title: Shear Stability of Vegetable Oil-Based Lubricants with Ethyl Cellulose Viscosity Index Improver

abstract: A diesel fuel injector apparatus conforming to ASTM 6278 was used to examine the effects of mechanical shear on two vegetable oil-base lubricants, each blended with a different molecular weight ethyl cellulose p olymer to improve its viscosity-temp erature behaviour. Kinematic viscosity measurements conforming to ASTM D445 were used to determine the magnitude of viscosity loss after mechanical shearing. The lower molecular weight E45 sample was determined to have a permanent viscosity loss of 0.73% and a shear stability index of 1.56, whereas the higher molecular weight EC100 s ample was determined to have a permanent viscosity loss of 3.57% and a shear stability index of 6.51. Kinematic viscosity measurements of increasingly dilute solutions of prepared lubricants were used to determine the changes in the intrinsic viscosity of solution as an indicator of the decrease in polymer molecular weight after shearing.


title: Simulation and Optimization of High-Penetration Wind and Solar Energy for the Canadian High Arctic Research Station

abstract: This thesis explores the potential for renewable wind and solar energy to meet the electrical demand of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, the Government of Canada's new flagship Arctic research facility located in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Time-series simulation models based on measured weather data and simulated energy demand were constructed in TRNSYS. The models were then coupled with GenOpt to optimize system configuration with respect to net present cost using the particle swarm optimization technique. The results suggest that renewable energy can meet a portion of the demand more cost-effectively than diesel generation alone; however, a major challenge is the ability of the local grid to absorb surplus renewable power. Increasing the renewable penetration rate at the station beyond about 65% is not economically feasible with the generating and storage technologies considered in this thesis. Policy considerations regarding implementation of renewable energy in Nunavut were also discussed.


title: A Non-Linear Electronic Textbook Format to Facilitate Deep Learning

abstract: Many educators are calling for an increased emphasis on the interactions between the concepts covered in an educational unit because of its benefits for learning. There is evidence that at present, standard linear textbooks do not adequately support this ``deep'' approach to curriculum design, and we think this is partially due to the linear format. In this thesis, we propose a non-linear electronic textbook format that organizes content in a way that accords with cognitive science theories of how concepts are represented in the mind. Structuring content in this way makes the relation between ideas more explicit, and reduces extraneous cognitive load, which we believe will aid learning. We implemented a functional prototype of this design, and we designed a study to measure it in terms of pedagogical efficacy (objective and self-reported), usability, and overall likeability, in comparison with a linear control.


title: Vanopolis: Between Edifice, Infrastructure and Pseudo-Topographies

abstract: Vanopolis proposes a new bridge across Vancouver's False Creek, connecting Yaletown to the north with Fairview Slopes to the south. Several viaducts already span the False Creek Inlet, namely the Burrard, Granville, and Cambie Bridges. The project builds on the language of these crossings to propose a pedestrian bridge supported by housing. 80% of the land on which the False Creek South neighbourhood sits is owned by the City of Vancouver. With leases set to expire in the next decade, concerned parties are keen to know what lies ahead — especially as the area is under pressure to intensify. The proposed pedestrian bridge across False Creek represents a bold approach to accommodating additional density and blurs the boundaries between architecture, infrastructure, and urban design. Using the housing to support the bridge, will enable False Creek South to transform from a low-density enclave to a thriving, connected community.


title: Flexible City: A Future for Growing Families in Toronto's Vertical Communities

abstract: As Canadian cities reach higher population densities, with 80% of Canadians living in urban areas, the dream for families to live in downtown cores is becoming just that, a dream. Skyrocketing housing markets and limited choices for those looking for affordable living spaces creates a new social phenomenon for families; either leave the downtown cores with all the associated heartaches, or stay in densely compacted dwellings that simply do not meet essential living requirements. We must therefore ask ourselves: Is there a future for families in urban centers such as Toronto, or have we achieved a point of no return? As the Queen City densification continues and steadily increases, vertical communities will need to be more accommodating; and as such, The Flexible City Proposal provides a true alternative for continuous reconfiguration, flexibility and growth, in order to adapt to the changing needs of families in our cities.


title: Bordertopia: Architecture and Fiction at the Canada-United States Border

abstract: This thesis began with research into a current crisis condition manifested in the growing number of illegal border crossings into Canada from the United States. Bordertopia evolved beyond the practicality and the legality of the issue, developing into a hypothetical condition that speculates a future for the international boundary. In the summer of 2017, the influx of people crossing the border illegally has surged to a record high. Affecting the political regime and the human condition, this thesis questions the status of the nomadic individuals who have situated themselves within the Canadian border. Bordertopia explores the framework of present space and time, using an architectural strategy that envisions border topologies of a near future. Using a network of informal crossings as a mobile port of entry, the destination for the refugees is a self-determining community that continues to move and transform, while maintaining an aesthetics of incompleteness and temporariness.


title: Animal Sanctuary: The Designer's Guidebook for the Mental Welfare of Rescued Animals

abstract:
The by-laws protecting animal rights and existing animal shelters, place medical welfare at the forefront of the design of the shelter, meanwhile mental welfare is almost completely neglected. No matter how large a cage, animals can succumb to mental illnesses and depression when faced with monotonous living quarters and no social interaction.
How can animal enclosures, such as dog kennels, cages, etc., be re-designed specifically for the rescued animals' mental welfare? How can the architecture be designed not from the point of view of humans, but from the sensorial perception system of the animal, while also keeping in mind the concern for contamination?
This thesis will be addressing the basic components to de-stress a newly abandoned animal and propose a spatial design that best accommodates an animal's specific sensorial abilities. By creating design modifications to standard enclosures, a designer's guidebook is produced for those creating an environment suitable for rescued animals.


title: Thick Skinned: Using EnerPHit to Conserve Culture and Carbon for Sustainable Affordable Housing

abstract:
Canada's existing postwar modern building stock contributes greatly to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions but also represents a large resource of embodied carbon. The Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, the second largest housing provider in Ontario, owns much of this building stock. The buildings in this large portfolio are aging and in need of repairs; the average age of an OCH building is 45 years. These buildings can be retrofitted to provide or preserve affordable housing with low operating expenses while simultaneously addressing the conservation of embodied carbon and revitalization without gentrification.
This thesis hypothesizes that the sustainable route to affordable housing is in creating buildings with long-term cultural and economic value and attempts to propose some measures and strategies for retrofitting a postwar modern building to the EnerPHit standard in Ottawa's cold climate without rendering it vacant for renovation.


title: The Potential of the Discarded: Creating Affordable Housing from a Vacant Modern Complex

abstract: The Campanile Campus, otherwise known as the Federal Study Centre, was first used as a religious educational centre and then as a federal language training facility. Today, the federally-recognized modern heritage complex is currently abandoned and awaiting a new purpose. This thesis synthesizes and combines the objectives of architectural conservation, adaptive reuse, and affordable housing to create a new phase for the campus in an effort to prevent its obsolescence. These issues inform a design strategy which proposes the campus be repurposed as a community hub and adaptable neighbourhood that offers a variety of housing types which allows residents to remain in the community they have created. Specifically, the design focuses on the sensitive adaptation of heritage buildings while catering to the surrounding neighbourhood by addressing issues of affordability, density, diversity, and urban infill.


title: Characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana Anther-Specific Caleosin

abstract: Anther and pollen development are important to plant reproduction processes. The floral bud of the model plant organism, Arabidopsis thaliana, consists of 6 anthers which encase copious amounts of pollen. Within the anther locules, nutrients are provided to pollen to support its development. This study aims to offer a deeper understanding of the role of anther caleosins in the Brassicaceae by investigating expression, localization, and putative function of the anther-specific caleosin (AT1G23240). Through the use of molecular and microscopy techniques, it was determined that AT1G23240 was expressed during late stage anther development, mainly within the endoplasmic reticulum and tapetosomes, and was also detected on the pollen coat of mature pollen. Understanding anther caleosin expression will help in determining its role in the overall plant reproduction process, possibly in pollen-stigma interactions, as well as its potential in biotechnological applications in regards to fertility within key crop kinds of the Brassicaceae family.


title: A Corpus-Based Investigation of Academic Vocabulary and Phrasal Verbs in Academic Spoken English

abstract: The present thesis is comprised of two corpus-based studies. The first study examined (1) the vocabulary demands of spoken academic English and (2) the coverage of Coxhead's (2000) AWL in Academic speech. Transcripts of 62 lectures and 7 seminars form the MICASE corpus were collected and analyzed. The findings suggested that coupled with proper nouns and marginal words, knowledge of the most frequent 3,000 or 7,000 word families is needed to reach 95.55% and 98.03% coverage respectively of the combined lectures and seminars corpus. The second study compared the lexical coverage of Garnier and Schmitt's (2015) phrasal verb list (PHaVE) and the most frequent 150 AWL lemmatized verbs in academic speech. The analysis was carried out on a 2,431,351 running-word corpus created from the BASE and the MICASE corpora. The finding indicated that the PHaVE List accounted for slightly higher coverage figures than the AWL in the study corpus.


title: Optimal Trajectory Planning and Compliant Spacecraft Capture Using a Space Robot

abstract: In this thesis, solutions to the first two of three phases associated with on-orbit debris removal are proposed. The first phase concerns the development of optimal space robot manipulator deployment manoeuvres which ensure zero-attitude displacement by the end of the trajectory. Three common pseudospectral optimal control tools are used to develop the trajectories, and the optimality of each solution is assessed using well-established validation techniques. The second phase addresses the compliant capture of a cooperative target using a nonlinear disturbance observer coupled with an impedance controller, and the observer is shown to be asymptotically stable for the case of a free-flying space robot. The performance of the techniques proposed for each phase are first verified in simulation, then through an experimental validation campaign using Carleton University's Spacecraft Robotics and Control Laboratory.


title: Identification Accuracy of Adolescent Eyewitnesses: The Role of Familiarity and Lineup Procedure

abstract: The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of familiarity and lineup procedure on eyewitness identification accuracy. Familiarity was manipulated wherein adolescent participants (N = 623): (1) met with and directly interacted with a confederate, (2) indirectly interacted with a confederate, or (3) did not meet a confederate, before they viewed a crime video in which the confederate was the perpetrator. Three commonly used lineup procedures (i.e., simultaneous, sequential, and elimination-plus) were used, and the presence of the target also was manipulated. Overall, familiarity and lineup procedure impacted identification accuracy, such that in target-present lineups, witnesses were more likely to make a correct identification when they were more familiar (i.e., had direct interaction) with the perpetrator and the sequential procedure was used. Furthermore, in target-absent lineups, witnesses were more likely to make a correct rejection when they were more familiar (i.e., had direct interaction) with the perpetrator and the simultaneous or elimination-plus procedure was used. Taken together, these findings suggest that familiarity, in terms of having a direct interaction with a perpetrator before the commission of a crime, positively influences identification accuracy. Furthermore, these findings provide new, important information regarding the simultaneous-sequential debate and the utility of commonly used lineup procedures when the witness is familiar with the perpetrator.


title: Systematics of Lower Cyclorrhaphan Diptera, with an Emphasis on Syrphidae

abstract: This doctoral thesis is presented in three chapters. The first chapter is a phylogenetic analysis of the lower Cyclorrhaphan (Insecta: Diptera) families of Diptera. These families form a non-monophyletic grade, and have been a long-standing problematic section of the Dipteran tree of life. We attempted to bring resolution to this assemblage of families using a combination of transcriptomic and anchored hybrid enrichment data from 43 ingroup taxa. Results were largely concordant with existing molecular phylogenetic efforts, but Lonchopteridae remains problematic to place. The second chapter of the thesis is a more detailed phylogenetic analysis of a single lower Cyclorrhaphan family, the Syrphidae. This chapter has also been published as an open-access paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology. Subfamilial boundaries within Syrphidae are a known problem, and there has been little consensus on how to treat the paraphyletic subfamily Eristalinae. We used a novel anchored hybrid enrichment probe kit to produce a 30 species phylogeny of Syrphidae with strong support values across the entire tree. As expected, a paraphyletic Eristalinae was recovered. Our sampling was not rigorous enough to produce a stable revised classification, but we hope this chapter will act as a starting point for a future overhaul of the subfamily. This chapter has been published as an open-access paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology. The final chapter of the thesis was also Syrphidae-focused, with a taxonomic revision of the Australian Psilota. The revision is based on a combination of Cytochrome c Oxidase I DNA barcodes and morphological analysis. The number of known Australian Psilota species was increased from 16 to 30, with two acknowledged species complexes that should be revisited in the future. All species are fully described and illustrated, with external habitus and male genitalia photographs.


title: Unproctored Internet Testing in Personnel Selection: A Test of Cheating Deterrence Strategies

abstract: Unproctored Internet testing (UIT) has become increasingly popular in personnel recruitment and selection. Despite the widespread use of UIT, its fairness and overall impact on the hiring process is still called into question (Ryan & Ployhart, 2014). In consideration of the issues surrounding UIT, the purpose of this thesis was to examine job applicant cheating behaviour. Job candidates (n=110) were recruited through a series of job advertisements. Mild deception was used to cover up the true purpose of the research. Participants were administered a cognitive ability and cheating detection test as part of the regular recruitment process. Contrary to popular practice, cheating deterrence strategies in the form of warning messages did not prevent candidate cheating. Furthermore, cheating was associated with overall lower cognitive ability. These results are discussed in relation to the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the implications for future research.


title: An Empirical Investigation of the Role of Formulaic Sequences in Upgrading EAP Students’ Academic Writing Skills

abstract:
Since the early 1990s, the body of literature on second language (L2) composition instruction has been profoundly influenced by corpus linguistics research, which empirically demonstrated the recurrence of formulaic sequences—defined as highly frequent register-, genre-, and/or discipline-bound multiword strings (Hyland, 2008a; Simpson-Vlach & Ellis, 2010)—in academic writing. These findings led several researchers to advocate the importance of integrating formulaic sequences into L2 writing pedagogy and the effectiveness of focused instruction, salient input, and repeated exposure in promoting their acquisition and improving L2 learners' writing proficiency (e.g. Cowie, 1992; Lewis, 1997; Willis, 2003; Wood, 2009, 2015).
The growing theoretical accounts of the importance of integrating formulaic sequences into L2 composition instruction has been associated with very few research studies on formulaic sequences and L2 learners' academic writing skills, most of which focused on one pedagogical approach and yielded inconsistent results. Accordingly, there is, as yet, no ample evidence to support the effectiveness of formulaic sequences in improving L2 learners' academic writing skills; nor is their sufficient evidence to demonstrate the pedagogical efficacy of the above-mentioned approaches.
To address these gaps, this quasi-experimental research study investigated the extent to which focused instruction and salient input can help English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students acquire and manipulate formulaic sequences to produce better quality graphical summaries and essays. The study was conducted in an EAP program, different pedagogical interventions were delivered, and 382 timed written texts were collected at three time points from 67 upper-intermediate and advanced students. The textual data were manually quantified, statistically analyzed, and blindly evaluated. The study results were generally in agreement with the literature on the effectiveness of focused instruction and salient input but at odds with the literature on the positive effects of formulaic sequences on L2 academic achievement. The results also highlighted the higher learning gains that a focused instructional approach resulted in than a saliency approach and revealed the effects of the writing task and proficiency level on the participants' utilization of formulaic sequences. These results formed the basis for suggesting implications for EAP contexts and highlighting yet-to-explore areas for future research.


title: Experimental and Numerical Study of Inhaler Spray Characterization (Size Distributions and Velocity)

abstract: Particle size and velocity are two of the most significant factors that impact the deposition of pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) sprays in the mouth cavity. pMDIs are prominently used around the world in the treatment of patients suffering from a variety of lung diseases. Moreover, Soft Mist Inhalers (SMIs) are a new-generation of propellant-free Inhalers. The first delivery inhalation spray system of this kind is the Spiriva Respimat inhaler, which has its advantages, such as better medication delivering to the lungs. In the current study, particle velocity and size distribution are measured at three different locations along the centerline of the pMDI and the SMI spray using Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA). pMDIs from four different pharmaceutical companies are tested, each pMDI using salbutamol sulfate as the medication, whereas the Spiriva Respimat inhaler using tiotropium bromide. Measurements along the pMDI centerline (at 0, 75, and 100 mm downstream of the inhaler mouthpiece) showed that the spray velocities were bimodal in time for all four pMDI brands. The first peak occurred as the spray was leaving the mouthpiece, while the second peak (at the same location, 0 mm) occurred at around 60, 95, 95, and 115 ms later, respectively, for the four tested inhalers, with a drop in the velocity between the two peaks. Three probability density functions (PDFs) were tested, and the Rosin-Rammler PDF best fit the empirical spray size distribution data. These results suggest that there is a difference in the mean particle velocities at the centerline for the tested pMDIs and the diameter of released particles varied statistically for each brand. Particle size distribution for the Spiriva Respimat inhaler using the Anderson Cascade Impactor (ACI) is also assessed. The results indicate that high percentage of inhaled medication was delivered to the lungs, which is still quite significant when compared to common pressurized metered dose inhalers. Computational fluid dynamics, implementing mean-flow and turbulent tracking of particles, is used to determine the ability of the software ANSYS CFX package, to emulate the Ventolin HFA spray behavior. The results exhibit very good agreement between both numerical and experimental results.


title: The Moon Circles of shelkem: shíshálh Women's Use of Aesthetic Production as Place-Making

abstract: In collaboration with three generations of shíshálh women, this thesis records this important cultural site, illustrating how shíshálh women create Place through aesthetic production and how such Places, used for their puberty rites, continue to be formative in shaping the identities of contemporary shíshálh women. This thesis adds to the growing body of literature which rectifies the absence of Indigenous women's culture and history within archaeological and ethnographic narratives by acknowledging Salish women's place-based aesthetic traditions. This study of the Moon Circles highlights the role of aesthetic production in shíshálh women's identities, the connection between Place, Salish women's puberty traditions, and their 'art'. In doing so, this research underscores the necessity of redefining dominant perspectives on Indigenous women's 'material culture', art, and ritual.


title: Three Essays in Empirical Financial Economics

abstract:
In this thesis, I add to the literature which uses microdata to assess how economic outcomes are influenced by the financial condition of firms and households.
In my first chapter, I analyze whether leverage impacts the growth rates of capital expenditures and employment for US and Canadian publicly traded firms in a non-linear manner. I find that the negative marginal impact of leverage on future growth tends to be higher for firms in higher leverage quartiles for firms with similar growth prospects. I also show that for firms with similar leverage, the impact of leverage on future growth is larger for firms with low growth opportunities compared to those with better growth opportunities. These findings provide new evidence supporting the use of debt to reduce the agency conflicts between shareholders and managers for firms with low growth opportunities.
The second chapter of my thesis challenges the findings of a lead AER article which had analyzed how a firm's investment responds to changes in its collateral values. I demonstrate that their results are highly sensitive to arbitrary Winsorization thresholds. I also show that a firm's investment responds to shocks to national real estate prices rather than shocks to the value of collateral it actually owns. The extent to which real estate shocks affect corporate investment---the collateral channel---therefore, remains an open question.
The final chapter of my thesis analyzes the impact of macroprudential housing finance rules changes in Canada between 2005 and 2010. I start by combining loan-level administrative data with household-level survey data to determine the financial condition of potential first time homebuyers in Canada. I then use a microsimulation model of mortgage demand to determine the impact of rule changes on potential first time homebuyers. Policies targeting the loan-to-value ratio are found to have a larger impact than policies targeting the debt-service ratio, such as amortization. In addition, I show that loan-to-value policies have a larger role to play in reducing default than income-based policies.
Disclaimer, the views in this thesis are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bank of Canada.


title: Terror in the Justice System: Effects of Defendant Race and Religion on Juror Decision-Making in a Criminal Trial

abstract: New Canadian anti-terror legislation was passed in 2015, expanding the scope of criminal offences to include advocating or promoting terrorism offences in general. This study explored juror perceptions of the applicability of this law by having participants read a trial transcript involving this charge in which the defendant's race (Black/White/Arab) and religion (Christian/Muslim/undisclosed) were manipulated. Participants provided a verdict, then answered a brief questionnaire on attributions of the defendant's actions and stereotypes held by the Canadian public. I hypothesized that Black/Arab, and Muslim Canadian defendants will be more likely to be perceived as advocating/inciting terrorism offences in general as compared to White or Christian Canadians, and will consequently receive more guilty verdicts. This study will address the current lack of psycho-legal research concerning Canadian minorities, specifically Arab Canadians.


title: Too See and Be Seen: Indigenous Theories of Knowledge of Racism and Its Mediation - The Experience of Nehiyaw/Cree Youth and Their Community

abstract: Racism is a social construct that has had significant and negative impacts on Indigenous peoples across Canada. These effects are evident in the Indigenous and non- Indigenous health, education, and income gaps (Bourassa, McKay-McNabb & Hampton, 2004; King & Gracey, 2009; King, Smith, & Gracey, 2009; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996). The study of racial prejudice and its mediation are informed by Western theories of knowledge so strongly that other ways of knowing such as Indigenous theories of knowledge are marginalized. How might the inclusion of Indigenous  theories and knowledge impact experiences of racism? This research study examines this question. It interweaves a postcolonial theoretical framework and Indigenous knowledge with Grounded Theory Methodologies and Indigenous Methodologies to examine a cohort of 21 Indigenous students' lived experience with a school program, the Photography Class, designed to mediate students' experience of racism. This program was of particular interest because it utilized a combination of oral teachings and photography to provide students with a more accurate, positive, and more complete understanding  of what it means to be Nehiyaw/Cree and to mediate racist narratives circulated through mainstream media. This study documents how the Nehiyaw/Cree practice termed Kisewatotatowin/awakening Kiskisohkemowin/remembering was mobilized through the Photography Class. Specifically, the research findings illustrate how Canada's colonial legacy of racism and its learned practice of hate can be redressed by: (1) awakening and reminding the students of their inherent love for themselves, their family, community, and all beings (human and non-human) and (2) fostering space for the students to  create a more accurate, positive, and complete narrative about who they are. The data analysis presented from those findings contribute to the study of racial prejudice through the documentation of a mediation process for racism grounded in Indigenous theories of knowledge, Nehiyaw/Cree in particular. More important, it provides insight into what constitutes racism from an Nehiyaw/Cree worldview and how an integration of Indigenous knowledge and practices extend Western theories of racial prejudice and its mediation.


title: What are They Thinking? Examining Complex Links Among Social Withdrawal, Maladaptive Cognitions, and Internalizing Problems in Children and Emerging Adults

abstract: The aim of this doctoral dissertation was to examine a conceptual model linking social withdrawal, maladaptive cognitions, and internalizing difficulties in childhood and emerging adulthood. In Studies 1 and 2, undergraduate students (Study 1: N = 451, Mage = 19.17, SD = 1.40; Study 2: N = 540, Mage = 19.20, SD = 1.49) completed assessments of social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), maladaptive cognitions (threatening and negative cognitions), and internalizing problems (social anxiety, depressive symptoms). For both samples, results from structural equation modeling suggested partial specificity in the cognitive content associated with internalizing problems. Specifically, whereas threatening cognitions were positively associated with both social anxiety and depressive symptoms, negative cognitions were only positively associated with depressive symptoms. Differences in the social, cognitive, and emotional implications of social withdrawal subtypes also emerged across studies. In Study 1, results suggested that maladaptive cognitions played a mediating role in the links between shyness (but not social avoidance) and internalizing problems. In a conceptual replication of Study 1, results from Study 2 indicated that threatening cognitions mediated the effects of both shyness and social avoidance on social anxiety and depression; however, shyness and social avoidance only displayed indirect effects on depressive symptoms via negative cognitions. The goal of Study 3 was to explore whether a similar model linking withdrawal, peer relations, social cognitions, and internalizing problems could be applied to a sample of early elementary school-aged children (N = 408 children, Mage = 7.10 years, SD = .86). During individual interviews, children completed assessments of their social cognitions (rejection sensitivity, negative social information processing), and parents provided assessments of children's socially withdrawn behaviours, socio-emotional functioning, and peer relations. Among the results, peer problems (but not social cognitions) emerged as a significant mediator in the associations between both shyness and social avoidance and internalizing problems. Results are discussed in the terms of the meaning, as well as the social, emotional, and cognitive implications of different subtypes of social withdrawal at different developmental periods. Future directions and potential implications for intervention and prevention development are also discussed.


title: A Small-Scale Response of Urban Bat Activity to Tree Cover

abstract: Bats in urban areas depend on trees, and bat activity increases with tree cover. To effectively manage bat habitat in cities, it is important to know the distance to which tree cover most strongly influences bats (i.e., the 'scale of effect'). The aim of this study was to estimate the scale of effect of tree cover on bats in Toronto, Canada. I measured bat activity at 52 sampling sites across the city. I then examined the relationships between bat activity and percent tree cover measured within each of 19 landscape scales, 0.025 - 3.5km in radius, surrounding each sampling site. My results suggest that adding or removing urban trees influences bats up to 200m away. Urban tree management decisions should consider the impacts to bats beyond the site of management and within the surrounding landscape of a 200m-radius scale.


title: Color Tunable Plasmonic Devices

abstract:
Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) is a resonant optical phenomenon arising within nanoscale metallic particles and is capable of generating vibrant, high resolution and enduring colour. Coupled with their high sensitivity to nearby changes, such structures have been the focus of significant research over the past couple decades. At present, much of the investigation has been focused towards developing novel nanomaterials along with new processes for their realization. While such efforts have yielded an array of impressive static colour features, progress towards realizing dynamic devices has only recently gained significant traction. In recent years, several researchers have reported upon dynamic plasmonic response primarily based on mechanically tunable or electro-chromic responses.
This document focuses on the development of novel mechanically and electrically responsive plasmonic features. Dynamic colour was achieved by embedding metal nanoparticles within a deformable gap. The gap serves to control the optical coupling between the nanoparticles and an opposing reflector film; as the gap changes, so to does the color. The intent of this work is to develop a structure that is amenable to volume manufacturing and that has the potential for broad colour response.


title: A Comparison of Case-Based Reasoning and Probabilistic Graphical Models in the Context of Learning from Observation

abstract: Learning from observation is a technique whereby learning occurs through observation or experience. In this work, we compare two existing techniques of learning from observation: Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGM) and Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) with the goal of identifying a preferred approach for future improvement. We show that the Naive Bayes Classifier is better than a previously used PGM model in learning behavior in a vacuum cleaner domain and introduce a state-based retrieval technique in CBR and show that there is no once-size-fits-all approach to learn state-based behavior. We also compare the two learning techniques in fully and partially observable continuous domains, namely Cartpole V0, obstacle avoidance, and 2D RoboCup. We show that the CBR approach works best in Cartpole V0, the PGM approach works best in obstacle avoidance, and the PGM approach works best in 2D RoboCup. Ultimately, we show that the preferred technique is generally behavior and domain specific.


title: Feeding the Wrong Wolf: Work, Gender, and Generosity in a Northern Alberta Oil and Gas Community

abstract: This thesis is an ethnography of Grande Prairie, an oil and gas community in the Peace Region of north-western Alberta. Drawing on 21 months of fieldwork, the cultural values of workers in the oil and gas industry are explored, along with how they navigate and understand their roles within that industry. It is found that the views held by such workers are heavily influenced by the nature of the exchange relationships that peripheral communities enter into with oil and gas companies, relationships that simultaneously support the community and embolden the scale and scope of industry activity. As such, notions of masculinity, gender, work, place, economics, and history co-mingle and contribute to the assembling of a series of masculine cultural value systems, including those that: encourage residents who profit from working in the industry to reinvest their time and money into the community; validate and maintain belief in the value, necessity, and enduring need for the goods, services, and jobs that result from oil and gas exploration in Alberta and Canada; imagine and summon peripheral and frontier communities as masculine spaces of economic, metaphoric, and social opportunity; and support and perpetuate traditional understandings of sexuality, manhood, gender, and femininity in working and community life. While those in Grande Prairie who resist normative gender and masculinity find support in a localized arts scene, other groups in the Peace Region, such as First Nations peoples and religious communities concerned with the social and environmental impacts of industry activity, lack similar support. Ultimately, these groups express their dissatisfaction with the industry through protest and subversion, but as with those who work within oil and gas, are largely powerless to avoid its impacts.


title: Documenting the Intangible: A Methodology for the Documentation & Dissemination of the Spirit of Place

abstract:
How do we better document & disseminate the intangible elements that contribute to the spirit of place through the amelioration of existing methodologies of documentation & assessment?
Through the study of existing conventions, theories, and methodologies related to the documentation and perception of the built environment, an integrated methodology will be proposed to better encapsulate the intangible elements, inextricably linked to the tangible elements, of the built environment. What intangible elements of the built environment are not being captured through conventional documentation & assessment methodologies? How do we effectively disseminate the knowledge acquired through this proposed methodology? The former Montreal-based manufacturer, Granda Hermanos y Cia will serve as a case study for the application of the proposed methodology for the documentation and dissemination of the intangible elements of the built environment.


title: The Charleson Verandah

abstract: Vancouver's False Creek South neighborhood was built during the 1970s as a low-density community along the southern shores of Vancouver's False Creek. Situated on landfill previously occupied by industry, it is separated from the adjacent Fairview Slopes neighborhood by an arterial street (6th Ave.) and a rail right-of-way. As the bulk of the community was constructed on land belonging to the municipality, the City of Vancouver is investigating if and how additional density might be accommodated. To this end, this thesis explores a multi-modal transit route that acts as a catalyst and an armature for higher-density development in the Community Edge Zone through which the rail right-of-way runs. The proposal consists of rail and bike paths on grade, coupled with an elevated walkway/verandah into which pedestrian bridges connect across 6th Ave. It considers the relationship between grade, bridges, transit, pedestrians, bikes, and context.


title: Visual Processing of Chinese Characters by Foreign Language Learners

abstract: The constituent parts of compound Chinese characters provide crucial semantic and phonetic information for deciphering the character as a whole. Exploring sub-character level processing may help improve our understanding of the mechanisms of Chinese vocabulary storage and retrieval, especially in foreign language learners. Yet, empirical research on adult Chinese-as-a-foreign-language (CFL) learners in this area remains limited. Do CFL learners use decomposition strategies in visual character recognition? If so, how does the combination of familiarity with an individual character and character frequency contribute to this process? How do CFL learners and Chinese native speakers differ? To explore these questions, a masked priming character decision task was used. Results show that CFL learners do not decompose familiar high-frequency characters nor unfamiliar low-frequency characters. However, there was evidence of decomposition for unfamiliar high-frequency characters and familiar low-frequency characters. In comparison, native speakers were found to process compound characters holistically.


title: Spacecraft Formation Guidance and Control on J2-Perturbed Eccentric Orbits

abstract: Spacecraft formation flying is currently an important and thriving area of research, with plenty of unique challenges to overcome in the field of spacecraft dynamics. The guidance of the relative motion of a spacecraft formation is an area of particular interest. Many models for spacecraft formation flying exist, but all have their limitations, either in accuracy due to assumptions made in their derivation like using circular orbits or neglecting important orbit perturbations, or in computational efficiency by requiring numerical integration. This thesis presents a new set of analytical equations of motion describing the position of a follower spacecraft relative to a leader spacecraft in formation which is valid for eccentric orbits and which incorporates the so-called J2 perturbation. This set new equations is then validated for accuracy by comparison with a numerical simulator. Finally, the use of the equations for formation guidance is verified in a number of practical applications.


title: Parallel Domain Decomposition Based Power System Simulation

abstract:
With the continuous developing of power systems, simulation of modern systems requires more computational resources and more simulation time. Conventional techniques are not efficient due to the large size of equation set and inconvenient modelling methods. Although computing power has increased dramatically, we still need new algorithms to improve the simulation speed.
To address the above problems, this thesis proposes an efficient parallel calculation algorithm based on domain decomposition method. The new approach reduces the computational cost by calculating in parallel and splitting the equation set. The proposed approach partitions the system into several sub-systems to be solved in parallel on different processors and at the same time preserves the details of the original system. To reduce the cost of communication overhead and computation load, latency characteristic is utilized. Traditional simulators as well as the hybrid simulator are described and compared with this algorithm.


title: Vegetation Succession and Environmental Relations at the Illisarvik Drained Lake Experiment, Western Arctic Coast, Canada

abstract: Illisarvik is a lake basin on Richards Island, NWT, that was experimentally drained in 1978. Surveys were conducted in 2016 at 110 sites within and surrounding the basin to study vegetation succession. These surveys extended previous records provided by L. Ovenden for 1985, 1993, and 2001. The vegetation at Illisarvik indicated a gradual shift towards undisturbed tundra species but was still compositionally distinct in 2016. Early colonizing species were rarely observed in 2016. Grasses and sedges have steadily increased in cover since drainage. Erect willows have become well-established since 1993, and the increased vegetation height has resulted in deeper snow packs. Surveys of other environmental characteristics in the basin indicated that volumetric water content and vegetation height were the primary factors controlling active-layer thickness and ground temperatures at Illisarvik. The vegetation height likely acts as a proxy for the insulating influence of the snow.


title: The World Through Technology: The Possibility of Politics in Modernity

abstract: This thesis examines how technology underpins our modern understanding of self and other as political actors. My paper begins by accepting as a basis the phenomenological approach to fundamental ontology and technology put forward by Martin Heidegger. Drawing on Heidegger, I contend that man and his world have been enframed. Following this, I venture to pinpoint why man have been delivered to this technological destiny. In the third chapter, I examine the polis/oikos distinction, and reason that political action in a world given over to technology is that which exposes, disrupts, and resists the parameters of thought and action determined by technopower. In the final chapter, I examine how modern political institutions stifle the possibility of politically acting. I conclude by determining that all true political action in the modern age must take place over - and against - technology.


title: A Challenge to the Discourse of Development or Development Done Differently: The Discourse of Experts in the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation

abstract: The 2017 coming into force of the WTO Agreement of Trade Facilitation, and its special and differential treatment provisions for developing and least developed countries is expected to leverage substantial international development resources, along with the dominant discourse of development, including the deployment of Western-trained experts to support the implementation of complex border management measures on the basis of a neoliberal discourse of good governance. Critical development scholarship, informed by Escobar (2011), Ferguson (1994) and Li (2007) helps to inform the texture of expert-beneficiary relations, while a post-structuralist discourse analysis helps to reveal the underlying power relationships as reflected in texts and practices. This study will explore these dominant discourses, paying particular attention to the peer-to-peer expert deployment mechanism employed by the Brussels-based World Customs Organization and the case of Sierra Leone, which offers potential to challenge the dominant tactics employed by international development agencies.


title: Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Ribbon Floating Bridges

abstract: This study investigates the dynamic behaviour of a hinge-connected ribbon floating bridge. A finite element program was used to simulate the displacement of the floating bridge when subjected to consecutive vehicles of varying weight, speed, and inter-vehicle spacing. A 1/25-scale experimental model was also constructed to physically examine bridge behaviour. For two vehicle crossings, results showed that the magnitude of the first peak vertical midpoint displacement primarily depended on vehicle speed, while the second peak depended on both vehicle speed and spacing. A Speed Ratio was defined to relate the frequency of vehicle-induced loads to the bridge frequency of vibration, and a resulting analytical equation proposed calculate the maximum displacement that would occur with vehicle weight increase at specified speeds. The bridge capacity at varying speeds and inter-vehicle spacing were determined numerically. For maximum vehicle-crossing capacity, inter-vehicle spacings were proposed for each specified vehicle speed to minimize vertical bridge displacements.


title: Non applicable: preservation and healing in regards to the Asinabka Land through multicultural revealing of hidden layers

abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the hidden and omitted layers of history of the Asinabka site that have been overlooked by the dominant Western culture; this singular Western viewpoint provides one dimension of realization, and one perspective to the issues surrounding the Chaudière falls and the neighboring islands. By revealing multicultural stories, a deep and enriched history of the Asinabka site emerges; by understanding the full history we can begin a discussion about the future of the Asinabka site in a way that provide an understanding of its history, meaning, and substance. The future design and healing of the land will not only address the buildings on the site, but also acknowledge the past and future implications of decisions made on the land.


title: The Un-Stoic Spinoza: An Analysis of Spinoza, Aristotle, and Epicurus's Accounts of Pleasure

abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to provide a contrast to the literature on early modern Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza's notable agreements with Stoic eudaimonism in his ethical framework. I intend to emphasize what is meaningfully non-Stoic in Spinoza's own eudaimonism, while nevertheless granting that there is undeniable conceptual common-ground between them. I seek to illustrate where Spinoza departs from Stoic eudaimonism by outlining his agreements with two philosophers who function as a conceptual contrast to the Stoics: Aristotle and Epicurus. This thesis, in turn, lays out Aristotle, Epicurus, and Spinoza's respective views on the ontological and ethical (that is eudaimonistic) nature of pleasure. All three philosophers are committed to two fundamental claims that are strongly antithetical to the Stoic view of pleasure: (a) pleasure holds a necessary connection to the health of one's state of being and (b) pleasure is by nature good.


title: State Fragility and International Security: The Rise of Salafi-Jihadi Groups in a World of Fragile States

abstract: Since the end of the Cold War, extremist Islamism has become a focal point of international security debate in academic and policy research. Much of the existing literature on Salafi-Jihadi Groups (SJGs), conventionally known as terrorist groups, examines the root causes of the emergence of these groups through the lens of three levels: individual, group, and international levels. Thus, individual extremists' desire for jihad, Islamism as a group ideology, and the sole great power's post-Cold War policies in the Middle East are considered as the three dominant root causes of the emergence of SJGs in the literature. If these three causal determinants are to hold, it begs the question of why SJGs do not emerge in every Muslim majority country where these elements persist. Why, for instance, did individual jihadis' personal desire for transnational jihad, Islamist ideology, and the US post-Cold War policies produce SJGs in Afghanistan and the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq but not in Saudi Arabia and Qatar? What factor, then, is responsible for this contradictory outcome in countries which in terms of the presence of the root cause of SJGs are similar? Taking these questions into account, I consider the degree of state fragility countries to be responsible for this contradictory outcome. This dissertation examines state fragility as a condition, but not a direct cause, of the rise of SJGs. It engages with a three-decade-long debate on the relationship between state fragility and terrorism and examines the empirical findings through the lens of international relations, international security, and development theories.


title: Modelling the Mechanical Behaviour of Municipal Solid Waste for an Engineered Landfill Using Viscoelasticity and Other Established Concepts

abstract: The stabilization process in municipal solid waste (MSW) is inherently complex. In the short term, waste has an immediate elastic response due to surcharge loading. Long-term stabilization involves two time-dependent components: an initial secondary mechanical settlement phase (i.e. creep) and, later, a thermally dependent biodegradation phase. Two composite compressibility models were used to simulate settlement and compared to field data from a MSW landfill located in Ste. Sophie, Quebec, Canada. One model was based on the work from Marques et al. (2003) and another on the theory of viscoelasticity. The models were developed using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the MSW mechanical response and were examined through a parameter optimization study. Both models achieved correspondence with the field data for prediction of short-term and long-term settlement. The parameters achieved for both model types are all within acceptable limits from literature for MSW.


title: Desiccation and Consolidation in Centrifuge Cake Oil Sands Tailings

abstract: Amongst available technologies to the oil sands mining industry for processing fluid fine tailings, centrifuge treatment technology has had some success at larger scales. In order to study coupled evaporation-consolidation behavior of centrifuged tailings in some detail, a multilayer "dry box" deposition test was performed. Centrifuge oil sands tailings were deposited in a "dry box" setup, and allowed to dry while measuring solid content, suction, and drainage history. Furthermore, the analysis of crack development was used to further assess their dewatering behavior. The influence of cracking on evaporation appears to be minimal. While evaporation rates remained near the potential rate for most of the tests, an eventual decline in evaporation rate appears to arise from high osmotic suctions generated by propagation of dissolved mass to the surface. In terms of dewatering optimization, results suggest that thin-lift deposition is somewhat more advantageous than thick-lift deposition. (Full abstract in thesis).


title: Utilization of Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy and Rheology for Sludge Characterization and Monitoring

abstract: Operation of sludge treatment processes mainly relies on manual control, which is far from ideal. There is a need for new approaches to optimize the design and operation of sludge treatment processes and wastewater plants. This research aims to identify new tools and methods that can be used for in-line and real-time characterization and monitoring of sludge. Two methods that were examined in this thesis that have potential to be used as monitoring technologies were ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometry and torque rheology. Effluent and filtrate absorbance measurements in the ultraviolet/visible range were successful in monitoring the progress of aerobic digestion. Torque rheology was not found to be sensitive enough for monitoring aerobic digestion of sludge. Torque rheology detected significant changes in anaerobically digested sludge when trivalent cations were added, but not when divalent cations were added.


title: Questioning the SENIOR COHOUSING CHALLENGE: A Cross-Sector Analysis of Interviews with Leading Experts

abstract: Seniors will make up an unprecedented 25% of Canadians by the year 2030. This demographic shift will challenge our society to address the basic human right of a dignified and healthy aging. One troubling aspect of aging is the degree to which seniors experience isolation and loneliness. Cohousing can offer older adults a place to age in place, within a 'community-of-care'. However, the challenges of creating senior cohousing are numerous - the failure rates staggering. What factors contribute to this challenge? What could the way forward look like? This thesis searches for answers in the perspectives of professionals representing sectors of the development process. Interviews were conducted with experts in: non-profit housing, housing policy, development consulting, and private real-estate. Focusing on urban senior cohousing in Ottawa, Convivium Cohousing is used as a case study to ground the theory. It is expected findings will transfer to other parts of Canada.


title: Asphalt Deserts: Rethinking the Design of Surface Parking Lots in Downtown Winnipeg

abstract: Surface Parking lots as deserted asphalt lands spread gradually but consistently over the urban fabric of our cities. These asphalt desserts, as utilitarian spaces with solitary land use sweep through nonspaces in the urban context, surfacing the social and cultural fabric of the city as one of placelessness. The issue of surface parking becomes more dominant as they begin to spread over the dense urban environments such as our downtown cores. The city of Winnipeg is an example of this issue with surface parking lots occupying around 40 % of the land in the downtown.This thesis seeks to redefine these spaces as places of social and cultural interactions, where public activities occur and parking space becomes more than just a resting land.


title: Characterization of Heat Transfer Rates in an Air to Phase Change Material Thermal Storage Unit for Integration in Air Handling Units

abstract: An air-loop was designed, constructed and instrumented to characterize the heat transfer rates and energy storage potential of a small scale PCM thermal energy storage (TES) unit. The storage unit was custom made and housed multiple aluminum flat plates filled with PCM (RT44HC). The plates were aligned in two rows of 29. Overall, three variables were studied for the characterization: the HTF flow rates, the initial temperature of the PCM and the HTF inlet temperature. An empirical model was created in TRNSYS. This model was used to simulate a PCM TES integrated into an AHU using the integration method of strategic heating with the goal of reducing peak power during start-up. The simulation results were compared to the AHU without PCM TES to determine whether any energy improvements were achieved. It was determined that by adding the PCM TES the start-up peak power could be reduced by 35 kW.


title: Urbanville: Generative Urban Design in Vancouver's False Creek South

abstract:
As roadmaps for urban development, master plans have significant limitations. Such plans typically disregard the potential for change (economic, market demand, etc.) over the often-lengthy period of their projected build-out. As an alternative approach, can strategies be devised to ensure larger goals will be achieved without limiting the form that development takes along the way?
Urbanville starts a discussion of alternatives to master planning in the form of an iterative and generative process that enables communities to establish goals, set targets, and devise metrics by which to assess various approaches to transformation. This performance-based process enables targets to be met in a multitude of formal variations.
Vancouver's False Creek South neighbourhood is an ideal test case for this approach to urban design. As the city targets this neighbourhood for significant intensification, the process will help the community establish values and agree on performance standards by which to envision alternative futures.


title: “Making a Business of Good Taste”: Minerva Elliot and the Professionalization of Interior Decoration in Toronto, 1925 – 1939

abstract: This thesis examines the development of the interior decorating profession in Toronto by following the career trajectory of interior decorator Minerva Elliot (1887-1964). Elliot's biography allows entry into spaces of inquiry beginning with the T. Eaton Company in Toronto as a site of education for its clientele and the emerging professional. Additionally, the upscale decorating magazine Canadian Homes and Gardens serves as an important tool for providing evidence of Elliot's independent practice, featuring her decorating advice and illustrations of her work. This thesis explores how the department store and magazine helped to professionalize the field of interior decoration, which dealt with various modern tastes in Toronto's evolving metropolis. I argue that interior decoration - and Minerva Elliot's voice alike - occupies an important and overlooked part of Canadian design and women's history, and draws attention to the significance of interior decoration as a means of expressing identity in interwar Toronto.


title: Factors Impacting Collocation Recognition and Controlled Production by ESL Speakers

abstract:
The topic of collocations is popular in vocabulary acquisition-based studies. Researchers (Boers, Demecheleer, Coxhead, & Webb, 2014; Pellicer-Sánchez, 2017; Webb, Newton, & Chang, 2013) implement many strategies for teaching/testing collocations, varying from intuitive noticing to repetition/drilling and analysis-based activities. However, collocational competence is slow to develop in learners of English as a second/additional language (L2), and so far, there is no clear understanding of factors impacting collocation acquisition. This dissertation examines external and internal factors influencing collocation recognition and controlled production by speakers of English as L2 in three consecutive studies.
The first study was based on an acceptability judgment-focused reading-comprehension task and a survey that compared populations of speakers of English as a first language (L1) and L2. This phase identified that speakers of English as L2 with higher test scores implemented similar reading-comprehension strategies as speakers of English as L1. Additionally, the factors of English as a predominant language of communication, L1, and vocabulary learning strategies were the most significant external factors. The results of the second and third stages of the research were based on a teaching module, pre- and post-instruction cloze and multiple-choice/acceptability judgement matrix-based tests, and a post-test survey. The findings suggested that such interconnected characteristics of collocations as frequency of occurrence and co-occurrence and morphosyntactic type (MST) influence collocation recognition and production. In terms of frequency, collocations with low frequency of occurrence and high frequency of co-occurrence were found to be more difficult to recognize pre-instruction and more susceptible to teaching intervention. In terms of MST, Verb + Noun, Adjective + Noun, and Verb + Adjective were strong pre-instruction test score predictors; however, they were not easily acquired, and it was Verb + Adjective and Adverb + Adjective collocations that showed an improvement in post-instruction test scores. Other research implications concern strategies of teaching/testing collocations based on their characteristics. The testing format of a cloze and multiple-choice/acceptability judgment matrix modelled after Revier (2009) was an effective measurement of recognition and production of whole collocations in the sentence-level context. Additionally, a blended teaching approach based on noticing, repetition, and deep processing proved successful.


title: Sequencing the Body: Prisons and the Spatial Imaginary

abstract: This thesis spatializes the sequences of occupied and interactive spaces in prison institutions, in an attempt to explore and understand the nature of these spaces and their relationship to the body. Six spaces - exterior, recreation, visitation, the cell block, general population cells, and segregation cells - represent a variety of architectural conditions that act on the body in particular ways. Each space is characterized by particular and specific degrees of control, privacy, and interaction that condition the private and public self. The method of working with these spaces includes additive, excisive, imaginary and redactive processes to highlight existing and hidden conditions. The desire is to inspire potential points of interjection for restorative justice and to shift the public perception of the prison industrial complex, while also being aware of the limitations of the role of the architect.


title: Stadt am Wasser: City at the Waterfront

abstract: The Eisfabrik is integrally embedded within the historic queer and music sub-cultures operating alongside the Spree River. Queer spaces were a vibrant component of urban life and public culture during the interwar period in Berlin, but were forced to adapt during the 1930s, camouflaging sites of resistance in opposition to the oppressive Nazi regime, which labeled suspected homosexuals with the pink triangle and carried out violent persecution of this group as a part of wider eugenic policies targeted at Jewish citizens. After the 1960s, Queer space evolved into a way to infiltrate a city and subvert heteronormative spaces for same gender sex. Since the 1990s, the "pink dollar" became an integral part of the music subculture and of municipal and corporate advertising strategies. Queer space was itself subverted, and turned into a highly visible marketing strategy, a way to promote nightlife to enrich the city.


title: Stampede Park(ing): Calgary as an Urban Playground

abstract:
The sports district has developed into a common urban condition within cities. It is often idealized as a vibrant hub in the city fabric, when, in reality it at times plays a mediator (and mediocre) part within that fabric. Communal, active, sports-programed space is essential for these interventions - but its execution and implementation is usually subject to, and constrained by, a limited and specific event. These are often touted as hearts or engines of the city, as drivers of development, markers of a city's energy, atmospheric hubs that will activate neighborhoods. If they are so connected, essential, and key to urban and civic space, why are they often so limiting and hindering?
This thesis explores - playfully, civically and critically - a sports-based intervention within Stampede Park in Calgary - a closed-off neighbourhood within the city's downtown that finds itself more exclusive that it is inclusive.


title: A temporary Dwelling in Times of Extreme Duress

abstract: The aim of this thesis is to help provide safety in third world countries with the use of shelters. Due to the current global political climate of crisis, the need for shelter, or safety is a growing concern for a large number of people. Rather than focusing on the issue of sheltering those who are displaced during a time of crisis, this thesis looks at the critical need for shelter for people who stay behind in urban centers. This choice led to researching bomb shelters, which are temporary dwellings used in times of extreme duress. This thesis examines the possibility of channeling multiple existing underground subway systems in Tehran to create an alternative underground metropolis for times of crisis, which can help the individuals who choose to stay in the city during a time of crisis, due to complications, or necessity.


title: Our Barns: Our Stories

abstract:
This thesis explores how the concept of intangible cultural heritage can inform the design of a tangible form in a changing cultural context. Specifically, questioning how the intangible concepts of community, craft, and story can inform a design strategy which integrates the adaptive reuse of a traditional barn with its new suburban environment. Heritage buildings can act to inspire architects to think outside of the box and to raise the bar on suburban design.
Timber framed barns are beautifully exposed examples of traditional craft, serve as a reminder of the agricultural history of an area, and provide a unique opportunity to give a new sense of identity to the evolving suburban culture. This project explores the technical, conceptual, and contextual implications of adaptive reuse of a barn in a suburban environment. The Bradley-Craig Farm at 590 Hazeldean Road, Stittsville serves as a case study for this research and adaptation.


title: Sample Size Determination for Markovian Queueing Models

abstract: In this thesis, we focus on the sample size of two variants of the standard M/M/1 queueing model. The reason is that variants of the standard M/M/1 queueing model are extensively used in the real world. There are many fields in which queueing models can be utilized. In these applications, parameter plays an extremely important role. For example, the paper (Choudhury and Borthakur, 2008) studied inference for parameters of the M/M/1 queueing model. Therefore, in order to guarantee the precision of parameters estimated in these queueing models, the sample size determination is proposed in this thesis. Firstly, we show how a Bayesian approach could be applied to these models to obtain the minimal sample size required by the given precision. Then, we will illustrate in detail how to use R, a statistical software, to compute the sample size for these models.


title: Analysing Correlated Data from Survey with Complex Design

abstract: Correlated data collected from probability based sample surveys are often used in research studies in economics, health and social sciences. These surveys usually involve complex design such as stratification, clustering and unequal selection probability. Ignoring the correlations or the sampling design features may lead to erroneous inferences. In this thesis, we consider regression analysis of correlated survey data, taking account of both the correlation and sampling design. In the non-survey context, marginal models and mixed effects models are two approaches commonly used for correlated data. The Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) method is the main method for marginal models and likelihood based methods are often used for mixed effects models. Recent progresses have been made to both approaches. Qu, Lindsay and Li (2000) proposed a quadratic inference functions (QIF) approach for marginal models that improves the GEE in terms of efficiency under misspecification of the second moment, and also possesses other features that the GEE does not. Lindsay (1988) proposed composite likelihood (CL) approach for multi-level mixed effects models. The CL method has been developed to reduce high dimensional likelihood functions to low dimensional ones, which makes the computation simpler while still having many of the good inference properties of a full likelihood function. In this thesis, we extend these methods to survey data with complex design. Weighting technique is often used to account for sampling design. Carrillo, Chen and Wu (2010) developed weighted GEE for longitudinal survey data. Following their work, we propose a weighted QIF method to improve the weighted GEE in parallel with the improvement in non-survey context. We study its asymptotic properties related to regression parameter estimation and hypothesis testing. We also study the problem of variable selection under the QIF method. For the CL method, Rao, Verret and Hidiroglou (2013) proposed a survey weighted pairwise CL approach for two-level survey data. Yi, Rao and Li (2016) further studied its properties for point estimation. We study its properties for analytical inference in this thesis, in particular composite likelihood ratio statistics.


title: Investigation of a Generative Design Method that Enhances the Architectural Design of a Healthcare Facility Using a Qualitative Research Method

abstract: The main aim of this thesis is to study how employing a user-centric approach in architecture can affect the designers understanding of their requirements. It particularly focuses on a qualitative research using a human centred design (HCD) approach in a health care facility located in Petawawa, as an example. Whilst HCD has been applied in Industrial Design for years, architects claim to shape people's lives, yet the user is often not involved in the design process. The challenge faced translates to "how the application of an HCD approach can possibly be applied in an architectural project?" by proposing a method for architects to use, using three co-creation tools. Employing an HCD approach may decrease the gap between architects and users due to the end users hidden and unmet needs being identified, resulting in a user-centric design.


title: Investigating the Role for a Language Coach in an English as a Second Language Literacy Class

abstract: Proficient in learners' first languages (L1), language coaches are believed to be instrumental in supporting adults in ESL literacy contexts (CCLB, 2015). However, researchers have yet to explore the potential benefit of such a support in L2 classrooms. The goal of this study was twofold: (1) to explore the beliefs surrounding the role of a language coach in the L2 classroom and (2) to determine whether the assistance they provide is supportive of student interactions and L2 language use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two L2 literacy teachers and one language coach at an ESL school in Ontario. In addition, two classroom observations of an L2 literacy class were performed: one with the presence of the language coach and one without. The interview and observational results suggest that having a language coach in the L2 classroom may be of positive support depending on how teachers perceive their role.


title: A Critical Approach to the Efficacy of the Economic Development Strategy in Interethnic Conflict Prevention and Resolution

abstract: Since the late 1980s, China has adopted an economic development strategy (EDS) to invest in the Uyghur economic well-being in exchange for obedience. Despite this, the conflicts have become more frequent. Under the framework of "Sons of the Soil" conflicts and Feminist Political Economy, one finds a causal relation between gendered employment and migratory patterns resulting from the EDS, and the escalation of Uyghur-Han conflicts. Between the late 1980s and mid-2000s, EDS policies attracted male-dominated Han in-migration to Xinjiang. Influenced by gender biases, Xinjiang locals viewed these migrants as threats to their economic and personal security. This aggravates grievances against the Han-dominant ruling. Since the mid-2000s, EDS policies have caused an out-flow of Uyghur women from Xinjiang, leaving Uyghur men behind. This has challenged the patriarchal values and order among the Uyghur and thereby contributed to the conflicts.


title: Iron Domes: Desecuritization in the 2014 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Battle for Identities

abstract: This thesis investigates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; specifically, the empirical study centers on the 2014 military conflict. The objective of the study was to determine the optimal courses of action actors could take in their desecuritization efforts, within the Jewish Israeli context. This was achieved through the investigation of the intersubjective mechanisms that the Israeli government relied upon during this time, as well as the various strategies used by human rights organizations, Knesset members and other actors in their work to counter the securitization process. Theoretically, this work aims to bridge the gap between existing securitization literature, and critical theory, and further expand on existing literature. This thesis argues that desecuritizing agents should incorporate socio-cultural motifs in their arguments in front of Jewish Israeli audiences, as well as pivot towards international audiences to succeed in desecuritization.


title: Energy Management Strategy of PV Grid-Connected Household Nano-Grid System

abstract: This thesis investigates the long-term optimal scheduling algorithm proposed for the energy storage system, to better organize charging/discharging action of battery for the economic operation in a PV grid-connected household nano-grid system. To fulfill this goal, the household nano-grid is modeled, including PV module, energy storage system, DC/AC inverter and their corresponding controllers. Battery is used to execute the optimal power command scheduled by long-term optimal scheduling algorithm. The optimal power scheduling algorithm is based on the rolling optimization method, which can realize the minimum operational cost of the PV nano-grid system. Moreover, a smoothing function is introduced to alleviate the power fluctuation of the exchanging power between PV nano-grid system and the main power grid caused by PV and residential loads. The validity of the proposed energy management strategy in upper Energy Management System (EMS) has been proved based on the simulation in MATLAB/Simpower.


title: “We Have the Law, We Need the Access!:” Activism, Access and the Social Organization of Abortion in New Brunswick

abstract: This dissertation explores the role that feminist pro-choice activists have played in resisting and reshaping the social organization of abortion care in New Brunswick. Using political activist ethnography (PAE), my research demonstrates the ways in which activists may help to reveal the social relations organizing abortion access in order to ultimately transform them. Building on PAE and movement-relevant theories, I argue that movement spaces are key sites of knowledge production, and thus offer a useful starting point for research that aims to challenge and transform social relations of ruling. My dissertation extends contemporary scholarly conversations around abortion by offering a case study into the unique access barriers imposed by the provincial government in New Brunswick, as mediated by the province's Medical Services Payment Act. Based on twenty-five in-depth semi-structured interviews, two years of participant observation with Reproductive Justice New Brunswick (RJNB), as well as archival research into the history of abortion regulation in the province, I trace how the closure of the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic helped spark a grassroots movement to expand abortion access and repeal the province's public funding restrictions for clinic abortions. Through exploring the ways that activists have helped to reveal the social organization of abortion in New Brunswick, I argue the importance of attending to activist accounts when developing policies around sexual and reproductive health. Indeed, there is much to learn from activists' work to expand abortion access in New Brunswick. Activists, as I show, have helped demonstrate the lines of fault that exist between the institutional coordination of abortion services on the one hand, and patient experiences accessing the procedure on the other. It is due to these lines of fault that activists have increasingly oriented themselves toward a framework that makes visible the ways that access is entangled in social relations of oppression and benefit. In expanding access to abortion, it is important that activists and policymakers alike interrogate the historical, social, political and economic conditions that have led to the uneven and unequal distribution of abortion care in the Canadian context.


title: Morphological Word Families and Learning to Spell

abstract: Research has demonstrated the facilitative effect of morphological word families on the development of orthographic representations and children's spelling accuracy. Specifically, related words that pronounce silent-letter endings increase the accuracy of children's attempts at spelling these particularly challenging French words. The current study intended to replicate and extend these findings in large-scale analyses assessing spelling accuracy by word for a large corpus of French words spelled by 40 children in Grades 1 through 5. Results supported the word family hypothesis in demonstrating the facilitative effect of morphological word families for all children. The derivative diversity hypothesis extended research on adult orthographic representations in finding that the diversity of derivatives was the stronger predictor of spelling across grades. Finally, the feminine form hypothesis was generally supported in that the feminine inflection was related to spelling only in Grade 1, however, this was only after controlling for the diversity of derivatives.


title: Free Improvised Music as a Deleuzian "Body Without Organs": An Interview-Based Engagement with Free Improvised Musical Practices

abstract: This thesis engages with the nature of free improvised music as represented by a subset of the current community of free improvising musicians in Montreal. Through interview dialogue with a set of four free improvisers participating in this community, I trace an understanding of their varied musical practices in order to examine how free improvised music—with particular attention to the listening and creative practices highlighted by this group—promotes unique forms of musical subjectivity. Drawing on post-Deleuzian scholarship around sonic experience, difference, and identity, I argue that free improvised music stands in a historically distinct location in relation to the 'musical text'. Furthermore—and drawing on the Deleuzian concepts of the "Body without Organs," and "the refrain"—I argue that the creative practices demonstrated by this set of improvisers highlight the capacity of free improvised music to confound conventional notions of musical subjectivity and selfhood.


title: Design Thinking in the Canadian Public Sector:  an exploration of suitability for problem solving in policy development through the use of an interdisciplinary design thinking workshop.

abstract:
The Canadian federal government is in search of processes and approaches to address mounting complex challenges in the public sector. Design thinking is an approach that has been used lately in many Canadian government departments to facilitate innovation. Yet, academic literature about design thinking in the Canadian context of policy development is sparse. Research conducted in this thesis furthers new thinking in this area. A design thinking workshop based on a collaborative interdisciplinary approach was used to gain insights into the potential barriers and benefits of design thinking in the Canadian public sector.
Experienced designers and public sector experts were invited to participate in a policy design challenge. The findings revealed potential alternative solutions requiring increased interdisciplinary collaboration among government policy makers and design practitioners, incorporating experienced designers into the policy process and using results to bolster academic literature. Keywords: design thinking, policy making, innovation, Canadian public sector, interdisciplinary collaboration


title: Spatial variability of carbon emissions within a drained lake basin and its surrounding tundra, Illisarvik, Northwest Territories

abstract: This study investigates the spatial and temporal variations of carbon emissions and their controls at a 38-year-old drained lake basin located on Richards Island, NT. Greenhouse gas fluxes were collected from plots with different vegetation throughout the basin and in surrounding tundra during the growing season. Wet sedge sites were significant sources of methane (7 to 355 nmol m-2 s-1) while most other sites were sinks. Carbon dioxide fluxes varied from 0.5 to 13 mol m-2 s-1 with highest fluxes outside the basin. Air temperature was positively correlated with carbon dioxide emissions at the majority of sites while soil moisture and vegetation type was the main control on methane fluxes. Bulk age of the respired carbon dioxide was mostly modern, reflecting rapid cycling of recently sequestered carbon. Overall, the carbon emissions were similar to other tundra sites elsewhere.


title: Self-Directed Workbooks: Evaluating Their Efficacy in a U.S. Probation Setting

abstract: Journaling has been utilized successfully in a variety of settings (e.g., mental health, addiction) and recent research indicates that journaling with incarcerated offenders may help reduce recidivism (e.g., Proctor, Hoffman, & Allison, 2012). The purpose of the current study was to implement and examine the effectiveness of a set of self-directed workbooks in a community supervision context and evaluate their utility from the clients' perspective. These workbooks were developed to assist probation officers in increasing the community success of offenders. Each workbook targets a different factor (e.g., criminal attitudes, motivation to change) essential to managing offender behaviour. Despite organizational changes impeding implementation and low participation rates (n = 32) which led to issues of power during analyses, the preliminary results combined with previous research suggest that self-directed workbooks may have potential in reducing both technical violations and recidivism among supervised offenders. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.


title: Discrete Viewpoint Control to Reduce Cybersickness in Virtual Environments

abstract: Cybersickness in virtual reality is an on-going problem. We propose a method for reducing the onset of cybersickness caused by illusions of self-motion (vection), when using stationary VR setups. Our approaches rely on reducing optic flow and the inconsistent displacement approach. We propose two different technique including translational and rotational viewpoint movements. We run two different user studies and measure participant cybersickness levels via Simulator Sickness Questionnaire, as well as user reported levels of nausea, presence, and error rates. Overall, our results indicate that both viewpoints snapping and translation snapping significantly reduced SSQ-reported cybersickness levels by 40% for rotational viewpoint movement, and 50% for translational viewpoint movement. Both techniques resulted in a reduction in participant nausea levels, especially with longer VR exposure. Presence levels, error rate, and performance were not significantly different when using viewpoint snapping, or translation snapping as compared to a control condition with continuous viewpoint motion.


title: Dispersion Engineered Radiative & Guided-Wave Electromagnetic Structures for Efficient Wave Control

abstract: This thesis presents two novel dispersion engineered structures for controlling the propagation properties of EM waves. The first structure is a low-profile dielectric choke ring for multipath mitigation for GNSS applications. The proposed structure has a dual-band surface impedance resonance around the GNSS bands of L2 and L1. An in-house choke ring prototype of the proposed design was tested with the DM antenna. A high multipath rejection in both GNSS bands is experimentally confirmed with comparable performances to an otherwise bulky, heavy, and expensive conventional metallic choke ring. The second structure is an amplitude-equalized group delay device, called a phaser, for ASP applications, implemented at microwave and mm-wave frequencies. The proposed devices achieve a flat magnitude transmission while preserving their strong dispersive delay response. Both types of phasers are demonstrated using full wave simulations, with experimental demonstration currently underway for the active configurations.


title: The Illuminated City: An Atlas of Islamic Space in Montreal

abstract: Many everyday Islamic spaces in the "West" are almost undetectable. In Montreal, zoning regulations, economic restrictions, and the recurring debate surrounding religious accommodations significantly impact how and where Muslim communities establish their places of worship. These buildings are present, yet often hidden in the physical urban fabric - which is deemed "secular" - that surrounds us. This thesis explores questions of visibility / invisibility, and secular / sacred space: what is it that we call the secular public space? How does it compare to religious space, and how permeable is it to the non-secular? Where does the sacredness of a place rest? How do the different places of worship in a city connect together? This research investigates this theological landscape as a vernacular that is repurposed into a religious space and place of a community, and studies ways to make these religious spaces visible, to reveal another landscape within Montreal.


title: Computational Cell Dosimetry for Cancer Radiotherapy and Diagnostic Radiology

abstract:
Computational radiation dosimetry, using e.g., Monte Carlo (MC) techniques, is used to calculate the amount of energy per unit mass deposited in tissue (the absorbed dose) resulting from radiotherapy and diagnostic radiology procedures. Motivated by the radiobiological importance of subcellular structures such as the nucleus, this work seeks to develop a better understanding of energy deposition on the cellular level.
Multicellular models of healthy and cancerous human soft tissues are developed based on typical values of cell compartment sizes, elemental compositions and number densities found in the literature. MC simulations are used to investigate how energy deposition within the nucleus and cytoplasm depends on incident photon energy, dose level, cell morphology, cell arrangement method, elemental composition, and the microscopic details of the environment surrounding the target of interest. MC simulations are carried out for monoenergetic kilovoltage incident photon energies ranging from 20 to 370 keV. 120 kVp x-ray, Cobalt-60 and 6 MV medical linac photon spectra are also considered. Given the considerable computational resources required for simulations involving microscopic details, cavity theory is explored as a method for relating macroscopic (bulk tissue) and microscopic (cellular) dose descriptors without the need for MC simulations.
For low doses and small target sizes, the stochastic nature of radiation transport and energy deposition can lead to considerable variation in energy deposition across a target population; this variation is referred to as the microdosimetric spread. The microdosimetric spread is investigated in the context of experimental radiation response studies using micron-sized sampling volumes. These results are relevant for guiding measurement and data analysis techniques for Raman spectroscopy studies. Additionally, motivated by the lack of detail included in traditional breast dosimetry computational models, multiscale models of compressed breasts, combining macroscopic and microscopic features, are developed. A 30 kVp mammography spectrum is considered.
The sensitivity of results with respect to microscopic tissue structure model parameters emphasizes the importance of accurate knowledge of cellular properties. For incident photon energies <50 keV, there are considerable differences between macroscopic and microscopic dose descriptors. Results highlight the importance of microdosimetric considerations when scoring energy deposition in subcellular targets.


title: 3D Synthesis of Man-Made Objects Based on Fine-Grained Parts

abstract: We present a novel approach for 3D shape synthesis based on using fine-grained parts extracted from a set of input models, yielding shapes with a wide variety of fine details. Unlike most previous works, our method does not require a semantic segmentation, nor a part correspondence between the shapes of the input set. After extracting our fine-grained segments, we compute the similarity between these segments using a set of descriptors. Next, we select a template shape among the input models. For each fine-grained part of that template, we use our similarity metric to find a compatible part that we can use for replacing the original part of the template. We show with several experiments that our algorithm can synthesize many distinct shapes by choosing different compatible segments, and by using different templates. Additionally, we maintain the plausibility of the novel objects by preserving the general structure of the template.


title: The New Jackson Brewery:  Exploring Design as an Account of Connected Events

abstract: In a world where designs are often becoming a collage of ideas drawn from various digital sources, there is no clear sense of how they came into being. The physical processes of the design are becoming less important. By contrast, this thesis explores the design process itself, specifically one based in narrative. It suggests that every design project comes with a history and on-going story, and that the role of the designer is to help that story unfold. The process begins with an uncovering of the site's physical and cultural history. A dialogue ensues, with the designer responding imaginatively to the story and the developing story inspiring the next design move. Looking at the stories and qualities of the spaces through the eyes of a variety of characters and representing them as a series of drawings, the thesis uses the abandoned Jackson Brewery to test a narrative based design process.


title: Using Participatory Action Research to Support Civil Society Action for a Sustainable Food System in Yellowknife

abstract: This thesis examines the opportunities and challenges when encouraging collaborative governance for just and sustainable food system for Yellowknife, NWT. In partnership, the researcher and research partners identified the following research question: How can community members and organizations, local businesses, and decision-makers from the City of Yellowknife collaboratively engage around the vision and principles of the Yellowknife Food Charter to improve the policy arena for a just and sustainable food system for Yellowknife? Using political ecology theories of sustainable food systems and governance, this thesis addresses this question through praxis - the cycle of reflection and action. To reflect, this thesis makes recommendations for building trust in research with local research partners As action, the Coalition collaboratively identified the need for a municipal food strategy and this thesis includes a set of policy briefs on this topic. These briefs are contextualized by a historicized account of the Yellowknife food system.


title: A Model for Calculating Negative Externalities Experienced as a Result of Marginal Increases In Public Transit and Ridesharing Services on Arterial and Collector Road Segments

abstract:
Increased transit service is widely regarded as an effective solution to traffic congestion, particularly because transit vehicles have larger capacity. Surface transit, however, operates in a different service paradigm, and may preclude the use of space by passenger cars or impose delay on traffic.
By adapting existing delay and queuing models, a model was developed to quantify negative externalities imposed on the network for various conditions found or implied on Fisher Avenue in Ottawa and Taunton Road in Oshawa, and evaluated for realism using VISSIM and AIMSUN. This model may support existing methods for evaluating marginal changes in transit service to maximize traveller throughput. The model extends to autonomous vehicles, ride-hailing services, and performance models.
The model shows that as the proportion of transit vehicles increases, the imposed delay may reduce arterial throughput, reducing road performance and traveller benefit, which can indicate conditions better served by grade-separated transit.


title: The Subtle Landscape: An Architecture of 3 Days

abstract: Inuit societies in Canada's arctic are known for their adaptability and resiliency. However, the Inuit experience of colonization and non-indigenous contact has contributed to a profound disruption of culture, language, and living, with catastrophic consequences for mental health and well-being. This thesis reflects on how architecture/design can respond to the complex issues of mental health currently affecting Inuit societies in Canada, using the flux of ever-changing terrains and landscapes as both context and intervention. In doing this, a series of proposed outposts mark the line of an annual suicide prevention walk, hosted by Qikiqtarjuaq in an attempt to bring recognition and attention to the purpose of the walk and to provide shelter and services to travelers who partake. Working together, the outposts speak to the importance of experience, culture, process, and healing within a landscape of utmost significance.


title: Nomadic (Sense)scapes: Bringing Sensory Healing for Cancer Patients in Rural Canada

abstract: Canada is a vast country and home to a wide range of geographical landscapes, from the glacial to the mountainous. While a unique and amazing feature, the expansiveness creates an obstacle for a portion of the population in receiving sufficient treatment for long term health conditions such as cancer. Currently, people located in rural communities are unable to readily access required treatments and are forced to travel long distances, making it both stressful and a financial burden for many patients to receive the proper care. This thesis aims to design a mobile structure, which administers treatments despite the remoteness of location. Through interventions on various scales, the intention is to better service the Canadian rural population by providing a more accessible cancer treatment centre, which utilizes the landscapes of Canada to create a therapeutic and sensory structure that acts as the heart of the community.


title: On the Modelling and Analysis of Converting Existing Canadian Residential Communities to Net-Zero Energy

abstract:
Rising energy costs and international pressure has motivated governments and homeowners to reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of new and existing dwellings. A popular technical approach to this problem is the adoption of net-zero energy targets, which can achieve substantial energy and GHG emissions reductions. Often focused on new builds, there is growing interest in retrofitting existing buildings to net-zero. Addressing existing stock is essential since they will continue to be a significant portion of the building stock for several decades.
Net-zero is not limited to single buildings, and potential benefits of community-scale retrofit projects include greater economic viability and economies of scale. However, challenges faced by such projects include few demonstrations in practice, and the need of detailed analytical models to analyze techno-economic feasibility. Another challenge is the lack of consensus on formal net-zero definitions.
This research was conducted to explore the feasibility and performance of retrofitting Canadian residential communities to net-zero, and the impact of net-zero definition on design. To meet this objective, a new modelling approach was developed which builds upon the detailed and validated Canadian Hybrid Residential End-Use Energy and GHG Emissions Model (CHREM). A new Canadian residential appliance and lighting bottom-up model was developed and integrated into CHREM which realistically captures the behaviour, variability and aggregate electrical demands of communities. Building envelope retrofit models, ground-source heat pump (GSHP) space heating, and heat pump hot water models were incorporated into CHREM. A new methodology was developed to estimate the impact of envelope retrofits on airtightness.
Retrofit community-scale energy systems considered included solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) systems, district heating and thermal energy storage, and microturbine cogeneration. Detailed models of these systems were developed in the TRNSYS energy simulation tool. An optimization algorithm was used to determine the cost-optimal net-zero solutions for representative residential communities. Commonly used site and source net-zero energy definitions were considered. The results indicate that deep envelope upgrades and PV and GSHP system retrofits have potential to achieve net-zero and significant GHG reductions. The results also indicate that site net-zero likely realizes more GHG reductions compare to source net-zero.