title: Multiple authorship and polyvalence in the Victorian-Canadian photocollage album: the work of Caroline Walker and Hannah Sarah Howard

abstract: This thesis examines three photocollage albums made by women in Belleville, Ontario between 1863 and 1875: C.W. Bell Album (1874), Scrap Album (1863) and H Sarah Howard Album (1874) by Caroline Walker and Sarah Howard. Through a close analysis of these albums, I challenge the notion of single authorship in the album and argue for a polyvalent reading, which is constituted by the various subjectivities and identities that contribute to the objects' production. This analysis presents a new understanding of the Victorian album, not only through examining how women artists from nineteenth-century Ontario created albums as an extension of their artistic practice in the case of Caroline Walker, but also how they were used as a space of learning and artistic collaboration between women. Furthermore, this project illustrates the importance of studying Canadian albums within the larger context of women's art production during the period by emphasizing the collages, paintings and illustrated frames contained in them.


title: A socio-ecological risk assessment of the effects of recreational fishing on American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)

abstract: In the present thesis, I used human dimensions and ecological research techniques to investigate whether recreational fishing poses a threat to American Eel (Anguilla rostrata), an Endangered species in the Canadian province of Ontario and globally (IUCN Red Listed as Endangered). Specifically, in Chapter 2 I explored angler perspectives and behaviour towards the American Eel through interviews. In Chapter 3, I evaluated the effects of simulated catch-and-release angling on American Eel, in terms of mortality and injury over a seven-day holding period. Almost all anglers (90%) who had captured eels in the Ottawa River, Ontario, had released them (Chapter 2), and eels were found to be relatively resilient to catch-and-release events (Chapter 3). Overall, my results suggest that recreational fishing does not pose a threat to American Eel, however this research is only a preliminary assessment and not all variables involved in a true recreational fishing scenario were examined.


title: Drowned Landscape: An Architectural Reflection Upon Indigenous Sensibilities in Curve Lake First Nation

abstract: This thesis aims to develop an architectural design for the Curve Lake First Nation, which articulates the Anishnaabe sensibilities and encourages the longevity and strengthening of traditional cultural values. Curve Lake First Nation, a peninsula located in Southern Ontario, is home to the Mississauga of the Anishnaabeg nation. After the Federal Government's flooding of Curve Lake for the Trent-Severn Waterway in 1844 and 1908 the community faced devastating impacts to the local ecosystem and the loss of 700 acres of their land. This proposal aims to make use of the drowned land through water treatment, education, and storytelling with the emphasis upon landscape experience, providing the opportunity to facilitate land-based learning practices, encouraging the resurgence of cultural traditions, and outlooks. This thesis asks, how does one create an architectural connection with the land and place whilst respecting the inherent Indigenous sensibilities?


title: All-Inclusive Architecture: Budget Airlines and the Global Sprawl of Paradise

abstract:
The conceivable boundaries of 'home' expand with the scale and accessibility of adjacent transportation networks. Subsequently, the threshold between 'home' and 'away' is understood through varying scales of movement. Air travel is assumed to always carry tourists 'away,' by virtue of its speed, spectacle, and indifference to geography.
This thesis engages Canada's budget airline industry and its role in cultivating intense consumer experiences at all-inclusive resorts throughout the greater Caribbean. Paradoxically, these experiences depend on vivid representations of tropical paradise that are both distant and exotic, yet familiar.
Facilitated by expedient air travel and controlled airport transfers, passengers are brought into closer contact with domestic myths of paradise more than any genuine interaction with an unfamiliar place. This thesis in turn positions touristic enclaves as displaced, yet well-connected extensions of North America's sub-urban network...


title: Atlanta Trap and the Current Directions of Afrofuturism

abstract: Atlanta is the cultural hub of the hip hop industry and home to some of the latest and most exciting examples of contemporary Afrofuturism. As the city's primary musical export, trap generally reads as apolitical; however, modern deployments of Afrofuturism's operational concepts by artists and producers in the genre illuminate a nuanced politics that is a sign of the times. A commercialized sub-genre of gangsta rap, trap is often overlooked as a source of valid social commentary and political critique, as a gap in hip hop and Afrofuturist scholarship would suggest. Building on previous research, this paper will establish a theoretical framework to interpret the sights, sounds, and narratives of trap music to examine how they speak to issues of race, technology, and representation. Future, Migos, and Young Thug are a few of the latest artists in a lineage of iconic figures to embrace the paradigm-shifting potential of Afrofuturism.


title: Reclaiming the Rapids: Evaluating the Reconciliatory and Decolonial Potential of Private Land Return

abstract: In 2017, the Anglican diocese of Algoma transferred the land occupied by the St. John's Evangelist Anglican Church to the Métis Nation of Ontario. The land was once a burial ground for the local Métis community. As the present church decided to merge with another, the diocese decided, in the spirit of reconciliation, that the land and buildings should be returned to its original inhabitants. As the transfer is recent, the Métis Nation of Ontario's Historic Sault Ste Marie Métis Council is currently envisioning how this space can be useful for the Métis, and create dialogue and relationship between Métis and non-Métis people. This thesis explores the historical colonial logics which allowed for the initial dispossession of the Métis from their home territory, focussing on the themes of gender, race, and land. It will then discern how the land return challenges colonial rationales and offers reconciliatory and decolonial potential.


title: Raising Red Hook:  Preserving a Neighbourhood on the Edge of the World

abstract: After spending time in New York City one quickly becomes desensitized to its characteristic congestion, and must seek out stillness: an increasingly rare commodity. I found stillness in New York City while on a journey to Sunny's, one of the city's oldest bars, located in the isolated Brooklyn neighbourhood of Red Hook. The future of Red Hook's identity is uncertain as it is vulnerable to the forces of gentrification and climate change. Most of this low-lying coastal neighbourhood is predicted to be inundated by the ocean as soon as the year 2050. This thesis investigates Red Hook's identity as one of the most unique places in New York City through narratives of its past, present and future. These narratives propel the proposal of architectural methods for preserving Red Hook's identity in a speculative and flooded future.


title: Super-Quotidian:  A Speculative Inventory of Everyday Life in New York City

abstract:
SUPER-QUOTIDIAN examines the encounter between the New York City's everyday life and the recent increase in supertall skyscrapers construction. These extreme high-rise residential towers have recently multiplied and now constitute a new housing typology in Manhattan. Supertall structures are shaping a new future for the city. In addition to raising multiple issues, supertalls promote the loss of many attributes of a New Yorker's everyday life. Assuming that this typology will only develop further in the coming years, it is necessary to analyze what they are currently producing in society in order to speculate on a future for building in extreme urban conditions.
This research is engaged in a parallel study about methods of representation in architecture. Hand drawing shares similarities to the New Yorkers' everyday life: messy, imperfect and engaging. This drawing inventory contributes to build a critique of the new vernacular language created in New York City's quotidian.


title: The Global Kit:  Dreams of Affordability and Delusions of the Architect

abstract: To survive harsh living conditions whatever shape they take is one of the main contemporary challenges' architects face. Today adequate and affordable building systems are proving essential to a successful. This thesis explores contemporary conditions, innovative building systems, and societal constructs defined by today's standards. Historical research, case studies, and speculative drawings are used to test insights into (un)imaginable architectural ideas, innovative ways of re-defining space tantalizingly suggesting the impossible made possible. The project emerging designs and develops a 'Building Assembly' system of parts and connections which can be utilized by those who need to survive their present difficult realities. What is the ultimate building assembly? Can we then talk of the ultimate community? Could this community be built by the dwellers with their own hands? Could this be the solution for the growing problem of inadequate housing today? A Global kit? Realities of affordability or delusions of an architect?


title: Performance Model Extraction Using Kernel Event Tracing

abstract: Models are used in performance analysis when the analyst needs to be able to predict the effect of system changes that go beyond what can be measured. The model can be obtained from a combination of system knowledge and experimentation. This thesis addresses an experimental approach to obtaining layered queueing network (LQN) models of distributed systems. Kernel-level traces have the benefit that application instrumentation is not required, and communication with attached devices can be modeled, but they lack application context information. The research shows that modeling from Kernel traces is feasible in systems which communicate via TCP messages, including Java remote procedure calls. This covers most web-based systems. Systems using middleware pose special problems. The combination of Kernel and application-level tracing was included in some experiments. Tools are described that adapt the Kernel traces to SAME, and that extract CPU demand parameter calibration information.


title: Reinforced Concrete Element Resistance to Contact Explosion Effects and Mitigation

abstract: Protection of critical infrastructure and iconic buildings against terrorist attacks has become an integrated part of building design due to the ever-larger looming threats in today's environment. Consequentially, the response analysis of structures to blast loading has gained importance in the recent past. Blast loading is categorized as far-field, near-field and contact explosions in terms of the scaled distance to a building or structural element. Near-field and contact explosion events are characterized by a high-temperature fireball and extremely high magnitude, non-uniform overpressure. The existing empirical charts are inaccurate for scaled distances less than 0.4 m/kg1/3 and underpredict the blast parameters. Moreover, there are limited experimental tests on the response of reinforced concrete members subjected to contact explosion effects reported in the literature. Experimental tests on full-scale RC members subjected to live explosion is cost prohibitive and requires expertise for explosive handling. Thus, making live explosive testing outside the capability of many researchers. This thesis presents experimental and numerical studies on RC slabs, columns, and walls subjected to contact explosion effects and parametric studies to understand the response mechanism in order to recommend cost-effective mitigation strategies. An empirical equation to predict the breach diameter of RC slabs including the effects of reinforcement ratio and the contact area of explosive mass is presented in the thesis. The experimental tests on RC columns demonstrate that a significantly small amount of explosive mass can initiate failure in a column as compared to RC slab or wall with the same depth. Also, the damage phenomenon is predominantly local and global response is negligible in case of contact explosion events. Furthermore, it is shown that the gap offered by a column cladding can effectively mitigate contact explosion effects. Lastly, an increase in the width of an RC column transformed the failure mechanism from two-dimensional (2D) failure as in case of square RC columns to one-dimensional (1D) failure as in case of RC slabs. It was concluded that RC walls retained more than 25% residual axial capacity when subjected to breach threshold explosive mass for the same depth of RC slab.


title: Mending Women's Health Through Invisible Quilts

abstract: In Dharavi, one of Asia's largest urban, low-income settlements, health concerns among women are compounded by social, cultural, and gendered norms, and by poor living standards. As a result, many women do not receive adequate health care. This proposal sets out to engage and socialize women in Dharavi through a two-fold approach; a mobile sewing facility to empower women-led industry and adhering to social norms, and a discrete preventative-health laundry clinic inside to help women with hygienic practices during menstruation. The thesis is grounded in a magical realist framework to situate opposing gendered systems to one another and transgress the normative boundaries that affect women's safety and health. As such, by employing magical realist objectives, the proposal is a commentary on the current social climate and a method for imagining new possibilities.


title: Displaying the Dis-Play: Reorienting the Architecture of Playboy

abstract: While feminist debate in architecture has gained more theoretical strength within the last several decades, discussions regarding gender and space have pointed to certain matters of concern for the phenomenon of 'separate spheres', a social and architectural derivation that this thesis sets out to challenge. Within a gendered dimension, this begs the question: how can we mediate divisive issues and unsettle the patriarchal model as embedded within certain architectural configurations? This thesis will intervene upon 'Playboy Architecture', as an architectural imaginary that has radically transformed the uses and techniques of the domestic scene in North America. Various themes relating to this exemplification of gendered space will be unpacked to prompt a contextual method that will acknowledge the problem of sexual difference. Through a self-reflexive process, the emerging project positions itself within poststructuralist-feminist scholarship as it sets out to challenge binary stereotypes while revealing the fissures immanent in this discursive model.


title: Festivals, Festival Foods, and Dietary Acculturation: A Journey of Hybridization and Identity Formation for Chinese International Students in Ottawa

abstract: Through participant observation at the 2018 Ottawa Night Market Chinatown and interviews with fifteen post-secondary Chinese national students in Ottawa about their dietary acculturation, this research aims to answer the following questions: How does hybridity play out in Chinese students' dietary acculturation? What are the impacts of festivals and festival foods on hybridization and identity formation? The findings suggest that Chinese students do become more "hybrid" in their food practices, but this is less so from incorporating Canadian food habits, and more a result of increased consumption of various Chinese regional cuisines and Asian cuisines. However, becoming more hybrid does not weaken the participants' Chinese identity; rather they retain it through attending the Night Market, celebrating traditional Chinese festivals, and maintaining cultural beliefs related to food choices, health and nutrition. This study suggests that hybridization involves multi-cultural and multi-dimensional influences, and confirms that hybridization is distinct from identity formation.


title: Application of an Optical Diagnostic (LII/ELS) to Measure Soot Formation Trends within Turbulent Buoyant Non-Premixed Flames

abstract: Flaring in the upstream oil and gas industry generates black carbon, which adversely affects human health and is an important positive climate forcer. Experiments were performed to investigate soot formation and oxidation within these large, flare-type, turbulent, non-premixed, buoyant flames. Simultaneous spatially-resolved auto-compensating Laser-Induced Incandescence and Elastic Light Scattering was used to measure the instantaneous soot volume fraction (fv), primary particle diameter (dp), and mean aggregate radius of gyration (Rgm1) of soot. Measurements were completed on two comparable turbulent buoyant flames emanating from a 50.8 mm diameter pipe with and without an internal turbulence-generating grid. Centreline profiles of fv, dp, and Rgm1 are presented with uncertainties obtained via Monte Carlo analysis. For the conditions investigated, internal pipe turbulence has only a minor effect on the soot formation trends within the flame, suggesting that internal turbulence is likely less important than other factors when modelling soot formation in flare flames.


title: Sticks and Stones Will Break My Bones but Names May Never Not Hurt Me: Exploring Emotions and Self-Stigma in Living with a Criminal Record

abstract: In Canada, criminal records are a structural form of self-stigma, in that society's presumptions and negative stereotypes become internalized within those who have been labelled unworthy by their criminalization. The trend to politicize the risk of all people who have had a past interaction with the criminal justice system as dangerous has, with the help of various surveillance techniques, fostered a culture of control that limits people who have a criminal record from full integration into society. This thesis explores how people feel about living with a criminal record and the degree to which they experience self-stigma as a result. Through in-person interviews it found that men with criminal records experience feelings of fear, shame, alienation, sadness, and anger, and to some degree their agency and ability to integrate into society is limited as a criminalized person in Canadian society.


title: Three Essays in Macroeconomics with a Focus on Conﬁdence, Investment and the Business Cycle

abstract:
This thesis includes three essays on empirical macroeconomics. The first chapter studies how informative business confidence is for investment growth, using US business confidence survey data for 1955Q1--2016Q4. Our main findings are: (i) business confidence has predictive ability for investment growth; (ii) remarkably, business confidence has superior forecasting power, relative to conventional predictors, for investment downturns over 1--3 quarter forecast horizons and for the sign of investment growth over a 2--quarter forecast horizon; and (iii) exogenous shifts in business confidence reflect short-lived non-fundamental factors, consistent with the `animal spirits' view of investment. Our findings have implications for improving investment forecasts, developing new business cycle models, and studying the role of social and psychological factors determining investment growth.
The second chapter explores the hypothesis that consumer confidence drives household investment. We use a survey-based consumer confidence measure in structural VAR analysis to identify a confidence shock. Household investment increases and follows a persistent hump-shaped response after a positive confidence shock. The responses of total hours-worked and output are also highly persistent. Confidence shocks account for a substantial share of variation in household investment, total hours-worked and output. We show that household investment plays a quantitatively important role in the transmission of confidence shocks in the economy. Our findings suggest that demand side forces originating in consumer's social and psychological factors may be a fruitful direction for studying household investment dynamics and their relationship with the business cycle.
The final chapter studies the effect of profit uncertainty on US manufacturing firms' inventory investment, using an unbalanced panel data for 1981--2017. The main findings are: (i) US firms hold larger stocks of inventories with higher uncertainty; (ii) each component (i.e. raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods) of inventory investment is positively driven by higher uncertainty; (iii) small firms do not increase inventory investment with higher uncertainty; and (iv) remarkably, high leverage firms increase inventory investment even in the tightened financial constraints. The findings suggest that the firms' characteristics is an important mechanism through which uncertainty affects inventory investment over the business cycle.


title: Does chronic stress mediate predator-prey interactions in wild fish? An experimental approach using exogenous cortisol implants.

abstract: The hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis serves as one of the central neuroendocrine systems in mediating the stress response in teleosts. However, HPI axis stimulation, particularly over a prolonged activation, can result in fitness-related consequences. Previous work has shown that stressed teleosts exhibit higher rates of predation when compared to unstressed conspecifics. However, the mechanism(s) underlying this effect, at the physiological and behavioural levels, are currently unknown. My overarching hypothesis is that because of higher metabolic expenditures under chronic cortisol treatment, an individual fish should exhibit riskier behavioural phenotypes leading to higher predator vulnerability. I tested this hypothesis using sunfish (Leopmis sp.) that were implanted with cocoa butter containing either cortisol or as a sham control. Treated animals were subject to a thorough metabolic and physiological profiling. Fish were then assessed for a suite of behavioural traits related to anti-predator and risk-taking behaviours and were accompanied by a field assessment of predator mortality. Cortisol-treatment did result in a significant alteration to the animal's metabolic physiology which included a higher standard metabolic rate, ammonia excretion rates, hepatic [glycogen], and blood [glucose], against respective controls. Despite an altered metabolic state, I observed no alteration to behavioural phenotypes associated with anti-predator or risk-taking behaviours under cortisol-treatment. Similarly, predation rates were comparable across all of my treatment groups. These data indicate that the HPI axis, in this context, is not the driving mechanism underlying higher predation rates in stressed teleosts. It could be that another physiological system associated with the stress response or in conjunction with the HPI axis may be driving this effect. Additionally, metabolism-behavioural interactions are often highly context specific and may not have been manifested under the current environmental context. Lastly, the timescale used in my study may have been too acute with fish being behaviourally resilient. Together, this work provides a foundational assessment looking at the mechanistic role of the stress response in dictating predator-prey interactions. While further work investigating metabolic and behavioural interactions is required, particularly at the individual level, these data could prove useful in better understanding anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystems; a highly relevant consideration in the contemporary Anthropocene.


title: Architecture:  The Third Teacher

abstract:
This thesis will begin by researching how a child's development is affected by the built environment up to the age of 9. Focusing on the conditions and opportunities at Kaban Montessori School in Mississauga, Ontario - primarily Montessori principles used to develop 'learning materials' and 'prepared environments' - the thesis considers and critically reviews current progressive learning spaces and guidelines.
Can an extension of the Montessori method be seen as a tool, and scale its thinking to construct more meaningful architectural learning environments? Re-thinking progressive spaces, strategies for enhancing learning environments will be explored and proposed. These will attempt to encourage development, actualize pedagogy and improve cultural connections. An emerging project questions how learning environments could be designed to holistically reflect the progressive condition; thereby better providing for the natural developmental needs of the child, while responding to the potentials and new phenomenon prevalent in our current times.


title: Re-Imagining Nationalism: Exploring the Narratives of Tibetan Women in Canada

abstract: This thesis focuses on Tibetan women's narratives to understand how Tibetan nationalism is reconfigured and sustained in exile in Canada. Using the framework of Third World nationalism, this thesis examines the ways in which Tibetan nationalism embodies and departs from established theories. This thesis analyses the themes of authenticity, citizenship, and exilic nationalism to highlight the heterogenous understanding of nationalist movements. This thesis establishes how Tibetan women challenge official and academic narratives of nationalism to forge their own understanding of nationalism. By challenging core conceptual categories inherent in nationalist projects like authenticity, nation and citizenship, Tibetan women are pushing back against ethno-nationalist frameworks to formulate new conceptions of nationalism. These new conceptions allow multiple narratives to coexist in the movement and demand a fluid understanding of nationalism which includes a broad base of people, including those that have been marginalized by orthodox understandings of nationalism.


title: International Student Retention and Recruitment: An Empirical Study in Denmark

abstract: Currently, there are pronounced knowledge gaps on how countries can effectively recruit and retain international students for domestic innovation and growth, and how policies, initiatives, and immigration programs can be designed to actively encourage and assist in the global race for talent. This research analyzes what factors influence international students' decision to remain in Denmark and how stakeholders (businesses, universities and government) are able to recruit and retain international students and international talents, more generally. Twelve weeks of field research was conducted in Denmark, which included thirty-one interviews. This research combines intersectional feminist institutionalism and actor-centered institutionalism to offer insights into how Danish institutions currently support and/or hinder the ability for stakeholders to recruit and retain international students. Four main themes emerge as specific avenues for Denmark to focus their future policies and initiatives on to best recruit and retain international students and top talent.


title: 10,000 iterations: Computation as a Tool for Schematic Design

abstract:
Design as an exploratory method is an iterative process cycling through analysis, proposal, evaluation, and refinement. The dominant way of communicating ideas through drawings and models is limited by the static nature of the media. As an alternative approach, how can computational methods be used as tools for assisting in preliminary design?
10,000 Iterations studies computation as a supplementary tool for schematic design by developing an evolutionary model that generates optimized layouts according to the architect's criteria. This process, due to its computational nature, is limited to the aspects of design that can be expressed mathematically.
A simple design brief is developed as a critical method for refining the effectiveness and feasibility of this tool. The layouts generated by this process give the architect function driven material to consider for further development early on in the design process.


title: An  experimental  study  on  the  effects of  casein  protein  in unreinforced  lime  mortar specimens

abstract: Casein, an organic milk protein, existed in masonry mortars from medieval times until the 18th century. It was understood to improve workability of the mortar. Recent mortar conservation projects have proposed its use, however, little information is existent on its effects on strength, a critical property in repair of masonry mortars. Adding 0.25% casein by mass was insufficient to improve flow properties of mortar. It was found that adding 0.5% casein by mass resulted in a flowable mortar, however, a 75% reduction in strength resulted, while bond strength increased, after 56 days. Reducing the water by 18% resulted in a 50% reduction in strength from that observed in the control sample, while maintaining flowable properties. Reducing the water more than 27% yielded a rapid-setting, non-flowable mortar. The addition of casein is a plausible alternative for repointing existing mortar joints. It has favourable flow properties, as well as improved bond strength.


title: Informality Meets Formality: Luanda's Urban Transformation

abstract: Global urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented rate. While the West is mostly urbanized, the majority of urban growth in the upcoming decades will occur in Africa and Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where 72% of urban dwellers already live in informal settlements, it is crucial that continued urbanization be managed with effective urban planning. In Luanda, Angola - designed for a population of 500 000, home to 6.5 million and set to accommodate 13 million by 2030 - the consequences of rapid, unplanned urban growth are already acute. Focusing on the transition from lower- to middle-class households, prototypes for low-rise, higher-density housing were developed to accommodate the evolving needs of individuals and families. Drawing on case studies, built projects, and failed attempts of social housing in Luanda and elsewhere, the project provides an economically and socially sustainable roadmap for the phased redevelopment of Luanda's Cazenga district.


title: Pyroarchitectures: Construction by Combustion

abstract: Pyroarchitectures describe architecture produced by the product of fire. This thesis proposes a conceptual system to engage with burned buildings, their narrative, and a co-existence between a burned artifact and contemporary architecture. A provisional, reciprocal partnership between two parts; burned artifact and contemporary intervention. The system examines the tension between burned existing context and cast new content which traces and records the unpredictability fire has on objects. This thesis utilizes casting as a methodology to preserve and engage a burned artifact; it demonstrates layering and physical indexing with a focus on time and memory. It further explores the possibility to preserve a moment in time to document the form of architecture in spontaneous flux. The Glasgow School of Art has consumed two fires in its lifetime and is used as a case study to explore the relationship between fire and architecture, and pose the question; how can combustion inform construction?


title: Toxic Landscapes and Technofossils:  A Speculative Anthology of Flin Flon, Manitoba

abstract:
This thesis explores the mirrored worlds created by the mining industry in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Named after an explorer from the novel, The Sunless City, Flin Flon is a terrain born from the curious intersection of geological possibility, mining, and science fiction. The town is negotiating its exploitation of mineral wealth while simultaneously coming to terms with its own environmental and economic exhaustion.
This project explores and investigates the absurd and unintended consequences of extraction through a series of constructed narratives inspired by the novel's protagonist, Flintabbatey Flonatin. These narratives are used to catalogue a multitude of transformative events in the creation of new natures and new futures. Comparing fictions to core samples and technofossils, the relationship between Flin Flon and its spectral underworld are revealed as two conflicting worlds that continuously bleed and leach into one another.


title: Performing Veteranhood Through the Creative Arts: An Ethnographic Study of Recognition and Sociality Among Veterans Living in a Canadian Seniors’ Village

abstract: This research explores the performance of veteranhood through the creative arts. It investigates how music-making affects sociality and recognition of Canadian World War II and Korean War veterans living in long-term care. I draw upon phenomenology as the guiding theoretical framework to explore the embodied dimensions of sociality, recognition, and performance of veteran identity through the creative arts. This dissertation draws upon other theorists beyond phenomenology to analyze the myriad dimensions of institutional veteran care. I make the following arguments in this dissertation: First, I argue that the veteran-residents were provided with care for their physical well-being, as well as care for their social identities as veterans. I contend that the creative arts programs were a form of milieu therapy, where daily music-making and singing war songs together was a means to restore, rehearse, and perform veteranhood. Second, I argue that people entering long-term care went through a process of un-making and re-making as they were transformed into residents, and then into veteran-residents. I argue that this experience was negotiated by performances of self-authoring and expressions of resistance. Third, I argue that the biomedical and creative arts doxas of care provided for the veterans were ambivalently-related to one another and that each was constitutive of a different sense of selfhood. I explore how porters mediated the milieus and accompanied residents on these existential shifts. Fourth, I argue that the group music programs, such as the resident bands, provided a stage for veteran-residents' new forms of sociality and recognition in a milieu framed as "play" with musical materials from which to construct their identities. Finally, I argue that an ethopolitics and a politics of recognition informed social conditions around performances of veteranhood.


title: Uplands Futures: Explorations of a Place on Standby

abstract: The consolidation of Canadian military bases has resulted in the closure of many supporting military family housing communities across the country. In Ottawa, the Canadian Forces Base Uplands formally closed its base in 1996, however, its housing has since remained open. What was once supporting a busy air force station, Uplands military family housing has experienced a decline in housing occupancy. To Uplands' site planners, it is not considered an urgent site for intervention due to other priority communities. Therefore, Uplands military family housing is a place on standby - ready for occupancy but waiting for an uncertain future. This thesis reveals the site's present reality as an opportunity for active engagement rather than passive waiting. Photography is engaged as a primary communicative and imaginative tool for exploration. This thesis explores what one can do before possible erasure of the site's past, and before obsolescence is its only possible future.


title: Prospective and Retrospective Time Estimation: Investigating the Effects of Task Duration and Cognitive Load

abstract: This experiment investigated participants' ability to keep track of time during a visual and memory search task where task difficulty and duration were manipulated. Two hundred and ninety-two participants performed the task for eight or 58 minutes. Participants in the prospective time judgment condition were forewarned of an impending time estimate whereas those in the retrospective condition were not. Cognitive load was manipulated and assessed by assigning participants to either a consistent or a varied mapping condition. The results revealed overestimation and higher variability of estimates in the prospective condition compared to the retrospective one in the eight-minute task only. Moreover, participants significantly overestimated the duration of the eight-minute task and underestimated the 58-minute task. Finally, cognitive load had no effect on participants' time estimates. Thus, the well-known cross-over interaction between cognitive load and estimation paradigm (Block et al., 2010) does not seem to extend to longer durations.


title: The Labour of Paying for Education: An Exploration of Student Sex Work in Canada

abstract: This thesis contributes to a small body of research that examines student sex work in a Canadian context. By drawing on data gathered from semi-structured qualitative interviews with ten student sex workers, this thesis seeks to gain a nuanced understanding of students' experiences with sex work in Canada, and their use of university support services. Specifically, this study explores student sex workers' motivations for entering the sex industry, the benefits and challenges that they have encountered while working, whether they are accessing university support services and if and how they would benefit from the implementation of targeted support services in post-secondary institutions. The findings present an in-depth analysis of students' choices to enter the sex industry and their experiences therein. Further, this research seeks to provide suggestions as to how services could be implemented and adapted to better meet the needs of the student sex-working population.


title: Life Cycle Assessment of Various Nuclear-Based Hydrogen and Ammonia Production Methods

abstract: In this thesis, a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of nuclear-based hydrogen and ammonia production is performed. Environmental impacts of nuclear hydrogen and ammonia production processes are assessed in five different impact categories selected from CML-2001 method. In one scenario BWR-HTE nuclear hydrogen production is compared with PWR-HTE nuclear hydrogen production to reveal the impact of nuclear power plant selection on LCA results. The LCA study of nuclear hydrogen and ammonia production methods is achieved by SimaPro software. Moreover, in the present study, a comparative cost analysis of various nuclear hydrogen production configurations is performed regarding hydrogen generation method, storage, and transportation of hydrogen, and nuclear power plant type. Hydrogen Energy Evaluation Program (HEEP) is utilized for cost analysis of various nuclear hydrogen production scenarios.


title: The Punk Effect: Art School Bands, Artist Collectives, and the Makings of an Alternative Culture in Downtown Toronto 1976-1978

abstract: This thesis aims to examine the intersections of music, art and politics in late 1970s Toronto, particularly among the artists and musicians of the nascent Queen Street West scene. My research has two intertwined goals. First, to investigate the effect that the nearby Ontario College of Art had on this scene and how local art students' formal training may have impacted their music. Secondly, the symbiotic connection between established artists and the local punk scene will be explored, through a discussion of how artist collectives General Idea and the Centre for Experimental Arts and Communication appropriated punk aesthetics and enlisted punk groups in order to further their owns artistic ends. To address these questions, pertinent theoretical models are applied, including; Birmingham School subcultural theory, theories of the avant-garde, and sociological high culture/mass culture debates.


title: Investigation of the Influence of the Condition of Asphalt Pavement Surface on Road Safety of Rural Ontario Highways

abstract:
Road collisions are complex events that are influenced by a combination of factors, including driver behaviour, environmental condition (e.g., icy and wet roads), road geometry, roadside elements, vehicle speed, tire deficiencies, traffic, and pavement condition. While the influence of some of these factors has been studied extensively for decades, the influence of pavement condition on road safety is relatively under-researched. This research investigated the influence of pavement surface condition on road safety by developing statistical models that correlate pavement surface condition and collisions. This research also examined the possibility to integrate skid resistance into pavement management by investigating the correlations between skid resistance, pavement distress, and operational conditions of the roads.
This study was limited to rural arterial and freeways of the Ontario asphalt pavement road network. Data of pavement condition, operational condition, and collision was obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for 6879 kilometers across 37 provincial rural highways for the period of 2012 to 2014. Pavement condition data was collected at network level with an automatic road analyzer road and included information about roughness, rutting, cracking, and macrotexture. Skid resistance data was collected with a locked wheel tester. The collected data was combined into a spatial data model, also known as a vector-based geographic information system.
The results of the investigation using regression analysis showed that pavement friction is affected by traffic, pavement age, and pavement distress. Skid resistance decreased with the increase of traffic and increased with the increase of pavement distress. Macrotexture increased with the increase of traffic and pavement distress.
The influence of pavement condition on road safety using statistical analysis and regression models indicated that collisions were lower for pavements in fair condition and greater for pavements in poor and good condition. Pavement texture also showed to be an important factor for collision classes that demanded satisfactory levels of macrotexture and pavement friction. In particular, greater levels of macrotexture contributed to a reduction in sideswipe and wet surface collisions.


title: "I’m NOT A MONSTER”: A Corpus-Driven Genre Analysis of School Shooter Notes

abstract: The increasing incidence of school shootings in the United States has prompted researchers and policy-makers alike to pose questions about the intentions and actions of school shooters (e.g., Lankford, 2016). The scope of previous work has been limited due to a lack of access to perpetrators (i.e., due to their being incarcerated or deceased). This study seeks to access perpetrators' perspectives via an analysis of their written notes. A mixed methods design (Creswell, 2014) combining the methods of Forensic Corpus Linguistics (Coulthard, Johnson, & Wright, 2017; Baker, 2006) and the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) approach to Genre analysis (Swales, 1990) probes the salient linguistic and discursive features represented within school shooters' written notes. Findings indicate the recurrence of generic structures and lexical selections suggesting that school shooters may have shared communicative goals. This study contributes new directions for multidisciplinary work in the study of texts written by violent offenders.


title: Contemporary British Literary Culture, Higher Education, and the Diversity Scandal

abstract: Sociologists have demonstrated that neoliberal British education policies reproduce cultural and racial homogeneity in creative industries workforces. These policies have made fine art and design programs key pathways to work in the creative economy. Yet escalating tuition and the reliance on unpaid internships to gain course credit have meant that students are increasingly drawn from the more affluent socio-economic communities - often predominantly white. The impact on contemporary British literature, particularly writing by minoritized authors, has been remarkable. Despite efforts to increase diversity in the literary book trades, the vast majority of publishing professionals are white, independently wealthy graduates of elite universities. Scholars have said little about how the literary field responds to, manifests, and perpetuates this escalating - and racialized - inequality, whose ramifications are evident in everything from Brexit to the emboldening of the anti-immigrant alt-right movement. My research takes up this task. I discuss how neoliberal education policy has privileged a relatively homogenous creative class, whose hegemony resonates across literary production and literature itself. I analyze responses to this class' control over the literary sphere in chapters studying the reading charity BookTrust, the decibel program's prizing of Hari Kunzru's 2005 novel Transmission, and Spread the Word's Complete Works Scheme for poets of colour.


title: Community Energy Preferences and Residential Occupant Behaviour of the MoCreebec Eeyoud

abstract: Located in Moose Factory and Moosonee in Northern Ontario, the MoCreebec are connected to the provincial electricity grid however their history, remote and northern location, and lack of access to the natural gas network make the energy issues they face much different than other more populated parts of the province. In light of these challenges the MoCreebec are investigating opportunities where energy conservation, efficiency, and electricity generation can be used to increase the community's energy security and financial self-sustainability. This thesis explores the community's unique energy situation by focusing on community preferences for different electricity generation technologies and preferences related to the development of a community energy system. It also seeks to better understand the cost of electricity in the residential sector as well as the behaviour of residential occupants. Based on the data collected, this thesis seeks to provide information to MoCreebec to help inform future energy planning decisions.


title: Effects of chlorine, peracetic acid and low-pressure ultra violet light on antibiotic resistant E. coli isolates with regards to their survival and changes in their antibiotic resistance profiles

abstract: Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem worldwide and poses a serious threat to human health. Wastewater treatment plants play a key role in mitigating the propagation of antibiotic resistant bacteria because they are a collection point for all primary sources of antibiotic resistance. In this study, 98 E. coli strains were isolated from secondary effluent and an analysis of their antibiotic resistance profiles against 7 antibiotics was conducted. Then, four selected indigenous E. coli test strains and one control strain (ATCC 25922) were exposed to free chlorine (NaClO), peracetic acid and low-pressure UV treatments. The Log10 CFU colony forming unit recovery of the indigenous strains were compared to that of the control strain. The changes in antibiotic resistance for each strain from before to after disinfection were analyzed. Finally incidents of change in Kirby Bauer resistance classification from before to after disinfection were analyzed.


title: Attachment Insecurity and Daily Relationship Threats as Obstacles to Relational Self-Expansion

abstract: Incorporating growth (i.e., broadening one's perspective of the self, partner, and world) is an important feature for the maintenance of satisfying and long-lasting intimate relationships. However, as relationships progress and people increasingly gain familiarity with their intimate partner, the opportunities for growth decline. According to the self-expansion model, one way that people can add growth to their relationship is by engaging in exciting (i.e., novel and arousing) couple activities. Although exciting couple activities have been associated with many relational benefits, it is unclear whether certain threat-related conditions might be related to poorer relational self-expansion and relational self-expansion outcomes, such as engagement in exciting couple activities. Through a 21-day daily diary study of community couples (N = 122), the present study investigated the effects of relationship threats on the occurrence of exciting couple activities and ratings of relational self-expansion. It was hypothesized that insecure attachment styles (i.e., trait-based) and daily relationship threats (i.e., state-based) would negatively predict people's overall exciting activity experiences and ratings of relational self-expansion. Data analyses were guided by the Actor-Partner Independence Model (APIM). Contrary to my hypotheses, there was inconsistent support for the association between attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety and relational self-expansion. Consistent with my hypotheses, people (and their partners) reported lower relational self-expansion, and also were significantly less likely to engage in exciting couple activities on days when relationship threats (e.g., rejection, disappointment, feeling misunderstood) were greater than usual. Furthermore, on days when people engaged in exciting couple activities and felt greater relationship threats, they reported a less successful exciting couple activity experience. Although there was evidence that relationship threats negatively predicted people's daily activity experiences on the same day, relationship threats were not related to the occurrence of exciting couple activities on the following day. In conclusion, this study offers evidence suggesting that state-based threat concerns might be one obstacle that couples face in promoting growth within intimate relationships.


title: Prime Mover: Moving Beyond the Landscape

abstract: This thesis rethinks architecture's role in representing, managing and transforming tectonic and seismic forces in the context of ever-changing natural landscapes. Conventional architectural representation is an illusion of stability, knowledge and confidence - an illusion which can leave people and place ill prepared for cataclysm. The ground, as the generator and participant of many architectural endeavors, is often misrepresented as secure, stable and definite. While designed architectural environments typically communicate safety and stability, they do so without recognizing the inherent uncertainty, fraughtness and unsettled natures of landscapes as dynamic, tense and kinetic; and none more so than those terrains along the pacific rim. Using tectonic and seismic forces as provocation and inspiration, the thesis reflects on the possibilities of architectural representation and experience that embrace processes of instability.


title: Raval:  The Whore, The Thief, His Drug Dealer and Her Barrio

abstract: Las Ramblas divides the old city of Barcelona, isolating El Raval for over 1000 years of urban development. The maintenance of the boundary allowed the neighbourhood to develop outside the norm of Barcelona proper. Despite its proximity to the city's major tourist attractions and as a part of the Ciutat Vella [old city], it is perceived and functions as it always has, on the margin.  This thesis will examine the urban fabric of Raval using a variety of urban methodologies with the intention of revealing the edge conditions. Rethinking the street and how it facilitates diverse, often 'transgressive', transactions between residents is measured against the cultural, government-funded civic interventions focused at bringing tourism to the neighbourhood. The thesis will go onto outline the protagonist of a series of narratives, how they thrive, exist, intersect and the paths that reveal a contemporary transgressive urbanism.


title: Design Handbook for Canadian Co-housing

abstract: In Canada today, many popular housing typologies do not foster the idea of community. As a result, inhabitants may be subject to a sense of loneliness, as the architectural design promotes living in social isolation. This thesis will explore ways to combat social isolation using an alternative form of housing, one which promotes social interactions and communal involvement. This form of housing is referred to as "co- housing". Within this thesis, I will develop a Co-housing Design Handbook for new co-housing groups that would facilitate the process of planning and designing 'retrofit' co-housing for communities - a model which has yet to be experimented with in Canada. I will specifically be analyzing the city of Guelph, Ontario to exemplify how existing neighborhoods could become retrofit co-housing communities and enhance the current social and urban fabric of the city.


title: Equus as Client:  A Biocentric Retreat

abstract: The foundation of the built world has been acknowledged to be based on ergonomics and the study of the human scale. For architects, this often leads to manifesting a safe, comfortable and inspiring habitat for mankind. This thesis asks what would happen to architecture and design if we shift the perspective towards animals and their natural habitat, well-being and social interactions? The horse will be used as a scalar measure for a re-thinking of architecture and space. This will lead towards re-defining a program for an equestrian facility using the horse as the scale figure, with a programmatic interest in hippo-therapy. An amalgamation of the horse, the site and the client/owner's requirements will be attempted with the horse as the front runner for design strategies. The thesis proposes to retrofit an existing ruin in France into a holistic design that provides therapy for the horses, humans and the ruins.


title: The Hamilton House: An Iteration in the Making

abstract: How is a Product inspired by its Context, and can we assert the opposite: how is a Context inspired by a Product? This thesis explores this double condition by identifying the relationship between Product and Context. An investigation will catalogue custom homes of Gesamtkunstwerk (A Total Work of Art) from early 19th century through to the present day. A set of terms and principles will be extracted from the analysis of these homes to understand the methodology of their Architecture and Furniture designs. The thesis project will adapt the principles of Gesamtkunstwerk through the depiction  of drawing and craft. A final project proposes a custom home for the up and coming city of Hamilton Ontario while questioning the principles of what unites Product designs and their Context. A synthesis project explores the methods of a Total Work of Art to express a connection between one's surroundings and the ensuring creations.


title: UV-vis spectroscopy as a tool for the detection of residual polymer and optimization of polymer dose in drinking water treatment applications

abstract: The optimization of polymer dose during the coagulation and flocculation stages of drinking water treatment remains a challenge for treatment plants. Incorrect polymer dosage can lead to negative effects downstream, environmental effects, negative health effects and increased polymer costs. Analytical methods are not suitable for on-site monitoring, and it is particularly challenging to accurately detect and measure very low polymer concentrations in drinking water. This study employed an in-line and real-time UV-vis spectrophotometer to measure the polymer concentration in raw and treated water by correlating polymer concentration to the absorbance at 190nm and introduced a new approach to improve the sensitivity and detection limit of the method through altering the path length. In addition, the method was used to determine the optimum polymer dose required for treatment to prevent the addition of excess polymer during coagulation/flocculation. The method has the potential for development into a full-scale optimization system.


title: Visual-Vestibular Sensory Integration During Congruent and Incongruent Self-Motion Percepts

abstract: This thesis examined the contribution of vestibular cues to self-motion perception and their integration with visual self-motion cues. The thesis is divided into five sections. In Section 1, a review of the illusory self-motion perception (i.e., 'vection') literature situates studies undertaken in this thesis. Topics reviewed include vection research, vestibular anatomy and physiology, visual-vestibular sensory integration, visual-vestibular neurophysiology and measurement methods to index vection. In Section 2, two experiments were reported. In E1, a virtual drum was displayed on a virtual reality headset. In E2, a novel measurement method consisting of a circular knob that participants rotated when experiencing vection was used to provide a direct measure of vection speed, direction, and duration. Results showed that vection strength and speed increased as visual stimuli moved faster. In Section 3, two experiments were reported in which circular vection was induced using vestibular air caloric stimulation. Participants had their eyes closed in E3 while receiving caloric vestibular stimulation. In E4 participants received caloric vestibular stimulation while viewing a stationary image in a VR headset. Participants perceived vection in the clockwise direction when cold air was applied to the left ear, and perceived counter-clockwise vection when caloric stimulation was in the right ear. Vection speed and duration measures were significantly smaller when participants viewed a stationary display (E4) than when their eyes were closed (E3). In Section 4, the goal was to determine if the visual or vestibular system prevailed in determining direction of self-motion perception during cue conflict. Participants observed an optic flow pattern that induced circular vection while receiving caloric vestibular stimulation also inducing vection. Visual and vestibular stimuli induced vection of approximately equal speeds in two conditions. In the 'congruent motion' condition, visual and vestibular stimuli signaled vection in the same direction. In the 'incongruent motion' condition, visual and vestibular stimuli signaled vection in opposite directions. Results showed that in the incongruent condition, participants experienced vection in the direction signaled by the visual stimulus and vestibular stimulus equal amounts of times. In Section 5, a general discussion on these findings as they relate to optimal cue integration hypothesis is provided.


title: Characterization and compensation of magnetic interference resulting from unmanned aircraft systems

abstract:
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are a viable platform for aeromagnetic surveys but the interference generated during flight can greatly impact data quality. In this thesis, the problem of interference reduction was approached from two directions: mapping to identify sources and manoeuvre compensation.
Problematic interference sources were identified using magnetic intensity mappings of the UAS. For these mappings to be accurate, the UAS must have: (1) the motors engaged, (2) the flight surface servos powered and in a steady-state position, and (3) the electrical systems drawing a constant current. The strongest sources were the servos and the motor system with the largest field attributed to the direct current battery cables between the motor batteries and the electronic speed controller. Reduction methods recommended included the twisting of direct current cables, demagnetisation of steel components, and increasing the distance between the servos and the intended magnetometer installation point.
To improve mapping quality, a magnetic scanner was designed and built to compare the magnetic intensity mappings and profiles of four different types of electric-powered UAS; a single-motor fixed-wing, a single-rotor helicopter, a quad-rotor helicopter and a hexa-rotor helicopter UAS. These UAS were found to have: (1) similar interference signatures under rotation, (2) interference levels dependent on the electrical current drawn by the motor(s), (3) a mixture of interference types composed of both material magnetisation and electrical current.
The removal of interference produced by a 35 kg gasoline-powered UAS was demonstrated using a real-time compensator. The UAS was prepared with interference reduction techniques that reduced the heading error and 4th difference to acceptable levels. Two novel low-altitude calibration methods, named a "stationary" and "box" calibration, were tested in three geographic locations with different magnetic gradients. The best calibration using each method yielded an improvement ratio of 8.595 and 3.989, respectively and a standard deviation of the compensated total magnetic intensity of 0.075 and 0.083 nT, respectively. A best estimated Figure-of-Merit of 3.8 nT was calculated; the lowest value reported for a rotary-wing UAS to date. The stationary calibration was robust and compensated non-native flight data with a cross-correlation index of 1.073.


title: Time Windowed Data Structures

abstract:
We study time windowed data structures, where a timestamped input sequence can be preprocessed into a data structure based on a given predicate P, so that for a query time interval specified at the query time, it can answer queries based on the inputs whose timestamps lie in the query interval and match P. We refer to these queries as window queries. In this thesis, we consider several variations of these window queries for three types of inputs; they are relational event (RE) graphs, geometric objects (e.g., points, line segments, polygons) and set elements. We study three types of query problems, namely window decision problems, window reporting problems and window counting problems.
Considering an RE graph G=(|V|=n, |E|=m) as the input, where each edge in E has a unique positive timestamp, we present data structures to answer the following window problems; (a) decision problems for monotone graph properties, such as disconnectedness and bipartiteness, (b) reporting problems for the minimum spanning tree, the minimum spanning interval, and the graph edit distance for spanning forests, and (c) subgraph counting problems to count the total number of subgraphs that match a given pattern, such as paths of length 2 and 3 (in bipartite graphs), quadrangles and complete subgraphs of some fixed order ℓ ≥ 3. We further present a general approach for analyzing various structural parameters of an RE graph slice, such as the density, the number of k-stars, the approximation of h-index, the embeddedness, the neighborhood overlap and the number of influenced vertices, using the colored range searching data structures.
We also study data structures that can answer window queries for a sequence of geometric objects, such as points, line segments and convex c-gons. We study the windowed intersection decision problems for these objects. For a sequence of points in IRd, d ≥ 2, we solve some variations of the maximal layer problem, such as counting total number of points on the maximal layer, k-dominated and k-dominant points for some fixed integer k, and deciding if a given point belongs to a maximal layer Ly, where y = 1, 2 or y ≥ 3.


title: 3D Geological Modeling of the Double Eagle – Black Thor Intrusive Complexes, McFaulds Lake Greenstone Belt, Ontario, Canada

abstract: The Ring of Fire region in northwestern Ontario hosts many valuable magmatic ore deposits, including six major chromite and one significant Ni-Cu-(PGE) deposit. A 3D geological model was developed to examine the subsurface architecture and structural disposition of the Double Eagle and Black Thor intrusive complexes that host these deposits. The model is constrained by diamond drillhole datasets, regional geological maps and a refined structural interpretation based on high-resolution magnetic data. Employing implicit and explicit modelling methods, a 3D representation of the intrusive complexes was generated by fitting triangulated surfaces to relevant drillhole constraints. Through the examination of the spatial relationships between the main shear zones and the intrusive units of the DEIC and BTIC, the primary and post-ore deformation geometries of the complexes were evaluated, increasing our understanding of the magmatic plumbing system and supporting the interpretation of a single, connected ultramafic complex dissected and transposed by ductile deformation.


title: Phenotype-dependent social environment choice in the male Trinidadian guppy

abstract:
Prey animals living under threat of predation must maximise their fitness by minimising their risk of predation through altering behaviour and selecting the most beneficial social environment. I used the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) as a model study species to investigate the potential effects of predation and conspecific phenotype on male social and sexual behaviours. Based on field collections of wild guppies from river populations in Trinidad that vary in their overall level of predation risk, I found significant differences in average male phenotype (i.e. body length and body coloration) among the populations, with males from the lowest predation-risk population being larger whereas males from an intermediate-risk population (where water is turbid due to mining activity) were the least colourful. I found no difference in guppy shoaling behaviour among populations but did note differences in sexual behaviour with males from the high-predation Quaré River more frequently performing sneak copulation attempts compared to males from less risky environments.
In the laboratory, I evaluated whether and how the phenotype of conspecific males affected the social association preferences of focal males. I found that focal males exhibited no shoaling preference for a specific male phenotype when presented with mixed-sex stimulus shoals. However, when females were absent, focal males preferred to associate with large, colourful males. As there was no significant difference among populations, I also tested male association preferences in the presence and absence of chemical alarm cues to ascertain whether a perceived immediate risk of predation would affect social choice. I found an overall preference for more attractive males in both the presence and absence of the alarm cue (with some exceptions), though males from the high-predation river moved between shoals less in the presence of an alarm cue, suggesting minimisation of visual conspicuousness. I also tested whether an increased male shoal size affected female social preference for more attractive males but results did not support this. Overall, my work suggests that wild-caught Trinidadian male guppies prefer to socially associate with certain males that differ in phenotype from themselves, though the evolutionary function(s) of such preferences remain uncertain and require further investigation.


title: Constrained Optimization and Radial Basis Functions in Computational Engineering

abstract:
Duality and radial basis functions (RBFs) are compelling principles which are currently underrepresented in computational engineering. Following an introduction to the mathematics, these methodologies are applied to a series of toy problems.
To begin, both methodologies are integrated into a predictor-corrector algorithm, which is then used to model transient thermal diffusion in a one-dimensional domain. Following discretization of the heat equation with the finite element method (FEM) and RBFs, Euclidean temperature errors of 9.613E-2 (RBF) and 1.442E-1 (FEM) are observed at five seconds and 7.635E-2 (RBF) and 1.136E-1 (FEM) at ten seconds. In addition, duality is successfully applied as an error bound on the numerical solutions; the duality gap is cheaply computed by the algorithm and converges to zero as the thermal flux and temperature fields iteratively approach their exact solutions.
The RBF methodology is next applied to the interpolation of two complicated data sets. The first is a two-dimensional velocity field associated with a scattered collection of particles. Using a subset of these particles and their velocities as input, the RBFs accurately interpolate the scattered velocity data back on to the original collection of particles. The addition of a high-order polynomial to the RBFs is seen to improve accuracy further with an increase in algorithm complexity. The second test interpolates two-dimensional stress and stress gradient tensor fields on scattered particles. In supplement to the standard RBF technique of the first test, a Hermite RBF technique is devised which uses given stress and stress gradient data as input. The Hermite technique achieves an improvement of one order of magnitude in stress interpolation and one to two orders of magnitude in stress gradient interpolation over the standard technique.
In the final tests, RBFs are tested alongside finite differences in the discretization of two-phase heat exchange problems. In the first two cases, the RBFs more accurately compute the position of the planar phase interface with time, as well as the temperature fields in the vapour and liquid-phases. In the third case, it is found that the RBFs track the instantaneous position and velocity of a spherical bubble with higher accuracy.


title: From Fragility to Stability: A Novel Transition Model for Third-Party Interventions in Fragile and Conflict Affected States

abstract: Policymakers and scholars alike have wrestled with the question of why some third-party interventions in fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS) are successful while others are not. For example, countries such as Cambodia, Rwanda, and Uzbekistan have been pulled out of extreme fragility, whereas countries such as Libya, Mali, and Zimbabwe remain mired in extreme fragility despite numerous attempts at spurring economic, social, and political development. This dissertation examines post-intervention variations in the development and security outcomes in otherwise similar fragile countries, in order to explain why some Western interventions have failed while others have succeeded. By documenting key cases of third-party intervention in FCAS and examining them systematically this research program tests structural aspects of each country situation while at the same time accounting for agency and leadership roles, both domestically and internationally. Using a theoretical framework based on the evolutionary biology principles of alternative stable states and positive feedback loops, the findings indicate that there is some evidence that—perhaps counter intuitively—outside interventions should focus initially not on the weakest state fragility dimension (authority, legitimacy, and capacity) but rather on the strongest. For states stuck in extreme fragility for long periods of time, the level of each of the three dimensions is so low that focusing on the weakest dimension only leads to premature load bearing and isomorphic mimicry problems (Andrews, Pritchett and Woolcock 2017). Rather, interventions which target the strongest dimension of fragility lead to improvement by establishing self-reinforcing, 'runaway' positive feedback loops. At the same time, the findings indicate that intervention on the strongest dimension may be a necessary but not sufficient factor in catalyzing recovery, and that certain preconditions or concurrent conditions may be needed to ensure that these 'virtuous cycles' have a positive feedback effect on the other two dimensions of fragility, improving development and security outcomes and catalyzing long-term recovery in state authority, legitimacy, and capacity.


title: Multi-Cloud Application Deployment

abstract: Deploying applications in a multi-cloud environment can be challenging. The cloud providers face the challenge of optimally utilizing the cloud resources to achieve a goal such as reducing the clouds' power consumption. The cloud users, who deploy applications in the cloud, face the challenge of satisfying the application requirements, such as the processing and memory requirements, and application user requirements, such as the throughput and response time constraint. There is a relationship between the challenges faced by the cloud providers and cloud users, which allows these challenges to be studied together. This work covers such a problem, which aims to find a deployment or allocate resources for an application in a multi-cloud environment while satisfying the above requirements of the application, application user and cloud provider. The proposed algorithm uses a combination of queueing theory, clustering, graph partitioning and bin packing strategies to solve the multi-cloud application deployment problem.


title: Three dimensional nonlinear simulation, sensitivity analysis and increasing the maximum frequency to 2.5 Hz using a physics-based method for basins in Ottawa, Canada

abstract:
We performed 3-D nonlinear-viscoelastic ground motion simulations using a finite difference modeling method in a frequency range of 0.1 to 1 Hz in the Kinburn basin, Ottawa, Canada, for large earthquakes. Comparing the records and simulated velocity time series showed that regular viscoelastic simulations could model the ground motions at the rock and soil sites in the Kinburn basin for the Ladysmith earthquake (Mw=4.7). Using nonlinear-viscoelastic ground motion simulations for the scaled Ladysmith earthquake (Mw=7.5) significantly reduced the amplitude of the horizontal components of the Fourier spectrum and the predicted PGA and PGV values compared to regular linear viscoelastic simulations. Further, using a finite fault source (Mw=7) for the nonlinear-viscoelastic simulation decreased PGAs of the horizontal components. Our sensitivity analysis of simulations for different seismic moments showed that the PGV values exponentially increased with moment magnitude. Using a Gaussian source function with a short half duration increased the PGVs and the amplitude of velocity Fourier spectrum. Relaxation times and relaxation coefficients for viscoelastic simulation significantly increased PGV, the amplitude of the PSA ratio, and the velocity Fourier spectrum for a small earthquake. Employing a small soil Q model reduced PGV, PSA of soil/rock ratios, and the amplitude of velocity Fourier spectrum. Using finite fault model for a large earthquake (Mw =7) significantly reduced the PGV values relative to a point source model.
We increased the maximum frequency to 2.5 Hz in FD modeling using a dual grid size method for two basins (Kinburn and Orleans basins in Ottawa, Canada). The simulated velocity time series from the dual grid size method provided better results compared to the results of the single grid size, although there were large differences between the amplitude of the velocity Fourier spectrum of the simulations and the amplitude of the records, particularly at low frequencies (<1 Hz). However, the velocity Fourier spectrums of the records and simulations showed a similar variation versus frequency. Further, using the dual grid size method increased the PGVs and amplitudes of the velocity Fourier spectrum for both the Kinburn and Orleans basins compared to the results of the single grid size simulation.


title: Sikh Males In Ontario And Random Police Stops (Carding)

abstract: This thesis is based on interviews with Ontario adult Sikh males who have had carding experiences. The participants' responses indicate that discrimination occurs towards Canadian Sikh males, including institutional discrimination. During their carding experience, the Sikh males were usually given either a made-up traffic violation reason when they were driving, a false investigative reason when they were on the street, or no reason at all to stop them. A good portion of the participants also faced a random search of their vehicles and/or of themselves during their carding incident. In exceptional cases, Sikh males faced an abusive experience. Thus, the participants view carding as a practice that targets their communities. I argue that carding has negative impacts towards Sikh males, including impacts on their psychology, future opportunities, and their evaluation of Canadian police officers. Participants provide that police conduct towards their communities needs to improve.


title: Doing Nothing in New York City:  A Case for Terrain Vague in Manhattan

abstract: This thesis investigates a particular Terrain Vague as a spatial and phenomenological condition in New York City. Through a series of photographs and cast models, it seeks to demonstrate the importance of Terrain Vague in a global metropolis. For the purpose of this study, Terrain Vague is investigated through the lens of the largest and most valuable privately-owned vacant piece of land in Manhattan. Formerly home to Con Edison's Waterside Power Station, this empty property acts as the antithesis to the polished and modernized wealthy city surrounding it. Currently its owner, established developer Sheldon H. Solow, has plans to develop the site with luxury residential condominiums, which would result in the complete erasure of its 'vague' condition. This proposal to do nothing in New York City challenges the norms of Manhattan's urban practices, and asks the question: "How can architecture productively engage a Terrain Vague?


title: Made

abstract:
A chasm instigated by technological advancements is alienating architects from the construction process. Concurrently, this detachment changes the architect's relation to material culture. The role of the maker is divided between those who design and those who fabricate, meanwhile being driven by an industry that demands inhuman speed and efficiency. In contrast, the values set forth by craft-centric ideologies oppose this model in favor of laborious care and skill. Consequently, this ideology becomes perceived as luxury, and often cast aside.
Navigating this landscape, I begin to question the role of making within architecture. Do ideas of craft maintain relevance in a technological era? Are our tools becoming so complex that they enslave those they were meant to empower? Through research into how craft and tools exist today, this thesis aims to redefine fundamental values in making-culture by engaging acts of critical observation and experiential making.


title: Staging Impermanence: Material Theatres

abstract: A central conceit of architecture is that buildings, once constructed, remain static. Architects go to considerable lengths to avoid accretions like mould or mildew, or detractions such as crumbling or decay. This thesis systematically explores stresses created in selected materials, their performance under various external catalysts, and any resulting emerging characteristics. Through a series of rigorous material experiments, the purpose of this thesis is to explore what can happen when building materials are not just allowed but encouraged to follow their inherent tectonic forces, and how the process of entropy might be integrated into the constructed and constructive form. The resulting project will involve the brief of a displaced theatre, which has to vacate for two years from its premises for purposes of renovation and upgrade. A temporary theatre will be designed to dissolve in material and structure over two years, becoming the setting of the various interim productions.


title: Cosplaying with Gender: Freedoms and Limitations to Gender Exploration at Canadian Anime Conventions

abstract: This thesis investigates the gendered dimensions of cosplay and cross-play at Canadian anime conventions. How do cosplayers use cross-play to explore gender identities at anime conventions? What limitations hinder cosplayers from feeling free to explore their identities at these events? Why do cis women and non-binary people assigned female at birth (AFAB) participate in cross-play? I use in-depth interviews with cosplayers, autoethnography, and textual analyses of convention anti-harassment policies to explore these questions. Cross-play at Canadian anime conventions is beneficial to queer, trans, and non-binary attendees as they are able to explore their gender presentations in unique ways. Yet, there are limitations to this freedom, particularly for cis women and non-binary AFAB cosplayers who experience negativity surrounding femininity and heightened sexual harassment. These findings broaden understandings of gender and anime fan practices and encourage convention organizers to update policies on harassment.


title: Shortest Paths Among Dynamic Obstacles

abstract:
The problem of collision-free motion planning in dynamic environments has received considerable attention in computational geometry. In this thesis, we study the point robot motion planning problems among dynamic obstacles. A growing disc is a disc obstacle that grows over time. A transient obstacle is an obstacle that appears at a particular time in the environment and may disappear at some later time. In the first part of this thesis, we study the problem of computing collision-free shortest paths among growing discs. This problem has previously been studied for discs where the growth rates are fixed. We study a more general problem variant, where: (1) the speeds at which the discs grow are polynomial functions of degree β and (2) the source and destination points are given as query points. We show how to preprocess a set of n growing discs so that, for two given query points s and d, a shortest path from s to d can be computed in O(n2 log(βn)) time. The preprocessing time of our algorithm is O(n2 log n + k log k) where k is the number of intersections between the growing discs and the tangent paths (straight line paths that touch the boundaries of a pair of growing discs). We also establish an upper bound of O(n3β) on k.
In the second part of the thesis, we study the problem of computing collision-free shortest paths among transient obstacles. First, we design an optimal Θ(n log n) algorithm for determining time-minimal rectilinear paths among n non-intersecting transient rectilinear obstacles. Next, we consider the variant of the shortest path problem among transient obstacles where the metric used to measure distances is Euclidean and the obstacles are non-intersecting polygons. We present an O(n2 log n) time algorithm for computing the Euclidean shortest path map among transient polygonal obstacles in the plane. This improves the time complexity of the existing algorithm by a factor of n. We show that the shortest path map contains Ω(n2) cells, and thus, proving that our algorithm is nearly optimal.


title: Enumerative properties of restricted words and compositions

abstract: In this document we achieve exact and asymptotic enumeration of words, compositions over a finite group, and/or integer compositions characterized by local restrictions and, separately, subsequence pattern avoidance. We also count cyclically restricted and circular objects. This either fills gaps in the current literature by e.g. considering particular new patterns, or involves general progress, notably with locally restricted compositions over a finite group. We associate these compositions to walks on a covering graph whose structure is exploited to simplify asymptotic expressions. Specifically, we show that under certain conditions the number of locally restricted compositions of a group element is asymptotically independent of the group element. For some problems our results extend to the case of a positive number of subword pattern occurrences (instead of zero for pattern avoidance) or convergence in distribution of the normalized number of occurrences. We typically apply the more general propositions to concrete examples such as the familiar Carlitz compositions or simple subword patterns.


title: When Will the World End Already?: Climate Change, Christian Eschatology, and the Hollywood Blockbuster after 9/11

abstract: Christian eschatological thought has had a profound impact on American culture and traditions. This thesis examines the ways in which Christian apocalyptic models and contemporary anxieties around climate change intersect in Hollywood blockbuster cinema in the years after 9/11. With religious fervour stirred up by the U.S. government in the wake of the attacks, films such as The Day After Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, Knowing, 2012, San Andreas, and Geostorm reclaim religiously conservative values through their focus on family drama in which the apocalypse acts as a positive force of social change. I argue that these films harmfully conflate climate change with notions of biblically redemptive Armageddon, reinforcing the idea that climate change can be understood within a Christian understanding of the End as cumulative and purposeful.


title: Deconstructing Decriminalization: A Genealogy of the Provincial Offences Administration, the Modern Fine, and Penalization in Ontario

abstract: Labelled the "face of the justice system" (Law Commission of Ontario 2011 as cited by the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario 2015d), the Provincial Offences Administration of Ontario (POA) - a regulatory system created to decriminalize minor offences - remains an understudied program and field. Addressing this gap, this thesis analyzes the politico-juridical problematizations of cost, volume, and revenue at the center of the POA and the 'modern fine's' (Bottoms 1983) construction. Understanding punishment as both a by-product and shaper of social structures (Garland 1990), it observes the dialectic role of the POA as perpetuating neoliberal structures, consequently reinforcing the Administration's monetization. Located within this regressive economic model, this study also observes the emergence of a new 'debtor prison'. In delineating the outcomes and limitations of decriminalization, this thesis calls for a re-imagining of the POA so that it may achieve the proportionality it purports to pursue.


title: Experimental Verification of 4D Monte Carlo Simulations of Dose Delivery to Moving and Deforming Anatomies

abstract:
The aim of this work was to validate a 4D Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculation tool (4DdefDOSXYZnrc/EGSnrc) by comparing dose calculations with measurements in rigid and deforming anatomies. This 4DMC approach, that is based on the voxel warping method, calculates the cumulative dose by including continuous motion/deformation of anatomy and motion of linac components. We present how motion recorded during dose delivery combined with deformation/displacement vectors and delivery log files can be used to incorporate motion of the anatomy and treatment units into simulations. Dose deliveries were performed on an Elekta Infinity linac with Agility MLC for static and volumetric modulated arc therapy treatments on the stationary and breathing states of the phantoms. The dose was measured with film (point dose and dose profile) and the RADPOS 4D dosimetry system (point dose).
Preliminary validations were done using a phantom with a rigidly moving lung insert. To evaluate the performance of 4DMC simulations in a more realistic condition a programmable deformable tissue-equivalent lung phantom was developed. The lung inserts in both phantoms served the purpose of holding film as well as a spherical tumor to hold RADPOS. RADPOS detectors were also placed outside the tumor in the deformable phantom. Sinusoidal (both phantoms) and irregular (deformable phantom) respiratory traces were tested. Point dose agreements between simulations and measurements were within 2σ of experimental and/or positional/dose reading uncertainties. The agreement between dose profiles from measurements and simulations were determined to be within 2%/2 mm.
We also present Monte Carlo modeling of the Elekta linac used in this work. A detailed model was created in BEAMnrc/EGSnrc and model parameters were adjusted through appropriate measurements. We demonstrate how using a simple virtual source model of a linac can help study the sensitivity of the isocentric photon fluence to several beam parameters for small radiation fields. Finally, we present how we can use MC simulations and the virtual source model to explain dose discrepancies observed between film measurements and calculations obtained from the Monaco treatment planning system. The results show that proper model parameters can heavily impact the accuracy of dose calculations of small fields.


title: Impact of Pinhole Collimation on SPECT Image Quality Metrics, and Methods for Patient-Specific Assessment of Noise and Standardization of Imaging Protocols

abstract: Dedicated cardiac pinhole SPECT camera designs offer improvements in overall sensitivity, thereby enabling the use of lower injected radiotracer activity and shorter imaging times than parallel-hole designs. The effect of these novel camera designs on image noise on a voxel-by voxel level has not previously been investigated. This work identifies position and orientation-dependent variability of spatial resolution in the field-of-view (FOV) of pinhole cameras. It also identifies a 1.7-fold gradient in the magnitude of image noise across the length of the heart which leads to a 1.3-fold gradient in standard deviation values for a normal database for attenuation corrected images acquired with a commercially available cardiac pinhole camera. This pattern of noise varies with different patients and with different positioning of the heart within the FOV. Thus, to assist with clinical interpretation, a new 1-minute post-processing technique is developed to provide a patient-specific image of the noise distribution which may augment normal database information. Changes in attenuation result in varying levels of noise between patients of different body habitus administered the same radiotracer activity. A method for creating weight-based protocols is developed that standardizes the average noise in cardiac perfusion images by tailoring the radiotracer activity and acquisition time to the body mass of each patient. Methods developed in this thesis allow for more patient-specific imaging protocols, thereby standardizing the image noise level and providing physicians with more information about the noise and spatial-resolution distribution to aide in image interpretation.


title: Searching for justice (and evidence) in public health: Exploring health equity in Canadian public health discourse and practice

abstract: I examine the deployment of health equity in public health discourse and practice, theorizing its journey from its original commitment to social justice vis-à-vis injustice. As an empty signifier and vehicular idea, health equity is invoked within an infinitely extendable field of discourse and practice. Secondly, I analyse how health equity is made knowable through modes of measurement and representation. I argue possibilities for understanding and acting upon health (in)equity are shaped and limited by evidentiary norms/imperatives embedded in the rules of institutional fields. I historicise these evidentiary norms as mechanisms of government dating back to the enlightenment. By legitimizing and deploying action according to evidentiary productivity rather than normative-political reasoning, government effaces itself. I examine the relationship between precise but incomplete knowledges and justice, showing that however precise our knowledge is, if we do not engage with its incompleteness, we will always miss the mark, and inequities will persist.


title: Identifying Software Defects Using Neural Graph Classifiers

abstract:
Static analysis tools are commonly used to assist with program verification. Most existing tools, however, identify defects using a predefined repertoire of defect specifications. These repertoires are rarely extended by users due to the effort and complexity involved in producing new specifications.
I propose a supervised approach for learning defective code patterns directly from coarsely labelled examples, allowing users to produce new defect classifiers with minimal effort. This approach represents a program as a directed multi-graph modelling operations and their dependencies, and aims to identify defects caused by incorrect, or missing, dependencies between operations. Given this representation, the task of identifying these defects can be seen as identifying specific partial subgraphs.
The proposed approach is evaluated against several open source projects and test suites targeting the Java virtual machine. The proposed approach performs well against an adapted subset of the Juliet test suite, and demonstrates a modest ability to transfer to unseen natural code.


title: Holocaust Memory and Visuality in the Age of Social Media

abstract:
Everyday people make use of Instagram to visually share their experiences encountering Holocaust memory. Whether individuals are sharing their photos from Auschwitz, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, or of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, this dissertation uncovers the impetus to capture and share these images by the thousands. Using visuality as a framework for analyzing how the Holocaust has been seen, photographed, and communicated historically, this dissertation argues that these individual digital images function as objects of postmemory, contributing to and cultivating an accessible visual and digital archive. Sharing these images on Instagram results in a visual, grassroots archival space where networked Holocaust visuality and memory can flourish.
The Holocaust looms large in public memory. Drawing from Holocaust studies, public history, photography theory, and new media studies, this dissertation argues that the amateur Instagram image is far from static. Existing spaces of Holocaust memory create preconditions for everyday publics to share their encounters with the Holocaust on their own terms. Thus, the final networked Instagram image is the product of a series of author interventions, carefully wrought from competing narratives and Holocaust representations. The choice to photograph, edit, post, and hashtag one's photo forges a public method for collaborating with hegemonic memory institutions. This work brings together seemingly disparate sources to find commonality between Instagram images, museum guestbook entries, online reviews, former concentration camps, and major Holocaust memorials and museums.
This research, one of the first studies of Holocaust visual culture on Instagram, underscores the fluidity of Holocaust memory in the twenty-first century. While amateur photography at solemn sites has sparked concern, this dissertation demonstrates that though the number of Holocaust survivors become fewer in number, the act of remembering the genocide can be coded into the everyday behaviour of the amateur photographers featured in this work. This work not only shares authority with everyday publics in their efforts to remember and memorialize the Holocaust but reminds us that seemingly small and individual acts of remembrance can coalesce, contributing to a fluid and accessible archive of visual memory.


title: “So It’s Not Always the Sappy Story”: Women of Colour and Indigenous Women in the Indoor Sectors of the Canadian Sex Industry Speak Out

abstract:
The lived experiences of racialised and Indigenous indoor sex workers are often made to be invisible. Frequently, they are left unmarked and are imbedded within White indoor sex workers' experiences; alternately, stereotypes about racialised and Indigenous sex workers mean their experiences are overgeneralised and assumed to be part of street-based sectors. This study draws on forty in-depth interviews with racialised and Indigenous indoor sex workers from nine different cities across Canada in order to bring their intersectional experiences to the forefront of contemporary discussions.
Grounded in Kimberlé Crenshaw's conceptualisation of intersectionality, this dissertation takes a post-intersectionality approach of collaborative intersectionality to examine the multi-layered experiences of research participants and expose multidimensional, inter-categorical complexities of and differences between participants' experiences. With the objectives of deconstructing and, at times, decolonising normative assumptions, attitudes, and political initiatives that essentialise the experiences of women in the Canadian sex industry, this study addresses a much-needed research gap by looking at racialised and Indigenous women's participation in different indoor sectors. Furthermore, it contributes to valuable analyses on human rights, employment standards, agency, and resistance within a growing body of critical sex work literature.
Tracing the experiences of research participants involved two key components: first, mapping their decisions to enter and work in the sex industry by weighing the costs and benefits against various systemic challenges; and second, exploring their everyday intersectional experiences in multiple spaces and at different times - for instance, the diplomatic negotiation and navigation of their identities, the entrepreneurial tasks performed to compete in the marketplace, their experience interacting with law enforcement, and their encounters with sex work activism. These discussions involve situating research participants' experiences within social, political, and economic contexts that are informed by historical events such as colonialism, slavery, and moral panics, as well as by contemporary events that are centred around, for example, neoliberal commercialism and whorephobia, in order to navigate the effects of stigma, criminalisation and marginalisation in their day-to-day lives.


title: Data-Driven Creativity Enhancement Through Word Association

abstract: Writing creative stories from a blank page is a challenging task, particularly in the modern game industry where dozens of writers can contribute to the stories and settings of a constantly evolving artificial world. We introduce a system which recommends interesting, evocative, and thematically coherent words to help creators write thematically connected stories. We combine principles from human creativity enhancement and computational creativity to build a creative assistant based on word association research. We show that careful corpus selection, filtering based on emotional sentiment, and promoting remote associations through paragraph scale segmentation can produce recommendations that promote creative goals better than alternative word association algorithms according to our creative word indicators.


title: An Analysis of Potential Standards for Post-Quantum Cryptosystems

abstract: In the near future, general quantum computers could become a reality. Because of this we have a need for updating our public key infrastructure to resist quantum attacks. Among the many proposed cryptosystems that we could use to replace our modern cryptosystems are the four cryptosystems we will be analysing: McEliece, Classic McEliece, McNie, and NTRUEncrypt. We will cover the cryptosystems in full detail before analysing how secure and how efficient the cryptosystems are.