title: An investigation of the emotional modulation of pain perception and neural processing in the human brainstem and spinal cord using functional magnetic resonance imaging

contributor:
Stroman, Patrick W.
Neuroscience Studies

subject:
functional MRI
emotional modulation of pain

abstract: Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-09 14:55:25.369

abstract: Pain is an extremely subjective and complex sensory and emotional experience. It is affected by a range of factors including attention, suggestion, attitude, expectation, and affective state. The influence of emotion on pain perception and neural processing is the central focus of this thesis. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals exposed to a painful stimulus will rate that stimulus as more painful when accompanied by or associated with a negative emotional influence. Conversely, pain ratings decrease when the painful stimulus is coupled with a positive emotional influence. Although many studies have confirmed that emotional manipulations affect pain perception at a group level, there has been little exploration of the range in the effect size across individuals or the psychological characteristics that may act to mediate emotional modulation of pain. Furthermore, although there is a growing body of research exploring the neural response in the brain, no other study, to date, has used functional MRI to examine the neural response across the brainstem and spinal cord involved in emotional modulation of pain. As such, this thesis used a combination of behavioural measures and functional MRI to explore differences in the effect of emotional modulation on pain perception across individuals, along with the neural response in the brainstem and spinal cord. We observed a substantial degree of inter-subject variability for the emotional modulation of pain perception, along with significant correlations for scores on anxiety and depression questionnaires with the distinct effects for Positive and Negative emotional modulation of pain. Functional MRI results revealed an effect for emotional modulation of the neural response involved in pain processing in the ipsilateral dorsal horn of the spinal cord, along with several regions in the brainstem known to be involved in descending pain modulation. Functional connectivity of these areas was observed to vary based on the valence and arousal of the emotional stimuli. Therefore, the findings of this thesis provide novel insight into the subcortical neural network involved in emotional modulation of pain processing and the factors that influence the effect of emotions on pain perception.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Patient Related Diagnostic Delay, Symptom Appraisal and Lay Consultation in Head and Neck Cancer

contributor:
Groome, Patti A.
Gottlieb, Benjamin H.
Community Health and Epidemiology

rights: This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.

subject:
Diagnostic Delay
Patient Related Diagnostic Delay
Head and Neck Cancer
Cancer

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-10 16:07:18.189

abstract:
The objectives of this thesis were to; 1) identify established risk factors and gaps in the current peer reviewed literature relating to factors associated with patient related diagnostic delay in head and neck cancer, 2) describe and document patients’ personal responses to symptoms of head and neck cancer, the characteristics of the patients’ lay-consultants and the responses that the patients received from their lay-consultants and 3) assess the association between patient/network-related diagnostic delay and a) whether the patient felt any urgency to investigate their symptoms, b) whether the patient told someone in their social network about their symptoms (lay-consultancy) and c) lay-consultant influence.
The first manuscript is a scoping review that demonstrates that there is a lack of studies that address; the personal symptom experiences of patients, the psycho-social processes of help-seeking and the independent effects of suspected risk factors for head and neck cancer.  The results of the first manuscript also provided me with guidance on what the important confounders of our primary relationship of interest were most likely to be.
The second manuscript suggests that patient related delay may be influenced by the patients’ mistaken belief that their symptoms were non-urgent with or without the influence of their lay-consultant.
The third manuscript provides evidence that the primary barrier to seeking help from an HCP is whether or not those individuals experiencing symptoms think they are urgent enough to warrant further investigation. The study found no evidence to support the assertion that increased risk of delay is associated with decreased lay-consultancy.
The results of this thesis indicate that most of the patient related delay occurs during the individuals’ symptom appraisal process with or without input from their social network.  I think that individuals at risk of late stage presentation of head and neck cancer should be provided with targeted information encouraging them to seek help from a health care provider if the key signs or symptoms of head and neck cancer have not resolved within three weeks.

abstract: PhD


title: Tax Information Exchange Agreements and the War Against Tax Evasion

contributor:
Cockfield, J. Arthur
Law

subject:
Bank Secrecy Act
TIEAs
FBAR
Exchange of Information
international tax evasion
Automatic Exchange of Information
FATCA
Tax Evasion
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
Global Forum
Tax Information Exchange Agreements
FBAR

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Law) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-12 15:13:10.028

abstract:
Illegal tax practices such as tax evasion cost governments billions of dollars of lost revenues.  Such practices interfere with tax policy objectives that many nations have adopted to promote equity in the administration of their tax systems.  Countries like Canada and the United States which tax their residents (and citizens in the U.S.) on income they earn throughout the world rely on the ability to exchange information with tax havens and other countries in order to administer their tax systems, and combat tax evasion.    Tax evasion received new attention with the coming to light of a string of massive tax evasion scandals involving UBS Bank in Switzerland in 2008, and more recently through the leakage of millions of offshore records in 2013.  During the past five years, countries have signed hundreds of single purpose treaties to exchange information known as Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs).  Canada has signed 22 of these TIEAs.
The primary objective of this thesis is to evaluate the capacity of TIEAs to be an effective tool against offshore tax evasion.  It does so firstly by reviewing the policy objectives of TIEAs in order to later determine their performance against these stated objectives.  Second, it reviews domestic and international alternative legal mechanisms to obtain foreign based taxpayer information in order to later evaluate the effectiveness of TIEAs to combat offshore tax evasion as compared with these measures, particularly those used by the United States.  The research identifies deficiencies in the TIEA and exchange of information regimes and prescribes more effective arrangements to deal with these problems.  The central argument of this thesis is that in their current form TIEAs offer fiscal authorities like the CRA a very limited capability to uncover existing tax evasion by residents of Canada.  It reviews the TIEA network in Canada, the development and implementation of TIEAs by the OECD and Global Forum from 1998 through 2013, and recent experiences in the field of exchange of information by the United States with Switzerland.

abstract: For commercial publication

abstract: PhD


title: Sedimentology and Oceanographic Controls on Temperate, Shallow-Water Carbonate Deposition: Spencer Gulf, South Australia

contributor: Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering

subject:
inverse estuarine circulation
rhodolith
mud
carbonate
bivalve
Holocene
Australia
salinity

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-12 19:41:38.063

abstract: Spencer Gulf is a large, shallow, metahaline embayment along the southern Australian continental margin (~22,000 km2, > 60 m water depth).  The gulf experiences inverse estuarine circulation and seasonally fluctuating water temperatures, salinities, and nutrient levels.  The gulf floor is covered with temperate carbonate sediments (sands, gravels, and muds) that are skeletal remains of heterozoans; bivalves, coralline algae (rhodoliths), bryozoans, benthic foraminifera, and echinoids are common constituents throughout.  These carbonates are interpreted to be accumulating in five depositional environments: dense seagrass meadows, sand flats with sparse seagrass growth, rhodolith pavements, open gravel/sand barrens, and muddy seafloors.  Detailed seasonal oceanographic data and hydrodynamic model outputs were used to delimit oceanographic influences on sedimentation patterns.  The depth of the euphotic zone is interpreted as the most important control on benthic environment distributions within the gulf.  Salinities, hydrodynamics, and nutrient concentrations also affect biological assemblages and facies patterns.  Seagrasses and rhodoliths require sufficient light for growth and, thus, compete for space on euphotic seafloors.  Seagrasses colonize the shallowest, best-illuminated areas.  Rhodolith pavements occur in regions of the gulf where seagrasses are excluded: seafloors where surface-water nutrients promote growth of phytoplankton that decrease light penetration, and energetic channels with high bottom-water currents.  Calm, subphotic seafloors are characterized by soft sediment environments (open gravels, sands, and muds).  Benthic calcareous organisms are surprisingly diverse throughout the gulf, despite elevated seawater salinities (up to 47‰).  Abundant carbonate muds set Spencer Gulf apart from other shallow temperate provinces.  The origin of this mud is primarily from the breakdown of skeletal particles via maceration.  Mineralogical composition is, therefore, a mixture of aragonite, intermediate-Mg calcite, and low-Mg calcite.  Rhodolith pavement deposits were investigated in detail to determine how oceanographic conditions influence sedimentation in these environments.  Rhodolith pavements provide habitats for diverse calcareous invertebrates, which can be used as environmental indicators.  The rhodoliths themselves within Spencer Gulf, however, do not show morphological differences that can be used as indicators of water energy levels, as some authors have suggested.  This study demonstrates that integration of detailed oceanographic data and facies analysis aids interpretations of benthic environments and sediment distribution patterns.

abstract: Some chapters are being published in scientific journals and we would not like them to be public before they are published.

abstract: PhD


title: Components of Oils Sands Process Water Involved in Toxicity, Estrogenicity and Biodegradation

contributor:
Ramsay, Bruce A.
Ramsay, Juliana A.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Toxicity
Oils Sands Process Water
Estrogenicity
Biodegradation

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-02-24 14:41:22.532

abstract:
To process one m3 of oil sands, four m3 of oil sands process wastewater (OSPW) is produced. OSPW is a mixture of compounds including hundreds of different naphthenic acids (NAs) which are considered to the major toxicity contributor of OSPW. Effect-directed analysis was used to establish the link between toxicity/estrogenicity and components in OSPW. OSPW and biologically treated OSPW were separated by solid phase extraction and reverse phase HPLC into “toxic and nontoxic” or “estrogenic and nonestrogenic” fractions as detected by the Microtox® and a yeast estrogenic screening assay respectively. The composition of fractions was determined by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry. Multivariate statistical methods were used to analyze the relationship between composition and toxicity/estrogenicity. C15-C18 O2-NAs (CnH2n+zO2) with a double bond equivalent (DBE) of 4, as well as C14-C17 with DBE=3 were found to be the most likely contributors to toxicity, while O2 (CnH2n+zO2), O3 (CnH2n+zO3) and O4 (CnH2n+zO4) C17 to C20 compounds with a DBE 6-10 likely cause estrogenicity. From these studies, the exact formulae and masses of possible estrogenic/toxic compounds in OSPW were identified. These findings will help to focus study on the most environmentally significant components in OSPW.
In an earlier published study, OSPW was treated with an immobilized soil bioreactor (ISBR) at a 7 day residence time, which achieved NA reduction by 30-40%. The present study compared untreated and ISBR-treated OSPW, which showed that while DBE=3, 4 were the most recalcitrant NAs and DBE=5 were biodegradable NAs. The presence of aromatic and diamondoid NA structures was confirmed by tandem MS. These results may help to better understand NA biodegradation, the recalcitrant components and improve ISBR performance. Bacteria belonging to the Ochrobactrum, Brevundimonas and Bacillus genera were isolated from the ISBR and tested for their biodegradation of aliphatic, cyclic and aromatic NA surrogates in 96-well plates by tetrazolium redox dyes as the metabolic activity indicator. Ochrobactrum grew best on the most surrogates and both Ochrobactrum and Bacillus were found to degrade recalcitrant tricyclic NAs. This approach can be used to understand the role of individual
microorganisms in the mixed microbial population that are involved in the NAs biodegradation in the ISBR.

abstract: PhD


title: What Makes the Good Life Good?

contributor:
Miller, Jon
Philosophy

subject: Happiness Eudaimonia

abstract: Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-15 11:31:17.305

abstract: “The happy life is the pleasant life” is a statement that both many ancient and contemporary philosophers would agree to. However how they understand it to be true can differ greatly. In this thesis, I am interested in investigating the role of pleasure in the good life from both an ancient and contemporary perspective. I will first examine how Aristotle characterizes pleasure as a necessarily morally appropriate and objective feature of a good life. I will then contrast Aristotle’s understanding with contemporary philosopher Fred Feldman’s subjective hedonistic eudaimonic thesis. Where Aristotle’s description integrates various goods such as pleasure and virtue to come to a complete description of the good life, Feldman’s thesis focuses on only the one good of subjective pleasure as what accounts for human well-being. In this way, Feldman avoids problems of elitism and perfectionism found in Aristotle’s writings, but fails to account for how various goods should integrate and relate within a good life and thereby fails to satisfy a demand for a complete description of living well. Whether or not we should make this demand upon a eudaimonic thesis may be where ancient and contemporary thinkers differ most greatly and is where I will leave this thesis.

abstract: M.A.


title: Advancing the Measurement of Arterial Stiffness in Healthy and End-Stage Renal Disease Populations

contributor:
MacDonald, Maureen
Rehabilitation Science

subject:
Cardiovascular Disease
Arterial Stiffness
Photoplethysmography
Applanation Tonometry
Augmentation Index
Validity
Reliability
End-Stage Renal Disease
Pulse Wave Velocity
Aerobic Exercise
Hemodialysis

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Rehabilitation Science) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-15 19:40:34.894

abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both the general and at-risk populations [e.g., end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients]. Arterial stiffness is a major contributor to the occurrence and progression of CVD. The ability to measure arterial stiffness accurately and easily could be important in the detection and prevention of CVD. Applanation tonometry (AT) is considered the reference method for determining pulse wave velocity (PWV), an index of arterial stiffness; however, AT has been reported to have several limitations and practical problems. Photopleysmography (PPG) may be a potential alternative to AT in the determination of PWV, but its validity and reliability need to be more definitively established. Second, there is conflicting evidence as to whether peripheral measurements of arterial stiffness can be used as a surrogate for central measures. Accordingly, the primary objectives of this dissertation were: a) to aid in establishing the validity and/or reliability of PWV assessed using the new PPG method compared to the reference (AT) method (Study 2 and Study 3), and b) to provide further insight regarding whether peripheral PWV by PPG is in fact a valid surrogate measure of central PWV by PPG (Study 2).
There are also many factors that can affect the interpretation of arterial stiffness measurements that are poorly understood in terms of their mechanisms and magnitude of impact. As such, this dissertation also addresses: c) the influence of hemodialysis (HD) on arterial stiffness (Study 1) and d) the influence of maximal aerobic exercise on arterial stiffness (Study 3).
The findings of the studies in this dissertation established the validity and/or reliability of the PPG method (Study 2 and Study 3), refuted the use of peripheral PWV measurements as surrogates for central ones (Study 2), clarified the influence of HD on arterial stiffness (Study 1), and confirmed the acute impact of aerobic exercise on arterial stiffness (Study 3). Ultimately, these findings may help healthcare practitioners to interpret arterial stiffness measurements more accurately and facilitate  the assessment of arterial stiffness in becoming a standard part of CVD screening in healthy and at-risk populations alike.

abstract: Personal reasons. Thank you!

abstract: PhD


title: Distinguishing impairments in speed of information processing between traumatic brain injury and chronic pain

contributor:
Tripp, Dean A.
Psychology

subject: chronic pain

subject: neuropsychological testing

subject: traumatic brain injury

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-16 14:25:43.747

abstract: Speed of information processing deficits are hallmark symptoms of, and a primary consideration, in the differential diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). Chronic pain is a common comorbid symptom following trauma-induced brain injury and can impact information processing speed thereby creating a potential confound in a differential diagnosis. Examining Chronic Pain, MTBI, Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (STBI), and a Healthy Control group, the Computerized Tests of Information Processing (CTIP) were used to assess processing speed. CTIP results were contrasted with traditional paper and pencil neuropsychological (NP) tests (Digit Span, Digit Symbol, Trails A & B) across groups. The Chronic Pain group performed significantly worse than the MTBI and Control groups on the CTIP with no significant differences between the Chronic Pain and Control group on any traditional NP test. Notably, there were no significant differences in scores on the CTIP or traditional NP tests between the Chronic Pain and the STBI groups. Discriminant analyses indicated the Semantic test was the strongest predictor of group membership among CTIP tasks, correctly predicting 41% of the present sample and estimating 34% correct prediction in a new sample. Digit Span was the strongest predictor when the CTIP and traditional NP tests were examined together with the model correctly predicting 47.5% in the present sample and estimating 35% correct prediction in a new sample. In regression analyses, depressive symptoms predicted Semantic CTIP scores; fatigue, and a measure of the current affective quality of pain, predicted Digit Span scores; and cumulative effects of multiple symptoms predicted most CTIP and traditional NP scores. These results provide additional evidence that individuals with Chronic Pain experience notable impairments in information processing speed with the potential to confound NP test results for potentially brain injured patients. Implications, limitations and future recommendations are discussed.

abstract: PhD


title: Effects of Two Warm-Mix Additives on Aging, Rheological and Failure Properties of Asphalt Cements

contributor:
Hesp, Simon
Chemistry

subject: Superpave™ Tests

subject: Extended BBR (eBBR) Test (LS-308)

subject: Asphalt Cements

subject: Warm-Mix Additives

abstract: Thesis (Master, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-16 15:12:42.091

abstract: Sustainable road construction and maintenance could be supported when excellent warm-mix additives are employed in the modification of asphalt. These warm-mix additives provide remedies for today’s requirements such as fatigue cracking resistance, durability, thermal cracking resistance, rutting resistance and resistance to moisture damage. Warm-mix additives are based on waxes and surfactants which reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions significantly during the construction phase of the pavement. In this study, the effects of two warm mix additives, siloxane and oxidised polyethylene wax, on roofing asphalt flux (RAF) and asphalt modified with waste engine oil (655-7) were investigated to evaluate the rheological, aging and failure properties of the asphalt binders. In terms of the properties of these two different asphalts, RAF has proved to be superior quality asphalt whereas 655-7 is poor quality asphalt. The properties of the modified asphalt samples were measured by Superpave™ tests such as Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) test and Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) test as well as modified protocols such as the extended BBR (eBBR) test (LS-308) and the Double-Edge-Notched Tension  (DENT) test (LS-299) after laboratory aging. In addition, the Avrami theory was used to gain an insight on the crystallization of asphalt or the waxes within the asphalt binder. This study has however shown that the eBBR and DENT tests are better tools for providing accurate specification tests to curb thermal and fatigue cracking in contemporary asphalt pavements.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Performance Testing of Asphalt Concrete Containing Crumb Rubber Modifier and Warm Mix Additives

subject: Crumb Rubber Modified Asphalt Concrete

subject: Moisture Induced Sensitivity Test (MiST)

subject: Permanent Deformation

subject: Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG)

subject: Warm Mix Additives

subject: Creep Compliance

abstract: Thesis (Master, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-16 15:13:03.693

abstract:
Utilisation of scrap tire has been achieved through the production of crumb rubber modified binders and rubberised asphalt concrete. Terminal and field blended asphalt rubbers have been developed through the wet process to incorporate crumb rubber into the asphalt binder. Warm mix asphalt technologies have been developed to curb the problem associated with the processing and production of such crumb rubber modified binders.  Also the lowered production and compaction temperatures associated with warm mix additives suggests the possibility of moisture retention in the mix, which can lead to moisture damage. Conventional moisture sensitivity tests have not effectively discriminated good and poor mixes, due to the difficulty of simulating field moisture damage mechanisms. This study was carried out to investigate performance properties of crumb rubber modified asphalt concrete, using commercial warm mix asphalt technology. Commonly utilised asphalt mixtures in North America such as dense graded and stone mastic asphalt were used in this study. Uniaxial Cyclic Compression Testing (UCCT) was used to measure permanent deformation at high temperatures. Indirect Tensile Testing (IDT) was used to investigate low temperature performance. Moisture Induced Sensitivity Testing (MiST) was proposed to be an effective method for detecting the susceptibility of asphalt mixtures to moisture damage, as it incorporates major field stripping mechanisms.
Sonnewarm™, Sasobit™ and Evotherm™ additives improved the resistance to permanent deformation of dense graded mixes at a loading rate of 0.5 percent by weight of the binder. Polymer modified mixtures showed superior resistance to permanent deformation compared to asphalt rubber in all mix types. Rediset™ WMX improves low temperature properties of dense graded mixes at 0.5 percent loading on the asphalt cement. Rediset LQ  and Rediset WMX showed good anti stripping properties at 0.5 percent loading on the asphalt cement. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Official’s Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (AASHTO MEPDG) software was used to predict long term low temperature performance of the mixtures in various areas of Ontario. Sasobit, Rediset LQ and Rediset WMX gave good 15 years prediction with stone mastic asphalt mixtures but the performance of dense graded mixtures was less satisfactory.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Improving Continuum Models for Excavations in Rockmasses Under High Stress Through an Enhanced Understanding of Post-Yield Dilatancy

subject:
Mining
Numerical Modelling
Dilatancy
Post-Yield
Tunnelling
Rock Mechanics

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-16 15:49:01.601

abstract:
In recent decades, the field of rock engineering has seen an increased use of numerical modelling tools to aid in the analysis and design of underground excavations. Although complex numerical methods have been developed to explicitly capture the discontinuum mechanical processes which dominate rock and rockmass deformation, continuum methods represent a viable alternative due to their relative advantages in model runtimes and parametric simplicity. This thesis aims to advance the state-of-art and state-practice techniques for continuum models and to demonstrate their ability to replicate behaviours observed in-situ.
	With recent advances in the understanding of rockmass strength, it is the post-yield phenomenon of rock dilatancy which has remained the domain of greatest uncertainty in constitutive models. Particularly in the case of brittle rockmasses, where deformation is dominated by crack extension and dilation, the post-yield evolution of dilatancy in parallel with strength parameters can have a very significant impact on progressive failure processes. By improving our understanding of this evolution, continuum models for brittle rock can be improved.
	In the case of weaker rockmasses which can be adequately represented using a conventional strain-softening approach, an existing model for dilatancy can be applied. As is shown in this thesis, the use of a constant dilation angle to approximate the dilatant behaviour of the rockmass in this case is appropriate; accordingly, parameter selection guidelines are presented. In the case of brittle rockmasses, a mobilized dilation angle model which incorporates the strain and confinement dependencies of dilatancy is required.
	Through an analysis of laboratory testing data, a new model for the dilation angle is developed. Then, using five case studies (both from the literature and novel to this thesis), the applicability of the model to in-situ rockmass behaviour is demonstrated. Finally, the implications of these model results for understanding support-rockmass interaction and strainbursting phenomena are discussed.

abstract: PhD


title: Design and Implementation of Modern Control Algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

contributor:
Yousefi, Shahram
Givigi, Sidney
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
Model Predictive Control
Cooperative Control
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-17 11:12:29.703

abstract:
Recently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have attracted a great deal of attention in academic, civilian and military communities as prospective solutions to a wide variety of applications.  The use of cooperative UAVs  has received growing interest in the last decade and this provides an opportunity for new operational paradigms.
As applications of UAVs continue to grow in complexity, the trend of using multiple cooperative UAVs to perform these applications rises in order to increase the overall effectiveness and robustness.
There is a need for generating suitable control techniques that allow for the real-time implementation of control algorithms for different missions and tactics executed by a group of cooperative UAVs. In this thesis,  we investigate possible control patterns and associated algorithms for controlling a group of autonomous UAVs in real-time to perform various tactics.
This research proposes new control approaches to solve the dynamic encirclement, tactic switching and formation problems for a group of cooperative UAVs in simulation and real-time.  Firstly, a combination of  Feedback Linearization (FL) and  decentralized Linear Model Predictive Control (LMPC) is used to solve the dynamic encirclement problem. Secondly, a combination of decentralized LMPC and fuzzy logic control is used to solve the problem of tactic switching for a group of cooperative UAVs. Finally, a decentralized  Learning Based Model Predictive Control (LBMPC) is used to solve the problem of formation for a group of cooperative UAVs in simulation.
We show through simulations and validate through experiments that the proposed control policies succeed to control a group of cooperative UAVs to achieve the desired requirements and control objectives for different tactics. These proposed control policies  provide reliable and effective control techniques for multiple cooperative UAV systems.

abstract: PhD


title: Examining the role of coaches' emotions in the adolescent team sport environment

contributor:
Côté, Jean
Kinesiology and Health Studies

subject:
Observation
Emotion
Coaching
Youth Sport

abstract: Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-18 10:26:05.53

abstract:
According to a 2008 Statistics Canada report, 76% of children under the age of 17 participate in organized sports. Considering this fact, sport is increasingly recognized as a context in which to study Positive Youth Development. Notably, coaches play an extremely influential role in shaping athletes’ experiences and development through sport. However, behavioural research in coaching has focused heavily on the content or instructional nature of coach behaviours – neglecting the contextual qualities that may contribute to effective coaching practices. Despite an extensive focus on the emotional experiences of athletes, the role of emotions in coaching has yet to be examined. Thus, this program of research sought to explore the emotions associated with coach behaviours, particularly concerning the developmental experiences of young athletes.
	To achieve this objective, two studies were conducted. The first study served to develop a valid and reliable systematic observation instrument specifically designed to assess the emotions of coaches in the team sport environment. This instrument represents a unique and novel approach to the study of emotions in the sport context, and the first of its kind to focus exclusively on coaches. The second study applied this instrument to examine the relationship between coaches’ emotional profiles and athletes’ developmental outcomes in the adolescent female competitive soccer context. Results revealed that emotional qualities associated with coach behaviours have a significant influence on the Character development of young soccer players. Together, these studies offer new and valuable insight into the emotional context of coach behaviours, informing effective coaching practices with practical implications for positive athlete development.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Intractable Difficulties for the Doctrine of Double Effect: The Problem of Closeness and the Proper Focus of Concern

contributor:
Kumar, Rahul
Philosophy

subject: ethics intentions

abstract: Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-18 13:30:49.927

abstract: A more recent development within moral philosophy has been authors of a nonconsequentialist stripe forwarding arguments against principles once thought foundational to nonconsequentialist ethics as features that distinguished such an ethics from a consequentialist one. The Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE) is one such principle. It holds that it is impermissible to act with the intention to harm either as a means (even to some good end) or as an end, but it is sometimes permissible to perform the same act when the harm is not intended but merely foreseen as a side-effect. The primary aim of this project is to examine two difficulties facing the DDE, and to see whether these difficulties give us reason to reject the DDE. I argue the first problem, the Problem of Closeness, is intractable if the DDE maintains the intend/foresee distinction. The second problem is a concern that by focusing inward on the agent’s intentions the DDE misses the proper focus of concern in permissibility. Of two possible readings of the concern: i) that a judgment of inferiority is insufficiently strong to support to support the DDE, and ii) that the DDE is inconsistent with certain facts about deliberation, I find that while the defenders of the DDE may provide the resources necessary to respond to the second proper focus concern, they do not offer a satisfactory response to the first.

abstract: M.A.


title: Three Essays in Technology and Revenue Management

contributor:
Levin, Yuri
Nediak, Mikhail
Management

subject:
Operations Management
Management Science

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-17 16:06:19.88

abstract: In this dissertation, I apply optimization methods and game theory to address three problems in technology and revenue management. In the first essay, I analyze how brand commitment and product failure impact a firm's upgrade strategy in the presence of a stochastically evolving technological frontier. The essay explores the optimal timing of upgrades across a variety of market parameters and establishes the market conditions in which firms should invest in brand commitment to lengthen the product upgrade cycle. The model also demonstrates that firms with high brand commitment must balance the benefits of pent-up demand with potential loss due to product failure. The second and third essay focus on the allocation of resources and products in the presence of demand uncertainty and consumer behavior, respectively. In the second essay, I develop a methodology to approximate the value of capacity in the network airline revenue management problem. The value of capacity is used to control the sale of products to consumers requesting products over a finite time horizon. The advantage of this methodology is the scalability, which we demonstrate by solving for capacity values on an industrial sized network. In the third essay, I study a consumer-to-consumer exchange market. I prove that there exists market conditions where the equilibrium prices allow a unique opitmal allocation of products amongst  participants.

abstract: PhD


title: Hydrodynamics of a Large and Shallow Back-Barrier Estuarine System and Responses to Long-Term Changes in Geomorphology

contributor:
Mulligan, Ryan P.
Civil Engineering

subject:
estuarine processes
long-term geomorphic change
barrier segmentation
Pamlico Sound
process-based modeling
sea-level rise

abstract: Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-18 15:43:45.575

abstract:
Coupled hydrodynamic and wave models were used to simulate water levels, currents, waves and salinity transport in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System (APES), a large shallow back-barrier basin in eastern North Carolina, over a one-month long period. Simulations were run for four different bathymetric grids pertaining to distinct time slices during the evolution of the APES corresponding to the present day, and 500, 1000, and 4000 calibrated years before present to determine responses to long-term changes in geomorphology.
The present day simulation was used to evaluate a spatially varying wind field developed from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) dataset in comparison to spatially uniform winds from observations at different sites across the region. Simulations using winds observed offshore result in statistically better hydrodynamic simulations of water levels (R=0.88) in the estuaries than the NARR dataset (R=0.48). The removal of a long shoal from present day bathymetry resulted in a decrease in water level setup by 3% at the estuarine shoreline, a decrease in current magnitude up to 40% and an increase in significant wave height up to 25%, indicating the importance of this shallow feature as a major control on the present day hydrodynamic response of Pamlico Sound.
Paleobathymetric grids for three time slices over the late Holocene were developed from sediment core and seismic observations described by Zaremba (2014). Model results were compared to assess the impacts of: 1) varying degrees of barrier island segmentation; 2) long-term changes in basin geomorphology; and 3) sea-level rise on the hydrodynamic response in Pamlico Sound. All three of these influenced the hydrodynamics (e.g., up to 3 times higher tidal range and current velocity) when compared to present day observations and model results.  Salinity in the present day simulation was validated using observations, and salinity distributions predicted for each time slice were compared to salinity ranges from foraminiferal assemblages at sediment cores. The results indicate that salinity in Pamlico Sound is strongly influenced by wind and wave-driven mixing and transport, the hydraulic connectivity between Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and the quantity and size of tidal inlets through the barrier island system.

abstract: I intend to publish some of my work in peer-reviewed journals and would not like it to be available before this occurs.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: An Integrated Offset Sideband Modulation Receiver

contributor:
Cartledge, John C.
Frank, Brian M.
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
Optical Receiver
Offset Sideband Modulation
CMOS

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-18 20:18:07.792

abstract:
A major challenge in designing an integrated optical transceiver is minimizing the crosstalk between the high power laser driver and the sensitive receiver. Offset sideband modulation (OSBM) is used for the downstream signal to mitigate the crosstalk between the transmitter and the receiver. When detected with a photodiode, the OSBM signal produces a bandpass signal that can be reliably detected in the presence of baseband crosstalk. OSBM also enables the use of more complex modulation formats that include phase modulation such as quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK).

An architecture for an integrated offset sideband receiver is developed using a system level analysis. The offset sideband modulated signal is generated using an arbitrary optical waveform generator (AOWG). The signal parameters, including the pulse shaping function and offset frequency have been optimized to ease the requirements of the integrated reciever. The receiver consists of a bandpass transimpedance amplifier (TIA) followed by a four phase Costas loop to provide carrier synchronization and demodulate an OSBM signal with either BPSK or QPSK modulation.

A number of components of the integrated OSBM receiver have been designed and fabricated in a 0.13 um CMOS process. A  novel bandpass TIA is created using a stagger tuned topology to produce a second order bandpass response. The TIA achieves a transimpedance gain of 56 dBOhms and a bandwidth of 5 GHz centred at 7.5 GHz. The average input referred noise current of the bandpass TIA is 26.5 pA/sqrt(Hz).

A four phase Costas loop has been designed to demodulate a 2.5 GSym/s BPSK signal or a 2.5 Gbit/s QPSK signal with a carrier frequency of 7.5 GHz. The Costas loop has a loop bandwidth of approximately 100 MHz. Measured results are presented showing that the Costas loop is capable of demodulating a BPSK signal at 2.5 Gbit/s with a 2^31-1 pseudo random bit sequence (PRBS). Measured results show the Costas loop is also able to demodulate a 2.5 GSym/s QPSK signal with a 2^7-1 PRBS pattern.

abstract: PhD


title: Diatoms as Indicators of Environmental and Climatic Change in Peatlands and Lakes Located Across the Boreal Shield and Hudson Bay Lowlands of Canada

contributor:
Smol, John P.
Biology

subject: Paleoecology Limnology

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-19 11:00:44.507

abstract:
Long-term monitoring data and paleoecological records are lacking in the Far North of Ontario (~50-
57oN, 79-94oW), a region of ecological and economic significance to Canada. As a landscape covered by
extensive peatland complexes, accumulating vegetation (and carbon) since de-glaciation, and tens of thousands
of lakes, there is an opportunity to interpret past environmental changes from paleoecological records, and
place current climatic and other environmental changes within a longer-term perspective. This thesis addresses
this knowledge gap by using archives from peatlands and lakes in the Far North of Ontario to understand
environmental changes over the past ~100 to 2000 years.
Given that peatlands act as an interface between terrestrial and aquatic environments, finding reliable
biotic proxies with well-defined ecological optima is challenging. I use diatoms primarily to track changes in
macro-vegetation type, pH and water table position across northern peatlands. Diatom assemblage composition
was influenced by both the broader peatland type (i.e., bog, rich and poor fens) and microhabitats within
peatland formations (e.g., hummock, hollows). The responsiveness of diatoms to chemical and moisture
gradients was used to infer past environmental information archived in peat deposits. Changes in diatom
composition from three peat cores reflect hydrosere succession, including past fluctuations in connectivity to
the water table and pH. Approximately 600 years ago, synchronous changes in diatoms and testate amoebae
infer drying conditions and subsequent microhabitat variations.
To understand the response of aquatic biota to climate change over the past ~150 years, and provide
detailed baseline ecological information prior to impacts from future mineral extraction and infrastructure
development, sedimentary chlorophyll-a, diatom and cladoceran assemblage composition were examined in
four lakes across the “Ring of Fire”. Over the past ~150 years, the most notable change was a shift from
littoral/benthic dominated assemblages to greater abundances of pelagic Cladocera and planktonic diatom taxa.
An increase in planktonic taxa is consistent with warming-induced changes in lake properties including longer
ice-free periods and changes in aquatic habitat availability. Collectively, these results help distinguish the
ecological response to anthropogenic warming from both natural variation and future resource extraction.

abstract: PhD


title: STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF SOME α-, β- AND γ-AGOSTIC ALKYL-TITANOCENE COMPLEXES

contributor:
Baird, Michael C.
Chemistry

subject:
titanocene
olefin polymerization
alpha-agostic
agostic
beta-agostic
gamma-agostic
H-tunnelling
intermediate

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-23 12:42:02.115

abstract:
In chapter 2, the synthesis and NMR characterization of [Cp2TiCH3(H2O)]+ (I) is presented. In the presence of excess water, there is evidence of rapid H-exchange and H-bonding between coordinated and free water. At higher temperatures, I undergoes hydrolysis to produce methane.
In chapter 3, formation of [Cp2TiCH2CHMeCMe3]+ (II) via a controlled single 1,2-migratory insertion reaction of [Cp2TiMe]+ and 3,3-dimethyl-1-butene (3,3-DMB) at 205 K is presented. II exchanges between its two α-agostic isomers, with a preference for one agostic isomer over the other and also remains α-agostic under coordination of Et2O.
In chapter 4, [Cp2TiCH2CHMeSiMe3]+ (III), a complex that is exchanging between γ- (ground state) and β- agostic isomers, is prepared by reaction of [Cp2TiMe]+ with 1 equivalent of trimethylvinylsilane at 205 K. There is exchange between β-H and γ-H from 215 K to 260 K but 1H NMR data suggests no or very little increase in rate. [Cp2TiCH2CHCD3SiMe3]+ undergoes a reversible and exclusive isotopomeric rearrangement to form specifically [Cp2TiCD2CDCH3SiMe3]+ through a series of reversible β-H elimination, 2,1- and 1,2- migratory-insertion reactions (process 1). Deuteration of III at β- or γ- positions essentially shuts down the β-H/γ-H exchange, with a kH/kD of at least 13000 at 225 K. These results indicate that this latter exchange process is driven by H quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT).
Finally, chapter 5 presents is a re-investigation of II that unravels some exchange processes that were not detected in previous studies of II. EXSY and D-labeling (of β-Me in II) experiments suggest that II also undergoes process 1. Olefin dissociation from [Cp2TiH(CH2=CMeCMe3)]+ is faster than process 1 and EXSY correlations are seen intermolecularly between II and 2,3,3-TMB, as well as intramolecularly in 2,3,3-TMB (fastest exchange). In II-d3, this rapid reversible olefin dissociation from the olefin-hydride complex coupled to process 1 leads to multiple isotopologuous rearrangements in 2,3,3-TMB before it can be re-incorporated in II, with similar overall rates of deuterium incorporation at all α- and β- sites in II-dx (x = 0-6, statistical distribution with an average value of 3).

abstract: PhD


title: Trace Element Geochemistry and Metal Mobility of Oxide Mineralization at the Prairie Creek Zinc-Lead-Silver Deposit, NWT

subject:
Smithsonite
Cerussite
Trace Metals
Oxidation
Tailings
Carbonates
Geochemistry

abstract: Thesis (Master, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-22 20:46:49.218

abstract:
The Prairie Creek Deposit is an unmined high grade Zn-Pb-Ag deposit located in the southern Mackenzie Mountains of the Northwest Territories. The site is confined within the boundaries of the Nahanni National Park Reserve and is upstream of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The upper portion of the primary quartz-carbonate-sulphide vein mineralization has undergone extensive oxidation, forming zones rich in smithsonite (ZnCO3) and cerussite (PbCO3). This weathered zone represents a significant resource and a potential component of mine waste material. This research is focused on the characterization of the geochemical and mineralogical controls on metal mobility at Prairie Creek, with particular attention to the metal carbonates as a host for trace elements and their role in sequestering those elements in mine waste conditions. Detailed mineralogical analyses were conducted using a combination of SEM, EMP, MLA, LA-ICP-MS, and synchrotron-based µXRD, µXRF and µXANES techniques.
Smithsonite was found to contain concentrations of Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Pb, Cd, Sb, Hg, As, Mn, Ag and Se in approximately decreasing order, whereas cerussite (expected to be removed as Pb concentrate) hosts Zn, Cu, Sb, Ag, Hg, Fe, Ca, Cd, As, Mn and Se. A significant proportion of the trace metals may also be attenuated by other secondary minerals. This study has identified previously unreported minor phases, including cinnabar (HgS), acanthite (Ag2S), bindheimite (Pb2Sb2O6(O,OH)), and multiple metal arsenates. Anglesite (PbSO4) may be present in greater proportions than is indicated by previous work. Ore processing will remove most Pb and Zn sulphides as well as cerussite; however, smithsonite will remain in tailings as a major source for most metals. Mobilized Pb may be released primarily from anglesite, with As coming from arsenates, Ag from acanthite and anglesite, Sb from bindheimite, Fe from smithsonite and goethite, Cu from smithsonite, anglesite, malachite, azurite and covellite, and Hg and Se from a combination of smithsonite, anglesite, cinnabar and arsenates.
In a mine waste setting, near-neutral pH will favour precipitation and attenuation of trace metals. Regardless, oxidation, dissolution and mobilization is expected to continue at a slow rate, and changes to more acidic or reducing environmental conditions could significantly increase metal release.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Magnetic Barkhausen Noise Measurements Using Tetrapole Probe Designs

subject:
Magnetic Barkhausen Noise
Tetrapole
Non-Destructive Testing

abstract: Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-20 12:31:51.819

abstract: A magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) testing system was developed for Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) to perform MBN measurements on the Royal Canadian Navy’s Victoria class submarine hulls that can be correlated with material properties, including residual stress. The DRDC system was based on the design of a MBN system developed by Steven White at Queen’s University, which was capable of performing rapid angular dependent measurements through the implementation of a flux controlled tetrapole probe. In tetrapole probe designs, the magnetic excitation field is rotated in the surface plane of the sample under the assumption of linear superposition of two orthogonal magnetic fields. During the course of this work, however, the validity of flux superposition in ferromagnetic materials, for the purpose of measuring MBN, was brought into question. Consequently, a study of MBN anisotropy using tetrapole probes was performed. Results indicate that MBN anisotropy measured under flux superposition does not simulate MBN anisotropy data obtained through manual rotation of a single dipole excitation field. It is inferred that MBN anisotropy data obtained with tetrapole probes is the result of the magnetic domain structure’s response to an orthogonal magnetization condition and not necessarily to any bulk superposition magnetization in the sample. A qualitative model for the domain configuration under two orthogonal magnetic fields is proposed to describe the results. An empirically derived fitting equation, that describes tetrapole MBN anisotropy data, is presented. The equation describes results in terms of two largely independent orthogonal fields, and includes interaction terms arising due to competing orthogonally magnetized domain structures and interactions with the sample’s magnetic easy axis.  The equation is used to fit results obtained from a number of samples and tetrapole orientations and in each case correctly identifies the samples’ magnetic easy axis.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Everything (Old was New) Already: Theories, Histories, and Politics of Appropriation, Contemporary Art, and Culture

contributor:
Robertson, Clive
Art History

subject:
Interstice
Authenticity
Copyright
Originality
Pastiche
Visual Art
Parody
Tricksters
Fredric Jameson
Creative Production
fair use
Linda Hutcheon
Fair Dealing
Commodity Self
Appropriation
Commodity Fetishism
Commodity Narcissism
Postmodernism
Intertextuality
Cultural Appropriation

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-24 15:59:40.755

abstract:
The past decade and a half of technological innovation and explosion of historical multiplicities have reignited the debates on appropriation. This dissertation contributes to the discussion for the purposes of understanding appropriation’s significance to our fluctuating conceptions of authenticity and originality, and to our long-standing cultural institutions (specifically, copyright).
	Critics of certain kinds of appropriation (like pastiche) have argued it is nothing more than a vague, empty form of mimicry, more closely related to theft than to creative production. On the other hand, advocates for certain kinds of appropriation (like parody, satire, or collage) have regarded it as a useful form of criticism and as a catalyst for inventing new modes of expression in a postmodern moment. Some of the most conspicuous and effecting conversations about appropriation and creative production have lately occurred in relation to intellectual property legislation. Although it is often taken for granted that copyright laws protect creative producers, this dissertation follows recent revelations in literary, and communications studies which have revealed the complex tension between these producers and the economically directed industries that are both driven by, and support those producers.
	This thesis updates arguments about appropriation for a contemporary context by critically examining these claims from a postcolonial, Marxist perspective considered largely through contemporary Western visual art, film, fashion, and music. This thesis argues that it cannot be predetermined as to whether acts of appropriation are wholly laudatory, or wholly critical. Instead, I argue that appropriation has always carried the ability to oscillate between both poles in an intertextual exchange that remains dependent on the variables of the viewer’s context and the artist’s production. However, this intertextuality is often impeded by our fetishization of artists and creative works, and by the institutions that benefit from those fetishes.

abstract: For publication as a book.

abstract: PhD


title: The Effects of Atypical Antipsychotics on Implicit Reward Learning in Schizophrenia

contributor:
Beninger, Richard J.
Psychology

subject:
schizophrenia
implicit memory
reward learning
antipsychotics

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-23 09:57:32.383

abstract:
Implicit (or non-conscious) reward learning, which is necessary for healthy cognitive, emotional, and social functioning, is often impaired in schizophrenia. However, few studies have examined this type of learning in first-episode patients, and almost none have used unmedicated samples. Therefore, it remains unclear if implicit reward learning is spared or impaired in schizophrenia, and whether the first-line medications used to treat the disorder (i.e., atypical antipsychotics) enhance, depress, or have no appreciable effect on this ability.
	Implicit reward learning performance was measured in three groups (controls [N = 19]; unmedicated [N = 26] and medicated [N = 21] first-episode schizophrenia patients) using the Weather Prediction Task (WPT) and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). These tasks were administered at two different testing sessions (i.e., time 1 and time 2), at least one month apart. All medicated patients who entered the study were being treated with the following atypicals: olanzapine (N = 11), quetiapine (N = 3), risperidone (N = 3), or a combination (N = 4). After the initial assessment, unmedicated patients were randomly prescribed one of these three medications and re-tested after therapeutic doses had been established.
	At time 1, unmedicated patients performed as well as controls on the WPT and IGT, whereas the atypicals medication group showed impairment. Controls demonstrated improvement on both tasks from time 1 to time 2. In contrast, unmedicated patients failed to improve on either test after being treated with atypicals (olanzapine [N = 9]; quetiapine [N = 2], risperidone [N = 1]). In addition, a significant inverse correlation was found between WPT performance and severity of negative symptoms among medicated patients.
	Results suggest that implicit reward learning is preserved in schizophrenia and impaired by treatment with olanzapine and other atypicals. These findings have important clinical implications. The benefits of atypical antipsychotic treatment, such as possible relief from delusions and hallucinations and  improvement in mood and select cognitive abilities, must be balanced against potentially adverse effects, such as life-threatening cardiometabolic syndromes and reward learning deficits. The latter are associated with the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, which cause greater functional impairment than positive symptoms. Therefore, it is important to carefully consider the effects of various antipsychotics on implicit reward learning when designing a treatment plan for schizophrenia.

abstract: It will be published.

abstract: PhD


title: Thermo-Mechanical Processing of Dual-Phase Steels and Its Effects on the Work Hardening Behaviour

contributor:
Pilkey, A. Keith
Boyd, Doug
Mechanical and Materials Engineering

subject:
Shear Testing
Microstructure
Thermo-Mechanical Processing
Work Hardening
Back Stress
Dual-Phase Steel

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-24 11:12:58.806

abstract:
This thesis focuses on understanding the relationship between the microstructure and the different work hardening mechanisms of DP steels. Through the application of various thermo-mechanical processing schedules prior to inter-critical (IC) annealing, five distinctly different microstructural variants were produced. The work hardening behaviour of the five microstructural variants was examined in terms of the true work hardening rate, θ, the instantaneous work hardening exponent, n, and the dislocation annihilation factor, h. Additionally, back stresses were measured in selected microstructural variants having similar martensite volume fraction of ~15%, using a custom-made in-plane forward-reverse shear testing fixture.

At small strains (<2%), the work hardening behaviour was found to be dominated by the introduction of back stresses and the generation of GNDs in the ferrite matrix. The work hardening response at this stage was characterized by θεp=0.5% and a minimum value in the instantaneous work hardening exponent, nmin. Both of these parameters were determined to be functions of  (f/d)^1/2 (f is the volume fraction and d is the size of martensite particles), the mean ferrite grain size as well as the morphology and spatial distribution of martensite particles.

At higher strains (2-3%), a maximum value in the instantaneous work hardening exponent is reached (nmax). This parameter, which can be considered as the work hardening capacity of the material, was found to be a function of mean ferrite grain size but is independent of (f/d)^1/2. The relative contribution of back stresses was also found to reach a constant value at a similar von Mises equivalent strain. This observation suggests that at strains above those associated with nmax, other work hardening mechanisms become more important.

At strains over 4%, dislocation annihilation by dynamic recovery becomes the controlling factor for the rate of work hardening. This phenomenon is described by the dislocation annihilation factor, h, and is a function of (f/d)^1/2, the mean ferrite grain size as well as the morphology and spatial distribution of martensite particles.

Finally, it was concluded that the ideal DP microstructure will contain a uniform distribution of fine, equiaxed martensite particles in a fine, equiaxed ferrite matrix.

abstract: PhD


title: Sensorimotor Mechanisms Involved in Object Oriented Behaviour

contributor:
Flanagan, J. Randall
Neuroscience Studies

subject:
Movement Decisions
Motor Learning
Reaching
Object Manipulation

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-23 12:59:45.425

abstract: The manipulation of objects is a hallmark skill in the repertoire of human motor behaviour that involves the grasping, lifting and transporting of objects as well as movement decisions about what objects to interact with. These components of manipulation are often the focus of experiments as they offer a window into the sensorimotor mechanisms that support complex and adaptable manipulatory skill. This thesis was designed to extend the scope of object manipulation studies by focusing on functional, object oriented tasks. Three of the four studies in this thesis focus on object transport, involving reaching movements while grasping novel objects. In the first study we examined the role of haptic feedback while participants transported a non-rigid object. We showed first, the importance of haptic feedback during learning, and second, that training without haptic feedback lead to persistent deficits when subsequently performing the task after the re-introduction of haptic feedback. In a second learning study we demonstrated that kinetic errors alone are insufficient to drive the adaption of movement trajectory during learning, even in highly contextualized scenarios where the mapping of load force to motion was made apparent. In the third study, we showed that people incorporate the dynamics of the arm and object to generate grip force responses that are tuned to the change in load force during rapid, automatic arm movement responses to visuomotor perturbations. Object-oriented behaviour may also involve the linking of actions to produce an overall goal, i.e., unloading a bag of groceries is composed of numerous movements linked together. Implicit in this global task are decisions about what objects to move to and in what order. As such, in the final study, we designed a laboratory foraging task and showed that decisions about what targets to reach to were highly driven by motor factors, such as object position and size as well as cognitive factors such as value. Taken together, these studies extend the current understanding of object manipulation and offer insights into how movement factors are incorporated into decisions about what objects to move to.

abstract: PhD


title: A study to examine the boundary expansions of Kingston from a legal and land perspective, with emphasis on the 1998 Amalgamation

contributor:
Meligrana, John
Urban and Regional Planning

subject:
Statute Law
City of Kingston
Municipal Amalgamation
Planning Law
Municipal Annexation
Urban Planning
Land Development

abstract: Thesis (Master, Urban & Regional Planning) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-23 15:14:47.147

abstract: This is a study that traces the development of the present-day City of Kingston from its historical beginnings to its last Boundary Expansion in 1998. The growth of the City of Kingston is documented in terms of eleven significant Boundary Expansions, and the implications of each are examined from a legal and planning perspective. The goal of the study was also to examine the role that the Government played in the development of the land from the earliest times to the present. This was achieved by the identification of the Government of the day that had the authority to deal with the land, and the extent to which the land had been developed by the Government. The thesis documents the eleven Boundary Expansions of the original town-site, and all are confirmed by Statute. Six additional properties were also examined and recorded that joined the City of Kingston in the 1952 Annexation or the 1998 Amalgamation. The significant events are set out on an historical basis. The methodology, followed by an examination of the relevant literature and statutory primary sources, sets the stage for the French and British background that follows, and the thesis then proceeds to examine each of the eleven Boundary Expansions of the City of Kingston from its development as a Town and then a City, culminating with the 1998 final Boundary Expansion through Amalgamation with its neighbouring townships. Over the Centuries the present-day City of Kingston grew from a tiny military settlement to a large City. Each of the eleven Boundary Expansions were fully examined from a legal perspective and the role of Government identified in each instance. References for each of the eleven Boundary Expansions are fully recorded in the study. Particular emphasis is placed upon the 1998 Amalgamation, and a detailed analysis made of the events surrounding this significant change to the City of Kingston. The study concludes with an assessment of this final Boundary Expansion and its possible affect on the City of Kingston in the future.

abstract: M.PL.


title: Mathematical Models of Polyether Production From Bio-Based 1,3-Propanediol

contributor:
McAuley, Kimberly B.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Condensation Polymerization
Parameter Estimation
Polyether
Modelling

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-28 17:25:01.826

abstract: This research develops mathematical models to simulate PO3G productions using super-acid catalyst in a batch reactor, to predict super-acid catalyst effects on the polymerization rates and product qualities.  The models describe dynamic changes in concentrations of monomer, water, propanal, linear and cyclic oligomers, hydroxyl ends and unsaturated ends.  The models also predict degree of polymerization and the rates of mass-transfer of linear and cyclic oligomers from the liquid to the nitrogen gas bubbles.  The PO3G model¬s¬¬ will be useful to understand the kinetics of acid-induced condensation polymerization, the designs of advanced batch reactors, and optimization of operating conditions in large-scale industrial reactors.

abstract: This thesis is temporarily restricted until the final chapter and some of the appendices in the thesis are reviewed by DuPont, Canada and approved for public audience.

abstract: PhD


title: Meaningful Music Memories

contributor:
Bolden, Benjamin
Education

subject:
Long-term memories
High school
Music education
Narrative
Experiences
Adults
Qualitative
Music

abstract: Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-29 12:21:19.611

abstract:
The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was to explore long-term, meaningful memories associated with participating in Ontario high school music programs. I sought to understand how and why music experiences identified by participants were meaningful to their lasting memories of high school music. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six adults over the age of 30 who had taken music during their time in Ontario public high schools. In most cases, two interviews were conducted in hopes of exploring participants’ memories in detail in order to develop a deeper understanding of their experiences. This study found there are several key factors that influence people’s memories of high school music. Participants who had positive memories of high school music recalled supportive, enjoyable class environments, the role that their teacher played, the development of relationships with their peers, selecting their instrument, unique opportunities, the specialness of music class, comfort in music class, increased confidence, and overall enjoyment. Participants who had adverse memories of their high school music experiences associated these memories with their teacher, being assigned an instrument they were not interested in learning, and the pace of class.
It is my hope that this study contributes to current teaching practices by providing educators with knowledge about the long-term impact that their music programs have, or might have, on students, giving teachers the opportunity to re-evaluate their programs and consider the experiences they bring to their students.

abstract: M.Ed.


title: Problematizing Solutions: A Case Study of Claims about Campus Safety in an Era of ‘School Violence’

contributor:
Sacco, Vincent F.
Sociology

subject: Sociology

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-30 13:56:29.996

abstract: This dissertation traces networks of power and of resistance. Specifically, it explores how diffuse claims about school violence as a growing social problem are picked up and used by administrators and students at one Canadian university in ways that coalesce around understandings of a safe campus environment as necessarily technologically-mediated. The primary data used to facilitate this exploratory comparative analysis are publically available documents produced following public knowledge of an act of sexualized violence that occurred at that university in the summer of 2007.  Together, I read these sets of documented claims as a security project that simultaneously represents changes made to campus environments in the name of safety as (1) preventative means to ensure student, faculty and staff safety, (2) reactions to socially meditated individual and institutional fears, and (3) constitutive of intertwining processes associated with corporatization and militarization. Two main claims that emerge from this comparative analysis are (1) that techno-securitized campuses are both responses to, and constitutive of, acts of violence, socially mediated fears and uneven distributions of power and (2) that university administrators and students co-narrate campus safety through an ongoing process of discursive negotiation and re-negotiation. Indeed, following the analyses presented in this dissertation, just as students are subject to administrative security-related consumption choices, so too are administrators subject to student-led claims about how best to achieve a safe campus environment. I suggest that these claims-making convergences and divergences oblige analyses that neither deny that techno-security measures are promoted in good faith by people hoping to make people safer nor ignore the importance of contextualizing these efforts in relation to processes which help constitute campuses as unsafe spaces, administrators and students as moral regulatory objects and subjects, and some solutions as more or less reasonable. When situated in relation to the sociological scholarship about moral panics, social problems, and moral regulation this case study draws to the fore the volatile, co-constructed and constitutive aspects of claims-making, with a notable focus on some of the economic forces that inform these discourses.

abstract: PhD


title: A Mean-Squared-Error-Based Methodology for Parameter Ranking and Selection to Obtain Accurate Model Predictions at Key Operating Conditions

subject: Model selection criteria

subject: Mean-squared error

subject: Operating conditions

subject: Parameter subset selection

subject: Non-invertible Fisher information matrix

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-30 18:48:20.476

abstract: In this thesis, a new mean-squared-error (MSE)-based criterion, rCCW, is proposed to select the optimal number of parameters to estimate from the ranked list of parameters considering the operating region where accurate model predictions are desired. This new approach accounts for the trade-off between bias and variance as additional parameters from this ranked list are estimated. Next, a new forward-selection methodology based on rCCW MSE-based criterion is devised to simultaneously rank and select the parameters while considering the conditions in the desired operating region. The information about the desired operating conditions is considered during both ranking and selection step in this parameter subset selection technique. This approach is valuable to modelers who want to make predictions about new products or grades or at new operating conditions, using models that are fitted only by utilizing data which were obtained at prior operating conditions. The forward selection MSE-based rCCW criterion is then extended to the cases in which the Fisher information matrix (FIM) is not invertible. A singular FIM has been reported in many industrial chemical engineering models, many high-dimensional parameter estimation problems, and over-parameterized models. A singular FIM leads to a significant complication in the analysis of parameter estimation problems. In this thesis, two different approaches for parameter ranking and selection are undertaken and compared when the FIM is not invertible. The method that uses a reduced invertible FIM is shown to be superior to the alternative method that uses a pseudo inverse, using a linear regression case study. The methodology is extended for use in fundamental nonlinear dynamic models and illustrated using a film casting example.

abstract: Part of my thesis requires DuPont approval for the public access.

abstract: PhD


title: State of the Arts: Factors Influencing Ontario Elementary Teachers' Performing Arts Instruction

contributor:
DeLuca, Christopher
Education

subject:
Arts Education
Elementary Education

abstract: Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2014-12-31 17:33:06.585

abstract: This thesis examines Ontario elementary teachers perceptions of their teaching of the performing arts (i.e., music, drama, and dance), through responses to an online survey. Participants (N = 138) described multiple aspects of their training and experiences in the performing arts, their comfort in teaching the performing arts, and the degree to which they thought they were teaching the expectations in the curriculum document. The document “The Arts, Grades 1-8, 2009” clearly describes (a) many benefits of performing arts practice, (b) elements of practice and instruction in each performing arts area, (c) how the creative process is a part of and enhanced by participation in these activities, and (d) guidelines for assessment of and through the arts, in addition to (e) describing the many mandated specific expectations for each subject and Grade level. However, few studies have addressed the training and experience of the teachers of the performing arts, and there is a pressing need for baseline data about performing arts instruction to inform hiring, certification, and professional development policies. Descriptive statistics are presented which detail many varied elements of performing arts instruction in Ontario schools, and ANOVAs are used to compare the differences between training groups on teachers perceptions of their comfort, the frequency and duration of their instruction, and their adherence to the curricular expectations. Analyses revealed that participant teachers with high levels of training and experience reported significantly higher levels of comfort and effectiveness in their performing arts instruction than teachers with low or no training in the performing arts. Analyses also showed that participants with low amounts of formal training and limited experiences in the art form can perceive themselves as comfortable and effective at teaching the performing arts. These participants rated themselves significantly higher than participants with no training or experience. Structural conditions and broad baseline data are also presented.

abstract: M.Ed.


title: Performance Analysis of a Transcritical CO2 Heat Pump Water Heater Incorporating a Brazed-Plate Gas-cooler

contributor:
Harrison, Stephen J.
Mechanical and Materials Engineering

subject:
Heat Pump
Water heating
CO2

abstract: Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-04 12:05:13.982

abstract:
This study focuses on the experimental testing and numerical modeling of a 4.5 kW transcritical CO2 heat pump water heater at Queen’s University in the Solar Calorimetry Laboratory. Due to the predicted high heat rejection temperatures in a transcritical vapour-compression cycle, buoyancy driven thermosyphon flow through a brazed-plate gas-cooler was proposed to promote tank stratification and to improve system performance. The performance was evaluated through a series of experimental sensitivity and static tank charge tests. A TRNSYS model was also created and verified to simulate the performance of the system under a detailed user demand schedule for a week of operation. The TRNSYS model used a parametric table created with a steady-state model of the vapour-compression system in EES that was validated against experimental data to a standard error of the Y-estimate of ±0.073 kW for heating capacity, ±1.01°C for gas-cooler exit temperature, and ±0.086 for COP.
A series of tank charge tests were conducted under thermosyphon flow and forced flow rates at 1 L/min, 2 L/min, and 4 L/min. The thermosyphon charge test produced the highest level of stratification and a total COP of 3 at an average flow rate of 0.73 L/min. All of the forced convection cases operated with a higher degree of mixing.
TRNSYS model simulations with hot water draws found that the thermosyphon flow configuration performed with a higher degree of stratification under regular user demand while simulations with high flow rates resulted in a mixed tank at a high temperature. Results predicted an 11% reduction in required heat energy input to the storage, a 30% reduction in electrical energy consumption, a 35% reduction in heat loss, and a 29% improvement in COP for the thermosyphon test as compared to the operation with a mixed tank at 4 L/min.  The thermosyphon draw test also performed with the lowest average tank temperature, yet produced the highest draw temperatures. Through these results, it was concluded that natural convection operation with brazed-plate gas-coolers can contribute to a better performing system and this flow configuration should be considered in future applications of this technology.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: mRNA Variants of a Neuronal Sodium Channel in Rat Cardiac Myocytes

contributor:
Ward, Christopher Andrew
Physiology

subject:
Ischemia/Reperfusion
Heart
Voltage Gated Sodium Channels

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Physiology) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-05 19:24:19.607

abstract:
Death due to ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the result of cardiac arrhythmias and loss of cardiac pump function.  One of the putative underlying mechanisms is impaired inactivation of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC), resulting in small persistent sodium currents.  Nine VGSC (NaV1.1-NaV1.9) have been cloned and functionally expressed.  Electrophysiological/pharmacological evidence suggests that “neuronal” isoform(s) exist in cardiomyocytes along with the cardiac-dominant NaV1.5.  Given that persistent currents have been shown to be fundamental to the function of neuronal isoforms and that pharmacological evidence suggests that neuronal VGSC underlie increases in persistent currents during ischemic events, we hypothesized that neuronal VGSC are present in cardiomyocytes.  Specifically, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the neuronal VGSC NaV1.1 exists in rat right ventricular myocytes.

The full-length NaV1.1 coding sequence was cloned in overlapping segments. Through sequencing, we identified one amino acid difference from a published brain sequence (c.2935A>G) and four deletion variants (c.[del266_473], c.[del2012_2044], c.[del4004_4258], and c.[del4003_4284]). The deletion variants were not present in all sequenced amplicons.  Deletions at the first and the third deletion sites were of particular interest as these involved regions of conserved sequence, likely essential to channel function.  To explore this further, PCR primers were designed to amplify a partial transcript spanning both of these regions.  Three RT-PCR bands were produced: 1) an ~4500 bp band that is likely a composite of two amplicons, one with a deletion at the first deletion site (c.[del266_473]) and one with a deletion at the third deletion site (either c.[del4004_4258] or c.[del4003_4284]);  2) an ~4200 bp band confirmed to contain an amplicon with a deletion at both the first and the third deletion sites (either c.[del266_473] and c.[del4004_4258], or c.[del266_473] and c.[del4003_4284]); and 3) an ~4075 bp band suggesting further unidentified deletion variants. We were unable to identify any amplicons that did not contain at least one deletion involving conserved sequence.

Overall, these results demonstrate that multiple sequence variances of NaV1.1 exist in adult rat cardiomyocytes.  Moreover it appears that under normal cellular conditions, at least one deletion that is likely to be devastating to channel function is always present.

abstract: PhD


title: Ethnic Affinity Voting in Canada

contributor:
Matthews, J. Scott
Banting, Keith G.
Political Studies

subject:
Voting
Race and Ethnicity
Social Identity Theory

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-06 19:41:50.222

abstract: As immigration transforms the electorates of contemporary democracies, the political activity of newcomers will have increasingly powerful effects on political life. This thesis examines one important dimension of this process: the role of ethnic affinity in electoral politics. Affinity effects lead to voters being more likely to support members of the same ethnocultural group - which, as well as vote choice effects, might form the basis of support for leadership contests, counterbalance  discrimination, and underpin more general issue coalitions. However, data from the United States, and some from Europe, suggests that inter-minority conflict, rather than cooperation, is the norm. This severely limits the breadth - and hence influence - of potential “rainbow coalitions”. To test for the existence and dimensions of ethnic affinity effects in Canada, this dissertation uses data from a web-based survey experiment with a large panel of racialized respondents (~1500). Respondents evaluated candidates in a hypothetical election, with candidate ethnicity experimentally manipulated. The analysis shows that respondents have strong affinity for their own ethnocultural group, some affinity for other minority candidates, and certainly no inter-ethnic discrimination. Ethnic affinity effects not only apply to Canada, broader “rainbow coalitions” seem much more likely than previously suggested. Moreover, a contextual analysis suggests that Canada is not an outlier – these effects should apply to many countries. The second part of the dissertation explores the causes and motivations for affinity effects. Two categories of explanations are explored – interest-based explanations, and identity-based explanations. For this, the dissertation uses a novel application of the Identification with a Psychological Group Scale, drawn from social psychology, a manipulation that primes self-interest, and other measures. In a sharp contrast to previous research, these results show strong evidence for identity effects and a significant amount of evidence against interest-based explanations. Finally, a new data set on the ethnicity of several thousand candidates over four federal elections, combined with riding level census data, demonstrates that the context for ethnic affinity effects is widespread.

abstract: Planned publication as a book

abstract: PhD


title: A novel method to analyze the mechanics of unloader braces for medial knee osteoarthritis

contributor:
Deluzio, Kevin J.
Selbie, Scott
Mechanical and Materials Engineering

subject:
Knee Braces
Osteoarthritis

abstract: Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-07 18:40:52.912

abstract: Bracing is a treatment option for medial knee osteoarthritis that reduces compressive forces in the medial knee through the application of an external brace moment. In theory, this moment reduces the external knee adduction moment, whose magnitude has been related to the severity of osteoarthritis (Miyazaki et al., 2002). Studies have quantified the brace moment to determine whether it could significantly reduce joint loads (Pollo et al., 2002; Self et al., 2000; Schmalz et al., 2010), however none have considered the pressure distributions between the brace and the user, which can be used to evaluate the impact of specific design components on the brace moment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to provide a novel method of analyzing brace mechanics using pressure measurements between the brace and the user. The experimental setup consisted of a motion capture system, an instrumented treadmill, two pressure mats, and two load cells. This setup was used to quantify important aspects of brace mechanics, specifically, the thigh lever arm, the force applied to the lateral knee, the brace deflection, the brace moment, and the brace stiffness. Two braces were tested, being a single-hinged brace and a dual-hinged brace, on five subjects, who performed two thirty second walking trials on the instrumented treadmill. The results showed that there was some variability as a percentage of stance phase, however, brace mechanics were consistent through mid-stance. Therefore the braces were compared at mid-stance using a paired t-test. This showed a larger lateral load (p < 0.01), brace deflection (p = 0.02) and brace moment (p < 0.01) for the dual-hinged brace, while the stiffness of the single-hinged brace was larger (p = 0.03). Furthermore, there were no observed differences in the thigh lever arm between the braces (p > 0.05). These differences were attributed to design features of the braces, the most important being the tightening mechanism, which we believe contributed to both the higher lateral load and the lower stiffness for the dual-hinged brace. Using these results and the pressure distributions, a new brace design was proposed, modifying brace features to increase brace effectiveness. Overall, the proposed method proved useful when comparing braces, and allowed for brace improvement, making it a reasonable non-invasive means of analyzing brace mechanics.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: A Prisoners’ Project in Emergent Ethics

contributor:
Day, Richard J. F.
Cultural Studies

subject:
Canadian prison
Collaborative methodology
Radical pedagogy
Emergent ethics

abstract: Thesis (Master, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-08 17:42:05.734

abstract:
The central questions proposed for investigation in this project are (a) What might be the relationship between emergent, intersubjective ethical processes, such as might be claimed to exist in interpersonal relationships among prisoners, and moral systems, such as the rehabilitationist philosophy of the criminal justice system? and (b) In what ways might these ethical and moral systems and processes find expression in the lived experiences of prisoners? To explore these questions a working group was formed with myself and four research collaborators who had spent some time in prison.
We worked collaboratively following a radical pedagogy approach to research, responding to these questions and testing this philosophical model against our lived experiences of prison and beyond. While we did not pretend to reach any specific conclusions on these highly philosophical questions, we were not at a loss to locate examples of our deliberations within our experiences of prison, as well as within the project itself building meaning across philosophy and practice. Thus at the very least we may advance that a framework of emergent, intersubjective ethics can have bearing on experiences of prison and may through further development present critiques and alternatives to the demoralizing spectrum of carceral control and rehabilitation. Further, we may hold that those with experience of incarceration are best prepared and most capable of offering this analysis.
We contributed to the fields of intersubjective, deconstructivist ethics and convict criminology and affirmed ourselves as ethical subjects.

abstract: M.A.


title: Homohegemony and the Other: Canada and Jamaica

contributor:
Bakan, Abigail
Political Studies

subject:
LGBTQ Politics
Gender and Politics
Politics of Race
Canada
Jamaica
Diaspora
Toronto
Queer Inclusion/Exclusion
Sexual Citizenship
LGBTQ Rights
LGBTQ Regulation
Gramsci
Hegemony
Ideology
Homonationalism
Same-Sex Marriage
Neocolonialism

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-09 13:27:46.434

abstract: Existing scholarship on LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer/questioning) rights, regulation, “homonationalism,” and citizenship fails to consider lesbian and gay inclusion as a hegemonic state ideology. This dissertation addresses this lacuna, with particular attention to Canada and Jamaica. It considers the political implications of near legal equality for gays and lesbians in Canada, not merely in terms of the entrenchment of a regime of sexual citizenship rights culminating in same-sex marriage, but, relatedly, in terms of significant popular consent to the notion of gays and lesbians as equal and included citizens. It theorizes and critically demonstrates “homohegemony,” an ideology of relative inclusion of gay and lesbian citizenship in the national imaginary, in which the state extends selective citizenship rights to the gay and lesbian minority in a benevolent liberal fashion. However, these rights are premised on moments of illiberalism both within and outside the Canadian nation-state. Drawing on a neo-Gramscian understanding of hegemony, these illiberal exclusions may also be seen to characterize homohegemony, ideologically and materially. Once homosexual inclusion in the national imaginary becomes hegemonic, symbolized by the granting of near legal equality through same-sex marriage, longstanding and novel “others” are (re)imagined as exterior to the ideal-typical national community. One illiberal “other” is “homophobic Jamaica,” which functions as a significant constructed counterpoint, or foil, to a newly homohegemonic “national self.” A historical preoccupation with the “homosexual other” within Canada has significantly turned to a fixation on homophobic other nation-states. The ideological construction of Jamaica in particular is persuasive, not least because it bases itself in a degree of truth grounded in real heterosexism. The construction is, however, replete with generalizations, distortions, exaggerations, and omissions, and occurs in the context of historic colonial and other stereotypes. This image of Jamaica invisibilizes a much queerer reality. Homohegemony, both in its veritable benevolent liberal inclusions, and its less commonly appreciated significant illiberal exclusions, is thus set out in a broadly understood Canadian context. That such a context includes the imagination of Jamaica and Jamaicans, within a broader neocolonial relationship, represents a queer development in the history of hegemonic Canadian sexual ideology.

abstract: PhD


title: Contribution of Opioid and Stress Systems to Impulsive Action in Rodent Models

contributor:
Olmstead, Mary C.
Psychology

subject: Stress Rodent Impulsivity Neuroscience Opioids

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-09 17:02:56.216

abstract: Impulsive action, the inability to withhold responding, is a primary symptom of many psychiatric disorders, including drug addiction. Impulsive action is mediated through a complex interplay of many different neurotransmitters. The purpose of the experiments presented in this thesis was to further elucidate the role of opioid activity and environmental influences (e.g., stress) on impulsive action. Chapters 2 – 4 extend previous findings showing mu and delta opioid receptor (M/DOR) involvement in impulsive action. In all experiments, animals were trained to withhold responding for sucrose until a discriminative stimulus (cue light) was presented. In Chapter 2, rats were tested in a Variable delay response inhibition (RI) task in which the pre-response (i.e., premature) phase ranged from 1-60 s; thus, animals could not predict the length of the premature phase. Following training, rats were tested for impulsive action following injections of the DOR agonist, SNC80, or the MOR agonist, morphine. SNC80 dose-dependently increased premature responding in the Variable delay task, whereas none of the morphine doses had any effect. SNC80-induced increases in premature responding were blocked by a highly specific DOR antagonist (naltrindole). Morphine had no effect on responding in the Variable delay task, so in Chapter 3 we tested the effects of morphine in two Fixed delay tasks (4- and 60-s). Morphine dose-dependently increased premature responding in both the Fixed 4s and 60s versions of the RI task, an effect blocked by MOR antagonism. In Chapter 4, we assessed impulsive action in mice conditionally lacking MORs or DORs located on GABAergic forebrain neurons (cKO), and in constitutive MOR or DOR knockout mice (KO). Surprisingly, neither cKO nor KO mice differed in impulsive responding compared to control mice. Finally, in Chapter 5, we examined whether the pharmacological stressor, yohimbine, increases impulsive action. Yohimbine dose-dependently increased impulsive action; however antagonism of stress (CRF and glucocorticoid receptors), noradrenergic, dopaminergic, or opioidergic systems did not alter this response. Collectively, these studies demonstrate an important role for both opioid systems and stress in impulsive action, but highlight the importance of methodological differences when interpreting pharmacological and genetic behavioural studies.

abstract: PhD


title: The Role of Vitamin K in Vascular Calcification in a Rat Model of Chronic Kidney Disease

contributor:
Adams, Michael A.
Holden, Rachel M.
Pharmacology and Toxicology

subject:
Chronic Kidney Disease
Vascular Calcification

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Pharmacology & Toxicology) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-10 17:59:32.316

abstract: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects approximately 3 million Canadians and these patients have a markedly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.  CKD patients have abnormal mineral metabolism and vitamin K status; dysfunctions that can accelerate the rate of vascular calcification.  Matrix Gla protein (MGP) is a key tissue based inhibitor of calcification and is dependent on vitamin K for activity. In this thesis, an adenine-induced rat model of CKD was used to characterize quantitatively and temporally the impact of changing vitamin K status on the susceptibility of vessels to calcification.  Treatment with the vitamin K antagonist warfarin, at therapeutic levels, significantly increased vessel calcification and the attendant circulatory consequences (higher pulse pressure and pulse wave velocity) whereas treatment with dietary vitamin K attenuated the pathogenesis.  Vitamin K (K1) treatment increased the tissue levels of both forms of vitamin K (K1 and MK-4) in all the tissues studied.  Vitamin K metabolism was clearly altered by CKD, in that there was a shift to lower K1 and higher MK-4 tissue content, resulting in an increased MK-4:K1 ratio.  Although somewhat paradoxical, a decrease in the expression level of the MK-4 synthesizing enzyme UBIAD1 and the vitamin K recycling enzyme VKOR was found.  This latter finding suggests that increased MK-4 was not due to an increase in production but rather to a decrease in utilization of MK-4.  Patients with CKD are also known to be deficient in calcitriol.  In this thesis the impact of two doses of calcitriol (20 ng/kg and 80 ng/kg), in the presence of low or high vitamin K status, on CKD-induced vascular calcification was assessed.  Both calcitriol doses increased the severity of calcification regardless of vitamin K status.  That is, contrary to the hypothesis, high dietary vitamin K1 was unable to attenuate the pro-calcification stimulus of calcitriol, and furthermore, warfarin treatment did not worsen it. The basis for these unanticipated findings points to the obese phenotype of the animals used potentially masking the potential benefits of calcitriol treatments, although this concept requires further study.  Although several unexpected findings occurred, this thesis still fills some key gaps in knowledge pertaining to the role of vitamin K status in the development of vascular calcification during CKD and as a therapeutic intervention.

abstract: Some manuscripts have not been published yet.

abstract: PhD


title: Intertidal hydrodynamics and basin-scale sediment dynamics in the Minas Basin, Bay of Fundy, and implications for change due to tidal power extraction

contributor:
Mulligan, Ryan P.
Civil Engineering

subject:
Tides
Bay of fundy

abstract: Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-12 11:36:28.13

abstract: Minas Basin in the Bay of Fundy has the world’s largest tidal range and exchanges approximately 110 billion tonnes of water twice a day with tidal currents up to 5 ms-1 through Minas Passage, making it an ideal site for tidal power extraction. In this thesis a multi-domain high-resolution hydrodynamic model of Minas Basin is implemented and used to investigate: a) the relative influence of vegetation on flow routing in a macrotidal estuary to develop an understanding of the intertidal hydrodynamics in the natural system; and b) the implications of tidal energy extraction on basin-scale suspended sediment concentrations by simulating in-stream turbines.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Tissue Specific Functions and Regulation of DAF-18/PTEN

contributor:
Chin-Sang, Ian D.
Biology

subject:
PTEN
C. elegans
Starvation
L1 Arrest
Insulin Signalling
DAF-18

abstract: Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2015-01-14 15:03:22.601

abstract: The insulin signaling antagonist daf-18/PTEN is known to play various roles in the response of C. elegans to starvation. While daf-18’s roles in promoting dauer formation are well understood, the extent of its roles in L1 arrest remains unclear. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of germline expression of daf-18 in coordinating proper L1 arrest. It had been previously hypothesized that germline expressed daf-18 might be sufficient to properly arrest germline proliferation and achieve wildtype levels of L1 arrest longevity. In this study, I show that germline expression alone is neither sufficient in restoring full L1 arrest longevity nor germ cell quiescence. Instead, L1 arrest longevity is dependent on systemic daf-18 expression. I also explore the effects of maternal contributions to offspring on L1 arrest longevity. I show here that maternally rescued daf-18 mutants survive two days longer than controls. I demonstrate that worms that progressed to adulthood through the dauer life stage do not produce offspring that are better suited to survive L1 arrest. Conversely, I observed adult worms that experience crowding produce offspring with mildly increased L1 arrest longevity. Lastly, I explore the post- translational regulation of DAF-18 by demonstrating that the proteasomal subunits pas-3 and pbs-4 are involved in DAF-18 degradation.

abstract: M.Sc.