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  • Performance Evaluation of Transformer-based NLP Models on Fake News Detection Datasets

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Narendra Babu, Raveen
    Abstract:
    Fake news has the potential to have catastrophic effects because it is increasingly concerning how it spreads on social media. Due to the lack of available research on the performance of various transformer models using datasets that contain data samples from a wide variety of domains, it is essential to increase the research in this field. Hence, this research investigates the performance of various suitable machine learning algorithms implementations on three fake news datasets: LIAR, FNC-1 and Balanced Dataset for Fake News Analysis. Some pre-trained transformer language models, BERT, RoBERTa, ALBERT and DistilBERT, were chosen for this research. The experiments' results indicated that RoBERTa is the best performing model across all datasets. The results also indicated that DistilBERT trains in half the time as required by the other three models. RoBERTa obtained an accuracy of 69% when trained on the LIAR dataset.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Envisioning Post-Apocalyptic Futures: A Speculative Design Toolkit for Non-Designers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Verhoeven, Anna
    Abstract:
    This thesis discusses the applications of speculative design within a non-design context, examining the potential of speculative design as a medium in expressing post-apocalyptic environmentalist visions of the future. This thesis primarily consists of literature reviews and analysis of environmental futures and current speculative and foresight methods to understand the current barriers post-apocalyptic environmentalists face when attempting to imagine their versions of the future as well as how speculative design and design foresight methods could address these barriers. Finally, this thesis concludes with a proposal for a toolkit that adapts methods from speculative design and design foresight to deconstruct speculative design as a practice used only by experts into a medium that non-designers can potentially practice their work through.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Carry-over Effects in Arctic-breeding Shorebirds: A Cross-species Perspective

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    English, Willow Bernadette
    Abstract:
    Avian studies have long been limited to single populations at a single time and place. However, such studies overlook carry-over effects, where conditions in one season cause fitness consequences in subsequent seasons. As technological advances make it possible to follow individual birds over a full year, it has become clear that carry-over effects can have fitness implications, and are therefore important to consider. In this thesis, I use tracking and physiological data from 14 species of Arctic-breeding shorebirds to link reproductive and timing variation to a bird's earlier experiences. In general, carry-over effects appear to influence important metrics of breeding and timing in Arctic-breeding shorebirds. The timing of nest initiation was influenced by both carry-over effects, measured by a bird's migration timing, and local weather conditions. While patterns were generally consistent across species, variation in the influence of carry-over effects among species merits further research. Tracking data also showed that delays in one season continue into the next, although seasonally variable mitigation means that birds generally reduced the extent of delays, potentially at a physiological cost. Winter is the exception, as birds appear able to fully "reset the clock" during this period, preventing delays from accumulating across years. Winter levels of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) in feathers showed a positive relationship with nest success in the subsequent summer, supporting the idea that high levels of CORT may not always imply that an individual is struggling, or at least that the relationship between CORT and fitness may be complex. This thesis is one of the first multi-species studies of carry-over effects, and is unparalleled in number of species and sample size within the carry-over effect literature. It is additionally novel for the multiple methods used to assess carry-over effects across a similar group of species. The importance of carry-over effects demonstrated within this thesis highlights the need for using a whole year approach to assess what influences variation in fitness, especially in migratory species. Doing so will improve our ability to identify and understand the causes of factors affecting demographic rates and driving declines across taxa.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Exploring Latent Biometric Constructs in a Model Predicting Mental States of Aviators

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pejemsky, Anya Danilovna
    Abstract:
    Single-crew aircraft persistently have a high accident rate; these accidents are associated with high mental workload (MWL). The aviation industry would benefit from a passive MWL monitoring system that would predict flight performance. Passive biosensors offer an economical and non-intrusive method for indexing MWL. Many studies have overemphasized tonic data while ignoring phasic data. The present study explores the viability of a phasic data centered model in indexing MWL to predict flight performance. The study had non-pilots fly a simulator. Cardiovascular and epidermal data, objective and subjective MWL states, subjective reports of simulator sickness, and a variety of flight performance indicators were measured. The data were decomposed into several components to build formative latent variables that were pruned based on an objective MWL measure to then predict flight performance measures. The results indicate that phasic components explain more variance in flight performance than objective and subjective MWL and tonic data.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Exploration-exploitation Learning in Foraging Hummingbirds is Driven by Cumulative Experience and Energetic Costs

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Donkersteeg, Courtney Jane
    Abstract:
    Exploration is necessary to gain information about environments, but testing exploration is often overlooked. Previous studies of animal foraging have considered non-rewarded choices to be mistakes representing failure to exploit valuable resources. Here I define several ways to quantify explorative behaviour and use those metrics to test how the probability of explorative choices changes with experience and body mass. I exposed five ruby-throated hummingbirds to an artificial flower array and quantified their exploration across repeated foraging sessions with different reward positions in each session. As the birds gained experience with the experimental paradigm, explorative behaviour started higher at the beginning of each new session despite its overall decrease as the session progressed. Smaller birds were more explorative than heavier birds, consistent with previous tests of foraging success and body mass. These results show that a hummingbird's explorative behaviour changes with body mass and learning resource dynamics through experience.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Human Factors in Drone Delivery of Automatic External Defibrillators for Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Older Adult Considerations

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Tierney, Lauren Jamie
    Abstract:
    Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) delivered by drone have the potential to improve survival rates of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests (OHCA) due to earlier access to defibrillation. There is a lack of user-centred, and older adult-focused research in this area. The present study evaluated the perceptions and interactions of older adults with a drone delivered AED operation to identify human factors considerations that may enable the design development of a more inclusive and accessible drone delivered AED service. A Drone Bystander Centred Design Framework (DBCD) was developed and informed design concepts for key service touchpoints, including the drone, the drop mechanism, AED packaging, and dispatch communication. Results from this study provide novel insight into older adult characteristics and how they may relate to this emerging service model, older adults' service experience of a simulated drone delivered AED, as well as cognitive, psychographic, sensory, perception, and movement control considerations.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Cluster-Based Information-Centric Wireless Sensor Networks Management for Enhanced User Security Satisfaction in the Internet of Things

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Gharib, Anastassia
    Abstract:
    Many Internet of Things applications, such as smart cities and intelligent transportation, require accessible data to users (i.e., data consumers). To address users' timely data access needs, Information-Centric Wireless Sensor Networks (ICWSNs) were proposed that allow users to access data directly from cache nodes. Particularly, ICWSNs are clustered, and Cluster Heads (CHs) are selected to collect data from basic sensing nodes and act as cache nodes. Nevertheless, clustering and ensuring data security in ICWSNs is challenging. This is because sensor nodes are often resource-constrained, heterogeneous (i.e., perform different sensing tasks), and/or mobile. Driven by users' security and timely data access needs, in this thesis, cluster-based ICWSNs' management for enhanced user security satisfaction is investigated. First, a security-aware CHs selection algorithm is proposed to optimize network coverage that is subject to security and energy constraints. Then, cluster-based ICWSNs with heterogeneous communities are modeled analytically and compared to conventional cluster-based ICWSNs with heterogeneous sensor nodes. To overcome the identified energy-latency and security trade-off, a Security Level Aware algorithm for Cluster-based ICWSNs with Heterogeneous communities (SLAC-H) is proposed. In SLAC-H, community leaders collect and forward application-domain-speciffic data to CHs. Next, Node Embedding with Security Resource Allocation (NESRA) clustering algorithm for mobile ICWSNs is proposed. To improve user security satisfaction, NESRA allocates security resources to sensor nodes based on their location, mobility, and energy resources. Still, when security is set as a priority, many times, more energy is spent on security than is actually required. Therefore, along with the mobility-aware NESRA, User-aware clustering with Security Resource Allocation (USRA) algorithm is proposed. In USRA, a sink node determines which security resource each sensor node will be using for the next round to avoid over-utilization of network resources while satisfying user security needs. A summary of the proposed algorithms and some highlights for future work conclude this thesis.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2023

  • The petrology of the J-M Reef Pd-Pt deposit and the Lower Banded series of the Stillwater Complex, Montana, USA

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jenkins, Michael Christopher
    Abstract:
    The J-M Reef, of the Lower Banded series (LBS) in the Neoarchean Stillwater Complex, is the highest-grade platinum group element (PGE) deposit on Earth. The J-M Reef is a ~1.5 m thick stratiform accumulation of high tenor disseminated sulfide and platinum group minerals hosted in coarse-grained heteradcumulates called the Reef Package. The grades and sulfide tenors of the reef vary from one part of the Stillwater Complex to another due to variable amounts of silicate and sulfide liquid equilibration. The cumulates in the LBS can be modeled by batch crystallization of a komatiitic parental melt contaminated by lower crustal rocks. Emplacement of crystal-bearing slurries produces the noritic and gabbronoritic cumulates that account for most of the rocks in the LBS. The olivine-bearing rocks of the LBS are modeled by infiltration and partial melting of footwall gabbronorites by an influx of hot, dense contaminated komatiitic parental melt. This infiltration and reaction process dissolves gabbronorite mush and crystallizes olivine. Dissolution of plagioclase crystals at smaller size fractions during reaction with the infiltrating melt, produces flatter, convex crystal size distributions in the Reef Package. The infiltration process that produces the olivine-bearing rocks in the LBS and the coarse-grained rock in the Reef Package, can also produce high PGE tenor sulfide mineralization. Mass balance calculations for S and Pd show that sulfides hosted within the footwall gabbronorite can be dissolved and upgraded by the incoming, sulfide-undersaturated and PGE-undepleted melt. This infiltration and upgrading of footwall disseminated sulfide has implications for the origin of other reef-type PGE deposits where erosional contacts are observed between the ore-hosting rocks and their footwall (e.g., the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld Complex). The top of the Reef Package, and the top of economic reef mineralization, is defined by a change in rock fabric known as the hanging wall contact. The hanging wall contact is determined by the change from the coarse-grained textures in the Reef Package to foliated, finer-grained cumulates in the hanging wall. This contact represents the most important marker horizon in mine operations because it is always present, even when the J-M Reef is not.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Three Essays in Econometrics

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Richard, Florian
    Abstract:
    In this thesis, I contribute to the literature on multiple comparisons and specification testing for multivariate models, through the lens of model selection procedures in asset pricing. In the first chapter, I provide a model selection procedure for multivariate models, generalizing the model confidence set (MCS) procedure to systems of N>1 dependent variables. A (1-α) level MCS collects the set of models with equal predictive ability, based on a sequential elimination procedure. I introduce supremum t and Hotelling T^2 statistics which account for correlation between loss differentials. I assess the performance of 14 candidate asset pricing models using monthly data for the period 1972-2013. I find that for out-of-sample tests, only a single model is selected by the procedure, but the MCS often includes multiple models for in-sample tests. Overall, out-of-sample tests and a larger number of more heterogenous test assets provide more information to disentangle models. The procedure shows good size and power properties in simulations. In the second chapter, we propose a multivariate extension of exact specification tests for non-nested models. Our test is finite-sample exact under the assumption of Gaussian errors, and is easily generalized to a multiple-model hypothesis via a combined alternative. We obtain valid inference results using bootstrapped Monte Carlo p-values, even when the distribution under the null hypothesis is intractable. We consider Gaussian and non-Gaussian errors through bootstrapping, and we show that our test possesses good size and power properties via simulations. Finally, we present empirical applications to asset pricing by testing benchmark factor models against single and multiple alternatives. In the third chapter, we offer an empirical assessment of the current beta-pricing literature, using non-nested tests for multivariate models and a MCS approach. Both methods can be used to assess either: (i) the statistical significance of a newly proposed non-nested model, or (ii) the statistical equivalence of their predictions, in the sense of equal predictive ability. We reconcile the MCS procedure of Hansen et al. (2011) with our empirical approach. We find that the test of Khalaf and Richard (2022) rejects many models empirically, while the MCS approach favours the Fama and French (2018) model.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Economics
    Date Created:
    2023

  • What is This Music? Musical Taste, Psychology, Sociology, Media, and Manipulation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fraser, Malcolm
    Abstract:
    Why do people like the music they like-and hate what they hate? Musical taste is connected to identity, personality, and community, as well as to marketing, semiotics, and technology. This thesis explores the many facets of musical taste-from the history of the recording business, to the way musical taste is framed in the media, to the body of research on musical preference and personality, to the way our tastes are measured (and shaped) in the era of big data-and how these threads are connected. Using extensive research into the study of music preference, as well as interviews with some of the leading researchers in the field, the thesis sheds light on the psychological and social factors that underpin our musical identities.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Journalism (M.J.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Journalism
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Participation during Deliberation as a Function of Individual Juror Traits: An Examination of the First Hypothesis of The Story Sampling Model from Devine (2012)’s Multi-Level Theory of Jury Decision Making

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Azad, Andleeb
    Abstract:
    Devine (2012)'s Multi-Level Theory concerning jury processes posits that the level of participation during jury deliberations is related to several juror factors. Specifically, the factors the current study tested are defendant gender, need for cognition, status as foreperson, and predeliberation cognitive state (regarding the verdict), a factor proposed by Devine. It was predicted that jurors who were women, the jury foreperson, those who had higher scores on the need for cognition scale, and those who had higher confidence in the verdict would participate more. Data from a larger project were used to test this set of predictions. Mock jury deliberations were used to observe deliberation behaviour. Analyses returned mixed results and partial support for the theory. This study is important because it begins to empirically test part of a model that is widely cited but has not been scientifically investigated. Legal implications and limitations are also discussed.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2023

  • No Decision About Us Without Us: Informing Rare Disease Policies in Canada with the Lived Experiences of Patients and Families with Rare Genetic Lysosomal Storage Diseases

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Khaddouj Awada, Nahya
    Abstract:
    Canadians born with rare diseases (RDs) experience a myriad of challenges as they navigate the healthcare system to access lifesaving drugs and related services. Canada lags behind other advanced industrialized countries in implementing a comprehensive national strategy to manage RDs and facilitate access to drugs for rare diseases (DRDs). The existing provincially managed system for accessing DRDs is fragmented, uneven, and uncoordinated. It is not reflective of patient experiences but rather aggravates patient challenges, including delayed access to treatment and inconsistent decision-making for drug coverage. The central purpose of this dissertation is to understand how lived experiences of RD patients can inform health policy and the healthcare system to improve RD care. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with RD (lysosomal storage diseases) patients and their families and a review of policy documents, this dissertation uncovers four major challenges encountered by RD patients beyond gaining access to DRDs. These include 1) difficulty in obtaining a timely correct diagnosis; 2) lack of coordinated, efficient, and holistic patient care; 3) lack of consideration of patient voice in decision-making processes; and 4) difficulty in navigating the healthcare system due to stigmatization. This dissertation also finds that the patchwork of programs that govern access to DRDs in Canadian provinces has been ineffective and has failed to support patients in receiving timely and equitable access to DRDs. The above factors demonstrate the necessity for a comprehensive national strategy for RDs that goes beyond an orphan drug framework and addresses the holistic needs of the patient population. Patients and families must be centrally included in the continuum of care and the policymaking process. Such a framework empowers people affected by RDs and reduces their marginalization and exclusion. This dissertation fills important gaps in the existing literature. It delivers important data and insights 1) by collecting extensive, hitherto unavailable, experiential data from RD patients and their families by bringing their unique voices to the policy table; 2) by making patient-centered recommendations for the proposed national RD strategy; and 3) by offering a structured patient engagement framework in the RD sector to meaningfully engage RD patients in decision-making.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Public Policy
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Gender Equality Mythologized? Depoliticization, Discourse, and Policymaking in a Post-Crisis European Union

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Humniski, Akaysha Barbara
    Abstract:
    With the 2008 financial crisis, the European Union (EU) was launched into what has become over a decade of ongoing crises that has included the subsequent emergence of the refugee crisis, Brexit, and the COVID-19 pandemic, amidst austerity policies, reform efforts, and shifting political landscapes. Under these conditions of "polycrisis" the basis of the European project has been called into question, as recovery and reform efforts have dictated political priorities and constrained institutional capacity for fourteen years. The challenges that crises have posed to the EU's legitimacy draws attention to the foundational mythologies that hold the polity together and establish the uniquely "European" values and identities that undergird European integration. Gender equality has been continuously represented among these "European values" fuelled by the EU's longstanding commitments, however the scaling back of social provisions under the guise of crisis management prompted challenges to the EU's reputation as a gender equality leader. The election of the first woman Commission president in 2019 provided some optimism for gender actors and this dissertation interrogates the EU's presentation of its own gender equality project from 2009-2022 by investigating the "myth" of "gender equality" in the EU. "Mythologies," represent the norms and stories of the polity and are constitutive dimensions of politics, which is demonstrated in this study through the analysis of EU-level discourse. This dissertation focuses on the intra-discursive functions that "myths" serve in EU politics and policymaking, drawing attention to the disconnect between active and celebratory commitments. By employing different qualitative methods and engaging in discourse analysis, this project investigates the mobilization of "foundational myths" in both overarching EU programmes and targeted gender policies. It then analyzes the effects of mythologizing on the politicization (or depoliticization) of gender equality. This dissertation argues that to legitimate its supranational polity in "polycrisis," the EU discursively mobilizes mythic commitments to "European values" in place of substantive efforts. It finds that the repeated representation of gender equality in the "common sense" of "European values" obscures and naturalizes its secondary status as a political priority and, as such, currently renders gender equality "mythologized" in the EU.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Science
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Role of Informal Communication Within Multinational Interior Design Teams During Virtual Collaboration

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Pouryousef Khameneh, Shiva
    Abstract:
    Nowadays, virtual teamwork has become a worldwide trend and Multinational Teams (MNT) remain an essential part of corporations. The cultural difference as the nature of MNTs causes misunderstandings. This research explores the influence of informal communication on team collaboration in MNTs during the early idea-generation phase of interior design projects in a virtual environment. An exploratory research methodology evolved from a combination of research methods. Qualitative data was collected from survey questionnaires and observations of two virtual ideageneration workshops with five participants in each group. According to the analysis, mandatory break time with participatory activities revolving around cultural differences increased informal communication amongst the team, and in turn improved participation and the exchange of ideas during continued collaboration. Informal communication has a positive influence on collaboration of MNTs. The conceptual framework was developed to illustrate its role by connecting the "creation of deeper relations" to "more of collaboration" in MNTs.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2022

  • (Re)Producing military mythology at the Canada Army Run

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Desjardins, Bridgette Marie
    Abstract:
    This thesis offers a novel exploration of militarism in amateur sport. I analyze the 2019 Canada Army Run - an annual road race organized and hosted by the Canadian Armed Forces - to explore how embodied interaction with the event's pro-military messaging affects participants' political orientation to the Canadian military. I draw on ethnographic data gathered while running in the 5k race as well as 40 semi-structured qualitative interviews with race participants and three interviews with event organizers. Theoretically, I utilize Barthes' (1972) work on mythology to conceptualize the ideological significance and political affects of military myth and explore the ways myth is circulated and produced at the Army Run. The most predominant Canadian Armed Forces myths described by participants are: having a standing, armed military is necessary and inevitable; the military only uses force when necessary and primarily engages in aid work and is thus moral; and the military is misunderstood by most civilians and as a result is under appreciated. These myths circulate at the Army Run in myriad ways. The opportunity to build civilian-military connections via interpersonal interaction was the event's most effective tactic in generating civilian support, encouraging participants to see the military not as a faceless institution, but rather as the sum of its parts: individual servicepeople. Ultimately, I argue that the Canada Army Run (re)produces myths of military necessity, morality, and under appreciation via participants' embodied engagement in military themed spaces and with military members. Through physical engagement in the Army Run's military-saturated event space and interaction with military servicepeople, participants come to feel connected to the military, and it is through this felt connection that increased support is generated and attention is shifted away from military politics and practices and toward the interpersonal. The Army Run's presentation of a depoliticized, individualized Canadian Armed Forces allows for increased public support that remains constant as it is not grounded in the reality of military action, thus enabling the proliferation of military power and investment.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Legal Studies
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Design and Delivery of Public Mental Health Programming for First Nations Youth: Federal, Provincial, Regional, and Community Approaches to Youth Engagement in Northwestern Ontario

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Root, Ariel Elizabeth
    Abstract:
    Public mental health programming aims to address mental health at a population level, and must therefore consider the interconnectedness of determinants of health, and their distinctions between First Nations communities. In Ontario, public mental health programming on-reserve has been described as a piecemeal of policies and legislation between governments, regional authorities, and community-based services. Regional organizations publish publicly about their program development processes, many of which highlight the importance of youth engagement. Youth engagement in decision-making that affects their lives can improve program relevance, and influence participating youths' wellbeing. This project was guided by three lines of inquiry: how federal, provincial, regional, and community-level organizations approach public mental health programming for First Nations youth living on reserve in northwestern Ontario; the ways in which they each use youth engagement methods, and; the experiences from engagement opportunities as perceived by both youth and adults. Interview data were collected between May 2019 and January 2022 to unpack programmatic approaches to public mental health and youth engagement methods used as defined by the McCain Model of Youth Engagement (Heffernan et al., 2017). The Youth-Adult Survey (Jones & Perkins, 2006) and the Youth Experiences Survey (Hansen & Larson, 2002) were administered to First Nations youth and youth workers in community between June and July 2021 to compare engagement experiences between participating youth and adults. Findings from this project reveal that public mental health programming is mostly designed and delivered by regional and community-level organizations, though rigorous reporting and evaluation requirements to sustain funding were significant challenges. Funding and designing programs for youth living on-reserve must be rooted in strengths-based approaches, as well as informed by challenges in community contexts. Regional and community-level organizations in northwestern Ontario most often engaged with youth, and used various methods of engagement; however, contextual factors, as well as historical and ongoing trauma, influenced both youth and adult allyship. Renewing the approach to public mental health for First Nations living on-reserve in northwestern Ontario will require renewed relationships between First Nations and governments that ensure inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies throughout design and decision-making.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Public Policy
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Privacy, Biological Relatives, and at-Home DNA Testing

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Baig, Khadija Nawal
    Abstract:
    At-home DNA testing remains popular amongst individuals today. These direct-to-consumer services come with several privacy risks, that can extend far beyond the individuals taking the test. How do participants attribute risk to biological family members? How do users and non-users differ in comfort with their data being shared, and their understanding of privacy risks? How do privacy perceptions differ for ancestry and health data? To investigate these questions, we conducted a 2x2 survey, and discovered non-users were significantly more privacy conscious, and that health data was considered more beneficial overall. We then interviewed 10 biological family members of users who had not taken a test themselves; though many were unconcerned or indifferent towards privacy, privacy-conscious participants were frustrated by, and resigned to, the loss of control over their data. We discuss our findings, the implications of our research, offer recommendations to improve privacy, and identify areas for future research.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Overbrook Renewal: The Redevelopment of Shallow Lot Public Housing

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Farhat, Alia
    Abstract:
    Ottawa's public housing stock, most of which is owned and maintained by Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (OCH), is reaching the end of its life cycle and is increasingly costly to maintain. This thesis focuses on the redevelopment of OCH's holdings in the Overbrook neighborhood. Unlike more notorious post-war examples,1 this housing consists of low-rise, family-friendly dwellings integrated with private-sector housing. When evaluated against current municipal standards, however, the density is low, and energy performance of this housing is poor. Moreover, current residents, many of whom have raised families in their units, would benefit from a greater range of housing choices. Among the challenges facing the redevelopment of OCH's Overbrook properties is the shallow configuration of some lots. This thesis uses design as a form of research to explore higher-density solutions for these parcels while integrating a variety of unit types.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Architecture
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Experimental Investigation of Colloid-Facilitated Metal Transport in Mine-Impacted Wetland Sediment

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Harper, Colleen Olivia
    Abstract:
    Metal mining operations can release toxic metals to surrounding environments, often necessitating remediation. Contaminant transport can increase the area impacted, but site-specific conditions control the movement of contaminants. Colloid-facilitated transport, the transport of contaminants with small, mobile particles, has been recognized as a potential contaminant transport vector in groundwater, but it remains unclear whether it is important in all situations. This work presents two laboratory experiments that study the effect of colloids on metal mobility in saturated, wetland sediment using mixed and single metal solutions and neutral to acidic solution pHs. Results indicate that colloid-facilitated transport is only important when small, humic acid colloids are present and at pH ≥4. Larger particles were found to be largely immobile, so could aid in the immobilization of metal contaminants. These findings imply that colloid-facilitated transport is important in wetland sediment and should be considered when remediating mine sites.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Clinical Model for Cerebral Vasospasm Prediction

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Hsu, Janine Shao Chen
    Abstract:
    Cerebral vasospasm is a neurosurgical emergency that occurs after aneurysm rupture. Rapid diagnosis allows for initiation of management. CT angiogram is the mainstay diagnostic modality when vasospasm is suspected. Our group aims to develop an automatic segmentation model followed by a clinical model to detect vasospasm using CTa. Unfortunately automatic segmentation outputs can be noisy. Using the predicted segmentation, we propose a clinical model which extracts 13 different clinical features to improve the vasospasm prediction. Our purpose is to develop this Clinical Model and test its robustness to noise and clinical feature ablation with 403 manual segmentations trained using a decision tree classifier. Our model improves F1 scores at certain distributions of noise and with higher levels of noise. We show that a Clinical Model subsequent to an Automatic Segmentation Model may be useful in further optimizing performance of vasospasm diagnosis.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Biomedical
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Examining Driver Behaviour at Freeway Ramp Terminals Based on Trajectory Data Collected Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Video Image Processing

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Alamry, Fayez
    Abstract:
    This research utilizes Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to examine real-life speeds and behaviour of drivers at freeway entrance and exit ramp terminals. To achieve this goal, a total of 1,127 minutes of high-resolution aerial video data were collected for traffic movements at thirteen single-lane ramp terminals (seven entrances and six exits) using single and multiple UAVs. A complete space-time trajectory was extracted for each vehicle as it moved on the freeway right lane (FRL) or speed-change lane (SCL) and ramp using a combination of computer vision and deep learning tools. The trajectories were processed to extract relevant driver-vehicle behaviour measures (e.g., merging/diverging location, merging/diverging speed, acceleration/deceleration distances, SCL utilization rates, and accepted merging gaps). A descriptive analysis was performed for better understanding of driver behaviour over the entire stretch of the freeway ramp terminal segment, including FRL, SCL, and ramp. The trends of driver behaviour measures and their relationships with the SCL and ramp geometric characteristics were investigated under free-flow and platoon conditions. Results of the descriptive analysis highlighted differences between taper and parallel SCLs in terms of merging/diverging location, merging/diverging speed, and SCL utilization. Observations of data also confirmed the importance of accounting for the effects of ramp controlling features on the behaviour and vehicle acceleration needs, especially at exit ramps. Several statistical models were developed using regression analysis to model drivers' behaviour measures on SCLs and ramps. Moreover, a set of the observed merging accepted gap data were fitted to the models proposed in the literature to check which models provide the best fit. Results revealed that the models developed using trip data from SHRP-2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) database relatively fitted the data better than other models in the literature. This finding is significant in validating the transferability of models developed using the NDS to other study areas in North America. Finally, the research concluded with a demonstration of the practical application of the developed regression models in reliability analysis, considering actual drivers' behaviour and speeds on SCLs and ramps.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Civil
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Geometric Modelling and Control of Slow-Fast Realization of Nonholonomic Mechanical Systems

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Gzenda, Vaughn Michael
    Abstract:
    This thesis studies geometric formulations of a slow-fast realization of nonholonomic mechanical control systems mediated by strong friction forces. Such realization is motivated by wheeled mobile robotic systems and viewed as a singular perturbation of nonholonomic dynamics. For sufficiently strong friction forces, the dynamics emit an attractive invariant manifold interpreted as the perturbation of the constraints. This invariant manifold describes small slip velocities at the wheel contact points. We propose a systematic decomposition of the control system into slow and fast directions. The invariant manifold is approximated with a power series, which can be recursively computed. Accordingly, we develop a novel recursive procedure to input-output linearize the slow subsystem by dynamic-state feedback transformations. Using this procedure, design a trajectory-tracking PD controller to compensate for the violations of constraints and closed-loop stability analysis is performed. Our approach is illustrated through a numerical case study.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Region-of-Interest Detection for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Kyrollos, Daniel George
    Abstract:
    Noncontact monitoring of neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) relies on accurate region-of-interest detection (ROI) detection for various downstream tasks, such as vital sign estimation and motion detection. This thesis investigates ROI detection for the NICU under adverse vision conditions, such as complete darkness and full occlusion by blankets, whereas traditional methods, using colour imagery, only consider ideal vision conditions. Pressure and depth imaging were leveraged as alternative imaging modalities since they are not affected by these adverse vision conditions. This thesis develops techniques for multimodal spatial registration between pressure and colour images. This work also establishes the benefit of transfer learning from adult data under different pretraining and fine-tuning strategies. Lastly, this thesis demonstrates that it is possible to estimate full pose from neonates even when the patient is fully occluded, using a combination of pressure and depth imagery.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Morphological Effects of the Microenvironment Structure on Human Fetal Lung Fibroblast Cells

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Shakir, Shahad
    Abstract:
    The Extracellular Matrix (ECM) provides physical and chemical cues that regulate cell behavior and influence cellular function in tissue formation and homeostasis. In recent years, the importance of the ECM microenvironment on cells has been emphasized with research tracking changes due to injury, disease and treatments. Using texture and shape feature analysis, collagen, an important structural protein of the ECM, was characterized in different ECM microenvironments. Additionally, Human Fetal Lung Fibroblast (HFL) cells morphology alterations due to changes in microenvironment were studied. The analysis involved tracking changes in a static, mechanically stimulated, and 3D bioprinted microenvironment. Results indicated that the ECM may trigger signals that control essential physiological processes and cell activity, such as differentiation, adhesion, and migration. Additional assays (e.g., methods to protein and gene expression) are required, but this valuable information provides an opportunity to explore disease development in different tissues, and treatment strategies of chronic diseases.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Biomedical
    Date Created:
    2023

  • Evolution of Hadrosaurs in the Campanian of Laramidia: New Information from the Skull Roof and Braincase

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    McFeeters, Bradley
    Abstract:
    This project seeks to investigate the morphology, ontogeny, and evolution of skull roof and braincase characters in hadrosaurids from the Campanian of northern Laramidia (Alberta and Montana), a setting in which they have been historically recognized as having a high abundance and diversity. New material is evaluated to clarify the distribution and informativeness of morphological character states, allow further testing of previous hypotheses about how the ontogenetic development of these characters evolved within clades, and enable the identification of previously unrecorded taxa. Five partial skulls of Maiasaura peeblesorum are described from a bone bed in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana, providing the basis for a description of the braincase morphology of this taxon, and an ontogenetic series allowing the development of the crest to be compared to related taxa. Two new partial skulls from the middle unit of the Oldman Formation at the Milk River Ridge Reservoir near Warner, southern Alberta both represent first occurrences of a taxon in that unit. The first is described as the first diagnostic occurrence of Maiasaura in Canada. Maiasaura and Brachylophosaurus in the middle unit of the Oldman Formation are the first example of co-occurring brachylophosaurins. The second is described as a new taxon of Parasaurolophini, and is the oldest diagnostic lambeosaurine in Alberta. A phylogenetic analysis using maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods supports these identifications, and also re-identifies a previously described specimen from the Dinosaur Park Formation as the geologically youngest brachylophosaurin in Alberta.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Exploring the Role of Trust during Human-AI Collaboration in Managerial Decision-Making Processes

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Tuncer, Serdar
    Abstract:
    Despite the growing popularity of using Artificial Intelligence-based (AI-based) models to assist human decision-makers, little is known about how managers in business environments approach AI-assisted decision-making. To this end, our research is guided by two questions: (1) What facets make the Human (Manager)-AI decision-making process trustworthy, and (2) Does trust in AI depend on the degree to which the AI agent is humanized? Our results show that (a) AI is preferred for operational versus strategic decisions, (b) the ability to interpret the decision-making process of AI agents would help improve user trust and alleviate calibration bias, (c) humanoid interaction styles such as conversations were believed to improve the interpretability of the decision-making process, and (d) organizational change management was essential for adopting AI technologies.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Human-Computer Interaction (M.H.C.I.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2022

  • An Examination of How Various Statistical Weighting Methods Impact Predictive Validity of the Service Planning Instrument for Women (SPIn-W)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Robb, Colleen
    Abstract:
    Risk assessments are vital within the criminal justice system, yet research regarding the optimization of these instruments for women is limited. Currently, minimal research is available on the impact various statistical weighting methodologies may have on the prediction of recidivism for women. Using two-year fixed follow-up data from 656 justice-involved women from Maine United States, the current study explored the predictive validity of the Service Planning Instrument for Women (SPIn-W; Orbis Partners, 2007) at the item level and the predictive accuracy of four weighting methodologies. Results from the present study showed that 19 of the 98 items of the SPIn-W were significantly predictive of recidivism. Further, the gender-responsive Nuffield 2.0 weighting method most often evidenced the greatest levels of predictive accuracy across aggregate and domain level scores. Pending replication and cross-validation, the current study suggests that the SPIn-W be updated with the gender-responsive Nuffield 2.0 method to optimize predictive validity.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2021

  • Three Essays on Causal Analysis of Banking Regulation and Monetary Policy

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Tang, Haowei
    Abstract:
    As the second largest financial crisis after the "Great Depression", the 2007/8 financial crisis posed great challenges to policy makers. To respond to such challenges, new policies are adopted. In my dissertation, I conduct causal analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of some of the newly proposed regulations following the financial crisis. In the first chapter, Professor Lynda Khalaf and I examine the impact of the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) on bank lending in the U.S, using a Difference-in-Difference framework. with a variety of identification methods. Available evidence on the LCR is scarce and is restricted to standard event studies. In this paper, we compare standard dynamic TWFE estimates to recently proposed alternative specifications. We find no effects of the LCR on bank lending, and the assumptions embedded in the TWFE models make meaningful empirical difference. In the second chapter, Professor Lynda Khalaf and I study the dynamic causal effects of a monetary policy shock on the US economy within the Local Projection - Instrumental Variable [LP-IV] framework. Our reassessment is motivated by the emerging concerns in the literature about popular IVs that are based on high-frequency identification. We provide weak-instruments robust inference on the traditional LP-IV coefficient which we denote as the direct causal effect [DCE]. We define, estimate and test an alternative response parameter, denoted as the total causal effect [TCE], that accounts for the inherent unobservable endogeneity factor resulting from the first stage regression error. The TCE is identified whether the considered IVs are weak or strong. Our view is that both effects play an important role in capturing the net impact of a policy shock. Using identification-robust approaches produces economically more plausible results. Estimates of the TCEs suggest that DCEs may miss important responses. In the third chapter, Professor Hashmat Khan and I examine the flow view of quantitative easing (QE) using monthly data on Federal Reserve's pre-announced asset purchases from the second and third rounds of QE. We determine both average and cumulative purchasing effects using structural VAR and local projection methods, respectively. We find statistically significant effects on various financial variables and macro aggregates.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Economics
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Bucolic, the Backwoods, and the In-Between: Navigating Desire in Atlantic Canadian Literature

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Marr, Gemma
    Abstract:
    Representations of Atlantic Canada in media, popular culture, and literature often depict the region as a space of rural simplicity or stagnancy. To contest these assumptions, this dissertation considers Atlantic Canadian literature from 1908 to 2019, with attention to what I see as a complex sense of identity emerging in the region which intersects with broader ideas about sexuality. For much of this period, discourses of normative sexuality spread across the country at the same time aspects of Atlantic Canadian experience were commodified and canonized. This dissertation identifies a limited archetypal spectrum of representations running from bucolic nostalgia to backwoods ignorance. Despite the persistence of images which privilege understandings of the region as a heterosexual monolith, I suggest that within Atlantic Canadian literature there are texts that, in differing ways, trouble this view. To make this point, I explore a range of representations and their reception, from Anne of Green Gables (1908) and the Netflix adaptation Anne with an E (2017), to writing by Alistair MacLeod, David Adams Richards, and Wayne Johnston. To differing degrees, these texts remain popular in the nation's cultural imaginary, and I outline how their recognition influences which bodies, relations, and values become accepted as part of the social fabric of Atlantic Canada. I also explore the work of R.M. Vaughan, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Jaime Burnet, and others who complicate narratives of heteronormative space which are privileged in the national imagination. This push-pull of representation embodies, I assert, a regional desiring, a concept which troubles binaries of insider/outsider, here/there, and rural/urban. Over time, this regional desiring impacts what is understood as an 'authentic' narrative of Atlantic Canadian experience. Ultimately, I argue that a complex desire for normative narratives of Atlantic Canada from arbiters of culture, funding bodies, and the reading public come into tension with the diverse reality of sexualities that exist in the region. Despite perceptions of Atlantic Canada as inherently conservative and traditional, an attitude that the region's literature is assumed to reinforce, the texts I explore raise questions about the intersections of space, time, and sexuality in an Atlantic Canadian context.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    English
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Complex Yet Coordinated: Regulation of Transcriptional Factors and Cell Signaling Pathways to Endure Anoxia in Rana sylvatica

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Gupta, Aakriti
    Abstract:
    Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) are a well-studied vertebrate model of natural freeze tolerance, surviving several months of winter subzero temperatures with 65-70% of total body water frozen as extracellular ice. Freezing halts blood circulation, heartbeat and breathing, restricting oxygen availability throughout the body and requiring a switch to anaerobic glycolysis for energy production, with its much lower ATP yield. To survive, wood frogs suppress their metabolic rate by about 90% to match ATP availability from glycolysis alone. Multiple cellular processes are regulated and suppressed, sustaining only pro-survival pathways until thawing occurs. Episodes of anoxia/reoxygenation also elevate reactive oxygen species (ROS) production that can surpass the antioxidant capacity of cells causing oxidative stress and tissue damage. This thesis examined a network of stress-responsive transcription factors (NRF2, OCT1, OCT4, YAP/TEAD, and RBPJ) and their associated pathways to determine their response and regulation over the anoxia/reoxygenation cycle. Decreased binding of transcriptional complexes to the promoter regions of target genes indicated a global reduction in transcription/translation processes. The data show also "functional switching" of OCT1, OCT4, and MAML while selectively upregulating antioxidants in a stress/organ specific manner. The present studies also shed new light on tissue repair mechanisms by demonstrating upregulation of selected pathway proteins. An increase in AHCY levels in liver also suggests maintenance of redox control, and elevated JMJD2C, TAZ, and MAML in skeletal and cardiac muscles indicates a potential increase in the expression of MyoD for muscle regeneration. Overall, the findings of this thesis document a complex yet coordinated network of transcriptional factors that support metabolic rate depression during freezing, combat oxidative stress, and initiate tissue repair mechanisms to endure prolonged anoxia and maintain cellular homeostasis in frozen wood frogs.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Oral Health Access and Inequities in Rural Regions

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Tovar Hidalgo, Maria Alejandra
    Abstract:
    This thesis aims to systematically examine the patterns of, and factors associated with, dental utilization among rural Ontario residents by collating, integrating, and interpreting data from the Canadian Community Health Survey. A scoping review across three high-income countries was also undertaken to determine which interventions are most efficient in closing the gaps in dental utilization previously identified in the CCHS data analysis and identify possible barriers and facilitators. This thesis provides evidence that oral health is influenced by geographical factors, socioeconomic status, and self-reported health behaviours. Equity in dental care was also influenced by structural factors like insurance and dental coverage. Rural Ontario residents visit their dentists less frequently and have more problem-oriented dental visits. The oral healthcare sector has experienced significant improvements in recent years through different oral health promotion and prevention programs, educational interventions, alternative delivery models and greater community and public health partnerships.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Health Sciences
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Principles and Properties for Reducing the Prevalence of Implicit Interactions in System Designs.

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Newton, Luke Antony Ashley
    Abstract:
    Early security considerations are essential to ensuring a system is adequately protected, but their ever-growing size and complexity often leaves full comprehension of a system's interconnections out of reach. This gives rise to implicit interactions. These unplanned or unforeseen communication sequences between components are security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to mount a cyberattack. Existing design-phase formal methods-based approaches exist to identify implicit interactions, but formal methods see limited adoption and the root cause of implicit interactions is not well understood. In this work, we extend the existing formal approach to suggest areas of a system to focus redesign efforts, while also providing alternative approaches that do not require formal expertise. These focus on graph-based measurements and providing a set of properties, quality attributes, and design principles with goals in line with the reduction of the prevalence of implicit interactions within a system design.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Graph-based Knowledge Modeling and Analytics for Capturing and Predicting Customer Behaviour

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zahran, Heba Hegazy Abdelzaher
    Abstract:
    Understanding customer behaviour is a challenging problem. While the customer produces a large amount of data with each touch point, most of the proposed models focus on one data source in their predictive analysis approaches. This research proposes a customer profile model based on 360 customer view. To this end, we first model a simplified data model and the basic entities based on the existing models. Then, we perform extensive feature engineering techniques, including extracting new features and transforming features to enhance their behaviour in the predictive model. Through the experimentations, we show that the models based on graphs achieve good performance. To this end, we propose a graph-based neural network capable of multitasking without sacrificing the task's performance. We examine three tasks to predict customer intentions. The final results reveal that the set of features with customer information from different data sources positively influences the predictive algorithms' performance.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Information Technology (M.I.T.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Digital Media
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Evaluating the Consequences of Physical Barriers on Fish During Long-distance Upstream Migrations Through Rivers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Twardek, William Milan
    Abstract:
    Migration allows animals to exploit conditions across distinct habitats to maximize their potential fitness. These movements are dependent on connectivity between habitats that make it possible for animals to move unencumbered. In freshwater ecosystems, dams and other barriers can compromise connectivity and restrict the movement of migrating fish (among other organisms). The central objective of this thesis was to evaluate the consequences of physical barriers on fish during long-distance upstream migrations through rivers. This thesis generates multiple lines of evidence to evaluate that objective, including a literature synthesis, as well as ecological, social science, and physiological data, with much of this research focusing on Chinook salmon of the upper Yukon River that undertake one of the world's longest inland salmon migrations. First, I conducted a synthesis to identify the broad scale impacts of hydropower barriers on inland fish. Next, I evaluated the potential for a fishway to restore connectivity for upper Yukon River Chinook salmon beyond a hydropower barrier situated in a terminal reach of their migration. I then considered how the knowledge developed in the preceding chapters can inform the practice of fish passage by surveying fish passage engineers and scientists on the state of collaboration and knowledge dissemination in the field. Finally, I assessed the efficacy of an ex-situ approach to off-setting the impacts of barriers - hatchery production. This research revealed that the impacts of barriers on long-distance fish migrations (and the broader ecosystem) can be severe, but that approaches can be taken to minimize these impacts (Chapter 2). Fishways are one such approach, but they are not always effective for long-distance migrants like the upper Yukon River Chinook salmon (Chapters 3-5). Part of the solution may be more frequent collaboration and knowledge dissemination amongst fish passage professionals to enhance the effectiveness of fish passage facilities (Chapter 6). Hatcheries may complement fish passage efforts, though the physiological differences between hatchery and wild fish should be considered (Chapter 7). Findings from this thesis highlight the importance of maintaining connectivity for migratory fish to the benefit of the ecosystems and people that depend on them.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Landscape Analysis in Environmental Impact Assessment: Is there Potential to Improve Biodiversity Conservation through Better-Informed Decisions?

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Rehbein, Christina K.
    Abstract:
    Biodiversity is in severe decline globally, attributed in a large part to anthropogenic land use change. The conservation literature refers to the landscape scale as important in mediating biodiversity. However, environmental impact assessment (EIA), a prevalent tool to inform decision-making with respect to ecological considerations such as biodiversity impacts, rarely takes a landscape perspective. Decisions are often made for individual projects, at local scales, with little attention paid to landscape contexts. The cumulative impact of project-by-project decision-making all too often results in alteration of ecological networks in the landscape with associated losses in biodiversity. A disconnect is apparent between scales of analysis for biodiversity conservation and those used for impact assessment. Landscape ecology studies landscape patterns and processes at a range of scales and has potential to bridge this disconnect. This thesis examines the potential to improve biodiversity conservation by better incorporating landscape ecology-based analysis into project EIA. The mixed-methods research follows three lines: (1) identifying gaps between the science of landscape ecology and the practice of EIA, (2) examining the challenges faced by EIA practitioners when considering broader-scale analysis in EIA and associated opportunities for overcoming them, and (3) testing an accessible approach to landscape analysis that incorporates a scenario-based simulation model of cumulative project decision-making. Research was focused on Ontario, Canada, and its multi-jurisdictional EIA regime. Results revealed gaps in how landscape context was considered in EIA, such as the ability of the whole landscape to support species movement and dispersal, and in comparing project-induced land use change to landscape-based ecological targets and thresholds. Quantitative and spatial analyses were infrequently used to assess landscape composition and configuration. Challenges exacerbating these gaps are both policy- and science-based. Weak policy and guidance for broader-scale analysis and a lack of multi-level policy support undermine practitioners' ability to incorporate landscape analysis into EIA. Better multi-jurisdictional data and data management systems are recommended, as well as increasing knowledge of ecological thresholds within the science-practitioner communities. If these challenges can be overcome, the modelling exercise demonstrated that incorporating even simple landscape considerations in project-based decision-making can have a positive effect on biodiversity indicators.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Deep Generative Models for Unsupervised Scale-Based and Position-Based Disentanglement of Concepts from Face Images.

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Abdolahnejad Bahramabadi, Mahla
    Abstract:
    Among the different categories of natural images, face images are very important because of the role they play in human social interactions. It is recognised that despite all the recent advances of artificial intelligence using deep neural networks, computers are still struggling at achieving a rich and flexible understanding of face images comparable to humans' face perception abilities. This thesis aims at finding fully unsupervised ways for learning a transformation from face images pixel space to a representation space in which the underlying facial concepts are captured and disentangled. We propose that it is possible to utilize clues from the real 3D world in order to guide the representation learner in the direction of disentangling facial concepts. We conduct two studies in order to test this hypothesis. First, we propose a deep autoencoder model for extracting facial concepts based on their scales. We introduce an adaptive resolution reconstruction loss inspired by the fact that different categories of concepts are encoded in (and can be captured from) different resolutions of face images. With the help of this new reconstruction loss, the deep autoencoder model is able to receive a real face image and compute its representation vector, which not only makes it possible to reconstruct the input image faithfully, but also separates the concepts related to specific scales. Second, we introduce a new scheme to enable generative adversarial networks to learn a representation for face images which is composed of the representations for smaller facial components. This is inspired by the fact that all face images display the same underlying structure. As a result, a face image can be divided into parts with fixed positions each containing specific facial components only. Learning a separate distribution for each of these parts is equivalent to disentangling these components in the representation space.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Therapeutic Effects of Flibanserin in Rat Activity-Based Anorexia

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Stanford-Toonen, Ashley
    Abstract:
    Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex disorder with high morbidity and mortality. Given that multi-modal rehabilitation programs are the only effective AN treatment, the discovery of new drug treatments is essential. Core to researching new treatment options for AN is the use of animal models, specifically, activity-based anorexia (ABA). ABA reproduces three of the core symptoms of AN: caloric restriction, increased exercise, and rapid weight loss. Flibanserin is a drug that increases sexual activity in women, and we hypothesized that it might increase another rewarding motivated activity, eating, in juvenile female ABA rats. Our findings indicate that flibanserin treatment reduced weight loss by decreasing hyperactivity and increasing food intake. Further examination of the complex pharmacological profile of FLIB is required to understand the pharmacological mode of action underlying the behavioral changes in ABA, however this research provides clinically relevant evidence that flibanserin may be effective in combatting ABA symptoms.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Material and Digital Identity Negotiation of Francophone Music Artists: Decolonizing Diversity-Focused Festivals in Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Thompson, Michelle
    Abstract:
    Since the 1950s, a new wave of music festivals has emerged in North America in response to the systematic exclusion and cultural gatekeeping cultural organizations have historically conducted. This has created a more inclusive space for marginalized artists and communities in which political discourse and anti-discrimination movements have become the focus (Getz, 2010; Duffy & Mair, 2021; Quinn, 2005; Li, Moore & Smythe, 2018; Wilson, Arshed, Shaw & Pret, 2016; Bekenshtein, 2020; Fernandez, 2006). This study highlights some of Canada's diversity-focused festivals, which are founded on the principles of multiculturalism and support the national narrative of a welcoming nation. However, these events sometimes reproduce existing societal conditions that position racially marginalized people as the "Other". The study applies a digital ethnography (DE) methodology (Pink, 2012, 2013, Postill, 2008, 2010a, 2010b, 2011) to investigate the promotional activities festivals and marginalized music artists conduct as they negotiate existing power imbalances, cultural hegemony, and language hierarchies. Between July and November 2019, I carried out field visits to five Canadian festivals that focus on diversity and multiculturalism. I collected field notes, photos, videos, and audio recordings, and captured 1083 Facebook posts from the events and the artists who performed there. Through digital content analysis and ethnographic inquiry, the data revealed that racially marginalized francophone music artists express fluid and hybrid identities constructed by multilingualism, geographic mobility, and their musical influences. These identities are evident in the music styles artists express, the languages they use, and the symbolic meaning of their Facebook content. The findings show that festivals are largely apolitical and focused on the commodification of diversity and multiculturalism. This commodification can nationalize, fetishize, exotify, and culturally appropriate the identities of marginalized communities. As a result, festivals can reproduce difference rather than create the social cohesion they aspire to. Music artists use strategies like hashtag activism, code-switching, music remix, public speaking, and content curation to negotiate these social constraints. In doing so, they challenge the compartmentalization of the music industry and introduce positive representations of marginalized communities.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Canadian Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Supportive Smart Home System: Implications and Solutions for Service Providers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Almhairat, Saif
    Abstract:
    Supportive smart home systems show the potential to enable older adults to age-in-place. However, research has not considered the communication challenge accompanied by wide-scale use. This thesis provides insight into supportive home systems' network traffic, identifies the impact of network impairments on a mechanism aimed to reduce network traffic, and develops a solution to ensure robustness of the traffic reduction mechanism to network impairments. Network traffic for two smart home systems and bed sensors was analyzed for 57 days. Results indicated a 10-fold difference in traffic between similar systems and the predominance of small packets which consume the network. Dual Machine Learning was implemented to reduce network traffic and, under simulated network impairments, yielded inaccuracies in cloud-recorded data. A solution was developed to mitigate the impact of network impairments, whereby accuracy increased from 71.4% to 94.6% for latency, 64.1% to 90.3% for jitter, and 61.6% to 78.9% for packet loss.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Navigating the Void: Subjectivity and Contemporary Critical Theory

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Ghandeharian, Sacha
    Abstract:
    This dissertation argues that a feminist critical theory of event provides the political tradition of contemporary critical theory with important theoretical tools for the continued interrogation of our dominant socio-symbolic order as characterized by its prevailing structures, institutions and discourses. These discussions are oriented by an exploration of the antinomy between universality and contingency in efforts to theorize subjectivity and ethics in contemporary critical theory. Chapter One explores the role of antihumanism in contemporary critical theory as dramatized by the Foucault-Habermas debate. Chapter Two argues that narrative theories of self are constitutive of an attempt to reconcile universality and contingency by trying to incorporate contingency within an account of narrative coherence and agency which remains formal and universalistic. With the introduction of the notion of 'Event' in Chapter Three, we begin to more fully realize the potential of thinking of universality and contingency as co-constitutive theoretical and transformative practices. In light of the tendency in traditional theories of event to foreground the element of deconstruction over and against the productive, as well as the overly formal nature of theorizing the event, Chapter Four and Five rethink the notion of event from the perspective of feminist critical theory (e.g. Butler, Irigaray and care ethics). A feminist critical theory of event, with a theory of relational subjectivity at its core, becomes a means through which to conceptualize subjectivity in a way that recognizes both its formal and contextual dimensions. A feminist critical theory of event is able to theorize the formal characteristics of relational subjectivity as shared vulnerability, as well as how said vulnerability becomes shaped in particular ways depending on one's position within structures and relations of power. Such a conceptualization of event is best suited to understanding and critiquing the dominant socio-symbolic order of our time.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Science
    Date Created:
    2020

  • Early-life seizure sensitive neurones: Their characteristics and role in epilepsy pathology

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Horsey, Emily Anne
    Abstract:
    There is a large body of literature exploring early-life-seizures (ELS), however, much of this research focuses on whole brain regions. This thesis aims to understand the characteristics of ELS-sensitive neurones and their role in future seizure pathology. Using c-Fos-GFP/c-Fos-tTA based transgenic mice, we found that at P10 ~18% of pyramidal neurones are activated in the CA1 pyramidal layer of the hippocampus in response to a kainic acid (KA) seizure. Electrophysiology recordings of ELS-sensitive neurones found a decrease in spontaneous GABA activity. Using c-Fos-GFP/c-Fos-tTA/TRE-hM3Dq mice, which flags ELS-sensitive neurones with the excitatory DREADD hM3Dq, we found that reactivating ELS-sensitive neurones is sufficient to evoke seizures. Finally, using c-Fos-GFP/c-Fos-tTA/TRE-hM4Di mice with the inhibitory DREADD hM4Di, we found that suppressing ELS-sensitive neurones after a seizure recovers the increase in excitability. These results indicate that ELS-sensitive neurones play a crucial role in future seizure pathology and pose a unique target for further research.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Examining Neuroendocrine and Inflammatory Biomarker Profiles to Characterize PTSD Subtypes and Symptom Profiles.

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jarkas, Dana Abdulaziz
    Abstract:
    Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a multifaceted mental health disorder characterized by diverse clinical and biological profiles. Participants in the current study comprised individuals with PTSD who had military experience and healthy controls. All participants completed questionnaires assessing mental health symptoms and provided saliva and blood samples for cortisol and inflammatory marker determination. The dissociative PTSD group displayed the highest symptom severity, reflecting a high degree of comorbidity, in addition to elevated traumatic life encounters, including experiences of childhood abuse. Individuals with dissociative PTSD had elevated nighttime cortisol, whereas the non-dissociative PTSD group did not differ from controls, while both PTSD groups showed elevated cortisol awakening response. Inflammatory levels were associated with clinical symptomatology and childhood traumatic experiences. This suggests that PTSD subtypes may be differentiated on a clinical and neurobiological level. Further delineation of the biological underpinnings of these subtypes can inform personalized treatment strategies for individuals with PTSD.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Task Scheduling and Productivity

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Leblanc, Corey
    Abstract:
    The current research aims to describe general scheduling tendencies, evaluate the impact considering task end-times have on scheduling tendencies, and to assess links between scheduling tendencies and productivity. Throughout four studies, findings indicated that participants consistently preferred to schedule tasks on-the-hour (e.g., 9:00 or 10:00 vs. 9:15 or 10:30). When considering task end-times, this tendency for on-the-hour scheduling was reduced, especially when participants had five tasks or more to schedule. On-the-hour scheduling is likely a form of intermittent scheduling, which has been detrimentally associated with productivity. Although some correlational evidence was uncovered to support the notion that on-the-hour scheduling would be detrimentally linked to productivity (Study 2), replications showed no association between the variables (Study 3). These findings provide valuable information regarding scheduling tendencies, as well as the impact considering task end-times have on scheduling. However, more research is needed to examine links between on-the-hour task scheduling and productivity.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Ready to Play: A Biopsychosocial Approach to Return-to-Sport in Adults with Prolonged Concussion Symptoms

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Wong, Vicki
    Abstract:
    Introduction: Sport-related concussions are recognized in all types of sports in athletes of all ages. While concussion presentation involves transient symptoms, some may have prolonged symptoms that linger past the typical 2-week recovery time for adults. These prolonged symptoms can affect physical, emotional, cognitive, and sleep domains. Research Significance: This thesis examined adult athletes who experience prolonged symptoms of sport-related concussion to further our understanding of the type of symptoms that are common in an understudied population. Many of the psychological and sociological deficits are not evaluated in preparation for return to sport, but the aim of the thesis is to show their need to be included. Links between psychosocial and physical impairments can drive decisions regarding return to sport. Methods: Based on the biopsychosocial model, 3 cross-sectional studies assessed which symptom domains were clinically relevant, influenced disability, and related to each other. The studies included several clinical outcome measures delivered in online format such as the concussion symptoms, fear avoidance, sleep changes, cogniphobia, pain catastrophizing, and disability post-concussion. The last study included a small sample of participants doing a qualitative interview to confirm objective findings. They were asked to reflect on mental health, sociological impacts, and physical symptoms. Results: The concussion groups showed clinically relevant levels of concussion symptoms, mental health distress, and fear avoidance behaviour. The athletes also presented with significant changes in their abilities of daily activities. Episodic memory was also found to be a deficit for this study. Athlete interviews had statements about fear, loss of self, acceptance, and emotional regulation. Limitations included changing to online formats due to Covid-19, small sample sizes, and utilization of new outcome measures. Future work would expand on the emotional and sociological findings and address cognitive tasks for adults with prolonged symptoms. Evaluation in conjunction with physical activity or training helps an athlete return to sport. Conclusions: Adult athletes with prolonged symptoms of sport-related concussion live with many physical, emotional, and sociological impairments. It is a population that needs further research to focus on their impact and future intervention plans.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Daily Order of Alcohol and Cannabis Use Predicts Drinking Quantity on Simultaneous Use Days, but Substance Use Motives do not Moderate

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Carnrite, Kendra Dawn
    Abstract:
    The present study examined whether using alcohol versus cannabis first when simultaneously using predicts levels of alcohol consumption on a given day, while focusing on daily levels of coping and enhancement motives for simultaneous alcohol and cannabis (SAM) use. Undergraduate student drinkers (n=370) participated in a 14-weekend diary study in Fall 2021, completing surveys on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings (n=2,826 responses) assessing their SAM use, alcohol consumption, and motives for SAM use the previous day. Findings from multilevel models showed that students consumed a greater number of drinks on SAM use days than alcohol-only. Students reported consuming less alcohol on SAM use days when they used cannabis versus alcohol first, and no moderating effects of daily coping or enhancement motives were found. Results suggest that college and university students may not drink heavily on all SAM use days, and students may strategically use cannabis first to reduce their drinking.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Towards End-to-End Semantically Aware 2D Plot Tactile Generation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Heydari Dastjerdi, Mohammad Mahdi
    Abstract:
    The goal of this thesis is to automate converting 2D plots including to tactile format. We defined the problem as an image-to-image translation where the source domain belongs to 2D plots and the target domain is the tactile equivalent of the input plot. The proposed method is based on the pix2pix architecture using UNet++ as the generator. We also propose to use gradient penalty and perceptual loss to further enhance the results. To achieve editable outputs, we propose two approaches. One aims to generate RGB outputs. The other aims to generate multichannel outputs where each channel is associated with a component of the 2D plot. We evaluate the proposed models quantitatively and qualitatively. For RGB outputs we use foreground MSE, background MSE, precision, and recall. On the other hand, we use pixel accuracy, Dice coefficient, and Jaccard index to evaluate our channelwise model.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Missing the Past Eating Disorder: Exploring the Dark Side of Nostalgia during Eating Disorder Recovery

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bossom, Isabella Rose Ludvig
    Abstract:
    Behaviour change is motivated by a sense of self-discontinuity with the pre-addicted self because self-discontinuity elicits nostalgic reverie for life before the addiction. To date, these associations have only been tested among people attempting to initiate behaviour change. Herein, I examined whether eating disorder recovery is hindered by feeling that the recovery process has fundamentally altered one's sense of self (i.e., self-discontinuity), thus eliciting nostalgic reverie for the eating disorder. In Study 1, among people in eating disorder recovery, self-discontinuity was negatively associated with subjective recovery and mediated by nostalgia for the perceived benefits of the eating disorder. In Study 2, I manipulated self-discontinuity and then measured nostalgic reverie for the perceived benefits of the eating disorder and subjective recovery. Contrary to predictions, participants manipulated to feel self-continuous (versus self-discontinuous) felt earlier in their subjective recovery via nostalgia for the perceived benefits of the past eating disorder self.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2022

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

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

  • Longing for Homes Where Mangroves Used to Grow: Narratives of Internally Displaced Persons in Southern Philippines

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Quintero, Romeo Joe Linao
    Abstract:
    This master's thesis project, involving three months of ethnographic fieldwork using decolonial Filipino methodology and methods, is an exploration of armed conflict induced displacement in Zamboanga City (Mindanao, Philippines). The stories shared by eleven research participants from four barangays, interrogate the dominant representations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) as voiceless victims in need of rescue and reliant on humanitarian assistance. Using bahala na or agency specific to the Filipino cultural context, IDP women and gender diverse individuals challenged the conventional understandings of agency to recognize decision-making beyond individual choices. The findings highlight that the enactment of agency by Filipino IDPs in southern Philippines is shaped by class and ethno-religious-linguistic identities, revealing the inherently unequal and unruly patterns of mobility.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Women's and Gender Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Pinnipeds in Arctic Canada show no evidence of retained microplastic pollution

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jardine, Alexander Michael
    Abstract:
    As the threat of plastic pollution continues to loom heavily over the global environment, the Arctic has drawn increasing research interest as a potential sink for debris. More specific to the Canadian Arctic, it is unclear whether marine mammals accumulate microplastics (MPs:  5mm). Pinnipeds, like walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) and ringed seals (Pusa hispida), are both ecologically and culturally significant, which poses a risk to northern food security. Here, I present the first assessment of MPs in Canadian walrus by examining the stomachs of 36 animals from Nunavut. Additionally, I expand on existing literature by evaluating the stomachs of 10 ringed seals from the Northwest Territories, Canada. I detected no MPs ≥ 80µm in any of the animals. This result suggests that walrus and seals in the Canadian Arctic either do not retain MPs or are not exposed to them, which is consistent with studies from similar regions.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage in Buried Water Tanks for Single Detached Houses

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Meister, Curtis Harrison
    Abstract:
    Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) could allow solar energy to offset the majority of building energy loads in cold climates. This thesis outlines one of the first long-term, full-scale experimental studies on seasonal storage at the single-detached home scale. A solar thermal system couples a large evacuated tube solar array to both short term thermal storage tanks and a 36m^3 buried water tank used for seasonal storage. Solar heat stored in these water tanks provides space heating (SH) and domestic hot water (DHW) to an energy-efficient two-storey research house in Ottawa, Canada. Long term experiments are described, including a one-year cycle of the system and long term heat loss monitoring. Results show that the as-built system can meet the majority of the building's SH and DHW loads, achieving a solar fraction of 68%. However, experiments revealed several areas of underperformance. Most prominently, faulty solar collectors limited the system's potential. To assess the true potential of the system, detailed energy models were developed and validated against experimental data. Simulated free of faults and underperforming components, the system has a predicted solar fraction of over 90%. Building simulation is further used to explore improved control and sizing of STES systems for single-detached homes. Control methods and decisions such as variable speed pumping, radiant floor supply temperature modulation, and storage setpoints are explored, among others. In regard to sizing, for the house under study, it is shown that solar fractions over 90% require relatively large (and potentially costly) STES tanks (30m^3). However, a moderately lower solar fraction of 70-80% may be obtained even with significantly smaller tanks (10m^3), provided an "oversized" solar thermal array is utilized, which may come at a significantly lower investment cost.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Atmospheric Methane Data Assimilation in the CMAQ Air Quality Model

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Voshtani, Seyyedsina
    Abstract:
    Atmospheric methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and the second-largest contributor to anthropogenic climate forcing. After stabilizing in the early 2000s, the global methane concentration has sharply risen since 2007, mainly due to human-related activities. Curbing the rise of methane concentrations entails identifying and reducing methane emissions, which may otherwise significantly impact climate and air quality. Due to their near-continuous global coverage, satellite observations of methane are often combined with chemical transport models (CTMs) to improve model concentrations and emissions estimates. Previous methane studies are still faced with significant gaps and challenges such that considerable discrepancies among their results have been reported consistently. On the estimation side, most studies assumed that the model is perfect and characterization of uncertainties is already optimal. Obtaining information on methane uncertainties using conventional approaches requires extensive computational resources compared to model integration. Furthermore, there is a lack of independent and objective evaluation of those estimated uncertainties. The first thesis objective is to develop a novel cost-efficient data assimilation framework capable of estimating error statistics using a CTM. This method is referred to as parametric variance Kalman filter (PvKF), which relies on continuous formulation of error covariance propagation without making the perfect model assumption. We test the validity of our assumptions and the performance of the PvKF assimilation using simulated GOSAT observations. Our next goal is to conduct near-optimal assimilation to represent the true methane field. Cross-validation offers an objective manner to characterize the success of the method. We extend that method to the satellite observations and multiple covariance parameter estimations. Using estimated error statistics and GOSAT observations, we found that the quality of the analysis substantially depends on the optimality of those error covariances. Lastly, we evaluate the use of PvKF assimilation in a source inversion context in comparison with a traditional 4D-Var inversion. Using Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs), we verify the ability of our new inversion framework to recover a distribution of known emissions. Our results indicate that both the analysis field and its error covariance exert a tangible influence in lowering the bias and variance of the recovered emissions.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Environmental
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Domicide in the Liveable City: The Gentrification, Demoviction, and Redevelopment of Heron Gate in Ottawa, Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Crosby, Andrew Alan
    Abstract:
    The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the social relations of rule and resistance surrounding gentrification, eviction, and the financialization of rental housing. Contributing to scholarship in critical urban sociology, this research troubles the notion of urban liveability by examining socio-spatial processes of home unmaking at a key site of revitalization and redevelopment in the City of Ottawa. Heron Gate is a large rental neighbourhood owned by one real estate investment firm. Around 800 people—predominantly lower-income, racialized households—have been evicted and displaced from the neighbourhood since 2016, leading to the emergence of the Herongate Tenant Coalition to fight the evictions and confront the landlord-developer. Two theoretical threads guide this research project: settler colonial property relations and domicide, the deliberate destruction of home. Within the context of the City of Ottawa aspiration to be North America's most liveable mid-sized city, this research interrogates how discourses of improvement are mobilized alongside practices of home unmaking in the development of settler colonial cities, as well as how domicide is resisted. This project engages from the standpoint of political activist ethnography, a methodological approach that aims to produce knowledge from an activist perspective and that is useful for social movement struggles. Through the Heron Gate case study and engagement with the Herongate Tenant Coalition, this research sheds light on the investment strategies of apartment investors—including demoviction and intensification—as well as tactics that they deploy to attempt to demobilize tenant opposition. The research further demonstrates the role of municipal governance actors in facilitating gentrification initiatives, and how gentrification is produced through discourses of improvement—such as liveability, revitalization, and community wellbeing—that work to unmake homes, communities, and homelands for some (marginalized, racialized, and Indigenous populations), and remake homes, communities, and homelands for others (affluent, white, settler populations), contributing to how we understand the evolution of racialized property relations in settler society. The significance of this research is that it informs a broader understanding of the financialization of rental housing, larger impacts on affordable housing, and the role that grassroots tenant movements can play in defending their buildings and neighbourhoods.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Internally and Externally Oriented Perception of Music

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Laarakker, Christy Grace
    Abstract:
    Subjective time is the time humans perceive within their internal experiences and is therefore described as "inner time" or "internal time" (Fuchs, 2001). Objective time is a way humans measure time independent of their subjective personal time, also known as "outer time" or "external time" (Northoff et al., 2018). These two forms of time interact with each other when we listen to music. The goal of this study is to investigate the difference between internally and externally oriented perception of music. Using two different music data sets, we measure internal and external time perception through specifically developed visual analogue scales (VAS) with ten questions for each dimension. Results show differences in internally oriented and externally oriented perception during different music pieces. Together our results show the importance of distinguishing externally oriented and internally oriented perception during music listening.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2022

  • An Automated System to Assess Air Space Size in Histopathology Images of Lung Tissue

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Politis, Diego Andreas
    Abstract:
    The mean linear intercept (MLI) score is a useful and common approach for quantifying lung structure in histopathological images. This thesis describes a system developed to calculate the MLI score in a fully automated manner. The system was tested using 20 WSIs from mice. The root-mean-squared deviation between the MLI score of the proposed method and a human rater was 5.73 (standard deviation 5.65), and there was a very strong correlation (r=0.9931). Biases for the indirect method of MLI scoring are examined and shown to account for the differences with the direct MLI scores. Results suggest that shorter guideline length and smaller number of accepted FOV images have a higher standard error when estimating the MLI score when compared to longer guideline lengths and higher number of accepted FOV images. The proposed automated system provides an efficient, accurate, and accessible method that could replace current manual and semi-automated techniques.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Biomedical
    Date Created:
    2022

  • An Experimental Investigation of Polymer Additive Manufacturing

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Elfazani, Hayat Husein Mohamed
    Abstract:
    The objective of this research is to examine the design, qualification, and performance of additive manufactured (AM) parts made using ABS-P430 polymer material. A group of tensile and fatigue coupons were designed and manufactured using two fused deposition additive manufacturing machines, Stratasys SST 1200es and Creality CR-10. The AM parts were built on flat and on edge side at different build orientations. The influence of the manufacturing parameters on the mechanical properties of AM components were investigated. This includes the variation in building orientations, layer thickness and the distribution of air gaps. Tensile tests were performed to ascertain the tensile properties of the AM polymer parts. Full field strain measurements were obtained using 2D digital image correlation (2D-DIC). ANOVA statistical results showed that building orientations influenced the ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus. There are slightly difference in the tensile properties with the variation in building orientation that is probably not statistically significant. The uncertainty propagation in tensile properties associated with the measuring instruments was calculated using the Guide of Uncertainty Measurement (GUM). The effect of build orientation on constant amplitude fatigue performance at initiation, propagation and overall fatigue life was investigated. The 2D-DIC method was successfully used to non-invasively measure the fatigue crack length. Fatigue cracks were measured during tests with frequent pauses, less frequent pauses and no pauses to identify the possible influence of test method on measured fatigue life. It was determined that the stress relaxation happening during the pauses had significant impact on measured fatigue life. The optical analysis was conducted to examine the link between process parameters and part defects. The fracture surface morphology analysis revealed that the void formation between deposited filaments affected the fracture surface. The void fraction percentage was estimated using optical methods. Specimens with more voids as measured by SEM had lower mechanical properties. Micro-CT analysis was selected to investigate the internal geometry of AM parts made from ABS polymer material. Also, Micro-CT was used to study the effect of contour width to total width ratio and contour area to total area ratio on the fatigue life of AM parts.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2022

  • From Class War to Race War: Historicizing the Devolution from New Deal Populism to “Trumpism”.

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    King, Alexander Mackenzie
    Abstract:
    This thesis historicizes the case of White working-class support for Donald Trump. The debate focuses on three major tropes that recurred throughout Trump's speeches and campaign materials: an ongoing attack on a nebulous group of "special interests," an attendant demand for a return to "law and order," and a celebratory appeal to an undefined "silent majority". Using Laclau's theorization of "floating signifiers" to frame my debate, this thesis analyzes campaign materials, polling evidence, and secondary sources to judge how said populist tropes gravitated away from their progressive connotations of class warfare during the latter half of the 20th century. The following project finds that Trump and his reactionary forebearers used these formerly progressive signifiers to channel post-Civil Rights White backlash towards a conspiratorial "special interest" network of liberal Washington elites that had overlooked a victimized "silent majority" of workers in favor of racially marginalized citizens through an "unfair" tax-and-spend agenda.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Political Economy
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Fishers’ Tale: The Impact of Anticipation and Climate Change on Rural Fishing Communities in British Columbia

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Barclay, Isaac James
    Abstract:
    The salmon fishing industry in Port Hardy, British Columbia is on the brink of change. New policies, the instability of boom-and-bust economic development, and climate change threaten the capture salmon fishing industry and aquaculture industries in rural British Columbia. I used a series of semi-structured interviews to examine the complexities behind the impact of climate change on fishing communities. I found that anticipating new industries, or the revitalization of old industries, leaves rural communities trapped in the cycle of resource dependency.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Anthropology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Flowers for Stalin; Online Memory of a Dictator

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Glasser, Laura Silva
    Abstract:
    While Western society views Josef Stalin as a tyrant, in many post-Soviet countries, that is not the case. Russia and Georgia, the centre of the former Soviet Union and Stalin's home country, respectively, are notable examples. This work will determine the roles of citizens and social media sites in interpreting Stalin's legacy and serve as an initial piece of research into the intersection of memory politics, social media, and post-Soviet states. I compare social media posts with each country's official narrative toward Stalin and determine that Russian and Georgian governments approach him differently, with Russia presenting him positively, and Georgia not having a cohesive official narrative. Findings were that both countries support the War Hero narrative, Georgians are proud of being from Stalin's home country, and youth are becoming indifferent towards him. This work will help outline the extent to which the Soviet era still influences the modern day.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Expression and Localization in the Dorsal Horn of Male and Female Human and Rat Spinal Cord Tissue

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Parnell, Jessica Marie
    Abstract:
    Preclinical and clinical evidence suggests that cannabis, a potent cannabinoid, has potential analgesic properties. However, there is a gap in the literature in respect to cannabinoid receptor expression and localization in the spinal cord across both sex and species, with almost nothing known in humans. We used immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging to investigate the differential expression of the cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R) across dorsal horn laminae and cell populations in male and female adult rats and humans. Qualitatively, we observed increased neuropil immunostaining in the SDH of rats and humans, and somatic staining in deeper laminae. Quantitative results indicated a significant increase in CB1R immunoreactivity in the SDH when compared to the deeper dorsal horn laminae of male and female rat and humans. The preferential expression of CB1Rs in the SDH across both sex and species has significant implications for both the understanding and treatment of pain.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The relationship between water quality and riparian zone land-use variables and macrophyte removal permits issued in between 2013-2020 in the Rideau Canal Waterway

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Capy, Vanessa Anita
    Abstract:
    In the Rideau Canal Waterway, residents are required to obtain permits from Parks Canada for macrophyte removal in front of their property for recreational purposes. This thesis aims to determine the strongest environmental predictors of permit number and density in the Rideau Waterway to promote sustainable management of this system. Multiple linear regression models indicated that the best predictors of permit number were percent crop and pasture in the catchment, Secchi depth, algal blooms, catchment area, and total phosphorus (adjusted R2 value of 0.94 and p-value of 1.952e-05). The strongest predictors of permit density are percent crop and pasture, deviation from circle, status of lakes, chloride, catchment area, and catchment to lake volume (adjusted R2 value of 0.779 and p-value of 0.006). The results of this thesis indicate that macrophyte removal permits are issued most often in nutrient rich lakes with greater crop and pasture in their catchments.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Geography
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Counteracting Dominant Design Through Intersectional Feminist Thought

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chopra, Maya Alisha
    Abstract:
    This thesis examines how dominant and exclusionary design practices operate within systems of power, how these maintain experiences of privilege and oppression, and how these might be challenged through a systematic implementation of intersectional feminist thought in design processes. A three-phased qualitative study was conducted. Phase 1 involves a critical literature review of intersectionality and how forms of dominant design operate, including the Double Diamond model. Phase 2 includes an analysis of three design approaches, Design Justice, Data Feminism and Towards an Intentional Intersectional Practice to assess the implementation of intersectionality in the design process. Phase 3 synthesizes the findings and discusses how intersectional thinking may counteract dominant design. It was discovered that emerging intersectional feminist design approaches contribute to counteracting dominant design. This work is fledgling and further study is required to systematically implement intersectional feminist thought in design processes. This thesis offers insight regarding how to do so.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Design (M.Des.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Industrial Design
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Migrating Birds Vary in Their Navigational Response to Human Population Density

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Jackson, Erin Kaitlyn
    Abstract:
    Long-distance migratory species often cross a range of human-modified landscapes. A key question is how animal populations are responding to these human-induced changes. Here, we use community science data to model the spring migration dynamics of 63 bird species in North America with the goal of understanding how migration is associated with variation in human population density (HPOP). We find that most migrating bird species demonstrate a negative navigational response to HPOP, yet nearly all bird species experience much greater HPOP during migration as compared to breeding. We show that species differ repeatably in their navigational response to HPOP, and that this variation can be explained by variation in breeding ecology and the pace of migration. These findings underscore how birds may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of HPOP during migration, as the average level of HPOP experienced during migration is 2.7-fold greater than that of breeding.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Efficiency and Emission Rates of Flares in a Turbulent Crosswind

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Burtt, Damon
    Abstract:
    Flaring of gas at upstream oil and gas facilities is a globally significant problem with uncertain emissions. This thesis details a methodology to quantify flare carbon conversion efficiency and emission rates of flares subjected to turbulent crosswind within quantified uncertainties using a closed-loop wind tunnel. Experiments were performed on 1-inch to 4-inch diameter pipe flares burning methane-dominated flare gas mixtures at exit velocities of 0.5-2 m/s in turbulent winds of 2-10 m/s. Flare efficiency was modestly dependent on flare diameter and exit velocity, and highly sensitive to wind speed and flare gas composition. The strong sensitivity to gas composition, even among similar methane-dominated alkane mixtures, is surprising and confounds simple, predictive emissions models. However, the data in this thesis give new insight into emissions of flares subjected to turbulent crosswinds, and developed simple empirical models offer a first-order means to quantifying flare emissions and developing greenhouse gas inventories.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2022

  • From Task Avoidance to Task Engagement: A Project-Analytic Perspective on the Role of Mood-Repair, Irrational Beliefs and Preference Reversal in Procrastination

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chowdhury, Shamarukh Farhana
    Abstract:
    The goal of this research is to examine self-regulation failure in procrastination through affect (i.e., mood-repair process) and maladaptive cognitions (i.e., irrational beliefs). Using Personal Project Analysis (PPA), specific affective and cognitive dimensions of PPA were selected from previous studies to examine mood-repair process and irrational beliefs. My dissertation research consisted of six studies that were quantitative (self-report questionnaires) and qualitative (interviews) in nature. In the first two studies, I examined the underlying factors of emotions associated with procrastination using a principal component analysis (Study 1a) and a confirmatory factor analysis (Study 1b). Results revealed a 3-factor solution consisting of a single factor of positive affect (e.g., happy, content), and two factors of negative emotions namely frustration intolerance (e.g., frustration, resentment) and fear of failure (e.g., stress, fear of failure). Using these three factors of emotions, I examined two time segments of procrastination in the subsequent studies - the procrastination episodes (i.e., episodes when they needlessly delayed their academic task) and the last-minute effort episodes (i.e., episodes when they started working on their academic task). In Study 2, I took a dual-process perspective to examine the interplay of emotions and cognitions during the procrastination episodes. Results of the quantitative (Study 2a) and qualitative (Study 2b) revealed strong support for the temporal mood-repair model of procrastination, and the idea that mood-repair and irrational justifications is associated with the delay of academic tasks. In Study 3, I investigated preference reversal, that is, why students move from not taking actions on their academic task during the procrastination episodes to taking actions near the deadlines, through the lens of emotions. Results of the quantitative (Study 3a) and qualitative (Study 3b) uncovered that procrastinating students perceive their academic deadlines as signalling a threat when the deadlines are looming and as such, students chose to complete the academic tasks near the deadline. Together, the present results indicate the need for an emotion-cognitive model of procrastination given that both affective and cognitive processes are intertwined in shaping procrastination experiences.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Enhancing 3D Printed Substrates Using Atomic Layer Deposition

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Varga, Atilla Christopher
    Abstract:
    3D printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) polymer structures were coated and infiltrated with alumina (Al2O3) using the trimethylaluminum(III) (TMA) and water ALD process. Coating studies on ABS were carried out at 80˚C, which resulted in a 203 nm thin film with a 1.35 Å growth per cycle (GPC). The thin film was a well-adhered protective overcoating which prevented the reaction with acetone vapors in solvent resistance experiments. Infiltration studies on ABS and PVA structures were preformed at 130˚C and 80˚C respectively, to alter their physical properties. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine the Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) of the polymers pre- and post-deposition after varying the number of ALD cycles, resulting in a change of ~ 9˚C and ~ 27˚C for ABS and PVA, respectively. After one heat cycle the post-deposition Tg reverted back to its pre-disposition point indicating reversibility of the deposition effects.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Chemistry
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Aerodynamic Study of a Strut and a Row of Guide Vanes in Tandem Configuration

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bronipolsky, Andrei
    Abstract:
    This study focuses on the aerodynamic interaction of a strut and a row of guide-vanes located in the inter-turbine duct (ITD) of a typical turbofan gas-turbine engine in the context of optimizing their relative positioning to minimize the total profile loss. The study was intended to use numerical analysis to determine promising axial and pitchwise positions of the strut relative to the guide-vane row to create a test matrix for further experimental study. For this analysis, the Baseline (BSL) Reynolds-stress turbulence model was used in a series of benchmarking exercises using published and experimental low-speed wind-tunnel data. The BSL model was found to be limited in its ability to accurately generate the flow physics in a free-shear layer despite being capable of approximating the momentum thickness in the wake of a strut and guide-vane row in tandem configuration and the mixing-layer growth rate of a planar turbulent free-shear layer.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Impact of Social Network Sites on Youth Political Engagement in Russia

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Salojin, Alexander
    Abstract:
    This thesis argues that social network sites (SNS) do not just reflect already existing patterns of offline political engagement among youth networks, but also transform and augment these patterns, creating patterns that are wholly unique to youth networks operating through SNS. Political socialization through SNS can partly explain the shift in citizenship norms seen among Russian youth, in turn motivating youth toward networked activism aimed at issues of a highly localized and personalized nature. Russian state demobilization efforts have forced opposition networks to reshape and restructure their political engagement so that the political acts are declaratively "apolitical" or so those political acts that may have taken place "in real life" can only be observed online, thereby decreasing likelihood of persecution. Although a direct causal link between SNS usage and anti-regime youth alternative political engagement cannot be drawn, this type of political engagement in Russia is only possible thanks to SNS.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Equilibrium Conditions in the Evolution of Senescence

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bahry, David Nicholas
    Abstract:
    Senescence evolves because natural selection is less sensitive to late life than to early life. Hamilton formalized this as the sensitivities of fitness to small additive changes to age-specific mortality or fecundity; his framework has since been extended to alternative ecological and genetic assumptions. However, such forces of selection only explicitly model evolution in the short term; in the long term, as life histories evolve, their forces of selection evolve too. This thesis investigates long-term evolution of senescence by deriving conditions a population must satisfy in order to be in evolutionary equilibrium. It considers two models: a mutation-selection balance model; and an optimality model with a same-age log mortality cost of fecundity. The derived conditions are discussed, and heuristically compared to two species: Soay sheep, which senesce, and desert tortoises, which don't. Other, intermediate theoretical results are also given, including the force of selection on proportional hazards in stationary populations.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The overwintering behaviour and physiology of Northern map turtles (Graptemys geographica) in Ontario

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Robichaud, Jessica Ann
    Abstract:
    Northern map turtles (Graptemys geographica) are a freshwater turtle species that spends months of the year overwintering submerged under ice. They are anoxia intolerant, making their ability to survive submerged without access to atmospheric oxygen physiologically impressive. Overwintering behaviour and physiology were examined to understand how this species survives the winter. Biologgers recorded locomotor activity, temperature, and depth throughout overwintering. Locomotor activity was continuous during the winter. The amount of movement differed between adult females, juvenile females, and adult males. Temperature preference for all groups was near 1°C and each moved progressively shallower as winter progressed. Respirometry was used to measure adult female standard metabolic rates at under-ice temperatures. Metabolism was lower at lower temperatures (i.e., 1°C versus 4°C), indicating considerable metabolic savings at 1°C. The behaviours observed likely reflect this species working to meet winter oxygen and energetic needs which differ based on size specific physiological needs.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Call to Action: The Need for National Standards Surrounding Gladue.

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mohan, Ashna
    Abstract:
    It has been two decades since the Supreme Court rendered its decision in R v Gladue, and yet Indigenous over-incarceration continues unabatedly. This thesis is rooted in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry and explores its recommendation for national standards surrounding Gladue reports in Canada. It has been suggested that national standards, particularly in the realm of Gladue training, Gladue reports and for Gladue report writers, may assist in bolstering the remedial potentials of the Gladue principles and ultimately reduce Indigenous incarceration rates across Canada. Following a thorough review of Gladue-relevant literature, it is apparent that we lack evidence to support the development of standards in these areas, and it is therefore necessary that further research be conducted to move forward.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Legal Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Lu-Hf ages and source of mantle-derived rocks from the Saglek-Hebron Complex (Northern Labrador)

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mitchell-Dupuis, Andreane
    Abstract:
    Ancient mantle-derived rocks allow us to gain insights into the geochemical evolution of Earth's early mantle. We present a 176Lu-176Hf study of the Saglek-Hebron Complex (northern Labrador, Canada), which contains some of the oldest mafic and ultramafic rocks on the planet. Low-Fe ultramafic and basaltic metavolcanic rocks yield an isochron of 3934 ± 127 Ma with a suprachondritic initial epsHf=+8.9 ± 2.7. This value implies a highly incompatible-element depleted source for these rocks, which was more depleted than the Depleted Mantle estimates at the same age. Decoupled Sm-Nd and Lu-Hf systematics can be explained by ancient source depletion during a magma ocean in the garnet stability field. High-Fe ultramafic rocks yield an isochron corresponding to an age of 3405 ± 503 Ma. Mafic intrusions were age-dated at 3875 ± 454 Ma and at 2716 ± 370 Ma. The Saglek-Hebron Complex has recorded mantle-derived magmatism for over 1 billion years.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Earth Sciences
    Date Created:
    2021

  • Diaspora Nation: Ireland’s Diaspora and Asylum Policies, and the Attempt to Deterritorialise the Irish State

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chackowicz, Zachary Alexander Cohen
    Abstract:
    The Irish government is attempting to use its diaspora and asylum policies to reterritorialise the Irish state into a diaspora nation. This strategy aims to police the boundaries of the Irish nation by incorporating members of the diaspora and emigrants (predominantly Irish Americans and the "undocumented Irish"), while at the same time excluding asylum seekers in Ireland. Through its diaspora policy, embodied by Global Irish, and asylum policies, represented by the Direct Provision system, the Irish government is attempting to blur the lines between state and nation by connecting the former's borders to the latter's bodies. This has produced a backlash amongst Irish citizens, who have sought to disentangle diasporic kinship from the rights of Irish citizenship by placing these communities into conversation with each other. This contrasts the state's attempt to reconfigure the same communities into markers of the borders of the Irish state and boundaries of the nation.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Migration and Diaspora Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Optimization of Convolutional Neural Networks for Constrained Devices through Binarization

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Rouhandeh, Kaveh
    Abstract:
    CNNs are the most common branch of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), and they are structures with a strong capability for feature extraction. By using CNNs, a nonlinear model is trained to map an input space to a corresponding output space. These high-performance CNNs come with a high computational cost and the need for huge memory storage due to the chains of many Convolutional Layers (usually more than 50 layers). To address these issues, a variety of algorithms have been proposed in recent years. In this research, we present a solution that is a combination of several different approaches. and based on matrix optimization, parameters binary quantization, and data parallelism programming techniques. We show that our method significantly outperforms the current conventional PyTorch convolution operation with less memory usage and better computational budget when tested in different scenarios.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Trans*Mediation: Exploring Trans Experience Beyond the Mirror of Representation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chokly, Kit
    Abstract:
    "Trans media" usually describes the representation of trans people in media. While trans media have garnered many important critiques for their representations, such analyses tend to overlook the problems of representation inherent to trans phenomena themselves: If "trans" describes movement, how can it be represented? And if trans media resist representation, what are trans media, and what else might they do? This thesis investigates these questions through the author's affective encounter with several media objects made by trans creatives, including an artificially intelligent image generator, a short experimental film, and a Twitterbot. Using a theoretical framework of trans embodiment and new materialist media theory, the author argues that the performative processes of mediation embodied by these media—termed trans*mediation—articulate trans experiences beyond the limitations of representation. Trans*mediation creates opportunities to communicate the experience of shifting subjectivity while skirting cisnormativity, offering novel possibilities for trans expression, recognition, pleasure, and community.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Communication
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Cross-Paradigm Compilation across Programming Models: from Imperative to Asynchronous Graph

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Layeghi, Mahsa
    Abstract:
    Recent years have seen a rapid evolution in multi-core processor architectures. However, programming multi-core processors efficiently is a challenging endeavor. Asynchronous Graph Programming is a novel parallel paradigm that is amenable to automated parallelization for multi-core processors. However, its semantics are both foreign to most programmers, and too low-level to support software development at scale. Thus, this thesis explores the development of a cross-paradigm compiler, that can translate code in an imperative language (C) to AGP, allowing existing code-bases to be re-deployed and automatically parallelized, despite the semantics of their original language being sequential. Towards this, we define semantic transformations from (a sub-set of) C to AGP, and demonstrate the implementation of a compiler that implements those transformations. Our results show that it is possible to transform C into AGP code, and that transformed parallel implementations running on a multi-core system, for a suite of testing benchmarks, outperform sequential code substantially.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Effect of Race, Provocation, and Sex Role Ideology on Attributions of Female Perpetrated IPV

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Belyea, Lauren
    Abstract:
    Few studies have jointly examined the effects of perpetrator/victim race and provocation on observer perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV), especially in the context of female perpetration. In the current study, 511 undergraduate students from a Canadian university were randomly assigned to one of eight vignette conditions wherein the race of the perpetrator (Black, White), victim (Black, White), and verbal victim provocation (present, absent) were varied in a scenario of female perpetrated IPV. A mixed-methods design was used to assess observer perceptions of incident seriousness and attributions of blame. Victim provocation was the most significant predictor across all perception models, accounting for 31% of the explained variance in the model of victim blame. Moreover, some observer effects were reduced to non-significance once a measure of racial bias was introduced as a control variable. Overall findings highlight the need for resources concerning IPV identification and other outreach services on university campuses.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Development of a Hybrid Alanine-calorimetry Absorbed-dose Standard for Linac Electron Beams

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Surensoy, Rodi
    Abstract:
    The NRC primary standard water calorimeter is well-established for measuring dose to water in cobalt-60, linac photon beams and high-energy linac electron beams. However, for lower-energy electron beams, given the short range of electrons and the physical dimensions of the calorimeter, it is impossible to perform measurements at the reference depths in water. Extending the measurement of absorbed dose to lower energy electron beams requires an alternative system. The goal is to establish a hybrid absorbed-dose standard for linac electron beams by calibrating alanine against secondary standard ionization chambers, with calibrations traceable to primary standard water calorimeter measurements in high-energy electron beams, and subsequently using alanine in low-energy electron beams to determine absorbed dose. Ionization chambers calibrated against alanine in electron beams yield results for beam quality conversion factors that are in good agreement (within 0.68% uncertainty) with literature data for the five ionization chambers investigated in this work.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Physics
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Assessing Non-Planar Slicing and Carbon Fibre Filament Additives as Steps Towards 3D-Printed Drone Propellers

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Palmer, Matthew
    Abstract:
    Propeller design dramatically influences the performance of a drone and its ability to complete a mission. Operators in the field cannot carry the best propeller for any possible conditions, but with the advent of capable end-user 3D printers, may be able to manufacture them. This research assesses how non-planar model slicing and short-chopped carbon-fibre additives affect the mechanical performance of printed parts and viability of printed propellers. Creep testing simulating propeller thrust loading found coupons varied greatly in time to failure, although benefits of carbon-fibre additives were detected. Drop tests assessed impact behaviour, finding no link between material or slicing style and performance for a realistic propeller geometry. Simpler geometry resulted in both factors affecting performance, indicating possible benefits when applied in suitable situations. Results can be used to make informed selections of material and slicing type, also guiding future attempts at 3D-printing propellers.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Aerospace
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Machine Learning with Feature Extractions for Regression Estimation of Binaural Sound Source Localization

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Massicotte, Philippe Yvan
    Abstract:
    Binaural sound source localization is the determination of the position of a sound source based on two data sensors, microphones, mimicking the human auditory system. Many audio processing systems in our daily work and life rely on sound source localization, such as speech enhancement/recognition and human-robot interaction. However, the accuracy of sound source localization under adverse acoustic scenarios is still hard to ensure. This thesis proposes machine learning with feature extractions to estimate the sound source localization by manipulating and analyzing data collected by public Head Related Transfer Function databases. The two proposed methods are wavelet scattering long short-term memory and wavelet scattering convolutional neural network. These developed methods are studied in classification and regression approaches for different scenarios. The results demonstrate that the proposed methods achieve excellent performance in multiple noisy environments compared to recent literature, especially in regression binaural sound source localization.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Investigating the Techno-Economic and Environmental Performance of Hydrogen Deployment Paradigms in Canada

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Maynard, Ian Green
    Abstract:
    This thesis employs simulation and optimization to conduct a multi-scale investigation of the cost and performance of two hydrogen transition pathways. Chapter 2 simulates production pathways for green hydrogen in Canada's Atlantic Maritimes. Projects could be implemented by 2050 and at <2 $/kgH2 with aggressive growth rates, learning rates, and electrolyzer capital costs of 500 $/kW. Chapter 3 develops a method to estimate the thermal loads in remote and northern communities. It applies this method to 40 communities and develops a regression model that estimates thermal loads. Chapter 4 builds an optimization model that deploys wind turbines and reversible fuel cells to meet the electrical and thermal loads of those 40 communities. This model overbuilds wind capacity. Five communities have costs of avoided emissions of <200 CAD/tCO2, while 30 have costs of <500 CAD/tCO2.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Mechanical
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Time-Series Forecasting of Cryptocurrency Prices Using High-Dimensional Features and a Hybrid Approach

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Naseri Joojili, Nader
    Abstract:
    No one conceals the popularity of Cryptocurrency. The challenging part is to predict the Bitcoin value more than its fluctuations using machine learning techniques related to improving its performance metrics. This study introduces a methodology to predict Bitcoin price in a dataset, including four intervals to evaluate the proposed method in different situations. The experimental results show that the GLM and (LSTM) were the best machine learning techniques. The proposed model outperforms the deep learning baseline model with about 18% and 20% relative improvement in MAE and MAPE, respectively. Deep learning approaches have achieved much better results than other approaches due to the automatic selection of features. Compared to the results reported in the literature, the 1D-CNN+IndRNN proposed approach has reached 81% accuracy, with an 18% improvement. In the proposed approach, 1D-CNN is responsible for feature extraction and IndRNN is responsible for learning features in the form of time series.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Information Technology (M.I.T.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Digital Media
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Methods for Gait Analysis in a Supportive Smart Home

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Agarwal, Ashi
    Abstract:
    According to study, the elderly's mobility habits are closely tied to cognitive decline and other age-related health problems. Regular gait analysis may help with the early detection of various disorders, but the gathering of daily ambient data is difficult with current technology. The potential of ambient sensors on the market for estimating gait speed is examined in this thesis. The thesis's first section analyses data gathered from four motion sensors that were arranged in a straight line on the ceiling as used in some wide scale studies. The findings of this work indicate that the communications protocol limits the accuracy of gait speed estimation, which prompted the investigation of AI-enabled privacy-respecting cameras. Initial results showed the camera performance was limited by low and asynchronous frame rate, which led to significant error margins. A method is proposed that reduces this to 6% using techniques based on regression and interpolation.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Modeling the volatility of stock indexes and predicting VaR during COVID-19 pandemic

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Zhang, Xiang
    Abstract:
    As COVID-19 spreads globally and becomes a pandemic disease, it has severely impacted the capital markets of major economies around the world, posing severe challenges to financial risk management. In this thesis, we study the ARIMA-GARCH model and the Markov switching GARCH model and its application in financial risk management. This thesis verifies and compares the predictive ability of ARIMA-GARCH models and Markov switching GARCH models on value at risk through empirical research. Especially incorporating the drastic fluctuations caused by the COVID-19 into the forecasting scope, we found that the ARIMA-GARCH model has basically no predictive ability, and the Markov switching GARCH model still has a good forecasting ability. Then we try to further improve the predictive power of the model by adding one additional regime. However, the performance of the model did not improve significantly. Key words: COVID-19, ARIMA-GARCH model, Markov switching GARCH model, value at risk, stock indexes
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Mathematics
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Investigating the Utility of Notional Machine Instruction in an Introductory Programming Lesson

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Chiarelli, Veronica Sheryl
    Abstract:
    Learning to program involves understanding how the computer executes programs. Code tracing is a simulation of the steps the computer takes to execute a program. The notional machine is an abstract representation of this process. Students form mental models of the notional machine when learning to code trace, but these mental models can be inaccurate or contain misconceptions. We experimentally investigated the effect on learning of using an explicit notional machine or not in a code-tracing lesson for novice programmers (N = 48). We created two versions of a tutoring system, one with a notional machine and one without, using the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools framework. The tutors included video lessons and self-explanation prompts to encourage participant engagement. We measured learning as the difference in scores from pretest to posttest, adjusted by prior knowledge. Learning increased overall, but there was no significant difference in learning between groups.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Cognitive Science
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Immigrant Intercultural Development: A Perspective Taking Approach to Support Intercultural and Workplace Adjustment

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Aarma, Katlin
    Abstract:
    This two-phased study sought to understand the challenges Canadian immigrants faced in their workplace and intercultural adjustment as technology mentors and explore intercultural development interventions to address them. Drawing on sixteen qualitative interviews with ten Canadian immigrants and two co-founders of their non-profit employer, I found that technology mentors faced communication, technology, and personal challenges and were concerned with their intercultural and workplace adjustment as well as long term work integration. Clean spinning, a non-directive coaching intervention based on clean language and emergent knowledge principles, was used to facilitate perspective taking and support their intercultural development towards addressing their adjustment challenges. I found that clean spinning supported participants in finding resource(s) to address their topic or reframe the way they understood their topic and their relationship to it. These positive outcomes suggest the need for alternative types of intercultural development that support perspective-taking and self-reflection.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Management
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Data-driven Modeling of Green Roof Thermal Performance in Ottawa, Canada.

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Gunn, Peter
    Abstract:
    This research investigates the thermal performance of a green roof in Ottawa, Canada. In chapter 1, the measured thermal performance of the green roof is defined as the percent reduction in total monthly heat exchange promoted by the green roof, relative to a conventional roof. Thermal performance ranged between 31.0 - 62.8% between May and September in 2016 and 2017, with reduced performance in the shoulder and winter seasons. In chapter 2, a resistor-capacitor (RC) and implicit finite difference (FD) model are developed, calibrated, and validated over the same period and are used to predict hourly rates of heat flux and thermal performance. Predicted heat flux exhibited a root-mean-square-error between 0.51 - 1.0 W/m2 and 0.41 - 0.81 W/m2 for the RC and FD models, respectively, in 2016.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Environmental
    Date Created:
    2022

  • “Arrest Us or Consider Us Healthcare”: Towards Understanding The Counter-Conducts of Overdose Prevention Ottawa

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Wait, Camille
    Abstract:
    Cities across Canada have responded to the opioid crisis in diverse ways. People who use drugs (PWUD) developed and administered unsanctioned services, including injection sites. Ottawa was host to an unsanctioned site run by Overdose Prevention Ottawa (OPO). This work is a case study on OPO's actions and rejections of medical practices. Through seven interviews with OPO organizers and managers of sanctioned sites, this project explores contestations of practices, knowledges, and logics governing substance use services. Analyses address contestations of practices from outside and inside the site, exploring visibility and invisibility of drug use and positioning of medical and experiential expertise. Care practices within the site highlight non-totalizing rejection of medical logics and practices, and articulate care on the fringes of these regimes. This is explored through a comparative analysis of sanctioned and unsanctioned replacement opioid programs. Ultimately this research investigates OPO's counter-conducts, highlighting alternative practices and logics of care.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Sociology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Signaling Vigor in Gryllodes Sigillatus: Relationship with Age and Foreign Body Ingestion

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Froome, Alyssa Anne
    Abstract:
    Male Gryllidae acoustic signaling behaviour varies between and within species and may be influenced by a variety of factors including age, condition, and parasitism. I investigated variation within and among male Gryllodes sigillatus' mate attraction signaling behaviour and examined how variation in signaling vigour was influenced by age. I found extensive variation in male signaling between and within individuals; males differed in signaling vigour and quality, and their signaling changed over time. I found that smaller males signaled more consistently throughout their lives while larger males rarely called when younger and increased signaling vigour with age. As males have often been found to honestly signal their body condition (i.e., body mass), parasites may influence a male's perceived attractiveness to potential mates. I therefore also investigated how signaling vigour was influenced by the ingestion of the long barbed hastisetae from a typical pest species, dermestid (Dermestes ater), that plagues rearing facilities.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Biology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Social Roles in an Experiential Activity in an Undergraduate Neuroscience Course: A Case Study with Emergency Remote Teaching Considerations

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mantle, Shana Ashley Elizabeth
    Abstract:
    Undergraduate neuroscience students must learn how to effectively produce discipline-specific genres. Evidence suggests research experience may help students learn to write for discipline-specific purposes; yet, a need exists for more available methods of research experience than lab experiments. As an investigation into a more available method, this thesis presents a case study of an experiential activity used in a neuroscience writing course at one medium-sized, Canadian university. Using rhetorical genre theory, this study investigated if and how this experiential activity, which took place outside of the lab, helped students discursively construct the social role of researcher and learn how to write for disciplinary purposes. An inductive, thematic analysis of in-class observations, interviews, and open-ended questionnaire responses suggests that the research experience provided by this activity may help neuroscience students bridge the roles of student and professional researcher to effectively write for their discipline, in both physical and virtual environments.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Decoding Passenger’s Brain Signals to Detect and Analyze Emergency Road Events

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Fu, Junwen
    Abstract:
    In this thesis, passengers' brain signals, including electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), were analyzed to extract road information to potentially prevent car accidents and provide public trust in high-level autonomous vehicles. For the EEG part, event-related potential (ERP) and machine learning techniques were used to analyze and classify the signals of two road events. Results show that the responses are 454 ± 234 ms before the reaction, and the average recognition accuracy of the regularized linear discriminant analysis (RLDA) classifier reached 95.81%. For the fNIRS part, a quantification method, which is based on cerebral oxygen exchange in the prefrontal cortex of passengers and a risk field is introduced. We also verified our findings in a real-car automatic emergency braking and cut-in experiment. Overall, the results illustrate that EEG-based human-centric assistant driving systems have the potential of being deployed in autonomous vehicles to enhance the safety of passengers.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Engineering, Electrical and Computer
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Serving Consumer Expectations: Women Servers' Interpretations of Job Requirements in the Food Service Industry

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Maudlin, Taylor Brooke
    Abstract:
    The food service industry remains relatively understudied, especially in the Canadian context. However, many avenues of research exist on the labour performed by workers in this sector. In focusing on servers who rely on tips to supplement their income, this thesis explores how specific traits are commodified under management supervision to maximize corporate gain and consumer satisfaction. Utilizing aesthetic labour theory and feminist political economy with an intersectional lens, I argue that employers rely on attributes such as appearance and personality to sell the restaurant experience through the assignment of job requirements and duties. In doing so, servers become part of the product being sold. This has gendered and racialized implications. This thesis uses in-depth interviews to prioritize women servers' experiences negotiating their assigned job requirements and their observations of the gendered and racialized divisions in the food service industry.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Women's and Gender Studies
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Accountability, Empowerment, and the Ethics of Military Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Clifford, Joanne Elizabeth
    Abstract:
    Abstract In addition to the traditional goals of saving lives and diminishing suffering, contemporary humanitarianism demands that practitioners also incorporate social accountability practices into their humanitarian programming. In addition to accountability to affected populations, this requirement places an emphasis on capacity building and sustainability, affording primacy to local participation with the aim to empower—rather than disempower—aid recipients. While this evolution of expectations is clearly visible within the civilian humanitarian sphere, a similar evolution of expectations has also occurred in the joint civilian-military domain of United Nations peace operations. Unfortunately, these social accountability considerations have yet to be widely incorporated into Canadian military doctrine. Accordingly, contemporary Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations remain modeled upon the former traditional narrow definition of humanitarian action, simply to save lives and reduce suffering. Moreover, a secondary stated objective of Canadian military HADR operations is to promote a positive image of Canada abroad and at home, suggesting that military HADR is not premised exclusively upon humanitarianism, but that geopolitics and domestic public relations play a significant role. The CAF has been very successful in achieving this secondary objective, with the majority of Canadian citizens strongly supportive of military involvement in HADR. In this dissertation, I explore these theoretical and practical differences between civilian and Canadian military HADR doctrine and practice, with a focus on social accountability and empowerment. I suggest that the doctrinal differences between these two groups can, in large part, be attributed to their respective accountability constructs. The predominantly upwards-oriented vertical accountability model employed by the CAF stands in stark contrast to the downwards-oriented social accountability construct increasingly utilized in the humanitarian sphere. The CAF has not incorporated social accountability considerations into its current HADR doctrine or practice, which raises concerns regarding the potential dis-empowering effects of military HADR, and by extension, the legitimacy of military involvement in the HADR sphere. Accordingly, I suggest that the HADR model currently utilized by the CAF carries ethical risks, which due to the secondary utilization of HADR as a geopolitical and public relations instrument, may ultimately become political risks.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Ethics and Public Affairs
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Failing Women: An Ethnography About the Experiences of Women with Larger Body Sizes in Southern Ontario Health Care Settings

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Mcallister, Morgan Kaile
    Abstract:
    This thesis explores the experiences of fat women in Southern Ontario health care settings and their relationships with their bodies. It is an ethnography of thirteen women who identify as curvy or fat and currently use Canadian medical care. It shows how fat women's relationships with their bodies are multifaceted and shaped by external influences, and the ways they experience denial in their access to health care because of their body size. This thesis ultimately points to how historical and cultural constructions of body size ideologies, power relations, and understanding of the physical form as a determinant of "health" impact fat women's health and well-being through structural violence and biases in health care. It argues that there is a need for fat cultural safety programs, along with other changes to current practices to improve care, and, as a result, the health and well-being of people with larger body sizes.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Anthropology
    Date Created:
    2022

  • On Security Best Practices, Systematic Analysis of Security Advice, and Internet of Things Devices

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bellman, Christopher
    Abstract:
    While Internet of Things (IoT) security best practices have recently attracted considerable attention from industry and governments, academic research has highlighted the failure of many IoT product manufacturers to follow accepted practices. We begin by investigating a surprising lack of consensus, and void in the literature, on what (generically) best practice means, and provide a technical examination of related terminology. We use iterative inducting coding to design an analysis methodology for categorizing security advice and measuring its actionability. We use this methodology to analyze three datasets: a set of 1013 IoT security best practices, recommendations, and guidelines, and two formally recommended IoT security advice documents. We find all three sets to be largely non-actionable. Through design and use of this methodology, we identify the characteristics of actionable security advice. We also analyze recent work on IoT device identification based on three identification objectives (distinguish device instances, distinguish device classes, and authenticate device identity), and the technical approaches by which they are reached: device fingerprinting, classification, and authentication. We differentiate the role of these objectives and approaches in IoT security, and develop a model relating them.
    Thesis Degree:
    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Computer Science
    Date Created:
    2022

  • An Age Dependent Seizure Vulnerability of Hippocampal CA2: Finding the Targets to Rescue Seizure-Induced Social Recognition Memory Deficits

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Correa, Jeff Demian
    Abstract:
    Early life seizures (ELS) pose a significant threat to developing neurons and often result in later-life epilepsy and cognitive deficits, including social cognition deficits. Hippocampal CA2 has recently emerged as a critical region in processing social recognition memory. Little is known about the effects of ELS on CA2 pyramidal neurons in the developing hippocampus. Here, using established ELS models, we demonstrated that ELS impaired social recognition memory in mouse pups. We showed that unlike the adult CA2 neurons, ELS significantly activated CA2 neurons in p10 mice. Interestingly, ELS selectively enhanced AMPA receptor function in the activated CA2 neurons in the immature brain . Using a unique actviatiy-dependent labeling and manipulating system, c-Fos-GFP/c-Fos-tTA/TRE-hM4Di mouse model, we discovered that precisely suppressing ELS-activated neurons rescued ELS-induced AMPAR function enhancement in CA2 neurons and social recognition memory deficits. Our results identify the novel cellular target of ELS for potential intervention of ELS-induced cognitive deficits.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • The Political-Emotional Economy of Interwar Fascism and Authoritarianism, With a Focus on the KKK and the Bund

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Czipf, Mathew Joseph
    Abstract:
    This thesis examines the KKK and its fascist friends from 1915-1945 as a means of analyzing the changing role of the Klan in a changing international order. The KKK claimed to be, the defender of nativism, keeper of racial purity, and the guardians of white American way of life, but as an organization it was less unified. Part of this can be attributed to decentralization across U.S. states. This thesis contends that there was a growing fascist affect economy, within the transatlantic Euromerican community. Even as it declined in organizational coherence in the 1930s, the Klan was involved in a larger conversation than simply American nativism. It came to identify with international fascist organizations and embrace terminology, and conspiracies, while always rejecting close comparisons. Its return to nativism during the Second World War allowed its survival, even while continuing to participate in the affective language it once shared with fascism.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    History
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Wearable Identities: Understanding Wearables’ Potential for Supporting the Expression of Queer Identities

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Bolesnikov, Adrian
    Abstract:
    Queer identity research largely overlooks wearable technology. Most work exploring sociocultural considerations of wearable technology determines what is "socially acceptable" based on privileged bodies, excluding queer perspectives. We address this by establishing the foundations of a knowledge base for wearables that support queer expression. We conducted a two-phase qualitative study exploring queer expressive practices and wearable technologies through 16 semi-structured interviews and 15 body mapping workshops with the queer community. We observed themes framing the queer community's understanding of queer expression, wearable technology, and wearable technology for queer users. Providing discussions on current trends in queer expression and wearable technology use, along with design considerations, our work enables the creation of wearable technologies that offer meaningful user experiences for the queer community. CAUTION: This paper discusses topics that could trigger those with histories of homophobia, transphobia, gender dysphoria, racism or eating disorders. Please use caution when engaging with this work.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Date Created:
    2022

  • Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as a Mediator of Microglia-Induced Neuroinflammation

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Charlton, Tryston Jarred
    Abstract:
    Microglia are the primary immunocompetent cells that protect the brain from environmental stressors; however, their activation can also have deleterious effects on brain functioning. Indeed, environmental toxins and microbial agents can induce microglial driven inflammatory processes and induce a cytotoxic environment. Recent therapeutic strategies have sought to determine how to modulate microglia, to favour their neuroprotective effects, while minimizing toxic outcomes. We hypothesized that BDNF would have a modulatory effect on inflammation in isolated microglia cultures in the context of a bacterial endotoxin. It was found that a BDNF treatment following LPS-induced inflammation blunted the release of both IL-6 and TNF-α in primary microglia. In neurons, LPS-activated microglial media was able produce an inflammatory effect to some extent, and again, BDNF treatment attenuated this effect. We speculate that BDNF plays a role in regulating microglia activation and localized microglia-neuron crosstalk may be crucial in preventing damaging effects of inflammatory mechanisms.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Science (M.Sc.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Neuroscience
    Date Created:
    2022

  • An Employee-Supervisor Analysis of Counterproductive Workplace Behaviours as an Outcome of Social Rank

    Resource Type:
    Thesis
    Creator:
    Martone, Patricia Claudia
    Abstract:
    While there is support for various individual and contextual predictors of counterproductive workplace behaviour (CWB), little research has examined social rank and CWB. In this research, I examined social rank in terms of social dominance orientation (SDO), and leader dominance and prestige. Using data from a police organization (281 employees and 130 supervisors), I examined the association between employee SDO (time 1) and employee self- and supervisor-rated CWB (time 2). I also examined the association between perceived leader dominance and prestige (time 1), and employee self- and supervisor-rated CWB (time 2). Findings indicated that SDO was associated with CWB, and that both servant leadership and perceived social impact moderated this relationship. Findings also indicated that perceived leader dominance and prestige were associated with CWB, via leader trust. Findings contribute to the understanding of CWB as potential outcomes of social rank, highlighting the importance of moderating and mediating variables.
    Thesis Degree:
    Master of Arts (M.A.)
    Thesis Degree Discipline:
    Psychology
    Date Created:
    2022