Search Constraints
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Boon, Dirk
- Abstract:
- As the world continues to move online in the 21st century, in-person communities of practice continue to thrive in game stores, libraries, campuses, and in personal homes. In these spaces, and many others that are too varied to name, people engage with tabletop roleplaying games as members of groups of adventurers. Individuals come together to create identities, craft narratives, and build connections with one another that continue even after the game ends. This paper examines the ways that these communities of practice are constructed and maintained by the diverse group of individuals who inhabit them, and how they come to construct identities and meaning through their engagement. Over the period of 18 months between 2017 and 2019, participant observation fieldwork was conducted with various tabletop roleplaying game groups across the Ottawa, Ontario area. This took place at game stores, campuses, libraries, people's homes, and restaurants to understand the ways in which people come together in-person to play games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. Interviews were simultaneously conducted with individuals from these groups to develop life-histories of some of those involved in these communities. What was found throughout this research was that individuals were coming together to play games, but more importantly to develop a sense of belonging and to build communities of practice with other like-minded game players. This has informed a dissertation which may more accurately be labeled an 'ethnography of friendship', and which analyses (1) the role of play in the lives of members of communities of practice, (2) identity as it is constructed through performances as people engage in roleplaying activities, and (3) the role of in-person communities and friendships in an increasingly digital world. As we increasingly rely on digital technologies and online worlds to foster our relationships, many people still seek in-person communities. This has been made clearer with the easing of social distancing restrictions and lockdown orders following the COVID-19 pandemic, as individuals have quickly moved to rebuild the in-person communities of practice that were put on-hold for the past 2 years.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Anthropology
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Bishop, Gary Scott
- Abstract:
- The successful application of a structural health monitoring (SHM) system for composite aerospace structures requires a holistic approach encompassing the full life cycle of the structure. Important capabilities of an SHM system include: 1) recognition, 2) identification, 3) severity, and 4) location of a defect. This was achieved, first, by designing a novel manufacturing method to co-cure piezoelectric sensors to the surface of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) panels, allowing for in-situ cure monitoring, manufacturing inspection, and in-service monitoring. Second, numerical and experimental techniques used Lamb wave propagation to recognize and identify multiple types of manufacturing defects and determine the severity of a delamination defect. A comparison of co-cured and bonded piezoelectric sensors showed similar waveform shape, Lamb wave propagation velocity, and signal amplitude for the anti-symmetric Lamb wave mode. Performing a time-frequency domain analysis using the continuous wavelet transform demonstrated the ability to recognize and identify delamination, porosity, and foreign object defects. To determine the severity of a delamination defect, five input signals were compared and it was determined the Mexican hat excitation provided the best average main lobe width resolution and signal-to-noise ratio over a range of frequencies, particularly at lower frequencies. Finally, a multiple level discrete wavelet transform decomposition was able to provide signal compression, up to 450 times, while still maintaining the important signal features to determine the severity of a delamination defect. This allowed both the length ratio and depth sequence of multiple delamination defects to be correctly identified. The practical approach of this research to focus on the manufacturing process and manufacturing defects provided an important step towards a holistic SHM system for CFRP structures.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Aerospace
- Date Created:
- 2021
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Loveridge, Peter William
- Abstract:
- This dissertation advances the literature on the cross-country differential real impact of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), and explains the apparent "Advanced Economies (AE) Nature" of the crisis. The literature's AE Nature result finds higher levels of pre-crisis income (logged per capita GDP) correlating with worse GFC-outcomes; but it does not address why this is so. Dependent variables (DVs) here measure GFC outcomes as the depth and duration of the peak-to-trough contraction in seasonally adjusted quarterly real GDP within 2007-2010. Following an introduction, Chapter 2 shows that the linear income relationships on both DVs represent spurious results, better characterized by a step-function between better performing lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and similarly worse-off upper-middle-income and high-income countries (UMICs and HICs). Chapter 3 then undertakes a step-wise regression specification search on a broad set of pre-crisis independent variables (IVs), excluding those directly related to income. The search process addresses methodological issues found in the literature, including omitted variable bias, contingent significances, outlier influence, multicollinearity, and heteroscedasticity. IVs considered expand on those tested in the literature, newly adding measures for 2003-2007 "boom-period" growth for most indicators. Six IVs explain 75 per cent of depth DV variation: credit boom; manufacturing share of exports; FDI assets boom; food, fuels and mining share of exports boom; government expenditures boom; and an exchange rate regime dummy. Two IVs explain 46 per cent of duration DV variation: foreign debt liabilities; and bank assets boom. The models explain-away the AE Nature, in both LMIC-difference and linear-income forms. The depth model also explains an emerging Europe difference identified in the literature. However, several extreme outliers on the raw depth DV remain poorly-explained, including Ukraine and the Baltics. Chapter 4 undertakes comparative case studies on Ukraine and Latvia, paired with Romania and Belarus, respectively, as otherwise similar cases that are well-explained by the regression model. The analysis identifies factors helping explain Ukraine and Latvia's extreme contractions, primarily reflecting their different experiences-of and responses-to balance of payments crises.
- Thesis Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- International Affairs
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Murto, Tomi Douglas
- Abstract:
- A novel bent-stub hybrid combline/rampart leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is designed and fabricated on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, and experimentally verified on flat and curved surfaces. The open stopband (OSB) of a combline structure is suppressed with asymmetrical stubs. Meandering is then introduced in its feed and increases gain and scan range. The meandering is a discontinuity itself known as a rampart antenna and contributes to the radiation. Finally, the antenna is utilized in an array where the combline LWAs are offset by half of a period and intertwined. Mutual coupling is controlled by bending the UC stubs and optimizing antenna separation and is shown to reduce any discontinuities in the gain around the broadside frequency of the LWA array. The designs are manually fabricated on a PET substrate and tested, demonstrating good agreement with simulations. Antennas were shown to retain good performance at bend radiuses of ±1000 mm.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Hyland, Joseph
- Abstract:
- Analog beamforming is the process of controlling the amplitude and phase distribution across an antenna array to produce focused EM radiation. There are many ways of accomplishing this, but this thesis focuses on printing techniques to produce beamforming devices. The methods of production used for this work includes 3D polymer printing, PCB fabrication and knife tracing with copper cladding and tape. Three types of devices are designed and fabricated for this work including Luneburg lenses, Butler matricies and ferroelectric varactors. The Luneburg lenses are produced through 3D printing processes and measured in the far-field using with an anechoic chamber. Two different Butler matricies are designed and presented, one is designed at 2.4 GHz on Rogers 3006 substrate and fabricated using a knife tracing printing process. Radiation pattern measurements are made for this matrix in the far-field using an anechoic chamber.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Electrical and Computer
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Gatien, Seth
- Abstract:
- This research examines the current state of the airport landside operations using microsimulation models to help understand how these areas will change with the introduction of connected and automated vehicles. Data collection from an existing North American commuter airport curbside was conducted to support this research. The curbside models provide comparisons of capacity and estimates of level of delay to travellers based on the different uses of space for the curbside. The analysis of the travellers' journey is explored further by following their path through the pedestrian access corridor between the curbside and the airport security. Data of pedestrian movement speeds and total travel time within the corridor were collected. This was modelled to understand the impact of dynamic changes to desired walking speeds. The combination of the collected data and models gives a complete overview of the airport travellers' journey between the curbside and airport security.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Engineering, Civil
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Santean, Mihail
- Abstract:
- Graphs are topological objects called 1-dimensional CW complexes, and their fundamental groups are free groups. More generally, any group can be represented by a 2-dimensional CW complex, which is a graph with discs glued along the boundaries of closed paths corresponding to relations in the group. These objects can be studied from the topological viewpoint of covering space theory, introduced by John R. Stallings, which allows us to "visualize" groups and determine their subgroup structure. Alternatively, graphs can be studied from a combinatorial point of view, developed by Ilya Kapovich and Alexei Myasnikov, which provides simple algorithms that answer questions about free groups. We give an exposition of both approaches and demonstrate how they are used to answer questions about subgroups of free groups and free products.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Mathematics
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Roberts, Araby
- Abstract:
- This study investigated the effects of defendant gender (man/woman) and race (Indigenous/White) on Canadian mock jurors' verdicts in a case of parent-perpetrated child neglect. The potential intensified negative consequences against Indigenous women, produced by the intersectionality of gender and race, were of particular interest. Four hundred and one participants read a mock trial transcript, provided verdicts on two charges, and rated the defendant on a variety of adjectives. Logistic regressions revealed mock jurors were not influenced by the defendant's gender or the interaction between the defendant's gender and race. Race had an unpredicted influence, with an Indigenous defendant receiving fewer guilty verdicts. The adjective ratings moderated the effect of gender on verdicts, but not race. Mock jurors were less likely to find a woman guilty when they held positive impressions of her. This study contributes to previous literature that suggests jurors' verdicts may be influenced by extralegal factors.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Psychology
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Abba, Abdulazeez Muhammad
- Abstract:
- This thesis proposes an analytical method using a lithium-ion battery and generator data to provide insights into a hybrid genset's optimal operational load, peak shaving, and fuel consumption difference with a standalone genset. The overview analysis is between the standalone genset and a battery-fused diesel generator. Further investigations into other factors play a significant role in the results, including power output (%load), battery depth of discharge, battery charge and discharge time, battery total cycle and life span of the battery. A numerical simulation was carried out to monitor the hybrid genset operation, whereby the battery depths of discharge and the number of cycles were compared. Another simulation is performed to find the incremental results for a 135 kw genset by varying the different battery depths of discharge and the generator load difference. The combined results proved that the battery units will always generate adequate efficiency support for gensets.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Applied Science (M.App.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Sustainable Energy
- Date Created:
- 2022
-
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Creator:
- Turcas, Nicolas Valentin
- Abstract:
- This thesis models the effects of errors of omission and commission due to increased working memory demands on accuracy rates of spatial relational reasoning problems. The questions modelled are taken from the Multidimensional Relational Reasoning Task (Cortes et al., 2021). Four models were created using Python ACT-R and PRISM theory which demonstrated the negative relationship of increased premises and dimensions per problem on accuracy rates. Results highlight the need for future modelling to consider the individual differences in micro-strategy preferences, how reasoning processes may be affected by different memory errors, and how future measures may be constructed to better address raised concerns.
- Thesis Degree:
- Master of Cognitive Science (M.Cog.Sc.)
- Thesis Degree Discipline:
- Cognitive Science
- Date Created:
- 2022