title: Fast 3D Reconstruction of Human Figures in Motion

abstract: We developed a scheme for the dynamic volumetric 3D reconstruction of human figures. We aimed at achieving three key objectives that were accuracy, real-time acquisition of partial view 3D data followed by fast processing of data to produce a complete 3D model, and cost-effectiveness of the process. The research problems we encountered were the selection of appropriate camera technology and capturing environment to carry out the reconstruction. We designed a setup that consisted of multiple depth cameras placed around the object of interest at a fixed distance. We proposed and implemented a complete methodology where the reconstruction was accurate and fast conforming to our research goals. We also analyzed the effect of initial orientation and overlap between multiple partial view 3D scans on the accuracy of the final reconstruction. We achieved the minimum error percentage of 4.67% in our final reconstructed 3D model.


title: Learning in the Multi-Robot Pursuit Evasion Game

abstract:
This thesis investigates the learning issue for mobile robots playing the differential forms of the pursuit-evasion (PE) game by proposing different learning algorithms. The intended learning algorithms are used to reduce (1) the computational requirements as much as possible, without affecting the overall performance of the learning algorithm, (2) the learning time, and (3) the capture time and the possibility of collision among the pursuers, and to deal with multi-robot PE game with a single superior evader.
The computational complexity is reduced by examining four methods of parameter tuning for the Q-Learning Fuzzy Inference System (QFIS) algorithm to decide which parameters are the best to tune and which parameters have a little impact on the performance. Then, two learning algorithms are proposed to reduce the learning time. The first one uses a two-stage learning technique that combines the PSO-based fuzzy logic control (FLC) algorithm with the QFIS algorithm. The PSO algorithm is used as a global optimizer, whereas the QFIS algorithm is used as a local optimizer. The second one is a modified version of the fuzzy-actor critic learning (FACL) algorithm, which is called fuzzy actor-critic learning Automaton (FACLA) algorithm. It uses the continuous actor-critic learning Automaton (CACLA) algorithm to tune the parameters of the FIS.
After that, a decentralized learning technique is proposed to enable a group of two pursuers or more to capture a single inferior evader. It uses the FACLA algorithm together with the Kalman filter technique to reduce the capture time and to reduce the collision possibility among the pursuers. No communication among the pursuers is assumed. Finally, a decentralized learning algorithm is suggested and applied successfully for the case of multi-robot PE game with a single superior evader, in which all the players have similar speeds. A new reward function is suggested and used as a guide for the pursuer to move either to the intercepted point with the evader or to move in parallel with the evader depending on whether the pursuer can capture the evader or not. Simulation results show the feasibility of the proposed learning algorithms.


title: From the National to the Global: The Transformation of the Royal Bank of Canada, 1864–2014

abstract: Many scholars today treat globalization as a new form of imperialism, in which the global political economy remains constituted by competing national capitals and their respective nation-states. This view is shared by many Canadian political economists who, carrying on a longstanding debate, continue to argue that Canada should be understood as either a secondary imperialist power or a dependency of the American empire. In this dissertation, I argue that contemporary theories of imperialism and dependency neglect a number of qualitative changes to the global political economy over the last 40 years that challenge the conceptual framework on which they are based. Through a comparative-historical analysis of the changing assemblages of territory, authority, and rights that have sustained the Royal Bank of Canada's activities from 1864 to 2014, I argue that we should instead treat globalization as a novel epoch constituted by a centrifugal organizing dynamic that is moving the rights of capital and the authority over those rights to the transnational level. I claim that this process is transforming the nation-state from a capability to grow and develop national capitals into a capability for globalizing capitals as a result of new rights that restrict the ability of the nation-state to legislate against corporate interests. The dissertation concludes by reflecting on what this means for the future of Canadian liberal democracy and the struggle against global capitalism.


title: On Designing Adaptive Data Structures with Adaptive Data "Sub"-Structures

abstract: This thesis proposes the use of "Adaptive" Data-Structures (ADSs) that invoke reinforcement learning schemes from the theory of Learning Automata (LA). The ADSs work in conjunction with select re-organization rules to update themselves as they receive queries from the Environment. The result of such a process is to minimize the cost of query accesses. The Environments under consideration are those that exhibit a so-called "locality of reference", and are referred to as Non-stationary Environments (NSEs). A hierarchy of data "sub"-structures is used to design Singly-Linked Lists (SLLs) on SLLs, which contains outer and sub-list contexts. The Object Migration Automaton (OMA) family of reinforcement schemes are employed to capture the probabilistic dependence of the elements query accesses from the Environment within sub-lists. The Enhanced-OMA (EOMA), the Pursuit-EOMA (PEOMA), and the Transitivity-PEOMA (TPEOMA) are incorporated into the hierarchical SLLs. The results are currently the state-of-the-art methods for SLLs operating in NSEs.


title: A Method for Documenting the Goals and KPIs of Accelerators and Startups

abstract:
Decision makers in accelerators and startups need to understand how their businesses are currently performing. A comparison between business goals, performance indicators and market benchmarks are a problem for both sides. The central question that accelerators and their associated startups face is what Key Performance Indicators (KPI) they should measure to know whether they achieved their business goals?
This thesis proposes the use of goal-oriented modelling as a technique to identify the goals that accelerators and startups pursue and the corresponding KPIs. Its contribution is threefold: it introduces a method for documenting the goals and KPIs of accelerators and their associated startups, conducts an empirical demonstration of the method, and documents an initial goal model that provides a basis for further research. The results are relevant to managers of accelerators and startups as well as entrepreneurship researchers.


title: Investigating How Boundary Genes Control Abcission in Arabidopsis Thaliana

abstract: The shedding, or abscission, of plant organs occurs in four stages at specialized junctions in the plant called abscission zones (AZs). Premature abscission can pose a problem for farmers by reducing crop yield. Studies in Arabidopsis thaliana have identified organ boundary genes BLADE-ON-PETIOLE1/2 (BOP1/2) as essential for the formation of AZs. However, downstream effectors of BOP1/2 in this process are unknown. To execute developmental programs in inflorescences, BOP1/2 require TGA basic leucine zipper transcription factors for recruitment to DNA and TALE homeodomain proteins ATH1 and KNAT6 for boundary patterning. How these factors contribute to abscission is unclear. Here, I show that TGA and TALE transcription factors contribute to BOP-dependent formation of AZs. I also begin to explore a role for this module in organ separation. Collectively, my work reveals a role for boundary genes at different steps of abscission for potential application in crops.


title: Selection of DNA Aptamers for Mycotoxins

abstract: Mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and patulin (PAT) are toxic fungal metabolites that contaminate food commodities worldwide. They pose health risks for humans and animals, and have a negative impact on the economy. Mycotoxin detection is vital to ensure public safety. Although traditional detection techniques for mycotoxin detection (e.g. LC-MS) have proven to be highly selective and sensitive, simpler, more rapid, and more cost-effective approaches are required. Aptamer-based techniques are a possible solution. Aptamers are oligonucleotides that can bind to molecules with high affinity and specificity, generated via an in vitro process known as SELEX. We attempted to generate aptamers for DON and PAT. The selection process for DON was challenging and it would be beneficial to continue SELEX, whereas the process for PAT was simpler thus sequences for potential aptamers were obtained. This work has contributed to the production of aptamer-based assays and biosensors for mycotoxin detection.


title: Towards a Performance-Based Fire Design Framework for Composite Steel Deck Construction in Canada

abstract: In Canada, buildings are designed for fire safety in a predominately prescriptive manner, especially the structural design of those buildings for the fire limit state. The research presented herein first assessed the Canadian literature to determine if performance-based fire design (PBFD) could be implemented nationally and then analyzed what precedents existed in Canada. Next, benchmark modelling was performed to transparently demonstrate the competency that is needed to assess a structure for a real fire. Building on this, a novel alternative solution was proposed which incorporated PBFD to achieve quantifiable benefits in robustness, economy, and resilience, as well as identify mechanisms in the response of the floor. Finally, a framework is proposed for progressing PBFD responsibly in Canada. This is sorely lacking in the Canadian literature if PBFD is to see more development and implementation for structural fire solutions.


title: Selection and use of DNA aptamers for applications within the central nervous system

abstract: Derived by an iterative in vitro selection process termed Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX), aptamers are short single-stranded oligonucleotides that bind to their cognate targets with high affinity and selectivity. Generally, aptamers have been widely used in biological and pre-clinical medical applications. A comprehensive analysis of aptamer selection data maintained in the Aptamer Database identified factors that should be carefully considered upon the design of selection experiments to optimize success. These findings should be applied to selections for nervous system related targets to improve the quality of selected aptamers. Specifically, the nervous system presents an especially interesting field of investigation. For example the aptamer target thrombin is a protein involved in the coagulation cascade and has important relevancy for stroke. The development of an aptamer-based pH-driven DNA nanomachine (pHAST) for the specific catch-and-release of thrombin is described. This work is an important example of how existing aptamers could be incorporated into a nanodevice to add specific functionality for applications within the nervous system. Dopamine is a small molecule neurotransmitter implicated in mental illness and neurodegenerative disease. The ability of dopamine-binding aptamers to attenuate perseveration and locomotor behaviour associated with dopamine over-activity was shown in live rodents. Finally, an aptamer-gold nanoparticle based sensor was developed based on a dopamine binding aptamer, DopaA20min, identified from a novel selection.


title: Raman Spectroscopy of Human Lens Epithelial Cells Exposed to a Low-Dose Range of Ionizing Radiation

abstract: Recent studies indicate that ionizing radiation (IR) induced opacification in the lens of the eye occurs at lower doses (< 2Gy) than past protection guidelines had assumed. Research is currently focused on identifying early signs of the lens degradation that leads to cataract formation, and in developing non-invasive assays capable of detecting low dose exposures to the lens of the eye. Raman spectroscopy (RS) is a non-invasive, vibrational spectroscopic technique based on the inelastic scattering of light by molecular vibrations. It is capable of providing information on the molecular makeup of biological samples that can be used for classification purposes. This work focuses on the application of RS combined with multivariate statistical analysis to detect IR induced changes in vitro within human lens epithelial (HLE) cells exposed to a broad dose-range (0.01-5 Gy). The development of a new Raman microscope which will increase data acquisition throughput is also discussed.


title: Missing Responses in Generalized Linear Mixed Models Where the Missingness is Nonignorable

abstract: Missing data are common in many clinical studies. In this thesis, we review methods for analyzing incomplete data using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). GLMMs are widely used in clustered and longitudinal data analyses, where random effects are used to model subject or cluster specific effects. We review algorithms for finding the ML estimators in GLMMs with nonignorable missing responses. We present an application of the GLMM using actual data from a clinical study. We also conduct a simulation study to assess the performance of the ML method in the presence of nonignorable missing responses. The simulation results indicate that under misspecified missing data models one can observe systemic bias in the regression estimators and also poor coverage probabilities from the confidence intervals. We conclude that when analyzing incomplete data with nonignorable missing responses, it is necessary to incorporate a suitable missing data model into the observed data likelihood function in order to obtain unbiased and efficient estimators of the model parameters.


title: An Adaptive System for Allocating Virtual Machines in Clouds using Autoregression

abstract: This thesis proposes an adaptive system to allocate virtual machines in a cloud environment to reduce clients' waiting time while reducing the idle resources for the service provider. Further, the thesis demonstrates the viability of the proposed system via a prototype built using the Citrix XenServer and a machine learning algorithm which makes the system capable of working with minimum human interactions. The proposed architecture is designed in collaboration with and based on the requirements of DLS Technology so that they can migrate their flagship product (vKey) to a cloud environment keeping security and performance as a priority. The incoming requests from clients are handled by a pool manager which takes smart decisions thus making the user experience seamless. A performance analysis of the prototype is carried out to prove the effectiveness of the proposed strategies.


title: An Edge Computing-Based Complex Event Processing Technique for Sensor-Based Systems

abstract:
Complex Event Processing (CEP) on sensor-based systems often uses a mobile gateway agent to forward raw sensor data streams to a remote back-end server. Complex events that are triggered by multiple raw events are then detected at the back-end server. This approach relies on a persistent network connection between the back-end server and the mobile device.
This thesis proposes an edge computing-based mobile CEP technique in which CEP is performed on the mobile edge device using an embedded CEP engine and the detected complex events are sent to the back-end server for further processing. A proof-of-concept prototype for this system has been built using a Siddhi CEP engine and a WSO2 server. A thorough performance analysis is performed for comparing the proposed system with the back-end server-based system. The proposed system can handle intermittent network disconnections and leads to reduced user cost and energy consumption for the mobile device.


title: Microstructural Quantitative Analysis of Polymer amended Fluid Fine Tailing’s Using Digital Image Processing Techinques

abstract: Morphological information is extracted from different images using a sequence of image processing techniques, designed by trial and error to produce repeatable information for the studied material, flocculated fluid fine tailings (FFT). The designed image processing method produces binary images defining pore-space and solid particles (solid grains or flocs). The binary images are then analyzed using a software, primarily "Fiji-Image J" for quantitative analysis of the image for tends in pore and particle size distributions. The samples that were imaged were obtained from amended FFT dewatering experiments, comprising many replicates of 0.10 m high columns that were sampled over months. The tailings were dosed with a high molecular anionic polymer at two doses (600 and 800 ppm polymer per dry tailings). Columns either had one way or two-way drainage. The most dramatic observation was the increase in floc size over 48 hours using optical microscopy.


title: Spatial and temporal trends of snow cover properties in a large subarctic basin: implications for basin-wide, end-of-winter snow water equivalent estimates

abstract: Basin-wide snow water equivalent (SWE) is an important hydrologic variable. For large basins, SWE is often estimated using a sparse network of sites. In this study, historical snow surveys (1978-2017) conducted across the 13,700 km2 Snare River basin near Yellowknife, NWT, were analyzed to identify local and regional scales of variability as well as temporal trends. Two field seasons of enhanced surveys (2016/17) were conducted. Snow regimes were found to differ significantly between sites north and south of treeline. No statistically significant temporal trends in SWE were detected but snow depth was found to be increasing while snow density was decreasing. Surveys on lakes showed consistently lower SWE than in adjacent uplands by approximately 23%. North of treeline sites consistently contributed much greater error to basin-wide SWE estimates than sites to the south. The consistent regional differences were used to inform sampling strategies for each region.


title: Composed Product and Factorization of Cyclotomic Polynomials Over Finite Fields

abstract: Let $q=p^e$ be a power of prime number $p$ and $\fq$ be a finite field with $q$ elements. Let $\Phi_n$ be the $nth$ cyclotomic polynomial over $\fq$ such that $q$ is congruent to $\pm 1$ modulo each prime divisor of $n$. We use composed products to obtain an explicit factorization of $\Phi_n$ over the finite field $\fq$.


title: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Campanian) Dinoflagellate Cyst Assemblages and Palaeoproductivity Signals from the Kanguk Formation, Sverdrup Basin, Nunavut, Canada

abstract: The response of the Polar Sea to Cretaceous carbon perturbations is poorly understood and palaeotemperature data from the Arctic are limited. To understand high latitude palaeoceanographic dynamics, dinocyst assemblages were collected from a composite Cenomanian to Campanian section from the Bastion Ridge and Kanguk formations within the Sverdrup Basin at Glacier Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island and Slidre Fiord, Ellesmere Island. Dinocyst assemblages were compared to carbon isotope and benthic foraminiferal age data indicating that age ranges for several Late Cretaceous dinocyst taxa need regional revision. At Glacier Fiord a turnover in dinocyst assemblages reveal a change from a brackish to marine palaeoenvironmental change before the onset of OAE 2. A correlation between δ13Corg, peridiniod dinoflagellate cysts and cooling global sea surface temperatures indicate an increase in palaeoproductivity during a Coniacian to Campanian cooling trend. Three dinocyst biozonations are proposed for the Sverdrup Basin.


title: Mountainside Housing: A Modular Counterpoint to Erickson's Mountaintop Campus

abstract: This thesis proposes a mountainside housing ensemble as counterpoint to the Erickson-designed monumental Simon Fraser University campus atop Burnaby Mountain. Simon Fraser's resolutely horizontal Brutalist architecture comprises a constructed landscape and an architecture of finality. Might the flanks of Burnaby Mountain welcome an architecture of un-finality, adjustability, and change, as balancing counterpoint to the formal campus? Availing itself of an armature and modular building system, Mountainside Housing imagines a student village that will evolve over time. Premised on the idea of a Gondola station to connect Burnaby Mountain with the Vancouver Lower Mainland, the settlement will provide flexible and affordable student housing. Inspired by the treehouse dwellings students have built in the woods on Burnaby Mountain and by Erickson and Jeffrey Lindsay's tensegrity structure at Convocation Mall, the architecture reconciles finality and ephemerality while constructing the space generated by the slope's falling ground plane, between ground and sky.


title: Policy in the Peaks:  Cybercartography and Traditional Ecological Practices to Diversify Pasture Policy-Making in Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan

abstract:
Kyrgyzstan's pasture management policies have been challenged by the limited capacity of its nascent, village-level committees and pasture user groups. The collapse of supporting Soviet-era institutions that collected up-to-date information means policies have little connection with actual practice on the ground. As a result, rural Kyrgyz livelihoods have stagnated in Naryn province.
A cybercartographic approach with user-generated data is implemented to visualize traditional practices on an online atlas. Both the produced atlas and the process of making the atlas are examined for their impact on pasture stakeholders' roles in pasture management.
Spatial and interview results show spatially different representations of pastures by various groups and a dialogue-building effect of visualizing practices on an atlas. Demonstrating spatial and thematic linkages between groups offers new partnerships and deeper possible engagement of pasture users in managing pastures. These results are discussed in the context of informing a future pasture governance tool.


title: In Defence of Invisiblized Noncitizens: Seeking Justice in the Canadian Immigration Detention System

abstract: The Canadian immigration detention system is indefinitely holding noncitizens embodying precarious statuses without setting time limits to their deprivation of liberty. Presided over by Immigration Division board members, detention review hearings are supposed to be a means through which they can seek release. This thesis demonstrates, however, that immigration detainees have severely limited access to justice through these quasi-judicial proceedings where the evidentiary burden is shifted on to them. They face overlapping challenges in seeking legal representation while held in immigration holding centres and provincial prisons, including lack of information on their right to counsel, limited Legal Aid funding, and language barriers. Using interviews with lawyers and former detainees, and non-participant observation of detention reviews, this thesis argues immigration detainees are largely invisiblized by their limited access to justice, which is fostered by the Canadian sovereign state and its highly securitized political context that is particularly wary of racialized noncitizens.


title: Camera-Based Selection with Low-Cost Mobile VR Head-Mounted Displays

abstract: I present a study comparing selection techniques for low-cost mobile VR devices, such as Google Cardboard. My objective was to assess if alternatives to common head-ray selection methods were feasible with current computer vision tracking approaches on the mobile. In the first experiment, I compared three selection techniques, air touch, head ray, and finger ray. Overall, hand-based selection technique (air touch) performed much worse than ray-based selection techniques. In the second experiment, I compared different combinations of selection techniques and selection activation methods. Results indicated that the built-in Cardboard button worked well with head ray and hand gesture with ray-based techniques can be an interaction potential on mobile VR. I concluded that camera-based ray selection techniques and hand-based activation mechanism are promising on Mobile VR in the future.


title: Advancing Reconciliation?  Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and Perspectives in the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Agreements

abstract: There is a long history in Canada of Indigenous peoples remaining on the outside of water governance, despite widespread agreement that environmental governance should include all affected parties. The importance of reconciling relationships with Indigenous peoples has launched a number of legislative attempts to improve their involvement in governance, however significant challenges remain. This is true for the Mackenzie River Basin, a transboundary watershed with a diverse and dispersed population. While water governance of the Basin has involved provincial and territorial jurisdictions, the extent of Indigenous participation has yet to be determined. Through a content analysis of the Master Agreement and the 2015 Bilateral between the NWT and Alberta and semi-structured interviews, this study investigates how Indigenous peoples and their perspectives have been represented in governance. Findings suggest that current governance continues to filter Indigenous perspectives through government and fail to achieve a nation-to-nation relationship.


title: Design Optimization of Dental Implants Using Additively Manufactured Lattice Materials

abstract: A dental implant is a biocompatible surgical component placed into the jawbone to support dental prosthesis including bridges, crowns, or denture replacements. Currently, dental implants are constructed employing solid materials, coated with biocompatible layers. Since bone is a living tissue that is constantly modified in response to external loading, redistributed mechanical loading might cause bone resorption and interface failure, all of which have been notable problems for orthopedic implants. To overcome these issues, we propose a new design for the dental implant structure that can simultaneously minimize bone loss and interface failure. Multiscale and multi-objective design optimization of dental implants employing lattice materials were performed by considering lattice structure in implant design. The proposed design was capable of reducing simultaneously the interface failure and bone loss, as well as implant weight


title: Tilted Fiber Bragg Grating Active Heater for Controlled and Localised Hyperthermia

abstract:
We present data from localized heat inducement studies at both cellular and tissue levels along with a computational model built to predict the temperature increase and damage extent in tissues receiving hyperthermia treatment by a fiber-based active heater. This novel fiber-based active heater serves as a heat source and a temperature sensor. Five important insights are highlighted from this thesis work.
First, heat-induced controlled cell deaths were observed experimentally in the three cell lines with MCF-10A being more susceptible to heat compared to HEK 293 and MCF7 cells. Second, comparison between the phantom tissue and ex vivo experimental and computational results shows a lesion size of 5×12 mm and 4.87×11.6 mm in the phantom tissue and 7×15 mm and 8.8×14.3 mm in the ex vivo studies at pumping power of 1.8 W for 10 minutes respectively. Thus, this computational model is able to provide information about the heat transfer characteristics caused by the active heater in living biological tissue.
Third, under similar conditions of pumping power and heating time to that used in the ex vivo experiment, we found that the blood perfusion has a profound effect on the amount of induced heat at the active heater surface (or at the heat source). Because of the small dimension of lethal volume, heat dissipation by blood with a volumetric perfusion rate of 6.4×10-3 Kg/m3s in the liver tissues is very small.
Forth, in all the experimental and computational studies, hyperthermia position and damage extent can be controlled by the active heater through managing the temperature increase and the power supply during heating, thereby avoiding the transient effect of heat outside of the target volume. Thus, this hybrid simulation/active heater approach may have the potential to provide reliable temperature increase information before and during a procedure in which controlled localized heating is required.
Finally, we show that when packaged, the fiber-based active heater does not suffer from a significant reduction in heating efficiency. Hyperthermia-induced lesions by the packaged active heater were in order of 3.9×14.5 mm and 3.787×5.24 mm.


title: The Impact of Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) Deficiency in a Paraquat Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease

abstract: The cause of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unknown. Environmental toxicants such as paraquat have been linked to the characteristic dopaminergic (DA) neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra (SN); nutrition may also play a role. A common polymorphism (677C>T) in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), a folic acid metabolism enzyme, is associated with increased PD incidence. Using a mouse model that mimics this polymorphism, this study aimed to determine whether MTHFR deficiency leads to enhanced degeneration in a paraquat PD model. Male 3-month-old Mthfr+/+ and Mthfr+/- mice received paraquat or saline injections. Mthfr+/- mice demonstrated motor and a trend for memory impairment compared to Mthfr+/+ mice. No differences in SN DA neuron numbers or antioxidant activity were seen, however, increased oxidative stress and antioxidant activity were observed within the dorsal striatum of Mthfr+/- mice. These results suggest potential enhanced vulnerability to paraquat due to MTHFR deficiency through changes in such processes within this region.


title: Advanced Neural-Based Model Generation and Extrapolation Techniques for Microwave Applications

abstract: Neural-based modeling techniques have been recognized as important vehicles in the microwave computer-aided design (CAD) area in addressing the growing challenges of designing next generation microwave device, circuits and systems. The purpose of this thesis is to develop advanced neural-based model generation and extrapolation techniques for microwave applications. The proposed techniques take advantage of the high-efficiency of automated model generation algorithm, the cost-effective concept of knowledge-based neural network and the generalization capability of extrapolation techniques, to achieve reliable models for microwave applications. An automated knowledge-based neural network model generation method using a new adaptive sampling technique for microwave applications is firstly proposed. The proposed method integrates all the subtasks involved in knowledge-based neural modeling, thereby facilitating a more efficient and automated model development framework. The new adaptive sampling technique incorporates interpolation techniques to determine the additional training samples required and their location in model input space. In this way, the proposed method can improve the efficiency and reduce the expense of knowledge-based neural model development. We propose a unified automated model structure adaptation algorithm for knowledge-based modeling using l1 optimization to automatically determine the type and topology of the mapping structure in a knowledge-based model. A new unified knowledge-based model structure to encompass various types of mappings is proposed. Using the distinctive property for feature selection of l1 optimization, the proposed method can automatically distinguish whether a mapping is needed or not and whether a mapping is linear or nonlinear. It is a more flexible and systematic technique and can further speed up the knowledge-based neural model development. As a further advancement, we propose an advanced multi-dimensional extrapolation technique for neural-based microwave modeling to make the model can be more reliably used outside the training range. Grid formulation in the extrapolation region is introduced and the proposed extrapolation is performed over these grids. We present multi-dimensional cubic polynomial extrapolation formulation and propose to use optimization to obtain extrapolated values at grid points. The validity of the proposed extrapolation method is demonstrated by both EM optimization example and nonlinear microwave simulation examples.


title: Advances in Optimization and Inverse Modeling Techniques for Microwave Filters

abstract: Optimization and modeling techniques are the essential part of design process of microwave filters. Space mapping is a recognized method for speeding up electromagnetic (EM) optimization, and has been applied to microwave filter design. In the first part of this thesis, a cognition-driven formulation of space mapping method is proposed and applied to EM-based filter optimization to increase optimization efficiency and the ability to avoid being trapped in local minima. This new technique utilizes two sets of intermediate feature space parameters, including feature frequency parameters and ripple height parameters. The design variables are mapped to the feature frequency parameters, which are further mapped to the ripple height parameters. By formulating the cognition-driven optimization directly in the feature space, our method increases optimization efficiency and the ability to avoid being trapped in local minima. In the second part of this thesis, a multivalued neural network is proposed to solve the non-uniqueness (multivalued) problem in inverse modeling. Our proposed technique can be effectively applied to parameter extraction of microwave filters. We propose a multivalued neural network inverse modeling technique to associate a single set of electrical parameters with multiple sets of geometrical or physical parameters. One set of geometrical or physical parameters is called one value of our proposed inverse model. Our proposed multivalued neural network is structured to accommodate multiple values for the model output. We also propose a new training error function to focus on matching each training sample using only one value of our proposed inverse model, while other values are free and can be trained to match other contradictory samples. In this way, our proposed multivalued neural network can learn all the training data by automatically redirecting contradictory information into different values of the proposed inverse model. Therefore, our proposed technique can solve the non-uniqueness problem in a simpler and more automated way compared to existing ANN inverse modeling techniques. Both proposed techniques in this thesis are illustrated by several microwave filter examples. Our proposed techniques can be used in the design and tuning processes of microwave filters.


title: Economic Optimization of Campus Energy System Using Real Time Pricing

abstract: This thesis aims to design a community energy system (CES) with controls optimizing for cost savings. This research treats electrical and thermal domains as an integrated system to find a global minimum cost of a community energy system. A proposed methodology to quantify an electric grid user's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is presented and then demonstrated with a case study. Furthermore, an optimization methodology is presented to lower an electrical grid user's electrical bill through the implementation of a battery energy storage system. This cost optimization showcases with a case study demonstrating that optimizing to lower costs has an added benefit of lowering GHG emissions and removing peak demand capacity from the grid. This optimization methodology is than expanded to lowering a CES's electrical and gas bill by way of controlling an on-site generator, a battery energy storage system and a thermal energy storage system.


title: Governance in the Public Sector Internal Audit: A Dynamic Comparative Perspective

abstract:
The 21st century was marked by the "internal audit explosion" in all sectors of the global economy. However, very little is known about its origins, characteristics, scale and impact on public sectors. This thesis advances the emerging and poorly understood field of public-sector internal auditing (IA) by providing the first comprehensive examination of the public-sector reforms that led to IA explosion from the dynamic and comparative analytical perspectives.
The thesis argues that public-sector IA explosion is a manifestation of a paradigmatic shift in the global IA profession, led by the global Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and dubbed by the author as a "Value-Added Management Partner Paradigm" (VAMP). The methodology is based on the author's conceptual framework for the analysis of IA policy dynamics and variation, based on adaptation of Howlett and colleagues (2009) meta-theory of policy making as an over-arching research philosophy, and incorporating a range of mid-level theories, frameworks, and concepts from three fields of knowledge: public policy, business administration, and IA profession.
The study produced several important findings. First, the source of VAMP genesis - the modern IA industry - went through three professional paradigms during 1941-2017, the last of which became a global best-practice blueprint for the IA activity and IA reforms. Second, VAMP was strongly recognized and advocated by the key supra-national institutions, because it fit with their international regimes and agendas. Third, there is strong evidence that over the last two decades a global adoption of the VAMP model of IA activity occurred in the public sectors across the world, leading to a high degree of convergence in the IA practices. Fourth, case studies on IA reforms in the national Westminster governments of the UK, Australia, and Canada as early adopters of VAMP, demonstrated that while the VAMP has taken the firm ground in the IA sectors there, the countries vary with respect to the established legislative and normative base and design of the IA governance regimes.
The major implication is that VAMP-inspired public-sector IA reforms are still work-in-progress and their outcomes are difficult to assess.


title: Adjoint-Based Optimization Scheme for Characterizing Sources of Fugitive Emissions

abstract:
Fugitive emissions, such as leaking components, are important sources of methane and other pollutants within the oil and gas sector. These gas emission sources are difficult to mitigate because their existence, location, and magnitude are unknown, especially within facilities which may have thousands of potential source components. Improving the speed at which these sources are characterized (located and quantified) can improve these mitigation efforts.
Using sparse concentration information (from finite sensor locations) and estimated wind fields, a scalar transport adjoint-based optimization approach was developed to characterize both single and multiple simultaneous gas releases representative of the fugitive emissions problem. This approach was tested using data from an open-field gas release to determine a single source location within 5 m and source magnitude within 13%. Simulated simultaneous releases over a complex 3D geometry based on an Alberta gas plant were also characterized using both detailed transient wind and wind fields approximated with a series of steady-state wind simulations more readily implemented in a field application. Magnitudes were predicted within 10% and major regions located.
By extending the method with a database of pre-computed retro-tracers generated on simplified steady-state wind fields, the required computational time for the solution optimization was reduced by a factor of 200-600, making computations feasible on a desktop machine and raising the possibility of near-continuous fugitive emissions quantification in the future. Major sources were successfully located, and magnitudes estimated within -75 to -32%, even with limited wind coverage (60° direction variation).
Turbulent Schmidt number selection (which scales diffusivity) had little effect on estimated source locations, but strongly influenced estimated magnitudes. For a tested turbulent Schmidt number range of 0.33 (diffuse) to 2.0 (highly advective), the predicted emission rates for the open field release varied between -35 to +128% of actual. Buildings dampened this effect, suggesting that open-field estimates can act as an error bound.


title: Hydrologic modelling and prediction of extreme streamflow events in the Jock River Watershed, Ontario, Canada

abstract: Historical and predicted extreme streamflows were analysed for the Jock River watershed, using Generalized Extreme Values (GEV) and Streamflow Threshold Level (STL) methods. The historical streamflow shows earlier snow melt peaks (~10 days), decreased snow melt peaks, and decreases in consecutive drought days (CDD), whereas the summer-fall season peaks and mean annual streamflow (MAS) have been increasing. The Jock River Watershed Model (JRWM) was developed using the Raven modelling framework and achieved a Nash-Sutcliffe of 0.76 with reduced capacities to characterize low flows. Predicted streamflow changes from climate change scenarios include snow melt peaks decreased by 50% and shifted seven weeks earlier by 2099. GEV analysis showed that extremes are decreasing by ~10% for the snow melt peaks, while increases in MAS are continuing and the summer-fall peaks are increasing by ~30%. STL analysis for CDD shows the magnitude and number of CDD events are increasing by ~300%.


title: “Make No Mistake—This was a Terrorist Attack”: Examining the Discursive Construction of Terrorism in Canada

abstract: 'Terrorism' has been a mainstream discussion since the early 2000s. Though much academic and government research has been produced on the subject, consistent and appropriate application of the term seems to be elusive. As a result, the modern incarnation of the word carries baggage of the event that inspired its political appropriation and relies on synonyms to maneuver the limitations of legal definitions. I use critical discourse analysis to explore how terrorism and terrorist identity have been discursively constructed in the 2017 Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada and its predecessors. My analysis suggests that this series of reports strategically manipulates Canadian readers by artificially inflating the 'terrorist threat' and securitizing policies and Canadians themselves. The 'war on terror' narrative persists as the difference between 'political' and 'legal' terrorism becomes increasingly unclear. These findings indicate the need for further discursive analysis of the politicization of terror in Canada.


title: Molecular Responses to Whole-Body Dehydration in a Sequenced Vertebrate, Xenopus Laevis: Regulation of Antioxidants and Metabolism by the Sirtuin Protein Deacetylases

abstract:
Whole-body dehydration in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, increases hematocrit and blood viscosity, which restrains oxygen delivery. This causes the resting heart rate, differences in arterio-venous blood oxygen contents, and whole-animal lactate to increase.
I hypothesized that dehydration involves changes in cellular signaling through alterations of protein posttranslational acetylation, which can increase antioxidants and regulate metabolism. Seven Sirtuin (Sirt) protein deacetylases were profiled at the mRNA level with RT-qPCR in 6 tissues (liver, muscle, heart, kidney, brain, and lung) of X. laevis under control versus dehydration conditions. At least some sirt transcripts increased in all tissues except for kidney and brain. Similarly, global Sirt activity assays found that Sirt deacetylase activity increased in liver, muscle, heart, and lung. Western blots revealed the relative levels of Ac-SOD2. Results showed that acetylated SOD2 decreased with whole-body dehydration in the lung, heart, and kidney, suggesting that Sirt3 deacetylase activity is triggered by dehydration to activate antioxidant activity in these tissues.
Sirt/PGC-1α/FoxO-mediated upregulation of antioxidants was investigated in lung and brain of X. laevis. Results showed upregulations of these three controllers of antioxidants in lung (but not brain) during dehydration, as evidenced by analyses at the mRNA, protein, and phospho-protein levels. Results suggested that dehydration-induced antioxidant upregulation in X. laevis was mediated by Sirts, in addition to PGC-1a and the FoxO1/3 transcription factors in a tissue-specific manner. Antioxidant capacity assays showed that lung sustained a decrease in antioxidant capacity during dehydration, which suggests that the Sirt/PGC-1α/FoxO response may be a compensatory one to restore antioxidants levels.
In the liver, muscle, and heart, PGC-1α and Hif-1α were assessed for their roles in activating ureagenesis, angiogenesis, and remodelling of the metabolism. MEF2-mediated PGC-1α upregulation occurred in the liver, but not the muscle or heart, whereas Hif-1α increased in all 3 tissues with dehydration. Relative mRNA levels of genes related to glucose metabolism, angiogenesis, ureagenesis and β-oxidation were found to be differentially regulated in response to dehydration. Together, the results suggest that PGC-1α and Hif-1α are modulating gene expression during dehydration to suppress β-oxidation in favour of glycolysis, while ureagenesis and angiogenesis are promoted in liver.


title: Development of Aptamers and Aptamer-Based Materials for Agricultural Applications

abstract: With an increasing global population, there is a need for more efficient fertilizers to alleviate the negative environmental impacts of fertilizer runoff. Developments in nanotechnology could lead to fertilizers that interact with plants more efficiently. Aptamers are oligonucleotide receptors that fold into unique shapes and bind target molecules with high affinity and selectivity. Aptamers are generated through the in vitro evolution process called SELEX. Aptamers have been incorporated into sensors, diagnostics, therapeutics, targeted-delivery vehicles, and responsive materials. Biomolecules called exudates that are associated with improved nutrient uptake by crops have been identified and could serve as targets for specific fertilizer delivery. This work describes the selection of DNA aptamers binding to crop exudate, L-serine, for use in a smart fertilizer system. SELEX for small molecules has some inherent challenges, and three SELEX strategies paired with high-throughput sequencing analysis were implemented to improve the selection process. Aptamers developed from an original DNA library, as well as from DNA libraries modified from a previous small molecule selection are described. Aptamers binding to L-serine in solution were identified, and were modified to lower their production cost, and to increase their stability for use in fertilizer applications. Finally, an aptamer-polymersome nanostructure was investigated for potential use as a targeted-delivery vehicle.


title: Folding as Utility, and Responsiveness: Prototyping in Ottawa

abstract: This thesis studies the utility of folding and how it could be a beneficial addition to structures with regards to responsiveness. Folding has been used previously as a design technique for architectural forms. The built forms, however, rarely fold themselves. This thesis explores the forms that can be created through folding structures and the potential opportunities for use that they present. The folding techniques were discovered primarily through drawings and models that developed into folding structures that are responsive to the environment around them and informational input. Three folding structures were developed as an exhibition of the folding methods and the ways in which they can be used. These three structures are sited through Ottawa, Canada and serve as both useful, interactive public infrastructures and an addition to making these public areas more dynamic.


title: Humean Scepticism as an Alternative in the Moral Realism and Moral Anti-Realism Debate

abstract: Traditionally, the realism and anti-realism debate within metaphysics has been restricted to a dichotomy between realism and anti-realism. This dichotomy trickles down to more specific areas within the debate. One of these areas effected by the traditional realism and anti-realism dichotomy is moral realism and moral anti-realism. This thesis focuses on moral realism and moral anti-realism, and shows that restricting the debate to only moral realism and moral anti-realism is a false dichotomy. It does this through providing an alternative option to the two traditionally given: Humean Scepticism. The goal of this thesis is to argue that Humean Scepticism is a viable third option in the moral realism and moral anti-realism debate. This thesis demonstrates that scepticism should sometimes be taken seriously and acknowledged in some debates that it has traditionally been excluded from.


title: Pairwise Estimating Equations for the Analysis of Linked Data

abstract: In official statistics record linkage is an important activity, which consists in identifying records from the same individual in one or many files. It is used to combine data sources including administrative, survey or big data sources. In practice, record link- age is subject to linkage errors when it relies on quasi-identifiers, such as names and demographic variables, which are non-unique and recorded with errors. Accounting for these errors is an important but challenging problem. In this work, two methods are described for the primary analysis of such data, i.e. an analysis by someone with unfettered access to all the related micro-data and project information. Both solutions are estimating equation methods, which explicitly account for the uncertainty about the match status of record pairs and require the marginal distribution of a pair agreement vector. The fifirst methodology is model-based and operates under the assumption of conditional independence between the pairs agreement vectors and the responses given the covariates. The second methodology uses a model-assisted estimating equation, which dispenses with the above assumption but requires reliable clerical-reviews.


title: Case Study of a Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC) in a Canadian City

abstract: This project involves an exploratory, qualitative case study of one Canadian Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC). The purpose of the research was to examine how Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) and CYACs respond to the needs of victims and their families and what frameworks guide their responses. Since this research is exploratory, no hypotheses were developed. Method: Sixteen in-person semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and analyzed using QSR NVivo 11 Pro. Results: Several themes were drawn from the interviews illustrating the diverse dynamics that CACs and CYACs face including collaborative tensions, mental health and the criminal justice system.


title: Reining in the Crown’s Authority over Dissolution: The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act of the United Kingdom versus Fixed-Date Election Laws in Canada

abstract: The argument that the Crown's authority over dissolution gives the Prime Minister an "undemocratic" advantage and allows him to commit "abuses of power" fuelled the shift toward fixed-date elections in Canada and fixed-term parliaments in the United Kingdom. But that trend has manifested itself in different ways in each country. This thesis will explain why Canada and the United Kingdom have taken such divergent approaches to the same issue.


title: Imagining the Age of Oil: Case Studies in British Petrocultures, 1865-1935

abstract: This dissertation investigates the cultural history of oil in Britain over a seventy-year period, between 1865 and 1935. While much has been written about the economic, political, diplomatic, geopolitical, and military aspects of oil during this timeframe, there have been few investigations into the ways that cultural factors have shaped the history of oil in Britain, a gap in the literature that this study seeks to fill. Britain was one of the first industrialized nations to make the transition to oil and in the period under consideration, everyday consumption of the commodity increased dramatically, especially in the cities, where new oil technologies for heating, illumination, and transportation became commonplace conveniences. Using understudied sources such as public lectures, cartoons, advertisements, exhibitions, and architecture, the dissertation examines the discourses of transition that were created to help Britons navigate their changing energy landscapes. It maps the complexities, opportunities, and impasses that accompanied the historical rise of oil in Britain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and argues that the system of things that brought oil from the wellhead to the consumer was predicated on a vast constellation of ideas.


title: Problems on Permutation and Irreducible Polynomials Over Finite Fields

abstract: This integrated thesis is dedicated to the study of polynomials over finite fields, notably permutation polynomials and their compositional inverses, existence of irreducible polynomials with prescribed coefficients, as well as ennumeration of N-free and primitive elements with prescribed trace.


title: Observing Youth Punishment in the Social Systems of Law and Education

abstract: This dissertation explores youth punishment in Canada in the social systems of law and education. It specifically focuses on three problems in the sociology of youth punishment: a gloomy state of theorizing; the absence of a more frontally distinct analysis of youth punishment beyond the realm of exclusion; and the underdevelopment of inter-systemic and intra-systemic features of youth punishment. This study confronts these issues with an exploratory qualitative analysis. The questions guiding this work include: how are youth punished in the systems of law and education? And, in the context of youth punishment, are the social systems of law and education linked, and if so, how? While many important contributions focus on the effects of punishment and what (over)determines punishment, my work addresses the absence of an empirical and theoretical understanding of youth punishment from the point of view of social systems. This project is different from other scholarship in the field as it relies on insights from Niklas Luhmann's contemporary social systems theory. This perspective allows me to foreground the inter-systemic and intra-systemic features of youth punishment in law and education. My research highlights the peculiarities of punishment in law and education and shows how punishment can connect social systems. I expose how there are distinctly educational and distinctly legal features of youth punishment. First, I present a suite of intra-systemic features of punishment in law. The peculiarities of youth punishment in law are captured with law's focus on protection, distinguishing fools from fiends, observing the character and consequences of youth behaviour, and pursuing accountability. Second, I show the features of youth punishment in education by documenting the locality of behaviour, school climate, and progressive discipline. Finally, I explore how systems influence each other, which means that law can productively make use of education and education can productively make use of law. My study foregrounds the day-to-day workings of legal and educational punishment and the interactions between these two social systems. This contribution shows that more attention could be paid to the social systems where punishment unfolds and the connections between social systems when punishing.


title: Responsibility, Trust, and Monitoring Tools for End-User Account Security

abstract: Threats to online accounts are increasingly more sophisticated and proactive defences may be insufficient. We explore the role of users in monitoring of their accounts. First, we prototyped an account monitoring app that allows users to monitor the activity of many accounts at once. We present the prototype app and the results of a lab study with 15 participants to explore its usability. We identifiedfi external factors influencing adoption relating to user trust of security tools and service providers. We next conducted a study of 170 participants in an online survey to explore responsibility, trust, and monitoring for account security. We identified a mismatch in perceived responsibility between users and service providers, explored the trust cues participants use to trust their service providers, and explored end user activity log practices for account monitoring. We also designed and evaluated two updated activity log designs based on feedback from our fifirst study.


title: Implementation of Minimum Edge Constraints Sets for Proximity Graphs

abstract:
For certain edge-constrained proximity algorithms, not every edge of the resulting graph needs to be explicitly stored. This has implications for graph compression. We examine the application and runtime performance on minimum edge-constrained algorithms for three proximity graph types: Delaunay triangulation, Gabriel graph and minimum spanning tree.
Implementation details on these algorithms are given, their performance in both large real world datasets and randomized datasets are evaluated. In addition, their compression metrics, the number of edges that are reduced from the constraint edge set, are investigated.


title: 20,000 homes, but still not enough: A relational comparative study of the piloting phase of Canada’s 20K Homes campaign to understand how it fits in with current efforts to end homelessness

abstract: This study seeks to understand how the 20K Homes campaign fits in with current efforts to end homelessness. Taking a relational comparative approach to Ottawa's action week and Waterloo's and Hamilton's registry weeks, the following questions are addressed: 1) What factors shape the timing, development and characteristics of the campaign, nationally and locally? 2) Why did conveners agree to pilot the campaign? 3) What are the key components of action/registry week? and 4) How will each pilot community come up with the resources needed to house people for the campaign? Argued here, the 20K Homes campaign not only supports but helps strengthen a Housing First approach to homelessness in Canada. While there may be enough existing resources within communities to support the campaign, there are not enough to end homelessness. With no new resources provided through the campaign, new investments by senior levels of government are needed to end homelessness.


title: Comprehensive Proteomic Profiling of the Brassica carinata and Triticale Mature Stigma and Pollen

abstract:
Plant sexual reproduction commences with the interaction of the mature stigma (the receptive portion of the female reproductive organ) and the mature pollen (the male gametophyte). Proteins present at their mature developmental stages are therefore likely to reflect their upcoming reproductive roles. In this study, gel-free shotgun proteomics was used to investigate the proteomes of the mature stigma and pollen grain in two species that are highly related to Canada's most important crops. We identified 7703 and 5608 Brassica carinata stigma and pollen proteins, and 11533 and 2977 triticale stigma and pollen proteins, respectively. These represent the largest Brassicaceae and Triticeae pollen and stigma proteome datasets to date. In addition, this is the first comparative analysis of developing stigmas, and it was performed using isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ). There were 251 B. carinata proteins found to be differentially abundant during stigma maturation with 154 proteins that had increased abundance, while 97 decreased in abundance. For triticale, 647 differentially abundant stigma proteins were identified with 305 and 342 proteins increasing and decreasing in abundance respectively.
A comparison of the B. carinata and triticale stigma or pollen proteomes suggested considerable functional conservation between the two species despite their very different morphology. Although the proteomes exhibited similar functional enrichment trends, both species displayed significant differences between their pollen and stigma proteomes, which reflected their functional specialization. Altogether, the results of this study represent an invaluable resource for the further study of pollen and stigma development and interactions, and will potentially facilitate our understanding of plant reproduction in other members of the Brassicaceae (e.g. B. napus, B. oleracea, B. rapa) and Triticeae (wheat, barley, rye).


title: Multi-Sensor Attitude and Heading Reference System Design Using Genetically Optimized Kalman Filter

abstract: Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) is a self-contained sensors assembly that can estimate full 3D orientation of an object. The AHRS system model involves integration of angular rate measurements from gyroscope which are fused with absolute measurements from magnetometer/accelerometer using Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). EKF accuracy is greatly affected by process noise parameters and measurement noise parameters. Therefore, this thesis developed a systematic method of EKF noise parameters optimization using a hybrid stochastic, Genetic Algorithms (GA)-based approach supported by Design of Experiments (DoE) technique. The proposed approach has been developed in MATLAB and tested on simulation data and verified on real data collected under different scenarios. Results showed that the proposed approach can provide 40-60% better accuracy compared to conventional methods within few GA iterations. In addition, application of DoE technique reduces GA iterations to convergence by approximately 60%.


title: Building Operation Specialist : A Probabilistic Distributed Fault Detection, Diagnostics and Evaluation Framework for Building Systems

abstract: The scope of this thesis is to develop an automated building fault detection, diagnostic, and evaluation (FDDE) framework for buildings. This framework aims to provide a holistic approach to facilitate information delivery and decision-making on building faults. It is adaptable to different building systems as well as flexible to both distributed and centralised implementations. The first part of the framework, fault detection, uses a novel technique called constrained dual Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to estimate system parameters, which then generates symptom descriptions in terms of probability and severity. For the fault diagnostic step, Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) with leaky Noisy-Max model simplification is chosen to accommodate probabilistic descriptions of faults and symptoms. The fault evaluation aspect of the system employs existing building performance simulation (BPS) tools to estimate quantitative metrics of fault impacts. A model reduction process called "model-cluster-reduce" is also developed to speed up information delivery. Each component of the framework is created with the intention to be generalized to other related areas of research such as model predictive control and BPS optimization. Four case studies of both zone-level and air handling unit (AHU)-level are adopted to demonstrate the functionalities of the proposed FDDE framework. Overall, the framework shows promising results with short fault diagnosis time, low false positive and false negative rates, albeit the tendency of overestimating fault impacts. Still, many fundamental research questions arise from this thesis in addition to the future work to further expand the FDDE framework.


title: The Human Dimension of Software Security and Factors Affecting Security Processes

abstract:
Usable security for software developers is a research direction that is in its early stages. Even though developers typically have technical expertise, they are not necessarily security experts and need support when dealing with security. This thesis focuses on the human aspect of software security within the overall development process. The research employes mixed methods, including Cognitive Walkthrough studies, interviews, and an online survey study. We started by studying usability issues in code analysis tools, and designed a visual analysis environment to support collaboration between team members and exploration during security analysis of source code. However, while working on this project, we recognized that the software security problem is a larger one, relating to the overall process of integrating security in the Software Development Lifecycle. Thus, through 13 interviews and an online survey with 123 software developers, we explored real-life software security practices, how developers acquire security knowledge, and the motivators and deterrents to software security. Based on our empirical studies, we identified recommendations that can help support developers handle security throughout the Software Development Lifecycle.
Our qualitative and quantitative analyses showed varying approaches to software security, and clear discrepancies between existing and best practices. Through exploring developers' motivations towards software security, we identified both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. We found that acting towards software security volitionally and for reasons extending beyond mandates can lead to better security processes and better developer-engagement in these processes. Particularly, our studies showed that when the different entities involved in the Software Development Lifecycle communicate and collaborate, and when security is perceived as a common and shared responsibility, this can positively influence software security, e.g., by promoting internal motivations which are associated with improved engagement and cognitive abilities. Towards promoting the internalization of software security, we proposed a human-oriented model to describe how external software security motivations can be internalized. Our model highlights the interplay between security knowledge, team collaboration, and internal motivations to security.


title: Assessing the Impact of Rock-Bed Storage for Tempering Air-to-Air Heat Pumps

abstract: Over the past decade, improvements have been made in air-source heat pump units; however, performance during periods of extreme high and low temperatures remains poor. In order to increase the COP and thermal capacity of the heat pump during these extreme periods, the unit was coupled to a short-term underground rock-bed thermal store which enables tempering ambient air that is drawn to the outdoor heat exchanger. The system was designed, built, and commissioned at the Urbandale Centre for Home Energy Research at Carleton University. Experimentally during the cooling season, it was found that the rock bed is suitable to moderate the outdoor temperature. However, the overall system performance did not improve as a result of increased flow resistance through the ductwork, significant thermal losses and air leaks within the outdoor system.


title: The Giving Trees:  Community Orchards as New Urban Commons

abstract: This thesis explores community orchards through the lens of the commons. Grounded in extensive qualitative research at nine orcharding sites in three Canadian cities (Vancouver, Victoria, and Toronto) the author explores the meaning and purpose of community orchards to those who create and maintain them; the ways in which they can be conceived of as commons, and what community orchards can teach us about the challenges and potential of producing and sustaining new urban commons. The author advances the view that community orchards are much less about the fruits produced within them, and more about the production of urban space as new kinds of commons. The production of these food commons entails four main tasks: resisting enclosure, appropriating space for community, decommodifying exchange, and claiming power to shape the city, in collaboration with municipal administrations. As contributions to food security, community orchards work at deeper levels than might first be imagined, having less to do with what volunteer orchardists get in the way of free fruit and more to do with what they give through the medium of the orchards - to themselves, to each other, and to their communities. Keywords: commons, community orchards, community gardens, decommodification, neoliberalism, food security, food commons


title: Lessons from #GamerGate: Complicating virtual harm and reassessing frameworks for virtual harm assessment

abstract:
Beginning in summer 2014, a series of sustained misogynistic attacks against women in the video game industry coalesced online under #GamerGate. In this study I conduct a virtual ethnography of various online fieldsites hosting #GamerGate discussions, with the goal of complicating prevailing understandings of virtual harm. I draw from Feinberg (1987) to operationalize harm as that which damages an interest. I suggest that discourses in public policy, popular media and popular culture can oversimplify representations of virtual harm, theorizing an ontology of virtual harm that acknowledges a more nuanced range of factors that can impact how harm manifests within virtual contexts.
I add complexity to prevailing narratives of #GamerGate by highlighting that users throughout my fieldsites consistently perceive a range of virtual behaviours, including criminal direct harassment (Lenhart et al., 2016) and the nonconsensual disclosure of private personal information, to be harmful. I submit that users' (infrequent) engagement in these "universal harms" is not, as prevailing representations of #GamerGate can suggest, reflective of community or cybercultural affiliation.
I move forward to examine how users participating in #GamerGate discourses can disagree in their conceptualizations of virtual harm. Based on these points of contention, I draw from O'Sullivan and Flanagan's (2003) model for harm assessment to advocate in favour of a three tiered framework to assess virtual harm. I argue, as socio-legal scholars advocate, that this framework should include an assessment of subjective experience of harm. However, I depart from single-tiered frameworks to suggest that harm assessment should also consider how violations are perceived and given meaning within the context of particular communities and subcultures, and, additionally, authorial intent.
Finally, I consider how notions of "the virtual" can impact how users perceive and make meaning of fantasy and reality. I highlight that users in my dataset tend to perceive virtual spaces as playful or fantastical, and are consequently less likely to perceive virtual harms as legitimately harmful. To account for these perceptions, I conclude by suggesting that virtual spaces can be theorized as an extension of Huizinga's (1938) "magic circle", adding a final layer of complexity to my more nuanced ontology of virtual harm.


title: Two Floods, A Wildfire, and A Hurricane: The Role of the Canadian Armed Forces in Emergency Management

abstract:
The role of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) during domestic disaster response has increased significantly over the last century due to the military's response capacity and the increased frequency and impact of natural hazards. However, there has been no systematic academic assessment of how effectively CAF is integrated into the civilian emergency management system, particularly during the response phase. Using archival analysis and interviews with senior CAF officers and civilian officials, this study fills that gap with an examination of four of Canada's worst and most recent natural disasters: Hurricane Igor (2010), the Assiniboine River flood (2011), the Alberta multi-river floods (2013), and the Saskatchewan wildfires (2015). Each event was analyzed to assess the effectiveness of CAF-civilian response across different hazards, provincial jurisdictions, and CAF Joint Task Forces.
The analysis is broken down into descriptive, evaluative, and normative concepts to assess the presence and quality of, and barriers to, interorganizational collaboration throughout each response. The presence of interorganizational collaboration was high across all events while the quality of such collaboration was moderately high with room for improvement. Barriers to interorganizational collaboration were low, although conceptual differences on the scope of the formal Request for Assistance and the value of defining 'disaster end states' did adversely affect collaboration between military and civilian organizations. Lack of resources generally did not adversely affect levels of interorganizational collaboration, except through the limited availability of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) aircraft and the limited emergency management capacity of most municipalities. Organizational traits such as conceptions of reality unique to an organization type had more influence on the level of interorganizational collaboration compared to jurisdiction or hazard type, with only wildfires having a hazard-specific effect on such collaboration.
The results of this study have implications for emergency management practitioners, as well as the academic literatures of emergency management, public administration, and civil-military relations. Three policy recommendations - the expansion of emergency management networks, the maintenance of Canada's decentralized emergency management system, and additional disaster response resources for the RCAF and municipalities - are presented in the study's conclusion to improve Canadian disaster response.


title: Modeling and Simulation for Assessing the Risk of Near Mid-Air Collisions in Unmanned Aerial Systems

abstract: The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) is expanding speedily. This results in a need to integrate UAS traffic into non-segregated airspace. However, this integration introduces a risk of a mid-air collision between a UAS and a manned aircraft in the airspace. To deal with this issue, we present a UAS traffic simulation model (or UAS model) to assess the risk of a near mid-air collision (NMAC) between a UAS and another manned aircraft operating in Canada's Northern airspace. In this thesis, we present two implementations of the UAS model. The first implementation is a proof-of-concept model which involved the Cell-DEVS formalism and software, while the second implementation is a more complete model implemented with the Processing software. Our results show that there is a low probability of an NMAC occurring between a UAS and an aircraft in the airspace region being considered in this work.


title: Supersonic Multi-Objective Optimization of a Rocket Based Combined Cycle Inlet by Differential Evolution

abstract: The use of diﬀerential evolution is investigated for the optimization of a novel rocket based combined cycle (RBCC) engine inlet, over the supersonic ﬂight regime. This novel inlet design, referred to as the exchange inlet, is designed to entrain air using a semi-annular rocket-ejector exhaust proﬁle. In supersonic ﬂight, the exchange inlet external geometry generates shock waves which aﬀect both the air mass ﬂow and total pressure recovery of the entrained air. By treating each unique exchange inlet geometry as an individual in a population, the DE algorithm can narrow in on potential optimal designs using a process similar to natural selection. A single optimum is selected for three ﬂight conditions M=1.5, 2.5 and 3.5. By comparing their oﬀ-design performance over the supersonic ﬂight range each geometry is compared to determine an optimal for a ﬁxed geometry design. The ﬁxed geometry design is selected as the optimum at M=2.5.


title: “This, Too, Shall Pass”  Examining the Path to National Resilience in Israeli Society A Grounded Theory Approach

abstract: The following project seeks to advance the conceptual understanding of collective trauma and national resilience among Israeli former military conscripts. The findings of the present study indicate that historical experiences of persecution, combined with contemporary experiences of war and threat, have ingrained a cultural anxiety in Israelis that is counterpoised by their adaptive capacity and ability to "bounce back". The results of the study indicated that a longitudinal study that examines other demographics of Israeli military conscripts, could allow for the formation of a more comprehensive framework of experiences of collective trauma that lead to resilient outcomes, which can be used by other countries impacted by war and terror.


title: Dynamic Coordination Architecture and Mobility Management for Next Generation Cooperative Cellular Networks

abstract:
The fundamental challenges of existing cellular wireless networks are the exponential demand of mobile data traffic, higher data rates, massive numbers of user-coverage and lower latency. Moreover, the next generation of wireless cellular networks also consider potential use cases, such as autonomous vehicle control, smart cities, remote surgery and eHealth, tactile internet, etc. To address these challenges and potential use cases, network densification such as ultra-dense heterogeneous networks (UDHetNet) and multi-cell cooperation are considered as the foundation to support the 1000× capacity challenge in the next generation wireless cellular networks.
In this thesis, we study the coordination architecture and mobility management of multi-cell cooperative communications and present novel algorithms to improve the performance of multi-cell cooperative cellular networks. We propose DCEC: Direct CSI-feedback to Elected Coordination-station, a CoMP coordination architecture for cooperative communication to improve the performance of cellular networks, reducing the signaling overhead and latency. We extended the DCEC approach to heterogeneous cellular networks named DCEC-HetNet as well. We also propose a handover procedure for heterogeneous multi-cell cooperative cellular networks named EHoLM: Enhanced Handover for Low and Moderate speed UEs. The goal of the EHoLM handover procedure is to improve the system performance and user experience, reducing the number of handovers, handover oscillation and handover failure rate. To examine the performance of the proposed algorithms we use the discrete event system specifications (DEVS) for modeling and simulation of cellular networks employing the DCEC and EHoLM methods. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms have potentials to improve the performance of cooperative cellular networks compared to the conventional methods.
We also study the verification and validation (V&V) process of simulation models. A revised lifecycle of modeling and simulation (M&S) has also been presented that accommodates both formal and conceptual approaches of the verification and validation (V&V) process. Finally, how we validated the simulation models we developed for analyzing the proposed algorithms has been presented.


title: Network Application Design Challenges and Solutions in SDN

abstract:
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a promising network architecture that proposes the decoupling of data and control planes. It uses a logically centralized controller powered by a global view to orchestrate the network, enabling innovation by shifting the task of network administration to network programming. Many SDN applications are designed to work autonomously without intervention, and thus they need to monitor the state of the network in order to take appropriate actions, and improve their future decisions. Furthermore, in the case of physically distributed SDN controllers, applications also need to exchange their views in order to build a global network view. This great shift in how networks are perceived gave birth to many new network applications design challenges.
In this dissertation, we identify some of these challenges and study how they could affect the performance and security of SDN applications. In particular, we focus on the problem of inconsistent network view at the controllers and its impact on the network applications. We identify two key factors that can contribute to the inconsistent network view at the controllers: (1) network state collection; and (2) controllers' state distribution. We investigate different manifestations of the impact of network state collection and distribution on network applications performance and security. Moreover, we show that different network applications have different consistency requirements, and hence we introduce adaptive distributed SDN controllers as a solution to the controllers' state distribution. Adaptive controllers can tune their own consistency level in real-time in order to provide network applications with the required performance level.
Finally, recent SDN modeling frameworks do not consider the applications' logic into the models. Hence, we also focus on the problem of incorporating application logic into SDN models. We solve this by leveraging the impact which network applications assert on the network to learn about the behavior of such applications. Based on that, we propose a network modeling framework that models network applications as a set of transformations in a Vector Space.


title: Navigation and Control of Flexible Wing UAV Using Vision System

abstract:
This thesis presents an advanced guidance and control system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with flexible wing. The control system is based on a stereo vision system and advanced fuzzy logic algorithms that can detect wing deflections and shapes. The thesis proposes a novel Deflection-Detection-Vision-System (DDVS) to control a flexible wing of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The technique measures the deflection of the flexible wing with a stereo camera and determines the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates to identify the wing shape. In addition, the fuzzy logic algorithm classifies the shapes and determines the flight parameters, such as the speed, angle of attack and roll angle. The Deflection-Detection-Vision-System (DDVS) consists of a stereo camera positioned at the back end of the wing structure that reads the deflection of chosen landmark locations on the flexible wing for each image instantaneously. The DDVS characteristics and dynamic parameters were tested in wind tunnel.
Controlling an autonomous UAV with flexible wing can be difficult using classical methods. An autopilot controller based on an intelligent controller known as the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) algorithm was developed, and it applies the neural networks and fuzzy logic features in hybrid control architecture. To achieve optimal performance, three ANFIS modules were designed to control the altitude, heading angle and speed of the flexible wing UAV. The longitudinal motion controller and the inner loop (pitch rate feedback) of the longitudinal system are designed first, then a pitch tracker with an ANFIS controller is developed. The design of the altitude and speed controllers is related to the guidance and control system (outer loop controller) using the ANFIS controller design. The ANFIS controller performance is compared and evaluated with the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller. The lateral motion control is performed by an inner loop controller, that includes roll rate feedback, and the roll tracker is done with ANFIS controller. The proposed ANFIS controller was chosen because it has better performance than the classic controller. The fusion algorithm based on Adaptive Unscented Kalman Filter (AUKF) was integrating measurements from an accelerometer sensor and DDVS.


title: Shame's a Pain: Exploring Links Between Shame-Proneness, Aggression, and Perfectionism

abstract: Despite decades of research, relatively little is known about factors that underlie individual differences in responses to shame. Accordingly, the purpose of this MA thesis was to examine conceptual models that delineate complex associations between shame, aggression, and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP). A sample of N = 967 undergraduate students completed a series of online-questionnaires. Among the results, shame demonstrated indirect associations with: (1) SPP through fear of negative evaluation and self-critical rumination; (2) indirect aggression through hostility and blame; and (3) displaced aggression through hostility. Furthermore, high BIS exacerbated the pathway from shame to SPP, whereas low BIS exacerbated the pathway from shame to indirect aggression. Finally, the pathway from shame to SPP was stronger for females, whereas the pathway from shame to indirect aggression was stronger for males. Overall, this study provides important findings that may allow for a more comprehensive understanding of shame and its associated responses.


title: Definition and Validation of Consistency rules between UML diagrams

abstract:
UML diagrams describe different views of one piece of software. These diagrams strongly depend on each other and must therefore be consistent with one another, since inconsistencies between diagrams may be a source of faults during software development activities that rely on these diagrams. It is therefore paramount that consistency rules be defined and that inconsistencies be detected, analyzed and fixed. Even though many researchers have proposed, explicitly or not, rules to detect inconsistencies, no well-accepted, as complete as possible set of consistency rules has so far been described and published. This lack of well-accepted list of UML consistency rules forces researchers to systematically define the consistency rules they rely on for their own research. Although this is good practice, researchers, describe similar or even identical consistency rules, over and over again. This fact motivated our main research objective, which is to identify and validate a set, as complete as possible, of well-accepted consistency rules for UML diagrams. To achieve this objective the following two research questions were identified:
1. What are the UML consistency rules proposed in the literature? To answer this question, we present the results of a Systematic Mapping Study about UML consistency rules. We finally identified a set of 116 UML consistency.
2. Is this list of UML diagram consistency rules relevant? To answer this question, we completed a process of validation of the rules in the following way: a) we organized the 1st WUCOR workshop during the MoDELS 2015 conference. The workshop represented a valid initial step in the process of validating the rules, but the limited number of attendees called to improve and continue this process; b) we developed a survey with MDSE experts from academia and industry to i) surveying the diffusion and importance of model consistency issues in the MDSE and UML contexts, ii) validating the UML consistency rules. This work identified a subset of 52 rules that should be enforced in every UML model; c) we developed a case study whereby we check 33 of the 52 consistency rules, translated in OCL, on 34 open source UML Papyrus models.


title: Testing Regime Change as Innovation: Washback Potential Over Time

abstract:
Research (Fox, 2004, 2009; Shohamy, 1993) highlights how policy makers use high-stakes tests as part of a testing regime to promote curricular innovation. In this dissertation, a testing regime is defined as a systematic approach to the use of assessment (often high-stakes tests) to impact curriculum and classroom practices. The influence of high-stakes tests on classroom teaching and learning is known as washback, and the beneficial influences of tests on teaching and learning is positive washback (Alderson & Wall, 1993). The present study explored washback as deeply contextual, arising from and influenced by a complex set of interrelated factors (e.g. stakeholders, power-relationships) within a testing regime. Specifically, it investigated whether a high-stakes test could be used to leverage positive washback in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program over time, and which factors were most influential.
This longitudinal case study examined washback from a newly introduced high-stakes test -the innovation- as evidenced in stakeholders' accounts: two administrators, 15 teachers, and 201 students, over a period of 20 months. The study drew on Hughes' (1993) principles of Washback, and Henrichsen's (1989) Hybrid Model of Diffusion/Implementation of Innovation, and was conducted in three phases: Phase 1 during the former testing regime; Phase 2 during implementation of the new testing regime (immediate washback); Phase 3 after three semesters (delayed washback).
Results indicate that EAP teachers mediated washback to the satisfaction of their students in both the former and new testing regimes. Although the new high-stakes test had the potential for positive washback, based on "an evidential link" (Messick, 1996, p. 247) for washback between the new test and classroom practices, other meta-contextual factors such as power relationships in the EAP program's testing regimes hindered this potential. It was problematic to use a stand-alone, high-stakes test to leverage positive washback over time.
Recommendations address stakeholder issues within the EAP research site, while calling for in-depth, longitudinal explorations in future washback research. Future studies can examine interactions between stakeholders' accounts and testing regime change contexts, in order to pinpoint specific factors that trigger positive or negative washback within such contexts.


title: Framework of a comparative life cycle analysis for rail and road freight transport

abstract:
Transport plays a central role in the development of economies and people around the world, by adding value to goods and developing industries, among other economic benefits. Selection of transportation modes are of significant interest to shippers, government actors and the general public due to both costs and impacts. The main objectives of this thesis are two-fold. First, is to develop a framework of economic life-cycle analysis focusing on rail and trucking systems to identify the most viable and reliable land transportation mode for moving goods based on hauling distances and freight loads. The second objective is to build a comprehensive model to estimate the shipping life cycle cost for design strategies using statistical procedures and GIS software applications.
Contributions of this thesis include: (1) Development of a Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) model that includes all of the direct costs, indirect costs and pollution produced by using rail and trucking freight transportation systems; (2) Determination of effect of issue of border delays, which is one of the main constraints when border inspection stations are factored into shipment processes; (3) Planning a future rail network that passes through different countries using ArcGIS; (4) Application of the reliability and sensitivity analysis using the implemented model; (5) Development of logistics applications using different scenarios that help to evaluate intermodal yard locations, alternative route selection, risk and warehouse facility locations; and (6) Establishment of guidelines for environmentally sustainable and reliable freight transportation systems to aid transportation engineers and policy makers. Data from different countries, municipalities and companies within the Gulf Cooperation Council region were used to build the model and conduct the analysis.


title: Psychopathic Traits, Multimodal Emotion, and Empathy

abstract: Psychopathy is a disorder of personality characterized by a lack of conscience, with emotional (interpersonal and affective) and behavioural (lifestyle and antisocial) characteristics. Psychopathy can also be scored along a continuum as a dimension of personality. Previous research has identified a link between psychopathy and reduced processing of emotional stimuli, as well as low empathy. Yet, one feature psychopathy is the ability to reproduce correct emotional responses despite reduced emotional and empathic experience, likely as a result of social learning. The present study evaluated perception of emotion and empathy relative to psychopathic traits in a sample of undergraduate students, and examined whether increasing the ambiguity of the stimuli would reveal deficits in emotion processing and empathy associated with psychopathy, which would provide further evidence of a learned response to emotional stimuli in individuals high in psychopathy. Rather than static images, the stimuli were dynamic video clips incorporating two types of emotion cues, facial expression and vocal affect, with varying levels of ambiguity in the expression of the emotion. These stimuli were used in four experiments in which emotion recognition and empathic response were measured in large samples of undergraduate participants. Across the four experiments, the predicted interaction between psychopathy and ambiguity of emotion cues was not observed. However, in all experiments, participants with higher levels of psychopathy had reduced emotion recognition accuracy and lower levels of empathy. The present study provides further evidence of an overall deficit in emotion processing in individuals high in psychopathy, and evidence of impaired empathic response using a novel objective measure of empathy.


title: From Risk to Resilience: How Lifestyle Factors Interact with Early-Life Trauma, Genetic Polymorphisms, and Stress, in Predicting Risk for Depression

abstract:
Despite the link that risk factors, such as early-life stressors and genetic polymorphisms, have with the development of depressive symptoms, not every individual who is 'at risk' develops this disorder. It has been suggested that lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, may play a critical role in this regard. To date, there have been few reports examining the interactions between these lifestyle factors and other risk factors in promoting depressive features. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the moderating effects of dietary pattern and exercise frequency, in the relations between stressors experienced early in life and psychological outcomes (depressive symptoms and creative problem solving), as well as current stressors and a biological outcome (cortisol response). In addition, the present investigation sought to examine whether these lifestyle variables might interact with immune related gene mutations, in predicting depressive symptoms and other related measures (executive functioning, coping flexibility, and coping endorsement), as both depression and these lifestyle factors are related to immune functioning.
In Study 1 (N=278), physical trauma was negatively related to performance on the Remote Associates Test, a measure of creative problem solving, but this relation only existed for individuals who consumed smaller amounts of healthy foods. It was also found that sexual trauma was positively related to depressive symptoms, but this relation was stronger among participants who consumed greater amounts of unhealthy foods. Study 2 (N=163) demonstrated that dietary patterns interact with immune related genetic polymorphisms and sex, in predicting depressive symptoms, coping flexibility, and coping strategy endorsement. Building upon the findings of the previous study, Study 3 (N=144) indicated that diet and exercise interacted with immune related polymorphisms and sex, in predicting performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (a measure of executive functioning). Finally, Study 4 (N=81) showed that adherence to an unhealthy dietary pattern was associated with elevated levels of cortisol in response to the Trier Social Stress Test. Together, these studies suggest that dietary pattern and exercise habits, can interact with stressors (both current and past) and immune related polymorphisms, in predicting risk for depression.


title: “Safe” Designations for Unsafe Countries: Security Discourses and the Construction of the Mexican Refugee Applicant "Threat" in Canada

abstract: The Designated Countries of Origin (DCO) Policy was implemented to deter "bogus" refugee claims from "safe" countries. As a result, this thesis questions how Mexico's designation on the DCO policy is justified by the official stance, or the Canadian Government, its actors and institutions. I engage with theorists of Critical Security Studies (CSS) to conduct a discourse analysis of official government documents, speeches, data and case decisions to analyze Mexico's designation. I argue that Mexico's designation as a "safe" DCO country aims to significantly limit Mexican refugee applicants from seeking refuge in Canada. The official stance has constructed Mexico as a "safe" country, Mexican refugee claims as "bogus" and the presence of Mexican refugee applicants in Canada as a "threat" to society. The official stance's use of orthodox security discourses unjustly labels Mexican refugee applicants, eclipsing their personal narratives and restricting their ability to successfully obtain refuge in Canada.


title: Inspiring or Perpetuating Stereotypes?: The Complicated Case of Disability as Inspiration

abstract: This research looks at how inspirational narratives that feature disability, also known as "inspiration porn", are interpreted by disabled and non-disabled audiences. The project uses We're The Superhumans, a British infomercial for the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, as its case study. This research is informed by social science research on disability, critical media studies literature, as well as government documents and official reports. Qualitative data were gathered through focus groups with disabled and non-disabled participants, as well as through comments posted on the infomercial's YouTube video and on Twitter, and through media coverage. The results of the study show that reactions to inspirational narratives are not uniform among disabled and non-disabled audiences and that negative perceptions of disability persist. This study provides valuable insight regarding the nuances and complexities surrounding inspiration porn and social attitudes towards disability.