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- Resource Type:
- Report
- Creator:
- Racioppo, Michael, Buss, Doris, George, Sarah, Kumah, Cynthia, Ekpedeme, Edem, Ibrahim, Aisha, Rutherford, Blair A, and Kinyanjui, Sarah
- Date Created:
- 2021-09-30
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- Resource Type:
- Report
- Creator:
- Winseck, Dwayne
- Date Created:
- 2021-11-23
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- Resource Type:
- Report
- Creator:
- Winseck, Dwayne
- Description:
- This report was originally published on December 7, 2021. We re-released in on December 17, 2021 after cleaning up the text from an editorial point of view. This resulted in some stylistic changes but nothing substantive.
- Date Created:
- 2021-12-07
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- Resource Type:
- Other
- Creator:
- Beale, Mike
- Description:
- More about the Regulatory Governance Initiative (RGI): https://carleton.ca/rgi
- Abstract:
- In a well-known Sherlock Holmes story, Holmes solved a murder mystery by pointing to the [“curious incident of the dog in the night-time”]( https://brieflywriting.com/2012/07/25/the-dog-that-didnt-bark-what-we-can-learn-from-sir-arthur-conan-doyle-about-using-the-absence-of-expected-facts/). “The dog did nothing in the night-time”, countered the Scotland Yard detective on the case. “That was the curious incident” replied Holmes. [Health Canada]( https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/2021-health-effects-indoor-air-pollution.html) estimates that air pollution accounts for 15,300 premature deaths annually in Canada. All the key air pollutants are found on Canada’s [list of toxic substances]( https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/canadian-environmental-protection-act-registry/substances-list/toxic.html), giving Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) full authority to regulate emissions. And yet there are only a handful of federal regulations addressing air pollution from industrial/stationary sources. This case study addresses the question – why doesn’t the dog bark?
- Date Created:
- 2021-01-01
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Del Gaudio, Chiara
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Severo de Borba, Gustavo
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Laudisa, Gabriel
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Hall, Isabella
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Evans, Heidi
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Linton, Jordan
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Soo Lee, June
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Hallgrimsson, Kaj
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Barrett, Katherine
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Schwellnus, Meg
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Watt, Patrick
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Pratijit, Prakriti
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Dongol, Aakrist
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Article
- Creator:
- Allahmoradi, Sarah
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Nakashima, Sophie
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Tzolov, Stephan
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Lee, Sunghyun
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Sutherland, Alura
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Riachi, Yasmine
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Vasquez Valiente, Andres
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Saidi, Bashir
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Goncalves, Callum
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Caetano-Macdonell, Catherine
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Pong, Denise
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Part of Book
- Creator:
- Nebo, Chimzuruoke
- Date Created:
- 2021-02-22
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- Resource Type:
- Book
- Creator:
- Rygiel, Kim, Ilcan, Suzan, and Baban, Feyzi
- Description:
- Free access to this e-book is available to readers, scholars, and students located in the Global South whose institutions lack the resources to purchase access to these books as well as to those in other regions who are part of non-profit or community organizations concerned with displacement and who lack alternate forms of access to the book or the resources needed to purchase these publications. Please see full access conditions below.
- Abstract:
- Turkey now hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world, more than 3.6 million of the 12.7 million displaced by the Syrian Civil War. Many of them are subject to an unpredictable temporary protection, forcing them to live under vulnerable and insecure conditions. The Precarious Lives of Syrians examines the three dimensions of the architecture of precarity: Syrian migrants' legal status, the spaces in which they live and work, and their movements within and outside Turkey. The difficulties they face include restricted access to education and healthcare, struggles to secure employment, language barriers, identity-based discrimination, and unlawful deportations. Feyzi Baban, Suzan Ilcan, and Kim Rygiel show that Syrians confront their precarious conditions by engaging in cultural production and community-building activities, and by undertaking perilous journeys to Europe, allowing them to claim spaces and citizenship while asserting their rights to belong, to stay, and to escape. The authors draw on migration policies, legal and scholarly materials, and five years of extensive field research with local, national, and international humanitarian organizations, and with Syrians from all walks of life. The Precarious Lives of Syrians offers a thoughtful and compelling analysis of migration precarity in our contemporary context.
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Book
- Creator:
- Crawford, Neil James Wilson
- Description:
- Free access to this e-book is available to readers, scholars, and students located in the Global South whose institutions lack the resources to purchase access to these books as well as to those in other regions who are part of non-profit or community organizations concerned with displacement and who lack alternate forms of access to the book or the resources needed to purchase these publications. Please see full access conditions below.
- Abstract:
- Displacement in the twenty-first century is urbanized. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the world’s largest humanitarian organization and the main body charged with assisting displaced people globally, estimates that over 60 per cent of refugees now live in urban areas, a proportion that only increases in the case of internally displaced people and asylum seekers. Though cities and local authorities have become essential participants in the protection of refugees, only three decades ago they were considered to sit firmly beyond UNHCR’s remit, with urban refugees typically characterized as aberrations. In The Urbanization of Forced Displacement Neil James Wilson Crawford examines the organization’s response to the growing number of refugees migrating to urban areas. Introducing a broader study of policy-making in international organizations, Crawford addresses how and why UNHCR changed its policy and practice in response to shifting trends in displacement. Citing over 400 primary UN documents, Crawford provides an in-depth study of the internal and external pressures faced by UNHCR - pressures from above, below, and within - that explain why it has radically transformed its position from the 1990s onward. UNHCR and global refugee policies have come to play an increasingly important role in the governance of global displacement. The Urbanization of Forced Displacement sheds new light on how the organization works and how it conceives its role in global politics today.
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Book
- Creator:
- Cameron, Geoffrey
- Description:
- Free access to this e-book is available to readers, scholars, and students located in the Global South whose institutions lack the resources to purchase access to these books as well as to those in other regions who are part of non-profit or community organizations concerned with displacement and who lack alternate forms of access to the book or the resources needed to purchase these publications. Please see full access conditions below.
- Abstract:
- The United States and Canada have historically accepted approximately three-quarters of resettled refugees, leading the world in this key aspect of global refugee protection. Between 1945 and 1980, both countries transformed their previous policies of refugee deterrence into expansive resettlement programs. Explanations for this shift have typically focused on Cold War foreign policy, but there was a domestic force that propelled the rise of resettlement: religious groups. In Send Them Here Geoffrey Cameron explains the genesis and development of refugee resettlement policy in North America through the lens of the essential role played by faith-based organizations. Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish groups led advocacy efforts for refugees after the Second World War, and they cooperated with each other and their respective governments to implement the first formal resettlement programs. Those policy frameworks laid the foundation for diverging policy trajectories in each country, leading ultimately to private sponsorship in Canada and the voluntary agency program in the United States. Religious groups remain embedded in the world’s most successful refugee resettlement programs. Send Them Here draws on a rich archival record and extensive comparative research to contribute new insights to the history of refugee policy, human rights, and the role of religion in modern policymaking and global humanitarian efforts.
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Article
- Creator:
- Durocher, Myriam
- Description:
- This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Fat Studies on 2021-10-08, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/21604851.2021.1980281
- Abstract:
- In this article, I analyze various discourses held by governmental and health authorities, nutrition experts, and civil society organizations that advocate for the importance of consuming and having access to “healthy” food in order to prevent health-related risks associated with diet, such as the development of chronic diseases or conditions like “obesity.” While “anti-obesity” discourses and practices aiming to “help” the population in the fight against “obesity” connect the issue to social or even food justice considerations, I discuss how the discourse of “healthy” food plays a key role both in problematizing the fat body and in the solutions brought forward to “fix it” as well as the broader “obesity” epidemic. I argue that these two roles are closely linked together – because “healthy” food is positioned as a solution to “obesity”, it reinforces the idea that fatness can be “acted on” or solved, and thus that it should be. I mobilize works emerging in critical food and fat studies to address how these discourses and practices contribute to further marginalizing those whose bodies do not match dominant ideas of health while creating harmful and discriminatory processes that have material and health-related consequences. I contend that scholars should be attentive to the broad effectivities of ”healthy” food as arising from “anti-obesity”, or pro-health, discourses and practices as they contribute to further reproducing social injustices and can potentially materialize in damaging ways in individuals’ bodies and health.
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Petite, M. Wesley
- Abstract:
- Participatory budgeting and other participatory forms of public engagement have reached a high point of popularity as a best practice of democratic government. This gives some cause for celebration for those seeking to democratize democracy. However, recent scholarship has revealed a perplexing paradox in how new opportunities for resident involvement remain countered by pre-existing approaches to decision-making guided by abstract notions of public interest. This dissertation investigates this paradox by focusing on one of the newest cases of participatory budgeting in North America emerging from one of North America's biggest cities. As an investigation of the City of Toronto's participatory budgeting pilot project, running from 2015 to 2017, this dissertation demonstrates that this paradox is indeed taking place in Toronto. Using a Gramscian analysis of power with a particular focus on the construction of knowledge, this dissertation provides a plausible narrative of how participatory ideals are mobilized alongside prevailing forms of authority to provide new participatory opportunities for involvement without a significant transition of power.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Political Science
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Marrs, Jamie Louise
- Abstract:
- Stone buildings are important representations of the history of the country and should be preserved for future generations. One of the major concerns with these structures is the out-of-plane strength of the walls under earthquake loads. Many of these buildings, notably churches, include buttresses which were originally included to improve the out-of-plane strength of the walls. Current Codes and Standards in Canada do not provide guidance for engineers to assess the out-of-plane strength of walls with buttresses. An Applied Element Method(AEM) software was then used to recreate existing experimental data on the out-of-plane and in plane strength of stone masonry walls, and the model was modified to analyze the behaviour of buttresses. The results from the modelling programme are related back to historic and modern analysis methods obtained from a thorough literature review.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Cohen, Jessica
- Abstract:
- Adopting a self-determination theory perspective, the present study sought to investigate how two forms of perfectionism at work, personal standards and self-critical perfectionism, differentially impact goal pursuit, motivation, and various work-related outcomes among employees. One hundred and eighty-one working adults participated, and two time points were used in our analyses. Results show that perfectionism does not predict goal progress for work-related goals. Personal standards perfectionism was associated with increased subjective well-being, whereas self-critical perfectionism was related to increased burnout and workaholism, and decreased subjective well-being over time. Results show that these relationships are not reciprocal in nature, thus perfectionism can be viewed as an antecedent to these work outcomes. Moreover, work motivation was shown to mediate the relationship between both forms of perfectionism and job satisfaction, and the relationship between self-critical perfectionism and subjective well-being. Implications of our findings are discussed in the context of organizations and work adjustment programs.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Kurian, Jinu Achamma
- Abstract:
- Automating digital pathology processing to identify ganglia in seromuscular biopsies from patients with Hirschsprung's disease may be able to provide objective measures and minimize evaluation time for expert pathologists. This adjunctive tool has the potential to improve surgical success for treatment. With thirty patient images, we proposed and evaluated an image processing pipeline that identifies colon tissue structures containing myenteric ganglia. This is an undertaking that is the first of its kind. From whole slide images of calretinin-stained colon sections, we initially segmented the muscularis propria using a convolutional neural network resulting in a mean inclusion of myenteric plexus of 95.96%. Then, colour thresholding identified myenteric plexus regions with a mean inclusion of ganglia of 99.2%. Finally, within these ideal search spaces, we segmented and classified ganglia candidates to achieve an overall mean precision and recall of 64.8% and 80.2%, respectively. Preliminary results encourage further development of these algorithms.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Biomedical
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Kirkland, Ella
- Abstract:
- Noble metal nanocrystals are known for their unique optical and electronic properties which stem from their ability to support localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). In the past twenty years there has been an increase in the interest in the field of thermoplasmonics which focuses on harnessing the LSPR properties of nanoparticles for localized heating applications. The goal of this work was to investigate the selective thermoplasmonic embedment of silver nanocubes (AgNCs) and silver nanocube clusters (AgClusters) in supported monolayers. Wavelengths of 458 nm and 568 nm were chosen to selectively thermoplasmonically excite and embed individual AgNCs and AgClusters respectively. Based on the embedment patterns achieved with the respective wavelengths, it was determined that both types of selective embedment were attained. In addition to being the first reported instance of spatially resolved thermoplasmonics in supported nanoparticle monolayers, these selective embedment techniques show promise for future applications in nanopatterning.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Chemistry
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Augustine, Patrick
- Abstract:
- Traditionally, the Míkmaq enjoyed an interconnected relationship with the land, harvesting what they needed from the earth and the ocean, guided by the concept of Netukulimk, the practice of sustainability. Upon the arrival of European settlers, new trade practices were introduced, and what was once plentiful was quickly depleted. Although the original inhabitants were assured that their lands would be protected by agreements and treaties, these assurances proved to be false, and the traditional relationship with the land was threatened, as the Míkmaq—presaging the fate of most Indigenous Peoples in Canada—were dispossessed of their historical lands and forced to live on reserves; many of them far away from the environments to which they had had biological and spiritual ties. Land is central to our understanding of current Indigenous health issues; centering around how the Míkmaq traditionally employed land and resources, what changes in that relationship were brought about by colonization, and how their removal to reserves influenced their relationship vis-à-vis their environment. In addressing the ways that land policies, post-first contact, were developed and implemented over time, it is possible and necessary to juxtapose that history with the story of the forced mobilization of the Míkmaq, and examine the effects that the dispossession of land had upon their livelihood and economic activity. Informed by McGibbon's paradigm of the cycles of oppression, Boyer's study of the determinants of health is used as a lens to undertake an historical analysis of the habitation patterns of the Míkmaq who formerly resided in Sikniktuk (currently concentrated in Elsipogtog, once known as Big Cove Reserve and Richibucto Reserve #15). This critical ethnography argues that while dispossession from traditional lands and the subsequent decline of the Míkmaq population constitute a profoundly negative social determinant of health, the Elsipogtog community has responded to these conditions with resilience and perseverance.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Canadian Studies
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Izad Shenas, Seyed Abdolmotalleb
- Abstract:
- Nonignorable missingness in the outcome variable complicates the longitudinal data analysis, as it is necessary to incorporate the missing data model into the observed data likelihood function. We investigate two approximate likelihood methods, bivariate pseudo-likelihood (BPL) of Sinha et al. (2011) and independent pseudo-likelihood (IPL) of Troxel et al. (1998), along with the exact likelihood, for analyzing longitudinal data with nonignorable and nonmonotone missing responses. Our numerical study shows that the BPL is more efficient than the IPL method in terms of both smaller biases and MSEs, especially when the within-subject correlation is high. Investigating the standard errors of estimators in an application with real world data, we also get similar findings. Overall, similarly to Sinha et al. (2011), our study confirms better performance of the BPL method over the IPL method when the number of longitudinal outcomes from a given subject is small.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Statistics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Kallenbach, Maximilian Georg
- Abstract:
- Financial inclusion is a relatively new phenomenon. Today, more than sixty countries around the world have a financial inclusion strategy, and still, 1.7 billion people around the world remain unbanked. Various influences impact the degree of financial inclusion in a country, i.e. education. Although financial inclusion is most commonly found in developing countries, scholars have found that a lack of education is an explanation for financial exclusion in developed countries. The paper tries to answer the question; does more educational spending lead to more financial inclusion? Although there is evidence from different countries that education remains an important issue in the whole financial inclusion debate, this paper demonstrates that there is no direct relationship between governmental expenditures on education and financial inclusion. Still, the four-country analysis investigates various issues such as the role of government and concludes that financial inclusion does not always mean financial inclusion.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Political Science
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Okunrounmu, Oluwamuyiwa Abiodun
- Abstract:
- This study aimed to investigate the fire behaviour of concealed connections by considering the effects of parameters such as the number of bolts, bolt pattern and load ratios. The connections used for this study were fire-protected glulam beam-to-column reinforced concealed connections loaded perpendicular-to-grain in flexure bending. Eight (8) full-scale fire tests were conducted involving four different connection configurations. The load ratios applied during fire testing were 60%, 100% and 130% of the ultimate design load capacity of the weakest unreinforced connection configuration. The test results showed that the failure times of all the tested beam-to-column concealed connections were more than 50 minutes. Specimens with bolt pattern P1 performed better than bolt pattern P2. The results showed that increasing the number of bolts improved the failure time. Increasing the load ratio decreased the failure time of the connections. The brittle failure modes encountered in unreinforced concealed connections was prevented using STS.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Said, Said Ali
- Abstract:
- This paper first provides an overview of a series of experimental studies carried out at Carleton University over the past two decades on reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls strengthened or repaired with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets. These studies have led to several unique contributions including the development of a novel tube anchor system, which improves the load transfer mechanism between the CFRP and RC supporting structural elements. The paper then presents a new finite element modelling technique to analyze CFRP strengthened RC shear walls with the newly developed tube anchor system. Two different modelling approaches are proposed to consider the effects of the tube anchor system. Additionally, a number of other important CFRP- and RC-related mechanisms including CFRP debonding effects, tension stiffening, compression softening, and strength and stiffness degradation under cyclic loads are also considered in the model. The numerical models were able to replicate accurately the measured results.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Ruhul Fatin, Md Abduhu
- Abstract:
- The Phase of the guided light is a fundamental and important property to control and operate a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). Silicon photonic PICs provide potential for low-cost, scalable solutions to a myriad of applications such as optical logic, optical communications and routing. This thesis presents a theoretical and experimental demonstration of controlling an on-chip optical phased array (OPA) - a photonic device for optical beamforming and beam steering. This thesis also presents a work on optical logic architectures where two different phase control schemes are applied on the same device. Finally, optical routing architectures are proposed that has ultracompact photonic switches as the building block. All these devices fall under the umbrella of programmable PICs and this thesis is focused on the design and control of programmable PICS for various applications.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Farahani, Hesam
- Abstract:
- This thesis examined orthographic learning in university students and asked: (a) To what extent do university students demonstrate orthographic learning of novel words encountered through text? (b) What are the sources of individual differences in university student's orthographic learning? The participants had an average accuracy of 63% and 74% for the orthographic form on day one of testing and three days later, respectively. Logistic regression revealed that students who were better spellers had higher accuracy on the orthographic learning task and suggested that phonological STM might also be related to delayed retention of orthographic forms. Taken together, these results illustrate that university students learn the orthographic form of words encountered through texts. These results also help clarify some of the skills that university students might draw on to support their orthographic learning through text, namely existing orthographic knowledge and skill with remembering the phonological form of newly heard words.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Fok, Tsz Chun Sampson
- Abstract:
- Polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs) have been used in many commercial and industrial applications due to their grease and water repellency, and surfactant properties. However, these compounds yield transformation products such as fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) and perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) that are environmentally persistent, bioaccumulative, and potentially toxic. Given that PAPs metabolize to bioactive products, it is important to understand the sites and kinetics of this metabolism. This research compares the biotransformation of a representative PAP, the 8:2 monosubstituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphate (8:2 monoPAP) in typical host biotransformation sites, the liver and intestine, to the mammalian microbiome. The 8:2 monoPAP was incubated in human and rat (male Sprague-Dawley) liver and intestine S9 fractions, and its immediate hydrolysis products, 8:2 fluorotelomer alcohol (8:2 FTOH) was monitored by GC-MS. Human and rat fecal samples were also collected, used as a surrogate for the gastrointestinal microbiome. Enzyme hydrolysis kinetics were measured and compared. Results show that the rat and human gut phosphatases have 2-fold and 1.3-fold more affinity for 8:2 monoPAP transformation, respectively (KM(rat)= (1.2 ± 0.3) ×103nM; KM(human)= 34(1.6 ± 0.4) ×103 nM) compared to liver (KM(rat)= (4.0 ± 1.5) ×103nM; KM(human)= (4.9 ± 3.3) ×103 nM). Results also show the microbiome contributes to 8:2 monoPAP hydrolysis. While the liver and intestine are the primary sites for metabolism, the microbiome playsa role and should not be overlooked. This may impact the relative risk of PAP exposure, given that levels of bioactive products, including PFCAs, may fluctuate depending on environmental and genetic factors leading to microbial diversity across individuals.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Chemistry
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Faryaar, Hassan
- Abstract:
- This thesis includes three essays on macroeconomics. In the first essay, I study the impacts of the rising market power. The market power, which is measured by markups, has risen in the last 35 years of the U.S. corporate sector. Over the same time, the labour and capital shares of income and the real rate of return on capital have declined, while the wealth-output ratio has increased. I argue that in the presence of income inequality, the rise of market power can be one of the main drivers of these trends. To study the trends jointly, I combine the incomplete market model of Aiyagari (1994) with the imperfect competition model of Dixit and Stiglitz (1997). The results suggest that the increasing profit of the corporate sector and its unequal distribution among households, who have a heterogeneous marginal propensity to consume, provide a unified explanation for the above stylized facts of the U.S. economy. In the second essay, I examine the evolution of markups in the Canadian economy. The literature on firm-level markup estimation suffers from two problems: The lack of a reliable measure of variable input and the sample selection bias due to using only publicly-traded firms. To address these issues, I use the T2-Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program (T2-LEAP) database, which has the universe of Canadian firms and the record of wage bill for each firm. The wage bill is more reliable than the commonly used measures of variable inputs, i.e. the cost of goods sold and the operating expenses. The result indicates that the average gross (value-added) output markups increased mildly from 6% (24%) in 2002 to 9% (29%) in 2015. In the third essay, I introduce a new approach to estimate firm-level markups from accounting data. The new approach, which uses economic profit rates and returns to scale of firms, is less sensitive to the choice of the measure of variable inputs. The findings suggest that, in the U.S., the average markups increased by six percentage points, from 7% in 1980 to around 13% in 2018, and the production technology exhibits constant returns to scale.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Economics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Sohrabi, Sanyar
- Abstract:
- Belief in free will (whatever free will may exactly be) seems to influence our attitudes and behaviors, from cognition all the way up to meta-cognition. Several researchers recognized the importance of this area a little more than a decade ago and set up camps within the boundaries of philosophy and psychology to examine belief in free will in the general public. But as could be expected, this area, like every other up-and-coming field of study, has its fair share of problems. This thesis is, first, a critique of the prominent instruments being employed in the field, and second, presents a novel approach that bypasses the many problems that exist within the current literature. Subsequently, after employing our proposed free will item along with several other measures, we were able to demonstrate that different degrees of belief in free will only sometimes influence laypeople's attitudes and behaviors.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Cognitive Science
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Kolesnik, Diana
- Abstract:
- This thesis shows how through studying Emile Zola's The Ladies Paradise (1883), we can develop a stronger understanding of late Victorian political economy. Further, some late Victorians were very hesitant to embrace unbridled sensual capitalism for fear of enticing increased women's right movements. I discuss this through exploring the reception of the novel and writings produced by late Victorian conservative thinker and anti-feminist Lynn Linton. This thesis applies the theory of fetishisation of commodities, value theory, value augmentation and accumulation, as provided by Karl Marx, along with theories of political economy provided by Walter Bagehot, to show how these theories were ultimately limited in their scope and understanding of Victorian political economy. A theoretical approach on sensual capitalism as outlined by the Bryan Nelson and David Howes, combined with twentieth-century consumption theorists, will inform my arguments throughout in order to fill the silences in Bagehot and Marx's theories.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Political Economy
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Morales Vargas, Andrea Lucia
- Abstract:
- Research interest in gender mobility is increasing, emphasizing the need to incorporate women's perspectives and experiences in the planning and design of public transportation. This project aims to understand women's experiences on Guatemala City's Transmetro, the local bus rapid transit (BRT) system, to contribute to safer, more equitable, and inclusive transportation. Using a case study approach and feminist methodologies, this study captures participants' perceptions of safety, everyday coping strategies on transit, and access issues. While Transmetro is considered safe both in actual and perceived terms, participants expressed mobility constraints based on safety perceptions, namely sexual harassment and theft, as contributing to insecurity and fear. Fear and insecurity throughout the whole journey are two of the greatest challenges for women's mobility. I argue that women's mobility should be framed as a rights issue of access to public goods and provide recommendations at different scales to address women's safety.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Geography
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Davidson, Geoffrey Allen
- Abstract:
- This study presents the initiation of Phase II of an international joint collaborative research project that is being carried out by researchers in Japan, China and Canada on the seismic performance of suspended non-structural components in supertall buildings. Research infrastructure was developed in this study for testing and evaluation of seismic performance of non-structural components. In addition to the development of the new research infrastructure, the development of a research program on testing of suspended ceiling systems by using the new research facilities was also included in this research. In this study, previous experimental and numerical analysis research on the seismic performance of suspended ceilings are reviewed. This study also investigates the variation in design codes between the National Building Code of Canada and the International Building Code. Finally, the current seismic testing procedure is evaluated with simulated floor response records.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Hipson, William
- Abstract:
- Whether we are meeting friends or scrolling through social media, we spend most of our time entrenched in social activity. This is not surprising, as people tend to happier when they are with others. But is it possible that spending time alone can also make us feel better in some situations? The goal of this dissertation is to explore how solitude affects the way we experience and regulate emotions in daily life. Through the lens of emotion dynamics, solitude is conceptualized as a context in which emotions are deactivated, such that solitude helps reduce heightened emotional arousal (e.g., stress, excitation). However, the effects of solitude on emotions may be different depending on how one spends their time alone and their dispositions toward solitude. This dissertation research uses a Bayesian approach to explore the situational and individual factors that underlie the emotion dynamics of solitude.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Burr, Benjamin
- Abstract:
- This thesis examines the use of Principal Component Analysis, Robust Principal Component Analysis, and simple autoencoders for dimension reduction on a synthetic cybersecurity dataset. Each is tested as a precur- sor to Independent Component Analysis. Stable independent components are obtained by iterative random- ized starts to FastICA and selecting the centroids of the hierarchically clustered components. A density-based clustering method is then applied to the results with the goal of isolating malicious observations from benign ones using greatest distance between centroids as a heuristic metric of success. The method is then applied to a real-world cybersecurity dataset from an industry partner.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Statistics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Liu, Ming
- Abstract:
- Purpose: To implement patient-specific planning target volume (PTV) margins for liver radiation therapy treatments. Methods and Materials: Treatment log files are analyzed to assess tumour motion-tracking accuracy. A uniform PTV margin is estimated that considers motion-tracking errors and deformations, provided that the impact of uncorrected rotations is minimized. A supervised machine learning algorithm is used to investigate if motion-tracking errors are less than 2 mm, and consequently, the standard PTV margins can be reduced by 2 mm. We employ a warning system that quantifies the probability of a geographic miss if the PTV margin is reduced for every subsequent fraction. A dosimetric analytical tool is proposed to retrospectively assess the dose to a target against different types of delivery errors. The tool is validated by radiochromic film measurements for liver and trigeminal neuralgia treatments. Case studies are conducted to access the suitability of a selected PTV margin based on the geometrical and dosimetric coverage of targets. The range of rotations that can be safely allowed for trigeminal neuralgia treatments is quantified since rotational corrections cannot be applied by the system for this specific disease site. Results: Isotropic 4 mm PTV margins are sufficient to account for tracking errors and deformations for 95% of patients. The accuracy of predicting if motion-tracking errors are less than 2 mm is 0.84 ± 0.06 using 5-fold cross-validation. Using the warning system, 11 out of 64 cases predicted to be treated with 2 mm reduced PTV margins might require replanning, but for each fraction they have more than 96% of target(s) encompassed by the reduced PTV. For experiments with different types of geometrical errors the dose measurements agree well (2%/2 mm level) with the dose distributions estimated using the dosimetric analytical tool. Dose to targets considering delivery errors can be significantly improved if treatments are planned following certain guidelines. For trigeminal neuralgia treatments, target rotations of up to 1° can be safe for some patients. Conclusions: It is feasible to implement patient-specific PTV margins in the clinic, assisted with an early-warning system and dosimetric analytical tool to warn of a potential geographic miss and underdosing of target(s).
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Physics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Corno, Daniela Giuseppina
- Abstract:
- The RNR model is an effective method for reducing recidivism rates (Andrews & Bonta, 2010). While risk and need principles have garnered attention, responsivity factors are not as well understood. This study examined the use of specific responsivity factors - trauma, mental health, and self-efficacy in conjunction with the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR) in predicting recidivism. Archival data were used from the Iowa Department of Corrections database to create a sample of male justice-involved persons (N = 3,703). Linear regressions revealed relationships between responsivity factors and total DRAOR scores and items of interest. Logistic regressions revealed relationships between responsivity factors and recidivism. Only trauma and self-efficacy incrementally predicted recidivism in addition to the DRAOR. The best model for predicting recidivism included DRAOR scores, trauma, and self-efficacy. This study demonstrates the usefulness of these items in case management as well as the importance of considering specific responsivity factors.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Klostermann, Janna Lyn
- Abstract:
- What exactly keeps women 'in' inequitable care relationships, and how do we get 'out'? This dissertation offers a timely response to a pressing societal problem - that of how to understand and organize care. Feminist scholarship and debates focus on the redistribution of care, considering how to shift care responsibilities from women to men or from individuals to the state. My research expands this work by critically reflecting on (shifting) relationships between women and the care economy with a focus on the moral dimensions of care work and on the narrative, intrasubjective work that women do. The research mobilizes sociological theories of care work, gender and moral worth, and uses feminist life history and arts-based, auto-ethnographic methods to contribute to a conceptual reimagining of "care." Taking an interpretive, narrative, feminist approach, I draw on 20 in-depth life history interviews with 12 participants, as well as on my own autoethnographic experiences as a live-in care worker at L'Arche. I analyze how women narrate renegotiating care responsibilities or expectations across our lives and in different paid and unpaid care contexts in Ontario, Canada. Making links to class, gender and conditions in the caring economy, the project contextualizes women's narratives of orienting to projects of care, negotiating moral dilemmas at the limits of care, and stepping back from or renegotiating care responsibilities. The study enriches feminist theories of care by developing a theorized account of the "relational care economy" that makes intrasubjective conditions, and the contradictions that people negotiate, central. I also contribute to a conceptual reimagining of "care" both by raising questions about whether "care as an ethic" should apply at the level of individual women's lives, as well as by calling for a conception of care that makes limits central. Aiming to foster solidarity amongst carers in different roles, I ask tough questions about what we expect of ourselves and others, how we can stop setting women up for such intimate losses, and how our lives can be otherwise.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Sociology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Rivera Gutierrez, Jorge Alejandro
- Abstract:
- Architecture is persistently present in films; most human stories must take place somewhere. Architectural environments serve essential roles in cinematic world-making, conversely making cinema an ideal device to unravel the affective qualities of architecture. This dissertation proposes that film is not only a visual medium, but that in its world-making capacities it is a conveyor of haptic and kinesthetic experiences, which in consequence reveal to us the poetic, emotional, and experiential richness of place. To this end, the dissertation focuses on two key elements to support this argument. The first is, a specific approach to filmmaking: slow-cinema,2 which uses delay and the cinematic long-take as a way of engaging our empathy with the spatial experiences that films can produce. The second element is the haunted house as a location: the dissertation considers this as an essential place for psychosomatic health, where the ghost figure underscores the affective dimension of space. Each of the three chapters in this dissertation draws from phenomenology, film hermeneutics, and atmosphere theory to study portrayals of place through four haunted houses: an urban house through Luis Buñuel's Exterminating Angel (1962); a farmhouse and a palace through Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) and Cemetery of Splendour (2015) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul; and a suburban house through David Lowery's A Ghost Story (2016). As the text progresses, questions of memory, imagination, embodiment, and world-making become the subject matter. I paid particular attention to the processes of reciprocal co-creation between film and world, and between world and self. The dissertation concludes by shedding light on the affective entanglement we form with our houses, and the capacity of cinema to enrich critical architectural discourse on the places we dwell in our everyday lives.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Architecture
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Christison, Brigid Emily
- Abstract:
- Carnivoramorphans and creodonts are two groups of ancestrally carnivorous mammals that both emerged in the Paleocene (66-56 Ma) of North America. During the Eocene (56-33.9 Ma), carnivoramorphans radiated into some of the taxonomic groups we still see today, while creodont diversity declined until the group went extinct in North America during the Oligocene (33.9-23 Ma) and worldwide during the Miocene (23-5.3 Ma). In this thesis, I test the hypothesis that competition with carnivoramorphans may have led to the extinction of the creodonts in North America by examining changes in niche overlap between the two groups from the start to the end of the Eocene. My results do not support the competition hypothesis, instead suggesting that creodonts were hyperspecialized and un-equipped for the dramatically different environments of the late Eocene and early Oligocene.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Biology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Mirzaagha, Jinous
- Abstract:
- Although failures of prospective memory have been linked to aviation accidents, prospective memory has not been integrated into pilot training or assessment. Virtual Reality (VR) offers ecologically robust flight environments for training and assessment of prospective memory, but the effects of VR, as compared to 2D displays, have yet to be studied. VR flight simulation is also an ideal environment for studying the detection of time- or event-based cues, which are key to triggering the prospective memory task. Participants (N=25, non-pilots) completed both time- and event-based prospective memory tasks along an automated route, with the percentage of completed tasks recorded. Participants were trained on the prospective memory cues in either VR or 2D but "flew" in both conditions: VR (head-mounted 3D device), and 2D (flat screen display). Results from repeated measures analysis of variance tests showed that performance was enhanced in VR only for time-based prospective memory tasks.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Sattolo, Thomas A. V.
- Abstract:
- Covert channnels are a class of techniques for hiding the presence of communication between parties. In the context of cybersecurity, covert channels can be used by attackers to evade detection and to exfiltrate sensitive data. In so doing, they create a need for effective detection techniques for the use of covert channels. In this thesis, we present the conception, design and implementation of a system for detecting covert messages stored in the headers of network protocols in real time. We start by identifying statistical tests that can distinguish network traffic containing certain types of covert channels with high accuracy. We then leverage that information to build a system that analyses network traffic by tapping ethernet cables in order to detect the use of covert channels with very low latency.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Wei, Haoyuan
- Abstract:
- In this dissertation, we study linear programming (LP) decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) technique, or ADMM decoding for short. The decoding of LDPC codes is formulated as an LP model and solved efficiently by the ADMM technique. However, compared with traditional belief-propagation decoding, ADMM decoding suffers from higher complexity and worse error correction performance, which prevents the employment of ADMM decoding in reality. To reduce the complexity of ADMM decoding, we first focus on the simplification of the check polytope projection, the most complex operation in ADMM decoding. We propose an iterative check polytope projection algorithm without the sorting operation. The proposed algorithm converges with the increase of iterations. Moreover, for a fixed number of iterations, its average complexity and the worst-case complexity are linear in the input dimension. Another direction we propose to simplify ADMM decoding is to devise a better scheduling scheme than the standard flooding scheme. We start from the node-wise scheduling scheme which only updates the check node messages with the maximum message residual. Then we simplify the calculation of the message residual and propose a reduced-complexity node-wise scheduling scheme. To improve the error correction performance of ADMM decoding, we propose a novel ADMM penalized decoding algorithm whose penalty term is based on check nodes (CN). We investigate the properties of the CN penalty functions and show several examples. We make conclusions on its convergence properties and prove its failure probability is independent of the transmitted codewords for symmetric channels. Monte-Carlo simulation and the instanton analysis show its better error correction performance in the low and high SNR regions. Finally, we propose a post-processing technique to lower the error floor of LDPC codes. The output of the first stage decoder can be revised if the syndrome is found in a look-up table that contains the dominant trapping sets of this code. The most complex part of the technique, the syndrome pattern matching (SPM) operation, is simplified to a one-dimensional binary search operation. Besides, a simplified SPM algorithm is proposed for quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Weber, Stephen
- Abstract:
- The electroweak (EW) production of a Z boson in association with two jets is measured using the full Run-II dataset of the ATLAS experiment. This EW-Zjj process is a fundamental process of the Standard Model (SM), and is sensitive to vector boson fusion (VBF) Z boson production via the WWZ triple gauge vertex. The process is difficult to study, so an advanced methodology is employed to measure the EW-Zjj signal by exploiting topological features. This methodology and the large dataset collected during Run-II have made it possible to measure the cross section of EW-Zjj differentially for the first time. The cross section is measured as a function of four characteristic observables: the invariant mass of the two jet system, the rapidity interval spanned by the two jets, the signed azimuthal angle between the two jets, and the transverse momentum of the Z boson. The observed total fiducial cross section of EW-Zjj is 37.14 +/- 3.47 (stat.) +/- 5.79 (syst.) fb. The techniques developed for this analysis can be applied to the measurement of other electroweak processes such as VBF Higgs boson production. EW-Zjj is also an important background for vector boson scattering processes that are of growing interest for searches of deviations from the SM. The differential cross sections themselves provide two avenues for testing the SM. First, the measurements are sufficiently precise as to distinguish between different state-of-the-art theoretical predictions, knowledge gained here is applicable to measurements of other vector boson processes. Second, the differential cross sections are used to test deviations from the SM attributed to higher order corrections in the WWZ vertex by exploiting the sensitivity of a parity-odd observable with an effective field theory approach.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Physics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Strathearn, Matthew Craig
- Abstract:
- In this thesis I present three chapters that explore various themes in competition with a focus on collusion and spatial competition. Chapter one examines whether the availability of late-stage settlements for defendants in criminal price-fixing suits has a negative impact on the effectiveness of early stage leniency programs in the context of antitrust enforcement. Our main finding is that an appropriately designed settlement program can make collusion more difficult: in equilibrium, the adoption of an optimal settlement program by an antitrust authority (AA) reduces the occurrence of cartels by decreasing the long-run gains from collusion. However, overly generous settlement policies may undermine leniency programs and encourage the formation of more cartels Chapter two explores the relationship between business-cycle fluctuations and collusive behavior. From a theoretical perspective we demonstrate that the degree of antitrust enforcement (external cartel stability) directly influences the boundary that determines whether positive demand shocks are either pro-collusive or anti-collusive. We find that as cartels become increasingly unstable, they have a preference for defecting in the presence of positive demand shocks since there is riskiness associated with continuing to collude under a strong enforcement regime. From an empirical perspective, we find that the observed collusive activity is weakly procyclical, however, much of the variation is explained by enforcement and monitoring policies. Chapter three explores spatial competition in the Canadian banking industry at the 3-digit postal-code level. We study a two-way fixed-effects spatial panel model that disentangles market concentration (i.e., concentration ratios and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI)) from the lesser explored notion of geographic concentration. This distinction is relevant since bank branches tend to operate in spatial clusters that form sub-geographic markets, thus, altering competitive outcomes. We find that the HHI and spatial clustering are both negatively correlated with the relative size of the bank-branch network. In effect, branch proliferation is strong in geographic regions that are more competitive and more uniformly dispersed spatially.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Economics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Gourgem, Hicham
- Abstract:
- Abstract This dissertation explores the theoretical and ideological stakes in contemporary representations of African cultural identities through "Afropolitanism" and "Afropeanism." The two concepts informed by anglophone and francophone African experience respectively—"Afropolitan" and "Afropean"—construct cultural dialogue through an over-reliance on a dualized Western-African relation. The study presents a comparative analysis of francophone and anglophone novels written at the turn of the twenty-first century by Calixthe Beyala, Sami Tchak, Chris Abani, Teju Cole, NoViolet Bulawayo, and Taiye Selasi. I examine these literary works as instantiations of a paradigm of cultural dialogue that privileges Western culture in contemporary redefinitions of African identities. The study also underlines the efforts by "Afropolitan" and "Afropean" writers to depart from atavistic African self-representation of the 1950s and 1960s generation of African writers to challenge myths of national identity, universality of Western culture, and stereotyping and marginalizing Africans in Western societies. Put differently, this work aims to show how a select group of African writers deploy "Afropolitan" and "Afropean" literary texts to reimagine alternative African identities and ways of belonging that challenge monolithic Western discourse on national identity. Yet, it interrogates the writers' model of decolonizing African representations as one that perpetuates the notion of the West as the center. Theoretically, I build on Edouard Glissant's concept of Relation and Achille Mbembe's rendering of "Afropolitanism" as alternative accounts that diversify cultural dialogue(s) and complicate identities. The "Afropolitan" and "Afropean" texts studied here inadequately engage with the cultural histories of African people. Through a close reading of these literary texts, I delineate how the writers negotiate social identities and belonging of African subjects across race, gender, and social status, and particularly, how they attempt to resist imperial domination through hybridity.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Cultural Mediations
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Lind, Emily Ruth Musgrove
- Abstract:
- Mythologized as a former artist's colony, Wychwood Park is a gated community in midtown Toronto that encompasses fifty-eight homes built at the turn of the twentieth century. Wychwood Park's landscape plan is one of Canada's earliest examples of a garden suburb - a suburban design model derived from the turn-of-the-twentieth-century English Garden City movement. The Park boasts the highest concentration of Arts and Crafts domestic architecture in Toronto. Famous early residents included artists and art patrons who were instrumental in establishing what became the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario College of Art and Design, and the Ontario Society of Artists. In this dissertation, I argue that Wychwood Park is a white settler colonial landscape. This argument is informed by the idea of landscape as an actor in social and political processes, rather than a reflection of them. The physical landscape of Wychwood Park, and the extent to which it reflects the ideas and values that sustain settler colonial rule, are seriously interrogated in this project. I am interested in the ways that a neighbourhood like Wychwood Park can teach Torontonians something about how patriarchy and racism work and what it means to live in an environment shaped by gendered/racialized thinking and social organization. I am informed by Richard Schein's contentions that "discourses of racialized social relations work through landscapes" and that landscapes are the sites in which racialized discourses become "materialized." In this dissertation, I situate the patriarchal and racialized social relations of settler colonialism within the material landscape of Wychwood Park. This approach highlights Wychwood Park's engagement with the settler colonial project, addressing a gap in existing literature on the Park specifically and on Toronto history as a whole.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Cultural Mediations
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Eldahshan, Ahmad
- Abstract:
- Slow wave transmission lines (SWTLs) are analyzed in literature as an interconnections having the ability to slow down the propagating wave and consequently saving area, shielding substrate and lowering losses. In this thesis, on the other hand, possible ways are investigated to exploit these improvements to enhance, optimize and tune the inductive parameters of SWTLs; effective inductance (Leff), quality factor (Q), self-resonance frequency (fsrf) and area efficiency. Integrated in low-cost silicon substrate, on-chip inductors are facing crucial challenges, like design flexibility, area efficiency, conductive and substrate losses. Early studies have identified many techniques to overcome these challenges, such as post processing, magnetic core filling, ground plane modification, and others, however each technique has its drawbacks at RF frequencies which are reflected on either performance or cost. The principle of operation of SWTLs is analyzed mathematically as a periodic structure by cascading multiple capacitive-loaded transmission line unit cells. Leff and Q are extracted from the ABCD parameters. It has been proved that the distributed nature of SWTLs provides an enhanced inductive performance. A parametric study on a coplanar stripline is introduced to explore and quantify the relation between eight spacial design variables related to the TL structure, and five inductive parameters. A parametric table, considered as a guideline to build SWTLs as inductors, have been created. To validate the idea practically, various configurations of slow-wave coplanar striplines are designed, fabricated and measured on CMOS 130nm process (silicon substrate). Optimized SWTLs are applied as inductors in a generic injection locked oscillator (ILO). Using SWTLs as inductors have provided additional degrees of freedom to lay out and tune Leff, Q and fsrf efficiently. The differential balanced structure of the designed SWTLs have provided an equal single-ended inductance to both sides of the circuit without using lengthy interconnections leading to 50% enhanced Q compared to conventional transmission lines. SWTLs as inductors inductors have shown a 75% and 60% enhanced Q compared to a single and double conventional spiral inductors. Additionally, an enhanced noise performance have been demonstrated in ILO using SWTLs as inductors compared to the conventional inductors.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Tran Nguyen, Thuong
- Abstract:
- Some nearctic-neotropical migrant forest-breeding songbirds have suffered large population declines in recent decades. Declining availability of high-quality habitat where birds refuel during the long migration may be contributing to these declines. Our objective was to identify landscape attributes that make sites likely to be used as stopover sites during fall migration. We sampled birds at 37 sites in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Bird density was highest at sites with an intermediate amount of surrounding forest within 2 km, and where deciduous trees were in higher proportions in surrounding forests within 8 km. These results suggest that birds are attracted to landscapes with an intermediate amount of forest cover. Their densities may decrease at higher forest amounts due to dilution, conifer avoidance, or reduced edges for foraging. Our study highlights the importance of retaining sites with around 50% forest cover, particularly deciduous forest, as stopover habitat for migrating songbirds.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Biology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Ouellette, Megan Elizabeth
- Abstract:
- At the inception of the Canadian French as a Second Language (FSL) program, researchers examined students' success (e.g. Cummins, 1998; Tardiff, 1990). However, there has been increasing focus on FSL teacher perspectives (e.g. Arnott, 2017; Salvatori, 2009). This qualitative study used a narrative inquiry method and semi-structured interviews to investigate six novice and experienced (i.e., based on years of experience) FSL teacher participants' accounts of the allocation of resources and support for their FSL teaching. Narrative inquiry allowed for a richly detailed understanding of the teachers' accounts of their practice. Results suggest that the novice teacher participants received more resources and support than the experienced teachers, based on the assumption that they were more willing to learn new teaching practices and in greater need. Ironically, this study suggests that the experienced teachers were very willing to adopt new strategies, and their need for resources and support was equally great.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Dore, Christina M.
- Abstract:
- American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most popular languages for foreign language study among hearing adult learners. ASL teaching has deep connections to the long-standing oppression of deaf people and sign languages, and so ASL teachers might be linguistic and cultural guides as well as deaf advocates, allies, and spokespeople. Yet, little research has addressed who ASL teachers are and how they have come to and navigated the profession. In Canada, there is no clear educational pathway to learning to teach ASL. Although formal and informal teacher learning opportunities exist, they are not widely adopted or enforced. In response, this narrative dissertation explored the professional life histories, or pathways, of seven ASL teachers in Canada through multi-part interviews. I was informed by theories of narrative as a social practice and teacher learning as embodied, and prior literature about the sociohistorical context of ASL and ASL teaching in North America. To further contextualize teachers' stories, I also conducted interviews with representatives from deaf cultural organizations and ASL program administrators and incorporated publicly available data about ASL in Canada. The findings of this study were an extensive collection of stories drawn from the seven teachers' accounts, organized into three chronological clusters: early ASL and teaching experiences (pathways to teaching), ongoing teaching experiences (pathways through teaching), and reflections on experience (pathways forward). Stories about teachers' early experiences underscored the diversity of people that comprised this workforce—native and non-native signers, deaf, hearing, and hard-of-hearing, formally and informally trained, and so on. Their accounts of ongoing practice illustrated how they variously strove to be teachers and the different successes and challenges they met along the way in meeting their goals. Teachers' closing reflections demonstrated that their teaching work was tightly intertwined with other goals, including the broader social justice aim of improving the status of sign languages and deaf people in Canada. This study aimed to make a space for ASL teachers in academic conversations where they are rarely featured. I hoped that ASL teachers, especially the study's participants, find meaningfulness in reflecting and sharing professional experiences documented in this dissertation.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Wang, Yun
- Abstract:
- Dietary supplements (DS) are used by consumers all over the world to promote health. However, in spite of the fact that clinical studies show some DS are ineffective in fulfilling their functional purposes, consumers are committed to the purchase and use of these DS. This apparent paradox leads us to seek answers for the following two research questions: "What are the benefits achieved by committed DS users?" and "How do they practice in order to achieve those benefits?" By answering these two research questions, this study aims to understand and interpret the particular horizons of meaning associated with a specific consumption object, and the variety of ways in which people consume. DS consumption in social commerce in China provides the research context and facilitates the examination of the benefits achieved by DS consumers and their practices for achieving those benefits. Active interviewing was employed to obtain a rich set of data from twenty-two mass elite females who are committed to the consumption of DS in the context of social commerce in China. Bourdieu's and Giddens's sociological theories of structure-agency dialectic provide the theoretical lens for this research. A grounded theory analysis based on the constructivist view revealed that individuals' DS consumption was influenced by the structure-agency dialectic, in which four different strategies were developed: self-learning, disciplined use, consumerism, and socializing. While practicing the four strategies, individuals selectively act upon the choices existing in the structure to actively engage in health promotion and to relieve the tensions caused by the structure-agency interplay. As a result, individuals achieve not only functional benefits from DS consumption but also various types of benefits associated with identity expression and status distinction. In this process, multiple layers of meanings of DS consumption are socially constructed. Importantly, this research provides implications for the DS consumption literature, health promotion literature, and consumer behavior literature. Recommendations for health product marketers and health promotion policymakers are suggested. Opportunities for future research are also proposed and discussed.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Management
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Almohimeed, Ibrahim
- Abstract:
- Assessment of the skeletal muscle contractile properties provides valuable information for various medical applications. This thesis presents the development of a wearable ultrasonic sensor (WUS) and a method to measure the skeletal muscle contractile parameters. The proposed WUS was made of flexible polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric polymer film. A double-layer PVDF configuration was proposed to improve ultrasonic performance such as ultrasound signal strength. In order to study the double-layer PVDF WUS performance for its design consideration, a formulation of a numerical simulation model for the double-layer PVDF WUS was derived, based on Mason's equivalent circuit model of piezoelectric resonators. The double-layer PVDF configuration and the effects of non-piezoelectric layers on ultrasonic performance, such as backing, bonding, and electrode layers, were studied in detail using the simulation model developed to obtain a guideline for the design and construction of double-layer PVDF WUS. The construction procedure of the proposed design of the double-layer PVDF WUS was simple and relatively low-cost. The experimental evaluation showed the improved ultrasound performance of the developed double-layer PVDF WUS. The flexibility, lightweight, thinness, and small size of the double-layer PVDF WUS enable a steady attachment to the skin surface without affecting the underlying tissue motion in the area of interest. Such features could reduce the motion artifacts in the ultrasound measurement of tissue thickness. The developed double-layer PVDF WUS was tested for in vivo measurements of the skeletal muscle contractile parameters. Comparative measurements of the electrically-evoked static contractions of a skeletal muscle were performed by the developed double-layer PVDF WUS and the laser displacement sensor (LDS). The double-layer PVDF WUS demonstrated less variability in the extracted contractile parameters than the LDS. In addition, it was verified that the double-layer PVDF WUS was less susceptible to the motion artifacts induced by the body/limb motion than the LDS. The contractile parameters were successfully extracted from the tissue thickness changes measured by the double-layer PVDF WUS during voluntary and tetanic contractions. Furthermore, the muscle tetanic progression level was quantitatively assessed using the fusion index (FI) parameter obtained.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Marshall, Zacharie
- Abstract:
- Waste heat from the industrial sector can be recovered, but the process is dependent on its temperature, with considerations for the waste heat from data centers at 80˚C being different from those for waste heat from cement plants at 350oC. Most waste heat recovery systems utilize high global warming potential working fluids, which are hazardous to the environment. The objective of this research is to evaluate the thermodynamic and economic performance of power cycles utilizing low global warming potential working fluids for waste heat recovery in data centers and cement plants. Numerical models using theoretical waste heat data are utilized and a present worth analysis is conducted. In data centers, it was found that certain low global warming potential working fluids have better thermodynamic performance than conventional working fluids. In cement plants, it was determined that an inter-regenerative transcritical carbon dioxide power cycle had the highest thermodynamic and economic performance.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Sustainable Energy
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Wistaff, Emma Anne
- Abstract:
- Attenuated oncolytic viruses (OVs) are a promising alternative cancer therapy to mainstream methods such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. OV therapy takes advantage of the defective antiviral response present in most cancer cells however heterogeneity amongst target cells and attenuation of OVs to increase their safety profiles has limited the efficacy of this treatment. We have developed novel small molecules named viral sensitizers (VSes) capable of enhancing viral infection and cancer-specific cell death. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods were developed to study the pharmacokinetics (PK) and metabolomic activity of VSe1-28 via time course experiments. Parallel to this work, proteomic experiments were conducted to confirm the molecular target and mechanism of action of VSe1-28 through MRM and Auto-MS/MS methods. These new findings will aid in improving VSes and progress preclinical studies for clinical use in combination with OVs.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Chemistry
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Alfasi, Baraa Adil
- Abstract:
- Investments in highway infrastructure are expected to achieve a satisfactory rating for avoiding cost overruns and in fulfilling their role in enhancing the sustainability of cities and regions. Despite challenges, highway infrastructure investment assessments received insufficient research attention in modelling lifecycle cost risk and the associated sustainability effectiveness. The increasing acceptance of the sustainability rating tools for evaluating highway projects implies going beyond former attention to location and design of highway infrastructure guided mainly by functional considerations. Under present high demands from the transportation planning environment, there is emphasis on characterizing risk in the first cost as well as lifecycle costs. Likewise, there is an emphasis on inclusion of sustainability factors, including effective use of resources, in evaluating project alternatives. The use of infrastructure rating tools such as ENVISION has the potential to improve the effectiveness of investment in highway projects in terms of meeting sustainability criteria, including formal recognition of the importance of lifecycle analysis. To support the application of rating tools, research is needed in modelling risk in lifecycle cost estimates, including the identification and quantification of cost overrun factors. Besides, there is a need for a methodology for joint treatment of multi-attribute criteria that encompass cost and other factors of sustainability. To go beyond the current state of knowledge, research was carried out on: - The probability models of cost overruns. - Treating risk and uncertainty in lifecycle analyses, using decision-theoretic, utility-theoretic, and Bayesian methods for evaluation of investment alternatives. - Factor Analysis of variables that characterize the causes of cost overruns and logistics regression models based on factor analysis results. Data were obtained and analyzed on actual projects that may have experienced cost overruns. Also, a questionnaire study was implemented to obtain data from transportation jurisdictions in Canada, the USA, Middle East, and Australia. Following the study of cost overrun probability models, decision-theoretic and utility-theoretic methods were developed and illustrated in the evaluation of investment alternatives while formally treating lifecycle costs and other factors of sustainability. Finally, factor analysis and associated logistic regression models were implemented for characterizing the effect of factors that cause cost overruns.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Staats, Ezekiel Jared
- Abstract:
- Silicon n+-in-p microstrip sensors have been developed for the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk). This is part of the phase-II upgrade programme for the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider which will see a sevenfold increase in peak instantaneous luminosity. Prototype and preproduction generations of strip sensors are designed by the ITk Strip Sensor Collaboration and produced by Hamamatsu Photonics. The sensors undergo a variety of electrical and mechanical tests for Quality Control (QC) which are essential to verify compliance with specifications, monitor processing consistency, and predict the overall performance of the ITk. QC procedures are detailed and results from prototype sensors are given. A selection of results beyond the scope of QC are also presented. Topics include the effects of proton radiation, anomalous loss of strip isolation, and bias dependent changes in surface oxide charges. These studies are aimed at informing predictions of long term sensor performance.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Physics
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Cooper, Ashley
- Abstract:
- Overuse of antimicrobials in medicine and agriculture are believed to be drivers of the spread of AMR among pathogenic bacteria. Antimicrobial use in agriculture and food-producing animals may facilitate spread of resistant bacteria to food products as well as dissemination into the environment. Although regulatory practices currently monitor food, feed, and fertilizer products for presence of pathogenic organisms, they do not test for AMR genes (ARGs). My Ph.D. thesis focuses on filling current knowledge gaps for transmission and detection of AMR in food production by evaluating methodology to monitor transmission of resistance genes throughout the food production continuum. There are three main objectives of my thesis: (i) to evaluate the accuracy of genotype in predicting resistance phenotypes; (ii) to investigate the presence and mechanisms of resistance in food production; (iii) to determine whether short-read metagenomics is a suitable high-throughput method for surveillance of resistance in agri-food products. For the first objective, concordance of AMR phenotypes with whole genome sequencing (WGS) predictions of ARGs were determined in two separate studies. Requirements for sequence coverage suggest genotypic predictions of AMR are highly concordant when using a target-gene identity cutoff of >80%, assuming sufficient genome coverage. To investigate pathogen persistence in food production, analyses were conducted using WGS data for 1279 L. monocytogenes isolated from food products. The most frequently isolated clonal complexes were significantly associated with carriage of plasmid-borne quaternary ammonium compound resistance. Additionally, conjugation frequencies of plasmid-borne AMR between commensal food bacteria and a foodborne pathogen were determined. High rates of both pathogen persistence and plasmid transfer in foodborne bacteria emphasize the importance of monitoring resistance determinants in commensal food bacteria as well as pathogens. Finally, to determine the utility of shotgun metagenomics for monitoring AMR in agri-food production I conducted a study on LOD of ARGs in metagenomic sequences. This study highlights that as the number of sequence reads decreases, target organisms must comprise a larger proportion for ARG detection. This research emphasizes the importance of monitoring resistance dissemination throughout agri-food production and has provided guidance to aid in selection of appropriate methods for surveillance of AMR in food products.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Biology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Ramlawi, Serine
- Abstract:
- Biocontrol agents show promise in mitigating the drawbacks of synthetic chemicals. This study investigates potential biocontrol bacteria isolated from disease suppressive composts to reduce Fusarium dry rot on potato tubers, and to gain insight into the mode of action of Arthrobacter spp. The objectives were to (i) evaluate the antagonistic activity against Fusarium sambucinum in vitro and suppression of potato dry rot, (ii) assess the antimicrobial activity of Arthrobacter spp. in vitro and in vivo, and (iii) identify possible modes of action of these antagonistic bacteria. Results indicated that bacterial isolates from Bacillus, Pseudomonas, and Arthrobacter genera suppressed Fusarium dry rot. Additionally, Arthrobacter humicola M9-1A, M9-2, and M9-8, A. psychrophenolicus M9-17 and their cell-free filtrates possess antimicrobial properties suppressing various plant pathogens. Two antimicrobial compounds were isolated and characterized from A. psychrophenolicus M9-17. Overall, this study reported that antibiosis may be a major mode of action of these bacteria.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Chemistry
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Balcaen, Austin Bradley
- Abstract:
- The Theory of Characteristic Modes (TCM) is a unique way to analyze antennas. It allows the response of an antenna to be decomposed into the sum of its parts. In this thesis, a bow-tie antenna and a capacitively fed crossed bow-tie antenna are analyzed using TCM. The bow-tie antenna was modified by placing stubs at the location of an eigencurrent minimum for the third order mode close to an eigencurrent maximum for the first order mode which reduced their modal resonances by 1.8 GHz and 25 MHz respectively. Three characteristic modes were found to make up the response of the capacitively fed crossed bow-tie antenna. Each mode was decoupled into auxiliary modes to remove coupling effects from eigenvalue crossing avoidances. The auxiliary modes were described as a ground plane mode, a dipole dominant mode, and a bow-tie dominant mode. The dipole and bow-tie modes were shown to be synchronously coupled.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Thompson, Jamie
- Abstract:
- Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCITs) are meant to assist the police in responding appropriately to calls involving persons in crisis with the goal of providing short-term crisis management, and open doors to long-term support. Several MCITs exist, however, evaluations of these programs are limited. This thesis presents a qualitative evaluation of the South Simcoe Police Services' (SSPS) Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST), modeled after the MCIT. The COAST builds on a partnership between SSPS and two local mental health organizations. The evaluation consisted of interviews with various stakeholder groups. There was consensus among participants that the COAST provides a better service than a conventional police response while also helping to bridge the gap between the police and mental health providers. However, the lack of resources was seen as a major challenge. The findings suggest that co-responding teams may improve the way the police respond to individuals in crisis.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Mirazimzadeh, Seyed Ali
- Abstract:
- Turning book pages is a simple act that readers do while reading. This simple act that we take for granted could be challenging when both hands are engaged in other tasks. In case that a pianist sight-read, using one hand for turning the music sheets can cause distraction or short delay in their performance. Previous studies predominantly utilized audio or video processing techniques for following the musicians' performance. We suggested a framework that uses wearable technologies as an alternative solution for solving page-turning problems. The proposed design recognizes the pianist's wrists oscillatory motion with accelerometer sensors and tries to sync them to digital music notes. This system uses dynamic time warping and cross-correlation methods to find the optimum alignment between actual and captured data and reducing time latency. Eventually, a heuristic decision model assesses the pianist's performance and decides to turn the digital music sheet at predefined points.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Billingsley, Jacob Lecompte
- Abstract:
- The unfolded protein response (UPR) is responsible for the degradation and refolding of misfolded proteins. Nuclear factor erythroid-2 like-1 (NFE2L1) basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor which respond primarily to oxidative stress and proteasome inhibition. In its role in maintaining proteostasis, NFE2L1 upregulates production of proteasomal subunits. Over the years, functional similarities and parallel response pathways have been observed between the UPR and NFE2L1. NFE2L1 may be involved in maintaining proteostasis via involvement in the UPR, directly. The activation of XBP1, a UPR effector, was analyzed under NFE2L1 knock down and overexpression. At the protein level, NFE2L1 knock down decreases the amount of activated XBP1 produced when treated with thapsigargin. NFE2L1 overexpression increased activated XBP1 synthesis under untreated conditions. NFE2L1 knock down resulted in significantly disrupted splicing of XBP1 RNA into its active form. These results suggest that NFE2L1 expression has an impact on UPR signaling.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Biology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- McGirr, Katelyn Elizabeth
- Abstract:
- Conceptualized as an academic exercise, this thesis analyzes the layered representation of Fanny Duberly's lived experience during the Crimean War to develop a historical graphic narrative. The subjective choices present in the graphic narrative, titled No Place for Women, erodes the dichotomy between "fictional" and "factual" storytelling, and advocates for the validity of graphic mediums to represent historical narratives. In doing so it contributes to the visual representation of the Crimean War and gives scholarly attention to the often overlooked wives of British officers who accompanied their husbands to Crimea. By regarding Fanny as a "worthy" historical subject this project dispels the patriarchal power structures that oversimplify and obscure our ability to understand the Crimean War. It also provides a preliminary methodological framework for historians interested in alternative narrative structures. Finally, it argues for the fundamental recasting of terms and standards historians use to qualify objective, neutral, and universal history.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- History
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Wallinger, Patricia Veronica
- Abstract:
- With a provincial welfare system in crisis, Basic Income is re-merging as a strategy to guarantee a minimum level of income for everyone, regardless of employment status. According to polls, public opinion on Basic Income in Ontario is almost evenly divided among those supporting it and those rejecting it. From a policy making perspective, understanding the demand for policy changes is critical in assessing the political feasibility of Basic Income. This research tests the political feasibility of Basic Income by examining soft constraints, specifically, its constituency base. It inquires on the socio-economic characteristics behind public support for Basic Income through the analysis of a survey conducted in 2016. The findings provide insights on the constituency base of Basic Income which proves to have no socio-demographic homogeneity. Instead, perception- and ideology-related variables have been identified as predictors of attitudes towards the Basic Income proposition in Ontario.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Political Economy
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Lakhe, Rishil Kirankumar
- Abstract:
- Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) are used in various industrial applications and many theoretical advances have been achieved in the domain of PMSM control. However, more research is needed in area of self-commissioning drives which can operate with very minimum information of motor parameters. This thesis focuses on the universal control design of PMSMs and uses two control methods: conventional field-oriented vector control and simplified control. In vector control, the classical proportional-integral (PI) controller is used to control the d-q axis currents and speed of the PMSM. The main aim is to determine the PI controller gains using an empirical study and generalized mathematical expressions. In vector control, these equations use power ratings, while in simplified control, the product of number of pole pairs and flux linkage is used for automatic gain calculation. Validation of both the proposed control strategies is done in MATLAB/Simulink, and satisfactory results are obtained.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Parker, Ryan John Hazlett
- Abstract:
- Retrogressive thaw slumps can modify large areas of the landscape and pose a significant threat to linear infrastructure in the Arctic. There is little published information on how retrogressive thaw slump debris tongues develop. This thesis demonstrates a novel technique for combining information acquired from near-monthly structure-from-motion surveys and hourly frequency photogrammetry to reconstruct the development of a retrogressive thaw slump over one thaw season. The study was conducted during the 2019 thaw season at Slump CRB, a retrogressive thaw slump located along the Dempster Highway in the Northwest Territories. It was found that material deposited in previous yeas does not move or change and the new debris tongue material flows over the previous deposits following the path of least resistance. In addition, two debris tongue development stages are outlined to describe the spatial and temporal variability of debris tongue movement and deposition in the early and late thaw season.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Geography
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Bamber, Alanna
- Abstract:
- Post-secondary students are experiencing elevated and increasing levels of mental illness. Colleges and universities have developed programs and services to help address this problem, however many institutions are overwhelmed by the high demand for counselling services and students must wait long periods for an appointment. This study explores the development and design of a persuasive mental health campaign that may help to increase the resilience and mental health of post-secondary students. The study consisted of four phases: exploratory interviews, a survey on the student experience and mental health, and two rounds of evaluative feedback on prototypes from different populations. The results of these research phases led to insights on factors affecting mental health, the importance of collaboration between designers, experts, and the target audience, and design guidelines for persuasive graphic messages.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Design (M.Des.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Industrial Design
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Bonneville, Alyssa C.
- Abstract:
- Technology usage is at an all-time high in Canada, resulting in almost all Canadians, under the age of 45, using the internet everyday (Statistics Canada, 2017). Recently, it has been highlighted that intimate partners are exposed to various vulnerabilities online. Individuals can be victimized by their intimate partners by means of cyber acts, called cyber aggression. Cyber aggression is characterized as threatening, insulting or humiliating acts intended to cause distress, such as sending embarrassing photos or videos over the Internet, using an intimate partner's passwords to access their social media and email to spy, or the using technology to exhibit control over one's partner (Borrajo et al., 2015; Buesa & Calvete, 2011; Watkins et al., 2016; Wright, 2017). There are two central types of cyber aggression: direct and control monitoring (Borrajo et al., 2015). Currently, cyber aggression among intimate partners has been scarcely examined in the literature. To address intimate partner cyber aggression, three foundational areas were examined in this dissertation, (1) who might predict intimate partner cyber aggression, (2) why perpetrators employ these behaviours, (3) and what the associations are between intimate partner cyber aggression perpetration and well-being. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to holistically address this topic. In an attempt to answer the question "who" perpetrates this form of aggression, an association between insecure attachment characteristics and partner directed cyber aggression was discovered. While exploring "why" individuals perpetrate intimate partner cyber aggression, six underlying motives were revealed. Lastly, while answering the question "what" is the relationship between cyber aggression perpetration and well-being, an association between mental health symptoms and relationship investment was discovered. Given technology's continuous advancements, the engagement in online aggressive behaviours also uniformly progress, making this research topic relevant and time sensitive. These research findings advanced the scientific literature tremendously as the results created a foundational knowledge for future research to build from. Additionally, this dissertation has clinical implications that can be implemented immediately, which is imperative given the recent reliance on technology as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key Words: Intimate Partner Cyber Aggression, Perpetration, Attachment, Motivations, Well-Being
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Shah, Urusa
- Abstract:
- Patients with ADHD display enhanced Default Mode Network (DMN) functioning, resulting in altered functioning with its antagonistic Task Positive Network (TPN). To conduct this systematic review, one investigator performed the search and screening methodology, in which 30 studies were detected that met the criteria. Mixed results were obtained for within DMN connectivity and connectivity between the DMN and TPN. However, majority of studies found reduced anticorrelation between the DMN and TPN, in other words, a reduced DMN suppression. Furthermore, all studies demonstrated that methylphenidate treatment results in a suppression of the DMN. Despite mixed findings regarding DMN intraconnectivity and interconnectivity with the TPN, this systematic review supports the conclusion that ADHD is a disorder of DMN dysfunction including dopamine alterations which can be reversed and treated by methylphenidate. Further research is needed to fully understand the correlation between DMN activity and ADHD.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Neuroscience
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Elkamhawy, Shady
- Abstract:
- In this work we consider dipole antenna arrays of both active and passive dipole elements. The traditional approach assumes sinusoidal current distributions. Herein, we obtain the exact distribution from the Hallen equations using the Method of Moments (MoM). We show that the current distributions on the dipole elements can deviate significantly from the sinusoidal approximation. Optimizing the active and passive elements to maximize the gain; constitutes a non-convex optimization problem. To circumvent this difficulty, we develop an efficient algorithm that yields close to optimal results which are demonstrated by numerical evaluations and verified with simulations.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Savath, Leslie
- Abstract:
- This dissertation examines the role played by Québécois folklore in Canadian metanarratives of nation using as a case study "La Corriveau," a Québécois murderess whose folkloric tale emerged during the pivotal British Conquest of New France in 1760. It analyzes how the figure of La Corriveau expresses and mediates conflicts between English and French Canada in both literary traditions. Reading through intertextual and interlingual lenses francophone and anglophone texts addressing the legend of La Corriveau such as Philippe Aubert de Gaspé's Les anciens Canadiens (1863), William Kirby's The Golden Dog (1877), Victor-Lévy Beaulieu's Ma Corriveau (1973), Anne Hébert's La cage (1990), and Douglas Glover's "La Corriveau" (1993), as well as examining La Corriveau's portrayal in life writing, popular film, and the global marketplace, this dissertation argues that the legend and its reinterpretations are reworked by both Québécois and English-Canadian authors in a desire to recuperate the figure for distinct national metanarratives of Québec and English Canada. For Québécois writers, the legend has provided a semantically flexible focal point for national image-making across a range of historical contexts and ideological positions, from French-Canadian survivance to Québécois nationalism and settler nationalism. For English-Canadian writers, meanwhile, and in constant dialogue with Québécois uses of the legend, La Corriveau has been made to serve an equally complex and often contradictory role in narratives that alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) reinforce, question, and rewrite English-Canadian metanarratives of romantic nationalism. As it traces ongoing conversations among Québécois, English-Canadian, as well as other francophone and anglophone revisions of the legend, this dissertation shows not only how La Corriveau has developed as a mediator of French- and English-Canadian identity, but also how its treatment continues to regulate images of Indigenous presence in relation to those national metanarratives.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- English
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Ziani-Bey, Hana Aicha
- Abstract:
- Saving for the future is an adaptive skill that humans benefit from regularly. Only some studies have explored the factors that contribute to children's saving ability in the early preschool years, such as the nature of the resource to be saved (e.g., symbolic versus non-symbolic). The current study contrasts two savings studies with young children. In one, 63 children aged 3.5-6 years saved a resource itself (i.e., marbles; Kamawar, Connolly, Astle‐Rahim, Smygwaty & Vendetti, 2019), and in another, 53 children aged 4- to 5-years saved a symbol of a resource (i.e., tokens; Jerome, Milyavskaya, Atance & Kamawar, submitted). Each study included both a control and a budgeting condition where children could make a savings plan prior to engaging in the task, alongside a general planning measure (the Truck Loading task). Overall, children's performance across the two studies did not differ significantly, though the number of resources budgeted approached significance.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Hum, Anna
- Abstract:
- This research explores how the Canadian federal government incorporates climate change and environmental sustainability concerns in the 2019 iteration of Canada's Food Guide and its supporting documents. Using a mixed analytical approach to discourse analysis, I analyze 52 government documents to discover how food, climate change, and environmental sustainability are discursively linked. My findings reveal that these considerations are wed together through dominant storylines that operate as channels to enact change; positioning citizens to adjust their behaviours to be more environmentally benign as a 'solution'. I argue that the guide's 'solutionist' approach to communication constructs a 'good' Canadian consumer and neglects larger questions over creating enabling environments. In doing so, I contend that the 'solutionist' approach acts as a cornerstone for transforming food guides to address climate change and sustainability at the individual level but does not sufficiently address the need for systemic change.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Communication
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Fraser, Adam Kyle
- Abstract:
- Background: The objective of the present research was to investigate an electroencephalography (EEG) brain-computer interface for monitoring mental workload during virtual reality flight simulation. Most aviation accidents are related to pilot cognition and a mismatch between task demands and cognitive resources. Real-time neurophysiological monitoring that identifies high-workload mental states offers an effective approach for reducing accidents during flight. Method: Non-pilot participants performed simulated flight operations. Workload was manipulated to represent regular flight scenarios by varying navigational difficulty and performing communication tasks. EEG data was collected and used to classify periods of flight as high or medium workload. Results and implications: A classification rate of 75.9% was obtained which provides promise for future use of EEG brain-computer interfaces in aviation practice. The most informative classification features (Alpha and Beta oscillations) may represent components of working memory which corresponds to predictions from a multiple resource theory approach to experimental design.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Cognitive Science
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Darwaish, Fadwa
- Abstract:
- Canada's first standardized Neonatal Patient Transport System (NPTS) has been introduced in Ontario. Vibrations experienced by neonatal patients during transport in the NPTS have been a concern, since previous studies have suggested that such vibrations could increase morbidity and mortality rates for neonates. A road test mimicking actual transport was carried in a ground ambulance with the NPTS. Results show an amplification of vibrations at the neonate's head, relative to the floor, mostly at 9.5 Hz, and that neonates likely experience vibrations exceeding adult standards. A standardized environment test has demonstrated the first successful installation and validation of an entire NPTS atop an industrial shaker table. Results demonstrate that custom mattresses decreased the vibration when compared to the currently used Geo-Matrix™ mattress by 2-4 times, and use of a head restraint harness showed a decrease in vibration when compared to the standard five-point harness by 1.7-3.3 times.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Watts, Alexander
- Abstract:
- During winter, hibernators are able to conserve energy during times of limited resources through the virtual cessation of energetically expensive processes that are thought to be intrinsic to the cell in homeostasis. During prolonged hibernation, these mammals, such as the 13-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus), shut down the bulk of transcription and translation in order to preserve resources yet still require the expression of subsets of genes to assist with the challenges encountered during hibernation. Hibernators provide a unique opportunity for examining the dynamics of circadian clock activation in a system that requires the selection of groups of transcripts against a backdrop of suppressed cellular activity. This research shows that peripheral circadian clocks are regulated and have adapted to function in a tissue-specific manner that is congruent with the tissues functions during hibernation. In addition, substantial transcriptional and post-transcriptional machineries are required to endure deep torpor and low body temperature, including increased regulation over genomic activity by epigenetic enzymes. Both RNA adenosine and protein arginine methylation act to regulate activity within the circadian clock via epigenetic mechanisms and provide novel opportunities to uncover information about the post-translational modifications used during hibernation. RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) dynamics were maintained during hibernation and levels of m6A were increased on mRNA transcripts during torpor in liver. Responses by protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) enzymes were tissue-specific and within liver and white adipose, revealed responses that characterized metabolic reprogramming, whereas skeletal muscle PRMT activity was centered around transcriptional regulation. This research suggests that dynamic epigenetic modifications provide a mechanism for maintaining translation of selected groups of necessary transcripts during hibernation, including core circadian clock genes, against a backdrop of stunted transcript processing. These data also provide evidence that the circadian clock is an important and integral regulator of peripheral tissues within the mammalian hibernation phenotype.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Biology
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Shalabi, Hossam M. E.
- Abstract:
- Advancement of fire risk analysis methods has led to a widespread development of detailed fire probabilistic risk assessments (PRA) at nuclear power plants. The Fire PRA assesses the possibility of a fire at critical plant locations and evaluates the fire damage. Fire PRA also evaluates the effect of the fire on safety-related cables and equipment. The scope of the Fire PRA is limited to demonstrating that the fire safe shutdown objectives and performance criteria are met. Hence, the Fire PRA is only used for plant areas where fires may have a potential impact on systems, structures, and components (SSCs) that are required to perform the fire safe shutdown functions. A CANDU Fire Database was developed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to collect and maintain data of all CANDU related fires. There are 19 nuclear power plants operating in Canada today, with 75 fires reported from 1981 to 2020. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a Fire PRA for Canadian CANDU nuclear reactors. For this, a fuel load survey of all 1,230 Fire Safe Shutdown System (FSSA) rooms in CANDU reactors in Canada was carried out, and found that the average fuel density for the 1,230 general fire zones was 170.1 MJ/m2, and electric faults were the most likely ignition source. The results of the fuel load survey were used to group fire zones based on their areas, heights and combustible loads and to produce a list of critical fire scenarios. Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) was used to simulate these critical fire scenarios and the associated consequences on FSSA cables. The fire scenarios' simulation results were used to create a qualitative screening method (decision tree) for CANDU reactors, which is an essential step in the CANDU Fire PRA. A CANDU Fire PRA methodology for CANDU reactors was developed, and two fire zones were selected to demonstrate the use of the CANDU Fire PRA methodology. In addition, High Energy Arc Fault (HEAF) risks in CANDU reactors were examined and analyzed, and recommendations were given to mitigate the risks and consequences of any potential HEAF events.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Haichin, Mark
- Abstract:
- Why are some nuclear weapon states attacked more than others? Reviewing attacks against them shows that nuclear-armed democracies are attacked more than non-democratic ones, indicating that state regime type may play a role in nuclear deterrence credibility. This is largely ignored in the nuclear deterrence literature despite many conceptual similarities to conventional armed conflict, which has numerous theories on regime type influencing state conflict behaviour. In this dissertation, I seek to explain the disparity in attacks on nuclear weapon states with a novel theory that state political accountability mechanisms influence nuclear deterrence threat credibility. I hypothesize that democratic states are more sensitive to the costs of fulfilling their nuclear deterrence threats in low-intensity conflict scenarios due to popular accountability. Non-democratic nuclear weapon states can make more credible threats due to being accountable to an elite audience instead of the general population, allowing them to engage in cost-insensitive behaviour. To accomplish this, I use process tracing within a broader comparative case study framework to study crises affecting four nuclear weapon states during the 1945-2018 period. For each of these four states (Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea), I study the makeup of their government, including their domestic audiences, their nuclear deterrence threats, and command and control structures. I then compare pre- and post-nuclear deterrent acquisition crises targeting them and evaluate the rationales of decision-makers for both the defending and challenging states, particularly how the latter perceived the former's cost-sensitivity. The results indicate that, as anticipated, nuclear-armed democracies face greater difficulties in having their nuclear deterrence threats considered credible in low-intensity crises than their non-democratic counterparts. However, each case comes with notable caveats. Israel's nuclear opacity policy obscures whether government restraint is due to accountability or potential international reactions, while the Indian government often goes against popular sentiment in demonstrating restraint. While Pakistan and North Korea have both successfully deterred even low-intensity attacks against them due to the perception that they are sufficiently cost-insensitive to use nuclear weapons against any attack, the latter's aggression has led to it being considered sufficiently dangerous as to encourage potential pre-emptive strikes against it.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- International Affairs
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Araji, Fadi
- Abstract:
- The objective of this study was to understand the Gasoline Particulate Filter (GPF) filtration process and examine the effects of GPF parameters like wall thickness, porosity, Mean Pore Size (MPS) and length on the filtration efficiency (FE). It also aimed to investigate the implications of installing a GPF on a Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine. Four filters were tested first on a bench setup with a soot generator as source for the particle emissions and then installed on a GDI engine on a dynamometer where the overall emissions and filtration efficiencies were investigated. Soot concentrations, particle number emissions and gaseous emissions were measured. Particle morphology and soot deposition were analyzed using a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Results showed an increasing filtration efficiency with increasing soot deposition. Results also showed a greater effect of MPS on filtration efficiency than wall thickness and filter length.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Mechanical
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Smith, Raleigh Robert
- Abstract:
- Demands for increased wireline data throughput necessitate multi-GHz clock sources of ever-greater fifidelity. At the same time, there has been resolute industry pressure for process geometry size reduction, digital circuit implementation and modularization to fulfill the objectives of development cost reduction, scalability, increased functionality and decreased power dissipation. In aid of these objectives, this work demonstrates a digital bang-bang phase-locked loop that develops the 14-GHz clock for a 56-Gb/s PAM-4 transceiver. This low jitter clock source is realized using an LC-based digitally-controlled oscillator having a frequency tuning range of 14 % and worst case resolution of 2.0 MHz/LSB. The major digital functions of the band-bang phase-locked loop are consolidated in a single, fully-synthesized digital signal processing unit operated at 3.5 GHz or 10x the reference clock frequency. Limit cycles are minimized, without the aid of a multi- bit time-to-digital-converter, through substantial reduction of loop latency using a look-ahead digital loop fifilter. Various design techniques exploiting an advanced 7-nm FinFET technology are discussed including noise reduction, frequency resolution and tank Q-enhancement. Additionally, methods of accurately modelling a digitally-controlled oscillator and linear loop analysis of the bang-bang phase-locked loop are demonstrated. Closed-loop phase noise performance is accurately predicted using an industry-standard digital event-driven simulator with dramatically reduced computation effort compared to analogue or mixed-mode simulations. Here, a method of faithfully calculating various noise profiles for digitally-controlled and reference oscillators is exploited. The measured RMS random jitter of the BBPLL, integrated from 1 kHz to 100 MHz, is 143 fs and shows limit-cycle free operation resulting in minimal spurious tone activity in the frequency spectrum. The BBPLL consumes 40 mW of power, while the DCO consumes 14.8 mW of this total. The RMS jitter demonstrated in this thesis is consistent or better than analogue charge-pump PLLs of comparable frequency and significantly better than the reported BBPLLs at very competitive area and power dissipation.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2021