title: Exploring Perceptions of Second Language Speech Fluency Through Developing and Piloting a Rating Scale for a Paired Conversational Task

abstract: Much research has explored how perceptions of speech fluency are influenced by a variety of temporal speech features (e.g. speech rate). However, less is known about the influence of non-temporal and conversational speech characteristics, as well as listener characteristics such as accent familiarity and conversational style, on fluency perceptions. To address this gap, the present study explored the influence of these characteristics through developing and piloting a fluency rating scale for a paired conversational task for assessment for learning purposes. A two-phase mixed-methods sequential exploratory design (Creswell, 2009) provided the methodological framework for the present study. In the first phase, seven trained English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructors watched videos of seven-minute conversations, elicited from 14 intermediate-to-advanced EAP learners, who performed the conversational task twice with two different partners. Afterwards, instructors were audio-recorded discussing their observations about learners' fluency. These recordings were coded using in-vivo and pattern coding techniques (Saldaña, 2009). Six themes were identified: smoothness, efficiency, sophistication, clarity, facilitating topics and turns, and supporting the conversation partner. These themes informed the development of a multi-item fluency rating scale, used in the second phase of the study. In this phase, a new group of 35 EAP instructors watched four seven-minute video-recorded conversations between eight learners, and then used the scale to rate the performances. Before watching each video, instructors reported their familiarity with students' accents on a six-point scale. Once rating was completed, instructors completed a conversational style questionnaire. The results were as follows. First, a Principal Component Analysis of scale items produced two separate components - individual fluency and conversational fluency. Second, temporal measures of within-clause pause rate correlated significantly with items representing individual fluency whereas measures of filled-pause rate correlated significantly with items representing conversational fluency. Third, non-parametric analyses of group differences showed that accent familiarity moderately affected fluency assessments. Finally, correlational analyses revealed significant correlations between fluency assessments and questionnaire items representing certain conversational style characteristics of the listeners. The overall findings showed that speech and listener characteristics affected fluency perceptions to varying degrees, providing implications for the assessment of 'higher-order fluency' (Lennon, 2000).


title: ESL Textbooks Materials and Real Language Use: Comparing Corpus-Based Materials and Textbook Materials on Gerunds/ Infinitives

abstract: Acquisition of [verb] + gerund/infinitive-complement constructions can be problematic for ESL learners. Following a preliminary study identifying conflicts between rules presented on the complementation of several verbs in ESL textbooks and grammar references, this study compares gerund/infinitive verb complementation in English corpus data with their presentation in ESL/EFL textbooks and grammar references. We sought to resolve these conflicts using a corpus-based approach. Corpus-based research has looked at verb-complementation of high-frequency verbs, yet these studies did not include the verb 'mean'. Findings reveal that complementation type following 'mean' depends on which of the 11 senses of the word is being used. Additionally, frequency of usage of these senses varies significantly between the two corpora. We highlight the utility of corpora to inform practitioners about the use of gerunds/infinitive complements in general and for 'mean'. Keywords: ESL/EFL textbooks, gerund and infinitive complements, corpus


title: The Choreography of Construction or How to Perform a Building

abstract: Much of today's constructional process lives to serve a completion timeline. A project's design is developed towards something that can be built, and it is then constructed until substantial completion at which time it is introduced as a finished work to be evaluated, admired, occupied, or ignored. This thesis attempts to imagine a choreography for construction as a reclamation of this constructional period creating a time of further enrichment with performative expressions, a developed operative vocabulary and practicable repertoire. Reunderstanding the constructional process as an amorphous performance allows for an observation and interaction with the project's fabric, space, and material at its most formative stage. The constructional sequences of a building have the responsibility to be dependable and functional, but now their curious nature introduces a sense of playfulness and theatricality to the project as a whole.


title: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Explicit and Implicit Attitudes toward Shyness in Canada and Mainland China

abstract: The aim of this doctoral dissertation was to explore explicit and implicit attitudes toward shyness among University students in Canada and mainland China. Study 1 explored differences in normative beliefs about shyness between samples of Canadian and Chinese students. Participant were N = 1417 undergraduate students from Shanghai, People Republic of China (N =850, Mage=18.83 years, SD = .92) and Ontario, Canada (N= 567, Mage=19.7 years, SD = 2.14). Participants were completed assessments of normal belief about shyness and their own personality. Results from Study 1 indicated that, contrary to predictions, shyness was viewed more negatively in China as compared to Canada. As well, shy behaviours were viewed as more acceptable among participants who rated themselves as more shy. The goal of Study 2 and Study 3 was to further explore Canadian students' implicit attitudes about shyness. Undergraduate students (Study 1: N = 66, Mage= 20.05 years, SD = 4.025; Study 2: N = 650, Mage= 19.93 years, SD = 4.327) completed a newly developed Implicit Association Test (both in lab and online) related to shyness, as well as questionnaires about their own shyness and explicit beliefs about shyness. Consistent across both studies, results suggested that emerging adults automatically associated shyness with negative words, but participants who were more shy tended to have less negative implicit attitudes about shyness. The purpose of Study 4 was to investigate implicit attitudes toward shyness in China. Participants were undergraduate students (N = 290, Mage= 20.3 years, SD = 1.97) from Shanghai who completed a newly developed Chinese version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) (online) related to shyness, as well as questionnaires of their own shyness explicit beliefs about shyness. Results showed that Chinese emerging adults automatically associated shyness with negative words as well. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of university students' attitude toward shyness in both cultures. Limitation and future directions are also discussed.


title: Mobility, Voice and View: Unpacking the Future of Cape Town’s District Six

abstract: Cape Town's District Six stands as a site representative of the physical and social erasure and racial division seen in the spatial politics of apartheid South Africa. From 1966-1978, residents were forcibly removed from the area. Then and now, infrastructures have marginalized and isolated these past residents from the city. In response to this complex history, this project explores the role of agency in architecture. This thesis argues that architecture when conceived through the agencies of mobility, voice and view, can empower people to regain control of their physical, cultural and socio-political identities. Exploring these agencies, this project endeavours to make visible and empower the residents by re-conceptualizing the infrastructure of the train under the following lens: the train line as a spatial connector and claim to city (mobility); train stations as township cultural centers (voice); and the train car as a mobile vessel for public programming (view).


title: Global Assesment of Interparticle Separation Distance on Low Cement Content Paste Mixtures

abstract: Research efforts on the concrete industry currently focus on the reduction of Portland cement (PC). Alternatives to reduce PC content in concrete such as the use of particle packing models (PPMs) and blended systems of PC and limestone fillers (LF) have been proven to be effective. However, the combined response of PPMs and LF at high levels of PC replacement still needs further investigation, particularly in the fresh state. In this work, the concept of Inter-particle Separation (IPS) is employed as a criterion to understand the behaviour of cementitious pastes made of PC and designed through continuous PPMs incorporating high LF dosages. Results suggest that IPS is a valuable tool to predict the fresh state behaviour of highly packed systems incorporating LF at low PC content. Moreover, the concept of interparticle separation among PC particles (IPScement) is proposed to describe setting behaviour and compressive strength of cementitious systems.


title: All-optical ultrafast switches based on thin film coated-tilted fiber Bragg grating

abstract: All-optical switching could play a significant role in future high-speed telecommunication networks. Switches based on tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBG), coupling the forward propagation core mode to hundreds of discrete backward propagation cladding modes provide a novel platform for light-matter interaction by modulation of material permittivity via the evanescent field of cladding modes which in turn modulate the cladding resonances shifts in wavelength and/or amplitude. In this thesis, in-situ, real time detection of the percolation of Ag films coated on the surface of fibers is achieved through measurements of TFBG transmission spectra by gradually etching the metal films to thicknesses between 15-25 nm. Secondly, all-optical photo-thermal based bistability and self-pulsing, i.e., repetition rate up to 269 Hz and pulse width of 1.4 ms was achieved by using a multi-layered graphene-coated TFBG pumped by single Watt-level CW laser light in the fiber core. Thirdly, all-optical synchronous modulation of a probe CW signal propagating in a gold-coated TFBG immersed in water was achieved by excitation of a plasmonic hybrid cladding guide mode. A 1 MHz, 25 ps long pump signal with average power of 50 mW at one wavelength modulated the low power CW probe at another wavelength by 4.5%, with a widened duration of 56 ps due to hot carrier generation in the gold coating. Finally, broadband antireflection of cladding guided light was demonstrated at the same thicknesses where percolation occurred, which leads to further potential applications in fiber-based nonlinear light-matter interactions.


title: Happy planet, happy people? The impact of pro-environmental behaviour on psychological well-being

abstract: The present study was the first (to our knowledge) to experimentally manipulate pro-environmental behaviour in order to assess its causal effects on affect and meaning in life. Participants (N = 343) were randomly assigned to either 1) a group who chose and engaged in a pro-environmental behaviour from a provided list of options; or 2) a control group who found and photographed public art from a provided list of options. The analyses found that there were no significant differences between the pro-environmental group and the control group, and all pre-registered hypotheses were unsupported. Exploratory analyses revealed a within-participants effect, whereby both conditions produced a significant effect on positive and negative affect, as well as meaning in life when compared to participants' average over the last four weeks. However, given that all findings were exploratory, the results should be considered speculative and can serve as direction for future research.


title: Exploiting Wi-Fi Channel State Information for Artificial Intelligence-Based Human Activity Recognition of Similar Dynamic Motions

abstract: Real-time recognition of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) enables surveillance, security, and health monitoring applications. Establishing systems to recognize ADLs non-intrusively and passively, would facilitate smart spaces by providing assistive living for seniors and people with disabilities. This work applies artificial intelligence to pervasive Wi-Fi technology to measure motion and distinguish the patterns associated with dynamic activities. Processed signals are segmented into labelled sequences. Statistical features are extracted to enable activity recognition. Classifiers are tested to predict activities. Support vector machines achieve the best performance at distinguishing still, sitting-down, and standing-up activity classes. Results on data collected by one subject achieve a classification accuracy of 98.8% for sitting and standing activities at one room location, within one experimental setup, and 98.5% for various activity locations, within different experimental setups. Results on data collected by four subjects achieve an accuracy of 97.6% for sitting and standing activities at random room locations.


title: Setting the [Creative] Stage: The Precarious Theatre of Work

abstract: There is a duality inherent in organizational architecture. It has been thought of previously in a somewhat rational and organized manner, while exercising a generalization of the everyday person. However, the architecture of the workplace has been employed to set boundaries, and from this; the organization of space can enhance or restrict communication, power, movement, dis/order, and ultimately, creativity. The thesis includes a design proposal for a creative co-working space, in one of the world's design capitals: Milan, Italy. Focusing on outcomes of the precarity of work that has proceeded an era of technological revolution and the influx of mental and physical health complications that have impeded the fabric of everyday life. The design intends to use the co-working model to provide an inclusive environment, by creating a series of architectural atmospheres that aspire to support the future of workplace to become both more creative, and in addition, more human.


title: Building a Memory: Reactivating a Lineage of Community Life at Centretown's 330 Gilmour Street

abstract: Centretown, one of Ottawa's oldest residential neighbourhoods, has continuously been evolving since its establishment in the late 18th century. The 21st century pressure for densification in this now mixed-use neighbourhood is increasing the need for community resources, while at the same time pushing them out. Centretown's 330 Gilmour Street, the former Ottawa Public School Board Administration Building, provides a place to establish the missing public space within the community. By adaptively reusing all three additions - 1922, 1956 & 1963 - along with new interventions in 2020, Centretown's newly established 'Meeting Place' binds itself to its lineage of intangible social histories as an expression of community memory characterizing each volume into four places - A Place to Be, Gather, Create and Grow. The four places under one roof assist in providing a burgeoning future of community life in Centretown through representing the historic lineage of community memory.


title: Effects of Polymers on short-and long-term dewatering of oil sands tailings

abstract: Each year, while extracting bitumen from the oil sands ores, the oil sands industry generates a large volume of tailings. Although the polymers have been found to improve the release of water from the tailings and accelerate the dewatering and settling processes in the short-term, longer-term dewatering processes such as consolidation are crucial for making the tailings deposits safe and strong enough for reclamation. Unamended tailings have been found to demonstrate time-dependent creep and thixotropic behaviour. However, whether such behaviour influences the long-term dewatering and consolidation performance of polymer amended/flocculated tailings deposits is unknown. This research investigated the creep, thixotropy, and structuration in polymer amended tailings from an experimental perspective using different polymer dosages, mixing methods, and boundary conditions. Flocculated tailings developed a thixotropic strength and also a higher preconsolidation pressure and reduced compressibility, which was clearly a structuration effect that impeded the self-weight consolidation in longer-term by limiting the creep compression. Similar experiments performed on the Leda clay showed that the structuration effect observed in flocculated tailings is not atypical of the structuration effect observed in natural clays. The potential of the UV-vis spectrophotometry and torque rheometry techniques for determining the optimum polymer dosage was investigated. The results indicated that the techniques could determine the optimum polymer dosage and help to minimize the operational costs and improve the dewaterability in the short-term. Longer-term column dewatering tests showed that the choice of polymer dosage could influence the dewatering and settlement behaviour of tailings in the long-term. Different polymer dosages resulted in different degrees of structuration with the higher dosages showing a relatively prominent structuration behaviour but also a suboptimal dewaterability. Hence, if the structuration effect is considered, the optimum polymer dosage for the long-term dewatering mechanisms may not be the same as the polymer dosage that produces optimum dewatering performance in the short-term. Based on the experimental findings, an empirical method was proposed for predicting the degree of structuration in a particular tailings-polymer mixture; such a method would allow the operators to minimize the negative effects of structuration through the selection of an appropriate polymer dosage or deposition management plan.


title: This Artificial Eye: The Camera Obscura in Artistic Practice of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

abstract: Beginning in the seventeenth century, the camera obscura became a mechanical instrument that underwent several modifications and improvements, ultimately transforming into a portable device that enjoyed immense popularity until the invention of photography in the early nineteenth century. Throughout the early modern period, the camera obscura was mobilized as a metaphor for vision and the inner workings of the human eye. The act of looking through this device would have had a profound effect on artists and their practice, affording them the opportunity to envision the world in a new and different way, and redefining the relationship between artist and subject. This thesis explores the camera obscura as a historical object and its influence on artistic practice of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries focusing on the work of Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697-1768), known as Canaletto, and Thomas and Paul Sandby (1721-1798; 1731-1809).


title: (Em) Bodies and Documents: Examining Information-Sharing Practices in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program

abstract: This study examines information-sharing practices within the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). Drawing on Foucauldian theory and critical discourse analysis (CDA), I analyze 61 documents for their content, codification of stakeholder relationships, and use of discourse. Documents were selected based on creation, use, or circulation within Ontario, and "official" status - at least one stakeholder group would look to the document for (perceived) reliable information. I argue that documents function as material actors, alongside (sometimes beyond) human actors, making physical impact on SAWP bodies and realities. Documents communicate, discipline, and uphold neoliberal structures surrounding the program; through consistent sharing of narrow, "work-related" information, and the rare inclusion of more well-rounded, "non-work" knowledge, documents subtly discipline the boundaries of acceptable/unacceptable communication. In doing so, material actors perpetuate a program which does not consider the varied, complex needs of "whole workers" (McLaughlin et. al., 2017), but treats them as disposable labouring bodies.


title: Transcriptome analysis of spliceosome inhibition in human cells

abstract: Recently, small molecule inhibitors of the spliceosome have been shown to have anti-tumour effects, yet their mechanism of cancer inhibition remains unknown. Microarray analysis by our lab identified the activation of the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response (UPR) in cells treated with the splicing inhibitor isoginkgetin (IGG). In this study, we confirmed that IGG activates the UPR, however a second spliceosome inhibitor, pladienolide B (PB) did not show the same activation. RNA-seq/gene ontology analysis was also performed on cells treated with IGG, PB, and another splicing inhibitor spliceostatin A, as well as knockdowns of spliceosome components. These data showed support for endoplasmic reticulum activation, but most prominently implicated inflammatory responses. Taken together, spliceosome inhibition appears to elicit a consistent response of inflammation pathway activation, and also implicates endoplasmic reticulum activation, however there are also unique responses to the method of inhibition, suggesting that spliceosome inhibition is not one homogeneous response.


title: FOMO-Centricity: How Social Media's Dark Designs Cause Users to Reluctantly Give Up their Data

abstract: This thesis explores the link between the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and reluctant privacy-compromising behaviours on social media. We first conducted a literature review which laid the groundwork for FoMO as a possible explanation for a gap between users' privacy attitudes and behaviours. To better understand this phenomenon, we used Grounded Theory to conduct and analyze semi-structured interviews with 25 participants. We found strong evidence that participants experience ambivalence in their participation behaviours and feel pressured to participate even when they have privacy concerns to avoid missing out. We present an empirically-based high level theory describing the cyclical relationship between \textit{FoMO-centric design} and privacy-related participatory reluctance, and identify three main participatory dimensions.


title: Tragedies of the Mind: Emotion, Cognition, and Motivation in Four Early Modern Tragedies

abstract: This dissertation sets early modern tragedy in dialogue with current research in cognitive psychology in order to study the cognition and behavior of four tragic heroes of the greatest early modern tragedies: William Shakespeare's Othello and Titus Andronicus, Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. These plays have been selected as objects of analysis because, as especially revealing examples of what I am calling tragedies of the mind, they dramatize fundamental characteristics and biases of human cognitive functioning in especially acute form. In each play, the playwright's interest in highlighting a protagonist's catastrophic errors in judgment leads to especially subtle and penetrating anatomizations of the interplay between emotion and cognition, motivation and decision-making, desire and action. More than most other plays of the period, these plays are preoccupied with exploring not just the mental and emotional states of the protagonists in the process of their downfall, but also with understanding the very nature of these operations. As I argue, the relation between emotion and cognition is perhaps the most important issue in the study of motivation and decision-making in early modern tragedy because a careful analysis of pertinent works by Shakespeare, Kyd, and Marlowe reveals that these tragedians produced dramatizations of human motivation and action that seem intuitively to anticipate a great deal about contemporary insights and approaches within cognitive psychology. Since an outstanding feature of these early modern tragedies is their preoccupation with human nature—that is, with the fundamental moral and intellectual capacities of the human being—a referential framework drawn from cognitive psychology offers a potentially illuminating way of further clarifying the dramatized thought and behaviors of these tragic heroes. Such an approach to the study of literary personhood, I contend, holds the promise of revealing new insights into the drives and motivations of early modern protagonists.


title: Future Heritage for Millwood: Sustainable Place-making in Suburban Nova Scotia

abstract: Though late twentieth-century residential suburbs may be "environmental and economic disasters," they also hold cultural significance; could these communities be rehabilitated, as Edmund P. Fowler suggests, to "become nodes and neighbourhoods cherished by future generations" (Fowler, 2007) - in short, future heritage sites? The Millwood subdivision appears mundane, however, the area's complex relationship with cars, its long-abused river system, and the disappearing threads of its historic past are among the unique challenges and opportunities the neighbourhood presents. This thesis overlays approaches from New Urbanism, values-based conservation, and critical regionalism to explore sustainable place-making and heritage potential in a non-heritage site. A series of multi-scalar interventions are developed, driven by community objectives and value-potential. The methodology underpinning this work might be retailored and applied in other suburban communities across Canada, while the site-specific analysis and design proposals for Millwood uphold the primacy of place, even in the face of apparent placelessness.


title: City Maker Meets City Dweller | A Conversation About Public Engagement and the Rideau Canal

abstract: In a city where pointing the finger is not uncommon, Ottawa's top-down parliamentary decision making has led to an apparent divide between planning officials, architects, and citizens regarding proposed public projects. In addition to that, stringent policies that allow for the public to have their voices heard in the wrong way make for ineffective public consultations. With a rewritten Official Plan on its way, the resistance to change and confusing policies need addressing for a successful implementation. This thesis considers a series of design methodologies for a schematic rejuvenation of the Rideau Canal - one of Canada's most famous waterways. It attempts to develop a more holistic view on city planning and explores methods of architectural thinking and production that stray from convention. Focusing on conversation, mapping, and storytelling, this thesis looks to bridge the extensive gap that exists between city makers and city dwellers.


title: The Integration of Heat Pumps and Thermal Storage for Residential Demand Side Management

abstract: Space heating and cooling accounts for approximately 65% of residential secondary energy consumption, of which almost 40% is met using electricity in Canada. This demand places a significant peak load on the electrical grid that must be managed to reduce the required generating and transmission capacity within the grid. It is proposed that this demand side management can be achieved using thermal storage coupled with a heat pump to charge during off-peak periods and use the stored heating and cooling during peak periods. Through this work, TRNSYS Types were validated to model the performance of a liquid to liquid heat pump, medium temperature chiller and using sensible storage tanks and stratified cold thermal storage. A new TRNSYS Type was developed and validated to model a compact ice storage system to store cooling potential. These components were combined, and the coupled performance of the heat pump connected to both hot and cold thermal storage was determined. It was found that higher flow rates resulted in better performance, when compared to using low flow rates that resulted in the stratification in the storage tanks. The complete system was then integrated into a house modelled situated in Ottawa and different combinations were examined for the total energy consumption, peak consumption, annual costs, and greenhouse gas emissions. In all cases, total consumption, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions increased, although certain combinations showed greater potential, with the greatest potential being the offsetting of peak cooling loads, when compared to heating loads. This system was then implemented in locations across North America, with different rate structures and climactic conditions. It was found that locations with a high difference between the peak and off-peak rate, and high cooling loads had the greatest potential for reducing peak consumption and reducing utility costs. When looking at life cycle costs, rate increases selected over the 15-25-year period examined greatly influenced the economics. In conclusion, the system is technically feasible, where a large portion of cooling peak loads can be offset, but to be economically feasible, government incentives or a high annual rate of utility cost increases must occur.


title: Flow and Meaning in Life: Some Empirically Informed Practical Lessons

abstract: On Susan Wolf's well-known account of meaning in life, activities can add meaning to our lives only if we are actively engaged in those activities. My aim in this thesis is to uncover empirically informed, practical lessons about meaning, given Wolf's requirement of active engagement. After examining Wolf's account and defending that requirement, I look at the psychological research on "flow," which is the conceptual equivalent of active engagement in psychology. I then draw three important practical lessons about meaning in light of this research—one about activities that take us outside of our comfort zones, another about stress, and a third about trusting intuition.


title: Exploring Underlying Elements of the Motivational Self System Among Learners in Two Instructional Contexts

abstract: Although previous research has demonstrated the importance of learner motivation in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and Second Language (ESL) contexts, little is known about the motivation towards language learning and national identity that Canadian newcomers hold. Through the lens of Dörnyei's (2005) L2 Motivational Self System, this study focused on two groups of Canadian newcomers learning English in the traditional classroom setting (ESL, n=37) and the workplace (WLT, n=29) to determine the role of motivation in their integration into Canadian society and development of 'Canadian self'. The results, collected by way of a questionnaire and follow-up interviews, show newcomers holding positive attitudes towards English learning and building their Canadian identity in the process. Notably, beliefs concerning the value of employment to fulfill personal obligations and duties promoted WLT learners' motivation and willingness to engage with language learning significantly more than those of their ESL counterparts. Pedagogical implications are discussed.


title: The Course and Canon of Left Nationalism in English Canada, 1968-1979

abstract: This dissertation is an inquiry into the political and intellectual currents of English Canadian left nationalism from the late 1960s through the 1970s. It investigates the reasons why left nationalism emerged as a major force in English Canadian left politics and explores the evolution of a neo-Marxist critique of both Canadian capitalism and Canada's relationship with the United States. Left nationalism represented a distinctive perspective and political agenda. Its vision was of a Canada divorced from the American-led capitalist world system. English Canadian left nationalism had a political manifestation in the Waffle movement and an intellectual manifestation in the New Canadian Political Economy. The dissertation demonstrates that the left nationalist interpretation of Canadian-American relations was not rooted in anti-Americanism, but in a radical politics of democratic socialism and anti-imperialism. Left nationalism was primarily the product of neo-Marxist thought, rather than a reaction to problems in American politics, society, and foreign policy. English Canadian left nationalists were disruptors who, unlike their New Nationalist contemporaries, did not advance a program of capitalist or social democratic reform. The left nationalists were determined to replace capitalism with democratic socialism; without socialism, there could be no Canadian independence. Left nationalists sought to end Canada's colonial status in the declining American empire, viewed the preservation of Canada's resources as imperative to the country's long-term prosperity, and advanced neo-Marxism in the academy and in the universities. The dissertation interrogates internal debates within the New Democratic Party over how to respond to the problem of American dependency; the rise and fall of the Waffle movement; the left nationalist response to crises in Canadian-American relations during the late 1960s and early 1970s; and the establishment of the New Canadian Political Economy, left nationalism's most enduring legacy.


title: Fluorescence Aptasensor Development for Aflatoxin B1

abstract: Using a previously selected and characterized aptamer (known as 3MR5) for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a Förster Resonance Energy Trandfer (FRET) based optical biosensor for AFB1 was constructed. Experiments were conducted utilising the organic chromophores Fluorescein (FAM) and Black Hole Quencher 1 (BHQ1) that had been incorporated into a complementary oligonucleotide sequence or capture probe (RCP), and the 3MR5 sequence, respectively. Fluorescence experiments were conducted and it was discovered that no recovery of fluorescence occurred after addition of AFB1 and so an alternative FRET pair was tested. This new FRET pair was that of 525 nm emitting Quantum Dots (QDs) and spherical gold nanoparticle (AuNPs). Hybridization of RCP conjugated QDs and 3MR5 conjugated AuNPs resulted in the quenching of the QD fluorescence, however addition of AFB1 did not result in any recovery of fluorescence. Potential causes for this lack of fluorescence recovery are discussed.


title: Collective Navigation: Towards (re)Conciliation Through Communal Experience

abstract: This thesis addresses our shared patterns of behaviors, interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding by exploring how we perceive, interpret, orient ourselves and navigate the world. What is regarded as mainstream culture is investigated and questioned by bringing together western and indigenous knowledge in order to examine the way we interpret the world and beyond. Through in-depth analyses of the controversial Samuel de Champlain monument located at Nepean Point in Ottawa, Ontario, this research and proposed projects cultivate a direction towards (re)conciliation not only for the monument of Champlain and its Anishinaabe scout, but for indigenous and mainstream societies collectively. By employing a holistic approach that recognizes the strengths of mainstream empirically based scientific knowledge and indigenous cosmological worldviews, architectural interventions, at both the personal and communal level, provide both a tool and platform for storytelling while engaging and experiencing celestial phenomena in the pursuit of cultural resonance and (re)conciliation.


title: From Powering a City to Fueling its Citizens, Vertical Urban Farming in a New Light

abstract: This thesis explores the role that architectural interventions can play in engaging the public with their food supply. It is an adaptive reuse proposal for the Rossdale Power Plant located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. The proposal addresses the history of the site, which has seen a number of uses, including agriculture and power generation, before its relative abandonment in the 1990s. The proposal includes the adaptation of aquaponic systems to leverage water and light in unique ways, with the goal of drawing community back to the site and enabling people to engage with their food from seed to serving. Community gardens and other programs such as market stalls, a grocery store, a community kitchen and dining space, classrooms and event spaces, highlight the public ambitions of the project to improve food security and food literacy in the urban environment.


title: Using Data Analysis and Machine Learning for Studying and Predicting Depression in Users on Social Media

abstract: Mental health problems leading to depression have become a critical concern due to the towering engagement of people on social media platforms. Several past approaches have been implemented by analyzing the pattern, behaviour, and vocabulary of the posts by users on social networking sites. This research proposed a system to predict users who could have been affected by depression, by introspecting characteristics of users already being affected. A combination of both the tweet-level and the user-level architecture was used to generate a more robust and reliable system where semantic embeddings trained from advanced neural networks were adopted under the tweet-level, whilst for the user-level, an approach using 12 significant features was operated by extensive feature engineering. Further, SVM with Word2Vec and TFIDF under tweet-level yielded an accuracy of 98.14% and recall of 95.63%, whereas the gradient boosting classifier under user-level revealed an accuracy of 95.26% with a recall of 86.75%.


title: Effects of Brain Gyrification on Impact-Induced Strain Measurements with a Preliminary Study on Viable ex vivo Porcine Brain

abstract: Traumatic brain injuries can be devastating. In post-mortem brains, injury accumulation has been found at surface depressions; a feature in brains with gyriﬁcation. A study into the importance of brain gyriﬁcation on impact-induced strain measurements was undertaken. Two surrogates, lacking and possessing gyriﬁcation, were impacted at multiple heights and orientations. Radiopaque speckle sheets within the surrogates were used to visualize motion at 7,500 fps via highspeed X-ray radiography. Strain responses between select markers were determined using digital image correlation and particle tracking. The surrogate with gyriﬁcation mostly displayed larger strain magnitudes and variations in response patterns compared to the smooth surrogate. Differences in gyriﬁcation may contribute to the damage incurred, where models representing human level gyriﬁcation may reveal unknown injury information. Additionally, a preliminary study was conducted on ex vivo porcine brain. Large strain values and variations in responses were observed, a trend experienced by the surrogate with gyriﬁcation.


title: Life-Cycle Transformations of Metal and Metal-Oxide Nanoparticles from Commercial Products

abstract: The environmental fate and effects of engineered nanomaterials have become a topic of interest to researchers due to their increased incorporation within consumer products. Current research into the effects of nanoparticles towards the environment focuses almost entirely on using the pristine form of the nanoparticles for testing. We examine the chemical and physical transformations of nanoparticles in commercial products by modeling typical use scenarios that could occur throughout the product lifecycle. Nanomaterial-containing commercial products were put through conditions mimicking the lifecycle from product incorporation to leaching into the wastewater collection stream. TEM, EDS, XPS and ICP-MS was used to examine the morphological and compositional effects of the product lifecycle on the nanoparticles. AgNPs have seen widespread use in consumer products due to their exceptional antimicrobial properties. We studied the transformation of AgNPs from the production of AgNPs-laden textiles., through day-to-day use scenarios including the exposure to sweat due to the market for the AgNP-containing sports clothing, as well as laundering, which would expose the nanoparticles to detergent and bleach, and finally leaching into the wastewater collection system. Exposure to these weathering conditions showed the aggregation and agglomeration of AgNPs as well as transformation into AgCl and Ag2S. ZnONPs have been widely used for their antimicrobial properties and more recently as a UV blocker. The lifecycle of ZnONPs was tested within medicated baby powder, athletic socks, sunscreen, and UV protective textiles as well as in the pristine nanoparticle form. ZnONPs were observed to dissolve into solution, a process accelerated by an acidic environment. Transformation to ZnCl2 and ZnS salts were also observed. CeO2NPs have been gaining attention in recent years due to their remarkable catalytic antioxidant properties. CeO2NPs have not been widely used in consumer products. Due to the many benefits of CeO2NPs, it had been suggested to be used as a UV blocker by various sources. Assuming the inevitable use of CeO2 nanoparticles in sunscreens, we have impregnated current consumer sunscreens with CeO2NPs and analyzed the chemical and physical transformation through the lifecycle of the product. The CeO2NPs were observed to agglomerate and chemically associate with chlorine and sulfur.


title: Screening Politics: The Egalitarian Film Theory of Jacques Rancière

abstract: There is a longstanding and rich history of theorizing cinema in terms of its politics. This tendency culminated in political modernism, an avowedly politicized discourse for which Althusserian Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory served as conceptual touchstones. Since the collapse of this discourse, film theory has fractured into two largely unrelated projects that are, however, united by a shared interest in limiting or deferring inquiries into the politics of film. On the one hand, post-theory draws on the principles of analytic or scientific philosophy in proposing to reconstruct film theory along the lines of a naturalizing epistemology. On the other, film-phenomenology seeks to revive the pure cinema project of the 1920s and its founding premise that cinema fundamentally alters our mode of being in the world. In both cases, the question of film's politics is expressly set aside or suppressed. In this thesis, I argue that film theory's renewal in the aftermath of political modernism's decline can accommodate the politics of film as a question or concern by turning to the post-Marxist philosophy of Jacques Rancière, whose important writings on cinema, aesthetics, and politics have been largely ignored by contemporary film theorists. I make my argument by examining how Rancière's philosophical framework advances, confronts, or otherwise inflects longstanding debates in film theory. In particular, this thesis brings his work and thought to bear on the following issues: the still-unresolved question of film's aesthetic status; the discourse of sobriety in contemporary documentary film theory; the ongoing deliberations on the nature of film spectatorship. At the same time, this thesis considers how Rancière's philosophical project, as summed up in the principle of axiomatic equality, reframes the political stakes of these debates.


title: Giving In: Chronic Pain, BDSM, and Crip/Queer Utopia

abstract: This thesis considers whether people living with chronic pain can reimagine their relationship with pain and challenge structural narratives that frame lives lived in pain as less worth living through participation in BDSM (bondage, discipline/Domination, submission/sadism, masochism). Using feminist ethnography shaped by cripistemology, I use crip theory to consider how chronic pain might be experienced differently in a context where interdependence is valued. I argue that by connecting work around queer temporality and José Esteban Muñoz's theory of utopia to BDSM practices it is possible to think pain otherwise. Radical BDSM practices challenge the hermeneutical injustice of chronic pain by allowing people in pain to express it, share it with others, and be fully seen, while also encouraging interdependence. It is through this process that BDSM is one example of queer utopia: a space of potentiality where different futures and perspectives on pain can be imagined outside of straight/capitalist time.


title: LIFE ON THE EDGE: The Archeologist, the Oil Rig, and the Newfoundlander

abstract: This thesis reimagines the UNESCO archeological site of L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland in 2101; one year past the limit of current climate science predictions. In this projective future, the now obsolete infrastructures of Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil rigs are moved near-to-shore. The rigs are slowly and incrementally deconstructed, now serving as monumental scrapyards and material salvage pantries for a new working landscape on Newfoundland's coast. Salvaged components shore up and transform the terrain, community and cultural heritage of the site and its immediate surroundings. This research by design project engages with questions of monumentality, counter-monumentality, and changing heritage through critical and speculative drawings and maps in a back-and-forth between water, landscape and the possibilities of a reconstituted future. The thesis attempts to grapple with the often fraught and complex histories - and futures - of resource extraction and cultural heritage in a changing life on the edge.


title: Greening: Designing Sustainable Urban Greenhouses in Ottawa

abstract: Canadians are familiar with the positive feelings of being surrounded by greenery. As the population rises in urban areas, infrastructure and building density are altering the landscape. In comparison to past generations, fewer people are living on farms and growing their own food. This shift has changed the relationship between people and the natural environment. In winter, there is an even greater disconnect as people spend less time outdoors. Greenhouses and conservatories provide a controlled dwelling environment where it is possible for people to grow fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants indoors throughout the year. The urban greenhouse is a sustainable alternative to crop farming and gardening. In this thesis, a conceptual green network will be developed for the City of Ottawa, including the design of a greenhouse at Lincoln Fields.


title: Tesserae on Venus: Evidence of Fluvial Erosion and Characterization of Lineaments

abstract: Tesserae are the stratigraphically oldest and geologically complex regions on Venus. Recent global climate models propose that Venus experienced Earth-like temperatures for most of its history prior to catastrophic global warming. This study tests for fluvial erosion prior to global warming by comparing valley patterns in tesserae with terrestrial stream patterns. Valleys were identified by margins of tesserae partially flooded by younger basaltic plains flows. Recognition of erosion in tesserae is a paradigm shift and has numerous implications. One such implication relates to the interpretation of lineaments sets in tesserae. Multiple lineament sets are characteristic of tesserae and are typically interpreted as the surface trace of fold crests, faults and grabens. However, the interpretation of erosion allows additional interpretations of lineaments as the exposed edges of sedimentary or volcanic sequences. PCA (Principal Component Analysis) can be applied to curving lineaments to calculate dips for such planar geological units and structures.


title: A Multi-Wave Longitudinal Examination of how Strengths and Risks Inform Risk Assessment and Treatment Profiles For Justice-Involved Men and Women using The Service Planning Instrument (SPIn)

abstract: Research is needed focusing on the predictive nature of dynamic risk and strength score changes and whether there are gender differences. Study 1 used a sample of 11,953 men and 2,877 women under community supervision with Service Planning Instrument re-assessment data. Using a multi-wave longitudinal design, hierarchical linear modeling was conducted to assess patterns of change in total dynamic risk and strength scores over a 30-month period. Change parameters (intercepts and slopes) were incorporated into regression models for each gender linking change to technical violations, new charges, violent charges, and any negative outcome. Total dynamic risk scores decreased overtime and total dynamic strength scores increased overtime for both genders. For men, change in dynamic risk scores was predictive of all four outcomes, whereas for women, change in dynamic risk scores was not predictive of violent charges. Change in dynamic strength scores predicted technical violations for both genders. Using 6,675 men and 1,684 women, Study 2 examined typologies of gender-informed risks and strengths. Latent profile analyses were conducted for men and women at three timepoints: Time 1 = first assessment, Time 2 = 3 to 8 months post initial assessment, and Time 3 = 9 to 14 months post initial assessment. Three profiles consistently emerged at each timepoint for women: low risk/low strength; gender-responsive, low risk/high strength; and aggressive, complex need/low strength (scoring high on both gender-responsive needs and gender-neutral risk factors). Men were classified into five profiles: low risk/low strength; aggressive, complex need/low strength; moderate risk/moderate strength; low risk/high strength; and low stability, complex need/low strength. At Time 3, a sixth profile of men emerged: moderate complex need/low strength. Profiles characterized as aggressive with complex needs had the highest rate of reoffending for both genders. Findings indicate that both men and women exhibit minimal changes in total dynamic risk and strength scores overtime. While change scores on total dynamic risk are predictive of reoffending outcomes, more research assessing the dynamic nature of strengths is needed to further inform risk assessment protocols. Results indicate more similarities than differences in typological structure of men and women, although heterogeneity for men increased overtime.


title: New Technology, Same Old Stigma: An Analysis of Feminist Discourses and Sex Work Stigma in Sex Robot Media

abstract: Scholars have theorized the technological displacement of sex workers at the hands of sex robots, but none have addressed how sex robot representations could contribute to sex work stigma. Using critical discourse analysis and sex positive theories, this thesis seeks to address this gap by analyzing the production of knowledge in the emerging field of sex robots. Specifically, this study analyzes sex robot representations in academic literature and online news articles to critically consider how prevailing discourses may impact sex and gender norms and sex work stigma. My analysis revealed that through their construction as sex work, sex robot representations reproduce problematic sex and gender norms, radical feminist discourses, and stigmatize sex workers and sex work clients. Furthermore, sex workers, sex work clients, and sex robot/doll users were found to be underrepresented in these conversations. This research demonstrates the need for more inclusive and destigmatizing sex robot representations.


title: 3D Functionality Analysis for Shape Modeling via Partial Matching

abstract: In 3D shape modeling, making sure that the modeled shapes are functional can largely facilitate the modeling process, since then the user is able to create more realistic shapes. In this thesis, we present an analysis method for evaluating the functionality of 3D shapes, especially hybrid shapes with multiple functionalities. Our method is based on functionality partial matching, which localizes the functionality analysis down to the partial shape level. We show that functionality partial matching enables functionality analysis for hybrid shapes. Moreover, we incorporate functionality partial matching into an evolutionary shape modeling framework, which evolves an initial set of shapes through crossover operations at the level of shape parts, making the evolutionary process functionality-aware. We show that our functionality-aware model evolution can produce a large and diverse population of functionally plausible hybrid shapes.


title: A Family’s Role: Kindereuthanasie and Familial Emotions Under National Socialism

abstract: During the National Socialist period, the Third Reich murdered over 200,000 disabled individuals because the Nazis deemed them "life unworthy of life." While historians have conceptualized the violence of official Nazi policy and perpetrators, the role of individual families has largely been overlooked. This thesis utilizes a history of emotions framework to analyze the position of the family in this violence, particularly in how parents of children's euthanasia victims acted during the Second World War and how they portrayed their actions after the fall of the Nazi regime. Postwar testimonies demonstrate that parents did play an active part (sometimes unknowingly) in the program and its postwar legacies through their emotional navigation of consent, acceptance of institutionalization, and opposition. In all three instances, despite the differing approaches to the Nazi "life unworthy of life" idea, parents portrayed their emotions and actions as being influenced by what was best for their children.


title: Ruggedized HMIC S-X Band Frequency Converter for Severe Weather Tracking Radar

abstract: As climate change progresses, the severity of weather events is expected to increase leading to an increased risk for personal injury and property damage. Climate change has presented a need for increased tracking of severe weather for the purpose prediction and early warning systems. This thesis presented in this document is that the design of a hermetically sealed hybrid microwave integrated circuit (HMIC) up and down for use in an X-band severe weather tracking radar system would improve the environmental performance and reliability over the existing PCB (printed circuit board) based design. Analysis of the HMIC was shown to provide an MTBF of 4,304,307.19 hours compared to 1,593,498.52 hours for the PCB implementation or a factor of 2.7 time improvement in reliability. The two main drivers for improved reliability (determined by analysis) are the hermeticity of the HMIC, as well as improved thermal conductance from die junction to ambient.


title: Synthesis and Optimization of Mechanical Networks with Inerters in Landing Gear for Improved Landing Performance and Vibration Control at Touchdown Considering Airframe Flexibility

abstract: Using a flexible airframe model, this study optimizes various single-port (two-terminal) passive mechanical networks that consist of an arrangement of springs, dampers, and inerters to minimize passenger discomfort and peak forces applied to the aircraft. The performance of the mechanical networks is compared to a baseline oleo-pneumatic shock absorber. First, the importance of including airframe flexibility effects was demonstrated as the peak landing gear loads, the loading regime, and the frequency response of the structure were altered when compared to the equivalent rigid model. Next, eight candidate layouts were optimized, then the observations from this exercise were used to synthesize a mechanical network with a desired frequency response. All considered mechanical networks demonstrated the ability to control the frequency content of the input loading, thus resulting in a reduction in accelerations and an improvement in all comfort parameters used in this study over the oleo-pneumatic baseline.


title: A multi-method study of neuropsychological functioning following treatment for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

abstract: Cancer treatment, such as intrathecal chemotherapy and cranial radiation therapy, are frequently cited for their negative influence on neuropsychological functioning. Deficits have been noted in areas such as working memory, attention, IQ, and learning. The research reported herein used a multi-modal approach to explore the predictive value of inter-individual and treatment-related risk factors. In Study 1, I used a cross-sectional design to compare children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with a healthy control group for the association between predictive risk factors and deficits in verbal learning and memory, and IQ. In Study 2a, I analysed a longitudinal sample of individuals treated for pediatric ALL to explore changes in neuropsychological abilities over time, and evaluated their association with predictive risk factors. Finally, in Study 2b, I used the longitudinal sample from Study 2a to explore event-related potential components over time as a psychophysiological index of information processing, and the predictive risk factors associated with change over time. Treatment-related factors, such as chemotherapy protocol and total glucocorticoid dose emerged as significant predictors of impairment. The effects of radiation were more subtle than predicted. Sex, age at diagnosis, and indicators of parental well-being also predicted neurocognitive outcomes. This project filled a gap in the existing literature by answering specific questions about the nature of neuropsychological deficits following treatment for pediatric ALL, as well as helping to identify patients most at-risk for these impairments. To my knowledge, this is the first study to explore event-related potentials longitudinally in a pediatric cancer sample, and this technique may prove useful for tracking functional changes in neurocognitive function over time. The deleterious effects of treatment-related toxicity extend beyond neuropsychological performance and can impact all facets of everyday life, including personal distress and trauma, and costs to educational and healthcare systems and social infrastructure. These results may help clinicians identify patients who are most at-risk for developing neurocognitive impairments, and/or require modified treatment protocols, long-term monitoring, or early intervention.


title: Consciousness, Representation, and Flexibility

abstract: Determining whether another being is conscious first involves determining what consciousness is. In Chapter 1, I argue against the view that consciousness is unlike the rest of cognition, and in favor of a view that sees consciousness as a cognitive function like any other. In Chapter 2, I argue that most cognitivist accounts of consciousness fail in one of two ways: they are narrowly circular, or they change the subject. I suggest that one way to avoid these common routes to failure is to adopt what I refer to as the Minimal Claim - that consciousness has a representational base. In Chapter  3, I apply the work done in the two previous chapters to the issue of ascribing consciousness to beings other than ourselves, suggesting that behavioral flexibility may play an important role.


title: Passenger Assignment for Ridesharing Through Supervised Learning

abstract: Ridesharing systems are transforming urban transportation in an economically feasible, environmentally friendly and socially beneficial way. The Ridesharing problem is an intriguing problem in transportation research and has been studied for several years. The objective is to find efficient assignments for transportation of items through a complex network while respecting the capacity constraints of the available vehicles in the fleet. In recent times, more work has been focused on using data driven and intelligent approaches to solve problems arising in transportation research. In this thesis we aim to solve the ridesharing problem using neural network architectures. Our results indicate that the neural network architecture models generate solutions with reasonable accuracy and consume less computational time.


title: Anticipation: Enhancing Schools for the Present and Unpredictable

abstract: Many of Manhattan's public schools are designated emergency shelters, expected to support a large influx of occupants during crises, even if they struggle to accommodate students under normal circumstances. Schools are valuable community anchors, and there is potential to intensify their use through architectural intervention. Current social inequalities, the advent of climate change, and the threat of pandemics pose both long- and short-term challenges that will affect human interaction with the built environment. This thesis culminates in a catalogue of architectural interventions, organized by what they offer to the school's community and student body, and how they function on two timescales: Present and Unpredictable. The premise is not to instantly solve the social problems within urban schools, but to articulate that there are a multitude of possibilities for improvement through architecture. This is an investigation of how design strategies contribute to the comfort of an occupant living an uncomfortable circumstance.


title: Analysis of Variables which Affect the Mechanical and Fracture Properties of Porcine Skin

abstract: A diabetes infusion kit is a treatment option for patients with type one diabetes. Using beam springs, the device inserts a Teflon cannula into a patient's skin for delivery of insulin. Modelling the insertion process requires understanding of how the skin surface deforms and fractures. Experiments measuring the indentation properties and fracture properties of porcine skin were performed. A viscoelastic model was developed and fit to experimental indentation force results to derive material properties. A fracture toughness coefficient was derived from the experimental fracture force results. The effect independent variables had on variations in experimental force and derived material properties was investigated. The changes in results due to changes in independent variables mostly conformed to the assumptions made about the behaviour of skin tissue as a viscoelastic material. The results obtained in the experiments performed had good agreement to other results in published literature.


title: Final Fantasy: A Two-Part Architectural Fairy Tale

abstract: Architecture exists as a fictional story through the process of the architect's imagination. However, the representations of "utopian" architecture can be more convincing than the architecture itself. The connection between architecture and storytelling will be explored through the seductive qualities of early 20th-century architecture, considering New York Art Deco as a style that successfully performs the tale of the "American dream". As for post-war Europe, architects felt responsible to present the public with a hopeful future through utopian ideals. While films were making the public wary of the future through fictional dystopian fantasies, the contemporary world and the on-going issues society faces today, an optimistic future is hard to imagine. This thesis explores these concepts and envisions what might be an unsettling contemporary fairy tale for the future, yet at the same time, we should warn readers that this two-part fictional story could be true—if current tendencies prevail.


title: Lesbian Feelings and Fandoms: Carmilla and Affect in Contemporary Lesbian Fandom

abstract: My thesis explores the contemporary lesbian web series as being similar to fanfiction and its fandom as an affective community built on a set of inclusions and exclusions. My case study is Carmilla (Canada, Spencer Maybee 2014-2016), a YouTube web series shot in vlog format, and its lesbian fandom. I argue that Carmilla challenges the genres of the gothic and lesbian vampire in ways similar to fanfiction. Building on the work of fan studies scholars Katrin Döveling and Louisa Stein, I propose that affective bonds are created between Carmilla fans through various kinds of online activities and these flows of affect are influenced by the race and location of fans. My experiences at the first CarmillaCon in Toronto suggest that the online and offline Carmilla fandom both create and reflect each other.


title: Holistic Indoor Environmental Quality & Energy Simulation: Generative Design Assessment Methodology for Heritage Building Retrofits

abstract: Heritage conservation, energy conservation, and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) should all be taken into consideration in the decision-making process when developing an intervention strategy for a historical building. Simulation can be used to identify and inform stakeholders of design intervention options and their impact to energy consumption and the indoor environment. To compare the benefits of specific design options, simulation results must be collected and managed in a way that allows project stakeholders to navigate and understand.


title: These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty: 920 grams of Architectural Humour

abstract: Comedy in performance, in space, is primarily understood as a genre where people attempt to evoke laughter from an audience through a medium, whether it be literary or performative. Alternatively, comedy can be regarded as a means by which reality is filtered to generate a more humorous approach to the absurdities, difficulties, and unpredictable events we encounter in our everyday lives. To approach these events with a sense of humour, we must be open to the possibilities of unexpected outcomes, both as a performer and as an audience member. This thesis aims to explore how vulnerability is experienced within 'comedic' spaces, due to expectations of these spaces, and how that vulnerability can result in humorous narratives and events when expectations are broken. Through diagrams, axonometric representations, and sections, we will explore the ways that architects and designers set certain expectations within spaces, and the ways that comedy breaks those expectations.


title: One Horse Race? A study of interoperability in Canada's Future Fighter Capability Project

abstract: Through the $19 billion Future Fighter Capability Project, the Government of Canada will procure a replacement for the CF-18. However, the requirement that the future fighter be "seamlessly interoperable" with key allies calls into question whether the competitive selection process can be run in good faith. [National Defence, 2018] This study argues that contemporary Canadian defence policy is oriented around partnerships with other states, especially the US, and that interoperability would therefore best be attained through the selection of a fifth-generation American platform. However, it is unclear that the FFCP evaluation criteria, which include mandatory and rated technical requirements as well as pillars for cost and industrial offsets, account for high-end tactical networking and new allied technical standards. The FFCP may result in the acquisition of a type that prevents the CAF from interoperating "seamlessly" with allies over its lifecycle. This risk undermines Canada's reliance on partnerships for national defence.


title: Faith in Ruins: Curated Decay for the Gothic Arches of Saint John

abstract: As trees reach old age they begin to seed the next generation of growth beneath their limbs, and even in the sequence of decay, the standing dead continue to nourish the forest community. In the urban community of Saint John, a city rich with built heritage from a prosperous past, the aging religious architecture have become vulnerable to the common practice of demolition. The Gothic Arches, a building conceived in 1882, decayed into a contentious historic burden and subsequently demolished to a mound of stone in December 2019. This thesis confronts architectural erasure and presents an alternative strategy for the preservation of this historic building through benign ruination. A post-mortem architectural analysis of the material and spatial qualities of the site generate an approach for reuse positioned as a retroactive possibility for the building's conscious passing onto its next material phase, released of servitude and high in spirit.


title: Consumer Xenocentrism: Antecedents, Consequences (and Moderators) and Related Constructs

abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to identify and test the antecedents, related constructs and consequences and moderators of consumers xenocentrism. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive literature review was performed across different disciplines (international business, economics, sociology, psychology, political science, anthropology and consumer behavior) and interviews with five different experts from the five different fields were conducted to put together the initial model. A combined sample of 1306 respondents from four different countries namely Kenya, India, Ecuador and Romania in four different continents Africa, Asia, South America and Europe were collected through online questionnaires. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to either confirm or disprove the hypotheses that had been set. Findings: International travel experience, status consumption and susceptibility to normative influence were the most significant antecedents that positively influenced consumer xenocentrism. Culture (power distance and collectivism) had an indirect positive influence on consumer xenocentrism through the consumption-specific constructs, status consumption and susceptibility to normative influence respectively. With respect to related constructs, consumer worldmindedness was positively significantly related to consumer xenocentrism and consumer ethnocentrism and national identity were negatively significantly related to consumer xenocentrism. With respect to the consequences' variables, consumer xenocentrism positively influenced ownership (actual purchase) of foreign products and purchase intention of foreign products. There was very little support for any moderator relationships that were proposed. Research limitation: The data was collected via online questionnaires, a method that has been criticized for being less interactive. Additionally, the results of this study cannot be generalized to all other countries. Although, the sample contains citizens from four countries, there might be other factors that may affect the preferences in other countries. Thus, generalizability of these results is only possible after replications across different cultures. Also, the sample was predominantly well-educated with most of them having at least a bachelor's degree and holding professional jobs. So, the results of this study are reflective of such a sample.


title: Set Up to Fail: The Impossibility of Employability as a Subject Position for Reintegrating Women

abstract: In this dissertation, I use critical discourse analysis to identify the material and conceptual barriers that prevent women who are reintegrating into the community after periods of incarceration from becoming 'employable'. Employability, as conceived within this dissertation, is a subject position toward which reintegrating women are directed. Yet while they are directed toward this, 'employability' is conceptually incompatible with the ways the needs and abilities of 'criminalized' women are characterized through correctional discourse. Drawing from in-depth interviews with twenty-one reintegrating women and thirteen service providers, I identify the contradictions within the discourses that describe reintegrating women, and which proscribe and constrain their possibilities for reintegration. I offer a contribution to the scholarship of the past three decades that has queried, monitored and challenged practices and policies relating to women's corrections in Canada. Feminist efforts to identify women's pathways to crime, efforts which emphasize women's social, political, and cultural contexts, have been incorporated into correctional discourses that shift the emphasis from women's experiences, to the emotional and psychological impacts of those experiences. This serves to individualize structural problems. I probe the expressed rationales and practices of employment support for reintegrating women, and more importantly, examine how women navigate and respond to these supports and the discourses which sustain them. I find that the discourses which surround and support certain subject positions for women, discourses which are mobilized by adjectives such as 'criminalized', render elusive women's emancipation and redemption. I believe it is imperative to recognize the intersectional contexts of reintegrating women's lives and experiences. There is also a need to recognize the conceptual limitations of subject positions which are generated and mobilized through current discourses about women's criminalization, incarceration, and reintegration.


title: Development and Characterization of Additive Manufacturing of Superalloy Hastealloy X Using a Cost Effective TIG Technique

abstract: A wire and arc additive manufacturing process for superalloy Hastelloy X was developed. The effects of parameters in the TIG based process were investigated using the Taguchi method and an analysis of variance. Multi-layer deposition strategies were tested and no significant difference was found between printing layers in the same direction or in alternating directions. In preliminary trials, three distinct zones were identified and characterized by the size and distribution of molybdenum carbides. By refining the process, resulting multi-layer samples exhibited less variation in the size and shape of molybdenum carbides. The isothermal oxidation behavior of AM Hastelloy X was compared to the wrought alloy through testing in air at 1080°C. The parabolic oxidation rate constant of the AM samples was determined to be 4.54×10-8 g2/cm4/h. Results suggest that the AM samples may have an advantage in oxidation resistance however weight gains were quite similar suggesting an equivalent oxidation behavior.


title: Black Soundtracks, White Subjects: The Decontextualization of Black Music in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema

abstract: Arguing that soundtracks of pre-existing music in cinema are not examples of music consumption, but of resignification, this thesis investigates the use of black music in popular films to define white protagonists. Referring to films such as The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrman, 2013), La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016), Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014), and Baby Driver (Edgar Wright, 2017), the thesis draws from the field of black musical scholarship to reveal how the complex history of modern black music informs the construction of filmic characters. The critical literature on film music grounds the thesis' analysis of how music functions within particular films. In dialogue also with works that discuss the cultural production of whiteness, my project hopes to disclose the ways in which otherwise "neutral" white protagonists are granted access to the "culture" of black musical traditions in order to render their subjectivity more attractive, authoritative, or authentic.


title: Development of Inherent and Dynamic Resilience in Traffic Networks: Microscopic Simulation, Dynamic Stochastic Assignment and Bayesian Decision Models

abstract: This research is aimed at the identification of measures and the development of methods for the investigation of how to enhance inherent (static) and dynamic resilience. The need for inherent and dynamic resilience arises in order to cope with highly disruptive events with potential for major impacts on key arterials and corridors. Specifically, the objectives are (1) to define and test link/corridor-level means to enhance the inherent resilience in terms of sustained ability to serve traffic while resisting deterioration of quality of flow, (2) to develop and assess dynamic resilience measures that address dynamic and stochastic characteristics of traffic affected by a major disruptive event, and (3) to define decision-making guides for managing traffic under disruptive conditions. This original research covers the traffic service resilience, but it does not include the physical resilience of transportation infrastructure. As for the spatial scope, the studies of inherent resilience are meaningful at the link and corridor level. On the other hand, to define and assess dynamic resilience measures, corridor and network level studies are essential. Following the steps of problem definition, setting objectives, and recognizing scope of research, resilience measures are defined and methodologies are developed for assessing these measures. Based on microscopic level simulations, predictive models of link performance are developed and applied for the quantification of resilience improvement. Dynamic traffic assignment methods are developed at the macroscopic level due to the necessity to study dynamic resilience measures at the network level. Macroscopic models based on dynamic stochastic assignment are investigated and compared with user equilibrium assignment methods. Due to the uncertainties in traffic flow during highly disruptive events, Bayesian decision analysis method for assessing dynamic resilience actions is researched. The dynamic resilience actions encompass combinations of user-equilibrium and stochastic assignment methods. These methodological developments lead to defining linkages of dynamic resilience measures with traffic control. Finally, based on advances in methods and their applications, conclusions are presented and contributions to knowledge are noted. Products of new and original research reported can potentially serve as means to reduce impacts of major stochastic events.


title: HABITS OF HABITATION: A Case for Disorienting White Comfort in Thunder Bay

abstract: This thesis reflects on the spatial mapping of safety across the city of Thunder Bay and questions the design of safe spaces for Indigenous youth. Using the cultural awareness initiative Wake the Giant as an example, my research centres the study of whiteness in relation to notions of safety. The thesis has become a way of understanding the world I have been socialized into, addressing not only the privileges I possess and unconsciously exercise, but also the means through which those privileges are protected and perpetuated. As a white settler Canadian, I feel safe when navigating through  the city, I am comfortable, I fit in, and I do not think twice about it. My thesis addresses the unconscious nature of habitual actions, exploring how our habits of habitation serve to perpetuate and reinforce spaces of white social comfort and safety.


title: Stand-Up Comedy and Social Justice: A Discussion of Freedom of Speech and Inclusive Democracy

abstract: This thesis explores freedom of speech and its capacity to promote individual agency and well-being, relieve the oppression of excluded social groups, and increase understanding and communication across differences in democratic society. The thesis applies the insights of John Stuart Mill, Amartya Sen, and Iris Marion Young to stand-up comedy. The thesis argues that comedians and audiences have a responsibility not to exclude oppressed social groups from comedy and democratic society in general. Open mics fulfill all Young's conditions for inclusive communication, and professional comedians like Robin Tyler, Hannah Gadsby, Dave Chappelle, and Ms. Pat use their comedy to increase communication and understanding across group differences. The thesis concludes that comedy can provide an effective, inclusive, and public opportunity for social groups to voice their needs, concerns, and demands for equal concern and respect, and that comedy can edify the public about their democratic society.


title: A Critical Analysis of Apprenticeship Programs in British Columbia

abstract: This study examines issues surrounding apprenticeships in the construction industry in British Columbia (BC) during the period of 1993 to 2004, particularly the state of the social settlement amongst its primary stakeholders, namely the government, unionized and non-unionized employment associations and post-secondary colleges. It provides a conceptual framework to research apprenticeships as a skills ecosystem, and to explain why successive provincial governments were motivated to impose significant legislative changes on the vocational education and training system. The findings not only examine the motivation, but also the resulting outcomes, using the different political ideologies as a basis to explain how contrasting stakeholder perspectives shaped both. Based on a combination of structure and agency, the primary stakeholders operated within the confines of institutional structures, extant logics and the limitations of their own perspectives and objectives. This thesis examines how the relationships between apprenticeships, the labour market and the post-secondary education system are coordinated, governed, influenced and shaped in BC, as well as how these same relationships have evolved, including the impact of such changes on apprenticeship programs as a skills ecosystem. The period of 1993 to 2004 was specifically chosen as it was a period of bold political reforms pertaining to trades training within the province by two ideologically opposed political parties. The research design applies a case study methodology, comparing the differences between these two governments, as well as process tracing, within the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism. The findings demonstrate that apprenticeships are a unique skills training ecosystem that typify an employment logic, but are nestled within a broader vocational education system that is typified by an education logic. The exogenous market forces of Canada's liberal market economy, as well as the predominant education logic typified by BC's post-secondary education system, were found to contribute to the stakeholder tensions and resulting pressures on apprenticeships as a unique skills ecosystem. These pressures contributed to a weakening of collaboration amongst the primary stakeholders during the research period, rather than convergence towards supporting different government legislative initiatives.


title: Development of operational methods to predict soil classes and properties in Canada using machine learning

abstract: With a limited amount of arable land, worsening soil degradation, and plateauing of crop yields, the maintenance of limited soil resources to guarantee agriculturally productive soils and to support essential ecosystem services is critical in Canada and globally. The main objective of this thesis is to study and develop practical methods to cost-effectively renew soil and soil landscape information in Canada. Given the limited amount of point-based soil data in Canada, machine learning-based predictive methods were studied for possible operational use. Machine learning methods require point soil data both for training purposes and validating the predictions. When soil data points are lacking, pseudo-point soil data are mined through soil survey polygon maps. In places where detailed soil surveys exist for soil class mapping, fully randomized pseudo-soil point data mining with random forest-based machine learning achieved a prediction accuracy as high as 74%. The prediction was further improved to a high of 78% by using an ensemble of multiple machine learners. Soil properties such as bulk density can be predicted either directly using point soil data or indirectly via predicted soil classes which are associated with reported soil property values. In this study, sampled soil bulk density values were used to predict soil bulk density across the study watershed. The predicted bulk density values come with uncertainty ranges, computed using residual kriging. Soil class prediction (and soil bulk density) may be carried out using environmental covariates from different sources. It is shown that where surficial geological material data are lacking, time series microwave remotely-sensed data, specifically Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, can be used to delineate soil spatial patterns which are hypothesized to be linked to the spatial distribution of surficial geological materials. Through this study, a cost-effective work flow and solutions for predictive soil mapping needs in Canada were developed for operational use.


title: The Eventification of Exhibiting Architecture

abstract: Why do we exhibit architecture when we are enveloped by it every day? Architecture exhibitions have become increasingly popular and relevant over the last two decades. This is demonstrated by international organizations such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, Chicago Architecture Biennial and Storefront for Art and Architecture. Placing architecture on display, activates the curatorial practise of the convergence between art and architecture. This thesis explores the integration and overlap of artistic expression within architecture and how it informs the function of a space. The notion of curation and its practices will be researched to delve further into how visual and creative practices influence how architects develop, discuss and advocate their work. The final curatorial project will explore how art can be utilized as a catalyst to bridge purely pragmatic physical elements of a structure with artistic forms, seeking to enrich the relationships between the public and the (built) environment.


title: Development of Control Strategies and Testing Procedures for Suspension Seats Used in High Speed Craft

abstract: The objective of this work was to develop control strategies and testing procedures for the Slam Impact Seat Test Rig (SISTR). The SISTR was developed to more ac- curately test suspension seats for use in high speed craft (HSC). In general, HSC are defined as vessels which can achieve speeds higher than 30 knots, and are com- monly used for search and rescue, law enforcement, and military operations. HSC are subject to extreme repeated shock and vibration loading and therefore so are their occupants. Therefore it is vital that the testing machines used to evaluate these seats can acurately reproduce the motion that HSCs are subjected to at sea.


title: Placing the City: An Exploration of John Paskievich’s Photographs of Winnipeg's North End as Visual Cartography

abstract: Produced over a forty year span starting in 1976, John Paskievich's photographs of the North End of Winnipeg occupy a distinct space in the photographic history of the city. Ranging from local streetscapes to portraits of community members, this diverse grouping of images take on qualities similar to the 'New Documents,' and use irony and the snap shot aesthetic to construct a renewed topography of his community. Taken during his many walks around the North End, these photographs are phenomenologically local. Drawing from Henri Lefebvre's notion of "the social production of space," and Ariella Azoulay's framing of the photograph as an encounter, this thesis argues that these images engage in a practice of 'placing.' Considering the photograph as an active object with the capacity to both produce space and incite citizenship, this project aims to reframe how we conceptualize photography, urban space, and the agency of the spectator.


title: Development and implementation of occupancy-based predictive controls for modulation of air handling units’ outdoor air dampers

abstract: Occupancy in the field of HVAC design is crudely estimated early in the design phase and often does not reflect the actual building. This results in chronic overventilation, which wastes significant energy as conditioning outdoor air is the driver of HVAC energy use. Therefore, reducing outdoor air damper positions based on the predicted occupancy of buildings can generate significant savings. This research develops occupancy-based predictive controls for outdoor air dampers in a case study building in Ottawa, Canada. It was discovered that multiple linear regression models using Wi-Fi and electrical load data produced accurate estimates. A novel forecasting framework consisting of k-means clustering, motif identification, and classification trees was employed to develop a rules-based method for occupancy prediction that could be practically applied in existing commercial buildings. A six-month long implementation of these occupancy-based controls showed that heating and cooling energy use were reduced by 38% and 10%, respectively.


title: Assessment of liquefaction characteristics of sand under coupled action of compression and shear waves

abstract: The effects of coupled action of cyclic compression and shear waves on the liquefaction susceptibility of sands are investigated. Cyclic hollow cylinder torsional shear tests were carried out on Fraser River sand specimens consolidated to different initial stress states and subjected to cyclic shearing with different ratio between shear stress and normal stress increments (S/N) and phase shift (δ) between the waves. The representative S/N were estimated from the numerical simulations and used as an input for the cyclic tests. Tests results demonstrate that at an initial isotropic stress state, the cyclic resistance of sand decreases with an increase in S/N upto a limiting value of about 1.6 beyond which increasing S/N does not significantly influences the cyclic resistance. The finding that cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) decreases with increasing S/N is consistent with understanding that the cyclic resistance is higher under triaxial loading mode compared to simple shear. Coupled cyclic loading under out-of-phase compression and shear waves will lead to elliptical loading paths. The loading under such non-conventional stress paths, could be initiated along different pathways, and soil response is dependent on the overall path including the initial stress state. At a fixed cyclic stress ratio (CSR), increasing δ reduces the cyclic resistance of sand. Tests with different consolidation stress ratio (Kc) shows that the rate of increase in cyclic resistance with initial static shear stress decreases with the increase in S/N which indicates that the triaxial loading mode yields higher Kα than the simple shear loading mode. Monotonic tests on Fraser river sand sheared along different inclination of principal stress axes under different non-linear volumetric strain path shows that the behaviour of sand systematically transformed from dilative to softening response as the imposed volumetric strain path changed from contractive to expansive volumetric strain. At a given strain path, the strain softening tendency of the water deposited sand specimens systematically increases as the direction of major principal stress changes from direction of deposition to the direction of bedding.


title: Examining Trajectories of Change on Risk and Protective Factors among White and Black Men Offenders on Community Supervision in Iowa

abstract: Relying on the results of validated risk assessments is vital to evidence-based decision making in corrections. Advancements in the approach to risk assessment has seen an emphasis on measuring dynamic risk factors alongside protective factors, as both are expected to be useful for identifying treatment targets and measuring changes in risk over time. Despite these advancements, empirical evidence of change on dynamic risk and protective factors remains limited. Utilizing a sample of 3,976 White and Black men offenders on community supervision with a minimum of three waves of assessment, this thesis tested a three-step analytic approach to establish whether: (a) the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR) measured the constructs of dynamic risk and protective factors consistently over time, (b) there was evidence of trajectories of within-offender change throughout community supervision, and (c) individual trajectories of change predicted recidivism above and beyond baseline DRAOR score and static risk. Results indicated that the DRAOR was measuring the same constructs in the same way over repeated assessments. Change was observed across each of the DRAOR domains, indicating that on average, offenders were expected to decrease in stable and acute risk over time, and increase in their protect score. Variations in the rates of change were unrelated to static risk, age, and race, but change on each DRAOR domain was partially explained by scores on the remaining domains. Change trajectories were significant predictors of revocations of community supervision after considering the effects of initial score, static risk, and age, but change trajectories were not related to new convictions. The findings indicate that the DRAOR is sensitive to change and information on an offender's level of change should inform case management decisions, such as referrals for intervention. Although findings provide preliminary theoretical support for dynamic risk and protective factors, future research should consider an item-level analysis to identify whether there are specific factors that can be targeted to best support reintegration efforts. Further, increased attention on implementation efforts is needed to gain a thorough understanding of how the DRAOR is used in practice and how it can be optimized moving forward.


title: Dinner for Two: Digging into how Ghrelin and Endocannabinoid Systems Interact in the Ventral Tegmental Area to Regulate Non-Homeostatic Feeding

abstract: Ghrelin, a hormone produced by the stomach during times of energy deficiency, potently enhances feeding by activating its receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). In the brain, GHSRs are highly expressed within the hypothalamus (HYP) and ventral tegmental area (VTA), brain regions responsible for regulating hunger-driven and reward/motivated feeding, respectively. Interestingly, endogenous cannabinoids (i.e. endocannabinoids) induce similar feeding effects by stimulating cannabinoid receptors (CB-1Rs) in many of the same brain regions that highly express GHSRs, including the HYP and VTA. Recent evidence showed that ghrelin requires endocannabinoid signaling within the HYP to promote food intake. While independent GHSR or CB-1R activation within the VTA increases motivated feeding, it is not known whether the effects of ghrelin in the VTA are also dependent on the endocannabinoid system. This thesis aimed to determine if these systems interact within the VTA and to ascertain the extent and underlying mechanism by which CB-1R signaling may mediate the capacity of ghrelin to promote motivated feeding behaviours within this region. We determined that genetic disruption of GHSRs suppresses the gene expression of important endocannabinoid system proteins and lowers endocannabinoid levels within the VTA. Moreover, we demonstrated that pharmacological antagonism of VTA CB-1Rs attenuated the potent orexigenic and motivational capacity of intra-VTA ghrelin. Electrophysiological investigations indicated that CB-1R antagonism blocked the ability of ghrelin to promote excitatory drive to VTA dopamine neurons, but that ghrelin may independently and directly stimulate these neurons. Together, our data show that CB-1R signaling mediates ghrelin-induced motivated feeding behaviours in the VTA. Our findings suggest that, as in the HYP and VTA, ghrelin and endocannabinoid systems may interact in all brain regions where their receptors are jointly expressed.


title: Weaving a stronger community

abstract: We are now in a time when populations are migrating for political, economic and climatic reasons. Cities are more populous and diverse than ever. In an era of technologies and virtual social networks, our societies are disconnected and polarized. To solve these large societal issues, we first need to reconnect; to know and care for our fellow citizens and neighbours. A great way to help build or re-build these bonds within a community is through social infrastructures such as all sorts of public facilities such as libraries, schools, sports facilities, etcetera, all places where people congregate. This thesis proposes the design of an alternative social infrastructure: a multifaceted community institution on the site of the abandoned Empress Theatre in Montreal. The design will focus on creating a set of spatial and programmatic relationships that stimulate the imagination and challenge conventional thinking, with the goal of prompting chance encounters to help weave a stronger community.


title: SUNRISE Pilot Study: Canadian Surveillance Study of Movement Behaviours in the Early Years

abstract: There are currently no global estimates of levels of movement behaviours in the early years (0-4 years-of-age). This project aimed to assess the feasibility of the SUNRISE International Surveillance Study of Movement Behaviours in the Early Years in a sample of 4 year-old children in Ottawa, determine the proportion of these participants meeting movement guidelines, compare the proportion of participants meeting screen time recommendations from SUNRISE pilot studies in 8 countries, and contrast movement behaviour data measured by Acticals and activPALs. There were mixed findings for the feasibility of the SUNRISE protocol in a Canadian context. Only 19.8% of participants met the overall movement guidelines. Based on the screen time data from 8 countries, approximately half of participants were adhering to recommendations and results varied by Human Development Index classification. There was low reliability between Actical and activPAL step and sedentary time measures with no systematic biases.


title: Against Gravity: An Exploration in Post-Conflict Aleppo

abstract: Between the years 2012 and 2015, photographer Hosam Katan documented the civil war in his home city of Aleppo. His photographs capture conditions that show not only a landscape of destruction, but also elements of adaptation, joy, hope and lightness. Against Gravity begins with four of Katan's photographs and explores ways that would contribute to the re-emergence of the social and urban fabric of Aleppo through these immediate situations. Qualities and elements in these photos are catalysts for architectural acts, that serve as a scaffold for re-establishing a collective engaged city. Aleppo was severely affected by the civil war and became one of the main battlegrounds which drastically altered the urban landscape. The identity of Aleppo, however, should not be attributed solely on these traumatic years. Despite the brutality of war, hope found its way around the scars of the city and its people, which was well captured in Katan's photos.