title: Blue is For Boys, Science is For Boys, What's For Girls? A Critical Look at Gender Constructs in Science Toys

abstract: Canadian born women are severely underrepresented amongst science students and researchers in Canada. This is due in part, to the cultural construction of science as "unfeminine" and “for boys.” This sentiment emerges when girls are as young as 6 years old. Educational toys are often the first avenue in which children are introduced to and engage with scientific culture. Parents have traditionally used gender symbols in toys to teach children gender roles, appropriate values and actions. The current study investigates the possibility of science toys as a socializing agent for gendered beliefs about science. It does so, by completing a content analysis and qualitative analysis of gender and science symbols within 400 science toys. This analysis found that science toys contained a substantial number of masculine symbols; including masculine mentors, colours, themes and a greater number of boys on packages.


title: Experimental Investigation of Mechanical Behaviour of Hybrid Bolted/Bonded Joints for Aircraft

abstract: This thesis verifies the measurement technique, Digital Image Correlation (DIC), which is introduced to the research group for the first time. The DIC technique is verified with the axial extensometer by measuring displacement and strain fields from the simple aluminum test coupon. Additionally, the DIC technique with the instrumented bolt, which is the classic measurement technique to obtain shear load in the bolt, is examined in the bolted/bonded joint configuration. Lastly, the DIC technique is used to investigate the surface strain field changes in different joint configurations. Unique observations are made in each joint configuration, and are presented in this thesis.


title: Black, White, and Grey: (Re)Constructing the One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Plagiarism

abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore how plagiarism is discursively constructed within a North American university and what challenges result from its multiple interpretations. Rhetorical move analysis (Swales, 1990) is used to investigate how plagiarism is constructed in the university’s Academic Integrity Policy (AIP) and how it is (re)constructed in course outlines from different disciplines. The study further uses concepts of intertextuality and uptake to investigate how professors and students interpret the institutional definition of plagiarism. Analysis indicates that the AIP constructs a universal interpretation of plagiarism while the analysis of interviews indicates three professors took up the AIP by reinterpreting it and one took up the AIP in expected ways. Students, however, seem to understand plagiarism, partially, in ways similar to the AIP and, partially, similar to professors. The findings of the study suggest that the institutional AIP may not address possible types and interpretations of plagiarism.


title: Continuous Monitoring of Mechanical Properties of Plantar Soft Tissue Using Wearable Ultrasonic and Force Sensors for Diabetic Patients

abstract: Diabetic foot ulceration is one of the complications of diabetes mellitus. One of the reasons of diabetic ulcers is neuropathy in which the nerves of foot are damaged and diabetic patients cannot feel the pain. Thus it is possible that they injure their feet without their knowledge and undetected injuries lead to the foot ulcer. Research works indicate that ulcers begin from the underlying tissue where soft tissues become stiffer. In this study, a wearable ultrasonic stiffness sensor for continuous monitoring of mechanical properties of soft tissue was developed and tested. The performance of the developed system was evaluated using soft tissue mimicking phantoms. In-vivo experiment was conducted while the participant was stepping. Pressure-displacement curve for plantar tissue at heel part was obtained for one compression-release cycle where certain tissue mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus and stiffness are computable.


title: In Pursuit of Victory: League of Legends and a Project of the Self

abstract: Video games are often recognized as ephemeral arrangements of signs and symbols, arranged to mimic 'real' relationships of domination and subjection. The fear, then, is that the subjects produced by video games are habituated, in a straightforward way, toward certain dispositions. Yet when we look at a competitive game like League of Legends, we see an active player-subject, engaged in an entrepreneurial project of self-improvement. This investigation is aimed at power beyond manipulation, asking how an emplaced self is made true in-and-through the pursuit of victory. My autoethnographic account looks at how we become the object of our own conditional existence through interpellation and reflexivity. League of Legends stands as an example of a particular type of reflexive subjectification, one in which we draw on prescriptive texts, guides, and techniques of self-improvement in order to shape ourselves in response to a discursive provocation; in response to the current of opposition.


title: “The First [Draft] was a lot of Me . . . but the Second One is What They Want”: A Multiple-Case Study of Four Indigenous Students’ Experiences With Academic Writing

abstract: This multiple case study explores the experiences that four Indigenous students have with academic writing as an important step toward addressing the pervasive gap in postsecondary achievement rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Canada. This study draws on an Indigenous-based research approach, as well as critical and social approaches to academic writing, to explore students’ experiences with academic writing. Interview questions, sketches, and samples of students’ writing were used to elicit accounts of experiences. These experiences point to a perceived distance between the writing the students produce and the writing they feel they ought to produce. Students’ accounts suggest that in spite of their location in a Eurocentric and predominately White institution, Indigenous students can appropriate academic writing for their own purposes and use it as a form of resistance. Implications for pedagogy include the need to create transformative spaces for the negotiation of, and talk about, academic writing.


title: A Tale of Two Republics: Plato and Michael Polanyi on Science, Faith, and the Study of Man

abstract: The purpose of this work is to employ the meditations of Plato, son of Ariston, and the Hungarian polymath Michael Polanyi in an analysis of the essence of science and philosophy, and the causes and conditions of nihilism. As the means to that endeavour, we shall proceed by way of comparative exegeses of key writings by both men, Plato’s "Politeia", "Symposium", "Timaeus", and "Critias"; and Polanyi’s "Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy", "The Study of Man", "The Tacit Dimension", and "Knowing and Being". Through that process we shall be reflecting upon their philosophic anthropologies and their accounts of the existential character of the open soul versus that of l’homme revolté; on the grounds of scientific and philosophic knowledge of reality; and the nature of the free society as the open soul writ large.


title: The splicing inhibitor Isoginkgetin leads to defects in multiple phases of the cell cycle

abstract: Isoginkgetin is a naturally occurring compound from Ginkgo biloba trees that has anti-neoplastic activities related to inhibition of spliceosome assembly. The p53-tumour suppressor plays a prominent role in ell G1 and G2 cycle checkpoints and p53 is strongly activated in response to transcriptional stresses. Therefore, we determined the effect of p53 and Isoginkgetin treatment on cell cycle progression. Wildtype p53 expressing cells exhibited a remarkable S phase defect while the p53-null subline accumulated with 4C DNA content. Despite the pronounced difference in these isogenic strains, there was no pronounced p53 transcriptional response as assessed by qRT-PCR and preliminary microarray analysis. Instead, Isoginkgetin leads to altered pre-mRNA splicing of S and M phase-specific transcripts. These results suggest that cell cycle alterations are the direct result of abnormal splicing of cell cycle regulatory mRNAs and not p53 dependent checkpoints.


title: Enhancing AI-Based Game Playing Using Adaptive Data Structures

abstract: The design and analysis of strategies for playing strategic board games, is a core area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that has been studied extensively since the inception of the field. However, while two-player board games are very well known, comparatively little research has been done on Multi-Player games, where the number of self-interested, competing players is greater than two. Furthermore, known strategies for multi-player games have difficulties performing on a level of sophistication comparable to their two-player counterparts. The premise of this thesis is the hypothesis that game playing in general, and the problem of multi-player games in particular, can benefit from efficient ranking mechanisms, for moves, board positions, or even players, in the multi-player scenario. The research done in this work confirms the hypothesis. Indeed, we have discovered that this information can be applied to improve game tree pruning, and within other possibilities. In this thesis, we observe that the formerly-unrelated field of Adaptive Data Structures (ADSs), which provide mechanisms by which a data structure can reorganize itself internally in response to queries, can provide a natural ranking mechanism. The primary motivation of this thesis is to demonstrate that the low-cost ADS-based data structures can provide this ranking mechanism to game playing engines, and furthermore generate statistically significant improvements to their efficiency. In this work, we will conclusively prove that ADS-based techniques are able to enhance existing multi-player game playing strategies, and perform competitively with state-of-the-art two-player techniques, as well. We demonstrate, through two general-use, domain independent move ordering heuristics, the Threat-ADS heuristic for multi-player games, and the History-ADS heuristic for both two-player and multi-player games, that ADSs are, indeed, capable of achieving this improvement. We present an examination of their performance in a very wide range of game models and configurations. We thus conclusively demonstrate that ADSs are able to achieve strong performance, in game playing engines, in the vast majority of cases. Our work in this thesis provides not only these domain-independent, formal move ordering heuristics, but furthermore serves as a strong example for future investigation into combinations between the fields of ADSs and game playing.


title: Building Dynamic and Energy-Efficient Datacenters with Passive Optical Devices

abstract: Most datacenter network designs overwhelmingly use expensive and power-consuming electronic switches or expensive active optical switches with long reconfiguration time. In this thesis, we explore architectural solutions to leverage the design elements of Passive Optical Cross-Connection Networks with Multiple Planes (POXN/MPs) and Passive Optical Cross-Connection Networks with Multiple Planes and Bundled Ports (POXN/MP-BPs), both of which consist primarily of passive optical fabrics and optical transceivers that replace groups of switches in either hierarchical or recursively defined networks. Through simple physical interconnections, our proposed architectures allow datacenters to incrementally scale up in network capacity and scale out in total number of racks with low cost and power consumption. To lower overhead and adapt to the types of real datacenter scenarios that are possible with POXN/MP-BPs, we propose the new Multiple Channels with Bundled Ports Distributed Access Protocol (MCBDAP), which benefits applications involving higher proportions of inter-rack traffic than intra-rack traffic.


title: Dealing with Multiple Perceptions of 'Reality': Change Within a Transorganizational System

abstract: Transorganizational systems (TSs) are defined as “coalition structures formed by two or more organizations for a common purpose” (Cummings, Blumenthal, & Greiner, 1983; p. 379). Although an extensive body of knowledge exists on TS outcomes, there has been little research exploring how TSs change over time. The thesis presents an exploratory, longitudinal, multi-method case study of a change initiative within a TS consisting of a police organization, a hospital, and a social service agency operating in a large city in Canada. The initiative involved the change to a process that is interdependently co-owned by all three organizations and relates to how these three partners deal with persons suspected of having mental illness in the community. Seventy-five semi-structured interviews (25 per organization) were conducted before and sixty semi-structured interviews (20 per organization) were conducted six months after the implementation of the planned TS change. The data from these interviews were supplemented with archival data from the Police. We draw from planned change (e.g. Burnes, 2004), TS (e.g. Crosby, Bryson, & Stone, 2006), and stakeholder (e.g. Mitchel, Agle, & Wood, 1997) literatures to analyze findings from this thesis. The results of this thesis indicate that the planned TS change has had a measurable impact on the TS. The results suggest that respondents’ perceptions of what they wanted to change (pre-change) and what they observed had changed (post-change) in the TS influenced how they made sense of the planned TS change, and that these sensemaking processes affected their views of interorganizational relationships. Our analysis also suggests that the planned TS change: (1) shifted power within the TS from the hospital to the police, (2) shifted urgency within the TS from the police to the hospital, and (3) eroded the legitimacy of the police in the eyes of healthcare workers.


title: Advancing Tourist Destination Image Theory: Formation Antecedents and Behavioral Consequences

abstract: The purpose of this thesis is (1) to examine the effect of four personal factors (institutional trust (IT), consumer ethnocentrism tendency (CET), consumer cosmopolitanism (COS), and personality type (PT)) on the formation of domestic tourist destination image (DTDI), (2) to examine the effect of DTDI on destination brand experience (DBE), tourist satisfaction (TS), and behavioral intentions, and (3) to assess the potential applicability of various relevant theories on the tourist preference of international versus domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia. A sample of 1,564 Saudi citizens was collected. A theoretical model of DTDI was designed. The data was statistically analyzed using structural equation modeling. Personal factors were found to influence tourists’ perceptions of DTDI. IT, CET, COS, and PT were found influential to DTDI. DTDI was found to influence DBE, TS, and all behavioral intentions. DBE was found to partially mediate the relationship between DTDI and TS. TS was found to mediate the relationship between DBE and both behavioral intentions. The context of the study involves only one destination and the sample consists of only Saudi citizens. Although this was useful to test the model, generalizability cannot be confidently claimed before multiple replications. Also, the scales selected to measure the different constructs, although chosen carefully, come with their own limitations. This research informs Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) about the existing relationship between IT and the images of the destinations they are promoting. The results revealed the roles played by CET, COS, and PT on DTDI formation, which should be beneficial for both tourist segmentation and marketing communication. The research also confirms to DMOs the pivotal importance of DBE as an influential construct. This is the first study to examine the effect of IT on TDI research. The relationship was confirmed and thus has advanced our understanding of how TDI is formed and perceived. The study has also examined the role of CET and COS among the citizens of the same country in which the destination is found, which is a novel pursuit that is added to the knowledge of domestic tourism, CET, and COS.


title: Three Essays on Governance in South America

abstract: This dissertation consists of three essays that address selected topics on the governance of Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. The first two papers cover specific aspects of the role of business groups and their relation to individual and state investors. The third paper considers the relationship between the legislative oversight of the bureaucracy and electoral and party systems across Brazil and Argentina.


title: Regulation of pyruvate kinase in hypometabolic states

abstract: Survival in extreme environments requires drastic changes to animals’ physiology and biochemistry, requiring many animals to decrease their metabolic rate. Enzymes are the mediators of metabolic functions and their regulation is critical to surviving these conditions. This thesis explores the properties of a key enzyme of glycolysis, pyruvate kinase (PK), in the freeze tolerant wood frog (Rana sylvatica), the anoxia tolerant snail (Littorina littorea) and the hibernating ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii).The studies showed that temperature, allosteric effectors and other local environmental conditions play a role in regulating pyruvate kinase in response to freezing, anoxia and during hibernation. Furthermore, reversible protein phosphorylation appears to be a common regulatory mechanism of PK by reducing the activity of the enzyme in all three animals. Together, these studies show that PK is a common regulatory target of animals surviving in extreme conditions and that multiple regulatory mechanisms, especially protein phosphorylation, contribute to its regulation.


title: Moving Disordered Gamblers Toward Change: Implicit Theories Moderate the Indirect Relationship from Self-Discontinuity to Attempted Change through Nostalgia

abstract: The present study employed a longitudinal design to test a moderated-mediation model of attempted change among disordered gamblers. Specifically, self-discontinuity (i.e., feeling that gambling has fundamentally changed the self) was expected to lead to attempted change through feelings of nostalgia for the pre-addicted self. Moreover, this indirect relationship was hypothesized to be conditional upon gamblers’ implicit theories of behaviour (i.e., malleable versus stable). To this end, a community sample of disordered gamblers (N = 243) completed measures of self-discontinuity, nostalgia, implicit theories, and readiness to change. Three months later, participants were asked whether they had made an attempt to change their gambling behaviour since the initial session. As expected, self-discontinuity lead to attempted change through nostalgia, but only for gamblers who believed that behaviour was malleable, as opposed to stable. As few disordered gamblers attempt to change their behaviour, these findings are important in promoting positive behavioural change.


title: Maternal Sensitivity and Responsiveness: Parent Teaching During Shared Writing Activities and Early Literacy Outcomes

abstract: The present observational study examined the roles of maternal sensitivity and responsiveness in relation to child early literacy skills. Mothers and their 3- to 5-year-old children were asked to write together three word pairs. Each word pair contained a common phoneme. In one word, the phoneme was represented by one consistent letter, and in the second word, the phoneme was represented by two letters: one consistent and one inconsistent. Mothers demonstrated sensitivity by adjusting their teaching support for letters that varied in consistency, or difficulty. Further, mothers who taught at a higher level had children with more advanced early literacy knowledge, but no differences were found in parent self-report and observed measures of teaching. Mothers also adjusted their teaching support when their child struggled, or were responsive. However, maternal responsiveness depended on the type of difficulty the child experienced. Finally, the majority of mothers only accepted conventional spellings.


title: Children's Acquisition of the Mappings Among the Number Representations

abstract: To understand mathematics, children need to learn how the verbal and written number symbols are related to each other and how they are used to represent quantity. How are these mapping skills acquired? Across three studies I examined the relationship between children’s mapping skills and their quantitative and symbolic precursor skills. I also assessed whether children’s mapping skills were related to more advanced numerical skills such as symbolic number comparison (Study 1, 2), and whether the mapping skills improved with training (Study 3). The Pathways Model of early numeracy development (LeFevre, Fast et al., 2010) was extended to include children’s mapping skills as mediators between early quantitative and symbolic number knowledge and symbolic number comparison. The model was assessed in two samples of Canadian children (Study 1, n = 62; Study 2, n= 45) and a sample of Mexican children (Study 2, n = 57). Results from both studies show that verbal counting, identification of symbolic number, and understanding of cardinality were important predictors of children’s mapping abilities. Children’s ability to associate Arabic digits to the corresponding quantity representation was predictive of their symbolic number comparison skills. Children first learned to associate number words to digits, then number words to quantities, and finally digits to quantities. Study 3 was an intervention study in which the goal was to assess whether enhancing children’s cardinality skills would result in an improvement to their symbol-quantity mappings. No significant effects of the training procedure were found. Children in this study had relatively strong early numeracy skills and thus the lack of learning may have reflected the lack of variability in their existing knowledge. Finally, Canadian and Mexican preschool children’s early numeracy skills were assessed in relation to the home learning environment. Significant relationships between reported frequency of home numeracy practices and numeracy skills were found for the Canadian but not for the Mexican children, whereas maternal education was found to be a significant predictor of numeracy skills in both countries. In conclusion, the three studies included in the present research provide insight into how mathematical skills unfold from the earliest symbolic and quantitative skills.


title: A Longitudinal Assessment of Cytokines and Prospective Memory Functioning in Chemotherapy Exposed Breast Cancer Patients

abstract: The present study sought to evaluate whether altered levels of cytokines may be associated with prospective memory (PM) deficits among breast cancer patients, as examined subjectively and objectively in a longitudinal case-control design, and to investigate possible predictors of these disturbances. As patients often complain of cognitive dysfunction, a secondary aim was to examine whether PM may better account for the self-reported deficits, or if dissociations may be attributable to reduced memory self-awareness. Seventeen women with breast cancer were assessed before chemotherapy and three months post-chemotherapy, and were compared with 17 age- and education-matched healthy controls. Patient PM deficits were found to emerge prior to chemotherapy, and IL-18 may be associated with changes in aspects of PM. Patients did not report more difficulties in PM, and subjective-objective associations were not apparent or explained by memory self-awareness. Interventions to ameliorate PM and associates of systemic inflammation should be investigated.


title: Morphometric analysis of the gull Larus (Aves:Laridae) with implications for small theropod diversity in the Late Cretaceous

abstract: This project analyzed morphological diversity in the modern gull (Aves: Charadriiformes) genus Larus. Measurements of the post-cranial skeletons were made on specimens from six species of Larus and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Similar analyses were conducted on a series of theropod taxa. Landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis was conducted on skulls of gulls and analyzed using PCA. Results show that the gull species are very similar for the morphological parameters analyzed, only differing in overall body size and cannot be easily distinguished based on their skeletal morphology. These results were used as a modern analogue for inferring species diversity in the theropod fossil record. The implications of this study suggest that skeletal morphology may not be able to distinguish closely related species of non-avian theropods. This suggests that the species diversity of extinct non-avian theropods was likely higher than can be of determined from their skeletal remains.


title: Eyes in the Sky:The Domestic Deployment of Drone Technology & Aerial Surveillance in Canada

abstract: Drones are part of a digital network of data collection technologies that enable new flows of information. There is reason to believe that military, police, and corporations, with their sizeable budgets, are amongst the main purchasers of drones in Canada. In the context of a post 9/11 heightened security environment, these organizations rely on drones primarily for their sensory and data collection equipment, effectively rendering them surveillance technologies. The growing drone economy’s corporate, government, and military partnerships are leading the regulatory development which ultimately fails to address civil liberties and privacy in Canada.


title: Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS):  Understanding the Issues and Reducing the Risks Associated with Police Use of Force

abstract: The review of sudden and unexpected in-custody deaths (I-CDs) clearly demonstrates that there is a cluster of features which indicate that a subject is suffering from a medical emergency. For those who most frequently deal with these subjects (e.g., law enforcement, paramedics, emergency physicians, medical examiners) this is a real issue with serious implications. The labelling of this cluster of features as Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS) continues to be contentious. However a standardized and concise label with which meaning (e.g., medical emergency) can be assigned is necessary for the recognition, identification, intervention and treatment of these subjects. Additionally, despite there being many risk factors and a multitude of etiologies and pathophysiologies for ExDS, there are prevention and intervention strategies that can be employed within these dynamic and rapidly unfolding events to diminish adverse outcomes. Through the theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism and the sociology of diagnosis, this research examines the meaning attributed to ExDS, how this meaning influences actions as well as the risks and benefits of medicalization. This research presents promising intervention strategies for gaining control of these subjects, as well as risk factors and officer safety concerns. Furthermore, through the use of grounded theory and excerpts from use of force reports, this research provides an interpretive account of the extreme and violent nature of encounters with probable cases of ExDS, providing a better understanding of these situations. This research represents a new area of inquiry into non-fatal cases of ExDS and the prevention of sudden and unexpected I-CDs. The use of a mixed methods research design utilizes the strengths of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze police use of force reports. This provides the opportunity to triangulate the results from each of these differing methodological approaches in order to elucidate, validate and generalize the findings. This gives both the depth and breadth required to inform law enforcement training and policy in the area of use of force and medically-high risk situations. As such, this research provides grounded recommendations for policy and training as a delivery mechanism of meaning as well as for equipment and use of force reporting. Thus, the overall focus and intent of this research is reducing the risk of I-CDs and improving police and public safety.


title: Vapour Deposition and Evaluation of Conducting Polymeric Thin Films

abstract:
In this work an apparatus was designed to perform oxidative chemical vapour deposition (oCVD) of polymeric films. The minimization of reactant waste was a major design consideration. This resulted in several key features not common in literature including: a static deposition phase, quick-loading precursor holders, a double wall vacuum, and a hot wall deposition chamber. The base pressure of the system was below 20mTorr and its upper temperature limit was 200°C.
Employing the system, poly(3,4-hexyldioxythiophene) (PEDOT) was synthesized via vapour phase polymerization (VPP). These samples, along with an in-situ polymerized (ISP) PEDOT control group, were characterized using SEM, AFM, four-point probe, FTIR, and UV-vis. Results showed that the VPP films were thicker, less rough, and more conductive than their ISP counterparts with values of 380 nm, 2 nm, and 1130 S/cm respectively. Spectroscopic tests indicated high levels of conjugation and minimal polymer damage.


title: Architecture and Violence: Between Representation and Exchange

abstract: This thesis focuses on spaces that have experienced brutal and radical transformations, in cities that have endured war, asking what architecture becomes when it collides with violence. While it dramatically alters architecture, destruction does not seem to belong to any architectural discourse. Hence, architecture as destruction becomes merely a product of violence. However, this research discusses destruction differently, it argues that when destruction impacts architecture, it should not be seen as a final act, rather architecture acquires new meanings. Analyzing the relationship between architecture and violence starts with investigating the human component in an attempt to explore a triangle between humans, violence, and architecture. How do perpetrators of violence carry out destruction without hesitation? Is architecture often targeted because of what it represents? Does architecture contribute to empowering violence or resisting it? The research argues that architecture can transform violence as much as violence transforms architecture.


title: International Labour Migration, Remittances and Remittances-based Spending: Quantitative Study of Decision-making in the Kyrgyz Republic

abstract:
The following PhD dissertation is a quantitative study of individual as well as household decision-making in three linked processes: international labour migration, remittances and remittances-based spending. Three sets of questions are posed in three separate chapters. First, in regards to migration: why do some individuals intend to migrate whereas others do not; and does the intention to migrate affect actual migration behaviour? Second, in regards to remitting: which migrants are more likely to remit; and which migrants remit more? Third, in regards to spending: is it migrants themselves who decide how their remittances are spent; and to what extent do remittances offset the monetary cost of hosting festivities regarded as “customs and traditions”? In search of answers, the dissertation resorts to a statistical analysis of national household survey data from the Kyrgyz Republic. The choice of the methodology is based to the availability of a robust dataset that is suitable for empirical methods, and to the fact that the country is highly dependent on migration and remittances.
Several key empirical findings emerge from the analyses. First, the intention to migrate is correlated with travel experience, ethnicity, access to a family network abroad and regional unemployment; also, an intention does have a strong positive impact on actual migration behaviour. Second, the incidence of remitting is increased consistently in the case of men and older migrants, whereas the amount of remittances per remitter is higher when sent by household heads or highly educated migrants, especially to urban or post-shock households. Third, remitters often do not decide how their remittances are used, and remittances-receiving households spend on average more on some types of festivities, but not on all; despite the high average expenditures on festivities, gifts received by households substantially offset the total cost, thus reducing the financial burden of hosting such events. Policy-relevant implications of the findings as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.


title: New Wealth, New Wisdom: Understanding the Changing Profile of Countries Creating Sovereign Wealth Funds

abstract:
Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are among the most innovative and least-studied economic policy tools governments have at their disposal. At its essence, the question of why a country creates a SWF is about whether a government should save or spend. Despite the importance of SWFs to governments and global markets, the economic and noneconomic factors influencing a country’s decision to create a SWF have not been sufficiently investigated. Moreover, studies purporting to answer why countries create SWFs or which types of countries create certain types of SWFs have been based on the theoretical benefits of SWFs or the stated mandates of SWFs; not observed macroeconomic data. I argue that these studies have obfuscated the changing dynamics of the population of countries creating SWFs and reified conventional wisdom that is no longer based on evidence.
In this thesis, I find that countries with a high dependence on resource exports and countries enjoying high levels of GDP growth are more likely to create SWFs. My findings put into question the conventional wisdom that countries with current account surpluses and higher levels of international reserves create SWFs. In addition, I also statistically test noneconomic reasons for SWF creation and find that resource-dependent countries may create SWFs to emulate other resource-dependent countries. My empirical findings also indicate that countries use SWFs as a signal of good economic governance in an attempt to attract foreign direct investment. However, these noneconomic reasons are found to be less statistically influential than the economic determinants of SWF creation. In the latter half of this thesis, I employ the findings from my statistical analysis to create a new, statistically-based typology of SWF-creating countries and to assess the appropriateness of countries creating SWFs based on their respective macroeconomics. Finally, I conduct a three-country qualitative analysis of three African nations, of which two created SWFs, and find that the international financial institutions were particularly influential in the decisions of these countries to create their SWFs.


title: Shame and Social Work Students: A Qualitative Interview Study

abstract: The high incidence of burnout in social work is well documented and research suggests that shame might play a contributing role (Zapf et al, 2001; Gibson, 2014). Findings consistently demonstrate the pervasive and harmful impact of shame (Gibson, 2014; Hahn, 2000). Using grounded theory and narrative inquiry methodologies; this thesis study presents the experiences, thoughts and perceptions of shame in 13 female social work students. Participants viewed shame as extremely painful and identified gendered societal and cultural expectations as significant shame triggers. They attributed the undervaluing of social work as a profession and negative stereotypes about the profession as contributing to shame about their professional identity. Participants provide insights into the challenges/strengths of attending Carleton University’s School of Social Work, including both the benefits and potential shame resulting from consistent reflection and awareness of their social location. Considerations for social work education programs and avenues for future research are discussed.


title: 3D Stiffness and Strength Degradation Models for Seismic Progressive Collapse Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures – Formulations and Implementations Framework

abstract:
The principal objective of this research is to develop a comprehensive model for seismic response analysis of reinforced concrete structures subjected to multi-component seismic loading that captures the behaviours of members in new structures designed as ductile as well as non-ductile members in existing older deficient structures. The focus is on the formulation of a beam-column element using the concentrated plasticity approach and the development of a framework for the implementations of the new model using object oriented design concepts. The key modeling capabilities considered in this study include: capturing axial force-bending moment interactions; simulating post-yield hardening response; detecting brittle or limited ductility types of failure in shear; capturing degradation of shear strength in the plastic hinge zone with increased displacement ductility; simulating softening in the post-shear failure response; capturing stiffness degradation and cyclic strength deterioration under repeated load reversals; tracking the progression and accumulation of damage and its effects on stiffness and strength degradation.
The element formulation employs yield and shear-failure surfaces as well as evolution models for the generalized plastic hinges at the element ends. The degradation of shear strength in the plastic hinge region with increasing flexural displacement ductility demand is captured by using ductility-related shear limit surface associated with the evolution model. The cyclic behaviour modeling is based on the incorporation of damage models in the beam-column element formulation to track the progression of damage and its effects on the gradual deterioration in stiffness and loss of strength. A consistent generalized approach for state determination is developed using event-based strategy.
In the development of the object oriented implementation framework, the individual components of the proposed inelastic concentrated-plasticity model are identified and the functionalities of each component are defined. The interface and the interactions between the abstract base classes - beam-column element, yield surface, shear failure surface, evolution model, shear limit surface, cyclic model, cyclic control, damage model, and damage progression classes - are established based on the required functionalities. The hierarchal structure of the proposed classes and the independent implementations of the main components are designed to provide a comprehensive and flexible design that allows extensibility.


title: Effects of Landscape Compositional and Configurational Heterogeneity on Biodiversity in Eastern Ontario Farmland

abstract: Effective management action for biodiversity in farmland can often be complex given the multitude of species' needs and various habitat requirements. Biodiversity and land cover data from a previous study in eastern Ontario (Fahrig et al., 2015) was used to conduct random forest regression as a decision tool. This analysis was conducted for a variety of landscape metrics and their effect on alpha, beta, and gamma diversity and abundance of birds, bees, butterflies, syrphids, spiders, carabids, and plants. Main findings of the research supported the initial assertion by Fahrig et al. (2015) to make field sizes smaller in the interest of biodiversity conservation. It was also found that field types should be variably distributed, which has implications for biodiversity and land use management in eastern Ontario.


title: A Referential Analysis of Fictional Names

abstract: Do fictional names refer to fictional characters? Realists argue they do, while anti-realists argue they do not. According to referentialism, a proper name contributes its referent to the singular proposition expressed by sentences of which the name is a constituent. Furthermore, referentialists argue that the mechanism via which a name means its bearer is best understood as a causal-historical chain of which subsequent uses of the name are parasitic on some initial use (or baptism). For the anti-realist, fictional names present a problem for referentialism as many sentences, such as “Peter Pan was created by J. M. Barrie," seem to refer and express true singular propositions. However, for realists, such sentences are congruent with a referential theory of naming. I will examine two realist accounts in detail, Meinongianism and artifactualism, and argue that artifactualism is the more likely candidate for a realist referential theory concerning fictional names.


title: The Value of Demand Response in a Hydro-Dominated Power Grid - The Example of Quebec, Canada

abstract:
Demand response (DR) entails programs that allow utilities to shift when electricity is being used. DR is of great interest in Québec, as DR would increase the ability of the provincial utility to manage its domestic load. DR would also allow the provincial utility to improve the level of service to its export clients in neighbouring jurisdictions, such as New York.
This thesis explores a promising form of DR, namely direct load control of residential electric water heaters (EWH). EWH are ubiquitous in Québec representing 94% of all domestic water heating appliances. I analysed the benefits that could be accrued by deploying a DR program, and contribute to the Public Policy literature by assessing the incremental revenues that can be achieved through the use of DR for inter-market price arbitrage. I estimated that up to 170,000 households would potentially participate, which would yield a net benefit of $35.9 million.


title: Grounding Codesign in a Culturally Appropriate Landscape: Learning From Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing Through Conversation

abstract:
The purpose of this study is to understand how to ground a codesign process in a culturally appropriate landscape. The study outlines the challenges of a National Capital Commission urban design proposal that I submitted in 2014. It refers to the historical context that informs the contemporary reality of Indigenous culture in Canada, examines current literature on participatory design from a post-colonial lens, discusses the concept of participation within Indigenous research methods and outlines potential guidelines.
Methodologically, insights are gathered through conversations with First Nation, Métis and non-Indigenous designers, and interpreted to permeate a cross-cultural codesign process.
The study concludes that Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing form a set of essential cultural teachings, which contribute to a codesign praxis in culturally appropriate contexts and re-affirms Indigenous knowledge as a critical feature to inform spaces of inclusive engagement.
Keywords: Codesign, participatory design, Indigenous research guidelines, Indigenous knowledge and culture.


title: Canadian Mining and Mexican Economic Development

abstract: This thesis is concerned with how Canadian outward FDI in Mexico’s mining sector affects the country’s economic development. The paper will make the argument that Mexico’s economic development has not benefited extensively from Canadian investment in the mining industry, especially considering the revenues earned by mining firms. Furthermore, the argument will be made that inadequate state institutions in Mexico, rather than a malicious Canadian presence, is the principal reason for this phenomenon. Utilizing new institutional economic theory, this thesis will draw attention to the roles of formal and informal institutions in Mexico and how they have affected the mining sector’s potential to foster economic development. It will be argued that institutions largely independent of Canadian influence have most significantly affected the outcome of Canadian mining FDI in Mexico’s economic development.


title: Exploring the Potential of Subtitled Foreign Media for the Learning of Conventional Expressions

abstract: Subtitled media have been found to be a beneficial tool in the acquisition of second language vocabulary, particularly for beginner-level learners. The present study follows up on Koolstra and Beentjes’ (1999) suggestion that subtitled media may also be helpful in learning expressions and their associated contexts. Six beginner-level learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) were taught the same thirty conventional expressions taken from a subtitled Japanese television drama – a control group without pragmatic instruction and a treatment group viewing the drama while taking note of form, meaning, and context of the expressions, as per Schmidt’s (1993) noticing hypothesis. All participants were tested prior and subsequently with an oral discourse completion task (ODCT) and interviewed regarding their experiences. The results suggest that utilizing a target language television drama may be more beneficial than traditional methodology in multiple ways for learners both immediately and long-term.


title: Pliocene to Late Pleistocene Magmatism in the Aurora Volcanic Field, Nevada and California, USA: A Petrographic, Geochemical, and Isotopic Study

abstract:
The Pliocene-Pleistocene Aurora Volcanic Field (AVF) covers 325 km2, stretches across the California-Nevada border north of Mono Lake, and overlaps the Miocene Bodie Hills Volcanic Field (BHVF). It lies within the northwest-striking Walker Lane shear zone at the western margin of the Basin and Range province. Although erupted in a post-subduction setting, normalized incompatible element patterns show a continental arc-like signature, similar to those of other late Cenozoic volcanic fields within the Walker Lane, interpreted to reflect a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source.
Petrographic features suggest syn-magmatic open system processes. While trace element compositions show few signs of these processes, the range in isotopic ratios confirm them. The BHVF and the AVF rocks have similar Pb isotope ratios, however, the AVF rocks have higher 87Sr/86Sr, lower 143Nd/144Nd, and stronger correlations between 87Sr/86Sr, silica, and δ18O, indicating that crustal assimilation was a more influential process in the AVF than in the BHVF.


title: The Man Who Could Go Either Way:  The Many Faces of Cowboy Masculinity in 1950s American Film and Advertising

abstract: This thesis explores the cowboy as an iconic figure of white masculinity in the middle-class in 1950s America, focusing on film and advertising as a means of interpreting images of idealized manhood. It explores films including High Noon, Rio Bravo, and The Searchers, as well as print advertising from Levi’s and Marlboro, to juxtapose different projections of masculinity. It finds that, contrary to expectation, the cowboy was not just a singular image of stoicism and martial power, opposed to domesticity and consumerism. Instead, he was more of a language through which different values could be expressed. This creates an intriguingly contradictory image: the cowboy is domesticity and anti-domesticity, invincibility and anxiety, fashion and anti-fashion, and a relic of America’s past and the herald of its future all at once. In this regard he becomes a surrogate for diverse masculinities interacting on the backdrop of the early Cold War.


title: If Japan Should Attack:  Perceptions of Fear and Threat in British Columbia's Newspapers, 1941-1943

abstract: From 1941 to 1943, incidents in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War seemed to bring the conflict closer and closer to the shores of British Columbia. Anxieties about a potential Japanese attack began to grow. British Columbia’s newspapers discussed fear and anxiety through their articles, editorials and opinion pieces, bringing together the thoughts and words of Canada’s military and government officials, and the writers and readers of the newspapers. The newspaper pieces dealing with the potential threat appeared most frequently surrounding major events in the Pacific, notably the attack on Pearl Harbor, the shelling of Estevan Point, and the Japanese occupation of the Aleutian Islands. Fear and threat were presented, debated, and reshaped within these newspaper communities. As the nature of the Japanese threat evolved with each major incident in the Pacific, so too did the discussions of fear.


title: Prediction and Investigation of Novel Proteins in DNA Double Stranded Break Repair

abstract: DNA double stranded breaks (DSBs) are the most genotoxic forms of DNA lesions, causing fragmentation of the DNA strands. Mis-repaired and unrepaired DSBs lead to chromosomal rearrangement and genomic instability promoting tumorigenesis. DSBs are primarily repaired by two independent and highly conserved pathways: homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). HR requires a homologous sequence to repair DNA breaks, whereas NHEJ repair is achieved through direct ligation of the broken ends of DNA. The process of NHEJ involves three main protein complexes: Yku70/Yku80 initiates and stabilizes the DNA ends, Mre11/Rad50/Xrs2 brings broken ends to close proximity and Dnl4/Lif1/Nej1 ligates the DNA ends. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) has been utilized in functional genomics studies to identify novel proteins involved in different pathways based on their PPI profiles. In this study we aim to screen for novel proteins involved in NHEJ using PPI predictions. We use a computational tool to predict novel PPIs between DNA repair proteins and human proteome. Using this method, we predicted 271 novel PPIs, expanding the reported human DNA repair interactome by 75%. Yeast homologs of the novel human gene candidates were subjected to a plasmid-based repair assay, in which deletion of eight of 12 yeast genes showed reduction in the repair efficiency. We further investigated the roles of Tpk1, Arp6 and Psk1/Psk2 in NHEJ repair. Deletion of TPK1, ARP6, PSK1 and PSK2 reduced efficiency of repair in chromosomal and plasmid based assays and showed sensitivity to different DNA damaging agents. We suggest that Tpk1, catalytic subunit of protein kinase A, is involved in recruitment of Nej1 to the site of damage and its role in NHEJ is dependent on Nej1. We propose that the involvement of actin related protein 6, Arp6, in NHEJ is linked to Rsc2 and Mre11. Additionally, we suggest a role for PAS kinase complex, Psk1/Psk2, that is connected to DNA damage checkpoint proteins.


title: Fire Performance of Hybrid Timber Connections

abstract:
Wood is being widely used as a construction material; however, the use of wood has been restricted by building codes because it is combustible. Hybrid building systems involve the use of heavy timber in combination with other materials. A hybrid timber connection is considered as the weakest link in this construction system particularly under fire exposure. Analysis of hybrid timber connections is complicated because the behavior and properties of the different materials are different under fire exposure.
This study aims at investigating the effect of different parameters on the fire performance of hybrid connections between a glulam beam and a steel column by conducting full scale tests and finite element modeling. The experimental part of this research consisted of a series of full-scale tests conducted in compliance with CAN/ULC-S101. Three different types of connections were investigated, Concealed shear tabs, Exposed shear tabs with 2 and 4 bolts and Seated connections with one bolt and without a bolt. Two sizes of bolts 12.7 mm and 19.1 mm were used and each connection was tested for three load ratios 30%, 60% and 100%.
Test results showed that the Seated connection without a bolt outperformed the Exposed and Concealed connections. It was noticed that at 100% load ratio the failure times for all connections were less than 40 minutes. Lowering the load ratio from 100% to 30% increased the failure time by 50 to 72%. Increasing the bolt size reduced the failure time by 20 to 48 %. Reducing the number of bolts from 4 to 2 increased the failure time by 10 to 86% and removing the bolt from the Seated connection increased the failure time by 50 to 125%. The final failure mode was always brittle / splitting of wood, even when ductile failure (yielding of bolts or crushing of wood) was the governing mode in ambient design. Three empirical formulas are proposed by the author to calculate the failure time for design purposes for the three different connections.


title: Rethinking Photographic Histories: Indigenous Representation in the Byron Harmon Collection

abstract: Collections of archival photographs have the capacity to provide multiple or alternative histories. In their photographic representations of Indigenous peoples, settler archives can provide a site for revealing the multilayered, fluid meanings. My case study is a group of early twentieth-century photographs (1903 – 1929) depicting members of the Ĩyãħé Nakoda First Nation from the Byron Harmon Photographic collection at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. By employing interdisciplinary methodologies with an overarching focus on writing the cultural biography of historical photographs, I perform a self-reflexive interrogation of this collection. I argue for a pluralized examination of historical photographs and photographic archives as a way to create new understandings of the past.


title: Parallel Computational Approach to Gradient Based EM Optimization of Microwave Structures

abstract: Electromagnetic (EM) based optimization and design closure is an essential part of RF and microwave design cycle. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a new gradient based EM optimization technique which exploits parallel computations. The proposed EM optimization technique achieves speed up in the optimization process even if a coarse model is not available. Speed up in optimization has been achieved by using large and effective optimization updates in each iteration which resulted in fewer optimization iterations. The first contribution of the thesis is the development of a trust-region based optimization technique which uses parallel computational approach. In the proposed method, we deliberately increase the number of fine model evaluations without increasing the computation time by using a parallel computational approach. A large number of fine model evaluations allows us to build a surrogate model valid in a large neighborhood. These valid surrogate models are used to achieve large and effective optimization updates. The second major contribution of the thesis is the EM optimization decomposition approach to address the challenges in EM optimization with many design variables. This proposed method decomposes a single large EM optimization problem into multiple smaller sub-optimizations to improve the optimization efficiency. Multiple sub-optimizations are formulated to be independent so that the parallel computations can be exploited to evaluate concurrent sub-optimization updates. The resultant vector, a combined vector of sub-optimization updates, will be closer to the optimal solution. Furthermore, the optimization update of the proposed approach is much larger in comparison with the optimization update without decomposition.


title: The Physiological, Behavioural, and Survival Consequences of Two Radio Transmitter Attachment Techniques on Migrating Adult Sockeye Salmon

abstract: Biotelemetry is widely used to study the behaviour and survival of migrating adult Pacific salmon, but little is known about if and how the tagging process and burden of the transmitter pose risks to the study animal. Minimizing the adverse impacts of tagging is important for reasons of animal welfare, but also to derive representative data from tagged individuals. In Chapter 2, I compare the short-term physiological responses of adult sockeye salmon tagged either via gastric insertion or external attachment to untagged controls and report no differences in physiology between the treatment groups. In Chapter 3, I monitored the movement and status of gastrically and externally tagged individuals and reported a significant influence of tag type on survival. These results reveal that the failure to detect immediate physiological and behavioural differences in tagged adult migrating Pacific salmon does not negate the possibility that long-term tag-specific adverse effects may occur.


title: The Role of Ghrelin and Ghrelin O-Acyltransferase in Obesity: Targets for Treatment

abstract: Ghrelin is the first identified circulating orexigenic hormone. Following translation of the mRNA to its initial prepropeptide, a variety of posttranslational modifications are performed that allow the peptide to bind to its only known receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor type 1A (GHSR1a). The crucial step in this process is the attachment of an acyl sidechain to the serine-3 residue, which is accomplished through the activity of the enzyme ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT), ultimately leading to the final product named acylated ghrelin. Acylated ghrelin has been shown to signal through various pathways that promote certain phenotypes associated with obesity, including insulin insensitivity, adiposity, and increased feeding. More recently, ghrelin peptides lacking the acyl sidechain have also been found to have influence in various pathways. Due to these effects, the ghrelin system has become a promising target in the goal of combating the current obesity epidemic. Since its discovery, however, ghrelin has been found to be involved in other pathways important for stress, anxiety, depression, and more, making side-effects associated with ghrelin-targeting pharmaceuticals likely. In order for the development of anti-obesity agents to be successful, a detailed knowledge of the ghrelin system and its interrelationships with others is important, not only to develop compounds to target ghrelin and its counterparts but also to help minimize and foresee complications as a result of side-effects. In the current thesis we examine the machinery of the ghrelin system and seek out to identify various ways that metabolic disorders can be approached pharmacologically. We identify two novel ways to inhibit the adipogenic effect of ghrelin using anti-sense strands targeting central GOAT and the development of our own drug, CF801, which reduces circulating acylated ghrelin levels when given peripherally. Both of these approaches contribute to a reduction in weight gain independent of food intake. By inhibiting the enzyme specifically in the brain, we also identify for the first time a role of central GOAT in promoting adiposity, an effect similar to what is found in the periphery.


title: The Field Programmable Microwave Substrate

abstract:
This thesis describes a research project to create a programmable microwave circuit having a similar level of programmability as that of a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The result of the thesis is the realization of the first ever practical low-loss programmable microwave waveguides. Since waveguides are a key component in any microwave circuit, this allows for the realization of a broad range of microwave functions with a single circuit. The programmable waveguides are implemented in what is referred to as a field programmable microwave substrate. The programmable substrate is implemented using metamaterials between two parallel metal plates. Between the metal plates are electrically small unit cells that consist of metal structuring that connects with active components not contained between the metal plates (i.e. above or below the metal plates). Each of these unit cells can be programmed to have a range of positive dielectric constants or a negative dielectric constant. Programming a positive dielectric constant core and negative dielectric constant sidewall yields a structure that can be described using the slab waveguide equations. This allows for waveguides to be dynamically programmed within the field programmable microwave substrate.
The theory required to design low-loss metamaterials is presented and used to realize two prototype circuits. The first implementation is on an FR4 substrate and is used to demonstrate low-loss waveguides, amplifiers and oscillators from 0.9-3 GHz. The other field programmable microwave substrate is implemented in low temperature co-fired ceramic and uses custom designed CMOS chips. This version is used to demonstrate miniaturization. The losses of the waveguides are high, but this is mainly due to manufacturing capabilities of the process used. Low-loss small field programmable microwave substrates should be possible to implement with the use of higher performance components and more sophisticated manufacturing processes.


title: Elucidating Mechanisms of Action of Bioactive Substances by Chemical-Genetic Profiling

abstract:
The need for the development of antimicrobial agents has increased considerably in the last years due to the emergence of new infections, bioterrorism and antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to investigate the modes of inhibitory activity of a variety of chemical species using a functional genomic approach followed by mechanistic studies to confirm the cellular/pathway targets elucidated by the large-scale phenotypic screens performed using non-essential gene deletion sets (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli).
The antifungal mode of action of chitosan was investigated using S. cerevisiae deletion mutant set (≈4600 mutants). Functional analysis showed that mutants with deletions of genes related to protein synthesis were sensitive to chitosan. Disruption of protein synthesis was confirmed by a β-galactosidase expression assay suggesting that this is a primary mode of antifungal action.
The antifungal and cytotoxic modes of action of zinc oxide and silver nanoparticles (ZnONPs and AgNPs) were investigated using a S. cerevisiae deletion mutant set. The large-scale phenotypic screen for ZnONPs showed that mutants lacking genes involved in transmembrane and membrane transport, cellular ion homeostasis and cell wall organization or biogenesis exhibited high sensitivity to ZnONPs. Results from the same screen for Ag NPs indicated that mutants lacking genes involved in transcription and RNA processing, cellular respiration and, endocytosis and vesicular transport were highly sensitive to these NPs. Secondary assays confirmed the results obtained from the phenotypic screenings.
The antibacterial mode of action of nisin was investigated using an E. coli mutant set (Keio) composed by ≈ 4000 mutants. Large-scale phenotypic screening indicated that nisin may interfere with the following processes: cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis, cell cycle and DNA replication, recombination and repair. A DNA cellular content reduction detected by flow cytometry suggested that nisin may interfere with DNA synthesis as a secondary mode of action.
The antimicrobial mode of action of a fermented supernatant produced by Bifidobacterium breve was investigated using the same E. coli mutant set (Keio). Results from the large-scale phenotypic screen showed that the bifidobacterial supernatant may interfere with carbohydrate transport and metabolism, intracellular trafficking, secretion and vesicular transport, and energy production and conversion.


title: The spatial restructuring of resource regulation : the gold mining enclave of Zaruma and Portovelo, Ecuador, 1860-1980

abstract: This dissertation explores the production of space and the spatial restructuring of resource regulation in the gold mining enclave of Portovelo and Zaruma, Ecuador, between 1860 and 1980. I use the theoretical tools of critical human geography, regulation theory, and political economy to analyze the spatiality of regulation over time in a dialectical manner. Methodologically, I develop an extended case study with explicit attention to scale as produced through material practices and their associated discourses and power relations. I argue that transnational mining companies, in responding to the international demand for raw materials, do not indiscriminately "penetrate" but, rather, negotiate the conditions for their deployment. Hence, there is an ongoing restructuring and rescaling of regulations that is a product of mediation between extractive capitalism and state formation in Ecuador.


title: From Weekly Newspapers to Online Dailies:  The Transformation of Canada's Community Press

abstract: The speed, scope and scale by which information is transmitted have contributed to a shift in the way community newsrooms operate. The Internet has given Canada’s community newspapers the ability to publish online as quickly as their daily counterparts, providing both opportunities and challenges. This study investigates how community newsrooms are adapting to a digital environment, examines media response to technological change, and assesses the long-term viability of community newspapers via an analysis of structural trends at a time when newspapers are forced to once again renegotiate their place within the evolving networked news ecology. This is, after all, not the first time newspapers have faced a so-called disruptive technology. Radio did not kill newspapers, nor will the Internet. Canada’s community newspapers have a viable future, but only if there is a return to the core mandate of the weekly press, which requires meaningful investment in a multimedia newsroom.


title: MicroRNA Prediction for Unannotated Genome-Wide and Transcriptomic Experiments

abstract:
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short (18–23 nt), non-coding RNAs that play central roles in cellular regulation by modulating the post-transcriptional expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts. It has been previously estimated that 60-90% of all mammalian mRNAs may be targeted by miRNAs. Due to their biological importance, the ability to accurately predict miRNA sequences is of great importance. Computational prediction of miRNA are either genomic sequence-based (de novo) or analyze transcriptomic data arising from next generation sequencing (NGS) experiments. Unfortunately, existing methods of de novo miRNA prediction often fail when applied to non-model species, and are not well suited to genome-scale data sets. Furthermore, existing methods of NGS-based miRNA prediction do not incorporate all known lines of evidence for miRNA prediction, instead focussing on either sequence-based or expression-based features of putative miRNA.
This thesis makes contributions to the state of the art of miRNA prediction which directly address the issues highlighted above. First, we develop a framework for the generation of species-specific training data sets. Three different forms of classifiers using diverse feature sets are trained and evaluated using the framework. Significant gains in precision and recall are achieved over existing methods, as measured using four diverse species from different phyla. Subsequently, the framework was applied to develop miRNA predictors in two successful genome-wide miRNA prediction studies, resulting in the discovery of 155 novel miRNA, thus verifying the real-world applicability of this work. Second, we introduce a genome-scanning miRNA prediction model which optimizes miRNA prediction for realistic experimental conditions. This model quantifies the performance of elements of the miRNA prediction pipeline, including pre-filtering stages, whose impact was previously ignored. This comprehensive evaluation framework has enabled significant increases in prediction performance over the state of the art through the use of updated RNA secondary structure parameters. Finally, we develop a NGS-based miRNA prediction method which improves on state-of-the-art performance through the integration of all known lines of evidence which discriminate miRNA from non-miRNA. This prediction method substantially outperforms two existing leading methods on data sets from five NGS experiments across three species, and is shown to generalize to hold-out data sets.


title: Commissioning of the Canadian Primary Standard for Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy

abstract:
The purpose of this project is to investigate the performance of the NRC WAFAC and commission it as a primary standard. Significant enhancements were implemented to improve signal to noise ratio, measurement reproducibility and to eliminate electric field distortion. Validation of the ionization chamber was then carried out with a low-energy X-ray beam (31 keV) where the air kerma rate had been previously established using the existing NRC primary standard free-air chamber. Agreement between the two devices was obtained within the combined measurement uncertainties of less than 0.5 %. Measurements were also made with a 125I LDR seed and these gave results that were consistent at the 1 % level with the manufacturer's stated seed activity (traceable to NIST).
The overall standard uncertainty in the determination of air kerma strength using the NRC WAFAC is estimated to be 3 %, which reaches the target uncertainty for the standard.


title: Quantitative Imaging With a Pinhole Cardiac SPECT CZT Camera

abstract: This work develops methods to quantify absolute activity measurements with a multi-head pinhole cardiac SPECT camera that uses cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) detectors (Discovery NM530c, GE Healthcare). A central component of absolute activity quantification is the correction for Compton scattered photons. A modified Dual Energy Window (DEW) scatter correction (SC) method was developed that compensates for the presence of unscattered photons in the lower-energy window used to measure scatter. The DEW-SC method was validated using phantom experiments. The mean error in absolute activity measurement was 5 ± 4 % when correcting for attenuation, scatter and the partial volume effects. Clinical accuracy was assessed using 99mTc-tetrofosmin myocardial perfusion images obtained on the NM530c and comparing to DEW scatter-corrected images acquired on a conventional SPECT camera for the same patient. DEW-SC images acquired on the NM530c had increased noise but had summed perfusion scores that were not significantly different from those acquired on the conventional SPECT camera. To reduce noise in scatter corrected images and provide a more accurate estimate of scatter, a model-based SC method was developed based on the analytical photon distribution (APD) approach. Using physical phantom experiments and a set of five clinical studies, the accuracy of APD-SC was evaluated and compared to DEW-SC. Images generated using the model-based method agreed well with acquired data. APD-SC images had lower noise than DEW-SC images and provided a more accurate measure of cardiac activity in high-scatter scenarios. The developed methods provide an accurate means of correcting for scatter and thereby allow the absolute quantification of pinhole cardiac SPECT images.


title: Canadian National Security Culture: Explaining Post 9/11 Canadian National Security Policy Outcomes

abstract:
This dissertation examines how Canada views national security in the post 9/11 world. The hypothesis asserts that Canadian national security policy decisions post 9/11 resulted from policy choices that were limited and constrained by domestic institutional structures and a contemporary Canadian National Security Culture that perceives security broadly and endogenously as a value to be weighed against other competing values. Although initial policy decisions were shaped by domestic security norms, variation in final security policy outcomes were determined by the interrelated contestation of three intervening variables, identity, cultural-institutional structure, and interests.
Drawing on constructivist theory, this dissertation develops a novel concept of national security culture by adopting Wolfers’ notion of national security as the preservation of acquired values to explain preference formation and applies it to the Canadian society-polity nexus as the referent object. Within this framework, a distinct Canadian National Security Culture is established and shown to have evolved through the historical and sociological construction of Canadian society and polity around the one omnipresent existential threat to Canada’s sovereignty and independence, the United States. This process resulted in unique national security concerns over the protection of acquired values, the articulation of dangers, and behaviour of actors.
To test how social factors shaped and determined post 9/11 Canadian national security policy outcomes, three separate, but interrelated cases were examined from 2001 to 2015: the 2004 National Security Policy statement; the establishment of Marine Security Operations Centres; and the role of NORAD. This research found that the national security policies that Canada instituted following 9/11 exposed a contemporary Canadian National Security Culture that viewed 9/11 as a criminal act. Risk managing the Canada-US relationship meant quickly ameliorating legitimate US insecurities, while using time and space to determine the optimal means for the preservation of Canadian acquired values, thus privileging social factors in determining final outcomes.
This dissertation concludes that Canada views national security as a domestic-centric continuum with its focus on the protection of Canadian society and its acquired values. Understanding the social underpinnings of national security in Canada is crucial to insightful analysis and policy prescription by national security practitioners.


title: Spiritual Exercises in Epictetus: Difficult but Justified

abstract: The aim of this thesis is to provide a new interpretation about the role played by spiritual exercises in Epictetus’ program of moral therapy, in response to Brennan (2003) who holds that they may potentially conflict with Epictetus’ intellectualism. I argue that spiritual exercises are intended to cause us to assimilate theory by causing one to form specific beliefs that are in accordance with theory. Understood this way, any sort of tension seems to resolve itself. I rely upon the work that Braicovich (2012) has done on this question, and go further, ultimately demonstrating that all three of Epictetus’ spiritual exercises can be explained coherently when understood as aiding in the assimilation of theory. I conclude by proposing that Epictetus thought of Stoics like athletes in training for whom spiritual exercises are essential to staying fit and ready to perform.


title: Quadratic Form Gauss Sums

abstract: Let p be a prime, n, r positive integers, S an integer coprime to p. We let Q_r denote an r-dimensional integral quadratic form. For convenience, set e(x) = e^{2 pi i x}, where x is any rational number, i is the imaginary unit. Denote the quadratic Gauss sum by G(S;p^n). The evaluation of this sum was completed by Gauss in the early 19th century. Many proofs of these results have subsequently been obtained through a variety of methods. We are interested in the so called quadratic form Gauss sum, given by G(Q_r;S;p^n) - \sum_{x_1, x_2, ..., x_r}^{p^n-1} e(S/p^n * Q_r). Under certain assumptions on Q_r, we show how we may express G(Q_r;S;p^n) as a product of quadratic Gauss sums.


title: Role of genomic variants in the response to biologics targeting common autoimmune disorders

abstract:
Autoimmune diseases (AID) are common chronic inflammatory conditions initiated by the loss of the immunological tolerance to self-antigens. Chronic immune response and uncontrolled inflammation provoke diverse clinical manifestations, causing impairment of various tissues, organs or organ systems. To avoid disability and death, AID must be managed in clinical practice over long periods with complex and closely controlled medication regimens. The anti-tumor necrosis factor biologics (aTNFs) are targeted therapeutic drugs used for AID management. However, in spite of being very successful therapeutics, aTNFs are not able to induce remission in one third of AID phenotypes.
In our research, we investigated genomic variability of AID phenotypes in order to explain unpredictable lack of response to aTNFs. Our hypothesis is that key genetic factors, responsible for the aTNFs unresponsiveness, are positioned at the crossroads between aTNF therapeutic processes that generate remission and pathogenic or disease processes that lead to AID phenotypes expression.


title: Design and Analysis of An Intelligent Wireless Ad Hoc Routing Protocol and Controller for UAV Networks

abstract: This thesis proposes a UAV to UAV communication approach that is based on Software Defined Networking (SDN). The proposed approach uses a controller as a central source of information to assign routes that maximize throughput, distribute traffic evenly, reduce network delay and utilize all network elements. An SDN based WiFi approach is used in order to provide seamless WiFi connectivity to users as they move around the network. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can improve throughput by over 300%. Simulation results also show a reduction in network delay for delay sensitive packets to nearly 25% and increase in packet delivery ratio (PDR) by 26 times for packets with higher priority. Simulation results were compared to two common ad hoc routing protocols AODV and OLSR.


title: Oxytocin, Social Interactions and Coping: Implications for Depression

abstract: Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that has been implicated in a range of social behaviors, such as attachment, trust, and empathy. Additionally, it has been suggested that through its promotion of prosocial behaviors, oxytocin might contribute to mental health outcomes. Chapter 1 described research indicating that oxytocin interacts with several neuroendocrine, neurotransmitter, and inflammatory processes that are linked to depressive disorders. Moreover, it was suggested that oxytocin might not always be beneficial, but instead serves to increase the salience of social cues, such that positive or negative experiences result in greater responses, thereby influencing affective states. In Study 1 (N=225), unsupportive social interactions were related to higher depressive symptoms through greater emotion- and lower problem-focused coping, but these relations were stronger among individuals that carried a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). In essence, individuals with a genetic variant thought to be linked to lower oxytocin endorsed potentially less advantageous coping methods. Study 2 (N=476) similarly revealed that unsupportive relations were associated with negative affective states, and this association was stronger among those with the OXTR SNP, as well as those with an oxytocin-related genetic variant on a gene involved in the regulation of oxytocin release (CD38). Study 3 (N=128) revealed that these genetic variants were related to altered reactions to experimentally manipulated social ostracism. In contrast to the previous studies that linked lower oxytocin functioning to negative outcomes, in the context of social ostracism, individuals with the OXTR allele thought to be tied to greater oxytocin functioning, were more psychosocially and physiologically reactive to social rejection. This finding is consistent with a social sensitivity perspective of oxytocin. A social sensitivity effect was not as apparent when examining relations between the CD38 gene and responses to ostracism. Finally, Study 4 (N=67) revealed that endogenous levels of oxytocin were related to coping strategies in response to a psychosocial stressor, and the strategies endorsed varied as a function of whether individuals had support present or not. These findings highlight the potential influence of oxytocin on stress-related coping processes, which could in turn affect vulnerability to mood outcomes.


title: Walter Benjamin and Kitsch Politics in the  Phantasmagorical Age

abstract: In this dissertation I explore the relationship between politics, aesthetics, culture and technology by (re)thinking and (re)conceptualizing the concept of kitsch as a theoretical construct in order to investigate the dream-worlds of Europe which sprang at the intersection of liberalism, social democracy and capitalism. I argue that the unexplored potentialities of kitsch, as a concept, reside in the analysis of the dream-worlds, which have been occupying the social and political imaginaries of Western individuals, communities and institutions since the disenchantment of the world. My methodological approach is built on Benjamin’s notion of historical materialism. Thus, I engage with the historical object(s) (e.g., arcades, fashion, technological reproductions etc.) not as “object(s) of experience” but as a “participant(s) in historical experience” (Caygill 2004, 90). Challenging the progressive notion of history, I argue that within the objective impenetrability of commodity fetishism a “sur-real” world of fetishized images – that is, kitsch – emerges, alienated from the individual and the collective, yet constituting and shaping them. By mapping out the implications of this “sur-real” world on “the political,” the collective (un)conscious and action, I conclude that alternative politics could arise from the unsettling interpretations of the reified and symbolic expressions of this same “sur-real” world, paving a path for new political imaginaries.


title: Design of a Regional Venture-Creation Ecosystem by Reusing Components of Another Ecosystem

abstract:
Building a regional ecosystem to support the launch and growth of ventures is complex, time consuming, and risky. Instead of building the venture-creation ecosystem from scratch, individuals and organizations in a region may try to reuse components of an existing venture-creation ecosystem they deem to be successful in another region. This research identifies the defining features of business ecosystems, develops a framework to specify business ecosystems, and produces a design and a plan to build a regional venture-creation ecosystem in Jordan. The design adapts the goals and components of Lead To Win, a venture-creation ecosystem in Ottawa, Canada.
This research is relevant to individuals and organizations building venture-creation regional ecosystems and seeking guidance on how to reuse components from ecosystems in other regions, and to researchers seeking to better understand the configuration required to attain similar goals in different regions. It also guides building a venture-creation ecosystem in Jordan.


title: Searching for the Past: Archaeological Research Using a Multi-Method Geomatics Approach

abstract: Adopting a multi-method geomatics approach using cybercartography, a geographic information system (GIS) with fuzzy set theory, and remote sensing software, can overcome limitations encountered with isolated geomatics tools. Using Roman building practices as a test case, the strengths of each geomatics method were utilized to identify ideal locations for Roman fortifications. Cybercartography offered a flexible environment for collecting historical data, presenting research, and developing custom tools and educational aids for users. The combination of GIS with fuzzy set theory provided an improved analysis approach for developing a model of Roman building practices, and supported the successful identification of 36 known Roman fortified sites. Lastly the use of remote sensing software offered an extensive library for analysing multispectral satellite imagery, and was able to identify numerous crop and soil marks.


title: Ensuring Equity in the Workplace: The Impact of Government Leave Policy on Female Workers

abstract: Government leave policy plays a significant role in determining a women’s choice to return to work after the birth of her child. My thesis provides a comparative examination of two national and two sub-national governments within Gosta Esping-Andersen's liberal regime classification and suggests that the purely liberal approach is detrimental to female workers and does not support equality in the workplace.


title: An Exploratory Manipulation of Openness to Experience

abstract: The trait-state isomorphism hypothesis holds that personality traits and states (i.e., trait-related behaviour) are characterized by similar outcomes (Fleeson, 2001). For example, both trait and state extraversion are associated with positive affect, and negative affect is associated with both trait and state neuroticism. However, research has not yet investigated whether the traits and states of ‘openness to experience’ are isomorphic. Openness reflects a general tendency to engage with abstract and sensory information and is associated with creative thinking, personal growth, and to a lesser extent, positive affect. In the present experiment, participants (N = 210) completed a pretest assessment, five daily exercises designed to either be inert (control condition) or engage the behaviours and cognitions associated with openness (experimental condition), a post-test assessment, and a two week follow up assessment. Results supported the isomorphism hypothesis for positive affect but not creative thinking ability or personal growth.


title: Cross-Layer Resource Allocation and Scheduling in Bidirectional Cooperative Multichannel Relaying Networks

abstract: Efficient allocation of the scarce resource spectrum is a fundamental problem in mobile communications. Cooperative Relaying (CoR) and Network Coding (NC) are two promising techniques for improving the performance of next-generation wireless networks. In this thesis, cross-layer resource allocation is studied for relay-assisted bidirectional multichannel wireless networks. We model the network in which two nodes, User Equipment (UE) and eNodeB (eNB), exchange information with the assistance of a Relay Station (RS). The UEs and eNB can choose between different transmission schemes: direct transmission, pure CoR, or via the combination of NC and CoR (NC/CoR). Novel optimization frameworks are proposed for the resource allocation problem for such networks. First, the achievable rate regions are characterized, and the joint optimization problem of power allocation and transmission scheme selection for maximizing the bidirectional stability region is defined. A hybrid transmission scheme with adaptive resource allocation is proposed to dynamically select the best transmission strategy and the optimal resource allocation at each bidirectional transmission frame. The simulation results show that the hybrid scheme with joint power control and channel allocation improves the system performance considerably. Second, the joint resource allocation and relay selection problem is studied for bidirectional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) relay networks. The problem of joint channel allocation/pairing, relay selection, and transmission scheme selection is formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem. First, we adopt a graph-based approach by establishing an equivalent Maximum Weighted Clique Problem (MWCP). In addition, the joint problem is mapped into a three-dimensional assignment problem in which a metaheuristic algorithm based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is employed to find the solution in polynomial time. The results confirm that while the proposed solutions provide similar results, the ACO algorithm is faster and more reliable due to its lower complexity.


title: Resilience in the Face of Stressors: Relation to Polymorphisms in Genes Coding for Neuropeptide-Y and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

abstract: The university experience can pose as a significant stressor and can lead to development of a psychopathology. Resilience may be an important protective factor against mental illness. The goals of the present study were to examine the relationships between social behaviours with depressive symptomatology and whether these relationships were moderated by polymorphisms in NPY (rs16147) and BDNF (Val66met). First year undergraduate students (N=196) at Carleton University of Euro-Caucasian decent completed questionnaires and provided saliva samples for genotyping. Relationships were found between psychological well-being, emotion-focused coping, social connectedness and loneliness, and depressive symptomatology, which were moderated by the NPY genotype. The relationship between psychological well-being and depressive symptomatology was moderated by the BDNF genotype. Gender moderated the relationship between unsupportive interactions from parents and depressive symptomatology. Together, these findings suggest that NPY, BDNF and gender interact with social behaviours to predict depressive symptoms and may contribute to understanding resilience.


title: Probabilistic Prediction of Coalescence Flutter Using Measurements: Application to the Flutter Margin Method

abstract: The accurate prediction of flutter speed of an aeroelastic system is challenging. Flutter is a dynamic instability observed in flexible structures such as aircraft wings, tall chimneys, and long-span bridges. This dynamic instability originates from the interaction of aerodynamic, elastic and inertia forces. There exist various types of flutter mechanisms. The one treated in this thesis is the coalescence flutter, which is characterized by the coupling of two degrees of freedom. In turn, this coupling enables a net energy transfer from the flow to the structures. There are very few experimental approaches that closely estimate the flutter speed of complicated structures such as aircraft and long-span bridges. One particular approach is Zimmerman and Weissenburger flutter margin method. The crux of the method lies in the prediction of flutter onset using pre-flutter flight test data.


title: Histories That Bind: Doctrinal Productivity and Legal Governance in Canadian Aboriginal Law

abstract:
This work applies a sociological lens to juridical practice in order to illustrate the tendency of law to lag behind extra-juridical historical phenomena, and to examine how this has influenced both the occurrence of, and the nature of, moments of doctrinal productivity in Aboriginal law. In effect, historical practices of colonization in the common law world have more often than not outpaced the law which would sometimes be called upon to adjudicate their legitimacy. The result is that the juridical field has been caught in legal-normative binds and left to accommodate history through doctrinally creative means. Using other common law jurisdictions as a springboard for an examination of Aboriginal law in Canada, I argue that the judiciary has made use of the unacknowledged elasticity in the law to manage such dilemmas, and it has done so in a manner which presents this juridical work as fundamentally grounded and self-evident.
In Canada, a bind developed in the late twentieth century because the law’s largely unsympathetic legal positivist approach to Aboriginal title and rights became socio-normatively anachronistic. Available jurisprudential adaptations for the resolution of this, however, were just as risk-laden as the bind itself. The jurisprudence presented as offering a new justice was thus also oriented toward managing risk. Two concepts that help conceptualize how that doctrinal productivity has allowed the juridical field to manage risk and navigate historical binds are injusticiability, the rendering of something unavailable for adjudication by articulating it as a political question rather than a legal question, and incommensurability, the inscribing of difference upon the Aboriginal legal subject in order to accommodate exigent circumstances with novel forms of justice. With the aid of these techniques, the SCC has tempered rights and title by deducing for them inherent limitations and implicit overrides, and this in a fashion which preserves the juridical field’s ability to maintain rights and title as objects of continuing legal governance. The profound ambivalence of contemporary Aboriginal law, however, is that rights and title can be won under the new jurisprudence—but only with the tacit acceptance of these limitations as the self-evident manifestations of justice.


title: Reactive Prediction Models for Cloud Resource Estimation

abstract: The main objective of this thesis is to propose a new reactive resource estimation model to achieve more reasonable resource allocation and higher server utilization for cloud providers. The model is flexible enough to adapt to different situations given the current server utilization, the customer loyalty, the price of the service, etc. More precisely, four mathematical models are first proposed to deal with different situations. Then, a reactive model combining these four models is introduced. Simulations based on CloudSim are designed and implemented. The simulation results for all models meet the expectations derived from the mathematical analysis. Finally, the resource utilization of the combined model is improved by 25% in a real-time simulation compared to previous work.


title: Multilevel Polar Codes for Grassmannian Signalling

abstract: In this paper, we combine polar codes and Grassmannian constellations together using multilevel polar coding to create a system that produces the best known performance for a coded noncoherent channel. This combination requires that the signal constellation be set partition labelled, so, a novel set partitioning algorithm, which works for regular and irregular multidimensional constellations, such as the Grassmannian constellation, is proposed. Finally, we develop a methodology for designing polar codes for a noisy channel and this is used to further improve the performance of our system. In simulation, we compare the error rate performance of our design with that of existing schemes and show that significant gains are possible over the previously known best technique. We then provide a complexity analysis of our receiver in comparison with other existing methods and show that it is able to provide these gains at a considerably lower complexity.


title: Community Resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaption:  Learning with Coastal Communities in Central Vietnam

abstract:
Vietnam has made significant efforts through disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) programs to enhance the resilience of its coastal communities and reduce climate risks. These programs have contributed to significant declines in weather-related human fatalities, but the increases in human injuries and economic losses over the last two decades reveal that these programs have not been fully successful.
This research explores and evaluates factors shaping the success of the recent DRR and CCA efforts in central Vietnam’s coastal communities and investigates opportunities to enhance community resilience (CR) and thereby reduce risks of future climate change. The empirical part of this research relied on community-based participatory action research approaches to engage local residents in Tuong Van community and their representatives from local to provincial agencies. Findings from the case study showed that the success of DRR and CCA programs in enhancing CR and reducing climate risks were shaped by the availability, quality and interplay of five forms of capital (physical, financial, natural, human and social resources) as well as the quality of DRR and CCA governance across multiple scales. Factor that need to be addressed in the transition towards more resilient coastal communities in central Vietnam include limited public participation, lack of responsibility, transparency and accountability, as well as poor collaboration and co-ordination amongst actors at local through national scales in the development and implementation of the two programs aimed at reducing climate risks.
Overall this research reinforces recent efforts to engage local communities in global environmental change research. It not only contributes to efforts to reduce the uncertainties about global climate change and its impacts at the community level, but also advances our knowledge about the interplay between DRR and CCA approaches (concepts and practices) to enhancing CR and reducing climate risks. The research also shows that fostering the development of climate-resilient communities will depend in part on our capacity to further integrate five research themes: climate change, the five capitals, CR, DRR and CCA.


title: Cramer-Rao Lower Bound Derivation and Performance Analysis for Space-Based SAR SMTI

abstract: This thesis develops the Cram ́er-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) for multi-channel space- borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system and provides surface moving target in- dication (SMTI) performance analysis. A multi-channel moving target signal model is derived in satellite earth-fixed earth-centered coordinate system. This model is used in space-time adaptive processing (STAP) approaches for SMTI. A statistical model of the received signal is formed using the derived deterministic target signal, and gaus- sion distributions for noise and clutter. CRLBs for the statistical model and target parameters are derived by solving the derivatives and verified using numerical methods. CRLB is then used to analyse the SMTI performance of RADARSAT-2, RADARSAT constellation mission (RCM) satellite, and a proposed satellite called “TestSAT”, un- der a variety of switching/toggling modes.


title: Investigation of The Dimer Interface and Active Site in Pyridoxal 5' Phosphate Enzymes Cystathionine B- Lyase and Cystathionine y- Lyase

abstract: Cystathionine β-lyase (CBL) catalyses the PLP-dependent β-elimination of cystathionine, yielding homocysteine, pyruvate and ammonia, while the γ-elimination of this pseudosymmetric substrate by cystathionine γ-lyase (CGL) produces cysteine, α-ketobutyrate and ammonia. The β versus γ-elimination reaction specificity of the structurally conserved eCBL and yCGL enzymes provides an ideal system to probe the factors that regulate activity and specificity. These studies will enable the continued development of our understanding of the mechanisms whereby PLP-dependent enzymes regulate substrate and reaction specificity, building a framework that will facilitate future studies aiming to engineer these enzymes for use in various industrial processes as well as for the development of novel antimicrobials and therapeutics. Comparison of the structures of Escherichia coli CBL (eCBL) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae CGL identified differences at the dimer interface and within the active site and their impact on enzyme activity is explored in chapters 2 and 3 of this thesis, respectively.