title: Looking to the Mouse: The Plausible Impossible in Architecture and Animation

abstract: This thesis explores architecture through the lens of character driven animated film. It will critically analyze select films from the Disney and Pixar catalogue. The research focuses on four films as case studies and undertakes a visual and textual analysis of critical spaces to understand how animation responds to two contemporary themes: environmental stewardship and social sustainability. To link animation to architecture, the thesis considers the plausible impossible, a principle of Walt Disney's animation concerning making the impossible appear rational. The plausible impossible is the method to explore both animation and visionary architecture. Visionary architecture and its associated theories have an extant tradition of exploring the plausible impossible through unbuilt projects that serve to initiate vital discourse within the architectural profession. In conclusion, the thesis exploits the inherent commonality between he plausible impossible and visionary architecture to consider animation as a novel approach to explore pressing architectural issues.


title: Thinking and Making – Digital Craft Hybridity

abstract: The thesis will question the design process to critically understand how new technologies are shaping the way in which we build our world. Is it appropriate, or even possible, to design within the vacuum of virtual space for a profession that ultimately deals with the physical world? What is lost when we no longer have an intimate relationship with building materials? How can hybrid processes bridge and entwine hand craft and digital technology? To examine these questions, this thesis will first propose a process of thinking by making. By engaging in this process, this thesis then proposes that its final product be a chair, which aims to embody comprehensive thought in materiality, technique, technology, and craft in a design that engages the human body.


title: Transcriptional Regulators of Suberin Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana

abstract: The root endodermis of Arabidopsis thaliana contains suberin, a cell wall-associated hydrophobic polymer that helps control the movement of water and solutes into the stele. Unfortunately, there are gaps in our knowledge on the regulation of suberin biosynthesis. This study demonstrates that transcription factors MYB41, MYB53, MYB92, and MYB93 can activate the transcription of suberin biosynthesis genes through their promoter upstream regions. Fragments of the promoter upstream region for FAR4, a suberin biosynthetic enzyme, were important for specific expression in the root endodermis. However, no evidence of direct binding by MYB53, MYB92, and MYB93 to these FAR4 promoter upstream region fragments was found via Y1H assay. The promoter upstream region of the transcription factor WRKY56 was found to be transcriptionally activated by MYB41, MYB53, MYB92, and MYB93. While, WRKY56 has limited impact on root suberin deposition under non-stress conditions, bioinformatic evidence suggests that WRKY56 has a role under stress conditions.


title: How Do Changes in Flow Magnitude Due to Hydropower Operations Affect Fish Abundance and Biomass in Temperate Regions? A Systematic Review

abstract: Altering the natural flow regime (an essential component of healthy fluvial systems) through hydropower operations may negatively impact freshwater fish populations. This systematic review investigates how changes in flow magnitude due to hydropower operations influence fish abundance and biomass. Following the guidelines of the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, I examined all available evidence identified by a recent systematic map and search update. Of 103 articles (133 studies) included for data extraction and critical appraisal, 58 studies were included for quantitative meta-analysis. Fish abundance and biomass had variable responses to flow magnitude changes; overall mean effect sizes ranged from positive to negative, differing by study design and taxa. No consistent patterns in fish abundance and biomass responses to alterations in flow magnitude were identified and fish responses were context dependent. Responses may not be generalizable across systems impacted by hydropower where specific features of the system may be highly influential.


title: A Comparative Study of Ridge, LASSO and Elastic net Estimators

abstract: The focus of this thesis is to review the three basic penalty estimators, namely, ridge regression estimator, LASSO, and elastic net estimator in the light of the deficiencies of least-squares estimator. Ill-conditioned design matrix is the major source of problem in this case. To overcome this problem, ridge regression was developed, and it opened the door for penalty estimators. Its impact is visible with various linear and non-linear models. A superb discovery in the class of subset selection is the LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) which selects subsets and estimates the coefficients simultaneously. Finally, we consider the elastic net penalty estimator which combine the L$_{1}$\ and L$_{2}$\ penalty function. Resulting estimator is weighted LASSO by ridge factor. We obtain the L$_{2}$-risk expressions and compare with pre-test and Stein-type estimators.


title: Michael Oakeshott, Conservative Governance, and the Limitless: Finding a Home Amidst the Endless Journey of Life

abstract: This paper analyzes Michael Oakeshott's conception of conservative governance in the modern world. I begin by reviewing his philosophical understanding of practical activity before analyzing the role of conservative conduct within the world of practice. Through understanding Oakeshott's view, the pervasiveness of the conservative disposition in much of human activity is revealed and defended as a legitimate aspect of how people come to find their place in the world through habit and familiarity. Finally, Oakeshott's notion of the conservative disposition is considered in light of the activity of governing, elucidating why a form of conservative government—at least as Oakeshott conceptualizes it—is well suited to govern the pluralistic and dynamic cultures prevalent in the Western world today. Through Oakeshott, the conservative disposition is revealed to be a love of the present and careful management of its complexity, rather than a nostalgia for a time past as we often mistakenly believe.


title: What do Scanpaths Tell Us About Cognitive Processes? An Investigation in a Problem Solving Domain

abstract: Scanpaths are the specific sequence of fixations elicited by someone when viewing a scene or object. Not only do they illustrate which areas of the scene that were fixated on, they also capture the viewer's change in attention overtime. Dynamics of visual attention contain different movement patterns that are not otherwise measured with basic methods of eye data analysis. In this thesis, we employ MultiMatch, a scanpath analysis tool that provides quantitative measure of similarity between two scanpaths, to examine visual patterns for two different data sets. These data sets came from studies that presented students with math problems and varied instructional material to manipulate student's solving strategies. We apply an analysis method corresponding to grouping scanpaths across and within-conditions to determine whether the MultiMatch tool can distinguish between the presentation formats. We further our analysis by providing initial interpretation guidelines through a brief scanpath simulation model. Results are discussed in context of the hypothesized cognitive processes that the conditions were designed to elicit.


title: Climate Change and Architectural Conservation Resiliency: How to Measure Environmental Impacts on Historic Sites and their Surrounding Communities

abstract: Climate change is becoming an increasingly impactful reality. According to the Canada's Changing Climate Report 2019 published by the federal government, Canada is warming up twice as fast than any other region on Earth. These fast changes will transform our physical environment and threaten our architectural heritage and infrastructures. Today, Forillon National Park in the Gaspésie Peninsula is at the forefront of this reality. Intensifying weather conditions expose fragile centuries-old materials to unprecedented extremes. The proposed research seeks to study architectural heritage site's adaptability and resiliency towards climate change and identify what the risks are. Most historic buildings in Forillon National Park sit vacant all year round, making them more vulnerable to our changing environment. This research has the potential to provide solutions to our changing environment at a macro and micro-scale.


title: It Takes A Village: A Comprehensive Look into Sheltering Queer Youth

abstract: Of the many hardships that LGBTQ2S youth experience, the biggest may be homelessness. Children flee their homes for many reasons, including mental health issues, discrimination, and conflicts with parents. Finding a supportive and inclusive space where they can explore their identity and feel protected can be difficult when there are few resources to meet their needs. As a large proportion of homeless youth identifies as LGBTQ2S, this thesis envisions a consolidated set of facilities and services, coupled with a center that serves and galvanizes the broader queer community. The project explores inclusivity and visibility through the design of a community center and emergency shelter for queer youth in the heart of Ottawa's gay village, with an ancillary component that provides permanent supportive housing. Among other questions, this thesis explores how architecture can assist in creating spaces where all feel welcomed and safe and how it might facilitate community formation.


title: Image and Color Stylization through Region-based Abstraction

abstract: In Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR), abstraction methods simplify images. The NPR techniques produce stylized imagery by emphasizing the main structures through stroke elements, colors and removing unessential image information. However, the difficulty of abstraction lies in deciding what is important to be presented. This thesis introduces a few non-photorealistic rendering techniques for stylizing images by manipulating the image's elements such as details, complex region forms, and colors. To increase the visual interest in abstractions, it integrates contrast, texture, and structure preservation in designing the proposed algorithms. We propose an abstraction method based on an over-segmentation through overlapping region growth. The main idea of this method is to create stylized images by complex primitives. Unlike traditional over-segmentation methods, this method emphasizes the irregularity of region shape even in uniform areas. The region creation by overlapping allows us to preserve small structures. Additionally, we extend the creation of stylized images through this framework by manipulating the color and shapes of the region primitives. As an application of the region-based framework, we present a novel recoloring algorithm based on a tree-based structure, which produces wild recolorizations. A set of colorful abstractions are produced with various styles by considering contrast and structure preservation. We further engage image regions in providing a method for improving stippling in extreme-tone regions of the image. This method identifies dark regions and replaces them with polygons rather than stipples. For light regions, it suggests a mechanism to control the stipple placement. This approach generates stippled images with better visual quality than the originals despite using fewer stipples. Finally, we present an automatic system for photo manipulation that brightens an abstraction and alters the detail levels. By employing a smooth map, we brighten the photograph such that the areas of interest will get increased contrast while colors in the areas of less interest will become lighter and less saturated. We define a system for scoring texture elements, to establish different levels of texture indication.


title: A Memory Palace for the Collective Mind

abstract: This thesis explores the notion of the memory palace to investigate how the world we live in can be imagined in the mind. Manhattan, New York City, is a memory palace that reframes and reorients agency, understanding and concern about the complexities of climate change. It becomes a shared mnemonic, exploring how a device that is typically individual can be curated to consider a collective mind. The creation of portals (micro and macro shadow boxes) that hold juxtaposed artifacts invite new understandings and imaginations of places in the city. They situate the local within the planetary, the individual within the collective, and the human-made within the expansive realms of the nonhuman. This project reflects on what it means to consider the present as something that reaches deep into the past, beyond typical human stories and scales to establish profound understandings of place, memory, and climate change.


title: Survey And Evaluation of Secure-DNS Alternatives Through Passive Measurements

abstract: As security was not among the original DNS design goals, over ten secure-DNS schemes have been proposed to improve security and privacy during the name resolution process. One of the schemes is DNS-over-TLS (DoT), which relies on the Internet's PKI for establishing trust in recursive resolvers. DoT's certificates, have not been investigated comprehensively. This thesis analyzes the certificate ecosystem of DoT in comparison to HTTPS. The results are so far promising. The thesis then surveys secure-DNS schemes, and presents an evaluation framework to assess their security, availability, privacy, and anonymity benefits. Our evaluation illustrates that none of the DNS schemes secures the complete path of the domain name resolution. The results shed light on the challenges of designing a comprehensive and widely-deployable secure-DNS scheme to secure the complete name resolution path. However, as some schemes can be combined, their resultant benefits can address individual shortcomings.


title: Adapting the Game: Flexible Strategies for an Unpredictable Future

abstract: The architecture of today severely lacks adaptability in design. Families outgrow their spaces and eventually have to move and change neighbourhoods. Spaces should grow and adapt with their users, instead of users having to adapt to their spaces. This thesis attempts to further a discussion about the importance of implementing adaptable design strategies in the face of an unpredictable and rapidly changing future. With the use of a board game that changes and grows as it is played, this thesis will focus on the benefits of implementing participatory design, adaptability, and 'room to grow' strategies into residential design. Allowing users the flexibility to change their space to suit their needs creates a deeper connection between the user and their space. A better understanding of flexibility is crucial to designing buildings that can withstand an ever-changing future.


title: Learning to Listen to Place: Beyond Restoration at the Former Royal Alberta Museum

abstract: In light of the climate crises of the 21st century, the need for the conservation, restoration and adaptive reuse of existing buildings is crucial to meeting Canadian and global ecological sustainability goals. Focusing on the adaptive reuse of the building and site of the former Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Alberta, this project promotes a holistic approach to sustainability that equally recognizes societal, ecological and economic considerations. This thesis argues that a material and conceptual methodology of critical questioning, disassembly, evaluation, and reassembly can create a culture of renewal and repair in which architecture consistently adapts to our future needs. By listening to Indigenous ways of knowing and by framing time through the seven generations model, the thesis places itself in opposition to current, fast-paced building methodology. It suggests a future that moves towards conciliation through a multi-generational process to create new, heartfelt and lasting connections to people and place.


title: Inference of Hydroxyl Radical Abundances from Combined Satellite and Ground-Based Hydrochlorofluorocarbon Observations

abstract: Until recently, Methyl Chloroform was used as a bellwether to determine OH levels but due to its declining concentrations, the need for other means to calculate OH levels is imminent. This work proposes a new way of using three different tracers (HFC134a, HCFC141b, and HCFC142b) to determine hydroxyl levels in the atmosphere using a 9box model. The annual trends of each gas were obtained and it was found that there has not been a significant drop but an increase in two of the tracers' levels despite the implementation of Montreal Protocol. The tropopause was defined around 13kms in the northern and southern latitudes and around 17kms in the tropics. With the regions of each box defined, and the concentrations of the tracers obtained from ACE-FTS instrument and NOAA, the OH levels in the atmosphere were obtained through multiple linear regression.


title: Exploring Novel Molecular Approaches to Promote Repair of the Damaged Nervous System: A Role for Neuronal Pentraxin 2

abstract: The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) does not spontaneously regenerate, thereby limiting functional recovery following numerous CNS injuries. Neural repair is restricted due to both the inhibitory extracellular environment post-injury and the limited intrinsic capabilities of adult neurons. The visual system, including retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), and their axons, the optic nerve, is widely used as a model to study molecular mechanisms associated with neuroprotection and regeneration following CNS injury. Many potential therapeutic strategies have been discovered using this model with variable success in terms of promoting axon regeneration. Recent work has suggested that modulating neural activity can protect neurons and promote axon regeneration after injury; however, this area of research remains in its infancy. Activity-dependent signalling molecules, such as neuronal pentraxin 2 (NP2), have been suggested as critical modulators of neuroplasticity but have not been previously implicated in CNS neuroprotection or axon regeneration. This thesis examined the role of NP2 in protecting RGCs and promoting axon regeneration, using in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo (optic nerve injury) techniques. Given that previous work has supported the notion that RGCs lose intrinsic capacity for regeneration with age, the developmental expression pattern of NP2 was characterized. Additionally, the impact of NP2 treatment on RGC survival, using an in vitro RGC culture model, was evaluated. Furthermore, the ability of NP2 to enhance RGC neurite outgrowth using both in vitro and ex vivo model systems was examined. To assess the in vivo impact of exogenous NP2 administration on RGC survival and axon regeneration, a well-established optic nerve crush (ONC) model was utilized. The effect of NP2 administration on functional recovery following ONC was also evaluated using electroretinography and visual evoked potentials. Taken together, the results indicated a decline in NP2 protein expression with an increase in age and revealed that treatment with NP2 promotes survival and neurite outgrowth in both embryonic and postnatal RGCs. Furthermore, the data demonstrated that exogenous administration of NP2 promotes RGC survival but does not measurably improve functional outcomes post ONC. Collectively, these results illustrate that NP2 holds potential as a survival-inducing factor.


title: Building Resiliency into a Resource-Based Community

abstract: A significant number of isolated, resource-based communities are scattered across Canada. The development of these communities revolves around a relationship between localized resource extraction and non-localized, market capital flows. Given the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the marketplace, the ability of such communities to grow and prosper is largely determined by external factors. This thesis looks to recast and stabilize the economy of Nakusp, a community located in the interior of British Columbia, through the introduction of new programming and a phased community masterplan. The design proposal is influenced by the context of rural development within the province, successful programming precedents, and planning precedents in other communities. A node and pathway relationship in the town establishes a network of interdependency among new and existing areas. This urban plan aims to build a level of resiliency into the community's future growth.


title: Sequence-based Protein Interaction Site Prediction using Computer Vision and Deep Learning

abstract: Computational prediction of protein-protein interaction (PPI) from protein sequence is important as many cellular functions are made possible through PPI. The Protein Interaction Prediction Engine (PIPE) software suite was developed at Carleton University for such predictions. This thesis aims to conduct a thorough performance assessment of the PIPE-Sites predictor through the use of a large high-quality set of known PPI sites. The results show that PIPE-Sites has relatively low accuracy even after retuning the inherent hyperparameters of the method. Furthermore, PIPE-Sites are shown to be ineffective when applied to similarity-weighted score data. Thus, three new sequence-based methods of predicting PPI sites are proposed and evaluated, including the Panorama, BrightSpot, and ClusterNet methods. The new methods leverage similarity-weighted score data to further increase performance. Ultimately, ClusterNet significantly outperforms the other methods over two different performance metrics when evaluated on both human and yeast data PPI site data.


title: Weaving and Unraveling Dominance: A Critical Analysis of Personal and Professional Social Work Identities in Alberta, Canada

abstract: This thesis reports on findings from a critical qualitative study exploring and challenging normative notions of what it means to be a social worker. I investigate how practicing social workers in Alberta negotiate their personal and professional identities. Drawing on 22 transcripts from semi-structured interviews with 11 unique participants, I analyze discursive strategies that are used to define and categorize what social work is and who social workers are expected to be. Grounded in critical and anti-oppressive theories and methodologies - namely Critical Disability Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis - I critique how dominance and power are woven into narratives of identity, belonging, and pride within the interview data. In particular, I illustrate how being a social worker is constructed in opposition to being a client. I conclude by reflecting on what social work could become when the rigid exclusionary boundaries of the profession are unraveled and reimagined.


title: Intergenerational User Experience with Digital Memorial Artefacts

abstract: This study investigates the generation gap in the modernized mourning ritual involving communicational technology such as SNSs. Current mourning ritual has evolved using technology as a medium, but research in improving the young and old's user experience in the field of thanatosensitivity is limited. Diary study and semi-structured interviews were conducted to find design considerations that can be suggested to improve the user's digital interaction between the young and old generations. Four major design considerations were found: familiarity, continuing bond, flexibility, and affective-cognitive experience. Although there are differences between these two generations, desire for continuing bond and leaving a life experience legacy are the same. Flexibility in design is desired, particularly in terms of portability and connecting globally. Lastly, affective-cognitive experience stems from the sensorial connection seen in both generations. Keywords: Death, Design, Memorial Artefacts, Thanatosensitivity, Generation Gap, User Experience


title: Evaluative Attitudes Towards Sexual Offending Against Children: The Development of Self Report Measure Items

abstract: The purpose of this study is to develop a measure of evaluative attitudes towards sexual offending against children. The secondary purpose is to explore the relevance of the items I created. I created 60 items that depict sexual offending towards children. Items were administered to inmates from the Missouri Sex Offender Program in Jefferson City, MO. Participants rated items using either one of two different Likert scales of 1-4. The items were refined according to highest variance, creating the Evaluative Attitudes Towards Sexual Offending Against Children scale (EASOC). Mean scores of each offence group were compared to see if those with current hands-on sexual offences have less negative evaluative attitudes about sexual offending. The study will explore if there is a difference in EASOC responses between men with sexual offences against children and men with other offences, and a possible connection between evaluative attitudes and sexual offending against children.


title: Belong, but don't be-long: Narratives of youths sponsored through former Participants of the Live-In Caregiver Program

abstract: This thesis considers the impacts of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) on children 'left behind', as they are depicted in the Global Care Chains (GCC) literature. I interview youths who were sponsored for permanent resident status by former participants of the LCP. I use the concept of multidirectional care to reimagine Western constructs of normative childhood. I write youths, whose childhoods are informed by colonialism, migration, and economic uncertainty, into normative theorizations of child development that assume white families as ideal. I connect my participants experiences to critical debates of childhood innocence, including analyses of race, class, and gender, to unravel how some children are not protected by innocence. This process allows childhood experiences wrought under globalization and colonization to start writing themselves into normative theories of childhood.


title: Classifying Justice-Involved Males in Iowa: A Latent Class Analysis with the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-Entry (DRAOR)

abstract: Recently, person-centered approaches have begun to be explored to examine how risk and strength factors are dispersed across heterogenous, correctional populations. The goal of the present study was to examine the utility of a person-centered approach with the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR). The sample consisted of 510 justice-involved males from the state of Iowa. Latent class analysis yielded five classes, a low dynamic risk/high protective class, a moderate to high dynamic risk/moderate to high protective class, a moderate dynamic risk/moderate protective class, a problematic employment/insufficient social support class and a low to moderate dynamic risk/moderate protective class. Additional analyses revealed differences amongst the classes related to static risk, age, race, and recidivism outcomes. AUC analysis demonstrated limited utility of the latent classes when predicting recidivism, supporting the continued use of DRAOR total scores to predict outcome. The resultant classes provide information to enhance case management practices.


title: Participation in Sustainability Transitions: A Case Study of Engagement in Ottawa’s Energy Evolution Strategy

abstract: This thesis engages with the issue of how cities are responding to climate change focusing on municipal-level energy transition planning in the city of Ottawa, Ontario Canada, using a case-study of participation in Ottawa's Energy Evolution Strategy. This thesis draws on 14 interviews with Energy Evolution participants and city staff as well as other primary sources. It examines engagement in Energy Evolution informed by two theoretical frames: constructivist STS and ecological democracy. Informed by STS theory, I show that Energy Evolution was purposefully created and only partially framed as participatory. Informed by the theory of ecological democracy, I show that Energy Evolution was only partly participatory as envisioned by ecological democracy theorists. Informed by this analysis, I argue for the increased role of non-state actors in transitions processes. For such processes to be effective, these actors require an understanding of, and influence on, participatory processes in environmentally empowered institutional spaces.


title: Health monitoring system for the 10 MW Supercritical Carbon Dioxide S-CO2 Gas Turbine Power Plant

abstract: For their almost zero carbon emission supercritical CO2 cycles are a promising power generation technology that offers numerous benefits in a wide range of applications that include solar power, marine, biomass, waste heat recovery, and next-generation nuclear reactors. The Carleton University Brayton Cycle Loop (CUBCL) project involves almost all aspects of a 10MW S-CO2 gas turbine design, including thermodynamic performance analysis, aerodynamic and structural design, heat exchanger and materials selection, dynamic modeling, control systems design and condition monitoring. This work is to develop a health monitoring system for the 10 MW S-CO2 gas turbine. Taking this technology to a commercial level will require effective condition monitoring. S-CO2 gas turbine power plant has considerable potential to provide sustainable power generation systems that can obtain higher plant efficiency, and one of the most important factors to consider is the purity of the working fluid. Since much of S-CO2 cycle performance improvement is derived from the physical properties of supercritical CO2, the cycle efficiency will decrease as the CO2 concentration decreases. The carbon dioxide near the critical point does not follow the ideal gas law. Due to the extreme variability in properties of S-CO2, the need of the developed monitoring model framework provides the proper 10 MW S-CO2 turbine performance predictions that are required not only during the design stages but also for further cycle specific analysis during the turbine operations. This thesis investigates methodologies for condition monitoring for the 10MW S-CO2 gas turbine using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Results of the study show that the impurities affect all turbine component but recompressor is the most affected by overheating and required further protection. The current design of the 10 MW S-CO2 gas turbine recompressor works on fluid before heat is removed by the pre-cooler. Fouling in the recuperators raises the recompressor inlet temperatures due to the poor heat transfer between two streams which can cause recompressor failure due to overheating. This highlighted the need for an additional protection to prevent the recompressor from overheating. The result shows that the NARX model successfully capture the degradation of the turbine performance due to impurities ....


title: Indexing Memory: Archiving the Everyday and Representing Bestowed Significance

abstract: Memory, although personal, ambiguous and perplexing, is universal. Represented in various manners, memory exists in the past, present and future of our emotional, mental, and physical space, constructed and re-lived by our actions. This thesis explores the formation and recollection of memory by creating an archive; indexing ten architectural elements of the everyday, creating a network of tangible memories, meaningful, personal, and fluid across time and place. Memory has three sites: a place where it is formed, a place where it is recalled, and the path of travel in which it is transported, the human brain. A global phenomenon, memory is sited and recalled in mundane or contradictory places from its formation. How do we attribute value to sites of recollection? How do we represent memory? The resulting archive of this work accentuates how everyday architectures are sites of bestowed significance, not merely mundane elements of the built environment.


title: Analysis and Design of Low-Profile Reconfigurable Leaky-Wave Antennas Based on Substrate Integrated Waveguide for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications

abstract: 5G millimeter-wave (mm-wave) applications have several challenges, such as detection accuracy, interference from other channels, high path loss, covering several users in a dense area, and vulnerability to the environmental conditions. Several antenna technologies were proposed in this dissertation to address some of the above-mentioned challenges in 5G applications with a focus on wireless networks and vehicle to everything (V2X) communications. Leaky-wave antennas (LWAs) are suitable candidates for 5G mm-wave applications due to their beam-scanning capability, compactness, low cost, and ease of fabrication. Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) and half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) are suitable candidates for realizing LWAs because of their low-profile and integration capability. Several design approaches were introduced in this dissertation to improve the performance of SIW/HMSIW LWAs in 5G mm-wave applications. Some of the proposed antennas have a relatively wide beam-scanning range, suitable for radar systems and V2X communications, while others have small beam-squint, suitable for point-to-point communications and seeker antennas. Tapering the side aperture of an HMSIW and the feed transition of a SIW resulted in side-lobe level (SLL) reduction to enhance the detection accuracy and reduce sensitivity to interference. Applying the proposed methods reduced the SLL of an HMSIW LWA and a SIW LWA to -11.2 dB and -11.4 dB, respectively, in the mm-wave frequency band. Furthermore, embedding cavities into a compact low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) antenna enhanced the gain to 7.6 dBi at 28.5 GHz. Implementing different types of reconfigurable structures resulted in electronic beam-scanning, which is the most suitable approach to provide coverage for several users in dense areas due to its ease of implementation. Each of the proposed reconfigurable antennas posed different scanning ranges. One example used varactor diodes for tuning the antenna and achieved 30⁰ of beam-scanning range by varying the varactor diode's capacitance in the range of 200−500fF. Moreover, the bias circuitry was integrated into the RF ground in a few designs to miniaturize the reconfigurable antenna. The compactness, beam-scanning capability, low SLL, medium to high gain, and low fabrication cost are among the features that make the proposed antennas suitable candidates for 5G mm-wave applications.


title: Quarantined Atmospheres

abstract: This thesis explores how atmospheric isolation contributes to the creation and maintenance of the domestic interior. My contention is that our methods of environmental control are tightly woven with the establishment of domestic social spaces. Increases in the level of atmospheric containment yield tighter barriers against the presence of others. Social topologies are dependent on moments of free exchange and interaction, which diminish as the domestic barrier is strengthened. Conditions and processes outside become increasingly rejected. This thesis critically reimagines the barriers which maintain spaces of isolation in the domestic context. This is explored through testing the limits and possibilities of environmental and social porosity in conditions of quarantine, aided by a series of submerged physical architectural models. The thesis culminates in the design of a space of quarantine, composed of four components that blur boundaries around interior spaces and atmospheres, enabling an inhabitation that occupies multiple, shifting relational fields.


title: Odd Chain Phenolic Lipids in Liposomes as a Delivery System in Food using High Power Ultrasound

abstract: Odd chain phenolic lipids have gained increasing interest due to their functionality in food and pharmaceuticals owing to their bioactivity, amphiphilic properties, and use for encapsulation and drug delivery. Alkylresorcinols (ARs) are the most studied and found in high concentrations in wheat bran. In parallel, high power ultrasound (US) is an emerging green non-thermal technology with many applications in food. This research aimed to investigate the use of US to extract crude ARs from wheat bran and potential applications for preparation of liposomal solutions for the production of emulsion-filled gels (EFGs) to delivery functional ingredients and reduce fat in a margarine model. US decreased extraction times of crude ARs from wheat bran from 24 hr to 30 min. Crude ARs and US were then used to develop functional EFGs from US prepared liposomal solutions which were characterized using PLM, water activity, textural analysis, rancimat, and DSC.


title: Structure Stories

abstract: The current state of world affairs conveyed in recent news media often underscores the unpredictability of what lies ahead. How might the combined effects of these daily headlines influence the world of tomorrow? This thesis will speculate on how interweaving among these narratives might suggest spatial and social futures that translate into the language of architecture. This thesis investigation will comprise three layers: 01 Reading and analysis of current events journalism, with a focus on social injustice and inequity. 02 Critical reflection about the fictional architectural environments of others who work with narrative. 03 Development of a set of speculative architectural fictions that respond to items 01-02. I hope to encourage conversations about the potential for speculative architecture presented in tandem with narrative fiction in increasing awareness and inspiring discussion about the futures that current pressing world issues may foretell.


title: Spatial Prioritization of Cost-Efficient Habitat Protection for Species at Risk in Ontario

abstract: Conservation budgets are limited, so it is important to prioritize actions to efficiently protect species. Proxies for cost are frequently used as estimates for inclusion in prioritization problems to make more effective decisions. In this research, we combine real-world cost data for private land and species habitat models into a spatial prioritization problem to explore cost-efficient habitat protection possibilities for species at risk in Ontario. Our findings suggest that protecting species at risk through land purchase may be most cost efficient in areas where species-at-risk richness is relatively high and population density is low, such as in central Ontario. However, the budget required to adequately protect species at risk through land purchase is much larger than is currently available for conservation efforts. Therefore, to effectively protect species at risk in Ontario, we recommend the use of alternative conservation measures, such as easements on private land, to supplement already protected areas.


title: Nature's Course: Unearthing the Kingdom of the Grey

abstract: This thesis examines historical concepts of nature in the context of Windmill Point, a wharf at the entrance of the Lachine Canal in Montreal's Old Port. It does so to understand how the conceptualization of nature has formed the way humans have mapped, shaped, and exploited it as a resource. Humans' self-ascribed dominion has shaped and reshaped the environment to fit economic aspirations, aesthetic desires, and cartographic reiterations which speak to a faith in measurability, order, and linear progression. By studying a series of archival maps, images, and documents in conjunction with regular site immersion, materials explorations, and design propositions this thesis investigates fungi as a design tool which can begin to challenge assumptions held on the production and commodification of space. It proposes a series of interventions which invite fungal possibilities while accepting and celebrating the non-linear and often erratic agency of fungi in "stories of making and unmaking".


title: Tensions in Fostering ‘local food’ in the Northwest Territories: Contending with Settler Colonialism in Northern Research

abstract: Most food systems challenges in the Northwest Territories, including extractivism, climate change, and restrictive policies, are bound to processes of settler colonialism. Researchers working in northern contexts typically recognize the disruptive role colonialism had in shaping foodways, but often fail to contend with the ongoing realities of colonial forces and the role research has in upholding them. This thesis is situated in tensions I encountered in two research engagements working to support "local" food systems in the NWT. My aspirations to develop these engagements into a community-based research project brought me to the realization that settler colonialism had been insufficiently attended to. This thesis is the result of a reflexive analysis of my engagements as a southern-based settler researcher working in the North. It argues that southern-based researchers must attend to the ways our research reinforces harmful colonial narratives about the North and actively work to disrupt colonial continuities.


title: Through Thick and Thin // Story Space on Rannoch Moor

abstract: This thesis proposes a series of fictional narratives that reflect on the moor as ground, as an unstable terrain, of burial and wetness, and proposes alternative ways of knowing through literature, folklore and story-telling as a multiverse method of worldbuilding. Can we use stories to design with precision - not as an act of probing for answers, for newness or novelty, but as a form of watching and waiting? Storytelling suggests a movement to look not to the past, or to the future, but to the deepness of the conditions that surround us, weaving together a more complex tapestry towards recuperation and resilience. This research uses a pluralistic approach (drawing, mapping, site-studies, etc) to understand and investigate the relationship between storytelling and architectural representation. It tracks, traces, and upends, through thick and thin, notions of geological time, history, literature and lore through a speculative imaginary of Rannoch Moor.


title: In Search of a Place for Emotion and Healing: Designing Empathetic Architecture for the Third Age

abstract: In medicalized environments, the link between emotion and architecture is often overlooked due to prioritization of efficiency and treatment. In such settings, the architecture no longer actively participates. The thesis investigates a typology of therapeutic architecture for the aging demographics in 21st century. Despite the rising number of population entering this generation, they have been neglected in terms of policy, investment, and accommodation. As such, the physical and emotional environment for this group has not been sufficiently addressed. The thesis departs by asking the question of how to create a healing space for the marginalized senior cohorts. Situated near Hospital Montfort, the created space will incorporate communal and sensory elements to generate a hospitable environment. At a broader level, the project will attempt to establish a symbiotic relationship with nature and surrounding long-term care housing to develop a holistic network for the aging population.


title: Applied Craft Science in Traditional Timber Framing Conservation

abstract: The first step in any heritage project is its understanding; which is a process analogous to reverse engineering. Traditional reverse engineering involved the disassembly and reconstruction of a product to obtain a higher understanding of it. Contemporary reverse engineering typically refers to replication via, 3D scanning, modelling, and prototyping; unfortunately, this can yield a misplaced understanding. As described by traditional reverse engineering: a high-level understanding is obtained through a broad range of information sourced from related designs, existing documentation, personal experience, and general knowledge that lie outside the product of interest. In this thesis, digital photogrammetry is used as a tool to augment the process of reverse engineering squared (hewn) timber in traditional timber framing. Specifically, the hewing techniques and tools are reconstructed. As a result of this recovered understanding, both tangible and intangible heritage are accurately documented and preserved.


title: The Agency of Infrastructure From Desert to Oasis

abstract: Underlying infrastructures organize and manage complex systems of movement and exchange and can set the stage for future development. However, when developed as a mechanism primarily devoted to solving transportation engineering issues, they can contribute to the creation of inhospitable places in a city. This thesis project primarily explores how transit infrastructure, specifically the development of the new Ontario Transit Line in Toronto can act as a public agency to reinvigorate the transit desert community of Thorncliffe Park. Specifically, the project examines infrastructure under the following lens: as a community builder and public amenity; as a spatial definer and connector; and the train line as an animator of the public realm. This thesis argues that infrastructure, conceived as architecture, through a lens of agency can still provide efficient access and diverse modes of transportation to other parts of the city, while creating a connected, integrated, and engaging community fabric.


title: Memory Walks of the “Ungeographic”: The Demolition of Black History

abstract: Memory Walks of the "Ungeographic" is an exploration of how demolition serves as a tool to disproportionately misrepresent, criminalize, and erase Black people from Canadian history. Such demolition of space fits into a larger pattern of concealment and marginalization, painting a skewed picture of Black geographies in Canada. The project analyzes, interprets, and speculates, how the formation, distribution, and commodification of stories, memories, and political interests support such demolitions. Throughout this thesis I use modes of making— stitching, tearing, cracking, imprinting, casting, and cutting— to picture built space through its countless layers and threads produced by conflict, capital, subordination, and care. It explores how demolition harms the psyche of those impacted, and scrutinizes the associated built environment, as well as how the memories and stories of those who are unseen, undocumented and "ungeographic" govern agency in physical space.


title: Cost-Effective Algorithms for Controller Placement Problem in Software-Defined Multihop Wireless Networks

abstract: The abstract is uploaded as a supplementary file since there is no enough space in the box for the abstract.


title: Using ACT-R and SGOMS to Predict Micro Strategies Used by Experts During Routine Tasks

abstract: Micro strategies refer to fast, low level, unconscious strategies that constitute a control structure for information processing within a specific task (Newell, 1973). Micro strategies determine how we process low level information, such as perceptual inputs (Shiffrin & Cousineau, 2004) or procedural information (Gray & Boehm-Davis, 2000). Using an SGOMS/ACT-R model I was able to predict expert, individual performance on a stimulus-response reaction time game involving a memorized hierarchical structure. I found that slightly different micro strategies were used by the participants, indicating that micro strategies have a very real influence on individual performance. These findings represent an understudied area of research that has larger implications for many Psychology and Cognitive Science studies.


title: Apertures, Reflections, Light: A Pavilion for Re-Imagining the World around Us at the Distant Edge of Ottawa, Canada

abstract: Apertures, Reflections, Light investigates the social, economic, and ecological complexities intertwined within the expansion of the urban boundary of Ottawa, Canada in the specific context of the suburb of Barrhaven. The boundary - an ephemeral line sometimes a place of competing forces - is a focal point for meditations on the nature of suburban expansion, and human impact on the natural realm. The architecture seeks to unearth questions, shortcomings, and hopes that exist in current and future visions of suburbia. Connecting with existing pockets of wilderness, the Apparatus is set deep within the landscape. Spaces of darkness and spaces of light - seen as places of natural phenomena -not only shift the gaze of visitors but also move their soul. Culminating in a photogrammetric chamber the architecture of the Apparatus hopes to re-frame the viewer's relationship to their everyday surroundings, instilling a sense of agency over their inhabited public spaces.


title: Electroencephalography Shows Effects of Age in Response to Oddball Auditory Signals: Implications for Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Alerting Systems for Older Drivers

abstract: This research considers the efficacy of auditory alert systems for semi-autonomous vehicles from the perspective of the neurological processing of multiple modes of information. The present work reports on how the auditory processing of deviant and standard stimuli is impacted by age and workload conditions at regions of the brain involved in the auditory processing pipeline. Electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioural data from older and younger participants were collected. Participants completed a visual memory task with low- and high-workload conditions along with a novel paired-click paradigm. EEG results showed that in the low-workload visual task condition both groups partially overcame the redundancy effect of the second paired tone when a salient stimulus was presented. In contrast, P200 neural responses to these oddball tones were attenuated in older adults in the high-workload conditions of the visual memory task. These findings have implications for how alerting systems are implemented in semi-autonomous vehicles.


title: Room for Play:  An Evaluation of the Lost [Healing] Spaces in Pediatric Healthcare Facilities

abstract: The essence of space within pediatric healthcare has been governed through a catalyst of distinct criteria. Although these criteria are functional for medical and research practice requirements associated with hygiene and health, they should also reflect healing therapeutics. The built environment provides a place for people to live, work, and partake in their day-to-day activities. However, the built environment of the spaces for pediatric healthcare lacks the "room for play" in their built fabric, to such a degree as lost spaces. These spaces have the potential to supplement the designated functions of the built healthcare environment of which they are a part. This thesis evaluates the possibility to integrate the spaces of healthcare that are conducive to an integral human perceptual response enhancing our overall sense of well-being and restorative healing. Case studies and literary research will support a design proposal for The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario.


title: Geology of the Alpha Regio (V-32) Quadrangle, Venus

abstract: This thesis presents a 1:2,500,000 geological map of the Alpha Regio (V-32) quadrangle, Venus. Nearly 40,000 lineaments and 77 geological units were mapped. Several fracture belts have been identified. Plains material, previously mapped as several global units, was divided into 27 units and some were linked to discrete sources. Several corona-sourced volcanic flows were recognized. Cross-cutting relationships reveal a complex geological history throughout which numerous processes have overlapped. Fatua Corona is associated with a radiating graben-fissure system 1700 km in length that swings in trend from radiating to sub-parallel. The structures are inferred to overly dykes, which represent an estimated 57,000 km^3 of magma. The dyke trends were used to establish the regional stress field orientation (NNE-SSW maximum compressive stress). Two hypotheses are proposed to explain the forces contributing to this stress field: 1) extension in the Derceto-Quetzalpetlatl belt, or 2) ridge push from the Alpha-Lada belt. Giant circumferential dyke swarms on Earth resemble the circumferential graben-fissure systems of coronae. Characteristics of circumferential graben-fissure systems in the V-32 quadrangle are catalogued and compared with terrestrial circumferential dyke swarms. Based on this new mapping of circumferential systems, several coronae are shown to be much larger than previously described, notably Thermuthis Corona (330 km to 1250 km in diameter). The high coverage of stereo-derived topography data in this region has enabled the characterization of wrinkle ridge morphometry. The ridges are ~10 km wide with ~100 m of relief and mostly asymmetric. Modeling of the underlying thrust faults suggests they are planar, dip 30°, reach depths of ≤ 5 km, are blind to depths of ≥ 2 km, and have accommodated ~200 m of dip-slip. These results support thin-skinned deformation. Wrinkle ridge density is negatively correlated with crustal thickness, supporting previous models linking the magnitude of strain to the swell-push body force combined with crustal thickness. The strain appears to be specifically related to mantle downwelling along Eistla Regio. The results of this research have been used to identify landing site targets in the V-32 quadrangle for the Venera-D mission. Five targets are suggested in plains material, digitate volcanic flows, and corona-sourced flows.


title: Reclaiming the Land: A New Paradigm for the Future of Tuktoyaktuk

abstract: The Inuvialuit nation has a unique understanding of the land after inhabiting it and utilizing its resources for millennia making it extremely vulnerable to the consequences of climate change in the Arctic. Hence, the ecological forces at play erode the Arctic shorelines and shift the marine ecosystem. The village of Tuktoyaktuk sits within the context of severe land loss where cultural activities and education are practiced. This thesis investigates particular intersections of architecture with the pressing questions of the Inuvialuit constructs of place, tradition, knowledge and ecology. An exploration is conducted to develop architectural representation practices inclusive of the Western and Inuvialuit traditions. Intrinsically, this thesis studies the traditional place of the Inuvialuit to speculate on a proactive architecture response to the ecological and cultural changes taking place in Tuktoyaktuk. Ultimately, the thesis seeks to provoke necessary discussions to empower architecture to incorporate traditions and vernacular spaces on the coast.


title: Performance Assessment of RC Columns Under Near-Field Blast Loading Using CFD Modelling

abstract: This study investigates the effects of various design parameters on the performance of reinforced concrete columns under near-field blast loads, specifically for scaled distances less than 0.4 m/kg1/3. The computational fluid dynamics analysis method in LS-DYNA is used to model the detonation process of the explosive, the propagation of the blast wave, and its interaction with the structure. The model's ability to accurately predict blast loads and simulate structural response is verified against experimental data from the literature. Using the verified model, the influence of transverse reinforcement spacing, concrete cover, axial load ratio, and column cross-section shape on the structural performance is evaluated based on several parameters including the lateral displacement, the extent of the damage zone, material stress condition, and residual axial capacity.


title: Mediating Maendeleo: Examining the Nexus Between Geothermal Extraction, Wildlife Conservation and Community Well-being in Olkaria-Suswa, Southern Kenya

abstract: Decisions regarding livelihoods, land and natural resource management are embedded in the traditional institutions and societal structures of the Maasai communities that have been in dynamic interaction with hegemonic forms of state-building during the colonial and post-colonial periods in Kenya. The Maasai's fraught interaction with and cautious response to change, often portrayed and interpreted as being conservative and repugnant to modernization and/or maendeleo (development), is critical in understanding their response to contemporary mega-development enterprises now mushrooming in the erstwhile marginal frontiers of Kenya. This study examines these larger dynamics in the context of the nexus between development, conservation and community livelihoods in the contested landscape of Olkaria. By locating this study in a historically significant site but also an area of large-scale international and state investment in natural resource extraction, I analyze the historical and current threads that intricately but fractiously weave together geothermal development, wildlife conservation, and community well-being as well as claims and struggles of belonging. Four villages - Olomayiana, RAPland and Mt. Suswa- were purposefully selected for the study. A mixed method approach that entailed ethnographic methods such as focus group discussions, interviews and participant observation were employed to collect data. The data was qualitatively analyzed in a thematic scale using enkishon (well-being)-based Maasai philosophy as a frame to deeply understand the extent to which decision making/leadership (erikore), environmental governance (eramatare) and rights-based development (esipata) have been shaped by geothermal development in the area of study. The findings of this study show that geothermal development and wildlife conservation are incompatible as the former is privileged over the latter to the detriment of wildlife well-being. The study shows how the Kenyan government, investors, and donors promote geothermal as environmentally friendly, while documenting how local Maasai consider the environmental effects of wastewater, fumes and noise at the local scale to be harmful to their health, wildlife and livestock. Additionally, the study shows that geothermal fields require expansive space hence dispossession and displacement leading to heightened human rights violation, limited employment and little economic returns at the local scale culminating in compromised livelihoods that destabilize the Maasai enkishon of well-being.


title: An examination of body esteem and health outcomes in community samples of youth and youth in pediatric weight management

abstract: Existing literature is conflicting about the association between body mass index (BMI), body image, quality of life, and disordered eating in samples of community youth, and youth in pediatric weight management programs. This thesis explored these associations through two studies. Study 1 was a meta-analysis examining the association between BMI and health outcomes and Study 2 was a quantitative study of the bidirectional associations between these variables in a sample of youth in a weight management program. Meta-analytic results indicated that BMI was significantly associated with body image (r = -0.41; N = 57; p<.001), disordered eating (r = 0.14; N = 46; p<.001), and quality of life (r = -0.22; N = 21; p<.001). However, there were significant gender and construct differences, such that for most body image subgroups the association between BMI and body image was significantly larger for female samples. Additionally, studies that used figure rating scales compared to Likert assessments of body image had stronger associations with BMI and no gender differences. In Study 2, 209 youth (111 female; ages 4-18) were included in a retrospective chart review from a pediatric weight management program. Latent growth modelling was used to examine univariate growth trajectories of each variable and the bidirectional associations between body esteem, disordered eating, quality of life, and BMI over time. It was hypothesized that: 1) higher initial body esteem would be associated with lower disordered eating and higher quality of life at baseline, 2) higher initial body esteem would be associated with more favourable changes in disordered eating and quality of life over time, and 3) increases in body esteem would be associated with decreases in disordered eating and increases in quality of life over time. Results indicated that baseline body esteem was associated with baseline emotional eating and quality of life, however body esteem was relatively stable over time and was not associated with changes in quality of life, or disordered eating over time. These results have implications for our understanding of the stability of body esteem over time, body image measurement and terminology, and its role in pediatric weight management programs.


title: Process-Oriented Player Evaluation Metrics for USports Basketball

abstract: This thesis focuses on quantifying the true talent of each individual player on the court of a Canadian USports basketball game. The paper explores both bottom-up and top-down approaches to assigning value to individual players. These assignments of value are then tested and contrasted to observe what measures should to be used to understand properly what a player can contribute to a team. In basketball the goal is to score more points than the other team and thus a player who can contribute to this end is valuable. However, due to the smaller number of games played by individual players at the Canadian University level as compared to professional levels of basketball, more noise is present in measures that focus on team outcomes. To combat this, a deeper examination is undertaken to understand the processes which predict better outcomes and tell a more salient picture of a player's true talent.


title: International Regulatory Cooperation and the Making of “Good” Regulators : A Case Study of the Canada–U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council

abstract: International regulatory cooperation (IRC) is an increasingly important component of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Yet as a practice in global governance, IRC is relatively understudied by critical scholars of neoliberalism and globalization. This thesis enquires into the practices of IRC and the role of state and non-state participants in the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC). My research draws publicly available accounts of the RCC and earlier bilateral (Canada-U.S.) regulatory cooperation efforts into conversation with the experiences of two dozen RCC participants from government, the private sector and civil society. Applying a governmentality analysis to a case study of the RCC, I conclude that IRC can be understood as a subtle technique for governing the global economy at a distance through the production of "good" (i.e., self-maximizing) regulators and regulated subjects.


title: “Carceral Harm Reduction”: A Critical Analysis of the Municipal Licensing of Body Rub Centres in Edmonton, Alberta

abstract: The legal regulation of sex work in Canada was fundamentally shifted by the Harper government in 2014 with the passage of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (2014). Within this new legal landscape, this dissertation investigates the regulation of indoor-based sex work by exploring the 2014-2015 changes to the Body Rub Centres (BRC) licensing regime and bylaw in Edmonton, Alberta. Scholars have extensively analyzed the effect that the Canadian Criminal Code has on sex work. There is less research on how municipal regulations shape indoor-based sex work, especially in BRCs. Fewer studies have explored the regulation of sex work in the prairies and in Alberta specifically. In this dissertation, I expand on sex work scholarship and attend to how municipal bylaws regulate BRC based sex work, and the complex relationship that bylaws have with other legal regulations, including provincial occupational health and safety laws and the federal Criminal Code. Inspired by Institutional Ethnography (Smith, 1987, 2005) I used three methods to examine the organization of BRC work. These include textual analysis of City of Edmonton documents and provincial legislation; semi-structured interviews with municipal officials and bureaucrats, members of community-based organizations, and BRC sex workers and an owner; and participant observation sessions. A key finding from this work is that a discourse of harm reduction was a central component to the amended BRC bylaw. This work illustrates how a "harm reduction" discourse was utilized and misappropriated by municipal officials and bureaucrats. This form of "harm reduction" informed how the new bylaw was written and how it is enacted. My research demonstrates that this discourse shaped the license requirements for BRC owners and workers, such as the use of inspections, and has shaped other municipal policies like the Access Without Fear policy. My work also reveals that how the bylaw is enacted increases the regulation and surveillance of BRC workers. Drawing on Bernstein (2010) I argue that how the bylaw is enacted constitutes an extension of the carceral mechanisms of the Criminal Code and extends both overt and obscure punitive bureaucratic mechanisms into the licensing regime of BRC work.


title: Fluorinated Graphene Oxide Based Chemiresistive Gas Sensor Targeting NH3 and Other Analytes Under Atmospheric Conditions

abstract: Emergence of graphene-derived highly functional materials has transformed chemical and biological sensing. Several novel approaches utilizing chemical modification of graphene oxide (GO) were investigated and implemented using these materials in sensor fabrication for the detection of chemical analytes such as volatile organic compounds (VOC). The detection methods rely on using functionalization of modified graphene derivatives to target select analytes and produce a quantifiable, distinguishable electrical response. In this work, an in-house hydrothermal fluorination technique to synthesize fluorinated-GO (FGO) suspension was developed. The FGO material was drop coated in its solution phase onto interdigitated electrodes to create a chemiresistive gas sensor. An ultra-low-level detection of NH3 (~>2.26 ppm) was observed by the chemiresistive sensor which was extended to detect acetone and distinguish between their individual transient responses. The sensor system is fully integrated and miniaturized making it suitable for point-of-care, continuous health monitoring applications in exhaled breath testing.


title: A Workload-Driven Framework for NoSQL Data Modeling and Partitioning

abstract: Due to the scalability problems in traditional relational database systems, a variety of NoSQL stores have emerged over the last decade to deal with big data. The lack of standard processes for designing and partitioning NoSQL datasets, as two non-orthogonal principles of distributed database systems, has led to the proposal of several recent methods. On the one hand, the existing design methods provide various conceptual modeling notations and mainly target a particular NoSQL data model that cause extra effort for designers when switching from one data model to another. Also, by providing just a set of guidelines and heuristics for the design process, many methods have to be applied manually which is an error-prone and time-consuming process. To deal with these limitations, we present a novel method for designing key-value, wide-column, and document NoSQL database schemas from the same conceptual model. It first generates a generic NoSQL logical schema from the conceptual model and query workload of the system. Then it converts the generic schema to the schemas of targeted NoSQL data models regarding their important features and design trade-offs between the read query performance and storage overhead or consistency maintenance. On the other hand, the existing graph partitioning strategies are mostly workload-agnostic, as they presume the same probability of traversing edges or visiting vertices, which does not always hold with different query workloads. In addition, they are mostly graph topology-agnostic, as they do not differentiate between high-degree and low-degree vertices. Furthermore, many existing workload-aware strategies are unable to adapt to dynamic workloads. To address these limitations, we present a novel workload-adaptive and topology-driven approach named Helios, that aims to achieve low-latency and high-throughput online graph queries. In order to assess the impact of Helios on a graph store and to show how easily the approach can be plugged on top of the system, we exploit it in a distributed graph-based RDF store. The query engine of the store exploits Helios to reduce inter-node communication for future queries and balances the computational load across a cluster of nodes.


title: The Architectural Chuck Box

abstract: The thesis investigates the way we live and travel overland in rural Canada. It explores the typology of the camp combined with the mobility of a trailer as a source for surveying temporary, outdoor dwelling, and the activities this mode of building supports. Recorded throughout the thesis is the design and construction of my own off-grid overland trailer named the Chuck Box. The work was completed using various tools and techniques which has been documented and presented on YouTube. The study focuses on outdoor activities with an emphasis on self-resiliency, connection to nature, and light-touch-down architectures as a means to be respectful in the Canadian wilderness. The Chuck Box aims to bridge the valuable experiences of roughing it in the back country with some of the modern-day comforts people have grown accustomed to even when living outdoors.


title: Restart the ‘World’ with Revolutionary Ruptures: Imagining Identity through War & in Crisis – Apocalyptic Rhetoric & the American Civil Religion

abstract: The response to 9/11 involved appealing to apocalyptic rhetoric to capitalize on the affective chaos following the tragedy to discursively mobilize actors while engaging in historical (re)imagining of the state. This thesis uses Benedict Anderson's concept of Imagined Communities as it concerns national/historical-time to expand upon Paul Fussell and Lilie Chouliaraki's work on the War Imaginary. It demonstrates how the operative value of myth mirrors and is serviceable to the discursive-reconstitution of the state in times of crisis and how individual self-understanding emerges via Narrative Identity. The major mythic structures that provide the source of authority to American self-understanding include: the American civil religion and the American culture-wars. Crisis compels identification to make sense of unfamiliar events according to one's origin myth; adaptive 'editing' for familiarity permits those in-crisis to shape/eliminate anything that contradicts their moral-truth to consolidate it as 'authentic' when faced with the 'inauthentic' threat of an alternative.


title: Postsecondary Enrolment of Adolescents with and without Childhood ADHD: A Longitudinal Analysis of Academic and Mental Health Trajectories

abstract: Do adolescents with histories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who subsequently enrol in post-secondary education differ from their peers with ADHD histories who do not enrol? This thesis explored ADHD histories and post-secondary enrolment as factors that may shape the developmental trajectories of academic outcomes and mental health. Using longitudinal data from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) and latent curve modelling, I explored ADHD symptoms, academic outcomes, and anxiety and depression symptoms from ages 9 through 17 for four groups: adolescents with ADHD histories and eventual post-secondary enrolment (n = 332), adolescents with ADHD histories but without post-secondary enrolment (n = 188), adolescents without ADHD histories but with eventual post-secondary enrolment (n = 205), and adolescents with neither ADHD histories nor post-secondary enrolment (n = 45). From ages 9 through 17, adolescents with ADHD histories who did not eventually enrol in post-secondary studies reported more ADHD symptoms and worse academic outcomes than those who did eventually enrol. Anxiety and depression symptoms were not significantly different across the four groups. Machine learning analyses to classify adolescents with ADHD histories as either "post-secondary" or "no post-secondary" had parallel results, identifying the most important features as academic achievement and ADHD symptoms. In general, academic outcomes were better for adolescents who eventually enrolled in post-secondary studies, regardless of ADHD histories. Among those with ADHD histories, mathematics and English grades declined for those who did not eventually attend post-secondary studies, whereas high school GPA improved for those who did eventually attend. Thus, to ensure students have an equal opportunity for long-term academic outcomes, it may be particularly important for parents, educators, and clinicians to pay attention to students who have low academic achievement scores, students who have declining grades in middle school, and students with more severe ADHD symptoms. Interventions targeted toward improving academic outcomes, persistent treatment, and coaching strategies may be important ways to support the academic achievements of adolescents with ADHD.


title: Geologic Atmospheres

abstract: This thesis positions atmospheres as integral to architecture due to its inherent sensorial experience. Material explorations of atmospheric generators deem materiality, reflection, and transparency as central to the creation of atmospheres in architecture. This thesis suggests that to design within a contemporary Anthropocene requires engaging with the geologic. Material questions of the geologic tie with theories of the neo-sublime, particularly in post-industrial landscapes. This thesis asks, how concepts of both the atmospheric and the geologic inform a design investigation in post-industrial landscapes? This is explored in three ways. First, through exploration of select theorists and architects work. Second, through a series of physical models studying aggregates, casting, and extraction. Finally, through the design of a remediation in Tar Island, Alberta. The thesis suggests that to engage with the atmospheric in design today entails engaging with its reciprocal condition, the geologic, and that using physical models enables engagement between the two.


title: Single and Double Change Covering Design

abstract: A single change covering design (SCCD) is a sequence of $b$ $k$-sets, called blocks, of a $V$-set in which exactly one element differs between consecutive blocks and every $s$-set of $V$ is in some block. We will review the literature and discuss several recursive constructions which completely solve the existence of SCCD for $k=3,4$ and partially for $k=5$. We will examine optimizations on exhaustive search techniques. We determined that there are 313 unique circular SCCD(12,4,2,22). We determine a recursion for $s=3$ and general $k$ using expansion sets. A double change covering design (DCCD) is similarly defined but consecutive blocks differ by two elements. We will completely solve the existence of tight DCCD ~$k=3,s=2$. We give several constructions using recursion and algebraic difference methods. This provides us with constructions for circular DCCD$(4k-2,2k,2,2k-1)$, circular DCCD$(4k-1,2k+1,2,2k-1)$ and circular DCCD$(4k-5k,2,4k-2)$ exists. We also find some other circular DCCD ~with given $v$ and $k$.


title: Search and Rendezvous by Mobile Robots in Continuous Domains

abstract: A collection of $n \geq 1$ mobile robots/agents are located within a continuous domain $\mathcal{D}$. In the search problem the agents are tasked with finding a stationary target located at an unknown position within $\mathcal{D}$. In the rendezvous problem the agents are required to all converge to any single location within $\mathcal{D}$. In either problem the capabilities of the agents are described by a robot model $\mathcal{M}$ (describing, for example, speed constraints, the fault model, knowledge available to the agents, memory capacity), and the cost of a solution algorithm $S$ is described by a cost function $\mathcal{C}$ which assigns a real number $\mathcal{C}(S)$ to each $S$. The ultimate goal of either problem is for the agents to complete the desired task whilst minimizing $\mathcal{C}$ subject to $\mathcal{M}$. This thesis will be of the integrated form and will be composed of several published results concerning the problems of search and rendezvous by mobile agents in continuous domains.


title: Mapping Riparian Habitat Availability in Canada's Agricultural Landscapes using Earth Observation

abstract: Riparian zones disproportionately increase biodiversity. Monitoring them should be prioritized for sustainability. Unfortunately, agricultural riparian zones are often highly modified, narrow, and heterogenous, making imagery classification and monitoring more challenging. The Canadian government operationally maps all agriculture - it would be ideal to include the adjacent riparian land. Several classification and pre-processing methods were tested on riparian zones in three watersheds (Ontario and Prince Edward Island) using several thematic resolutions to determine an operational classification method. A pixel-based 60m buffer method using 5 m imagery with reduced thematic resolution was successful for riparian classification and was used to demonstrate application of the Riparian Wildlife Habitat Availability on Farmland Indicator. Including riparian land in the annual crop inventory is not operationally feasible until the higher-resolution imagery becomes less expensive, as the riparian zone is often too narrow to spectrally separate riparian vegetation using lower resolution imagery.


title: The Political Economy of the Chinese Food Traceability System: Cultivating Trust, or Constructing a Technocratic Certainty Machine?

abstract: More than 50,000 Chinese citizens got sick or died from numerous recent food safety incidents, such as deceased pigs with disease re-entering the market and ending up on the Chinese citizen's table (BBC, 2019). Not only have these incidents stirred up public rage and outcry, but they have also undermined the public's trust in the food safety system (Kendall et al., 2019). The sheer scale and rapid spread of Internet food-related rumours have spurred the Chinese government to collaborate with technology giants to build a large-scale, market-driven, and technocratic food traceability system. The food traceability system has also become the prototype for how other public policy issues are approached. The upshot of these observations is that the rapid development of the food traceability system in China over the last decade or so is a microcosm for understanding much broader processes of social, economic, political and technological development in China.


title: “I’ve Got Your Six”: The Importance of Peer Support to Women Working in Non-Traditional Roles

abstract: Women continue to be under-represented in non-traditional roles, including the Canadian military. These women often experience high levels of job stress, which may contribute to increased burnout and work-family conflict. A sample of 749 female officers and non-commissioned members (NCMs) of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) who self-identified as having family care responsibilities were surveyed, with the aim of exploring the associations between job stressors (psychological safety, interpersonal justice), job stress, and strains (burnout, work-family conflict), and the moderating effect of peer support and transformational leadership on these outcomes. Results suggest that peer support can moderate the influence of both psychological safety and interpersonal justice on burnout (through job stress), however, transformational leadership did not provide any moderating effect. Results highlight the importance of a peer support network in the workplace, especially for women in non-traditional roles, with the aim of improving psychological well-being and retention of these workers.


title: Judicial Treaty Federalism and the Reconciliation of Ontario's Duty to Consult

abstract: This dissertation examines the role of the Canadian judiciary as a bridge between Indigenous and settler legal traditions, and the ability of jurisprudence to frame the recognition of Indigenous sovereignty by settler governments. It is asked whether First Nation consultation policies in the province of Ontario incorporate judicial language on the Crown's "duty to consult and accommodate" on matters affecting recognized or asserted Aboriginal and treaty rights. These duties impose limits to the exercise of Crown sovereignty in Indigenous territories, and the way these principles are implemented in policy implies different understandings of treaty law and the sources of sovereignty in Canadian federalism. This research describes the relationship between courts and legislatures as a dialogue, and looks to 19th and early 20th-century decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for previous examples where courts have altered the distribution of sovereignty between provincial and federal governments. This logic can be reapplied in an Indigenous context, where the addition of Section 35 to the Constitution Act, 1982 provided a legal link between treaty law and the Canadian constitution. The role of judges in interpreting law which both has constitutional status and exists outside the main constitutional document is described as "judicial treaty federalism", incorporating elements of "treaty federalism" in Canadian political science literature and "judicial federalism" in American literature. After reviewing key Supreme Court cases on the duty to consult and the role of provincial Crowns in its application, this dissertation examines current legislation and consultation policy in Ontario for adherence to these legal principles. Semi-structured interviews with both provincial civil servants and First Nations leaders provide insight into policy implementation. This research concludes that a common law framework exists for the recognition of Indigenous legal orders, but recognition has not permeated the policymaking process in Ontario. Decentralized consultation policy, poor communication and aspecific guidance, and the Crown's unilateral rights assessment are all major contributors to this discrepancy between law and policy. Negotiation and policy change will be necessary to close this gap, but public servants can also adopt best practices to improve Crown-Indigenous relations until updated policy is implemented.


title: Embracing the Air: The Sensory Experience of Hemp-Lime Architecture

abstract: Through this research, I explore the multi-sensory properties of hemp-lime construction as an antidote to the overly visual experience of contemporary architecture. I begin design from the material and elaborate on the senses involved with the dynamics of hemp walls: the airy trio of humidity, thermal and sound. I dissolve the complexity of a conventional wall, where the layers act separately, and compare this to a hemp-lime composition which acts in unison. Throughout, my research strives to be environmentally responsible with methods of construction that consider the lifecycle of the material; from the conception of a carbon-negative product to the built experience, and to its afterlife of being recycled or fully decomposed. Alongside the historical significance of hemp and lime, the project works at crafting a space of reverence, located in the sacred site of St Raphael's Cemetery (Ontario), that cleanses the occupant's senses through materiality.


title: Geometric Spanners For Compact Regions

abstract: Let R be a set of n pairwise disjoint compact path connected subsets of the plane. We refer to the elements of R as regions. We suppose that travelling inside each of these regions is free, whereas the cost of travelling outside these regions corresponds to the travelled distance. This gives rise to a metric space (R, delta(T)) where T corresponds to the most cost-effective graph connecting the regions of R and delta(T) corresponds to the length of a shortest path in T. We show that T can be approximated by two cone based algorithms: the first algorithm, based on Yao graphs, yields a graph whose spanning ratio is 1/(1-sin(theta/2) and the second, based on theta graphs, yields a graph whose spanning ratio is (1/(cos theta - sin theta. We also show that T can be approximated by a greedy algorithm when the regions are assumed to be "fat".


title: 'One Day Stronger':  A Public History Theatrical Experiment about Remembered Sudbury Strikes, 1958-2010

abstract: This dissertation honours and pays tribute to Sudbury residents and many others for whom labour strikes played a significant role in shaping their lives. Set in the context of a public history theatrical experiment, this study investigates local and community memories pertaining to Sudbury mining strikes in the postwar period from 1958 through to 2010. Archival research and oral history interviews were conducted on major labour strikes in this era and that research was used to script, rehearse, and stage a theatrical play. Interviews with audience members and performers were also conducted at all stages of the process. This process allows the dissertation to consider the perspectives of both performers and audience members, each enacting their roles as producers and consumers of public history. The dissertation also assesses the value of this form of history making, as it relates to the formation of historical consciousness, both then and now, of individuals within the Sudbury community. This study argues that public history as theatre has the potential to provide an effective and affecting means to nurture critical, reflexive historical consciousness both on and off the stage.


title: Recommending GitHub Projects by Leveraging Developers' Social Networks and Genetic Algorithm

abstract: Developers in GitHub continuously seek new opportunities to contribute to new projects. So far, several researchers have used users' historical activities, textual descriptions of projects or starred items to analyze or infer the interests or programming expertise of developers to offer possible project recommendations. While some research utilized social connections to obtain developers' social importance, none of them have implemented such aspects for generating project recommendations. In this research, we use the latest GHTorrent dataset to construct and propose a GitHub project recommendation system by leveraging Parallel Genetic Algorithm and developers' social networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of Genetic Algorithm in the GitHub project recommendation area.


title: The Emergence of Queer Diplomacy:  Navigating Homophobia and LGBT Human Rights in International Relations

abstract: Since 2010, governments from Europe and the Americas have embraced LGBT rights more assertively as a foreign policy objective, leading to "significant policy change" as well as "cultural resistance and policy pushbacks" (Picq and Thiel 2015, pp. 1-2). At least seventy mainly African and Asian states continue to criminalize same-sex conduct: many of these states oppose LGBT rights in multilateral fora such as the UN Human Rights Council, generating conflict with Western and Western-allied states. The student, drawing upon his work as a foreign policy officer - and his experience as an activist and researcher in the LGBT community - argues that no single theoretical perspective can explicate this phenomenon. An interdisciplinary approach is required, bridging key concepts from sociology and cultural studies on queer identity, global sexualities, and LGBT movements with current scholarship in political science, international relations, and human rights. The dissertation's underlying assertion - that a new queer diplomacy has emerged from the triadic interaction between intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), states and civil society organizations (CSOs) - aims to demonstrate how diplomats work to both strengthen and subvert LGBT rights. The research project employed a reflexive, multidimensional standpoint methodology and involved participant observation at UN meetings in Geneva and New York, and 29 in-depth interviews with diplomats, human rights experts, and IGO and CSO representatives. The data findings suggest Western concepts of sexual and gender identity underlie many approaches used by diplomats and advocates in their international work. To a considerable extent, Western governments, in concert with IGO and CSO representatives - have succeeded in mainstreaming LGBT issues into UN human rights policy and programming, as well as areas such as development programming, health, women's rights, and the criminal justice system: however, many gaps remain. The data reveals the close relationships between CSOs and "like-minded" diplomats, as well as the systemic challenges that impede their progress. However, a more inclusive and coordinated diplomatic and civil society strategy is urgently needed to prevent or at least minimize ongoing human rights violations against LGBT people.


title: How Not to Conserve: A Cautionary Tale

abstract: Are conservation principles reflected in conservation projects? The field of conservation is complex and constantly evolving, but the core principle has always been the same: to protect heritage values. We rely on regulations to provide guidance on best conservation practices, but meeting policy is not the same as meeting conservation intent. Descriptions of 'good conservation' are wrought with subjective and contradicting terminology, which can be misinterpreted, or worse, manipulated to fit the goals of its user. Furthermore, heritage must compete with urban planning and development initiatives, which can conflict with the protection of heritage values. Dissecting the current state of conservation practice in Ottawa, we set out to explore how (and if) conservation projects reflect the contemporary context of heritage. An existing adaptive reuse project in Ottawa will be analyzed, paired with a series of interviews with conservation experts, in search of more responsive ways to protect Canada's heritage.


title: Blue Junction: Improving Spatial Experience Through Ecological Water Management at Carleton University

abstract: Although the earth's water supply is finite and is indispensable to the survival of all living things, it is routinely understood to be a single-use, disposable element framing a relationship which causes increasing environmental degradation. As with all things in our culture that intersect with the waste we generate, our relationship to water has resulted in strategies that largely conceal water from our daily experience. At Carleton University this camouflaging is in full effect: extensive impermeable surfaces and buried stormwater drains allow unimpeded surface runoff into the Rideau River while sewers send untreated sewage directly into Ottawa's strained sewage network. In response, this thesis explores how implementing ecological water management systems for both stormwater and wastewater at Carleton University, seen as the responsible path forward, can be entwined with architectural experience to reverse what is the secret life of wastewater and improve human relationships and attitudes towards water management.


title: Sensitivity Analysis and Experimental Validation of Plunger-type Wavemakers Modelled with a Steady Flow

abstract: The inclusion of a steady flow in a water channel is critical for recreating scaled ocean environments in a laboratory. In this thesis, the effect of flow on the theoretical model and experimental performance of a plunger-type wavemaker has been investigated. Through a variance-based global sensitivity analysis, the influence of the input parameters on the output variance of the wavemaker model was explored. While the flow is less influential compared to the other parameters, it was established that including flow in the model is essential for application to experimental systems. To validate the experimental wavemaker, wave profiles were generated and measured under a variety of test conditions in relation to the sensitivity analysis. It was observed that the difference between the experimental results and the theoretical model increased as both frequency and flow increased. Therefore, a corrected model was suggested, and the operational range of the experimental system was established.


title: Empirical Research on Developing an Educational  Augmented Reality Authoring Tool

abstract: This thesis identifies a lack of research on the efficiency of using general-purpose Augmented Reality (AR) authoring tools for educational purposes and investigates its difficulties and drawbacks. While traditional education methods have proven their efficiency, academics constantly explore new ways to benefit from technology in education. Notwithstanding, elementary school teachers are tempted by the well-reputed success of incorporating AR in classrooms to enhance lessons, motivate students, keeping them focused, and so forth. They face, along with students, many challenges trying to adopt this technology to the curriculum. We scrutinized the literature review to sort and analyze some of the difficulties of using general-purpose authoring tools in education and deduct heuristic and reflect on how to counter those difficulties to develop an education AR authoring tool. We have developed and evaluated a prototype of an AR authoring tool made for education called CUAR (Carleton University Augmented Reality).


title: Durability Characterization of a High Performance Building Envelope with Vacuum Insulation Panels and Energy Recovery Ventilation

abstract: Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) can help achieve thin, highly insulated building envelopes, but poor implementation and insufficient ventilation can lead to durability issues. This thesis describes a field study that was used to characterize the durability of a research house with a thin, VIP-integrated building envelope and an energy recovery ventilator (ERV). The study employed long term hygrothermal monitoring of the building envelope and various tests to evaluate the insulation performance, airtightness, and ventilation effectiveness. The impacts of VIPs and ventilation on durability were discussed, with emphasis on moisture buffering, drying potential, mold growth risk, and VIP aging. The house demonstrated exceptional insulation performance with no risk of visible mold growth during the study. The walls and floor showed acceptable conditions for VIP longevity, and the ERV showed a potential to sufficiently buffer indoor moisture loads. Recommendations were provided to improve the durability and efficiency of the house.


title: Remaining Useful Life Prediction of a Turbofan Engine Using Deep Layer Recurrent Neural Networks

abstract: Turbofan engine is a pivotal component of the aircraft. Engine components are susceptible to degradation over the life of their operation which affects the performance of an engine. In order to direct the necessary maintenance behavior, remaining useful life prediction is the key. This thesis presents a prediction framework for the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of an aircraft engine using the whole life cycle data and deterioration parameter data based on a machine learning (ML) approach. In specific, a Deep Layer Recurrent Neural Network (DL-RNN) model is proposed to address the problem of prognostic instability based on deep learning. The proposed method is compared against Multilayer-Perceptron (MLP), Non-linear Auto Regressive Network with Exogenous Inputs (NARX), Cascade Forward Neural Network (CFNN) and validated through the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) conference Challenge dataset and C-MAPSS dataset provided by NASA results reveal a better predictive precision with respect to other ML algorithms.


title: Unfolding the Hives: Urban Spatialities of Cape Town’s Informal Street Trading Network

abstract: Throughout the history of Cape Town, informal street trading has remained a form of resistance. This activity became a popular livelihood for many black and coloured South Africans who, following apartheid legislation, were displaced into the periphery, segregated and denied equal opportunities. Many of the tactics enforced by local governments to regulate the street traders reflected the bigger racial and socio-political issues of the segregation and apartheid eras. Acts of perseverance and finding agency through trading have evolved over generations and continue to contribute significantly to the urban landscape and the perception of the city. By revealing layers of the existing network, this thesis highlights choreographies of space through the addition of dynamic structures that support the daily habits of the street traders. Unfolding the Hives explores how sustaining the street traders' micro-culture and addressing neglected spatialities is fundamental to blurring the lines that keep Cape Town divided.


title: CityNet: A Deep Learning Model for Trip Demand Prediction

abstract: This research focused on developing a deep learning model for trip demand prediction. The research work explored the effect of demographic, and land-use types on trip demand by society. A new model, titled CityNet, was developed, which captures correlations in trip data by learning the socio-economic and land-use features of city regions. The model predicts the number of incoming and outgoing trips to all city regions and then utilizes these values to estimate trip demand between region pairs. Our experimental results show that CityNet achieves a 56% improved error rate compared to several time-series forecasting techniques and neural network methods, in addition to a 15% improvement compared to two variants of our model.