-Wai
    Abstract:
    We explore gaming with mobile flexible devices through a comprehensive study. We conducted two experiments with two commonly sized mobile devices. The first experiment created user-defined bend gestures from a set of tasks derived from gaming. The results suggest pairing opposing events by gesture location, little differences in gestures performed on two sized devices and interaction paradigms relating to the Simon Effect. The results of the first experiment were summarized and provided guidelines for the design of the game controls used in the second experiment. We implemented the userdefined gestures into 6 games using an interactive flexible prototype. Usability and user experience were evaluated and we find an overall preference for the small size, identified an important usability issue related to hand position and interaction paradigms regarding the Simon Effect and bimanual input. Finally, we propose a set of design recommendations for flexible device interactions and game designers.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Patronage Effect: Civil Service Reforms, Job-Seeking, and State Formation in Victorian Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Banoub, David Joseph
    Abstract:
    Patronage, in the mid- and late-nineteenth century, was central to Canadian politics. This period also witnessed a series of debates concerning the civil service and a range of reforms that attempted to eliminate patronage. This dissertation argues that, more than debates about administration and appointments, these were also struggles over how to construct the ideal civil servant and civil service. These were highly political issues that were beset by processes of inclusion and exclusion, especially with respect to gender, class, and race. In short, these were debates about the many facets of liberal governmentality and state formation in early modern Canada. This dissertation also analyzes letters to federal politicians asking for appointments. Among other things, these documents expressed a range of opinions on how the bureaucracy should be managed, staffed and constructed. Letters asking for patronage also demonstrated how aspiring public servants understood and expected the appointment process to work. These letters reflected what type of people should have access to the civil service, and what type of people the applicants thought they were. As such, they informed and were themselves informed by broader political and administrative debates. These politics of Canadian patronage, I argue, were central to the everyday processes of state formation.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    History: Political Economy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Influence of Desiccation and Stress History on Monotonic and Cyclic Shear Response of Thickened Gold Tailings

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Daliri, Farzad
    Abstract:
    In thickened tailings technology, tailings are dewatered to the point where they exhibit a yield stress such that they form gently sloping stacks during deposition. Post-deposition, these tailings may densify due to settling, desiccation, and drainage. Fresh tailings subsequently deposited over the desiccated layer and this procedure is continued to facilitate construction of a stable stack. Tailings placed in the stack therefore undergo variable stress histories in terms of degree of desiccation and consolidation. A better understanding of the effects of this stress history on the geotechnical behaviour would lead to safe and economical designs. Most common design objectives in thickened tailings deposition are to improve stability, minimize deformation during earthquakes, facilitate reclamation, and maximize the deposition volume (stack slope). This study investigated the influence of stress history on the monotonic and cyclic shear strength of thickened tailings. The field deposition process was simulated by desiccating layers to different degrees, and subsequently overlaying them with fresh tailings. This was done in a small column, as well as in a 0.7 m by 1 m plan “drying box”, in which 5 layers were subsequently deposited, desiccated to different degrees, before placement of the next layer. Extracted samples were consolidated prior to shearing under simple shear and triaxial loading modes. Vane shear tests were also employed to complement the experiments. The effects of overconsolidation ratio (OCR) associated with desiccation and mechanical loading were also compared. A profound effect of the degree of desiccation on the stress-strain behaviour of the tailings was measured. Tailings that have not experienced any desiccation exhibit strain-softening response under simple shear loading. A small degree of desiccation was enough to transform the response from contractive to dilative, and generally the degree of strain hardening increased with the degree of desiccation. Desiccated samples also exhibited more stiffness, and had a higher void ratio at a given consolidation pressure, than non-desiccated samples. These results have practical relevance, as the contribution of desiccation stress history has either been previously discounted or underestimated at best.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Environmental
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Interleaved Sequences Over Finite Fields

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    He, Jing
    Abstract:
    We study cryptographic properties such as correlation, correlation measure and linear complexity profile of the sequences defined by characters with interleaved structure. Families of pseudorandom sequences with low cross correlation have important applications in communications and cryptography. Among several known constructions of sequences with low cross correlation, interleaved constructions proposed by Gong use two sequences of the same period with two-level autocorrelation. We generalize the interleaved algorithm and construct some families of interleaved sequences. We study the balance property and the cross correlation of the interleaved sequences. Then we interleave two m-ary sequences of integer periods. We study the power correlation measure of order k (with bound B) of the interleaved m-ary sequences. A relation between the linear complexity profile and the power correlation measure of order $ with bound $ is also provided. For applications in communications sequences with a small alphabet size are often required. We define a new class of sequences over the set of complex numbers with unit magnitude (and 0) which have small alphabet size, long period and almost perfect autocorrelation. Sequences with low correlation property or zero correlation property around the origin can be used in such systems for reducing multiple-access interference. Such sequence sets are called low correlation zone (LCZ) or zero correlation zone (ZCZ) sequence sets (families), respectively. A new family of interleaved polyphase sequences is constructed using the newly defined sequences as the base sequences and the shift sequence being a Costas sequence. We find the ZCZ of this constructed family of interleaved polyphase sequences. A family of sequences constructed by shift-adding one two-prime generator of order 2 sequence, is also studied.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Pure Mathematics
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Dissident Words, Western Voices: The Relationship Between Samizdat and Radio Liberty During Detente

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Handy, Elise Lauren
    Abstract:
    Détente was a period of reorientation for Soviet society. Samizdat literature was one of the primary sources of information about the dissident community available outside the Soviet Union. The western-backed station Radio Liberty saw the value of samizdat early on, and incorporated these documents into their broadcasts. A symbiotic relationship developed between samizdat and Radio Liberty and this relationship affected the aims of both groups. Their relationship encouraged the transmission of information across Soviet borders and promoted awareness of dissident issues within the greater Soviet population. This thesis examines the relationship between samizdat and Radio Liberty, and its influence on Soviet society during détente.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
    Date Created:
    2013

  • A Closer Examination of the Relation Between Child Shyness and Academic Performance in China

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Paul, Jessica Lindsey
    Abstract:
    The purpose of the current study was to explore the relations between child shyness and academic achievement in China. Participants were 597 elementary school children aged 8 to 11 years who attended 5 randomly selected public elementary schools in Shanghai, China. Shyness was assessed by peer nomination and a newly translated self-report measure. Children also self-reported indices of their socio-emotional functioning. Academic achievement was assessed across domains and via multiple informants. Results revealed a number of significant associations between self-reported child shyness, socio-emotional functioning, and indices of academic achievement. The newly-developed self-report measure of shyness demonstrated good psychometric properties. Self-reported shyness was significantly negatively associated with all academic outcome variables. Further, academic achievement was found to significantly moderate the relation between shyness and peer rejection such that the relation between these two variables increased at lower levels of academic achievement and decreased at higher levels of academic achievement.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • "Give me one reason why this is true": A multimodal investigation of the strategies used by university teachers of mathematics to elicit responses from students

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fogarty-Bourget, Chloe Grace
    Abstract:
    This study aims to broaden the current understanding of undergraduate university mathematics teaching by conducting a multimodal analysis of video-recorded segments of classroom teaching by an experienced professor and a less experienced Teaching Assistant. The study focuses on the participants’ use of discursive strategies and multimodal features as they are used to elicit responses from students. The analysis is conducted through the qualitative multimodal thematic coding of video-recorded segments, and audio transcripts, and with the quantitization of the participants’ strategies used to elicit student responses. Findings show that despite variance in the teaching location, educational backgrounds, and levels of experience of the participants, the discursive and multimodal strategies that they use during teaching are remarkably similar; in other words, the participants use the same genre of teaching undergraduate mathematics. Conclusions present undergraduate mathematics teaching as a complex, multimodal, and wholly interactive genre of teaching.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Strengthening the Integration of Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Impact Assessment: An Analysis of Inuit Place Names near Steensby Inlet, NU

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Byam, Amelie Sonya Andaiye
    Abstract:
    Environmental impact assessments are a key policy tool in the mitigation of eco-systemic and cultural risk due to resource development. They are of increasing importance as climate change creates demand for the expansion of northern resource development. In the North, innovative approaches are needed to ensure that Inuit values and concerns are reflected in environmental and economic decision-making. In the eastern Arctic, the Nunavut Impact Review Board has recognized the importance of both scientific and traditional knowledge to this task. Inuit place names are a form of traditional knowledge that has rarely been leveraged in environmental assessment despite their indication of historical land-use, ecological resources, and areas of cultural value. Through a case study of the Mary River iron mine project near Steensby Inlet, NU, this thesis examines the potential contributions of an analysis of Inuit place names to the scoping phase of environmental impact assessment.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Distributed Multimodal Interaction Protocol: Enabling Transport of Distributed Interactions

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Stephenson, Lucas William
    Abstract:
    Increasingly the world has ubiquitous access to mobile, personal technology provided through a variety of hardware form factors; smartphones, tablets, and more. Despite this, the ability to use these personal devices to control and interact with remote technology is limited further progress is mired by proprietary technologies that places this form of remote access technology in isolated software silos. This project provides an open standard networking protocol to enable transport of multimodal interactions between disparate endpoints, with minimal reliance on the personal devices’ software or hardware platform. This allows technology enablers to more easily design, develop, deploy and maintain flexible software solutions. Simplifying the software development life cycle allows for more access to technology by end users and can increase the resources available for user experience considerations. The defined protocol is validated through a number of sample implementation tests and by verifying its ability to transport multimodal interaction information.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Essays on Horizontal Merger Analysis

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Li, Gang
    Abstract:
    This dissertation consists of three essays that study the economic impact of horizontal mergers. Chapters 1 and 2 address the merger paradox about merger profitability. We examine two oligopoly models of both price and quantity competition and demonstrate that mergers are profitable under certain conditions. We analyze in Chapter 1 the effects of mergers when every firm in the market faces a capacity constraint. We show that a merger has no effect on equilibrium prices and profits if pure-strategy equilibrium prevails both before and after the merger. Otherwise prices increase and the merger is profitable. Specifically if mixed-strategy equilibrium prevails both before and after the merger, the support of the price distribution will shift upward, and the post-merger price distribution of each firm will dominate its pre-merger price distribution. We show in Chapter 2 that product differentiation can also resolve the merger paradox associated with quantity competition by broadening the range of parameters over which mergers are profitable. To be more specific, we demonstrate that a merger is profitable if the number of competitors is small, and if the substitutability is high between the insiders but low between each insider and the outsiders. The post-merger prices of the insiders are higher when the substitutability is higher between the insiders or lower between each insider and the outsiders. Chapter 3 extends the model in Chapter 2 to study how efficiencies affect post-merger equilibrium. We consider a situation where a merger reduces the marginal cost of the merging firms. We find that, depending on the degree of substitutability between the merging products, efficiencies can have opposite effects on post-merger prices. When the degree of substitutability is sufficiently high, efficiencies tend to reduce post-merger prices, as the conventional wisdom suggests. However, if the degree of substitutability is lower, efficiencies have the unconventional effect of raising the post-merger prices. In this case, prices rise with efficiencies and might be eventually pushed up above the pre-merger level as efficiencies grow. Our analysis suggests that measures such as pass-through rate and the UPP test might lead to misleading conclusions regarding the price effects of a merger.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Economics
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Development of a Spacial Dynamic Handling and Securing Model for Shipboard Helicopters

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Leveille, Michael James
    Abstract:
    Maritime helicopters have the ability to greatly increase the range of influence and utility of naval vessels. For smaller ships in rough seas, flight deck motion becomes considerable and additional infrastructure is required for securing and traversing helicopters while on-deck. The current state-of-the-art in dynamic modelling of the on-deck helicopter/ship dynamic interface includes a fully spacial securing simulation and one capable of modelling planar manoeuvring operations. A fully spacial securing and manoeuvring simulation named SSMASH (Spacial Securing and Manoeuvring Analysis for Shipboard Helicopters) has been developed to provide complete analysis capability of the on-deck helicopter/ship dynamic interface. A new capability to model helicopter response to manoeuvring events in the presence of flight deck motion is realized. The SSMASH simulation is modeled with twelve degrees-of-freedom and mass coupling between the helicopter body and wheel carriages. The model has been validated against another simulation and experimental data from land-based manoeuvring trials.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Aerospace Engineering
    Date Created:
    2013

  • "Proactive Control" The Case of Community Policing in Ottawa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Ghazzawi, Chanel
    Abstract:
    The research investigates how the Ottawa Police Service operationalizes the community policing paradigm and further considers some of the benefits and challenges of the collaborative approach. The thesis argues that despite the ideals of community policing, there exist significant limitations that challenge police officers’ present capacities to engage in partnerships with the community. Such limitations include an ambiguous conceptual understanding of community policing, community mobilization efforts that are based on the assumption that communities can be readied and are willing to participate in crime prevention programs established by the police, a traditional police structure that cannot effectively sustain community policing reforms, and an underlying police subculture that does not subscribe to proactive policing. The findings suggest that although the police department is committed to community policing, they must consider addressing the identified limitations in order to effectively operationalize community policing and maintain accountability.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Antipredator Defence and the Evolution of Senescence in Lepidoptera

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Carroll, Justin
    Abstract:
    Senescence, defined as a reduction in physiological function, fecundity or survivorship with age, is a nearly ubiquitous phenomenon which nonetheless presents an apparent evolutionary paradox, since individuals that did not senesce would seemingly have a selective advantage over those that do. This paradox is resolved by evolutionary theory in terms of life history trade-offs, since selection is expected to favour benefits early in life even if they are associated with costs late in life. In this research project, I explored one of the fundamental predictions of the evolutionary theory of senescence: that increased predation should select for increased rates of senescence and therefore reduced longevity. In particular, I tested the prediction that aposematism (conspicuous coloration paired with chemical defence) should be associated with lower predation rates than other strategies such as crypsis (or camouflage), and this should lead to lower senescence rates and higher longevity in aposematic species. My research program addressed two broad questions: first, are there differences in predation-related mortality between cryptic and aposematic prey, and second, what are the implications of these differences (or lack thereof) for the evolution of senescence? Predation rates were compared using field experiments with artificial prey and wild predators, and included a test of a specific theory of post-reproductive senescence based on kin selection. My results indicated that there was little support for the kin selection mechanism of post-reproductive senescence, however there was some support for the more general mechanism of differential predation rates between aposematic and cryptic prey. The relationship between defence and senescence was explored in two ways: by fitting senescence models to demographic data from Lepidoptera, and by building a simulated population which evolved longevity in the presence of predation.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Efficacy Before Novelty: Establishing Design Guidelines in Interactive Gaming for Rehabilitation and Training

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zaczynski, Monica
    Abstract:
    Interactive gaming has demonstrated promise as a low-cost, at-home physiotherapy supplement. Gaming systems offer convenience and the ability to provide enhanced reporting and progress data if body measurement information is collected effectively. Current commercially available systems are not necessarily designed for rehabilitation and as a result, the quality of instruction delivery and level of involvement falls short of the needs of patients. This thesis will look at adapting for occlusion and lack of visibility; learning and orientation; and providing feedback in an effort to determine if there is an ideal visual demonstration delivery that maximizes pose understanding and user self-efficacy, determine whether supplementary modalities are important for instruction, and determine if there is an ideal feedback delivery that promotes pose comprehension, confidence and motivation. This information can provide a guideline for designing clear and supportive, interactive training or rehabilitation systems that can engage users, prevent injury and help maintain fitness.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Ice Island Deterioration in the Canadian Arctic: Rates, Patterns and Model Evaluation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Crawford, Anna Jean
    Abstract:
    Knowledge regarding the deterioration processes of large tabular icebergs, known as ice islands, is limited within the Canadian Arctic. This study analyzed ice island deterioration through two aspects: 1) horizontal (areal) and 2) vertical (surface melt or ‘ablation’). Satellite images were digitized to monitor areal dimensions, classify deterioration modes and correlate deterioration rates with environmental variables. The rates of deterioration were different between the Eastern and Western Canadian Arctic regions possibly due to differences in air temperature and sea ice concentration. Validation of operational surface ablation models was also carried out with in-situ microclimate measurements. The Canadian Ice Service iceberg model under-predicted surface ablation by 68%, while a more complete energy-balance model developed for ice islands improved output accuracy (7.5% under-prediction). These analyses will provide useful knowledge regarding the deterioration process of ice islands to offshore stakeholders for mitigation of risks associated with ice island hazards to offshore operations.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Numerical Study of Aeroelastic Behaviour of a Troposkien Shape Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fereidooni, Amin
    Abstract:
    A methodology for aeroelastic analysis of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) with troposkien geometry is developed. The structural dynamic equations used in this analysis represent the behaviour of a three dimensionally curved beam in terms of generalized force and generalized displacement vectors. It is demonstrated that the mixed form of the equations lends itself well to the application of mixed finite element method. The structural dynamic equations are coupled with a free vortex based aerodynamic model. The aerodynamic model represents the wake with vortex filaments that stretch, rotate and translate freely in the wake of the wind turbine. The computational aeroelastic framework is utilized to study the aeroelastic behavior of the 17-meter DOE-Sandia VAWT. The comparison of the estimated vibratory stress at the root of wind turbine with the experimental data reveals excellent agreement except at the region where dynamic stall plays a crucial role in predicting the aerodynamic forces.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Aerospace Engineering
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Socratic Parrhesiast As A Social Actor: Towards A More Practical Communications Category

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Allard, Danielle Jean
    Abstract:
    The field of communication has steadily increased the range of concepts and categories at its disposal for describing and analyzing its subject matter. However, in one area it has made little progress in developing an analytical repertoire: that of the actual communicator as a social type. The purpose of this thesis is to help rectify this situation by developing a workable concept of the communicator as parrhesiast. In 399 B.C.E. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods which the city believed in. In this same year, he was found guilty and put to death. With reference to the work of Michel Foucault, this thesis will provide a framework for identifying the parrhesiast using Plato’s Socrates as the example.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Communication
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Competing States: The Use of Public Policy by Minority and Majority Nations

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Couture Gagnon, Alexandre
    Abstract:
    Since the mid-1900's, minority nationalistic movements within larger states have grown throughout the industrialized world. The rise of these minority nations' consciousness confronts their respective majority nation's self-definition. Within a given country, both the minority nation and the majority one thus engage in competition for loyalty. This competition is played out at the level of the state, that is, the minority nation's and the majority nation's governments fight for their citizens' loyalty through public policies. In order to study this phenomenon, this dissertation examines two case studies: Catalonia in Spain and Québec in Canada. A model has been developed to describe the dynamics of competition via public policy between the minority nation and the majority nation. Three policy areas are studied: language, foreign affairs, and immigration policy. The key element to the competition between the minority nation and the majority nation is the incrementalism of the minority nation's request for more power from the majority nation. The smaller the change required, the more the minority nation gains in the long term. Confrontation between a minority nation's and a majority nation's governments will take place when a government thinks that it has an advantage or when it wants to advance a public policy in a significant manner. Macro-confrontation, that is, confrontation across policy fields, happens around referendums on sovereignty and periods of high political tension. This research's objective is two-fold. First, it portends to describe competition between the minority nation's and its respective majority nation's governments over the citizens' loyalty through public policies. Second, it asserts that the competition may be modeled for most industrialized federal states.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Public Policy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Art of The Christian Pastorate: Shepherding The Barnardo Home Children To Canada, 1867-1905

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Herman, Alexandra Kate
    Abstract:
    This study investigates the techniques deployed by Barnardo in his child-saving initiatives in Britain and his systemized mass child migration scheme to Canada. This study explores the pastoral relations between Barnardo and the children he admitted into his charity between 1867 until his death in 1905. This study analyzes the Christian pastorate power-knowledge nexus and the pastoral role occupied by Barnardo during his child-saving work. Most of the documentary materials upon which the analysis proceeds was obtained through my grandmother, who is a descendant of a British Home Child. This study examines how Barnardo identified children from pauper parents and questions what specificities were invoked in an emigration programme that focused on pauper Anglo-British families. It explores how religious concerns were made compatible through the model of pastoral power. This study also looks at the gendered performativity of Home Children through collections of their personal stories and social worker records.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Evolution of Flight in Insects: Reconstruction and Biomechanical Analysis of a Protopterygote Insect Ancestor

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chlebak, Ryan Joseph
    Abstract:
    Powered flight in insects has allowed them to become one of the most successful groups of organisms on the planet. How they evolved to become flyers from non-flyers over 400 mya remains a mystery. Few published works have experimentally attempted to explore how flight may have arisen in insects and as such, the objective of this thesis is to attempt to define a possible protopterygote insect and its pathway to selection for powered flight. Here, I have employed a combination of behavioural analysis on an extant basal group insects and allometric scaling of morphology to define and construct a likely protopterygote insect. I have also enacted biomechanical methods such as force measurement and flow visualization on a physical wingless, static winged and a mechatronic (dynamic) flapping protopterygote model to explore potential elements for the selection of flight in insects. I have found that body shape (posture) is important to increasing drag as evidenced by the decreasing descent velocity and self righting ability of the Archaeognatha (Chapter 2), while their unique jumping behaviour can be useful to escape from the confines of standing water, likely present during the time of the protopterygote insect (Chapter 3). Biomechanical testing has revealed the presence of a low pressure zone behind the dorsum of a protopterygote model emulating the posture of falling Archaeognatha (Chapter 5) and that flapping can increase drag within the Reynolds regime of the putative protopterygote (Chapter 6) potentially setting the stage for thoracic wing selection. My thesis undertakes a novel approach, contributes empirical data and new insights to an emerging theory of the evolution of flapping flight in insects. This theory draws on previously defined hypotheses and attempts to combine elements from each while also providing support for the likelihood of a falling, flapping protopterygote insect contributing to selection for powered flight in insects.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Viewing Health as a Human Right: On the Normative Framework Linking Health to Human Rights

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Drecun, Darlene
    Abstract:
    The current global health literature is skeptical of the idea that one can defensibly claim a moral right to health. Gopal Sreenivasan and Onora O’Neill argue that a positive right to health is fraught with conceptual difficulties because it is unclear who bears the correlative duty to secure the right. Jonathan Wolff has recently attempted to provide a normative foundation for the human right to health from a non-cosmopolitan point of view, but his account fails to directly address Sreenivasan and O’Neill’s objections. In this paper, I will develop and further substantiate Wolff’s position in an attempt to respond to Sreenivasan and O’Neill’s critique of a positive right to health. I will argue that Wolff unknowingly seems to be making a case for a negative right to health, which I conclude provides a non-cosmopolitan normative foundation for the human right to health.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Philosophy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Political Fictionalism

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Tsui, Shang-Chun
    Abstract:
    An interesting feature of Rawls’s political liberalism is its reliance on a distinction between the moral and the political domains. The normative character of Rawls’s project, however, belies the metatheoretical nature of this distinction, which was never fully addressed by Rawls. In this thesis, I approach this distinction on its own terms and not as a normative question internal to political liberalism. In my view, whether the political is normatively distinct from the moral is a metatheoretical question normative politics—what I call ‘metapolitics’. The literature review surveys contemporary political liberal approaches to this question through a framework I develop by drawing on a number of seemingly disparate philosophical debates. My goal is to prepare the ground for future metapolitical accounts of the political domain. Towards that end, in the accompanying paper I propose and present, though without endorsing, a novel metapolitical view I call ‘political fictionalism’.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Philosophy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Developing a Catalytically Functional Ribonucleotide Reductase for Neurospora Crassa that Lacks Heterokaryon Incompatibility Activity

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Reshke, Ryan
    Abstract:
    We are exploring the structure-function relationship of proteins governing nonself recognition in Neurospora crassa. The heterokaryon incompatibility locus het-6, from N. crassa comprises two tightly linked genes: un-24 and het-6. Each gene exists as either Oak Ridge (OR) or Panama (PA) allelic variants, and only two possible haplotypes occur in nature: un-24OR-het-6OR or un-24PA-het-6PA. The het-6 gene encodes a protein with no known function outside of incompatibility whereas un-24 also encodes the large subunit of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). RNR is an enzyme that is essential for the conversion of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, and is crucial for DNA synthesis. We identify a single glutamic acid residue within the C-terminus of UN-24OR that governs incompatibility specificity. By changing this glutamic acid to leucine we produced an enzymatically functional RNR that lacks incompatibility activity (UN-240). Using this un-240 strain, we provide novel insight into the role that HET-6 proteins play in nonself recognition.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Protection and Security Aware QoS Framework for 4G Multihop Wireless Networks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Rengaraju, Perumalraja
    Abstract:
    The Worldwide interoperable for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards have well-defined Quality of Service (QoS) and security architecture. However, the details of Radio Resource Management (RRM) components, such as Call Admission Control (CAC) and Packet Scheduling (PS), are still open research topics. Next, some security issues are not yet resolved in the WiMAX or LTE standards. Finally, the multihop networks fail to consider the performance degradation problem during relay nodes failure. Therefore, the main objectives of this research work are to: (1) develop a new RRM framework to address QoS, (2) provide stronger security without affecting QoS performance, and (3) maintain the QoS of the network in the case of relay nodes failure. In terms of QoS, the proposed CAC in the Base Station (BS) reserves the bandwidth adaptively based on most recent requests from high priority users. When the reserved bandwidth is not fully used, the remaining bandwidth is allocated to least priority users for effective bandwidth utilization. Later, the CAC applies bandwidth pre-emption on least priority users to admit high priority users. Further, the PS scheme uses the (Priority + Earliest Due Date) scheduler to improve the multihop latency and dynamically switches to the (Priority + Token Bucket) scheduler during the CAC scheme is applied to bandwidth pre-emption on the least priority calls to ensure the bandwidth for high priority users. The proposed CAC and PS methods outperform the existing schemes where the QoS performance is verified by system level simulations. Secondly, to provide strong security without affecting the QoS performance, distributed security architecture using Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman protocol is proposed. For the WiMAX networks, the proposed security scheme is verified using simulation and compared with existing security using testbed implementation. For LTE networks, a theoretical analysis of the proposed scheme is analyzed.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    SYST: Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Food Access and Farmer Livelihoods: Policy Reflections From Stakeholders in Eastern Ontario

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Piazza, Stephen
    Abstract:
    This study addresses how critical food organizations (CFOs) working to increase access to local foods for people living on low incomes and those working to improve economic viability for food producers can pursue mutually beneficial initiatives and how the state may provide support. Drawing from focus groups and interviews with stakeholders throughout Eastern Ontario I argue that organizations face substantive barriers in achieving mutually beneficial initiatives in the absence of direct state involvement. Moreover, I argue that the state ought to foster these initiatives by providing support for CFOs so long as CFOs remain their independents. While this approach may perpetuate neoliberalization, a process that has contributed to the marginalization of these populations, I conclude that this engagement with the state need not pioneer a post-neoliberal policy regime. Instead, by addressing the marginalizing effects of neoliberalization, it stimulates conversation on elements of neoliberalization that might transcend into post-neoliberal policy regimes.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Economy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • "I Did It Because She Hurt Me": Investigating Motivations for Social Aggression in Youth

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Quigley, Danielle
    Abstract:
    Motivations for social aggression against friends and non-friends among adults and adolescents (desire for acceptance, amusement, jealousy, revenge, and social image) were investigated in two studies. In both, normative beliefs about social aggression and gender were explored as moderators. In Study 1 (n = 254), a measure of motivations for social aggression in two contexts (friend and non-friend) was developed based on existing qualitative and quantitative research on motivations for social aggression and its psychometric properties were evaluated. A 17 item, 5-factor measure of motivations for the use of socially aggressive strategies across contexts was established. All motives were found to be related to the use of social aggression, however, normative beliefs about social aggression were found to moderate the associations between desire for acceptance, amusement and jealousy and social aggression against both a friend and non-friend, as well as revenge and social aggression against a non-friend. Revenge in the friend context and social image in both contexts were positive predictors of social aggression but were not moderated by normative beliefs. Gender was found to moderate only one of these relationships: the association between amusement and social aggression such that this relationship was stronger for women. In Study 2 (n = 151), the measure of motivations validated in the first study was used to examine the relationship between motivations and the use of socially aggressive strategies in an adolescent sample. Normative beliefs were a significant moderator for all motivations, with the exception of the desire for acceptance when the aggression was directed at a non-friend. Results of this study are discussed in light of the theoretical model originally designed to understand girls' socially aggressive behaviour (Owens, Shute, & Slee, 2000b). A general discussion highlights the noteworthy similarities and differences between the two studies.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Order Restricted Testing of Random Effects in Generalized Linear Mixed Models

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Choeurng, Voleak
    Abstract:
    Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) have been used in many areas of research to analyze longitudinal and clustered data with non-normal responses. In addition to the fixed effects parameters found in the generalized linear model (GLM), variance components associated with unobservable random effects are estimated in the GLMM. Moreover, it is well understood that order restricted inference methods that properly incorporate additional information by way of a restricted parameter space are more efficient than procedures that ignore this information. In this thesis, a distance statistic based on the Wald statistic is suggested for order restricted tests on the random components in the mixed model. The null distributions of the distance and the likelihood ratio test statistics are shown to be asymptotically equivalent and that of a chi-bar-square. An analysis conducted on data extracted from the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey will serve as an illustration of the proposed testing procedure.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Probability and Statistics
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Validation of the Bookend Method in Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zanette, Brandon Robert
    Abstract:
    The quantitative accuracy of contrast agent concentration measurements for use in Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI is investigated in phantom experiments. Two commonly accepted techniques are compared. Both techniques require the direct input of T1 measurements. Three candidates for clinical T1 mapping with different overall accuracies were used to yield a total of six possible concentration evaluation methods. Measurements of concentration using these methods were repeated several times such that the overall accuracy and reproducibility may be evaluated.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Physics
    Date Created:
    2013

  • MEseum: Constructing Digital Narratives for the Museum Visitor

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mike-Ifeta, Efetobore
    Abstract:
    This research aims at the design and development of a museum-visitor interactive system with a set of tools catering to the new generation of museumgoers. By introducing and using the concept of narrative as a key element for accessing, collecting and sharing museum experiences, the proposed system, MEseum, offers various tools to the museum-visitor that allows for the authoring, curating and sharing of museum experiences. The basic concepts underlying the research are; (a) A new approach to the museum experience as a customizable interactive narrative (b) A social media context within which that experience is implemented and (c) The use of various interactive technologies to facilitate the experience, including but not limited to social media and way finding tools. The research explores these concepts and applies it to each phase of the museum visit, from planning a visit, to arriving at the museum, and then, later access to memories made.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2013

  • An Opposition in Search of Itself: Modern French Cinema and the Algerian War

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Croombs, Matthew
    Abstract:
    This dissertation provides an analysis of the politics of French cinema in the 1950s and 1960s from the socio-historical perspective of the Franco-Algerian War. By combining close visual analysis of the Left Bank Group’s cinema, discourse analysis of contemporaneous film theoretical debates, and archival research of images from the popular press, I demonstrate how the Franco-Algerian War played a key role in shaping the cinematic representation of French modernization. Although it has been widely assumed that France’s “police operation” in Algeria between 1954 and 1962 was absent from French screens due to severe censorship restrictions, I explore how filmmakers including Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda, and Chris Marker mobilize imagery and discourses unique to the war in order to critique the disciplinary nature of their own modern society. My dissertation challenges the dominant narrative of this influential period in film history as a monolithic New Wave movement reducible to the films of an inner-circle of auteurs and their writings in Cahiers du cinéma. I return to Positif’s under-theorized criticism to illuminate how film culture in France functioned as a heterogeneous field of debate, in which political divisions were largely determined in relation to the question of colonialism’s relationship to modernization. The 1950s mark the flourishing of Les Trente Glorieuses in France, a period of economic acceleration, which contemporary media representation often cast in the ambience of science fiction. As the specificities of France’s “dirty war” in Algeria permeated the mainland, however, the frontier dividing the two became increasingly precarious. By placing the mise-en-scènes of the modern world – its museums, its department stores, its cultures of objects – in a dialectical tension with images of policing, torture, and concentration camps, the Left Bank Group demonstrate how the horrors of the counter-insurgency in Algeria permeated everyday life in the metropole.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cultural Mediations
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Massive Modularity: Why it is Wrong, and What it Can Teach us Anyway

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Blackmore, Drew George
    Abstract:
    This thesis addresses current issues of cognitive architecture, with a focus on the family of theories known as massive modularity. This project begins with a discussion of the concept of modularity as proposed by Jerry Fodor. All of Fodor's criteria of modularity are explored in order to establish a formal definition of modularity. That definition is then used as a benchmark to determine whether the cognitive mechanisms proposed in the massive modularity theories of Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Dan Sperber, Steven Pinker, and Peter Carruthers actually qualify as modules. After concluding that the massive modularity theories of the above authors are in fact not modular, the discussion turns to Zenon Pylyshyn's cognitive impenetrability thesis in order to demonstrate that it is extremely unlikely that there could exist any truly modular version of the massive modularity hypothesis. Finally, an alternative account of the mind is proposed in place of massive modularity.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Philosophy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Identification of Amino Acids Conferring Chain-Length Substrate Specificities on Fatty Alcohol-Forming Reductases FAR5 and FAR8 from Arabidopsis thaliana

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chacon, Micaela
    Abstract:
    Fatty alcohols play a variety of biological roles in all kingdoms of life. Fatty acyl reductase (FAR) enzymes catalyze the reduction of fatty acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) or fatty acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) substrates to primary fatty alcohols. FAR enzymes have distinct substrate specificities with regard to chain length and degree of saturation. FAR5 (At3g44550) and FAR8 (At3g44560) from Arabidopsis thaliana are 85% identical at the amino acid level and are of equal length, but possess distinct specificities for 18:0 or 16:0 fatty acyl chain length, respectively. We used Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a heterologous expression system to assess FAR substrate specificity determinants. We identified individual amino acids that affect protein levels or 16:0-CoA versus 18:0-CoA specificity by expressing in yeast FAR5 and FAR8 domain-swap chimeras and site-specific mutants.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Male Mate Choice In a Polymorphic Damselfly Nehalennia Irene (Hagen)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fox, Jennette N.
    Abstract:
    Male mate choice is a fundamental part of sexual selection. Here I contributed to the work on mate recognition by presenting conspecifics and heterospecifics to Nehalennia irene and Nehalennia gracilis to quantify their ability to recognize mates. I evaluated if inexperienced N. irene show less discrimination between phenotypes than experienced males. I performed high quality scans and colour analysis on thoraxes of all phenotypes to ascertain differences in colour between sites. I measured individual and population level mate preferences to evaluate the current hypotheses explaining sex limited polymorphism in odonates. Results taken together show that both species have difficulty in discriminating between phenotypes and that inexperienced and experienced males react in the same manner to potential mates. Colour analysis indicated there are differences in thorax colour between males, and between gynomorphs and other phenotypes but not between locations. Individual males showed no preferences for a specific morph inconsistent with hypotheses.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Effect of Road Density and Proximity on Predation Attempts on the White Footed Mouse (Peromyscus Leucopus)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Downing, Richard James
    Abstract:
    Authors have hypothesized that observed increases in small mammal populations with increasing road density may be due to predation release. Based on the predation release hypothesis, I predicted that Peromyscus leucopus placed in sites with higher surrounding paved road density and/or closer to a paved road would experience fewer predation attempts than P. leucopus placed in sites with lower surrounding paved road density and/or farther from a paved road. Considering all predators, there was no evidence of any decrease in predation attempts in relation to paved road density. Considering only raptorial birds there was evidence of a decrease in predation attempts with paved road density, and an increase with increasing distance from the road as predicted. Overall, these results provide weak support for the hypothesis that reduced predation causes the positive relationship between road density and small mammal abundance.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • What's He Building in There? Crafting a New Role Between the Scholar and the Architect

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Percy, Kenneth
    Abstract:
    The thesis (placing), preceded by the abstract (drawn from), situates itself as the site for our discussion concerning the role of the Scholar, the Architect, and the previously un-surveyed grounds in-between. This thesis examines a new role to be performed in the construing and constructing of architecture. Educated in the Trivium: Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic, and the Quadrivium: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy, the Architect/Musician/Machinist/Scholar comes together to fabricate the hinge between the idea and the physical manifestation of Architecture. Through the lens of contemporary, widely available technology, we examine the potential for a new role in architecture that straddles historic and present scholarship, and simultaneously assesses the role of increased power in individual manufacturing possibilities and their infinitely scalable nature.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Architecture
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Identification of Novel Acetylation Sites in Nrf1 (NFE2L1) and Their Regulation by Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Seal, Andrew James
    Abstract:
    For cells to survive the damages of reactive oxygen species they must defend themselves. Cellular defense is accomplished by means of the antioxidant response element (ARE). One of the main factors involved in regulating the ARE is the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like1 protein (Nrf1), this protein has not been thoroughly characterized, so the manner in which it is regulated is unknown. The deacetylase Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) has been shown to regulate a relative of Nrf1, Nrf2. When SIRT1 was chemically inhibited, the acetylation of Nrf1 increased, indicating SIRT1 to be a regulator of Nrf1. When Nrf1 was deacetylated by SIRT1, a significant decrease in the activity of Nrf1 was observed. Under hypoxic conditions, it was observed that SIRT1 was a stronger regulator of Nrf1 activity than hypoxia. Two acetylation sites were identified in Nrf1; lysines 205 and 629. The deacetylation of Nrf1 resulted in a significant decrease in cellular senescence.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Crafting the Machinery of Municipal Rule: The Board of Police in Nineteenth Century Brockville, Upper Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Primeau, Phillip Andre
    Abstract:
    This thesis traces the coordination, configuration and operation of municipal government in Brockville, Upper Canada, between 1830 and 1836. By focusing on how governing occurred and what was involved in governmental projects it presents new insights into the processes that constituted a form of rule. Contrary to presenting a narrative of rationalization, it argues that manner, etiquette and prestige were essential to the machinery of local government, as targets of regulation and as characteristics of the mode of operation. How the concept of democracy is translated into political practices is explored through an investigation of the agents and arrangements that were fashioned to form an institution of municipal government. I focus on an incorporated model of government styled as the board of police to argue that local government was only possible through the coordination of a political space, populated by agents who had to govern themselves and govern others.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Neurophysiological Correlates of Visual Performance Effects of Luminous Modulation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Van Roon, Patricia Maria
    Abstract:
    This study investigated the effects of flicker on concurrently recorded visual event-related potentials (ERPs) to visual performance in Stroop and sentence reading tasks. Three flicker rates were presented (0, 100, and 500 Hz) in separate blocks of trials while ERPs were recorded and participants performed these tasks. Source analysis revealed the 500 Hz response had similar mean source activation for incongruent and congruent tasks and 100 Hz had significantly higher activation for the incongruent task at the early latencies (left hemisphere) and for 170-210 ms (right hemisphere). Overall activation localized to the pulvinar nucleus. Source analysis localization suggests that 500 Hz flicker affected the secondary visual pathway. Source activation for 500 Hz was not significantly different for congruent and incongruent trials whereas 100 Hz resulted in higher activation in the Stroop task suggesting more effort was required to complete this task. The data suggest important influences of flicker on performance.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Thin Film Precursors, Properties and Applications: Chemical Vapour Deposition and Atomic Layer Deposition of Group 4, 11 and 13 Elements and Their Oxides

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Gordon, Peter George
    Abstract:
    Brass and bronze substrates were coated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) with alumina and titania in small and large scale batches. These films were evaluated for use as protective and cosmetic coatings. Optimization of deposition for uniform coatings on individual coins and across a batch for Al2O3 and TiO2 films was performed. High-quality, uniform coatings were achieved with multi-pulse programs.The interference colours resulting from thin films of Al2O3 deposited by ALD on silicon were analyzed using a robotic gonioreflectometer. A series of thin films were deposited and their reflectivity values obtained for the visible spectrum. A comparison of these values with the predictions of computer simulations has revealed deviations from predicted reflectivities. Simulation predicts larger iridescence than what was observed. Alumina films were deposited by ALD on flat and nanostructured silicon substrates, and incorporated into PEDOT-Al2O3-silicon architectures that were then evaluated as photovoltaic devices. The reverse saturation currents observed on flat devices made with Al2O3 films were similar devices made with an SiO2 layer. The structured samples with Al2O3 showed a considerable increase in efficiency (of up to five times) over the equivalent flat samples.A new indium(III) guanidinate, (In[(NiPr)2CNMe2]3, was synthesized. Thermogravimetric analysis showed elemental indium was produced from the compound as a residual mass. Thermolysis in a sealed NMR tube showed carbodiimide and protonated dimethyl amine by 1H NMR. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) experiments above 275 °C with air as the reactant gas produced cubic indium oxide films with good transparency.Dimeric silver(I) and gold(I) tert-butyl-imino-2,2-dimethylpyrrolidinates were synthesized and evaluated for thermal stability by thermal gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and variable-temperature solution NMR. The compounds were used to deposit metallic films.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemistry
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Developing the Volunteer Tourist Identity through Meaningful Interaction: A Critical Comparison of the Lived Experiences of Childcare and Animal Care Volunteers in South Africa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Perry, Jennifer Ann
    Abstract:
    This thesis employs ethnographic research techniques to examine the lived experiences of individuals who participate in volunteer tourism projects. Data was gathered over a four month period from two diverse programs in South Africa, one working with children and one working with animals. Using a symbolic interactionist theoretical approach, the analysis of participant observation and interview data reveal an interaction process at the structural, group and individual level through which program participants come to identify self as a volunteer tourist and form volunteer tourist identities appropriate to the social situation experienced within their own particular volunteer project. The findings also suggest program culture and group norms, as well as altruistic and personal motivations, may be influential in affecting volunteer tourist behaviour. Results of this study highlight the need for further cross-comparative ethnographic research on divergent programs to enhance the understanding of volunteer tourist experiences and volunteer tourism as a whole.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology: Quantitative Methods
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Exploring the Outcomes of Singing and Diaphragmatic Breathing in Participants With Asthma

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Daugherty, Carina
    Abstract:
    This study investigated the effects of singing and/or breathing. Sixty participants with asthma partook in weekly singing (n=22), breathing (n=20) and singing and breathing (n=18) sessions over four weeks. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced expiratory volume during the first second (FEV1) were measured prior to and following each session, along with a breathlessness questionnaire (MBS). An asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) was completed weekly. Wellbeing measures included a psychological distress measure (GHQ) and a quality of life measure (SGRQ), completed during the first and last sessions. There was a significant improvement in MBS, PEFR, and GHQ measures over four weeks. Components of SGRQ (symptoms and impacts) also improved. There were no significant group differences in breathing or wellbeing measures. Participants enjoyed practicing more when singing was combined with breathing. While all conditions were beneficial for participants with asthma, individuals may demonstrate greater adherence to singing.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Furthering Persuasive Systems Design: Persuasive Technology and Responsible Gambling

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Warren, Kristen Elise
    Abstract:
    This thesis extends current research on Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) to recreational gambling. As online gambling carries a greater risk for the development of gambling addiction pathology than offline gambling, examination of how to create effective tools that can reduce this risk are warranted. One such area is usability and PSD, with the goal of aiding individuals to adhere to pre-set monetary limits without reducing the pleasure of gambling. A user-centred design process was employed to improve an existing monetary limit tool with the goal of facilitating responsible gambling. Focus groups, personas and storyboards and heuristic evaluation were employed to design the monetary limit tool, and a controlled lab study was carried out to test the effectiveness of the newly developed tool. Results of the study show that applying usability and PSD principles increased monetary limit adherence and engagement, and the monetary limit tool did not interfere with users’ fun.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Uptown East: Proposal for the Redevelopment of Manor Park Ottawa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hercules Stevenson, Angella Misty
    Abstract:
    This thesis examines challenges and opportunities associated with the intensification of established suburban neighbourhoods, questioning how the forces acting on them might be leveraged to create higher-performing communities without compromising the existing social or architectural character. Drawing on a of review of literature and an analysis of precedents, the design portion of this thesis uses Ottawa’s Manor Park neighbourhood as a hypothetical case study to explore how intensification might enrich suburban areas. Among other things, the demonstration plan for Manor Park illustrates how Clarence Perry’s neighbourhood unit diagram continues to be relevant. Implicit in this unit, which was the basic module for many suburban communities, is a roadmap for accommodating environmentally sustainable intensification without threatening existing neighbourhood character or cohesion. While the approaches explored in the demonstration plan are specific to Manor Park, they can be easily adapted to similar suburban neighbourhoods across North America.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Architecture
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Reading Lips: Exploring Emotive Responses to Labiaplasty

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Williams, Jenelle
    Abstract:
    Reading Lips focuses on emotional responses to bodily transformation, and how responses to bodies are shaped by being ‘orientated’ in particular ways. The form of transformation being focused on is labiaplasty, which is a surgical procedure that seeks to improve the aesthetic of the labia minora and majora. I argue that subjects who have considered and undergone labiaplasty are responded to in particular ways because of our social positions and facets of identity- which I refer to as ‘orientations’ -and that labiaplasty leaves ‘impressions’ on those who come into contact with it. I discuss visceral responses of shame and disgust, and I focus on where and how empathy and agency are expressed and attributed to individuals who choose labiaplasty. I critically approach labiaplasty through a feminist lens while also incorporating lived experience with the procedure, as well as attending to the larger processes that shape responses to it.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • The Effect of Testing Direction on DHC Growth Rate Using Zr-2.5Nb Plate

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hanlon, Sean
    Abstract:
    Delayed Hydride Cracking (DHC) is a fracture mechanism responsible for several failures of Zr-2.5Nb CANDU pressure tubes. The crack velocity is directionally dependant. Disk-shaped hydrides preferentially form on certain crystallographic planes that are hypothesized to be responsible for the difference in DHC growth rates. If bulk hydrides slow crack growth, no directional difference in crack velocity will be observed when no bulk hydrides are present. When bulk hydrides are present the crack velocities should begin to diverge as temperature is decreased. In this study, DHC crack velocities are determined using cantilever beam specimens with cracks propagating in both the longitudinal and through-thickness directions with and without bulk hydrides present, i.e., below and above TSSP. The DHC crack velocities in the longitudinal direction were observed to be higher than the corresponding through-thickness crack velocities with or without bulk hydrides present. Thus, the bulk hydride hypothesis is disproved. Alternative hypotheses are presented.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Materials
    Date Created:
    2013

  • A Qualitative Study of Fathers' Experiences of Depression After Having or Adopting a Child

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pease, Lilly
    Abstract:
    To gain insight into the lived experiences of paternal postpartum and post-adoption depression, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 biological and 3 adoptive fathers who self-identified as primary caregivers and experienced depression within 12 months of having or adopting their child(ren). A thematic analysis revealed commonalities and unique aspects of biological and adoptive fathers’ experiences of depression, as well as society’s influence on their experiences of depression. Commonalities included the impact of Significant Stressors and Expectation-Reality Asymmetry on fathers’ experiences of depression, while biological fathers had difficulty being Mentally Present with their Children, and adoptive fathers had a Strong Need to Teach their Children. Fathers also described how aspects of society such as Social Expectations of Parents and their Unmet Support Needs perpetuated their depression. These findings are discussed in relation to research regarding mothers’ experiences of PPD, and their implications for practice and research are discussed.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Grounding Responsibility: Helen Steward's Libertarianism and a Hemi-Incompatibilist Alternative

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Renaud, Mary
    Abstract:
    This project has two purposes. The first is to evaluate Helen Steward’s libertarian account, as presented in A Metaphysics for Freedom, and assess its ability to help ground moral responsibility. The second is to provide an alternative, Hemi-Incompatibilist account of a variety of responsibility that is compatible with the denial of agent causal control.An overview of a selection of accounts from the moral responsibility debate is provided, followed by a discussion of Helen Steward’s account specifically. I then present my Hemi-Incompatibilist account, followed by the brief investigation of two similar views. I conclude that Helen Steward’s libertarian account does not succeed in lending support to those hoping to ground a deserts-based variety of responsibility. I show that my Hemi-Incompatibilist account grounds another variety of responsibility, responsibility qua onus, that supports normative prescriptions and proscriptions despite the denial that agents possess regulative control.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Philosophy
    Date Created:
    2013

  • Model-based dose calculations for eye plaque brachytherapy

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Lesperance, Marielle B.
    Abstract:
    Eye plaque brachytherapy is a common treatment for uveal melanoma. Despite treatment outcomes comparable to those for enucleation, doses are currently calculated using the TG-43 formalism, which assumes a homogeneous water environment. This work aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of dosimetry using model-based dose calculations for ocular brachytherapy. A representative model of the human eye and surrounding tissues is developed, and dose is calculated for a range of plaque models encountered in clinical practice for three photon-emitting radionuclides, I-125, Pd-103 and Cs-131. Doses to ocular structures for the full eye model are compared to those for a homogeneous water phantom, both including and excluding (TG-43) inter-seed and eye plaque effects. Doses for the full eye model simulations are shown to deviate significantly from simulations that assume the eye to be water equivalent, with and without the plaque, highlighting the need for accurate model-based dose calculations in ocular brachytherapy.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Physics
    Date Created:
    2013