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  • “Lagging Behind” : An Examination of Why Women Continue to be So Underrepresented in Canadian Federal Politics

    Resource Type:
    Research Paper
    Creator:
    Pettie, Jasmin
    Abstract:
    The purpose of this study was to explore the question of why women are still so underrepresented in Canadian federal politics and specifically within the Canadian House of Commons despite advances in representation in many other fields. To answer this question a study was conducted using qualitative data obtained from interviews with 17 female Members of the 42nd Parliament of Canada between October 2018 to April 2019. Data collected through these interviews was analyzed qualitatively using a combination of content and discourse analysis to summarize, categorize, and investigate the verbal, written, and behavioural data that was obtained. Findings from this study mostly confirm the findings of previous research with a few key exceptions. New findings from this study include that a more nuanced relationship exists between female MP’s and the media than previously thought; that most of the women who run for office at the federal level have very little or no knowledge of the nomination, candidate, and electoral process before they start; and that a toxic work place culture exists within the House of Commons and this negatively impacts the experience that female MP’s have and is one of the reasons women are more likely to have shorter political terms and leave politics after shorter amounts of time when compared to their male counterparts.
    Date Created:
    2019-10-16

  • Competitive Securitization in Civil-Military Relations: Internal Threats and Civil-Military Power Dynamics in Turkey, 1980-2016

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Aubrey, Scott Bryce
    Abstract:
    Civil-military relations (CMR) theory often holds that internal threat reduces civil control. However, this is not always the case: Turkey, which faced constant internal threats between 1980 and 2016, saw several periods of increasing civil control, particularly under President Özal (1989-1993) and the AKP after 2002. This study proposes that 'competitive securitization' between civil and military authorities explains these disparities in civil-military outcomes. In this framework, internal threat itself does not decreases civil control. Rather, civilian and military agents each 'securitize' internal threats, legitimizing measures that shift the civil-military balance-of-power in their favour. Where military securitization is more successful, civil control decreases, and vice-versa for civilians. This study applies this framework to eight key periods in Turkish CMR between 1980 and 2016. It finds that, with the exception of the early 2000s when EU accession dominated CMR dynamics, 'competitive securitization' provides a strong explanation for changes in Turkey's civil-military balance-of-power.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    International Affairs
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Elucidating the Role of LRRK2 Kinase Activity in the Innate Immune System

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Lunn, Michaela Olivia
    Abstract:
    Mutations in LRRK2 are linked to three distinct diseases: Parkinson's disease (PD), Crohn's disease, and leprosy. The main pathogenic variant of LRRK2 associated with PD is the p.G2019S mutant, which causes increased kinase activity. Recently, a role for LRRK2 has been implicated in the immune system; however, the exact contribution of the kinase activity in this function remains unknown. We have used mice with a Lrrk2 kinase-dead mutation and three distinct infection paradigms to investigate this role. We demonstrated that in the context of two systemic infection models, Lrrk2 kinase is not required for the host's immune response to control virulent pathogens and may in fact be protective in certain paradigms. Additionally, we have shown that Lrrk2 seems to function predominantly in the periphery rather than the brain, and that the p.G2019S mutation confers a gain-of-function. Taken together, these data will provide important insights into LRRK2 biology and PD pathogenesis.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Can Decision-Making be Improved by Allowing Eyewitnesses to Opt-Out?: Examining the Utility of a ‘Not Sure’ Option With Showups

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jalava, Shaela Tulick
    Abstract:
    I examined the impact of an explicit opt-out option on eyewitness identification performance. I predicted that an opt-out option would decrease innocent-suspect identifications more than culprit identifications, and that this effect would be more pronounced when viewing conditions were worse. I randomly assigned participants (N = 2003) to watch either a clear or degraded simulated-crime video. After a brief filler task, participants viewed either a culprit-present or culprit-absent showup and responded either "Yes" or "No". Half of the participants were randomly assigned to have an additional option to respond, "Not Sure". Contrary to my prediction, the not-sure option decreased both culprit (44% to 36%) and innocent-suspect (19% to 14%) identifications; this effect was unaffected by viewing condition quality. Despite empirical evidence and theoretical rationale indicating an opt-out option would improve the culprit and innocent-suspect identification tradeoff, the present results suggest otherwise.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Characterization of Receptor Kinases and Downstream Signalling Components Involved in Fusarium Head Blight Resistance

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Manes, Nimrat Kaur
    Abstract:
    Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is a devastating disease that affects wheat, barley and other small grain crops. Despite huge economic losses, current measures have not yielded desirable resistance to FHB. Resistance to F. graminearum is quantitative and thus identification of putative transmembrane receptors and signalling components involved in plant immunity will help combat this disease. A reverse genetic screen using 249 T-DNA Arabidopsis mutant plants identified two putative leucine-rich transmembrane localized receptors, RLK7 and APEX and a downstream signalling component RbohF as contributors to FHB resistance. The expression analysis suggested that RLK7 and APEX activated distinct hormone signalling pathways, ethylene and salicylic acid, to mediate the resistance. Our analyses indicated that as an intracellular signalling component, RbohF integrates signals from these hormone signalling pathways to regulate stomatal pore closures, a potential entry point for the pathogen. Overall, our findings identified key genes involved in mediating quantitative resistance to F. graminearum.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Thread Homeostasis - Real-Time Anomalous Behavior Detection Using Short Sequences of Messages for Safety-Critical Software

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Al Sharnouby, Mohamed Gamal
    Abstract:
    Safety-critical systems must always have predictable and reliable behavior, otherwise systems fail and lives are put at risk. Even with the most rigorous testing it is impossible to test systems using all possible inputs. Anomaly detection has been proposed as a technique for improving the fault tolerance of safety-critical systems. Past work, however, has been largely limited to behavioral parameter thresholds that miss many kinds of system deviations. Here we propose a novel approach to anomaly detection in fault-tolerant safety critical systems using patterns of messages between threads. This approach is based on techniques originally developed for detecting security violations on systems with UNIX-like system call APIs; here we show that they can be adapted to the constraints of safety critical microkernel-based hard real-time systems. We present the design, implementation, and initial evaluation of tH (thread Homeostasis) implemented on a QNX-based self-driving car platform.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Deportability, Labour and Health in Canada’s Late Capitalism

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Rivas Sanchez, Hector Eloy
    Abstract:
    This dissertation explores the political economy of the physical and mental illnesses that the migrant workers experience while living and working under conditions of illegality in Canada's late capitalism. The dissertation is divided into three parts. The first part locates four social determinants of health underpinning the structural vulnerability to which the Latin American undocumented workers are subjected in this particular context. The second part describes the mental and physical health illnesses that the undocumented workers develop while living and working in Canada without authorization, according to the type of industry they work in (1.—Multinational Corporations, 2.—Medium-size local industries and 3.—Underground workers' cooperatives) and to the type of work they do. The empirical evidence illustrates that the undocumented immigrants who work for medium-size local enterprises, those who have been affected by deportability and deportation, as well as those who lost their legal status after being engaged in refugee claimant applications, are more likely to develop the most dramatic forms of physical and mental health diseases, all linked to what is called here "short- term historical trauma." In contrast, undocumented workers who work for underground workers' cooperatives are more likely to report better physical and mental health outcomes. Cooperative labour, free time and social solidarity make this possible. Overall, this thesis indicates that --as explored in part three-- under the social conditions organized by late capitalism, social solidarity and engagement in non-waged cooperative labour constitute social mechanisms by which undocumented migrants can access to forms of refuge, care, solidarity and social recognition that partially emancipate them from illnesses, suffering and social death. This thesis is based on an ethnographic work that I carried out over 24 months in Montreal. During that period of time, I worked side by side with Latin American undocumented workers in slaughterhouses and meatpacking factories, construction and home renovation companies, employment agencies, and as industrial cleaner for multinational corporations, spaces where I carried out direct empirical observation in the points of production and conducted 47 in-depth interviews on illegality, labor and health. I also conducted ethnographic work in hospitals and deportation centers.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Performance Improvements of In-Network Caching in ICN-Based Networks

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zhang, Zhe
    Abstract:
    The continuous development of networking technologies and smart devices has led Internet traffic, especially for the multimedia content traffic, to increase drastically both in wired and wireless networks. Similarly, the fast developing of wireless networks, such as 5G, has led the Internet of things (IoT) to be growing at an unprecedented pace. However, the traditional host-centric IP Internet is based on host-to-host communications which is not suitable for satisfying the requirements of content delivery. Hence, information-centric networking (ICN), one of the emerging next-generation Internet paradigms, is proposed to overcome these challenges. With the ubiquitous in-network caching, ICN can facilitate content delivery and reduce network delay. Both 5G and IoT can use the concept of ICN to constitute ICN-5G and ICN-IoT networks respectively. However, the requirements of in-network caching may vary for different networks. This thesis focuses on designing in-network caching approaches for different networks, including pure ICN networks, ICN-5G networks and ICN-IoT networks, from a theoretical perspective and a practical perspective. Both reactive and proactive caching approaches are discussed in this thesis. Moreover, by leveraging the concepts of software-defined networking (SDN) and machine learning (ML), the efficiency of in-network caching can be significantly improved.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2019

  • The State and Islam in Soviet Central Asia

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Davletov, Behruz
    Abstract:
    This study explores the relationship between Islam and the Soviet state from World War II to the 1980s. The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan SADUM, a centralized Islamic institution in Central Asia, played a key role in this relationship. SADUM represented an attempt to harmonize the contradictory worldviews of Islam and socialism and promote a new vision of Islam to the domestic and international Orient. The Soviet state's interaction with Islam and its institutional basis follow the trend of modernizing Muslim states in the Middle East. Secular states like Turkey and Egypt had been experimenting with modern institutions similar to SADUM to promote state-controlled Islam. SADUM's exchanges with these counterpart institutions from Middle Eastern countries and its domestic role in Central Asia as a religious authority highlight the Islamic image of the Soviet Union.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
    Date Created:
    2019

  • Sensory Substitution: Situational Awareness and Resilience using Available Sensors

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Russell, Luke
    Abstract:
    This thesis proposes 1) the concept of sensory substitution to provide data extraction from multiple sensors, 2) data analytics approaches in scenarios, and 3) response vectors where rapidly deployable fixed and mobile sensors (such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAVs] as a flying sensor platform) and emerging human-in-the-loop sensing are used. A "resilience feedback loop" is used throughout to improve each of these approaches. This data can provide actionable intelligence for public safety and critical infrastructure systems. This thesis presents an algorithm called sensory substitution and resilience feedback, which improves situational awareness by solving two key design challenges - limitations on deployment of new infrastructure (sensors), and limited response vectors - using sensors in-place as a source of new information. In Internet of Things (IoT) environments, numerous sensors may be available - although required sensors may not. Sensory substitution can be a solution. To make a system resilient, any smart environment or system should provide redundancies. Sometimes adding hardware/sensors is not possible, so software must simulate other sensors, creating a multi-sensory approach, with a single sensor type. A commonly found measurement system for an application is to use a sensor designed to measure quantity X. In many real-world applications, modification constraints may limit the ability to deploy new hardware. In many cases, a sensor for X is present, though the measurement need is quantity Y. How can a sensor for X act as a substitute for Sensor Y to provide some of the missing information? An agile IoT approach can be a solution. In an effort for additional improvement for increasingly deeper situational awareness, a system called sensory substitution is developed for multiple sensing systems and generalized as part of an Agile IoT approach. However, an Agile IoT system can present privacy and security concerns. With such ubiquitous sensing, seemingly innocuous data could actually "leak" information. Since additional data can be collected with sensors already in-situ, relevant privacy and security implications are discussed.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2019