title: Surgical Skills and Ergonomics Evaluation for Laparoscopic Surgery Training

contributor:
Reilly, Jim
Patriciu, Alexandru
I. Bruce and A. Jeremic
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject: Surgical Skills Evaluation

subject: Surgical Ergonomics Evaluation

subject: Machine Learning

subject: ANOVA1

subject: Laparoscopic Surgery

subject: Statistical Analysis

subject: Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

subject: Computer Engineering

subject: Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject: Medicine and Health Sciences

abstract:
Training and ergonomics evaluation for laparoscopic surgery is an important tool for the assessment of trainees. Timely and objective assessment helps surgeons improve hand dexterity and movement precision, and perform surgery in an ergonomic manner. Traditionally, skill is evaluated by expert surgeons observing trainees, but this approach is both expensive and subjective. The approach proposed by this research employs an Ascension 3DGuidance trakSTAR system that captures the positions and orientations of hand and laparoscopic tool trajectories. Recorded trajectories are automatically analysed to extract meaningful feedback for training evaluation using statistical and machine learning methods.

The data are acquired while a subject performs a standardized task such as peg transfer or suturing. The system records laproscopic instrument positions, hand, forearms, elbows trajectories, as well as wrist angles. We propose several metrics that attempt to objectively quantify the skill level or ergonomics of the procedure. The metrics for surgical skills are based on surgical instrument tip trajectories, whereas the ergonomics metric uses wrist angles. These metrics have been developed using statistical and machine learning methods.

The metrics have been experimentally evaluated by using a population of seven first year postgraduate urology residents, one general surgery resident, and eight fourth year postgraduate urology residents and fellows. The machine learning approach discriminated correctly in 73% of cases between experts and novices. The machine learning approach applied to ergonomics data correctly discriminates between experts and novices in 88% of the cases for the peg transfer task and 75% for the suturing task. We also propose a method to derive a competency-based score using either statistical or machine learning derived metrics.

Initial experimental data show that the proposed methods discriminate between the skills and ergonomics of expert and novice surgeons. The proposed system can be a valuable tool for research and training evaluation in laparoscopic surgery.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Structure and Electrical Conductivity of Mn-based Spinels Used as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Interconnect Coatings

contributor:
Petric, Anthony
Materials Science and Engineering

subject:
SOFC
Interconnect
Coating
Spinel
Electrical conductivity
Ceramic Materials
Ceramic Materials

abstract:
At solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operating temperatures (650oC--800oC), the chromia scale growth on the interconnect surface and chromium poisoning of cathode can lead to performance degradation of the whole cell. A spinel coating can be effective for blocking chromium outward diffusion to overcome this issue. In this thesis, two spinel-forming systems, Zn-Mn-O and Co-Cu-Mn-O were studied to identify a suitable coating.

In-situ high temperature XRD was used to identify the phases in the Zn-Mn-O system between 600oC and 1300oC. The results showed that cubic spinel phase was stable only at high temperatures (above 1200oC) and when the temperature decreases, the cubic phase tends to deform to tetragonal structure. In addition, the conductivity results showed low conductivities (below 3 S/cm) at SOFC operating temperature. Thus, the Zn-Mn-O system is not suitable for SOFC interconnect coatings.

Another potential coating material analyzed was the Co-Cu-Mn-O system. This system exhibited promising conductivity values. Electrodeposition was used to apply Co-Cu-Mn-O coatings on both ferritic stainless steel and chromium-based alloy (Cr-5Fe) followed by oxidation in air at 800oC. The spinel coating formed nicely on the stainless steel substrate. However, on the chromium plate, nitride formation, blistering and metal isolation were the common problems that occurred during the oxidation process. In order to improve the quality of coating on the chromium alloy, different heat treatments were explored, such as annealing in reducing atmosphere, oxidation in pure oxygen / mixed gas and decreasing the oxidation temperature. The objective of modifying the heat treatment was to produce adherent, dense coatings.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: ARTS IN THE CITY: VISIONS OF JAMES STREET NORTH, 2005-2011

contributor:
Badone, Ellen E.F.
Rothenberg, Celia
Bouchier, Nancy
Anthropology

subject:
Arts
Revitalization
Cities
Hamilton
Hope
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology

abstract: I argue in this dissertation that aestheticizing urban landscapes represents an effort to create humane public environments in disenfranchised inner-city spaces, and turns these environments into culturally valued sites of pilgrimage. Specifically, I focus on James Street North, a neighbourhood undergoing artistic renewal in the post-industrial city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in the arts scene on James Street North, my thesis claims that artistic activities serve as an ordinary, everyday material response to the perceived and real challenges of poverty, crime and decay in downtown Hamilton. Aesthetic elaboration is a generative and tangible expression by arts stakeholders of their intangible hopes, desires, and dreams for the city. People’s hope, desires and dreams, however, are not all the same. Debates about the space use on James Street North generally take the form of pro-city revitalization versus anti-gentrification. These responses, I argue, are ultimately tied to, and concerned with, larger questions about the authenticity of place. Further, the authenticity of place is tied to a nostalgic yearning for a past that is symbolically associated with ‘country’ ideals of a close-knit community and a place of respite and renewal away from the ‘city.’ The aestheticization of this particular urban landscape, that was repeatedly imagined, reinforced, and performed during my fieldwork, is an attempt to humanize and democratize the street and the city rather than dehumanize and colonize it. Further, the street itself, in becoming tied to the hopes and desires of people, has taken on an almost sacred quality. As such, James Street North, as a destination to which people journey, and as a place in which both personal and social transformation occurs, is likened to a site of secular pilgrimage.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: EXPERIENCES OF TRANSITION FROM UNIVERSITY TO KNOWLEDGE WORK FOR GRADUATES WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

contributor:
Wilton, Robert
Chouinard, Vera
Fudge-Schormans, Ann
Geography and Earth Sciences

subject:
learning disability
participatory action research
knowledge economy
postsecondary
Disability and Equity in Education
Higher Education
Human Geography
Place and Environment
Disability and Equity in Education

abstract:
There is a growing number of students with disabilities accessing postsecondary education in Ontario. Among this student body, students with learning disabilities are the largest sub-group. These students transition into knowledge workplaces, which have significant cognitive performance standards. Although there is some emerging literature on the outcome of university graduates with learning disabilities, there is little known about their experiences during this transition process.

There are two central purposes of this doctoral thesis: a) to provide insight into the experiences of transition for university graduates with learning disabilities, and b) to critically reflect upon the practicalities and politics of implementing participatory action research. The papers gathered in this dissertation are based upon a participatory action research project with mentees, and interviews with both mentees and mentors from a learning disability mentorship program at an Ontario university. The first paper is a collaborative writing piece with co-researchers that applies an analogy of ‘taking center stage’ to reflect upon the process of participation for co-researchers. The second paper involves a critical reflection of the imagined distance that took place amongst the research team, and an exploration of participatory techniques to address this distance. The third paper examines qualitative interviews with mentors and mentees on three stages of the transition process: interview, general cognitive ability testing and probationary period.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Calculating confidence intervals for the cumulative incidence function while accounting for competing risks: comparing the Kalbfleisch-Prentice method and the Counting Process method

contributor:
Pond, Greg
Statistics

subject:
cumulative incidence function
oncology
estimation
confidence interval
Biostatistics
Biostatistics

abstract: Subjects enrolled in a clinical trial may experience a competing risk event which alters the risk of the primary event of interest. This differs from when subject information is censored, which is non-informative. In order to calculate the cumulative incidence function (CIF) for the event of interest, competing risks and censoring must be treated appropriately; otherwise estimates will be biased. There are two commonly used methods of calculating a confidence interval (CI) for the CIF for the event of interest which account for censoring and competing risk: the Kalbfleisch-Prentice (KP) method and the Counting Process (CP) method. The goal of this paper is to understand the variances associated with the two methods to improve our understanding of the CI. This will allow for appropriate estimation of the CIF CI for a single-arm cohort study that is currently being conducted. Previous work has failed to address this question because researchers typically focus on comparing two treatment arms using statistical tests that compare cause-specific hazard functions and do not require a CI for the CIF. The two methods were compared by calculating CIs for the CIF using data from a previous related study, using bootstrapping, and a simulation study with varying event rates and competing risk rates. The KP method usually estimated a larger CIF and variance than the CP method. When event rates were low (5%), the CP method is recommended as it yields more consistent results than the KP method. The CP method is recommended for the proposed study since event rates are expected to be moderate (5-10%).

abstract: Master of Science (MS)


title: Phase Relations of the Hydroxyl Felspathoids in the System NaAlSiO4-NaOH-H20

contributor:
Burley, B.J.
Geology

subject: Geology Geology Geology

abstract: A study was made of the phase relationships in the system NaAlSiO4-NaOH-H2O, at 15,000 p.s.i. and at 450°C, 520°C, 600°C and 700°C. The following phases were found and characterised: hydroxyl varieties of nosean, sodalite and cancrinite, with formulae approximating to 3NaAlSiO4.NaOH.xH2O, 1x1.5, sodic nepheline and phase X, apparently a previously unreported phase, with composition approaching Na4Al2Si2O9. Approximate phase diagrams were deduced for the four temperatures.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Bayham Township

subject: Geography Geography

abstract: Bachelor of Arts (BA)


title: Loss of Interaction in Reinforced Concrete Beams

contributor:
Robinson, H.
Civil Engineering

subject:
Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering

abstract: This thesis involves the consideration of the reinforced concrete beam as a composite beam with incomplete interaction. The flexual carrying capacity of the remaining uncracked portion, and the distribution of shear stress throughout the depth of a cracked beam are studied analytically.

abstract: Master of Engineering (ME)


title: Sexuality and Reproduction in Dystopian Fiction

contributor:
Silcox, Mary
English

subject:
Sexuality
Reproduction
Dystopian
Fiction
English Language and Literature
English Language and Literature

abstract: This thesis explores the relationship between women and fictional dystopian societies. I study the effects of technology upon individual women who are forced to participate in the eugenic practices of repressive states by becoming "breeders." I also trace the role of lesbians, and how their presence is pathologized and "ghosted." My primary texts are Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Sheri S. Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Teacher in Fiction and Sociology

contributor:
Dr. J. Synge, Dr. J. Ferns
Teaching

subject: English Teaching Fiction Sociology Education Education

abstract:
This project examines the portrayal of the teacher in novels and the extent to which sociological research supports the image of the teacher in fiction.

The Introduction discusses a widely used approach to literary criticism and offers examples of scholars who have adopted a more sociological thrust in their work. It is suggested that the combining of literary and sociological methods enlarges our understanding of the classroom teacher.

Chapter 1 deals with four novels in which female teachers are the principal characters. The characters are examined with an emphasis on their Iives as teachers. Salient characteristics are identified and some sociological implications are briefly discussed.

The second chapter deals with male teachers. These teachers work in a variety of schools ranging from the English public school system to the inner cities of New York and London. Some points of comparison are drawn among the various teachers and the schools in which they teach.

Chapter 3 introduces the sociological material on teachers. There is an historical assessment of the position of the female teacher during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The chapter proceeds with an examination of the woman teacher's character and her relations with her community. Reference is made to both fictional and actual teachers throughout.

The last chapter deals with the male teacher using the points of reference employed in the previous chapter. Contrasts are indicated between male and female teachers in their views of teaching and the ways in which they interact with their peers and their community.

The conclusion describes marked differences in the treatment of male and female teachers in fiction and sociology. Some under explored aspects of the teachers' professional Iives are examined and some suggestions for further study are made.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Luhicon Lake Nation: Spirit of Resistance

contributor:
Feit, Harvey
Philosophy

subject:
Lubicon Lake
Spirit
Resistance
Philosophy
Philosophy

abstract: There are four objectives of this dissertation. The first is addressing the Native perspective and how that influences both the methodology and theoretical context. The second is developing a context that is both relevant to the Lubicon and myself. as well as the social sciences. The third is describing the field research in Little Buffalo, Alberta over a five year period, and how spirituality and culture shape~; not only perceptions hut human behaviour which is identified as resistance to dominant ideology and oppression. The fourth is providing the Luhicon Cree men and women with an opportunity to tell their story from their own voice. The conclusion brings together the spiritual-theoretical collective voice to address issues of representation and more importantly the very real experience of "genocide."

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Ultrashort Laser Ablation of Cortical Bone: Literature Review and Experimental Evaluation

contributor:
Fang, Qiyin
Haugen, Harold
Wohl, Greg
Engineering Physics

subject:
laser
ultrashort
cortical bone
ablation
Engineering Physics
Engineering Physics

abstract:
Mechanical instruments, such as saw and bur are commonly used for bone cutting during orthopedics surgeries. These conventional instruments showed good bone removal efficiency. Nonetheless, there are some issues with the use of the mechanical tools, such as ill-placed screws and elevation of tissue temperature, which results in thermal damage to the surrounding tissues. These difficulties accompanied with using mechanical tools led to laser ablation investigations. Lasers, including continues wave (CW) and pulsed, were considered to be a promising tool for bone ablation. When compared to mechanical tools, lasers produce less thermal damage to the surrounding tissues due to their ability to focus on a very small spot, which also produces more precise ablation. Lasers also produce no significant mechanical vibrations within the surrounding tissue and thus less mechanical damage and cracks occur during ablation. Performances of laser ablations are measured by several factors; such as collateral damage, machining time, ablated depth, and ablative precision. In this thesis work, a literature review was conducted with the aim of understanding the bone characteristics that are related to the optical properties of bone, which leads to a better understanding for ablation mechanisms. This helps in a proper choice of laser parameters for a certain tissue ablation, and thus avoiding collateral damage.

Some laser parameters (pulse energy, scanning speed, and number of passes) were characterized as a first step towards producing large holes. The effect of each one of these laser parameters on the groove depth was found. The feasibility of the ultrafast laser in creating large scale holes was examined, using two scanning strategies: (i) concentric circles scanning, the largest crater depth measured using this procedure was 3.81 mm, (ii) helical scanning, which was used to reduce the machining time, using this procedure a micropillar was created with 12 passes in just 2.5 minutes.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Albert Camus: Un Theater de Silence

contributor:
Pocknell, B.S.
English Literature

subject: French and Francophone Language and Literature

abstract: Cette dissertation est ecrite dans Ie but d'etablir l'importance du role que joue Ie silence dans Ie theatre d'Albert Camus. Dans Ie premier chapitre, Ie silence est redefini selon l'usage camusien et est mis en comparaison avec l'usage de certains des contemporains de Camus. Dans Ie deuxieme et troisieme chapitres, les deux pieces les mieux connues de Camus, Le lVIalentendu et Caligula sont etudiees tour a tour, en considerant Ie role joue par Ie silence.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Applying Phage Display to Screen a Library of α1-Proteinase Inhibitor Mutants for Improved Thrombin Binding Activity

contributor: Medical Sciences (Thrombosis & Haemostasis & Atherosclerosis)

subject:
protein engineering
thrombin
phage display
coagulation
serpin
thrombin inhibitor
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins

abstract:
α1-proteinase inhibitor (α1-PI) is the most abundant serine protease inhibitor (serpin) in plasma. The α1-PI M358R mutant exhibits greatly increased rates of thrombin inhibition compared to wild type α1-PI, which predominantly inhibits neutrophil elastase. M358R (P1) lies at the reactive centre (P1-P1’) bond of the reactive centre loop (RCL) of α1-PI, cleaved by cognate proteases as they become trapped in the serpin-type inhibitory complex. The relationship between RCL structure and serpin inhibitor function is incompletely understood and has not been subjected to saturation mutagenesis. α1-PI M358R is a less potent inhibitor of thrombin than natural thrombin-inhibitory serpins, suggesting room for engineered improvement into an antithrombotic protein drug.

Phage display is a powerful tool for screening mutant protein libraries, but only one serpin (PAI-1) has previously been mutated and expressed in this manner. In this study the T7Select10-3b (Novagen) phage display system was used to express α1-PI variants and PAI-1, fused to the first 348 residues of the T7 10B coat protein. Following confirmation that α1-PI M358R retained inhibitory activity when fused to T7Select10-3b phage, this system was used to express a library of α1-PI mutant proteins with all possible codon combinations at positions P2 (P357) and P1 (M358) (441 mutants). The library was biopanned using a novel technique in order to amplify only the α1-PI P2P1 mutants capable of forming stable complexes with thrombin. The P357/M358R mutant was the only P2P1 mutant enriched, indicating that the α1-PI M358R protein has the optimal P2P1 sequence for thrombin inhibition.

A second T7Select10-3b library of α1-PI mutant proteins was generated to identify the optimal sequence at positions P7 through to P3 (amino acids 352-356) for thrombin inhibition. The P2 and P1 positions were maintained at P357/M358R, while all possible codon combinations at positions P7 through to P3 were represented (>4.08 million mutants). The library was biopanned using the protocol developed for the P2P1 library, before sequences were inserted into an E. coli expression vector and α1-PI M358R P7-P3 mutants were screened for thrombin inhibitory activity. 80 individual colonies were screened, yielding 22 unique P7-P3 mutants with thrombin inhibitory activity greater than the M358R RCL sequence. The consensus observed in sequences with improved activity matched thrombin’s known substrate specificity and also general RCL trends: P7-Not Aromatic/P6-Hydrophobic/P5-T or S/P4-Hydrophobic/P3-Not Aromatic.

Kinetic characterization of selected mutants with improved thrombin inhibitory activity yielded two mutants, P7-P3 sequence DITMA and AAFVS, with a second order rate constant of 1.0 x 106 M-1s-1. This represents a >2-fold increase in the rate of thrombin inhibition versus α1-PI M358R. Both the DITMA and AAFVS mutants were found to have a lower stoichiometry of inhibition compared to α1-PI M358R, indicating that an improved thrombin inhibitory mechanism was also enriched during biopanning.

These findings suggest that based on the scaffold of the α1-PI protein, improved thrombin inhibitory activity can be engineered and selected via phage display. Additionally, this work represents a proof-of-principle for the application of this system to screen libraries of up to 10 million mutants in order to better engineer serpins towards a desired activity.

abstract: Master of Health Sciences (MSc)


title: Pup Cannibalism: A Description and Causal Analysis of One Aspect of Maternal Behaviour of the Golden Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

contributor:
Galef, B.G.
Psychology

subject: Psychology Psychology

abstract:
Following parturition, the female golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus, Waterhouse, 1839) exhibits a broad repertoire of maternal behaviours essential for the growth and protection of her developing offspring. In addition to engaging in obviously nurturent activities, the maternal hamster exhibits a behaviour infrequently observed in other species: she almost invariably cannibalizes some of her own live offspring.

Hamster pup cannibalism has been characterized in the literature as a breakdown of normal maternal behaviour, resulting from a variety of possibly stressful conditions imposed upon the mother (for example, disturbance following parturition). The influence of such factors on frequency of pup destruction, however, has not been empirically examined, and, in fact, no systematic observation of hamster pup cannibalism has been reported in the literature.

The major purposes of this thesis were to provide normative data on the frequency, extent, and time course of cannibalism by hamsters rearing their litters under standard laboratory conditions, and to determine the proximal stimulation controlling the onset, maintenance, and cessation of this behaviour.

Systematic observations of 63 litters born to 21 mother indicated that there is a high probability (.75) of a mother exhibiting some cannibalism toward her young, but that each mother destroys only a few of her pups. Eighty percent of this destruction occurs within five days of parturition, and cannibalism is directed apparently randomly towards the pups present in the litter. While an individual hamster does not reliably cannibalize a certain number of pups, she does exhibit relative constancy in the number of pups she rears over successive litters.

Experimental results indicated that the pup cannibalism normally exhibited by the hamster is not dependent upon the presence of the possibly stressful conditions suggested in the literature. Instead, the results provided evidence that the initiation of pup cannibalism is systematically controlled by a variety of stimuli which reflect the size of the litter, including olfactory stimulation and stimulation received during nursing.

Each hamster apparently cannibalizes to regulate her litters at a particular size. If litter size is artificially reduced by removing pups from the litter, the mother reduces cannibalism proportionally. If litter size is increased on the day of parturition, by giving the mother newborn foster pups, she will exhibit a compensatory increase in cannibalism. The probability of observing this compensatory increase in cannibalism in response to artificial litter size increment decreases as a function of increasing time postpartum at which litter size is altered. The change in responsiveness to litter size was found to be a results of internal changes in the mother occurring as a function of time postpartum, rather than from changing stimuli received from pups increasing in age.

Variations between individual mothers in the number of pups they rear per litter probably results from long-term constancies in their relative capacity to conceive, deliver, and/or successfully maintain young. The observation that hamster consistently gives birth to more pups than she will rear, and achieves a reduction in number of pups by an active culling of the litter, suggests that pup cannibalism enables the mother to alter the size of her litter to that size most compatible with her capacity to rear young under specific environmental conditions.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Impact of Antibiotics on the Gut-Brain Axis

contributor:
Foster, Jane A.
Neuroscience

subject:
Gut-Brain Axis
Antibiotics
Gut Microbiota
Intestinal Barrier Permeability
Central Nervous System
Behaviour
Behavioral Neurobiology
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Biology
Developmental Biology
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Other Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Behavioral Neurobiology

abstract: The gut and brain are involved in a bi-directional communication system, referred to as the gut-brain axis. While it has been established that antimicrobials induce dysbiosis in the gut, which further disrupts immune and metabolic homeostasis, research on brain and behaviour development is becoming a topic of interest. We propose that alterations via antibiotics at the level of the gut microbiota impacts the gut-brain axis. The primary interest of this thesis is to understand the effects that antibiotics have on brain and behaviour development in conjunction with changes in the immune system and metabolism using the antibiotic mouse model. Mice treated with antibiotics revealed behavioural differences in the open field apparatus and three-chamber social behaviour apparatus, but not in the elevated plus maze and auditory fear conditionings enclosures. Evaluation of intestinal permeability revealed that female Balb/C mice administered a combination of bacitracin, neomycin and primaricin and another group administered a combination of ampicillin, neomycin and primaricin showed reduced intestinal permeability. Furthermore, the immune system condition was evaluated using flow cytometric analysis of spleens, which revealed no effect of treatment on immune cell profiles in CD1 mice treated with ampicillin. Evaluation of serum cytokine levels showed minimal differences in Balb/C and C57Bl/6 mice treated with antibiotics. Body weight and water and food consumption were evaluated in mice administered antibiotics. Weight loss differences were observed in two groups of female Balb/C mice, with the first group administered bacitracin, neomycin and primaricin and the second group administered ampicillin , neomycin and primaricin. Antibiotic treatment dependent differences in water and food consumption were observed. Serum insulin and leptin level investigation revealed that female Balb/C mice administered ampicillin, neomycin and primaricin had reduced serum insulin levels compared to strain matched controls. These findings indicate that antibiotic treatment impact metabolic function. This pilot study using antibiotic treated mouse models provides insight on the microbiota’s effects on the gut-brain axis, which can help to potentially identify methods of preventing gut microbiota mediated pathology in humans.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Energy and water balance in a deciduous forest in southern Ontario

contributor:
Arain, M. Altaf
Geography and Earth Sciences

subject:
Energy fluxes
Evaporation
Energy budget
Deciduous forest
Eddy-covariance
Forest-atmosphere exchange
Other Forestry and Forest Sciences
Other Forestry and Forest Sciences

abstract: This study discusses energy and water balance in an 80-year-old deciduous Carolinian forest in the Great Lakes region in southern Ontario, Canada. The eddy covariance technique and associated meteorological and soil variables were used to make a year-round measurements of energy and water vapour fluxes from January-December,2012. This site is part of the Turkey Point Flux Station and global Fluxnet. The linear relationship between daily turbulent (sensible heat (H), latent heat (LE)) and radiative fluxes (net radiation (Rn),soil heat (G) and canopy heat storage ( S)) has a the slope of 0.75 (intercept of -15.8 Wm-2, and a correlation coefficient, r2 of 0.93) indicating a 25% deficiency in energy balance closure. The mean value of canopy albedo was 0.16 during the growing season. Maximum daily evapotranspiration (E) rate was 3.8 mm day-1 in June, when growing is at its peak in the region. Total annual E was 400 mm, which accounted for 42% of the total annual precipitation of 950 mm. The water storage in upper soil column (1.0 m depth) was approximately 100 mm, indicating that about 450 mm of water was lost from the forest as runoff. Apart from radiation, vapour pressure deficit (D) was the dominant control on E. Maximum value of bulk surface conductance (Gs) was about 18.5 mm s-1. Gs linearly decreased in response to increase in D. The minimum Gs values were recorded when D was maximum, i.e. 3 to 3.5 kPa. Gs also showed high sensitivity to the volumetric soil water content (ϴ), during dry periods, for example the drought event in 2012. In the growing season, the typical value of Priestley-Taylor α ranged between 0.8 to 1.2 with a maximum of 1.8, indicating a wet deciduous forest. However, the LE/Rn relationship showed a linear increase with increasing D with a low (0.26) slope, indicating a conservative response of forest E to atmospheric demand. This study provides insight into energy partitioning, the water balance and their controls in this Carolinian deciduous forest. A better understanding of evapotranspiration processes and their controls in these forests would help to better quantify water availability at local and regional scales and to evaluate the impacts of future climate change on water resources in the region.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Religious Criticism in Voltaire's Candide

contributor:
Conlon, P. M.
Romance Languages

subject:
Romance
Language
English Language and Literature
English Language and Literature

abstract: A study of Volaire' s Candide (1759) in relation to religious criticism; with some reference to the development of this criticism in works written before and after the tale.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Le Sacre Camusien

contributor:
Moyal, G. R.
French

abstract: Dans cette these nous tenterons d'etablir ce qui constitue Ie sacre dans Ia pen see d'Albert Camus. Afin d'accomplir ceci nous etudierons La Peste. La Chute, et des recits choisis de L 'Exil et le royaume a la lumiere des idees mises en evidence dans ses essais. Nous ne tenons pas a donner une definition universelle du sacre, mais plutot a eciaircir ce que ce concept signifie dans les ecrits de Camus.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Optimal Precoder Design and Block-Equal QRS Decomposition for ML Based Successive Cancellation Detection

contributor:
Wong, Kon Max
Jian Kang Zhang, Timothy N. Davidson
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject: multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) systems

subject: precoding

subject: maximum likelihood (ML) detection

subject: successive cancellation detection

subject: QR decompostion

subject: power loading

subject: Signal Processing

subject: Systems and Communications

subject: Signal Processing

abstract: The Multiple-input and Multiple-output (MIMO) channel model is very useful for the presentation of a wide range of wireless communication systems. This thesis addresses the joint design of a precoder and a receiver for a MIMO channel model, in a scenario in which perfect channel state information (CSI) is available at both ends. We develop a novel framework for the transmitting-receiving procedure. Under the proposed framework, the receiver decomposes the channel matrix by using a block QR decomposition, where Q is a unitary matrix and R is a block upper triangular matrix. The optimal maximum likelihood (ML) detection process is employed within each diagonal block of R. Then, the detected block of symbols is substituted and subtracted sequentially according to the block QR decomposition based successive cancellation. On the transmitting end, the expression of probability of error based on ML detection is chosen as the design criterion to formulate the precoder design problem. This thesis presents a design of MIMO transceivers in the particular case of having 4 transmitting and 4 receiving antennas with full CSI knowledge on both sides. In addition, a closed-form expression for the optimal precoder matrix is obtained for channels satisfying certain conditions. For other channels not satisfying the specific condition, a numerical method is applied to obtain the optimal precoder matrix.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Context-specificity in Implicit Sequence Learning: Evidence for Episodic Representations

contributor:
Milliken, Bruce
Psychology

subject:
memory
implicit learning
implicit sequence learning
context-specificity
Cognition and Perception
Cognitive Psychology
Cognition and Perception

abstract: Cognitive psychologists have long been interested in the nature of the representations that underlie human behaviours. In the domain of human memory, two main accounts have been forwarded to explain how memory is represented. The multiple memory systems account posits that different phenomenological experiences of memory are the result of separate and distinct representations. In contrast, the processing account posits that there is one memory system, and that different phenomenological experiences of memory are the result of the processes engaged in when probing memory. The explanatory power of these two accounts has been evaluated in a number of domains, where it has been shown that a processing view can accommodate many of the key findings that previously led researchers to propose a separate systems framework. The goal of this thesis was to extend this work by assessing the nature of the representations that underlie implicit sequence learning. The empirical portions of this thesis provide preliminary evidence suggesting that contextual features are incorporated into implicit sequence learning. Overall, the results reported in the empirical chapters of this thesis are consistent with a processing account, as they indicate that the episodic representations that are involved in explicit remembering also support performance in implicit memory tasks.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: MODELLING OF COUNTER ROTATING TWIN SCREW EXTRUSION

contributor:
Vlachopoulos, John
Thompson, Michael R.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
twin screw extrusion
negative pressure
pumping capacity and mixing efficiency
Polymer Science
Polymer Science

abstract:
Intermeshing counter-rotating twin screw extruders (ICRTSE) are used extensively in the polymer processing industry for pelletizing, devolatilization and extrusion of various plastic products. ICRTSE have better positive displacement ability and are more suitable for shear sensitive materials compared to other types of twin screw extruders.

The objectives of this thesis are to understand the flow mechanism and the effects of screw geometries and processing conditions in the ICRTSE. First, a simple flow model based on a volume of the conveying element of ICRTSE was used to calculate flow rate. Since ICRTSE do not give complete positive displacement, the various leakage flows were identified and taken into account in the simple flow model. Although the simple flow model provided reasonable results in terms of flow rate, computer simulations were found necessary due to the limitations of simple flow model. Second, a 3D computer simulation of ICRTSE was developed for various screw geometries and processing conditions. Both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids were examined.

It was shown the simple model based on geometrical parameters for pumping behaviour give reasonable prediction of flow rate. It was found that determination of negative pressure should be taken into account in numerical simulations. The pumping efficiency is influenced positively by the ratio of flight width-to-channel width but it is affected negatively by the screw pitch length. It is negligibly changed with screw speed. Finally, the dominant flow is shear flow in ICRTSE and therefore, dispersive mixing capacity is very limited due to a lack of elongational effects.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: ARRESTED AND CHAINED: The role of AmiB and AmiC in Pseudomonas aeruginosa daughter cell separation

contributor:
Burrows, Lori
Biochemistry

subject:
peptidoglycan
cell separation
N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidases
pseudomonas aeruginosa
LysM motif
Septal peptidoglycan
Biochemistry
Biochemistry

abstract: Peptidoglycan (PG) remodelling and cell division are two important cellular processes that are the major target of antibiotics. Due to rising resistance, the need for new antibiotics today has never been greater. Therefore it is important to fill the gaps in our understanding of these two important processes in order to discover new and promising antibiotic targets. Peptidoglycan synthesis and remodelling is a highly coordinated event that involves a wide number of enzymes and processes which are not well understood. N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidases, whose function is to cleave the amide linkage between the stem peptides and the lactyl moiety of N-acetylmuramic acid, is a major class of PG-active proteins. Their role in daughter cell separation during cell division is well established in Escherichia coli however little is known about it in other systems. Using enzymatic assays we characterize AmiC as a novel amidase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Through mutational analysis and microscopy we show that AmiB and AmiC are required for daughter cell separation. A deletion of both enzymes results in a cell chaining phenotype with abnormal cell morphology. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the double mutant is arrested at the septal peptidoglycan separation step. In addition to cell chaining, the ∆amiB/amiC mutant exhibits a significant increase in susceptibility to antibiotics. We also demonstrate that the LysM motif of AmiB is not required for its role in cell separation. Furthermore, the amiB mutant has significantly shorter cells than the wildtype indicating an additional role for the enzyme in the cell. Lastly, through a novel bioinformatics strategy we identify PA5047 as a potential PG amidase.

abstract: Bachelor of Science (BSc)


title: MOYEN AGE ET XIXe SIECLE: MISE EN PARALLELE DES FONCTIONS DE L'UTOPIE DANS DEUX ROMANS FRANCAIS

contributor: Jeay French

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Carbon Scrambling upon Electron Impact in Methylquinolines and Methylpyridines

contributor:
MacLean, D.B.
Chemistry

subject: Chemistry Chemistry

abstract:
The mass spectra of some monomethylquinolines and monomethyl-pyridines all labeled with ¹³C in the exocyclic methyl group have been examined. Such studies were undertaken to provide more information about the possible intermediacy of ring-expanded species in the major fragmentation pathways of these compounds.

In the case of the monomethylquinolines ¹³C labelling studies confirm the rearrangement of the M-1 ion to a ring-expanded species before loss of HCN. The results of the ¹³C labelling in the monomethyl-pyridines suggest that rearrangement of the majority of the molecular ions to a ring-expanded species does not occur in the process M→M-HCN.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Braided Stream Sedimentation in the South Saskatchewan River

contributor:
Walker, R. G.
Geology

subject: Geology Geology

abstract:
In the study area, the South Saskatchewan River has a sandy bed (mean diameter .3 mm) with irregularly-shaped braid bars termed sand flats. These range in length from 50 to 2000. The river has an average discharge of 220 m³/sec, with a mean annual flood of 1450 m³/sec. The river has been dammed upstream of the study area since 1965, but little downcutting has occurred.

Ripples, sand waves and dunes are the equilibrium bedforms present. Ripples and dunes are well known, but sand waves are long, low bedforms with superimposed ripples, lack scour troughs, and occur at lower flow velocities than dunes. Foreset-type bars are also present, but are not equilibrium forms. They result from flow expansion around older topography. They occur at (1) channel junctions, (2) channel bends, (3) areas of channel widening, (4) places of vertical flow expansion. They deposit planar crossbeds.

Large areas of the river have many sand flats with no major channels, and may even lack minor channels. These areas are termed sand flat complexes. Where a major channel curves around a sand flat complex, a large diagonal bar is deposited. It is mainly on the tops of these bars where new sand flats form.

The major channels rarely exceed 5 m in depth, but may be 150 m wide. They are floored by sinuous-crested dunes with sand waves and ripples along their margins. The dunes build up during floods (2 m maximum amplitude). Larger dunes occur in the deeper channels.

Three different morphologies of small sand flats, symmetric, asymmetric and side, have been recognized. Each type forms from a bar which becomes partly immobilized where it become emergent. The remainder of the bar front continues to advance around this emergent nucleus. The different morphologies result because of the control exerted by preexisting deposits on the shape of the initial bar.

Larger sand flats lack these morphologies because they have been extensively modified. The major processes of modification are vertical, lateral, and upstream accretion by bars; linking of sand flats by bars; erosional action. The variable morphologies of larger sand flats reflect only their latest modification. The stratification of sand flats is mainly planar crossbed sets deposited by the bars.

During the winter, a 60 cm thick layer of ice covers the entire system. The sand flats are immobilized because their top layers of sediments are frozen. In some places, their surfaces are disrupted by fluid escape caused by high pore pressures generated by freezing. Flow proceeds down the channels under the ice. Rafting of cobbles and scouring around grounded ice blocks takes place at breakup.

The facies sequences resulting from sedimentation in the river are mainly sandy. Those which are deposited by channels consists dominantly of trough crossbeds, but lone planar crossbed sets may be present, deposited by large bars. Facies sequences which include sand flat deposits have several sets of planar crossbeds stacked on top of one another. All sequences have a zone of small crossbeds and ripple cross-lamination near the tops, resulting from shallow water deposition. They are capped by one-half metre of muddy flood-plain deposits.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Validation study of paper-based biosensor for detecting pesticides in real world samples

contributor:
Pelton, Robert
Filipe, Carlos
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Biosensor
paper-based sensor
pesticides
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering

abstract:
Research in paper-based analytical devices has been increasing in recent years. Before technology transfer and market acceptance, these paper-based sensors have to be validated with field samples. In this study, we have made an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of paper-based sensors to detect pesticides in real world samples. Generation 1 biosensor has been modified to be user friendly. There is no difference in the performance of generation 2 sensors; they detect pesticides based on colorimetric assay. The assay protocol involves first introducing the sample to the sensing zone by pipetting the water sample. Following an incubation period of 15min, the substrate end of the sensor is dipped into the sample to move paper bound indoxyl acetate (IDA) to the sensing region to initiate the enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of the substrate, resulting in the development of blue color. The presence of pesticide is indicated by either a decrease in color intensity or with no color development at all.

To evaluate the effectiveness of biosensor in detecting pesticides in real world samples, a field study was conducted in four villages of southern India. Water samples from different aquatic environment including both surface water and ground water, were tested using generation 2 paper-based sensors. The paper-based sensors were capable of detecting organophosphorus pesticides in real world samples. The results were confirmed using GC-MS.

The presence of higher concentration of dibutyl phthalate (in the range of 100uM to 10mM) in water can be a potential interference for the paper-based assay for the detection of pesticides in water. The paper-based biosensor assay platform can detect pesticides in the environmental samples and results have been validated by GC-MS. But for transfer of technology to the industry, further optimization is required to improve the stability of substrate to withstand atmospheric temperature fluctuations thus allowing the storage and shipment of the biosensor strips. Additionally to conduct reliable assays and obtain consistent results, the fabrication of biosensor strips needs to be improved to maintain the consistent volumes of bioinks impregnated on paper support.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Exploring Microbial Communities and Carbon Cycling within the Earth's Deep Terrestrial Subsurface

contributor:
Slater, Greg
Geography and Earth Sciences

subject:
Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA)
Carbon isotope analysis
Deep terrestrial subsurface
Microbiology
Carbon cycling
Astrobiology
Biogeochemistry
Biogeochemistry

abstract: Investigating the presence of microbial communities in the Earth's deep terrestrial subsurface and the metabolic processes taking place in these environments provides insight into the some of the ultimate limits for life on Earth, as well as the potential for microbial life to exist within the subsurface of other planetary bodies. This Master's thesis project utilized phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, in combination with carbon isotope analyses (δ13C and Δ14C), to explore the presence and activity of microbial communities living within deep terrestrial subsurface fracture water systems and low permeability, deep sedimentary rocks. Deep fracture water systems, ranging from 0.9 to 3.2 km below land surface, were sampled for microbial communities via deep mine boreholes in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa. PLFA concentrations revealed low biomass microbial communities, ranging from 2x101 to 5x104 cells per mL and the PLFA profiles contained indicators for environmental stressors, including high temperatures and nutrient deprivation. δ13C and Δ14C analyses of PLFAs and potential carbon sources (dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and methane) identified microbial utilization of methane in some systems and utilization of DIC in others. Evidence for microbial oxidation of methane and chemoautotrophy in these systems is consistent with a self-sustaining deep terrestrial subsurface biosphere that is capable of surviving independent of the photosphere. Viable microbial communities were also identified within deep (334 to 694 m depth) sedimentary rock cores sampled from the Michigan Basin, Canada. PLFA analyses revealed microbial cell densities ranging from 1-3 x 105 cells/mL and identified PLFA indicators for environmental stressors. These results demonstrate the ubiquity of microbial life in the deep terrestrial subsurface and provide insight into microbial carbon sources and cycling in deep microbial systems which may persist in isolation over geologic timescales.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: An Ecological Conception of Human Nature

contributor:
Vorobej, Mark
Machery, Edouard
Singh, Rama
Philosophy

subject:
Human nature
evolution
ecology
essentialism
typology
innate
species fixity
psychology
philosophy of biology
moral problem solving
genes
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Science

abstract: Currently, there is significant divergence in scholarly opinion as to whether or not human nature exists. In my PhD thesis, I argue for the existence of human nature. In so doing, I critique rival views on human nature and orthodox entry points into the issue. I also offer a partial explanation as to why such a strong divergence of expert opinion may exist, and argue that accuracy on the issue is important with respect to individual and collective problem solving. The view of human nature I defend is what I call ‘ecological.’ This construct aligns with the fact that biological systems exist at multiple levels of organization and relative to varying ecologies, developmental stages, frames of reference, and viable systems of orientation. Given this, I contend human nature is not something that ‘inheres’ and projects out from the organism; rather, human nature is diffuse and exists at simultaneous levels of biological organization, and at the intersection of genetic and epigenetic factors, past and present, and scientific truth and pragmatism.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Ontario Sunday Shopping: The View of the Consumers of Hamilton, Ontario

abstract: :n the province of Ontario, The Retail Business Holidays Act regulates retail business services m holidays. The Act defines Sunday as a "holiday" and so Sunday is treated the same way as ,he other public holidays. The Act has raised much controversy over the past few years as the 1mbiguity over the wording of the Act and the problems with enforcement, has left room for retailers to do as they please regarding Sunday opening. In tum many different retailers, religious organizations and labour groups have voiced varying concerns to the provincial ;government of Ontario. This research paper investigated the consumer attitudes towards Sunday shopping in Hamilton, Ontario. The main objective was to determine through the method of cross tabulation whether attitudes differed based on household income, sex, presence/absence of children in the family, age, employment status, religion and marital status. The second focus was to determine whether consumers favored a particular type of shopping on Sunday. Finally, to view the opinion of the consumers on who should legislate and the form the legislation should take. Data was obtained thru a survey questionnaire distributed at Jackson Square and Center Mall in Hamilton. The major finding of this thesis was that Hamilton consumers have varying attitudes towards Sunday shopping.

abstract: Bachelor of Arts (BA)


title: Equivariant Gauge Theory and Four-Manifolds

contributor:
Hambleton, Ian
Mathematics and Statistics

subject:
group actions
four-manifolds
gauge theory
Geometry and Topology
Geometry and Topology

abstract: Let $p>5$ be a prime and $X_0$ a simply-connected $4$-manifold with boundary the Poincar\'e homology sphere $\Sigma(2,3,5)$ and even negative-definite intersection form $Q_{X_0}=\text{E}_8$ . We obtain restrictions on extending a free $\bZ/p$-action on $\Sigma(2,3,5)$ to a smooth, homologically-trivial action on $X_0$ with isolated fixed points. It is shown that for $p=7$ there is no such smooth extension. As a corollary, we obtain that there does not exist a smooth, homologically-trivial $\bZ/7$-equivariant splitting of $\#^8 S^2 \times S^2=E_8 \cup_{\Sigma(2,3,5)} \overline{E_8}$ with isolated fixed points. The approach is to study the equivariant version of Donaldson-Floer instanton-one moduli spaces for $4$-manifolds with cylindrical ends. These are $L^2$-finite anti-self dual connections which asymptotically limit to the trivial product connection.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Hearing Where Things Are

contributor:
Lapointe, Sandra
O`Callaghan, Casey
Johnstone, Mark
Philosophy

subject:
location
direction
distance
distal view
nonspatial view
epistemology
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Mind

abstract:
One of the central questions in the philosophy of sounds and hearing is the question of space: what spaces or locations, if any, do sound perceptions make one aware of? When I hear a sound, do I perceive the direction of the sound? The direction (or distance) of the sound's source? The boundaries or dimensions of the space the sound is produced in, or of the source itself? And if sound perceptions do make one aware of space, then with what level of determinacy?

In the first chapter of this essay, I describe my approach to sounds and hearing, and state what I take to be the fundamental challenges for any view of sound perception. For one, I take the everyday experience of sounds to be one of the most significant obstacles to an account of sound perception, and one that has scarcely been recognized as such. In everyday hearing, we are not the least bit concerned with sounds. We use sounds to gather information about the behaviour of their sources, which are typically the object of our attention whenever we perceive a sound. If I hear the sound of a car honking or a person speaking, I immediately pay attention to the car and how I can avoid it, or to the person and the meaning they intend to communicate. In everyday hearing, our awareness of sounds is similar to our awareness of windowpanes while watching the goings on outside. Consequently, the everyday experience of sounds is problematic as a model of sound perception.

In the second and third chapters, I discuss the two most popular views of sound perception in the philosophical literature, the remote view and the non-spatial view. Since these views have received much attention in the literature, I spend more time raising objections to them in chapter III than describing them in chapter II. One of the principle aims of this essay is to make the case that both of these views are mistaken, despite the valuable insights contained in each.

In the fourth and fifth chapters, I discuss the medial view. While the idea that sounds are sound waves located in a medium is the predominant view of sounds themselves in auditory science and the history of philosophy, the view that we hear sounds to be located in the medium has received little attention. Some objections to the medial view have been raised, which I address in chapter V, but very little has been said to defend or even describe the medial view. Part of the motivation for this essay is that I am struck by the fact that the medial view, which would seem to follow naturally from auditory science and the history of philosophy, has been so little discussed. Consequently, the bulk of this essay is dedicated to a description and defence of the medial view.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Synthetic Aperture Radar Simulation for Point and Extended Targets

contributor:
kirubarajan, T
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
SAR
Synthetic Aperture Radar
radars
SAR model
extended target RCS
extended target RCS model
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Signal Processing
Electrical and Computer Engineering

abstract: Basic radar systems use electromagnetic wave reflections from targets to determine the motion characteristics of these targets. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems use the reflections to produce target images as well. SAR is an imaging radar system that produces high resolution images of a scene or target by using radar motion to synthesize the antenna aperture. A SAR model to handle extended targets and point targets in faster time is presented, as are some simulated results. This thesis explains synthetic aperture concepts, the model used and a simulation of a SAR system. It runs through modelling point targets as well as extended targets by using the resolution cells of the radar, creating the raw signal data from the target information and then the signal processing that converts the raw data to a SAR image. The simulation was done for better understanding of synthetic aperture parameters and it was done in C++ programming language for improved processing speed. In comparison to previous simulations obtained from literature review, there is an increase in speed of more than 2.5 times as the number of targets increases, producing higher resolution images in less time. A model to handle extended targets was presented while also showing the imperfections due to the model assumptions. These assumptions are then explained as the best option in the absence of extra geographic information on the target scene.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Steel City Makeover: Examining Representations of Resilience in Contemporary Hamilton-Based Literature

contributor:
York, Lorraine
Coleman, Daniel
O`Brien, Susie
English and Cultural Studies

subject:
resilience
Hamilton
Ontario
literature
urban development
place
Literature in English, North America
Literature in English, North America

abstract: Situating Hamilton, Ontario within the global context of economic restructuring incited by capitalist, neoliberal ideologies, I argue that Hamilton, a “city on the verge of renaissance” (Hume A6), needs to be guided by a more inclusive, citizen-led approach to “rebuilding” the city. To critically understand the complex power imbalances underlying this dominant culture of “rebuild,” I will examine the multifaceted concept of resilience, seeing it as both a tool of domination used by those in power over the public sphere, as well as a personal and communal process that can encompass positive adaptation and growth in the face of change. A key question to be asked throughout is: “Resilience for what and for whom?” (Cote and Nightingale 475). While each chapter will be foregrounded with pertinent theory, I will look to various forms of literature based in Hamilton in order to seek nuanced and imaginative understandings of the current climate of “resilience” that are specific to this place.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: A Photographic Investigation of Saturated Nucleate Boiling

contributor:
Judd, Ross
Mechanical Engineering

subject:
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering

abstract: Document is missing page 93.

abstract: This thesis describes a photographic investigation of saturated nucleate boiling. Five different fluids were boiled on an oxide coated glass surface at various levels of heat flux. The nature of the boiling surface was such that the boiling phenomenon could be photographed through the surface from below. Active nucleation sites were identified and counted by analysis of still photographs obtained using this technique. Active nucleation site density data obtained from the analysis was correlated with surface temperature using the Gaertner site activation theory which requires the use of two arbitrary constants No and o. It is demonstrated that for the particular surface used, the product irrespective of the fluid boiled so that the relationship. satisfactorily predicts the active nucleation site density.

abstract: Master of Engineering (MEngr)


title: GPU-Specfic Kalman Filtering and Retrodiction for Large-Scale Target Tracking

contributor:
Kirubarajan, T.
Bruce, I.
Field, T.R.
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
Retrodiction
Parallel Algorithm
Large Scale Target
Prefix Sum
Signal Processing
Signal Processing

abstract: In the field of Tracking and Data Fusion most, if not all, computations executed by a computer are carried out serially. The sole part of the process that is not entirely serial is the collection of data from multiple sensors, which can be executed in parallel. However, once the data is to be filtered the most likely candidate is a serial algorithm. This is due in large part to the algorithms themselves that have been developed over the last several decades for use on conventional computers that have been left void of parallel computing capabilities, until now. With the arrival of graphical processing units, or GPUs, the tracking community is in a favourable position to exploit the functionality of parallel processing in order to track a growing number of targets. The problem, however, begins with the sheer labour of having to convert all the pre-existing serial tracking algorithms into parallel ones. This is clearly a daunting task when one considers the extent to which the tracking community has gone to develop modern day filters such as Alpha Beta filters, Probabilistic Data Association filters, Interacting Multiple Model filters, and several dozen, if not hundred, variants of the aforementioned. It is most likely that these filters will find some kind of a parallelization in the near future as ever more sensors are dispersed throughout society and even more targets are monitored with these sensors. The volume of targets then becomes simply too unmanageable for a serial algorithm and more focus is placed iv on parallel ones. Yet, before the parallel algorithms can be utilized they have to be derived. It is the derivation of these parallel algorithms which is the focus of this thesis. However, it should be made clear that it would be impossible to formulate a parallelization for every filter found in the literature, and so the goal here is to direct the attention onto one filter in particular, the Kalman filter.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Preparation of β-Lactones

contributor:
Harrison, Paul
Chemistry

subject: Chemistry Chemistry

abstract:
Oxetan-2-ones (β-lactones) represent important synthetic targets because they are versatile synthetic intermediates and are present in a wide variety of pharmacologically relevant natural products. Using several reported methods, a homologous series of racemic C4-monosubstituted and trans-1,2-disubstituted β-lactones was prepared for investigation as potential inhibitors of yeast 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) synthase. However, no general method were then available for the preparation of the corresponding cis-1,2-disubstituted β-lactones.

Using the mercury (II) promoted Masamune lactonization of β-hydroxy thiopyridyl ester 3-7, cis-3-methyl-4-decyloxetan-2-one (3-1) was prepared in high yield. The requisite syn thiol ester was prepared starting from undecanal: (1) in one step using a titanium (IV) promoted Mukaiyama aldol condensation with silyl ketene acetal 1-28; and (2) in three steps using a titanium (IV) promoted Evans-type aldol condensation with N-propionyl thiazolidinethione 4-24, followed by conversion of the thiazolidinethione aldol adduct to thiol ester 3-7 through the corresponding free acid. Substituting N-propionyl thiazolidinethione 4-24 for chiral N-acetyl and N-propionyl thiazolidinethiones 4-26 and 5-16, respectively, the Evans-type aldol condensations with undecanal proceeded with excellent diastereoselectivity (> 90 %de); this is necessary for the preparation of optically active cis-1,20-disubstitutede and C4-monosubstituted β-lactones.

A tandem-Evans aldol-lactonization (TEAL) reaction was developed using the lithium enolates of N-acetyl (5-16) and N-propionyl thiazolidinethione 4-24. Thus far, trisubstituted spiro β-lactones 6-17 and 6-19, and C4-disubstituted spiro β-lactones 6-22, have been successfully prepared in one-pot.

In addition to using aldol condensations to prepare the carbon skeleton for C4-monosubstituted β-lactones, a Claisen-type condensation on a glycoluril template was attempted; the advantage of this route was the potential use of well developed asymmetric reductions of the product β-keto carboxylic acid derivative to introduce optical activity in an enantioselective preparation of C4-monosubstituted β-lactones. Unfortunately, using glycoluril 7-11, racemic 4-nonyloxetan-2-one (2-7v) was produced in poor yield because of difficulties encountered removing the aldol adduct-like β-hydroxy carboxylic acid derivative from the template.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: A Parametric Test for Trend Based on Moving Order Statistics

contributor:
Balakrishnan, Narayanaswamy
Childs, A.
Viveros-Aguilera, R.
Mathematics and Statistics

subject:
Parametric test
Moving order statistics
Time series
Monotone trends
Closed skew normal distribution
Efficient algorithm
Statistics and Probability
Statistics and Probability

abstract: When researchers work on time series or sequence, certain fundamental questions will naturally arise. One of them will be whether the series or sequence exhibits a gradual trend over time. In this thesis, we propose a test statistic based on moving order statistics and establish an exact procedure to test for the presence of monotone trends. We show that the test statistic under the null hypothesis that there is no trend follows the closed skew normal distribution. An efficient algorithm is then developed to generate realizations from this null distribution. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the proposed test under the alternative hypotheses with linear, logarithmic and quadratic trend functions. Finally, a practical example is provided to illustrate the proposed test procedure.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: A STUDY OF TWO OPPOSING PLANAR AIR JETS

contributor:
Ziada, Samir
Mechanical Engineering

subject:
acoustics
instability
jet
planar
oscillation
Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls
Energy Systems
Other Mechanical Engineering
Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls

abstract:
This thesis tackles the behavior of two planar shaped opposing air jets. The word opposing means that the two air jets are positioned against each other to have a common center-line so that they impinge on each other. Opposing planar jets have several applications in industry which include: galvanization, chemical mixing processes, and combustion. Opposing planar jets are found to produce high level low frequency acoustic tones. In this study, the acoustic response of the opposing planar jets is investigated for different operating conditions. Acoustic tone analysis is performed for a wide range of jet exit velocities and separation distances between the two jets. Results show that the jets produce strong acoustic tones over the whole investigated range of test conditions. The acoustic response depends on the operating conditions of the jets and the acoustic tone is found to be generated by a self-sustained flow oscillation of the two jets.

In order to further understand the reported oscillation phenomenon, particle image velocity (PIV) is utilized. Images of the oscillating flow field are acquired and image analysis is performed to obtain various flow dynamic properties. A computational fluid dynamics simulation is performed to help in highlighting the oscillation behavior of the jets. Results reveal that the jets exhibit anti-symmetric ‘’flapping’’ oscillation behavior. The jets are found to initially deflect away from their common centerline due to high stagnation pressure in the impingement region, while they deflect back to their common centerline due to cross stream oscillating velocity in the entrainment regions around the jets.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Impact of Circadian Rhythm Disturbances in Bipolar Disorder

contributor:
Sassi, Roberto
Frey, Benicio
Neuroscience

subject:
Bipolar disorder
Circadian rhythm
Quality of life
Oxidative Stress
Lipid peroxidation
Psychiatry and Psychology
Psychiatry and Psychology

abstract: This thesis presents research examining the impact circadian rhythm disturbances experienced in bipolar disorder (BD) have at two levels of investigation. First, circadian rhythm disturbance is studied with regard to quality of life in individuals with BD. The results of an analysis investigating the impact of self-reported circadian rhythm disturbance on quality of life (QOL) show circadian rhythm is strongly associated with poor QOL in patients with BD, independent of severity of depressive symptoms, sleep disturbance and use of sleep medications. Next, the impact of circadian rhythm disturbance on oxidative stress was studied. Oxidative stress has previously been implicated in BD, yet no studies have investigated the relationship between these systems in the context of the disorder. We demonstrate that circadian rhythm disturbance is related to increased lipid peroxidation in BD patients, which is not seen in controls. This study provides a basis for further investigation of the links between oxidative stress and circadian rhythms in the pathophysiology of BD. Taken together, these results provide evidence that circadian rhythms have a widespread impact on two separate aspects of BD: personal sense of well being and a biological marker of oxidative stress. These novel findings contribute to the mounting evidence indicating circadian rhythm disturbance as one of the core features of BD, and an important target for treatment.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Views on allocation concealment methods in randomized clinical trials: a survey of clinical trialists

contributor:
Guyatt, Gordon
Thabane, Lehana
You, John
Health Research Methodology

subject:
clinical trials methodology
survey research
allocation concealment
Medicine and Health Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences

abstract: Allocation concealment is the process of implementing the randomization sequence in a manner that prevents foreknowledge of upcoming group assignments. It protects against preferential enrolment of study participants, which could disrupt the prognostic balance that randomization aims to create in the first place. Envelopes are one method perceived by clinical trial authorities to adequately conceal allocation, despite evidence suggesting otherwise. We do not believe that envelopes are adequate, and we wanted to know the extent to which our sentiment resonated within the clinical trials community. We administered an internet-based survey to a random sample (n=1,926) of corresponding authors of recently published randomized clinical trials (RCTs). We sent non-responders up to two e-mail reminders starting from two weeks after the original invitation. We received 490 complete surveys (25.4% response rate) after collecting data for seven weeks. Most participants (61%) preferred central randomization to conceal allocation, yet a majority (64%) also accepted that envelopes are adequate. After they were shown examples that suggested envelopes’ vulnerability, 11% of participants shifted their preference away from envelopes and 38% of participants became less accepting of envelopes. Compared to their initial ratings and after they were shown the examples, significantly more participants (69%) preferred central randomization (p

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: On the Sum Rate of Multiple Description Coding with Symmetric Distortion Constraints

contributor:
Chen, Jun
Electrical and Computer Engineering

abstract:
We derive a single-letter lower bound on the minimum sum rate of multiple description coding with symmetric distortion constraints. For the binary uniform source with the erasure distortion measure or the Hamming distortion measure, this lower bound can be evaluated with the aid of certain minimax theorems. A similar minimax theorem is established in the quadratic Gaussian setting, which is further leveraged to analyze the special case where the minimum sum rate subject to two levels of distortion constraints (with the second level imposed on the complete set of descriptions) is attained; in particular, we determine the minimum achievable distortions at the intermediate levels.

Key Words: Erasure distortion, Hamming distortion, mean squared error, minimax theorem, multiple description coding, saddle point.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Covariance in Multigroup and Few Group Reactor Physics Uncertainty Calculations

contributor: Engineering Physics and Nuclear Engineering

subject:
Reactor Physics
Covariance
Uncertainty Analysis
Total Monte Carlo
Dilution
Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear Engineering

abstract: Simulation plays a key role in nuclear reactor safety analysis and being able to assess the accuracy of results obtained by simulation increases their credibility. This thesis examines the propogation of nuclear data uncertainties through lattice level physics calcualtions. These input uncertainties are in the form of covariance matrices, which dictate the variance and covariance of specified nuclear data to one another. These covariances are available within certain nuclear data libraries, however they are generally only available at infinite dilution for a fixed temperature. The overall goal of this research is to examine the importance of various applications of covariance and their associated nuclear data libraries, and most importantanly to examine the effects of dilution and self-shielding on the results. One source of nuclear data and covariances are the TENDL libraries which are based on a reference ENDF data library and are in continuous energy. Each TENDL library was created by randomly perturbing the reference nuclear data at its most fundamental level according to its covariance. These perturbed nuclear data libraries in TENDL format were obtained and NJOY was used to produce cross sections in 69 groups for which the covariance was calculated at multiple temperatures and dilutions. Temperature was found to have little effect but covarances evaluated at various dilutions did differ significantly. Comparisons of the covariances calculated from TENDL with those in SCALE and ENDF/B-VII also revealed significant differences. The multigroup covariance library produced at this stage was then used in subsequent analyses, along with multigroup covariance libraries available elsewhere, in order to see the differences that arise from covariance library sources. Monte Carlo analysis of a PWR pin cell was performed using the newly created covariance library, a specified reference set of nuclear data, and the lattice physics transport solver DRAGON. The Monte Carlo analysis was then repeated by systematically changing the input covariance matrix (for example using an alternative matrix like that included with the TSUNAMI package) or alternate input reference nuclear data. The uncertainty in k-infinite and the homogenized two group cross sections was assessed for each set of covariance data. It was found that the source of covariance data as well as dilution had a significant effect on the predicted uncertainty in the homogenized cell properties, but the dilution did not significanty affect the predicted uncertainty in k-infinite.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Clinical Decision Support System for Chronic Pain Management in Primary Care: Usability Testing

contributor:
McKibbon, Ann
Nair, Kalpana
Schabort, Inge
eHealth

subject:
Usability Testing
Clinical Decision Support System
Think Aloud
Primary Care
System Usability Scale
Chronic Pain
Neuropathic Pain
System Improvement
Iterative Usability Testing
Electronic Medical Records
Health Information Technology
Health Information Technology

abstract:
Chronic low back pain is the second most prevalent chronic condition in Canadian primary care settings. The treatment and diagnosis of chronic pain is challenging for primary care clinicians. Their main challenges are lack of knowledge and their approach toward assessing and treating pain. Evidence based guidelines have been developed for neuropathic pain and low back pain.

CDSSs for chronic diseases are becoming popular in primary care settings as a mean to implement CPGs. A CDSS prototype for diagnosis and treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain in primary care was developed at McMaster University. It is evident that poor usability can hinder the uptake of health information technologies.

The objective of this study was to test the usability of Pain Assistant using think aloud protocols with SUS scores in 2 iterations. In this study 13 primary care providers including family physicians, nurse practitioners and residents used Pain Assistant to complete 3 different patient case scenarios. Participants were asked to comment on both barriers and facilitators of usability of Pain Assistant. Additionally time to complete patient case scenarios was calculated for each participant. A comparison questionnaire gathered user preference between introducing CPGs in paper format and computerized decision support system.

This study showed that iterative usability testing of the Pain Assistant with participation of real-end users has the potential to uncover usability issues of the Pain Assistant. Problems of user interface were the main usability barrier in first testing iteration following by problems of content. Changes were made to system design for second round based on the issues came up in the first iteration. However, because of time constrains not all the changes were implemented for second round of testing. Most of the refinements were to resolve user interface issues. In the second iteration, the problems with the content of Pain Assistant were the major barrier. The changes to the system design were successful in resolving user interface problems since the changed issues did not come up again in second round. Pain Assistant had an above the average usability score however no significant changes seen in SUS score. The time needed to complete tasks remained identical in both iterations. In addition, participants preferred to have CPGs in electronic formats than paper. Further study after implementing all the system changes needed to determine the effectiveness of system refinements.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Governing the Future, Mastering Time: Temporality, Sovereignty, and the Pre-emptive Politics of (In)security

contributor: Political Science - International Relations

subject:
Pre-emption
War on Terror
Sovereignty
International Security
Temporality
Drones
International Relations
Political Theory
International Relations

abstract: This dissertation offers an in-depth exploration of how temporality—and the imperative to control the unfolding of time in particular—is embedded in the practices, processes, and dynamics of contemporary world politics. While most International Relations scholarship remains conspicuously uninterested in questions relating to time, this study sees such temporal blindness as inhibiting the development of adequately nuanced and critically oriented understandings of key theoretical and practical issues in the global political realm. It thus attempts to demonstrate how time can be “brought in” to the study of world politics, and to highlight the analytical utility and critical potential of doing so. In this respect, Part I considers the importance of temporality to perhaps the most fundamental global political concept—state sovereignty—and then moves on to discuss how shifts in the contemporary political imagination have (re-)inscribed temporal contingency as a pressing problem that requires a political response. Part II then attempts to critically think through what is at stake in the resulting proliferation of anticipatory governance strategies premised upon controlling the unfolding of the future through pre-emptive intervention in the present. It is argued that by prioritizing imagination and conjecture in the context of political decision-making, such temporally-inflected strategies serve to radically reconfigure the way political power is organized and exercised, such that a paradigm of political authority best described as "exceptionalism” is enacted. This line of argument is developed through a comprehensive conceptual engagement with one particularly prominent manifestation of this ongoing “temporalization” of the political—namely, the “pre-emptive security” strategies that have emerged as central to the conduct of the global War on Terror. It is concluded that the adoption of anticipatory political rationalities is particularly problematic for the liberal democratic states that have most enthusiastically done so—both in the security realm and beyond.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Steady-State and Dynamic Behaviour of Combined and Separate Sludge Carbon Removal-Nitrification Systems

contributor:
Murphy, K.L.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering

abstract:
This dissertation examines the degree of nitrification which can be accomplished in combined and separate activated sludge systems over a temperature range of 5º to 25ºC and a system solids residence time range of 4 to 10 days under both steady and non-steady operating conditions.

Treating municipal sewage under steady flow conditions, it was found that the rate of nitrification was independent of the concentration of filterable TKN or ammonia. Temperature and solids retention time significantly affected filterable TKN removal. The degree of nitrification obtained in both combined and separate sludge systems was comparable.

The parallel pilot plant systems were subjected to a number of non-steady influent conditions. The responses to a pulse change in influent pH and a step-down in temperature indicated that the separate sludge system had a greater capacity to withstand such conditions. Transfer function models, together with time series models, were developed to describe the dynamic responses of the nitrifying systems to changes in influent flow, and organic carbon and inorganic nitrogen concentration. The observed and model results indicated greater effluent filterable TKN variation can be expected from nitrifying systems operated under variable flow and concentration inputs than for variable concentration inputs alone.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: THE SCHOOL NUTRITION ENVIRONMENT: EXAMINING THE CONTEXT OF A HEALTH PROMOTION INTERVENTION

contributor:
Elliott, Susan J.
Wilton, Rob
Geography and Earth Sciences

subject:
health geography
environment and health
school nutrition
health policy
health promotion
Human Geography
Human Geography

abstract:
Obesity is a major public health issue across all age groups. The obesity-related health outcomes of children and adolescents are unique and varied, and therefore need to be studied separately. In response, obesogenic environments have been the focus of attention in recent research. Important contributions have been made to focus on social (e.g., economic) and physical (e.g., geographical) environments based on their role in either hindering or facilitating opportunities for healthy eating. However, research on the policy environment is noticeably absent. Schools have been the setting for focused interventions, particularly in the area of obesity and nutrition. However, there is a paucity of research in this area in Ontario, and virtually no Canadian research has examined the secondary school setting. Therefore, this research focuses on local level factors shaping school nutrition policy implementation in Ontario, Canada.

The Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) Framework was adopted to organize and conceptualize the local level policy environment. In the first phase of the study, a documentary analysis was undertaken to investigate the relationship between regional and upper level policies and technical reports. Results reveal distinct differences across federal, provincial and regional levels, including: 1) the availability of nutritious food in schools and having nutrition education as part of the curriculum were key components of the physical environment across federal and provincial levels; 2) federal and provincial priorities are guided by a health promotion framework, and a partnership approach to policy implementation; and, 3) gaps in regional level policy include incorporating nutrition education in the curriculum, and making the link between nutrition and obesity.

The second phase of study includes qualitative key informant interviews with community-and school-level school nutrition policy and program stakeholders (n=22) in nine schools three Ontario school boards, in order to understand local level factors shaping school nutrition policy implementation. The cost of healthy food for sale, revenue loss (economic), proximity of schools to off site food outlets (physical), the restrictive nature of policy, and the role of key stakeholders (political), the role of stigma and school culture (sociocultural), act as local level barriers to policy implementation. Findings suggest the need for consultation and communication between stakeholders, and strategies to reduce stigma and improve the school nutrition culture.

In the third and final phase of study three focus group interviews were conducted with secondary students (n=20) in two Ontario school boards in fall 2012. School boards were selected to represent both high-and low-income neighbourhoods. Results reveal high priced policy-compliant food for sale, lower revenue generation capacity, and more students purchasing food off-campus at nearby outlets. Limited designated eating spaces, and time constraints act as local level barriers to healthy eating. Student input on cafeteria menus and school community gardens, can facilitate healthy school nutrition environments. Community partnerships with key external stakeholders are needed to leverage financial and human resources to support school nutrition. Future policies need to consider the social context and conditions surrounding school nutrition. This research makes a number of theoretical, methodological and substantive contributions to the public health, adolescent health, and school health policy literature. Policy implications and future research directions are provided.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: INFLUENCE OF THE SURFACE FILM STABILITY ON THE CORROSION RESISTANCE OF Mg IN AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

contributor:
Kish, Joseph R.
Materials Science and Engineering

subject:
Magnesium
STEM
Passive films
EIS
Other Materials Science and Engineering
Other Materials Science and Engineering

abstract:
This thesis presents an investigation into the structure and composition of the surface film formed on Mg in aqueous solutions and describes the influence of film stability on corrosion resistance. The composition and structure of the surface film formed on pure Mg in pure H2O exposed at Ecorr for 48 h was investigated using plan-view SEM-EDS imaging and STEM–EDS analysis of a FIB cross-section. The film formed was duplex in nature, consisting of a thinner, more-porous, nano-crystalline MgO-rich inner layer (50-100 nm), and a thicker, less-porous, Mg(OH)2-rich outer platelet layer (700 nm). The results were consistent with the theory that a chemical breakdown (hydration) of the bulk inner MgO layer (native oxide) is a necessary precursor step to the corrosion process resulting in a significant thickening of the partially protective outer Mg(OH)2 layer.

The surface film formed on pure Mg exposed in 0.01 M NaCl for 24 h at Ecorr was found to be a diffuse bilayer structure similar to pure H2O, including a thin and porous nano-crystalline MgO-rich inner layer (50-100 nm), and a thicker, more porous Mg(OH)2-rich outer layer (300-600 nm). The un-pitted film region formed in 0.01 M NaCl solution at +0.1 V above Eb for 0.5 h after 24 h aging at Ecorr exhibited a similar duplex structure. However, the thickness of both Mg(OH)2-rich (~450 nm) and MgO-rich layers (~30-60 nm) appeared to be decreased. Furthermore, the pitted region film formed on an anodically polarized Mg sample exhibited thinner MgO-rich layer (~20-30 nm), decorated with macro-pores (~50 nm), and Mg(OH)2 rich middle layer (~200-300 nm) buried under a thick, more porous needle-like Mg(OH)2-rich top layer (~0.2-1 µm). EDS analysis confirmed the presence of Cl within the films formed in 0.01 M NaCl, and Fe containing particles within the pitted region anodic film. These results were consistent with an accelerated hydration of MgO to Mg(OH)2 at lower pH and in presence of Cl-, formation of more soluble Mg-hydroxy-chlorides, enhanced Mg dissolution due to Cl- ingress via increased film porosity, and influence of more noble impurities on the pit initiation and growth.

The ~50-150 nm film formed spontaneously on Mg exposed to 1 M NaOH was found to consist mainly of a crystalline MgO layer that has been hydrated to Mg(OH)2 to a variable degree. Although the film exhibited excellent corrosion resistance, it was not stable. The film tended to experience an irregular breakdown/repair process, which was characterized by large irregular potential drops (about 1 V) under Ecorr conditions. The breakdown/repair process is believed to involve the hydration-induced stress-rupture of the MgO film at discrete sites and the subsequent formation of a Mg(OH)2 self-healing corrosion product nodule (~ 500 nm).

To understand the corrosion mechanisms and propose surface film evolution models, EIS behavior of Mg in all environments was investigated. The EIS spectra were compared with the proposed Nyquist behavior based on the film structure results. It was confirmed that the diffuse bilayer films formed in pure H2O and 0.01 M NaCl possessed porosity, in which the electrolyte ingressed, forming the double layer and facilitating Mg faradic dissolution reaction across the Mg/film interface. Decreased porosity and Rct along with the absence of a Cfilm/Rpor loop, were respectively consistent with lower corrosion resistance of Mg in 0.01 M NaCl and a severely damaged pitted region film. Furthermore, the film compactness and increased Rct in 1 M NaOH were consistent with a more stable film with excellent corrosion resistance in alkaline environments. In this film, liberated Mg2+ ions at the Mg/film interface have to diffuse through the film to facilitate the Mg(OH)2 precipitation, thus a thicker Mg(OH)2  film forms.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: An Oblique Blackness: Reading Racial Formation in the Aesthetics of George Elliott Clarke, Dionne Brand, and Wayde Compton

contributor:
Coleman, Daniel
York, Lorraine
Monture, Rick
English and Cultural Studies

subject: Canada

subject: blackness

subject: race

subject: gender

subject: class

subject: African-Canadian

subject: poetry

subject: poetics

subject: critical race theory

subject: postcolonial theory

subject: multiculturalism

subject: nationalism

subject: belonging

subject: aesthetics

subject: blues

subject: jazz

subject: hip hop

subject: baptist

subject: Africa

subject: slave trade

subject: abolition

subject: community

subject: racial formation

subject: African American Studies

subject: Ethnic Studies

subject: Ethnomusicology

subject: Literature in English, North America, ethnic and minority

subject: Modern Literature

subject: Other English Language and Literature

subject: Race, Ethnicity and post-Colonial Studies

subject: Reading and Language

subject: African American Studies

abstract: This thesis examines how the poetics of George Elliott Clarke, Dionne Brand and Wayde Compton articulate unique aesthetic voices that are representative of a range of ethnic communities that collectively make-up blackness in Canada. Despite the different backgrounds, geographies, and ethnicities of these authors, blackness in Canada is regularly viewed as a homogeneous community that is most closely tied to the cultural histories of the American South and the Atlantic slave trade. Black Canadians have historically been excluded from the official narratives of the nation, disassociating blackness from Canadian-ness. Epithets such as “African-Canadian” are indicative of the way race distances citizenship and belonging. Each of these authors expresses an aesthetic through their poetics that is representative of the unique combination of social, political, cultural, and ethnic interactions that can be collectively described as racial formation. While each of these authors orients her or his own ethnic community in relation to the nation in different ways, their focus on collapsing the distance between citizenship and belonging can be read as a base for forming community from which collective resistance to the racial violence of exclusion can be grounded.

abstract: Master of English


title: Modeling RD-14M Header Conditions: Coupling of STAR-CCM+ and CATHENA

subject:
Thermalhydraulics
CFD
Coupling
CATHENA
STAR-CCM+
Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear Engineering

abstract: The nuclear safety industry makes extensive use of thermalhydraulics system analysis and computational fluid dynamics codes for validation and predictive purposes. These codes take different approaches to provide the user with reasonable estimates of system and component behaviors. With each displaying its own strengths, it is only logical to pursue coupled systems of these codes to create increasingly accurate, versatile, and more computationally efficient safety analysis tools. This work presents results of the attempted coupling of CD-ADAPCO's STAR-CCM+, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, to Atomic Energy of Canada's CATHENA thermalhydraulics (TH) code. This coupled system is used in the simulation of the conditions within an inlet header of the RD-14M experimental facility under single phase conditions in the initial phase of selected test. This inlet header is removed from a modified CATHENA test B9401 deck and instead modelled in STAR-CCM+. Custom applications were written to allow information exchange at the newly created boundaries to provide an attempt at a coupled system. Results are provided through multiple stages of development of the coupled system, from the unmodified B9401 test case of CATHENA into a coupled system with header behavior predicted by STAR-CCM+. Though successful information transfer between codes was established at each desired time step and interval, the current technique was found to be insufficient for establishing acceptable steady-state conditions for the commencement of more complex (transient and two-phase) conditions.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: A STREAM FROM EDEN: THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF A REVELATORY TRADITION IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

contributor:
Schuller, Eileen M.
Machiela, Dan
Runesson, Anders
Religious Studies

subject:
Dead Sea Scrolls
Knowledge
Adam
Garden of Eden
Angels
Anthropology
Biblical Studies
Biblical Studies

abstract:
This thesis examines the nature and theological function of God’s revelation of knowledge in five texts discovered at Qumran: Instruction, the Treatise on the Two Spirits, the Hodayot, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and the Songs of the Sage. Chapter 1 is a historical survey of the different ways scholars have understood and classified God’s revelation of knowledge in the Scrolls. Scholars have often interpreted these texts in isolation from one another, and they have disagreed about whether the concept of divine revelation expressed in them is derived from the sapiential, prophetic, or apocalyptic traditions. I propose that all five of these texts should be interpreted together and that they all drew upon a single distinct revelatory tradition.

In chapters 2–6, I examine each of the texts mentioned above by asking three questions: What did God reveal? How did he reveal it? What is the theological function of God’s revelation? In asking the last question, I am particularly interested in the role that God’s revelation of knowledge plays in the anthropological and soteriological worldview of the authors. Over the course of chapters 2–6, I argue that all five of these texts represent essentially the same revelatory tradition. In this tradition, God has revealed the mysteries of his cosmic design and the statutes of his covenant with creation to certain righteous people. God’s act of revelation takes place either through a visionary experience or an indwelling spirit that imparts knowledge. This knowledge of God’s cosmic design has the power to rectify the corrupt human condition which, in turn, allows those who have knowledge to enter into paradise where they can commune with the angels. Through God’s revelation of knowledge, the righteous can obtain the glorious state that Adam once possessed in the Garden of Eden.

In chapter 7, I conclude the thesis by summarizing the principle features of the revelatory tradition contained in these five texts. I argue that this tradition did not flow directly from any of the standard tradition streams of which scholars typically speak (sapiential, prophetic, or apocalyptic), although, it does contain elements from all of these. Instead, these texts utilize a revelatory tradition that originated from within the Jerusalem temple establishment. This temple tradition equated the inner sanctuary of the temple with the Garden of Eden and the high priest with Adam. Within the holy of holies one could access God’s throne and receive the knowledge of his cosmic design. This tradition was eventually brought out of the temple and into religious communities which came to see themselves as the true paradisiacal temple. These communities believed that God continued to reveal his cosmic design in and through them allowing the community members to become like Adam and join together with the angels in communal worship of God.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)