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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Wang, Ziqiang
- Abstract:
- Academia has been moving attention from Virtual Network Function (VNF) to Cloud-native Network Function (CNF) since cloudification has brought the Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to an advanced level. It has already been demonstrated that cloud-native technology brings high flexibility and efficiency to large-scale network service deployment compared to the traditional VNF with Virtual Machines (VMs). However, more work is needed to provide a flexible and reliable Service Function Chaining (SFC) development solution. This thesis proposes a solution to dynamically deploy reliable SFCs consisting of multiple CNFs in a multi-node Kubernetes cluster using Network Service Mesh (NSM). Further, hardware and network usage are presented with the support of an open-source monitoring system, Prometheus, to help the network operator understand the deployed SFC. Additionally, the performance and limitations of this approach are analyzed and presented.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Shannon, Holly Nicole
- Abstract:
- Problematic social media use is a maladaptive and detrimental pattern of addictive behaviours towards social media. Although problematic social media use has been based upon framework characterizing behavioural addiction, it is currently not part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Morphological abnormalities of the striatum have been found in behavioural addictions, however the neurobiological basis of problematic social media use has yet to be investigated. The present study aimed to investigate striatal volume and shape in association with problematic social media use and frequency of social media use. Higher levels of problematic social media use and increased frequency of use were not significantly related to the volume of the striatum. However, when examining the shape of the striatum, surface area deformations were significantly associated with higher problematic social media use. We call for continued research to further validate problematic social media use as a behavioural addiction.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Neuroscience
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Serre, Serina Juliette
- Abstract:
- Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are used as ecological indicators of the coastal Lake Superior ecosystem in Pukaskwa National Park. Their populations have declined by 70% over the last 40 years, suggesting changes in the park ecosystem. I assessed herring gull diets and investigated how diet may influence population trends through effects on life-history endpoints. I additionally investigated the degree to which predation is affecting herring gull reproductive success by examining gull nest attentiveness with camera traps. Gulls utilizing anthropogenic food sources exhibited reduced levels of stress-associated hormones, increased egg size, and increased day-time nest attentiveness. Gulls were significantly more attentive to their nests during the day compared to the night. Nocturnal predation by great horned owls was the most significant predation-related factor affecting herring gull nest success. Understanding factors contributing to population trends in ecological indicator species is critical for identifying stressors that are likely affecting the broader ecosystem.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Biology
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Yazdizadeh, Tina
- Abstract:
- Despite all the advantages made available by information and communication technology, its applicability is still limited due to problems caused by personal attacks or pseudo-attacks, which are called toxic contents. Since cyberbullying via the usage of toxic digital content on an individual may have severe consequences, it is important to implement various techniques to detect cyberbullying from social media using machine learning approaches. During a cyberbullying detection process, word embedding techniques are used to represent the words for text analysis. Feeding strong word representations to classification methods is an important issue. In this thesis, the effect of ELMo is evaluated against three other word embeddings using various machine learning algorithms. In addition, an ensemble technique based on machine learning models using Elmo word embeddings is proposed to evaluate the effect of ELMo word embedding on the proposed model and compare the results with other base machine learning algorithms.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Information Technology (M.I.T.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Digital Media
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Baghery Tabatabaei, Seyed Mohammad Moein
- Abstract:
- This thesis proposes an adaptive visual-inertial loosely-coupled sensor fusion method that uses an Error State Kalman Filter (ESKF) and Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC). The method applies to GPS denied zones. In previous attempts, researchers either tried to tune the Kalman Filter in the most precise way possible. This work aims to tune the Kalman Filter and makes it adaptive to overcome the disadvantages of previous methods and minimize the error of the estimated trajectories obtained by the Kalman Filter. The fuzzy system is trained via the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to achieve this goal. The results show that the proposed adaptive Kalman Filter improves the accuracy and outperforms other methods of tuning Kalman Filters. In addition, our proposed approach outperforms the conventional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) methods.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Mechanical
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- McCann, Ethan Thomas
- Abstract:
- The magnitude and frequency of cyanobacteria harmful algae blooms is increasing on a global scale. The majority of cyanotoxin research has focused on specific groups: microcystins, cylindrospermopsin, saxitoxins, and anatoxins. Other bioactive cyanopeptides (CNPs) produced by cABs have received much less attention. The chemistry, toxicology, and environmental concentrations of other CNP groups are largely unknown despite having notable biological activities. Mass-spectrometry based metabolomic approaches were applied to study the CNP profiles of fifty-five bloom samples collected from nineteen freshwater watercourses. Based on environmental concentrations and ubiquity of the CP and AP groups, they are recommended for prioritization in future toxicological and environmental research. Additionally, historical records of cyanobacteria bloom are limited. An analytical method for quantitation of MCs in Lake sediments was developed and validated. The method was applied with multi-proxy paleolimnological analyses and radioistope dating methods to evaluate lake sediment cores archives in the Rideau Canal system.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Chemistry
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Mahboob, Wardah Ghufran
- Abstract:
- Social media and mental health issues have become increasingly prevalent in recent years raising questions about the psychological effects of excessive social media use (SMU), especially amongst transitional-aged youth (TAY). The present study experimentally investigated the effects of voluntarily reducing SMU to 1 hour/day on loneliness and social comparisons in TAY with pre-existing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. After completing a baseline survey and providing daily screenshots of SMU for one week, 220 participants were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group for the next three weeks. Participants completed an online follow-up survey at 4-weeks post randomization to assess changes in loneliness and social comparisons. A repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that the intervention group showed significantly greater reductions in loneliness but not in social comparisons. The findings suggest that reducing SMU may represent a feasible, affordable and effective strategy in reducing loneliness for TAY with emotional distress.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Sayeed, Jamil
- Abstract:
- This thesis includes three essays on news shocks and fiscal multipliers. In the first chapter, I demonstrate that a fiscal news shock originated from an increased defence spending in the U.S. can directly transmit to Canada in the form of an induced defence spending. This paper proposes a new channel of fiscal news shock transmission from the US to Canada labelled as induced spending channel. My transmission model shows that a US defence spending news shock has a positive impact on Canadian GDP. I coin a novel multiplier labelled as international defence multiplier which can estimate the magnitude of the induced defence spending change of a country in response to the defence spending change of another country. In the second chapter, I explore whether the transfer payments to households boost private consumption spending across provinces in Canada. I propose Universal Child Care Benefit payments across provinces in Canada as an instrument for transfer payments. Universal Child Care Benefit is a formula-based transfer where the total allocation for a province depends on the total number of eligible children in that province. Therefore, Universal Child Care Benefit payments can explain exogenous variation in transfer payments as these payments vary across provinces due to the differences in demographic characteristics rather than their economic conditions. Using the Two Stage Least Square estimation method for the period 2006-2015, this paper finds the estimated local transfer multiplier of consumption in Canada to be 0.47. The third chapter assesses the role of commodity terms of trade news shocks in causing aggregate fluctuations in Canada. Movements in commodity terms of trade due to sharp price movements can lead to aggregate fluctuations in commodity exporting countries such as Canada. I demonstrate that it is important to consider the role of commodity terms of trade news shocks to explain the fluctuations in aggregate variables. This paper identifies a combination of surprise and news shocks for Canada. My findings suggest that commodity terms of trade shocks can explain substantial variation in aggregate fluctuations in Canada.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Economics
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Nakashima, Sophia Hiromi Shah
- Abstract:
- Spiritual care is crucial to the holistic care and health of a person, especially throughout the journey of aging. This study explores the role of spiritual care services in Ontario long-term care homes through a service design lens. The research involved a multi-method approach to understand the landscape of spiritual care services across Ontario, as well as the experiences of long-term care service providers. This study involved secondary analysis of an existing spiritual care questionnaire, an environmental scan of long-term care home websites, a service design questionnaire, as well as a series of multi-stakeholder co-design sessions. The results of this study reveal the diversity of spiritual care services provided across the province and share insight into the uniqueness of this service. Applying service design within this complex healthcare context demonstrated both the strengths as well as the limitations of the approach.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Design (M.Des.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Industrial Design
- Date Created:
- 2022
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- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Tamas, Ruth Asiyih Faye
- Abstract:
- Residential energy consumption is largely influenced by thermostat configuration and user interaction. Smart thermostats differ from other devices, offering new features and control. Little comparison or analysis of state-of-the-art systems is available, contributing to a gap in the literature. This thesis examines usability and user understanding related to smart thermostats, emphasizing comparison with literature. Two interview-based studies employing human-computer interaction methods are presented. Chapter two investigates usability, reporting quantitative metrics and user feedback. Smart thermostats demonstrated higher usability compared to programmable devices, while enabling the same or more functionality. Chapter three investigates users' understanding related to smart thermostat operation. Users demonstrated a relatively accurate conceptualization of their system and most employed temperature setbacks, suggesting that smart thermostats effectively communicate the function of the device and enable energy saving behaviour. Concrete objectives for future work are presented. This research brings the smart thermostat literature up-to-date, relative to manual and programmable thermostats.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2022