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  • The emerging technology collection at Carleton University Library: supporting experiential learning in the university curriculum

    Resource Type:
    Poster
    Creator:
    Cross, Emma
    Abstract:
    The emerging technology collection at Carleton University is a successful collaboration between the Library, Discovery Centre for Undergraduate Research & Engagement and Information Technology Services. Starting with a pilot project in Jan. 2015, the collection now provides access to over 40 pieces of technology equipment for loan. The poster will discuss benefits and challenges associated with this project and the value of shared Library space for the development and delivery of an innovative new service. Conference poster presented at the Ontario Library Association SuperConference on Friday February 3, 2017.
    Date Created:
    2017-02-03

  • Test Procedure for Conducted Energy Weapons, Version 2.0

    Resource Type:
    Report
    Creator:
    Sinclair, Ian, Adler, Andy, and Dawson, David
    Abstract:
    Several studies have discussed the need for reliable uniform testing of Conducted Energy Weapons (CEWs) independent of the manufacturer. This Test Procedure is designed to enable organizations across Canada to test CEWs in a reliable, repeatable manner to determine whether they are operating within manufacturerʼs specifications. The CEW Test Procedure establishes a methodology by which testing facilities and personnel will be able to test CEWs and determine whether they are operating within manufacturers' specifications, and defines data collection requirements so that data collected may be used in forensic analysis and for future research.
    Date Created:
    2017-02-17

  • Development of Preheating and Power Inverting Systems for Lithium-Ion Batteries

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zhai, Long
    Abstract:
    A novel short-circuit self-heating (SCSH) control system was developed in this thesis to achieve the preheating of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries operated in extremely cold weather (< -30°C). The proposed system relies on the internal resistance of batteries and the short circuit current to heat up batteries using Joule heating. Experiments show that the SCSH control system can heat up the commercial Panasonic 18650 Li-ion batteries from -30°C to 0°C in 43 seconds, with less than 5 percent of the battery capacity consumed. The proposed heating system outperformed both external convective air heating and alternating current (AC) heating, in terms of heating time and energy consumption. Furthermore, a DC to AC battery power inverter was developed to implement the AC heating and to make the battery pack available for household appliances.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Towards a Performance-Based Fire Design Framework for Composite Steel Deck Construction in Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Smith, Matthew
    Abstract:
    In Canada, buildings are designed for fire safety in a predominately prescriptive manner, especially the structural design of those buildings for the fire limit state. The research presented herein first assessed the Canadian literature to determine if performance-based fire design (PBFD) could be implemented nationally and then analyzed what precedents existed in Canada. Next, benchmark modelling was performed to transparently demonstrate the competency that is needed to assess a structure for a real fire. Building on this, a novel alternative solution was proposed which incorporated PBFD to achieve quantifiable benefits in robustness, economy, and resilience, as well as identify mechanisms in the response of the floor. Finally, a framework is proposed for progressing PBFD responsibly in Canada. This is sorely lacking in the Canadian literature if PBFD is to see more development and implementation for structural fire solutions.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Development of Aptamers and Aptamer-Based Materials for Agricultural Applications

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mastronardi, Emily Elizabeth
    Abstract:
    With an increasing global population, there is a need for more efficient fertilizers to alleviate the negative environmental impacts of fertilizer runoff. Developments in nanotechnology could lead to fertilizers that interact with plants more efficiently. Aptamers are oligonucleotide receptors that fold into unique shapes and bind target molecules with high affinity and selectivity. Aptamers are generated through the in vitro evolution process called SELEX. Aptamers have been incorporated into sensors, diagnostics, therapeutics, targeted-delivery vehicles, and responsive materials. Biomolecules called exudates that are associated with improved nutrient uptake by crops have been identified and could serve as targets for specific fertilizer delivery. This work describes the selection of DNA aptamers binding to crop exudate, L-serine, for use in a smart fertilizer system. SELEX for small molecules has some inherent challenges, and three SELEX strategies paired with high-throughput sequencing analysis were implemented to improve the selection process. Aptamers developed from an original DNA library, as well as from DNA libraries modified from a previous small molecule selection are described. Aptamers binding to L-serine in solution were identified, and were modified to lower their production cost, and to increase their stability for use in fertilizer applications. Finally, an aptamer-polymersome nanostructure was investigated for potential use as a targeted-delivery vehicle.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemistry
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Characterization and Application of Novel Structure Switching Aptamers for Aflatoxins

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Goudreau, Daniel
    Abstract:
    Aflatoxins are a class of mycotoxins that are of great agro-economic importance. Due to their health implications, and large economic burden, aflatoxins have become the most studied group of mycotoxins. A specific interest in rapid, robust, and cost effective, on-site sensing platforms for mycotoxin contaminants has been shown. Aptamers are functional oligonucleotide sequences that are selected to bind a cognate ligand with high affinity and selectivity. Novel structure switching aptamer candidates for total aflatoxin were previously selected. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays, melting temperature, and circular dichroism along with predictive structural characterization techniques were used to help elucidate the aptamer candidate's structural biases for G-quadruplex formation. Two candidates were determined to bind aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) with high affinity using microscale thermophoresis. Using the AFB1 binding aptamers, progress has been made towards developing FRET-based signalling sensors that leverage the structure-switching properties of the aptamer.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemistry
    Date Created:
    2017

  • An Archive of Settler Belonging: Local Feeling, Land, and the Forest Resource on Vancouver Island

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Black, Kelly
    Abstract:
    This dissertation explores the local, material, and affective processes of Settler (non-Indigenous) attachment to land on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I describe these feelings for land as Settler belonging and my research is guided by a reflexive and interdisciplinary approach that seeks to "explain Settlers to ourselves." Through original archival research and personal reflection, I argue that "(dis)possession," a term that encompasses Settler efforts to take the land and belong to the land, is a generational process, one that is worked at over time in an effort to link the past with the present and serve future Settler belonging. Through a study of plants, forest resource extraction, roads and railways, park creation, and real estate development in the Cowichan Valley and Sooke - Juan de Fuca regions, I argue that Settler feelings for land manifest in locally specific and contradictory ways. I contribute to the study of Settler colonialism and political economy in Canada by adapting the staples approach, as developed by Harold A. Innis, Mel Watkins, and others, to trace the intersection of belonging with the resource economy and the characteristics of Settler colonialism. This dissertation links historical and ongoing transformations in the relations of production, such as the conversion of private forestry lands into real estate, to reveal the ways in which belonging adjusts to political and economic changes that both assist and threaten its future. I argue that studying the locality of belonging contributes insight and nuance to our understanding of materiality and affect, class relations, the staple economy, and Settler colonialism's broader processes. In doing so, I demonstrate that Settler attachment to land is entrenched and expanded through a series of recurring events that are shared, personal, and conflictual.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Canadian Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Trade Unions and Noncitizens in South Africa: Towards an Organizational Norm of Differentiated Universalism

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Paziuk, Tyler
    Abstract:
    The apartheid era was characterized by a concerted program of denationalization that rendered the Black majority both 'right-less' and exploitable while simultaneously institutionalizing racial and ethnic differences. In casting all workers, irrespective of ethnicity or origin, as members of the Black working class, trade unions of the period transcended divisions and, eventually, claimed citizenship for Black South Africans. Today, a set of legitimized legal discriminations, embodied in the Western, statist institution of citizenship, similarly renders noncitizens vulnerable to xenophobia and exploitation, and contributes to the disunity of the southern African working class. Drawing on primary research conducted in Gauteng, South Africa in the southern spring of 2016 and with analytical inspiration from feminist citizenship theory, my thesis questions whether this proudly held "organizational norm of universalism" is capable of mitigating the effects of these legal discriminations and of overcoming the divisions they incite.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Economy
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Fake Terrorism: Examining terrorist groups’ resort to hoaxing as a mode of attack

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Tishler, Nicole Alexandra
    Abstract:
    Little academic attention has been accorded to terrorism hoaxers—i.e. those perpetrators who use lies, benign materials and/or empty threats to give the impression that a terrorist act is or has been underway. This dissertation harnesses under-utilised terrorism events data to build a theory of hoaxes in pursuit of a dual aim: to provide a robust substantive answer to the empirical puzzle of why hoaxes are used, but not by all groups, and not all the time; and to evaluate the degree to which existing data can demystify the hoax phenomenon. The starting point is a rationalist framework for terrorist groups' strategic logics, which emphasizes the relative costs and benefits of hoaxes in relation to serious terrorism activity. In the empirical theory-building chapters, probit regression and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) are used to identify various organizational conditions that differentiate hoaxers from non-hoaxers, thereby indicating which strategic logics are plausibly at play, and in which contexts. A statistical cluster analysis demonstrates that there are five broad classes of hoaxing terrorist groups, which differ from one another along motivational, structural, and campaign contextual lines. While the unit of analysis throughout is the terrorist group, these analyses rely on cross-national terrorism events databases—predominantly ITERATE and the Monterey WMD Terrorism Database—to identify which groups never hoax, and which groups sometimes do. In the dissertation's final section, earlier findings are tested against a new sample of terrorism perpetrators derived from the recently-released Canadian Incident Database (CIDB). Although the Canada-centric data reveals a biased under-reporting of hoax activity in the cross-national datasets, a QCA analysis of its perpetrators reveals roughly similar conditions differentiating hoaxers from non-hoaxers. The CIDB's comprehensive events coverage is further exploited to test whether these organizational indicators and their associated hypothesized mechanisms hold, when campaign activities are evaluated at the event-level. A fine-grained analysis of event sequencing in Canada's most prolific terrorism campaign (that of the Front de libération du Québec) corroborates a range of proposed strategic logics. The observational nature of available data is thus limited in its ability to clarify hoaxers' strategic logics, which are both over-determined and equifinal.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    International Affairs
    Date Created:
    2017

  • On Behaviour-Based Network Inference and Distribution-Based Network Control

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    McKenney, David Greig
    Abstract:
    Complex networks are prevalent structures throughout technological systems, and are also used to model many non-technological systems as well. Application domains that make use of networks range from financial systems, to biology/medicine, to online social networks and agent-based systems. There is a strong desire to control these types of systems, to avoid catastrophic failures, increase system stability, or achieve some known system goal.The development of automated controllers for these types of systems is a complex problem that involves several key subproblems, including the selection of a control node set and the generation of control signals to be injected into the network. Previous research involving network control has typically assumed the underlying network connections are precisely known and has also taken a strictly vector-based view of system state. This thesis expands on the existing network control work in two significant directions.First, this thesis investigates algorithmic, behaviour-based methods for predicting links within networks. This involves using transfer entropy measurements, calculated between time series of actions generated by participating agents. This approach could be used to predict underlying networks in unobservable problem domains (e.g., financial systems) or to identify links that are truly influential within observable problem domains (e.g., online social networks). A number of prediction algorithms are proposed and compared, several of which attain high levels of accuracy, even with a limited amount of available system information.Second, this thesis eschews the traditional vector-based view of system state within network control problems, proposing a novel, distribution-based approach. One of the most studied control goals in the existing research has involved moving a system between two vector-based states. Distribution-based control, however, identifies state distributions as targets for control, which is arguably a more expressive and suitable approach for many problem domains. The effect of various network parameters on control success is investigated within a distribution-based control problem, with microscopic analysis of subset distributions being used to demonstrate why control is more difficult in certain scenarios. This information is used to inform the creation of new control node selection algorithms, with statistically significant improvements over the highest rated heuristic from previous research being realized.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Multidimensional assessments of long-term anthropogenic impacts on domed peatlands: Learning from two centuries at Alfred Bog, Ontario Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Foster, Robert Alexander
    Abstract:
    This study examines changes in a domed peatland's areal versus volumetric reduction, impacts of anthropogenic drivers and supply of three ecosystem services (ESs) (carbon storage, food production, peat production) over 11 dates covering 200+ years (1800-2014). Historical air photos, maps and texts were used to map changes. Trends in area versus volume, for both the peatland's reduction and impacts of individual drivers, diverged. The divergence varied in magnitude both between examined drivers and dates, as their distribution across the depth profile changed. Despite greater areal losses in the 1800s, deeper disturbances in the 1900s yielded greater volumetric changes. This paralleled the shift from agricultural conversion to commercial peat extraction, underscoring their distinct and temporally dynamic effects on ES supply. Shorter intervals helped identify changing relationships between ESs and drivers, and broader human-environmental interactions. Thus, detecting spatial and temporal variations in ES responses to disturbances within domed peatlands necessitated multidimensional analyses.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2017

  • "You Can Only Deny Me for So Long by Saying I Don't Exist": A Critical Examination of Racialized Femmephobia and Femme Invisibility

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Donelle, Celine
    Abstract:
    This is a research project exploring the intersections of femme subjectivity, femmephobia, and race and racism. Specifically, I critique an essentialized understanding of femmephobia which centralizes 'unmarked' white femme bodies, and thus silences the experiences of queer racialized femmes. By way of semi-structured interviews with ten queer racialized femmes and an exploration of corporate media representations of racialized queer femmes, this thesis examines how discussions of race and racism are integral to discussions surrounding femmephobia and femme invisibility. I argue both that corporate media productions increase invisibility and erasure for femmes but also how this invisibility and erasure has shaped the experiences of racialized queer femmes in particular.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Women's and Gender Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Maintaining Party Unity: Analyzing the Conservative Party of Canada’s Integration of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance Parties

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Thompson, Matthew
    Abstract:
    Federal conservative parties in Canada have long been plagued by several persistent cleavages and internal conflict. This conflict has hindered the party electorally and contributed to a splintering of right-wing votes between competing right-wing parties in the 1990s. The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) formed from a merger of the Progressive Conservative (PC) party and the Canadian Alliance in 2003. This analysis explores how the new party was able to maintain unity and prevent the long-standing cleavages from disrupting the party. The comparative literature on party factions is utilized to guide the analysis as the new party contained faction like elements. Policy issues and personnel/patronage distribution are stressed as significant considerations by the comparative literature as well literature on the PC's internal fighting. The analysis thus focuses on how the CPC approached these areas to understand how the party maintained unity. For policy, the campaign platforms, Question Period performance and government sponsored bills of the CPC are examined followed by an analysis of their first four policy conventions. With regards to personnel and patronage, Governor in Council and Senate appointments are analyzed, followed by the new party's candidate nomination process and Stephen Harper's appointments to cabinet. The findings reveal a careful and concentrated effort by party leadership, particularly Harper, at managing both areas to ensure that members from each of the predecessor parties were motivated to remain in the new party. Harper's role in maintaining party unity is substantial, and the findings indicate that the centralization of power under the Prime Minister can have a positive impact. The findings also situate the CPC relative to its predecessor parties, uncovering in detail where the new party bears resemblance and differs from its predecessors.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Political Ecology of Health of South Sudanese Immigrants and Refugees in Ottawa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    MacPherson, Kathryn Patricia
    Abstract:
    Emerging research suggests despite access to healthcare, South Sudanese in Canada experience dismal health. Applying political ecology of health (PEH) framework, this qualitative study builds on literature, to examine factors underlying this health decline. Focus groups and in-depth interviews with South Sudanese in Ottawa (n=31) reveal multiple factors acting alone or in interaction with processes at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Specifically, findings show that trauma suffered before arrival and from ongoing conflict in South Sudan affects everyday health. The findings also show that a deep political and moral sentiment of solidarity with the motherland mediates household decisions about health. In addition, fierce intra-ethnic rivalry stirred by conflict in South Sudan greatly affects South Sudanese, eroding social and psychological resources necessary for health. Furthermore, the findings indicate that weak integration of South Sudanese men in Canada breeds feelings of loss of social status, triggering family instability and gendered health impacts.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Political Trials and Felquistes Defendants: Defending the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) in the Courtroom

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pacione, Darren
    Abstract:
    Anchored in trial-related archival material and written French-language accounts of high-profile Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) trials and their defendants, this project considers the performative dimension of political trials. To this end, this study examines how the FLQ defendants and their representatives navigated their legal encounters. FLQ defendants' deployment of political defence strategies through their active period (1963-1972) is further grounded in the historical context of the legal regime through which they navigated, recent debates about contemporary political trials, and broader debates about the politicization of approaches to legal representation. Through three case studies: (1) The LaGrenade Affair (the manslaughter trials of the Vallières-Gagnon Network), (2) the Trial of the Montréal Five (a seditious conspiracy prosecution), and (3) the FLQ contempt of court trials, I argue that the politicized legal defence strategies of the FLQ defendants emerged relative to shifting ideological commitments and growing legal pressures from the state. Through consideration of how FLQ defendants utilized legal procedures and arguments, political histories, and the rule of law narratives, new insights are gained into the confrontations between the accused, Crown, and the Québec bench within the high-stakes context of the pre- and post-1970 October Crisis FLQ trials.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Legal Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Improved Method for Airborne Photogrammetry Using Small Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles in Recording Existing and Historic Structures

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Dalphy, Joshua
    Abstract:
    This research's objective was to investigate an alternative cost effective means of direct georeferencing for airborne photogrammetry using small UAVs. Through added computational functionality, a custom data acquisition script was developed to directly associate the aircraft's position and orientation to an image being captured in real time. The implemented system was tested by conducting an aerial survey on River Field, located on the campus of Carleton University. A comparison between the data recorded from the aircraft's telemetry log with the results obtained from the custom data acquisition script was conducted to verify its efficacy. The calculated parameters of exterior orientation for the direct and assisted methods were then compared to the reference values determined through indirect georeferencing. Additionally, a comparison of the generated 3D point clouds was undertaken. The results showed good agreement between the point clouds generated through direct and assisted georeferencing with the reference point cloud.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Improved Activity-Based Model for Mega-Events

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Sindi, Alaa
    Abstract:
    The multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model is an advanced model used to estimate activity duration. It contains three parameters: baseline utility, translating satiation, and pure satiation. The translating satiation parameter is expected to capture the constant marginal utility effect, but it does not. Therefore, a modified model was developed that adds a fourth parameter (the power parameter) to the translating satiation parameter to capture the constant marginal utility effect. In addition, this research applies the power parameter to either and both the translating satiation parameter and the pure satiation parameter to examine effects of the parameters’ interaction to further improve the MDCEV model’s accuracy. The proposed model was applied to data sets from two countries, Saudi Arabia and Germany, to test the applicability of the modified model to any data set. This research found that adding the power parameter exclusively to the translating satiation parameter was the best model structure to maximize the accuracy of the MDCEV model for both data sets. Because an activity duration model is part of an activity-based travel demand framework, this improvement will lead to better predictability of activity-based travel demand. As a result, transportation planners can make appropriate decisions regarding future transportation infrastructure projects, which in turn will lead to a reduction in costs associated with these projects and decreased delays for transportation system users.The main step in estimating travel demand is establishing the modeling framework. Conceptual travel demand modeling frameworks for mega-events were established based on a literature review of frameworks and the studies that form the skeleton of these frameworks. Studies performed on mega-events demonstrated the importance of modeling mega-events separately from regular daily activities. Studies conducted on market segmentation shed light on the importance of modeling mega-events participants separately from nonparticipants and have resulted in improved guidelines for mega-event host cities aiming to reduce road network congestion. Criteria were established to select statistical software suitable for project inputs (e.g., project size). Finally, the estimated modified MDCEV model was generalized for use in transportation planning around the globe where limited planning models are available.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Canada's Role in Promoting Mining and Development Policy Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jacobs, John Herman
    Abstract:
    Accessing sufficient capital on terms conducive to development is a major challenge in achieving Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) mining potential. The effects of neoliberal policy reforms promoted by the IMF and World Bank and other Western actors has ensured that mining and development policies are dominated by foreign direct investment (FDI)-led approaches. The disappointing development benefits generated in SSA by the 2000s commodity boom has led to a re-evaluation of these FDI-led development models and to SSA calls for country-led development strategies wherein states play an increased role.Canada has become a major source of mining capital and policy advice for SSA. This dissertation examines Canada’s interventions in SSA mining and development policy reforms, specifically related to the promotion of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), global mining policy diffusion networks and best practices. The core question is whether Canada’s interventions support the development of the policy options needed in SSA to ensure that mining contributes to sustainable social and economic development.Chapter 1 provides an orientation to mining and development issues in SSA, examining the continued influence of the FDI-led model that was central to the World Bank’s 1990s mining policy reforms that focused on generating revenue and rejected state-led socio-economic development mining policies. Chapter 2 examines Canada’s recent conclusion of nine BITs with SSA countries. The chapter analyzes the potential development impacts of Canada’s BITs, finding that they are particularly economically liberalizing and that they undermine the ability of SSA states to generate socio-economic benefits. Chapter 3 examines the role played by Canadian funded institutions and networks in the diffusion of the FDI-led mining and development model. The chapter contends that Canada is playing a central role in reducing the parameters of what are considered viable policy options for SSA states.Overall, this dissertation argues that Canada’s interventions have promoted policy reforms that focus on increasing and protecting opportunities for Canadian registered mining companies and that these policies undermine the ability of host countries to ensure that FDI contributes to economically sustainable development, thereby undermining the emergence of developmental states and regional initiatives such as the Africa Mining Vision.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Public Policy
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Nonperturbative Nonlinear Laser-Gas Interation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Lytova, Marianna
    Abstract:
    In this thesis we study, analyze, extend and implement the nonperturbative nonlinear Maxwell-Schrodinger-Plasma (MASP) model, originally derived by Lorin et al. The model was developed to describe the high order optical nonlinearities and the low density free electron plasma generated due to laser field.The MASP model has important advantages, it is based on the original, i.e. nonasymptotic, physical equations, and uses self-consistent description of the micro (quantum)- and macro (field)- variables. However, its major drawback is a high computational cost, which in practice means that only the shortest propagation lengths can be calculated. In order to reduce this cost, several extensions to this model were proposed and tested. One of these is discussed in the thesis: it is the MASP model enriched by a polarization evolution equation from its simplest version in a form of transport equation to more complex nonlinear variants. We show that homogeneous transport equation is a more universal tool to simulate the high harmonics spectra at shorter times and/or at a lower computational cost, while the nonlinear equation could be useful for modeling the pulse profiles when the ionization level is moderate. The gain associated with the considered modifications of the MASP model, being expressed in reduction of computational time and the number of processors involved, is 2-3 orders of magnitude.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Mathematics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Distance Estimation for 3D Freehand Ultrasound-Scans with Visualization System

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Wei, Hsi-Cheng Don
    Abstract:
    Some primary concerns with freehand 3D ultrasound are time-consuming calibration operations, overall accuracy, and computation time during the 3D reconstruction process. A procedure was developed to reduce the calibration time to only 10 seconds by planning the path of the probe. A decrease in marginal error may improve the overall accuracy by searching axial and lateral distances with a maximum correlation coefficient, and was based on constructing an adaptive decorrelation curve from images containing Rayleigh and coherent scatters. Marginal errors were reduced in the range of 3% to 11% when the distance estimation was between 0.15mm and 0.375mm in in-vitro studies. To save computation time within the 3D reconstruction, a low-resolution 3D reconstruction algorithm is proposed so that verification can be completed prior to computing a high-resolution reconstruction.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biomedical Engineering
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Self-Stabilizing Switched Beam Offset Reflector (3SBOR) Antenna: 10GHz Prototype Antenna Solution for Mobile Radar and Communication Applications

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Dufour, Guillaume
    Abstract:
    The purpose of this thesis is to design a solution to the problem of random and fast movement of a ground platform which normally prevents the use of a high gain, pencil beam antenna.Through the use of accelerometers and position filtering, the antenna constantly switches its beam in order to maximise directivity in the intended direction. As a proof of concept, a 10 GHz, single dimension dish was built and tested in laboratory. The results confirmed that the concept is viable and would open the door to not only truly mobile radar, but could potentially greatly improve mobile satellite communications.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Search for a Fermionic Top Partner in Unexplored Decay Modes

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Easa, Hassan Khan
    Abstract:
    We investigate the existence of a new fermionic partner to the top quark in light of the current experimental searches conducted at the colliders. The model presented here is phenomenologically attractive because it is less constrained than the traditional decay modes of the top partner. It also has the potential to cancel the quadratic divergences in the Higgs mass. In addition to the new fermion, the model contains another scalar particle that mediates interactions with the Standard Model light quarks. From experimental searches, we find that current LHC searches exclude the top partner mass (new fermion) of about 350 GeV (and some other points in themTmη-plane) for its decay to light quarks. On the other hand, when the top partner decays to a top and two light quarks, the lower limit obtained on the top partner mass can be as large as 650 GeV.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Physics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Parametric Modeling of EM Behaviors of Microwave Components Using Combined Neural Networks and Pole-Residue Transfer Functions

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Feng, Feng
    Abstract:
    Parametric modeling of electromagnetic (EM) behaviors has become important for EM design optimizations of microwave components. The EM based design, such as design optimization, what if analysis and yield-driven design, can be time consuming because it usually requires repetitive EM simulations with varying values of geometrical parameters as design variables. Parametric models can be developed from the information of EM responses as functions of geometrical parameters. The developed parametric models allow faster simulations and optimizations with varying values of geometrical parameters and subsequently can be implemented in high-level circuit and system design optimizations.This thesis proposes a novel technique to develop combined neural network and pole-residue-based transfer function models for parametric modeling of EM behaviors of microwave components. In this technique, neural networks are trained to learn the relationships between pole/residues of the transfer functions and geometrical parameters. After the proposed modeling process, the trained model can be used to provide accurate and fast predictions of the EM behavior of microwave components with geometrical parameters as variables.An advanced pole-residue tracking technique is proposed to exploit sensitivity information to solve the challenges of pole-residue tracking especially when the amount of training data are reduced and/or the geometrical step sizes between the data samples are enlarged. The proposed technique takes advantages of sensitivity information to increase of the orders of the transfer functions and ultimately form transfer functions of a constant order over the entire region of geometrical parameters. The proposed technique addresses the challenges of pole-residue tracking when training data are limited.As a further advancement, we introduce EM sensitivity analysis into the pole-residue-based neuro-transfer function modeling technique. The purpose is to increase the model accuracy by utilizing EM sensitivity information and to speedup the model development process by reducing the number of training data required for developing the model. By exploiting the sensitivity information, the proposed technique can further speed up the model development process over the existing pole-residue parametric modeling method without using sensitivity analysis. The proposed parametric modeling techniques in this thesis are demonstrated by several microwave examples.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Toward a New (Eco)Feminist Future: Mainstreaming Nonhuman Animals in Feminist Studies

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Kumar, Priya
    Abstract:
    This thesis proposes a new direction for foundational feminist pedagogy, with the express purpose of mainstreaming a consideration of nonhuman animals in feminist studies curricula. Ecofeminists have effectively situated speciesism – the systematic discrimination against nonhuman animals based on a belief in human superiority over all else – as a structural oppression, one that intersects with other forms of oppression such as racism and sexism. However, this is not reflected in the introductory course which is a crucial pedagogical site. This thesis presents a vision for a new feminist future with the hope that it will expand the scope of feminist pedagogy and broaden our understanding of oppression, and lead to holistic strategies for change.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Women's and Gender Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Blackboard/Whiteboard: The Discursive Construction of the International Baccalaureate in Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fitzgerald, Saira
    Abstract:
    The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a series of educational programs for students aged 3 to 19 offered in schools around the world. Originally created for a transient population in need of a portable and recognized curriculum, it has evolved to become an alternative to local curricula in countries such as Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. This manuscript dissertation includes four articles that examine perceptions of the IB in Canada and the implications these perceptions might have for the wider society (e.g., publicly funded education or real estate). The study was conducted in two parts: (i) online survey and semi-structured interviews to gain insight into how admissions personnel at Canadian universities view the IB in relation to other curricula; and (ii) corpus linguistics combined with aspects of critical discourse analysis to examine a 1.5 million word corpus of Canadian newspapers on how the IB is represented in the public domain. Results from both domains showed consistently positive views, suggesting that there exists a dominant (hegemonic) discourse surrounding the IB.Results also suggested that the positive view of the IB tends to create a negative view of things non-IB (programs, students, schools). Since one is constructed as “better”, there is an implied comparison that seems to go unnoticed. Using corpus-based critical discourse analysis, patterns of language use were analyzed to make visible values and assumptions that discursively construct the IB as superior. The linguistic patterns and strategies identified appear to bear a striking resemblance to discourses of discrimination and difference, such as (1) collectivization of people into a homogeneous group, (2) attribution of particular qualities or characteristics to the group as a whole, and (3) perpetuation of the stereotype through repetition, and eventually “common sense knowledge” which is taken for granted and more assumed than stated explicitly. In the context of Canada’s publicly funded education system, where the IB has grown increasingly popular, this positive view is problematic as it privileges a select few while disadvantaging the rest (e.g., by preferred admission into universities), thereby creating a context of insiders and outsiders.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Issue of Trust in Computer Mediated Introductions (CMI)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Obada-Obieh, Borke
    Abstract:
    The problem of trust is one of the more prominent security issues in online communications. In this thesis, we propose a new security threat model, computer mediated introductions (CMI), where individuals are introduced online for the purpose of interacting offline. This is a problem that has not been specifically studied in the literature, even though aspects of it have been covered elsewhere. We therefore critically analyze the issue of trust and reputation in CMIs with the aim of improving trust on these platforms. In one of the most popular forms of CMI today, online dating, our findings show that existing standard mechanisms are not sufficient to establish meaningful trust on the platform. While we propose some potential alternative mechanisms for establishing trust in CMIs, the key contribution of this work is to identify the security challenges that arise in computer mediated introductions as a previously unrecognized class of security problems.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Role of Green Marketing in the Adoption of Intelligent Food Containers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bahrami Khodabandeh, Raheleh
    Abstract:
    The growing human population is causing food security concerns in many countries. As food security is the access by all people to enough food, the world must reduce food waste. This study investigates the factors leading to consumer adoption of intelligent food containers (IFC) – an emerging technology that can store food, monitor food quality and minimize food waste. In particular, the study focuses on the role of companies’ green marketing in affecting consumers’ willingness to adopt IFC. So doing, the study develops and tests a model and related hypotheses by using the partial least squares structural equation approach. The model was constructed based on the integration of Technology Adoption Model (TAM) with green marketing. An online survey was used to collect data from 153 households in Canada. The results suggest that improved TAM with the addition of green marketing mix is useful in explaining consumers’ purchase intention toward IFC.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Technology Innovation Management
    Date Created:
    2017

  • From animal movements to knowledge movement: knowledge mobilization associated with rapid developments in electronic tagging technology and its application

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Nguyen, Vivian
    Abstract:
    The conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources should be built on evidence-based decision-making principles and policies. The application of scientific evidence, however, is imperfect, especially in the realm of fisheries management. I propose a knowledge-action framework to understand the gap between knowledge production and utilization. The framework provides a sociological perspective to understanding the movement of knowledge into conservation and resource management actions, and is grounded in theories of knowledge mobilization and exchange. The framework provides a roadmap for scholars to organize and synthesize research related to the knowledge-action gap in conservation and natural resource management. This thesis evaluates what roles do components of the knowledge-action framework, for example, environmental and contextual factors, characteristics of knowledge actors, the relational dimension, and the characteristics of the focal knowledge have in influencing the uptake of knowledge. I addressed this research question by using a sociological approach and applying a mixed-method strategy to evaluate case studies and model systems using both qualitative and quantitative analyses. First, I evaluated a case study with complex environmental and contextual factors, the Fraser River Pacific salmon fisheries in British Columbia. Second, I evaluated the barriers to the application and use of a relatively new technological tool in fisheries management – telemetry technology – from both a qualitative and quantitative approach. In the Fraser River case study, the greatest perceived barriers to using new knowledge were institutional barriers and constraints. The quantitative study revealed that researchers who are committed, collaborative and engaged in outreach and dissemination activities achieved greater knowledge uptake such as formal integration or social acceptance of their work. The qualitative study that evaluated perceived barriers to using fish telemetry revealed that researchers perceived the limitations and challenges of telemetry itself (characteristics of the focal knowledge) as a barrier to integration. Together, the components of my dissertation applied and evaluated the proposed knowledge-action framework to evaluate how scientific knowledge moves in the context of fisheries management. This is important to inform an era of evidence-based decision making and I believe has implications for the broader community of conservation and natural resource management.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Novel Methodology for Safety and Economic Evaluation of Red-light Cameras at Signalized Intersections

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Abdulsalam, Amal
    Abstract:
    Red-light running is a phenomenon that has led to frequent collisions causing fatalities, injuries, and property damage. Red-light cameras (RLCs) have been used in an attempt to reduce the frequency of these collisions. The main objectives achieved in this thesis are: (1) The site-selection bias of traditional methodologies were corrected by using a novel methodology (propensity score matching); (2) The fixed and random-effect panel regressions were utilized to account for the spatial and temporal correlations in the data; (3) The identification of how RLC effectiveness varies by site characteristics through the use of interaction terms; (4) The determination of spillover distances and times resulting from the presence of RLCs; (5) The benefit-cost methodology supported by economic analysis and sensitivity analysis using the novel methodology; and (6) The establishment of guidelines for effective implementation of the RLC treatment.The research used field data from the City of Ottawa (Canada) involving 34 RLC intersections and 14 control intersections observed for the period 1999-2012. The results from this thesis indicate a consistent significant reduction in angle and turning movement collisions of 19% and 21%, respectively, and an increase in rear-end and sideswipe collisions of 12% and 6.7%, respectively. The magnitude and the direction of these effects are comparable to results of previous studies in the literature. The benefit-cost analysis, based on social costs of collisions avoided, the spillover effects and fine revenue, yielded an overall annual cost savings to the community of over $4.4 million CAD across the 34 RLC intersections; with a benefit-cost ratio of 4.50. An extended cost sensitivity analysis was incorporated to quantify the robustness of the base-case conclusions.RLC implementation decisions represent a major policy action, with serious repercussions for public safety. This thesis enhances such decisions by establishing effective implementation guidelines using rigorous, novel statistical analysis methods aiming to assist in this key policy effort. Furthermore, this thesis contributes to quantifying the RLC spillover effects as well as identifying critical road factors that the RLC treatment is likely to affect and benefit from. These contributions are all critical components of the traffic safety management process.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Edge-Preserving Texture Transfer Using the Laplacian Pyramid

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Doyle, Lars Edward Ian
    Abstract:
    Texture plays an important role in our perception of photographic images. It can be used to differentiate objects, draw the eye to salient regions, and convey information about a subject. However, post processing photographs in image editing software can be time consuming, often requiring advanced skills to achieve convincing effects. We introduce a multi-scale method, based on the Laplacian pyramid, to introduce auxiliary textures into photographic images. The final result retains the structural characteristics from the input, including edges, colour, and high-contrast existing texture, while enhancing the image with fine-scale details. In addition, we extend patch-based texture synthesis to include a guidance channel so that texture structures are aligned with an orientation field, obtained through the image structure tensor. Both the original structure tensor calculation and its subsequent smoothing are aided with geodesic knowledge so that our orientation fields are both edge preserving and smooth.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • NotesKB: Web-Based Semantic Annotation Tool for Online Multimedia Learning Content

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Alamoudi, Abdulrahman Othman
    Abstract:
    Due to the rapid growth of e-Learning contents, especially videos, published online, the usability of tools that help students keep track of such contents along with their thought traces is an issue. We addressed the problem by designing and building a web-based semantic annotation tool called NotesKB. Through technical and theoretical lenses, we aim to discover and improve upon the usability of such tools. The usability of NotesKB is evaluated and compared with two other predominant note-taking methods, namely Pen and Paper (PnP) and Microsoft OneNote. According to the SUS test scores, PnP is the most usable while NotesKB was the most preferred when students were interviewed. We have reaffirmed that cognitive load is key to design e-Learning systems and that note-taking tools with semantic capabilities need to help users learn how to use the greater power available.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Driving Change, 140 Characters @ a Time: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of the Twitter Debates on the Saudi Ban on Women Driving

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Altoaimy, Lama
    Abstract:
    This dissertation seeks to examine the ways in which Twitter users debate Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving, with a broader objective of explicating how gender roles and relations are negotiated in that discursive space. In Saudi Arabia, a social media site such as Twitter offers Saudi women an alternative public space when there is no comparable open-media space in which they can communicate and raise their concerns, including their right to drive. To capture part of the ongoing discussion about women driving, a corpus of Arabic tweets that discuss the ban was compiled during October, November and December 2015. Informed by a corpus-assisted discourse studies approach, which combines the discourse-historical approach (Reisigl & Wodak, 2001) and corpus linguistics (Baker, 2006; 2010), I analyze the views and arguments expressed by Twitter users in debating the Saudi ban on women driving.The findings reveal that while some tweeters express their support for the ban, noting the social and moral threats posed by allowing women to drive and the symbolic function of women’s roles as markers of commitment to the nation’s traditional and religious identity, the majority of tweets reflect great frustration and a desire for change in women’s situation. These tweets publicize the victimization of women and their disenfranchisement as a consequence of maintaining the ban. The tweets also display a degree of awareness about women’s rights and resistance toward the contradictions that women face by being caught up in the tension between modernizing the country’s policies and different aspects of public life and preserving traditional norms and patriarchal values. It is believed that this study contributes to the growing literature on studying gender in the multi-voiced, loosely structured discursive spaces of social media as sites for discourse construction and dissemination. The study also fills a void in previous literature that failed to theorize the online debates on women driving in relation to gender and critical research, and in situating these efforts within a broader frame of women’s struggle against patriarchy and the social tensions and dynamics of power in Saudi society.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • HetHetNets: Heterogeneous Wireless Cellular Networks with Heterogeneous Traffic

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mirahsan, Meisam
    Abstract:
    One of the main expected characteristics of the envisioned 5G wireless cellular networks is heterogeneity. Heterogeneity is expected in both supply and demand. In the supply side, the network access part will be comprised of heterogeneous base stations (BSs) with different transmit powers, antenna heights, and radio technologies including macro-BSs, pico-BSs, femto-BSs, and wi-fi access points (HetNets). The spatial distribution of BSs is also heterogeneous (non-uniform) since the deployment of BSs is not carefully planned anymore and follows the customer requirements. In the demand side, the distribution of user equipments (UEs) is heterogeneous in the time domain as well as in the space domain due to the emergence of various applications with different rate requirements such as machine type communications (MTC) and also the heterogeneity of population density specially in municipal areas.Nevertheless, an enormous majority of the existing literature on traffic modeling in wireless cellular networks consider only homogeneous (uniform) traffic scenarios. In particular, two independent Poisson point processes (PPPs) are excessively used to model the spatial distribution of UEs and BSs. PPP might be a fitting process for BSs but it is not an accurate model for the UE distributions. The assumption of independence between BSs and UEs is also not realistic since BSs (specially small-cell BSs) are usually deployed in UE hotspots.In this thesis, we propose an accurate, realistic, simple, and adjustable modeling for the future heterogeneous wireless cellular networks with heterogeneous traffic distributions (HetHetNets). First, we propose a traffic modeling process describing a systematic approach to traffic modeling. According to the proposed process, we introduce a traffic modeling in which the heterogeneity of the UE distribution as well as the correlation between UEs and BSs are adjustable. Then, we show the impact of the traffic heterogeneity and the UE-BS correlation on the performance of HetHetNets. Finally, we present algorithms and applications in wireless networks which can exploit this realistic traffic modeling to enhance the network performance.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Role of Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor (GHSR) Signaling in the Dorsomedial Hypothalamus (DMH) and Ventral Premammilary Nucleus (PMV) In Energy Homeostasis in Mice

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hyland, Lindsay Marie
    Abstract:
    Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone that acts on its receptor the GHSR1a within hypothalamic nuclei, including the DMH and PMV, but the role of GHSR1a signaling in these regions is unknown. To investigate this, in study 1, we attached a minipump filled with saline, ghrelin, or a GHSR1a antagonist to a cannula aimed at the DMH and assessed their metabolic profile. In study 2, we employed similar drug treatments as study 1, but aimed the cannula at the PMV. Chronic intra-DMH ghrelin increases body weight in the form of adipose tissue, without affecting caloric intake. This is accompanied by attenuated energy expenditure, and not locomotor activity. Infusions of ghrelin in the PMV and the DMH slows glucose clearance. Intra-PMV ghrelin promotes carbohydrate oxidation, without affecting food intake or body weight, suggesting that GHSR signaling has distinct roles in the DMH and PMV in energy homeostasis.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Risk and Certification to Agricultural Standards

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mohan, Sarah Arti
    Abstract:
    This thesis is comprised of four essays on the economics of certification to agricultural standards in developing countries. It generates new evidence on the relationship between risk and certification.The first essay builds a theoretical framework to understand the relationship between risk aversion and certification to agricultural standards. In the presence of uncertainty over the proportion of their produce that will be rejected by consumers, results indicate that a relatively risk-averse population of farmers will tend to adopt a high-quality standard in greater numbers. However, analysis suggests that the relationship is sensitive to the relative profitability of adoption, the degree of consumer differentiation between certified and non-certified produce, and the difference in their rejection rates.The second part of the thesis empirically examines the role of individual risk attitudes in the decision to get certified to an agricultural standard. It investigates the relationship between measured risk aversion and certification status using primary survey and experiment data gathered through field research with Nepali small-scale tea farmers. Results indicate that farmers who are more risk averse have a higher propensity to get certified. These findings provide concrete evidence against previous assumptions that only risk lovers get certified. Instead, they suggest that certification schemes may provide a benefit not yet considered in the literature: that of providing risk-reduction opportunities to risk averse farmers in developing countries.In the last chapter, the role of certification in sparking processes of institutional change is taken up in a global value chain (GVC) framework. The theoretical insights of institutional economics are combined with the GVC framework to analyze case study data from Nepali small-scale tea farmers. The typology of institutional change in value chains that emerges from this research suggests that agency, organizations, and informal norms affect whether certification yields benefits in a particular place. The research findings illuminate the institutional conditions under which certification can improve welfare in developing countries.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Economics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Getting Better with Age: Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the relations Among Social Identity, Resilience, and Mental Health Among Retirement Community Residents

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pochopsky, Olivia
    Abstract:
    Given the dynamic nature of mental health throughout the lifespan, this study examined associations among several psychosocial factors, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neuropeptide y (NPY), and oxytocin receptor (OXTR), and mental health among older (N=88) and younger adults (N=369). Older age was related to lower stress and depression, greater social identity and resilience, and various coping styles. Moreover, OXTR moderated the direct relationship between age and depression, as well as the mediating roles of identity and coping in that relation. OXTR also moderated the mediating role of coping in the relation between social identity and depression. However, age also moderated this relation both directly, and indirectly through the mediating role of resilience. These results suggest that identity, resilience, coping and OXTR may be protective to mental health, but that these factors may impact the mental health of older and younger adults differently.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2017

  • A Fully Synthesized Injection Locked Ring Oscillator Based on a Pulse Injection Locking Technique

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Li, Mingze
    Abstract:
    This thesis proposes a novel, all synthesized, Injection Locked Ring Oscillator (ILRO). It employs a digitally tunable oscillator and a pulse injection locking technique. The frequency tuning range of the free running oscillator is from 210 MHz to 1.8 GHz with a 1.1 volt power supply. The tuning range from 1.0 to 1.8 GHz can be achieved with 215 tuning steps with a maximum step size of 11.2 MHz, that is well within the worst case 75 MHz (3rd sub-harmonic) and 32 MHz (9th sub-harmonic) locking range of the oscillator. The design occupies 127.5 um by 31.5 um of chip area and is implemented in TSMC’s 65-nm CMOS technology. For 3rd harmonic injection locking, the ILRO’s RMS jitter is 192.7 fs (1 KHz to 40 MHz) with a phase noise of -130.9 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the 1.62 GHz carrier while consuming 7.15 mW of power.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Factors affecting contaminant transformation by heat-activated persulfate

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zrinyi, Nick
    Abstract:
    Persulfate-based in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) involves the injection of persulfate (S2O82-) into the subsurface to remediate contaminated groundwater and soils. Although S2O82- does not react with contaminants to an appreciable extent, it can be activated into stronger oxidants (e.g., SO4• and •OH) by heat, alkaline solutions, dissolved iron and iron-containing minerals. The objective of the research described in this thesis is to explore the influence of temperature and background solutes on contaminant transformation by heat- and mineral-activated S2O82-. Through the transformation of benzoic acid (a model organic compound) and chlorendic acid (a flame retardant), it was discovered that temperature affects not only the rate of contaminant transformation but also the transformation pathway and distribution of byproducts. Solution pH, alkalinity, and chloride also influence the rates of persulfate activation and contaminant degradation. These novel understandings may help improve the design and operation of S2O82--based remedial systems.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Environmental
    Date Created:
    2017

  • From Adaptability to Mobility: Spaces for Learning in the War Zones of the Syrian Arab Republic

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Dehghany, Seyedeh-Ghazal
    Abstract:
    This Thesis is a response to the humanitarian crisis and the displacement of more than 11 million people in the Syrian Arab Republic. It is mainly focused on the city of Aleppo and some of its young civilians, children in school aged 6-12 years old, as they experience an ongoing brutal and radical transformation due to the Syrian Civil War, which is now entering its sixth year and is currently in a ceasefire stage. As a result of this merciless war, a whole generation in Syria has lost their right to education for more than five years now. When a government fails to protect its own people, perhaps the responsibility rests on the shoulder of a wider global community to find solutions and help rebuild a war torn country.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Architecture
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Millimeter Wave Small Cell Network Planning for Outdoor Line-of-Sight Coverage

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Palizban, Nima
    Abstract:
    The millimeter wave is considered as an important candidate for providing most of the capacity in a future heterogeneous network. Network densification is also necessary for enhanced capacity and high-rate coverage. However, deploying a very large number of the base stations is costly. We develop an outdoor small cell millimeter wave network planner and minimize the number of base stations.First, we estimate the base station densities required for small cell line-of-sight millimeter wave networks. We develop an automatic outdoor network planner by first, placing many candidates on the map and then, selecting a subset of candidates to minimize the total number of base stations. We run our simulations over two large dense urban areas.Second, we design a wireless backhaul network planner to further reduce the costs by reducing the number of wired connections in the network, where we consider millimeter wave line-of-sight wireless backhauling as our choice.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Transgressing Boundaries: A Discussion Concerning Methodology, Έρως, and Politics in Symposium and Platonic Philosophy

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Haskett, Peter
    Abstract:
    This thesis does three things in three distinct sections. First, this thesis is a discussion and critique of method. I attempt to address pivotal issues that permeate throughout the Platonic scholarship, problems of method and the problem of authorial intent. Following discussion of the methodological problems that hinder the Platonic scholarship, I propose an overlooked methodological model and psychology that is skeptical, flexible, and pragmatic: eclecticism. Second, I apply the method and demonstrate its strength while investigating the concept of ἔρως (eros) in the first six speeches in Plato’s Symposium. Third, I discuss my findings. From my exegesis, I engage in phenomenology of eros and reflect on its metaphysical underpinnings. I argue that eros is by nature fundamentally self-negating and thus absurd. I then discuss the importance of renewed and further reflection on the nature of eros and its role as an engine for philosophy and political life.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • In Vitro Study of Mechanisms Underlying the Developmental Effects of Bisphenol A Using Human Fetal Lung Fibroblasts

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Laziyan, Mahemuti
    Abstract:
    Both experimental and/or epidemiological studies suggest that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may delay fetal lung development and maturation and increase the susceptibility to childhood respiratory disease. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In our study with cultured human fetal lung fibroblasts (HFLF), we demonstrated that 24 h exposure to 1 and 100 µM BPA increased nuclear expression of GPR30, at 100 μM, also increased cytoplasmic expression of ERβ and release of GDF-15, as well as decreased release of IL-6, ET-1, and IP-10 through suppression of NFκB phosphorylation, with no effects on cell viability. By performing global gene expression and pathway analyses, we identified molecular pathways, gene networks, and key molecules that were affected by 100, but not 0.01 and 1, µM BPA in HFLF. Using multiple genomic and proteomic tools, we confirmed these changes at both gene and protein levels. Our data suggest that 100 μM BPA increased CYP1B1 and HSD17B14 gene and protein expression and release of endogenous estradiol, which was associated with increased ROS production and DNA double strand breaks, upregulation of genes and/or proteins in steroid synthesis and metabolism, and activation of Nrf2-regulated stress response pathways. In addition, BPA also activated ATM-p53 signaling pathway, resulting in increased cell cycle arrest at G1 phase, senescence, and autophagy in HFLF. Fetal lung development and maturation requires paracrine interaction between fetal lung alveolar type II epithelial cells and fibroblasts. The results from our studies suggest that prenatal exposure to BPA at high enough concentrations may affect fetal lung development and maturation, by altering the release of developmental, immune, and hormonal modulators from fetal lung fibroblasts, and thereby affecting susceptibility to childhood respiratory disease.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Experimental Characterization and Modelling of a Heat Pump Water Heater

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Khalaf, Ghaith
    Abstract:
    This study involved the development of a new heat pump water heater (HPWH) model in the TRNSYS simulation software to investigate the effect of a HPWH unit on the space heating and cooling requirements of a house. The result of the study showed that humidity has a negative effect on the performance of the unit at low temperatures. The unit had a maximum coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.07 and minimum of 2.46 for a basement temperature held at 18oC. It was found the HPWH unit is not cost effective in comparison to a natural gas water heater. However, the HPWH significantly reduces house emissions. Furthermore, the HPWH was shown to have a payback period of 4 years in Ontario in comparison to a 12 and 9 year payback period in Quebec and British Columbia, respectively.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Playing in Synch: A Three-Part Typology of Synch Points Between Image and Sound in Bioshock Infinite

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Brewer, Robert Patrick Bruce
    Abstract:
    Video games make extensive use of image and sound, as well as player interactivity to communicate narrative and gameplay information. While scholars (e.g., Kaae, 2008 and Collins, 2013) have made significant contributions to understanding these forms of communication, there are still fruitful directions to explore. This thesis adds Chion’s (1994) concept of points of synchronization to the discussion by addressing how they might be used as a tool to create emphasis and to provide an auditory and visual setting around a video game’s narrative and gameplay elements. I will argue that it is useful to divide synch points into three types (narrative, gameplay, and serendipitous), and will explore how Chion’s concept, originally developed for cinematic sound, can be expanded to include the complexities afforded by interactive gameplay. I will use Bioshock Infinite (2K Games, 2013) as a case study to demonstrate the utility of this typological approach to synch points.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Music and Culture
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Reducing electricity consumption in multi-tenant commercial buildings: The impact of behavioural change

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bennet, Isis Elizabeth
    Abstract:
    Pressure to conserve energy in commercial buildings is increasing in order to meet nationwide greenhouse gas reduction targets. In the commercial building sector, tenants often receive yearly electricity bills based on their occupied floor area and not actual electricity consumption. This results in diffused responsibility and no incentive to curtail electricity consumption. In this thesis, two office towers in Eastern Ontario installed submeters to accurately bill tenants for their electricity use. This study uses a competition, in-person tenant meetings and suite walkthroughs and submetering paired with data measurement and verification to assess the effect of the interventions on energy use behaviour. Results demonstrate that commercial tenant electricity use, between tenants, is highly variable; that tenant loads are lower than ASHRAE design values; and, that tenant plug loads are not fully shut off at night. The project concludes, 15 months after implementation, that submetering does result in tenant electricity reductions.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Indigenous Storytelling: Contesting, Interrupting, and Intervening in the Nation-Building Project Through Historica Canada's Heritage Minutes

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hoque, Anna Nusrat
    Abstract:
    While Heritage Minutes are 60 second films that are well known in Canada for their celebration of the nation state, this thesis explores varied and polysemic readings of the Minutes that emerge when Indigenous media makers make use of the recognizable nationalistic media text to interject and make space for Indigenous stories about Indigenous peoples. My work aims to fill a gap in existing scholarship on Heritage Minutes that neglects to account for Indigenous involvement with Historica Canada to produce Indigenous led narratives. I center critical and Indigenous knowledges to guide and produce a complex and nuanced reading of Heritage Minutes through conversational interviews and close textual analysis to demonstrate ways in which Indigenous filmmakers contest dominant national narratives.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Communication
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Executive Function and Prospective Memory: The Effect of Inhibitory Control and Working Memory Load

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Brown, Audrey Philena
    Abstract:
    This study examined the impact of a dual-task load on four- and five-year-olds’ event-based prospective memory (PM), as well as the relation between PM and two executive function skills: working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC). Children completed an ongoing task (OT), which required pointing to pictures of animals in each image array. Embedded in this task was the PM task, which required children to ring a bell when they saw a picture of a cat. To manipulate the effect of dual-task load, children were assigned to one of three conditions: Control (OT and PM); WM-load (OT, PM, simultaneously with WM task); or IC-load (OT, PM, simultaneously with IC task). Five-year-olds outperformed four-year-olds on the PM task. There was no effect of condition on children’s PM performance. Furthermore, WM and IC did not predict PM performance after controlling for age and language ability. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Structure-related interactions of brominated and organophosphate flame retardants and degradation products with thyroxine and human thyroid hormone transport proteins in vitro

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hill, Katherine Laurel
    Abstract:
    One mechanism of action of thyroid disrupting compounds is the competition for thyroid hormone (TH) binding sites on vertebrate serum transport proteins, including transthyretin (TTR) and albumin (ALB). An in vitro competitive binding assay was optimized for use with thyroxine (T4) and human TTR or ALB. This assay was applied for two classes of novel and environmentally relevant flame retardant (FR) chemicals, and/or some degradation products; organophosphate (OP) triesters, and tetradecabromo-1,4-diphenoxybenzene (TeDB-DiPhOBz). Structure-related differences in the binding of these ligands with TTR or ALB were observed, including a newly discovered apparent allosteric interaction of OP esters with TTR that enhances binding of T4. Degradation products of TeDB-DiPhOBz are ligands for human TTR and ALB in vitro, as well as gull TTR in silico, with para-hydroxylated lower brominated congeners being the strongest binders. Overall, results indicate potential interference of these novel FR contaminants with human TH transport, in a structure-dependent manner.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemical and Environmental Toxicology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Paleoproterozoic structural history of metamorphosed and polydeformed basement and cover rocks in the Ptarmigan Fiord area, Baffin Island, Nunavut: a tectonic component of the Quebec-Baffin segment of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson orogen

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chadwick, Timothy Charles
    Abstract:
    The structural geometry and Paleoproterozoic deformation history of the Ptarmigan Fiord area is based on mapping and structural analyses, integrated with published petrology and geochronology data. Early thrust repetition, of 80-200 m-thick sheets of Archean orthogneiss basement with Paleoproterozoic cover of the Lake Harbour Group, results in belts of basement-cover couplets. This was followed by DP2 penetrative transposition that occurred at amphibolite-facies at ca. 1850-1820 Ma. The major structure in the SE part of the map is an upright ~ NW- striking, tight F2b syncline that folded three basement-cover couplets. The fold has a wavelength of ~ 3 km, occurs over a strike length of ~ 11 km, and has been refolded. The NW part of the map area comprises a NW-dipping panel of basement rocks and three belts of basement-cover couplets. This NW-dipping panel was juxtaposed against the F2b syncline by a moderately NW-dipping, T3c reverse shear zone.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Line Dancing: A Performative and Phenomenological Study of the Borderlands Region of Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Vandervalk, Sandra
    Abstract:
    This ethnographic study of the borderlands region of Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont uses an approach that draws from both performativity and phenomenology to explore the local life–world. I argue that there is a uniquely borderland way of being in the world in this region. This is reflected in the local experience of the border as something that unites rather than as something that divides. I suggest that the hardening border is taking a toll on the perceived unity of the cross–border community, even as a borderland way of being persists. I examine aspects of border enactment and claim that on the Canadian side, the border is cooperatively enacted, and that smart border crossing is a marker of borderlander identity. On the American side, border changes have made the borderlands into a zone of exclusion. Finally, I argue that borderlanders trouble the non–borderlander understanding of the border.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Anthropology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Stranger Danger! The Role of Ghrelin in Modulation of Social Behavior

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Park, Su-Bin
    Abstract:
    Ghrelin, a gut-derived peptide, is associated with feeding, energy balance, reward and the stress response. Among many of its functions, the role of ghrelin in anxiety has been particularly controversial. Here, we demonstrated that increasing ghrelin receptor activity (particularly in the VTA) in mice has anxiolytic effects in tests involving stimuli with positive incentive value (i.e. palatable food or social opportunity). A role for ghrelin in social anxiety is intriguing because social anxiety is a common symptom of depression. Thus, we explored the possibility whether treatment with ghrelin agonist GHRP6 alone of in combination with SSRI citalopram could prevent and/or alleviate stress-induced social anxiety. We found that peripheral GHRP6 treatment was not sufficient to prevent/treat stress-induced social anxiety. Interestingly, post stress GHRP6 and GHRP6+citalopram treatment reduced weight gain, a common side effect of antidepressant treatment. Thus, our finding that GHRP6 can reduce these metabolic side effects has potential therapeutic potential.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Adaptive Coverage for Future LTE Networks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Sabouni, Rami
    Abstract:
    In the past few decades, wireless communications have been growing rapidly and the growth rate is accelerating at a very fast pace. In order to meet this growing demand, researchers are struggling to solve two fundamental problems: (1) providing the spectrum resources needed to support clusters of dense users with very high data rate and (2) supplying the required spectrum at reasonable power requirement level. This thesis first outlines the extent of this capacity-power problem now and in the near future and discusses possible approaches to meet these difficult challenges. We start by introducing a new metric, called Total Energy Per Bit (TEPB), to be used as a measure for greening of the network. Then, a proposed vision of replacing Macro-eNBs with a large number of Pico-eNBs to bring the network closer to the users is provided. This naturally leads to casting the problem as an optimization problem with an objective function of minimizing the overall power consumption while supporting user demand with acceptable quality of service. Based on the optimization problem, we propose two algorithms based on the concept of self organizing network (SON) to switch on/off base stations. Simulation results show that both proposed switch on/off algorithms can improve the power requirement of the network while maintaining the required UE throughput by reducing the TEPB significantly.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Emerging Modern Greek Nation and British Romantic Literature

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Grammatikos, Alexander
    Abstract:
    This dissertation contributes to the field of British Romantic Hellenism (and Romanticism more broadly) by emphasizing the diversity and complexity of Romantic-era writers’ attitudes towards, and portrayals of, Modern Greece, especially the ways that early nineteenth-century British literature about contemporary Greece helped to strengthen British-Greek intercultural relations and, ultimately, to situate Greece within a European sphere of influence. My study primarily focuses on fictional works because, as I demonstrate, Romantic literature, more than any other network of discourses of the early nineteenth century, intervened in debates about Modern Greece not merely by documenting facts but by creating realities, portraying imagined Greek-British encounters that encouraged readers to envisage new social, political, geographical, and cultural vistas and alliances for both Greece and Britain. As I argue, British Romantic writers’ representations of cross-cultural relations between Greeks and Britons gesture toward their growing sense of, and concern with, Britain’s international conduct and reputation, especially after 1815 when Britain was transforming into a dominant imperial power. The writers I examine use Modern Greece and Hellenism to interrogate and understand their country’s role not only within Greece, but also within a transnational, global world, the geopolitical dynamics of which were in flux. In discussing Greek-British Romantic-era intercultural relations, my study focuses on the wide range of private and public political positions available to British Romantic writers and emphasizes that the Greek War of Independence and Greece’s subsequent liberation were not isolated national events, but instead the outcome of the political, cultural, and literary debates and discourses taking place for at least half a century in Europe and Greece. By rooting my literary analysis in the historical, cultural, and geopolitical, I provide an account of British Romantic Hellenism that emphasizes the ways in which British writers engaged with a variety of discourses in reproducing versions of Greece that concretized the country. Greece is no longer merely the (imagined) topos of a glorified ancient people or of a degraded modern populace, but repositioned by British Romantic writers as a country integral to the modern, global world of the early nineteenth century.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    English
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Childhood Trauma and ADHD Diagnosis as Predictors of Consistently Elevated Internalizing Symptoms

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pritchard, Tyler
    Abstract:
    Many children adapt to life after trauma, but children with ADHD may be at risk for post-traumatic maladaptation. ADHD is often comorbid with mental health disorders and deficits in cognitive functioning. Using data from the Multimodal Treatment of Children with ADHD study, a randomized clinical trial that tested treatments for ADHD in 579 children and later recruited 289 comparison children, the present study tests whether trauma predicts more severe levels and faster increases in depression and anxiety for children with ADHD versus developmentally typical peers. Interpersonal trauma predicted elevated depression and anxiety symptom severity, but not trajectories. Natural trauma predicted elevated anxiety symptoms, but not trajectories. Last, ADHD diagnosis predicted elevated depression symptoms, but not trajectories. There were no trauma x ADHD interactions on symptom levels or trajectories. This study informs practice and policy by guiding practitioners to use trauma history to identify children who demonstrate persistent internalizing symptoms.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • An Adaptive User Interface for Walking While Reading on a Mobile Device

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hamel, Kyle
    Abstract:
    Smartphones are constantly being used in different use scenarios and contexts. This Thesis puts forth the notion that Adaptive User Interfaces (AUIs) can be implemented in mobile devices to help mitigate the negative usability effects associated with certain contexts. Using an auto-scroll and an auto-scroll + zoom function, two different AUIs were implemented to see if it is possible to mitigate the negative effects associated with reading while walking. Participants using these two interfaces, along with a static interface, were tested on reading comprehension tests while either sitting or walking a course with pedestrian traffic. The results indicate that the walking context had an adverse effect on reading comprehension. Participants most preferred an AUI interface while walking, with the auto-scroll AUI resulting in faster walking, faster course completion, and faster reading. It is concluded that AUIs can be used to alleviate some negative effects associated with concurrent reading and walking.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Digitizing Failure: Development and Power in Nigerian e-Schools

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Ahanihu, Ebere
    Abstract:
    This dissertation offers a critical analysis of development communication in Africa by studying how the global computing industry transformed schools, the state, and educational culture in Ekiti State, Nigeria. It brings post-development theory together with critical approaches to communication to examine how discourses of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), Information and Communication Technology for Education (ICT4E), and the digital divide are materialized institutionally and culturally in the context of a specific development project. It relies upon corporate and governmental policy documents, including site visits to schools, and interviews with government officials, consultants, industry partners, parents, students, and teachers to provide a comprehensive account of the failures of a flagship ICT4E project in Nigeria: the Ekiti State e-School Project.The Ekiti State e-School Project involved the distribution of 30,000 laptops to students in 183 public secondary schools located both in the rural and urban areas at the cost of US$12.5 million. The project was implemented in 2012 in anticipation of a digital future for the Nigeria economy that rested upon the liberalization of the telecommunication sector and precipitated intense forms of collaboration between Ekiti State and global computing corporations, most notably Samsung and Microsoft. My dissertation illustrates how the discourses of education, communication, and development mediated this relationship in ways that failed to solve the problem of social inequality underpinning the digital divide in the state. In addition, it situates the failure of the project within the broader history of telecommunication, modernization theory, and development communication in Africa, as well as the experiences of those participating in and affected by the events described in this dissertation. By bringing post-development theory together with critical communication studies in a novel fashion, I displace the contemporary fascination with ‘access to information’ and ‘digital divide’ to discuss the politics of development failure in a wider context.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Communication
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Serving Resistance on the Menu: The Cultural Politics of Filipino Cuisine in Winnipeg and Ottawa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Manuel, Gazelle
    Abstract:
    This thesis explores the cultural politics of Filipino cuisine in Canada. Filipinos are the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada yet their cuisine remains underrepresented in the Canadian foodscape compared to other Asian groups. By comparing Winnipeg and Ottawa’s contexts, I explore how Filipino cuisine entrepreneurs “do” Filipino cuisine through their establishments. I also examine potential explanations as to why Filipino cuisine is not mainstream. The findings suggest that the underrepresentation of Filipino cuisine can be attributed to structural barriers (colonialism and institutional racism) and the low incidence of Filipino entrepreneurship. Through culinary entrepreneurial practices, Filipino cuisine entrepreneurs engage in a politics of resistance and identity work. For some, the production of Filipino cuisine is implicated in the struggle against cultural assimilation. For others, it is an act of cultural pride and a politics of representation that seeks to disrupt the “hypervisibility” and “invisibility” of Filipino-Canadians and Filipino cuisine.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Monaural Music Separation via Supervised Non-Negative Matrix Factor with Side-Information

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Peng, Ce
    Abstract:
    In this dissertation, a supervised source template nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) algorithm is proposed to solve the monaural music source separation problem. Different from the previous state-of-the-art algorithms, the basic theoretical concept of the proposed algorithm considers the spectrogram from an audio mixture as linear combinations of note templates. Having prior knowledge of these note templates for each source, we can estimate and determine the activities of each template in recordings to build a mask of each source. Through the masks, the audio of target tracks can be reconstructed.We reviewed previous research on source separation for monaural music audio separation and compared these work with our proposed algorithm not only in mathematical expressions but also in separation performances. First, the prior knowledge of note templates is informed by musical instrument audio dataset. The spectrograms from these instruments are obtained and factored into a source resonance character matrix and a source impulse excitation matrix by assuming that the spectrum of the different notes are formed by the resonance effects from an impulse excitation. Secondary, according to the prior informed note templates, their onset-offset-like features are estimated by using the multiplicative update rule and supervised by the proposed pitch-checking algorithm to remove misleading estimations. Finally, the supervised note onset-offset-like features alternatively become a constraint to help the proposed model evolve its prior informed note templates into the forms given by the recorded instruments.We employed the TRIOS and the Bach-10 dataset for our multi-source separation performance tests. Among the source separation algorithms, our proposed supervised source template NMF and the state-of-the-art algorithms including the sound-prism and the Oracle-toolbox methods were selected to make comparisons. Furthermore, we added white Gaussian noise into the audio mixture to simulate the background full of the random noise to test the noise characteristics of each algorithm. The experimental results SDR (signal to distortion ratio), SIR (signal to interferences ratio), and SAR (signal to artifacts ratio) indicate that with the note templates from side-information, the proposed supervised source template NMF algorithm can have equivalent or higher performance in two-source separation and have a better performance under noise.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Mutable Dynamics of HIV-Prevention: Insights from Ontarian MSM on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Christianson, Adam
    Abstract:
    Pre-exposure prophylaxis or “PrEP,” is a cluster of methods that keep HIV-negative persons from contacting the virus. Effectively PrEP allows members of “high risk” communities a form of immunity against the virus. This thesis examines how PrEP is interpreted by men who have sex with men (MSM) PrEP users and non-users from south-east Ontario. Comparing the accounts of MSM users and interested non-users of PrEP, I examine barriers to implementation and how PrEP interacts with established methods of sexual hygiene and prophylactic preference. I examine how HIV-stigma is challenged by PrEP and challenges PrEP’s viability as a technology. I discuss how a successful implementation of PrEP as a mainstay of HIV prevention technologies stands to significantly impact HIV stigma and allows for forms of intimacy not afforded by current HIV technologies or safer sex practices.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Electoral Temptations of Natural Resource Revenues: Towards a Theory on the Origins of Sovereign Wealth Funds in Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bellingham, David Joseph
    Abstract:
    This thesis works towards establishing a theory on the origins of sovereign wealth funds in Canada and argues that despite claims that they are inter-generational savings vehicles, in practice these funds are a means to create near- and medium-term fiscal flexibility that benefits the electoral prospects of incumbent governments. In an era of global tax competition, electoral resistance to taxation, and growing demographic pressures on public expenditures, governments have turned to sovereign wealth funds to generate much needed revenues while avoiding tax increases more visible to their electorates. Alberta is this thesis’ primary case study and illustrates the expected behaviour of sovereign wealth funds in Canada in the absence of strong governance structures, defined contribution rules, clearly articulated fund goals and strong fund connection to voters - four key elements present in widely recognized model funds like Norway and Alaska.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Economy
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Fragility of Fear: The Contentious Politics of Emotion and Security in Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Van Rythoven, Eric
    Abstract:
    International Relations (IR) theory commonly holds security arguments as powerful instruments of political mobilization because they work to instill, circulate, and intensify popular fears over a threat to a community. Missing from this view is how security arguments often provoke a much wider range of emotional reactions, many of which frustrate and constrain state officials’ attempts to frame issues as security problems.This dissertation offers a corrective by outlining a theory of the contentious politics of emotion and security. Drawing inspiration from a variety of different social theorists of emotion, including Goffman’s interactionist sociology, this approach treats emotions as emerging from distinctive repertoires of social interaction. These emotions play a key role in enabling audiences to sort through the sound and noise of security discourse by indexing the significance of different events to our bodies. Yet popular emotions are rarely harmonious; they’re socialized and circulated through a myriad of different pathways. Different repertoires of interaction in popular culture, public rituals, and memorialization leave audiences with different ways of feeling about putative threats. The result is mixed and contentious emotions which shape both opportunities and constraints for new security policies.The empirical purchase of this theory is illustrated with two cases drawn from the Canadian context: indigenous protest and the F-35 procurement. Both represent cases where attempts by state officials to frame an issue as a security problem were frustrated and constrained by a contentious politics of emotion. In the conclusion, I argue these findings should push IR theorists to adopt a more circumspect view of the mobilization of fear, and a greater awareness of how emotions can play a key role in constituting the limits of the politics of security.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Reconstruction Based on Visibility

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Shaikhet, Alina
    Abstract:
    The thesis investigates geometric compression of graphs and reconstruction of geometric objects based on partial information about them. In the first part we study properties of proximity graphs, such as minimum spanning trees, relative neighborhood graphs, Gabriel graphs, beta-skeletons and Delaunay triangulations, in the constraint setting. Given a plane graph I=(V,E) we find the minimum set S of edges of I such that the edge-constrained proximity graph over the set V of vertices and the set S of constraints contains I. We present efficient algorithms that solve this problem.In the second part, we turn our attention to the probing of convex polygons with a wedge. An omega-wedge consists of two rays emanating from a point and forming an angle omega. Let B be the number of vertices of a convex polygon O whose internal angle is at most omega, (we show that 0<=B<=3). We reconstruct O with B=0 using 2n-2 omega-probes; or 2n-3 omega-probes if omega=90. We show that both results are optimal. We reconstruct O with B=1 (respectively B=2, B=3) using 2n-1 (respectively 2n+3, 2n+5) omega-probes. We prove optimality for the first case and show that the other two cases are almost optimal.The third and the fourth problems revolve around the Art Gallery Localization problem. In the third part we study the problem of placing a set T of broadcast towers in a simple polygon P in order for any point to locate itself in the interior of P. Let V(p) denote the visibility polygon of p. For any point p in P: for each tower t in V(p) the point p receives the coordinates of t and the Euclidean distance between t and p. From this information p can determine its coordinates. We show a tower-positioning algorithm that computes such a set T of size at most 2n/3, where n is the size of P.In the fourth part we study the computational complexity of the Art Gallery Localization problem. We show that determining the minimum number of broadcast towers that can localize a point anywhere in a simple polygon P is NP-hard problem.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Unhealthy Policies: The Role of Citizenship in the Government Response to Tuberculosis in Indigenous Populations 1945-2015

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Thomas, Ginette Suzanne
    Abstract:
    At a time when the overall national rates of tuberculosis in Canada are among the lowest in the world, the rates of tuberculosis among the Canadian Indigenous population are ten to twenty times higher than among the Canadian non-Indigenous population. In light of factors such as Canada’s universal health care system and advancements in public health and medical interventions over the past century, the question remains as to why this disparity continues to exist. Finding the answer to that question lies at the core of this research project. It involves the analysis of a complex array of factors that lie at the intersection of public policy, politics, and the place in society that the Canadian federal government continues to attribute to Indigenous peoples.The relationship between federal policies and health and social inequalities in Indigenous communities is examined through the lens of state power and citizenship. It’s the federal government who exercises the power to define the scope of its responsibility for ‘Indians, and lands reserved for Indians’ under Section 91 (24) of the Constitution Act. It is also the federal government, not Indigenous peoples, who decides who is an ‘Indian’ under the Indian Act for the purposes of determining who is eligible for federal services.This research project studies the impact of the federal government’s position that it does not recognize a treaty or legal obligation for Indigenous health, and that it provides health services as a matter of policy only. Citizenship theories provide the analytical lens with which to review how the federal government chooses to include and exclude certain sub-groups of Indigenous peoples based on their Indian Status, whether they live on or off reserve, and based on which provincial or territorial jurisdiction they reside. The result is an ad-hoc network of service delivery across Canada. The research demonstrates that the federal government’s own Indigenous health policies play a central role in perpetuating the health and social inequalities that are contributing factors to the elevated rates of tuberculosis that persist in Indigenous communities.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Social Work
    Date Created:
    2017

  • A Flexible Framework for Modeling Middleware Completions

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Faisal, Adnan
    Abstract:
    Middleware has a major impact on the performance of distributed software applications. To predict the performance (e.g., response time, throughput) of an application using a performance model, it is essential to capture not only the characteristics of the application, but also the platform and the middleware. Model elements, which are added to an application software model for performance analysis are known as Completions. This research proposes a unified and flexible framework, called MMLQ (Middleware Modeling for Layered Queues), for modeling middleware completions and automatically composing them into software performance models. The existing approaches have many limitations. Some of them require to build and compose models manually, others lack generality, while others use component-based modeling which creates many elements that are not essential for performance analysis and complicate the model. MMLQ overcomes the limitations of the existing approaches and can model a wide range of middleware platforms. The contributions of this thesis include identifying the commonalities and differences among different middleware platforms, modeling their features, specializing middleware models to cater to the needs of an application, calibrating the specialized models and a proposing a process to compose calibrated models with the application models. The software application models and the middleware models are all built using Layered Queuing Network Model (LQN) developed at the RADS lab of Carleton University. The MMLQ framework is validated by showing its ability to model three different categories of middleware and by comparing the predicted performance with measured performance metrics.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Impact of Short-Term Strategy Training in Requests for Clarification in the Japanese Classroom

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Sugimura, Kaori
    Abstract:
    This study examined whether short-term strategy training would benefit Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners’ abilities to resolve communication difficulties using requests for clarification (RC) - strategies to request repetition, clarification, or confirmation. Two groups of high-beginner university JFL students (n=12) participated in two sessions of peer communicative practice, with one of the groups (n=6) receiving RC training prior to the sessions. The effects of the training were measured by the frequency of RC usage during the participant interviews with Japanese native speakers in pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests. A stimulated recall after the post-test was conducted to understand factors of RC use. Test results revealed an increase in the number of RC used and use of different types of RC immediately after the training. Stimulated recall results confirmed that RC were used when encountering comprehension issues and were not used when there was a partial to full understanding.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Enhancement of Sludge Dewatering: A look at Polymer Maturation and Shear Optimization

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Martirosyan, Narek
    Abstract:
    The expected growth in global population will inevitably put pressure on improvement of wastewater treatment systems. Crystalline polymers are often used for coagulation of solids, however, attempts to identify optimal polymer maturation time, with the use of viscosity and electrical conductivity, have not yielded conclusive results.The first phase was aimed at developing a new methodology to determine the optimal polymer maturation time to yield the highest dewatering. This was done with spectrophotometry and corroborated by spiking sludge with polymers of different age. In addition, the spectrophotometer had the sensitivity to detect changes to polymer temperature, pH, chlorine content, and mixing method. In the second phase of the study the rheological properties of conditioned sludge were used to determine a relationship between the degree of shear and the resulting sludge dewaterability. The rheometer used for measuring sludge network strength was also able to capture the optimal polymer dose range.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Environmental
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Risks, Strengths, and Recidivism Among Justice-Involved Youth: Investigating Gender Differences and Similarities

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Scott, Terri-Lynne
    Abstract:
    Though males are involved in more crime than their female counterparts, females are increasingly coming to the attention of the corrections and criminal justice system. To guide the assessment and management of youthful offenders, different theoretical perspectives offer an explanation on the etiology of criminal behaviour for both males and females. The impetus for the current research was to identify important risk and strength factors predictive of criminal recidivism for both male and female justice-involved youth, through a meta-analytic review and an empirical validation of a gender informed risk assessment tool. Overall, this study found evidence in support of the Central Eight for both males and females as gender neutral factors as hypothesized, however preliminary findings emerged at the level of the individual indicators providing evidence for gender saliency (predictive for both genders but stronger in one) and gender specificity (predictive for one gender only) in the prediction of general and violent recidivism. Thus, accepting gender similarities at the domain level of risk and strengths and failing to accept that there are gender differences at the level of individual indicators will result in inaccurate assessments and missed opportunities to improve youths’ lives. The strength of the methodologies for both studies was the inclusion of a male comparison group to enable gender comparisons and make recommendations for the evidence of gender specificity and gender saliency, a limitation of previous meta-analytic and quantitative work. The findings of these studies contribute to the support of a gender informed theory of crime and have important implications for practice to take gender differences into account, beyond responsivity, to allow for the development of appropriate intervention strategies that are streamlined and targeted to make the best use of resources.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Evidence for the independent acquisition of aquatic specializations in pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses): insights from the study of the phylogenetic position, locomotor behaviour, and description of the stem pinniped, Puijila darwini

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Paterson, Ryan
    Abstract:
    Monophyly of pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses) is well-established. However, it is difficult to reconcile a monophyletic origin of pinnipeds with the disparate locomotory modes and associated skeletal morphologies observed between the extant families. In this study, the skeletal anatomy of Puijila darwini, a key putative stem pinniped from Canada’s High Arctic, is fully described. A biomechanical analysis, using functional limb indices of extant carnivorans to predict locomotory modes in extinct taxa, confirms the aquatic adaptations of Puijila, and identifies it as a forelimb-dominated swimmer. Phylogenetic analyses of molecular and morphological data in isolation recover Puijila as a stem pinniped, and provide strong support for pinniped monophyly. However, a phylogenetic analysis combining molecular and morphological data together recovers an unconventional topology, suggesting the molecular and morphological data are incongruent. Closer scrutiny of previously-proposed pinniped synapomorphies suggests many features shared between seals, sea lions, and walruses arose in parallel.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Art Brut's Material Mythologies (1945-1976): Dimensions, Materials and Creative Processes

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Goutain, Pauline
    Abstract:
    This dissertation critically reassesses Jean Dubuffet's collection of Art Brut in light of both the manifold contradictions of Dubuffet's mythologizing texts, and the materiality and dimensions of its constituent artworks. Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut in 1945 to designate artworks made by untrained and non-professional artists. From 1947 to 1976, with the help of the Compagnie de l'Art Brut, he created an important collection of thousands of artworks - the Collection of Art Brut - gleaned from psychiatric hospitals, rural settings, and jails. For Dubuffet, the works questioned the taste and values of his period, challenging both artistic categories and conventional display practices. This thesis shows how the materials, methods of creation, and dimensions of the works collected by Dubuffet and his companions helped construct a powerful artistic myth during the middle of the twentieth century. The dissertation first analyses ways in which "poor" materials and extreme formats (ranging from very small to very big) helped support the phantasnatic idea of an Art Brut that is "humble", " natural", and "raw". The thesis then reinscribes the project of Art Brut into the history of European avant-gardes in order to show the project's specificity and political consequences. Finally, the thesis demonstrates ways in which the formats of Dubuffet's collected works led to a reform of museum space.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cultural Mediations
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Loop Corrections in the Constituent Quark Model

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Modarresi Yazdi, Rouzbeh
    Abstract:
    Meson spectroscopy has had an extremely busy and productive decade since the discovery of the Ds(2317) and the X(3872). These states have challenged our naive quark model understanding of the mesonic spectra and forced many theorists to revisit their prior assumptions. Since their discovery, many models have been proposed to explain these new states and perhaps predict more states like them. One approach includes virtual meson loops in the constituent quark model and calculates the resulting mass corrections as a possible solution to inconsistency of the new mesons and previous models. In this work we study this model in detail, examining the various approximations and assumptions made in order to determine its viability as an answer to this problem. To do so we use the Quark Pair Creation model for the strong decay vertex. We then apply the model to various mesonic spectra to determine its viability.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Physics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • From Dissimilar to Similar: Reverse Fading Assistance Improves Learning

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jennings, Jay Brandon
    Abstract:
    This thesis investigated how worked examples could be used to fade assistance in the domain of algebra. The method of fading assistance was novel. It used similarity as the mode of assistance, with similar problem-example pairs providing high assistance and dissimilar pairs providing low assistance. Learning, performance, and gaze behaviours captured by an eye tracker were analyzed across three conditions – a faded assistance condition, a constant assistance condition, and a reverse faded assistance condition. Participant's personality traits and attitudes and behaviours regarding math were also collected and correlated with eye gaze sequences. We found that, contrary to our hypothesis, the reverse faded assistance condition resulted in the greatest learning gains. We analyzed the gaze behaviours to shed light on this finding and found that participants in this condition focused significantly more on the problem solution, suggesting more cognitive processing during problem solving than in the other conditions.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Investigating the Impact of an Incremental Mindset Intervention on Students’ Beliefs and Programming Performance

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    G Celis Rangel, Maria Jakeline De Guadalupe
    Abstract:
    Implicit theories of personal ability identify two kinds of mindsets, incremental and entity. Individuals with an incremental mindset believe that ability is malleable, while the opposite is true for entity individuals. Incremental beliefs can be taught via mindsetinterventions, and improvements in academic achievement were associated with these interventions, especially for challenging subjects such as math. Programing is another challenging subject, but to date little research exists on the impact of implicit theories in this domain. To address this gap, this research tests the effect of an incremental mindset intervention on students’ beliefs and programming performance. Our key results show that the incremental mindset intervention made participants significantly less entity oriented in their beliefs towards programming, and in turn they exhibited marginally more persistence in their programming activities, especially among those with less prior programming experience. However, this did not translate to improvements in performance on the programming activity.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • "Let's Have a Date Night!": The Role of Approach Relationship Goals in Self-Expanding Relationship Activities

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Walker, Deanna Lynn
    Abstract:
    The goal of the present research was to examine how approach relationship goals shape shared activity planning and engagement. In a two-part study, 135 primarily dating participants planned a date to engage in with their partner, and were instructed to engage in the date during the next six days. One week later, participants completed a follow-up questionnaire about their enacted date. People higher in approach goals engaged in shared activities that were significantly more self-expanding, and desired to participate in these activities more frequently in their relationship. Thus, people higher in approach goals are more dedicated and committed to the dates that they engage in, believe their partner will be interested in these dates, and have a greater desire to participate in future self-expanding dates. These findings suggest that people higher in approach goals are more adept at planning growth-enhancing time with their partners.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Effects of Hydrolyzed Oat Bran Proteins on Free Radicals, Toxic Metals and Lipid Oxidation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Shittu, Adenike
    Abstract:
    Transition metals play an important role in wide variety of biological processes in living system. Exposure to toxic metals, specifically arsenic (As) and chromium (Cr), has been associated with inflammation, cellular damage, and cardiovascular diseases as a result of As/Cr-mediated oxidative stress. We investigated the characteristics of the oat bran protein isolates (OBPIs) and the oat bran protein hydrolysates (OBPHs), their ability to reduce the toxicity of arsenic and chromium as well as their radical scavenging properties. Results showed that OBPIs possessed higher protein contents (80%), molecular weight (MW > 20kDa) and levels of aromatic amino acid residue than OBPHs. Hydrolysis increased peroxyl radical scavenging activities (ORAC) but lowered hydroxyl radical (HO•) potentials while only minor changes were observed in the superoxide anion radical scavenging power. Data showed that OBPI and OBPH were able to reduce toxicity of arsenic and chromium in food.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemistry
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Antioxidant and Antiapoptotic Properties of Oat Bran Protein Hydrolysates in AAPH-Induced Oxidative Stress Hepatocarcinoma HepG2

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Esfandi, Ramak
    Abstract:
    The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant activity of protein hydrolysates derived from enzymatic digestion of oat bran (OBPHs) using two two polysaccharides degrading enzymes (Viscozyme and Cellulase) and four proteases (Flavourzyme, papain, Protamex, and Alcalase) in chemistry based and HepG2 cell cultures. In the oxygen, radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, the peroxyl radical scavenging activity was the highest in Cell/Papa (417.0 ± 5.1 Trolox Equivalent (TE)/g), and in ABTS•+ (2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)) radical scavenging assay was the highest in Visc/Flav (863.80 ± 20.3 TE/g). In hepatic HepG2 cells culture assays, OBPHs from Viscozyme treated brans and Cell/Flav OBPH showed better efficiency in antioxidant activity induced by 2,2’-Azobis-2-methyl-propanimidamide dihydrochloride (AAPH). OBPHs protected HegG2 cells from oxidative stress due to a combination of factors including radical scavenging activity, upregulation of antioxidant enzymes, and inhibition of the activity of the apoptotic enzyme caspase-3.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemistry
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Canada's Defence Policies, 1987-1993: NATO, Operational Viability, and the Good Ally

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Weatherall, Ian Leonard
    Abstract:
    This thesis uses documents from the Department of Defence and the Department of External Affairs to analyze the 1987 White Paper on Defence and the changes in defence priorities in the period 1987-1993. The purpose of the White Paper was to improve the functionality of Canada’s military, offer a full commitment to NATO, and portray Canada as a good ally. The end of the Cold War in 1989-1991 and a deep recession from 1989-1992 forced the government to reduce the military budget, and the White Paper policies never reached fruition. Canada’s NATO allies valued Canada’s forces in Europe, and the government was initially willing to fund a Task Force in Europe. The decision in 1992 to cancel the Task Force and focus on the core capabilities of the military damaged Canada-NATO relations, but Canada continued to be a contributing member of the alliance and a player in European security.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    History
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Environmental Degradation of Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Epoxy Composites: An Experimental Investigation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Carette, Jeffrey Simon
    Abstract:
    Work presented herein investigates the chemically-induced degradation of a carbon-fibre reinforced epoxy. Monolithic coupons were conditioned from either single-sided exposure to, or complete immersion in one of five fluids; turbine oil, hydraulic fluid, ethylene glycol, deionized water or ocean water. At predefined intervals, coupons were removed from conditioning; subjected to evaluation of mass, dimensions and hardness; and destructively tested, analyzing either flexural properties or short beam strength. Secondary testing, including microscopy, x-ray micro-computed tomography and thermal analysis, was performed to further characterize degradation.It was demonstrated that significant mechanical and physical degradation resulted from exposure to deionized and ocean water, but not from exposure to hydraulic fluid, turbine oil, or ethylene glycol. Water uptake, as evaluated by sample mass change, was non-Fickian and caused a measurable loss of constituent material. This was predicted to be due to water's polarity, allowing it to disrupt both epoxy's intermolecular and intramolecular bond structure.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Materials
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Taking Risk Seriously: Discourses and Worldviews in a Nuclear Waste Controversy

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Waldman, Suzanne Maureen
    Abstract:
    Policy controversies over technologies with uncertain risks are highly polarizing. Stakeholder and public discussions about such ‘risky technologies’ typically divide over policy frames grounded in different underlying narratives concerning the relational dynamics among humans, technologies, and the environment that warrant distinct approaches for understanding and managing risk. The dissertation presents an approach to depolarizing risk that involves surfacing cultural narratives and finding discursive and institutional means to bridge them. Through an interpretive policy analysis, this dissertation examines the discourse of two key policy actors in the controversy over Ontario Power Generation's (OPG's) proposed deep geological repository (DGR) for low and intermediate level nuclear waste sited near Lake Huron. Specifically, it examines how the regulator (OPG) and a community action group, Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump (STGLND), engaged in a framing struggle about the DGR and its putative environmental effects. It shows that key elements of OPG's discursive frame were anchored to a cultural narrative describing the ability of rock to protect ecologies and humans from nuclear waste. The same elements of STGLND's discursive frame anchored emphasized the vulnerability of water to contamination from nuclear waste. The dissertation argues that these competing narratives align with longstanding socio-technological worldviews.The dissertation also discovers the presence of an intertext—a backdrop of discursive common ground—for the policy controversy amid statements by geologists describing DGRs as a promising technology that, due to environmental risks involved, requires more exhaustive and publicly accountable study. The “Responsible Geologist” intertext, it argues, has potential to act as a neutral policy frame for depolarizing public and stakeholder dialogue about DGRs. Finally, the dissertation describes how polarized dialogues around technological and environmental risk issues could be alleviated through the creation of distinctly collaborative environmental impact assessment and risk assessment procedures. Such processes would engage citizens from different socio-cultural worldviews in a deliberative mode that is at once synthetic of diversity and evidence-based while being simultaneously committed to both ethics and innovation.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Communication
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Cultural Built Heritage's Tangible and Intangible Dimensions and Digitalization Challenges

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mezzino, Davide
    Abstract:
    This research is based on the ongoing debate on the strengths and challenges brought about by the so-called ‘digital revolution’ in the field of the conservation of Cultural Built Heritage. Within this framework, this study analyzes how the dynamic relationship between tangible and intangible heritage strongly affects the understanding of a site as cultural heritage. This relationship influences the conservation actions adopted by conservators and decision makers and shapes the values that drive, and impact on, conservation choices.The complex relationships between tangible and intangible dimensions of cultural heritage have been, until recently, surprisingly underestimated in scientific research. A possible explanation lies in the limited amount of multidimensional and interdisciplinary approaches applied by scholars of different disciplines, often interested in a sectoral analysis of either the tangible or the intangible dimensions of cultural built heritage. The research moves in the direction of integrating such dimensions through a comprehensive approach. The project aims at demonstrating that an understanding of the role of intangible dimensions of built heritage can orient the conservation process, moving towards a more inclusive approach based on the respect for different context-based perspectives and interpretations of the cultural dimensions of heritage conservation, preservation, and restoration.The research hypothesis is that digital documentation workflows have a strong potential for integrating different sources of information, based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis, by processing and integrating knowledge about tangible and intangible dimensions of built heritage. The research proposes an enhanced approach, called WikiBIM, which builds on a combination of rapid ethnographic appraisal methods and IT-supported techniques for data acquisition, processing, and management.The research approach is tested on the concrete case of the Loka-hteik-pan temple in Bagan, Myanmar. Conclusions about the effectiveness of the approach highlight the importance of integrating local knowledge, sometimes transmitted only through oral means, in mainstream digital design tools, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), in order to improve the social, cultural and environmental sustainability of built heritage conservation.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Architecture
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Investigating the Impact of Using CFD Generated Unsteady Mach Number Dynamic Stall Data for Numerical Rotor Analysis of Helicopter Forward Flight

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jee, Dustin Sanghyun
    Abstract:
    This paper investigates whether the accuracy of the blade airload prediction by current comprehensive rotor analysis methods are compromised by the exclusion of the unsteady nature of the freestream velocity in semi-empirical dynamic stall models. To study the impact of including the unsteady nature of the freestream in dynamic stall, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to generate the unsteady 2D dynamic stall aerodynamic data representative of the conditions in the steady-level flight validation case (CT/σ = 0.129, µ = 0.24) from the UH-60A Airloads program whose counter designation is c9017. The CFD data served as inputs to the in-house rotor analysis code called Qoptr to generate blade airload results. The Qoptr blade airload results generated with the unsteady CFD dynamic stall data showed better agreement with the flight test data than the results generated with semi-empirical dynamic stall models, especially in the section moment results.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Development and Evaluation of Novel, Large Area, Radiation Hard Silicon Microstrip Sensors for the ATLAS ITk Experiment at the HL-LHC

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hunter, Robert Francis Holub
    Abstract:
    Development and evaluation of novel, large area, radiation hard silicon microstrip sensors is necessary for the operation of the ATLAS detector at the high luminosity upgrade of the LHC particle accelerator. This next-generation collider will allow an order of magnitude more premier physics data to be obtained from the facility that produces the world-leading 13 − 14T eV centre-of-mass frame collisional energy. The physics impact of this cou- pled nature is fundamental as the sensitivity to any interaction that falls within this massive energy range is naturally increased by the reduction in statistical uncertain- ties. This poses two prime opportunities for the discovery of new physics; precision measurement of known interactions and sensitive uncovering of the unknown. The HL-LHC’s increases in collision rate and experiment lifetime necessitate com- plimentary changes to the LHC detectors’ layouts, granularities, readouts, and radia- tion hardness. For the general purpose ATLAS detector the ...
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Physics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Spherical Space Bessel-Legendre-Fourier Mode Solver for Electromagnetic Fields

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Alzahrani, Mohammed Abdullah
    Abstract:
    Controlling and confining light in three dimensions is of significant interest as it represents devices in their entirety with minimal approximations. Localized modes in resonator structures are commonly modelled using the supercell plane wave expansion method, finite element method, or the finite difference time domain. However, these standard techniques are expensive in terms of computational resources when applied to three-dimensional structures. The technique presented in this thesis is a new method for solving Maxwell’s vector wave equations for localized modes in three-dimensional spherically symmetric resonator structures as well as its application to sensor configurations. The technique requires minimal implementation, provides normalized results, works for finite size and is computationally efficient. The method is such that the structures under test can be arbitrary shape, isotropic, anisotropic, lossless, or lossy.For the structures examined, a modified basis set composed of spherical Bessel, Legendre and Fourier functions (BLF) are used to expand the electric, magnetic, and inverse relative permittivity. These expansions allow for Maxwell’s wave equations to be cast as an eigenvalue problem from which the steady state localized modes can be determined from the eigen-frequencies and eigenvectors. This work applies to a number of spherically symmetric structures. A selection of structures whose resonator properties are reported in the literature are used to compare and verify the accuracy of the use of the BLF functions as an expansion basis.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Effects of Temporal Comparisons on Pro-Environmental Behaviour

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bilczuk, Christina
    Abstract:
    This research determines whether making temporal comparisons with one’s own past behaviour can promote future mitigating intentions and behaviours. Participants compared their present selves to their past selves in terms of environmental behaviours, and indicated their future environmental behaviour intentions (Study 1). Participants indicated improvement from their past selves to their present selves – increasing their level of engagement in environmental behaviours as time progressed. Those reporting steeper improvement over the past years were also more likely to indicate a greater intention to perform environmental actions in the future, but only when their improvement was made salient. Different temporal trajectories were then examined to determine their effect on participants’ environmental intentions and actual subsequent behaviours (Study 2). Whether participants had improved, declined or remained consisten in their environemental behaviour from the past had no effect on future behavioural intentions or subsequent actions.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Impact of Research on Economics Professors’ Compensation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Gadawski, Adam Mcdowell
    Abstract:
    The purpose of this paper is to study the observable effects research quantity and quality have on the salary compensation a professor receives. This paper aims to assess which bibliometric variable best measures research, and how that research is rewarded through salary received. Other determinants of salary, as well as institutional conditions, will be analysed so that the structure of salary can be determined. The subject of study is tenured and tenure-track economics professors in Ontario for 2015. The results indicate that for the top professors, quality of research was rewarded. For most professors, research made modest contributions to salary, with the best measure of research incorporating both quantity and quality of publications. Years of experience was the largest determinant of salary. Whether a university was unionized or not had an impact on salary, while the research intensity of the institution was not significant.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Economics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • “Knowing ‘Her’ Status”: Sex, Gender, and Women’s Rights in HIV and AIDS Campaigns, Lesotho

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mpalirwa, Mary Danielle
    Abstract:
    Young women in Lesotho are a high-risk group for new HIV infections despite a heavy investment in health programs for that demographic. This study investigates sexual rights discourses by both NGOs and local Basotho women to evaluate how much they align to promote women’s sexual empowerment. The underlying assumption is that how women’s rights are framed and incorporated into HIV campaigns reflects, and seeks to effect, certain social mores that may not resonate with Basotho women’s own views on sexual rights, with significant implications for the success of HIV prevention efforts. A critical discourse analysis of interviews and focus group data is used to conclude that NGOs promote discourses on women’s sexual rights that align with the discourses prevalent among local young women. However, both discourses reinforce cultural frames of women’s sexual rights that reinforce women’s sexual subservience and disempowerment, thus accounting for young women’s continued vulnerability to HIV infections.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    International Affairs
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Generalized Linear Models with Nonignorable Missing Covariates

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Lopa, Sonia Afroje
    Abstract:
    In this thesis, we present an overview of generalized linear models (GLMs) for binary and count data with missing covariates when the missing data mechanism is nonignorable. We use the maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters in GLMs. We study a set of ML estimating equations for fitting regression models to binary and Poisson data with missing covariates.Simulations were carried out to observe the behaviour of the MLEs under both correctly specified and misspecified structures. Our simulation study shows that the ML method generally provides unbiased and efficient estimators under correctly specified models, whereas a misspecified model provides biased and inefficient estimators. It also indicates that for small sample size, the empirical coverage probabilities of the parameter estimates are a bit apart from the nominal 95% level. Also, the average lengths of the confidence intervals for the regression parameters tend to be smaller for larger sample size.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Probability and Statistics
    Date Created:
    2017

  • The Effects of Single Prolonged Stress, an Animal Model of PTDS, on Novelty-Seeking Behaviours and Alterations in the Dopaminergic System in Male and Female Rats

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Thirumal, Kirtana
    Abstract:
    A common underlying behavioural trait of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves novelty-seeking behaviours, which have been related to impairments in the dopaminergic system. We therefore investigated novelty-seeking behaviours and extracellular dopamine (DA) release in response to single prolonged stress (SPS), a rodent model of PTSD. Rats were exposed to SPS and then received either saline or 0.5 mg/kg, i.p. d-amphetamine (AMP) injection one week later, before being placed in a modified novel object exploration test (Experiment 1) or being subjected to in vivo microdialysis to detect extracellular DA release in the nucleus accumbens (Experiment 2). SPS exposure significantly increased novelty-seeking behaviours in males and females. Basal accumbal DA levels in males were elevated by SPS, but not in females. These data suggest that exposure to SPS results in an increase in DA-mediated behaviours in male and female rats, and enhances accumbal DA release in males.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Functional Analysis of a User Driven Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression System

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mohammad, Zahra
    Abstract:
    Surgery is a common treatment for low back pain, but is a significant undertaking. An emerging non – surgical alternative, noted as spinal decompression therapy has evolved into an effective non – surgical treatment. This research focuses on the development and implementation of a user driven non – surgical spinal decompression (USD) system, a first of its kind prototype. The USD system's function is validated through experiments performed on a dummy subject. In addition, a pilot study was performed on 4 human participants analyzing performance results and user feedback in regards to pedaling options, loading characteristics, restraint combinations, human response characteristics and overall comfort. Users imparted an average rating of 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of ease of utilization. In addition, 75% of users indicated the therapy underwent in the USD system felt like mild exercise, while 25% indicated it felt like a relaxation session.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Behavioural response of white sturgeon and walleye to a LED based light guidance device

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Ford, Matthew
    Abstract:
    Hazards of water management required for human life require a growing need to protect fish. Behavioural guidance is used to reduce damage to fish from waterway infrastructure. A light guidance device designed by ATET-Tech, inc. was tested using both white sturgeon and walleye. White sturgeon were attracted to green light more than blue and red during the day. At night, white sturgeon were attracted to all lights. A louver-LGD system was tested using green light strobing at 20Hz to attract fish and red light strobing at 1Hz to deter fish. The louver was consistently effective at guiding white sturgeon toward the bypass with green light enhancing night bypass rates. Walleye were assed for their behavioural responses to green and orange light with either constant or 5Hz strobing light. Walleye avoided light significantly more compared the control. This research furthers understanding how fish react to light to reduce entrainment and impingement.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Reproducing Acceleration Power Spectral Density from an Aircraft Fuselage Panel Excited by Turbulent Boundary Layer Using Piezoelectric Actuators

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Sonnenberg, Steven Albert James
    Abstract:
    Noise and vibration in an aircraft cabin during cruise conditions is predominantly caused by external flow excitations from the turbulent boundary layer. The turbulent boundary layer causes the fuselage panels on the aircraft to vibrate. These vibrations radiate sound energy in the form of noise. This thesis describes a method to analytically optimize aircraft’s cabin panel parameters, to reduce the acceleration power spectral density of the panel caused by the turbulent boundary layer. Additionally, it presents an experimental validation, and modification of two existing analytical models used to calculate acceleration power spectral density for a panel, with three different excitations: an impact hammer force, a turbulent boundary layer, and a piezoelectric patch. Finally, an optimization method has been developed to reproduce the acceleration power spectral density of an aircraft panel by optimally selecting the placement of a given number of piezoelectric actuators, excited with a white noise distribution of frequencies.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Adult Estimation Strategies: An Eye Tracking Investigation into Reference Point Use for an Atypical Number Line Scale

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Newman, Katherine
    Abstract:
    The goal of the present study focused on the use of eye tracking technology to investigate the relationship between reference point use and performance on an atypical number line estimation task. University students (N=53; M=20.8 years) completed 33 number line trials, a post-task questionnaire, and a brief math assessment. Patterns of error and fixation data were analyzed. The results presented show that adult participants adjust their strategies in response to the scale used and that the use of implicit reference points benefits performance for targets located above the midpoint value. In sum, the varying performance demonstrated within an adult population using an atypical scale suggests that adults use proportional reasoning strategies to estimate the location of a number.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Human Activity and Posture Classification Using Single Non-Contact Radar Sensor

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Baird, Zachary
    Abstract:
    Radar has been proposed for monitoring the health of elderly patients in long term care because it is safe, non-contact and preserves the privacy of patients. Random body movements (RBM) obscure radar return signals making it difficult if not impossible to accurately estimate vitals. Activity classification is presented in this thesis as a pre-processing step for dealing with RBMs. Posture classification is presented in this thesis for assistance in preventing falls. Two popular radar architectures- continuous wave (CW) Doppler and ultra-wideband (UWB) are investigated in this thesis. Activity classification is performed with 92% average accuracy with CW and 86% with UWB. Posture Classification is performed with 64% average accuracy with CW and 85% with UWB. An occupancy detection algorithm was also developed for UWB and achieved 88% average accuracy. The contribution of this thesis is a proposed hierarchical processing approach for both radar types capable of dealing with moving subjects.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • A User Relinquishment-based Resource Assignment Scheme to Maximize the Net Profit of Cloud Service Providers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Singh, Sarabjeet
    Abstract:
    In a cloud federation, by using the pay-as-you-go billing model users can relinquish their services at any point in time and pay accordingly. Therefore, this thesis aims to study the resource assignment problem in the situation where the user relinquishment impacts the net profit of a cloud service provider. As a solution, our study 1) proposes a tool to calculate the net profit which includes income, electricity expenses, and relinquishment loss; 2) compares different ways to predict the user behavior and deduce a better prediction technique based on linear regression; and 3) proposes a relinquishment-aware resource optimization model to estimate the amount of resources based upon the predicted user behavior. Simulations were performed with the CloudSim framework. The results show that instead of blindly assigning resources to users, a cloud service provider with a finite resource pool can gain more by estimating the resources using better prediction techniques.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • A test of the hypothesis that the spatial scale of effect of the landscape context on an ecological response increases with increasing time scale over which the response is regulated

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Moraga, Andrew Dominic
    Abstract:
    To detect an effect of landscape context on an ecological response one must measure the landscape variable at the appropriate spatial extent around the response, i.e. at its 'scale of effect'. However, it is not clear what determines this scale or if we can predict it a priori. One hypothesis is that the scale of effect increases with the temporal scale regulating the response. We tested this, comparing scales of effect of road density and forest amount on wood frog fecundity, abundance, and occurrence estimated from egg mass surveys of 34 ponds. We predicted the following order for scales of effect: fecundity < abundance < occurrence. Scales of effect were different for the three responses, but did not vary in the predicted order. This suggests that scales of effect cannot be predicted from the temporal scale regulating different responses and should thus be estimated empirically, rather than 'guestimated' a priori.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Simulations of Ductile Fracture in Pipeline Steels Under Quasi-Static and Dynamic Loading Conditions

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bassindale, Christopher William
    Abstract:
    In this thesis extensive finite element simulations of ductile fracture in pipeline steels were analyzed using the cohesive zone model (CZM). The analyses focused on the effect of loading mode under quasi-static loading conditions on the CTOA, and higher loading rates on the CTOA. The results of the loading mode simulations demonstrate that the CTOA has a weak dependence on the loading mode (constraint). The results of the loading rate study demonstrate that the CZM must be re-calibrated to produce an experimental parameter, such as the dynamic CTOA, for higher loading rates. A relation between the cohesive energy and crack velocity is developed to provide insight into the effect of loading rate on the CZM based on a constant CTOA model. Lastly, this study provided data which supports the notion that the upswing in the two curve method (TCM) is due to the effect of inertia.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2017

  • An Ultra-Compact and Reconfigurable X-band GaN-based Control MMIC for 5G Phased Array Transceivers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zhuge, Liang
    Abstract:
    This thesis proposes an ultra-compact and reconfigurable X-band control MMIC, consisting of a SPDT switch, a 5-bit digital phase shifter and a 5-bit digital attenuator, for 5G phased array transceivers based on the 0.15-um GaN HEMT process. To ensure this work is fabrication-driven design, characterization of the fabricated GaN HEMTs, in which it shows the agreements between the design kit model and measurement results, is illustrated first. The SPDT switch has achieved an insertion loss of 0.65 dB and an isolation of 24.8 dB over 8-12 GHz with a IIP3 of 41 dBm. The 5-bit digital phase shifter has achieved an RMS phase and amplitude error of 9.9o and 6.5 dB. The 5-bit digital attenuator has achieved an RMS amplitude and phase error of 0.7 dB and 6o. Layout dimensions indicate the proposed control MMIC occupies an area size of 2 mm × 4 mm including RF and DC pads.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Influences of male and female phenotypes on male mate-choice copying in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pusiak, Ryan
    Abstract:
    Mate-choice copying in males is a form of social learning whereby an observer male modifies his inherent mating preference after observing a demonstrator male sexually interact with a female he did not initially prefer, and copies the mate preference of the demonstrator male. Little is known about such copying behaviour in males and how the phenotypes of males and(or) females interact to influence the likelihood of mate-choice copying and the strength of the copying response. Using the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata), I investigated whether the relative sexual attractiveness of males influences the likelihood of mate-choice copying in males, and found that the highest rates of copying occurred when the demonstrator male was less sexually attractive than the observer male. Second, I tested whether the relative difference in the body size of paired females influenced the likelihood of male mate-choice copying, and did not find unequivocal evidence for such an effect.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Regulation of urea cycle related enzymes in response to freezing in the wood frog, Rana sylvatica

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Green, Stuart
    Abstract:
    The North American wood frog, Rana sylvatica, is one of the few vertebrate species that is capable of surviving freezing. Prevention of intracellular ice formation and maintenance of osmotic balance is facilitated by the production of large concentrations of urea during freezing in the liver. The regulatory roles of three enzymes critical to production of urea; glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I (CPS1), and ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), were investigated in the liver in response to freezing. Freeze-exposed GDH had heightened substrate affinity and higher maximal activity than the control. Freeze-exposed GDH had decreased acetylation and ADP-ribosylation. CPS1 from frozen frogs was demonstrated to have a higher affinity for ammonia and decreased lysine glutarylation relative to the control. Freeze-exposed OTC demonstrated improved affinity for ornithine and increased serine phosphorylation relative. Taken together, the results suggest that urea production is sustained in the liver of the wood frog during freezing.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Assessment of the Dynamic Properties of Soils from Triaxial Tests

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Shanmugarajah, Thavakumaran
    Abstract:
    A detailed laboratory testing programme was conducted on undisturbed sensitive Leda clay samples and on uniform sands under triaxial loading mode. Monotonic and cyclic behavior of sensitive Leda clay are studied by performing large strain tests at various consolidation conditions. Small strain stress controlled quasi-cyclic tests were conducted on clay and sand to establish site-specific modulus reduction and damping ratio curves at small strain amplitudes. The shear strength and cyclic resistance of Leda clay under triaxial testing mode is noted to be significantly higher than the previously reported values under simple shear loading conditions. Further consolidation stress and OCR influence the monotonic shear strength of clay. Site specific modulus reduction and damping ratio curves are proposed for Leda clay, Fraser River sand and Ottawa sand. The proposed dynamic curves indicate that the behavior of sensitive clays does not follow any particular curve proposed in the literature for non-sensitive clays.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2017

  • Classification and Feature Selection in Sparse High-Dimensional Models

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Thompson, Lee
    Abstract:
    This work deals with binary classification in a sparse high-dimensional model. Essen tially, we have two predetermined subclasses of the normally distributed population and we want to assign a new observation to one of the two subclasses. In this thesis, we look at a classification problem in which the sample size is less than the dimension of the data. The goal is to find good methods for classification that can minimize our chances of misclassification under these circumstances. A typical high-dimensional problem, like the one studied in this thesis, has a large number of unknown parameters and not enough data to make reliable inferences about these parameters. The classical statistical methods were not designed to cope with high-dimensional problems. Therefore, when studying the classification problem of our interest, we have proposed original statistical ideas and tools based on the notion of ‘sparsity’.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Probability and Statistics
    Date Created:
    2017