title: Geochemical and Mineralogical Evolution of the McArthur River Zone 4 Unconformity-Related Uranium Ore Body and Application of Iron Oxidation State in Clay Alteration as Indicator of Uranium Mineralization

contributor: Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering

subject:
Sandstone-Hosted Systems
Mineralogy
Iron Oxidation State
Unconformity-Related Uranium
Geochemistry

abstract: Thesis (Master, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-01 14:08:33.51

abstract: The sandstone-hosted McArthur River Zone 4 U ore body and alteration system, located in the Athabasca Basin, are the focus of a detailed mineralogical and geochemical study aimed at reconstructing its evolution.  The oxidation state of Fe in clay alteration from Zone 4 is measured using 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and compared with other mineralized and barren sandstone-hosted alteration systems in the Athabasca Basin.  The aim is to ascertain the role of Fe in forming U deposits and determine whether Fe oxidation state in alteration minerals can indicate proximity to mineralization.  At Zone 4, early diagenetic kaolin is overprinted by zones of dravite, illite, chlorite, and late kaolinite forming around the P2 fault.  Uranium mineralization occurred at ca. 1600 Ma and was triggered by mixing between oxidizing U-bearing basinal fluids and reducing basement-modified basinal fluids, the latter forming when basinal fluids interacted with basement lithologies.  Early pre-ore silicification in the lower 200 metres of the Manitou Falls Formation above the ore body created favourable conditions for mineralization by focusing basinal fluids into the reduction site and enhancing ore preservation.  However, it obstructed the post-ore migration of radiogenic Pb and U pathfinder elements from the deposit and limited the extent of hydrothermal sudoite alteration in the overlying strata.  Sandstone-hosted alteration systems in the Athabasca Basin are commonly surrounded by an outer illite and an inner chlorite zone.  Illites have high Fe3+/ƩFe ratios characteristic of formation from oxidizing basinal fluids, whereas, chlorites have lower and more varied Fe3+/ƩFe ratios, reflecting their origin from reducing, Fe2+-bearing basement-derived fluids having undergone variable mixing with oxidizing basinal fluids.  Chlorites in mineralized systems where fluid-mixing occurred, such as at McArthur River Zone 4 and Maurice Bay, record higher Fe3+/ƩFe ratios than barren systems where fluid-mixing did not, such as at Wheeler River Zone K and Spring Point.  The scarcity of U-bearing basinal fluids available for mixing with Fe2+-bearing basement fluids is a critical geochemical factor precluding mineralization in barren sandstone-hosted systems.  The Fe3+/ƩFe ratio of chlorites has potential applications for discriminating barren and mineralized systems and as spatial vectors to ore when coupled with Pb isotope ratios.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: The Effect of Prenatal Ethanol Exposure on DNA Methylation and TGF-β1, SHH and Wnt3a Transcription Regulating Factors Within the Developing Hippocampus of the Guinea Pig

contributor:
Reynolds, James
Pharmacology and Toxicology

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

subject: Wnt3a

subject: TGF-β1

subject: DNA Methylation

subject: FASD

subject: SHH

abstract: Thesis (Master, Pharmacology & Toxicology) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-03 12:36:33.035

abstract: One of the most frequently reported deficits seen in individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is impairments in learning and memory, which is likely attributed to the teratogenic effects of ethanol on the developing hippocampus. TGF-β (transforming growth factor-β), hedgehog and Wnt signaling pathways have been identified as high probability candidate pathways associated with brain deficits seen in FASD. Increasing evidence indicates that ethanol may induce changes in DNA methylation that could alter transcription regulating factors within signaling pathways critical in brain development. The purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses that prenatal ethanol exposure during i) the first trimester-equivalent period, or ii) throughout the entire gestational period induces changes in DNA methylation and alters the transcription/translation of TGF-β1, SHH (sonic hedgehog) and Wnt3a within the developing hippocampus. Pregnant Dunkin-Hartley-strain guinea pigs were assigned to one of three groups: ethanol (4 g/kg maternal body weight), isocaloric-sucrose/pair-feeding, or no treatment. Embryonic telencephalon tissue (which gives rise to the hippocampus) and fetal hippocampus were collected at gestational day (GD) 23 or GD 65, respectively. GD 23 ethanol-exposed and nutritional control embryos exhibited decreased crown-rump and head lengths. GD 65 ethanol-exposed fetuses exhibited decreased body and brain weights compared with the control groups. Ethanol exposure during the first trimester-equivalent period, but not during the entire gestational period, resulted in an increase in global DNA methylation. First trimester-equivalent ethanol exposure did not alter TGF-β1, SHH and Wnt3a gene expression within the GD 23 telencephalon. However, ethanol exposure throughout the entire pregnancy led to an increase in the expression of all three genes within the GD 65 hippocampus. No change in TGF-β1 protein was seen in the hippocampus of ethanol-treated fetuses. Post-translationally modified (ptm) SHH, but not unmodified SHH protein, was decreased in the hippocampus of ethanol-exposed fetuses. A decrease in unmodified, but not ptm Wnt3a protein, was observed in both ethanol-exposed and nutritional control hippocampus. These results suggest that prenatal ethanol exposure may affect hippocampal development through alterations in i) DNA methylation as shown at early gestation and ii) the expression of transcription regulating factors, especially SHH, as shown at term.

abstract: M.Sc.


contributor:
Hird, Myra J.
Sociology

subject: Sociology Obesity

abstract: Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-02 16:50:34.912

abstract: “What Is Obesity?: Complementary Discourses” seeks to present several perspectives on the entity ‘obesity’ in an effort to establish relationships, differences, and the possibility of critiques between and among the biomedical model, fat studies, media, policy and marketing, and Aboriginality. Using Foucault’s tenets of power, discourse, and governmentality, this thesis will demonstrate the ways in which discourses employ techniques of governance and the responses of self-governing individuals. Each chapter will represent a perspective with its own taxonomy, measures, and constructions of ‘obesity’. To conclude, the thesis will look at the possibility for collaboration in interdisciplinary research on the subject of obesity; in a direct exchange between the perspectives, the thesis will attempt provide a comprehensive account of ‘obesity’ as being comprised of several perspectives simultaneously.

abstract: M.A.


title: Words Made Manifest: Canadian Print Media as Architects of Religion in the “Secular” Public Sphere

subject:
religion
media
risk society
sharia

abstract: Early to mid-twentieth century scholarship on religion and the “secular” public sphere largely perpetuated the Enlightenment categorization of religion as an element of the private sphere, not to be influential in public matters. Recently, however, a paradigm shift has emerged that has forced the re-evaluation of religion’s place in society. Spatial methodologies from scholars such as Henri Lefebvre and Kim Knott have allowed for religion to be considered as one of a number of constructs that influence the lives and spatial experiences of people. Applying the spatial methodologies of Lefebvre and Knott, I demonstrate how Canadian print media can be considered to be a gauge of the active presence of religion in the public sphere by revealing the ways in which the media construct the space they inhabit. This is done by considering two recent events in Canada that highlight the presence of the “religious other”: the 2002 kirpan debate in Quebec and the 2003 sharia law debate in Ontario. Through these cases, I explore how the conception, perception, and lived reality of the “religious other” as a spatial quality are solidified through the perceived sense of what Ulrich Beck considers to be risk and catastrophe. I ultimately conclude that, through this perceived sense of risk, Canadian print media’s portrayals of the “religious other” allow religion to remain manifest in the Canadian public sphere.


title: Computer Assisted Mosaic Arthroplasty

contributor:
Stewart, James
Waldman, Stephen D.
Mechanical and Materials Engineering

subject:
Computer Assisted Surgery
Mosaic Arthroplasty

abstract: Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-02 20:50:33.957

abstract:
Mosaic Arthroplasty is a well-accepted surgical approach to treating focal cartilage defects of the knee.  However, the task of creating the mosaic of osteochondral grafts that optimally restores the cartilage surface is technically demanding.  Conventional techniques require the surgeon to reconstruct a complex, three-dimensional surface by eye and experience only. There is evidence that this type of procedure is sensitive to technique: grafts that are transplanted proud of the native cartilage surface tend to show evidence of cartilage fissuring and fibrillation prematurely.
Two computer-assisted techniques (navigation by optical tracking and guidance by patient-specific templates) were investigated to determine whether they would have a beneficial effect on surgical execution, and whether any differences in execution had any correlation to surgical outcome.  The experimental work can be broken into two parts: an in vitro study that compared the accuracy of execution of an optically navigated group versus a template guided group, and an in vivo animal trial that compared both computer assisted techniques to the conventional, non-assisted approach.
The results of the pilot study indicated that, while there were higher errors in the individual measures of position, orientation, and plug depth in the optically navigated group, there was no significant difference in the overall fidelity of the geometric surface produced between the two groups.  The results of the animal trial indicated that both computer assisted techniques produced morphological results that were superior to the conventional technique.  The two computer-assisted techniques also showed a significantly better treatment effect as seen by their higher histological scoring.  Furthermore, a significant linear correlation was found between morphological results and histological score.  Overall, the experiments demonstrated that surgeons and patients could potentially benefit from the use of computer-assisted techniques in the short term.  Further work is required to prove long-term beneficial effect.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Run-time Predictive Modeling of Power and Performance via Time-Series in High Performance Computing

contributor:
Afsahi, Ahmad
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
estimation
computer science
performance monitoring counter
predictive modeling
power consumption
prediction
computer engineering
time-series

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-12 12:21:00.152

abstract:
Pressing demands for less power consumption of processors while delivering higher performance
levels have put an extra attention on efficiency of the systems. Efficient management
of resources in the current computing systems, given their increasing number of entities and
complexity, requires accurate predictive models that can easily adapt to system and application
changes. Through performance monitoring counter (PMC) events, in modern processors, a vast
amount of information can be obtained from the system. This thesis provides a methodology
to efficiently choose such events for power modeling purposes. In addition, exploiting the
time-dependence of the data measured through PMCs and multi-meters, we build predictive
multivariate time-series models that estimate the run-time power consumption of a system. In
particular, we find an autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs (ARMAX) model
that is combined with a recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm as a good candidate for such
purposes.
Many of the available estimation or prediction models avoid using the metrics that are
affected by the changes of the processor frequency. This thesis proposes a method to mitigate
the impact of frequency scaling in a run-time model on power and PMC metrics. This method is
based on a practical Gaussian approximation. Different segments of the trend of a metric that
are associated with different frequencies are scaled and offset into a zero mean unit variance
signal. This is an attempt to transform the variable frequency trend into a weakly stationary
time-series. Using this approach, we have shown that power estimation of a system using PMCs
can be done in a variable frequency environment.
We extend the ARMAX-RLS model to predict the near future power consumption and
PMCs of different applications in a variable frequency environment. The proposed method is
adaptive, independent of the system and applications. We have shown that a run-time per core
or aggregate system PMC event prediction, multiple-steps ahead of time, is feasible using an
ARMAX-RLS model. This is crucial for progressing from the reactive power and performance
management methods to more proactive algorithms.

abstract: PhD


title: Correlates and temporal variation in call phenology of eastern Ontario frogs

contributor:
Lougheed, Stephen C.
Biology

subject:
climate change
phenology
vocalization
microclimate
acoustic monitoring
anurans

abstract: Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-12 23:05:34.12

abstract: Climate change has been predicted to have long-term consequences for North American ecosystems. Amphibians in particular are considered indicators of ecosystem health because of their sensitivity to environmental change – due in part to their semi-permeable skin and aquatic developmental requirements. Amphibians have been experiencing population declines on a global scale, suggested in part to be due to changes in reproductive behaviour and timing. My thesis examines the abiotic correlates of timing of calling in southeastern Ontario anurans, as well as the extent to which the timing of calling events vary within and among species. I focused on eight species of frogs using both a 40-year historical dataset and a 5-year field-collected dataset of environmental variation and anuran activity. From analysis of the historical dataset, Lithobates pipiens was the only species out of eight to emerge significantly earlier, by an estimated 22 days over four decades. Both L. pipiens and Anaraxyus americanus have advanced initiation of calling over a four-decade span significantly earlier by an estimated 37.2 and 19.2 days, respectively, correlating with significant regional increases in spring air temperatures (2.8°C over four decades). Global frog declines or range shifts relate ultimately to changes in reproductive behaviour and timing mediated by shifting climate. From my analysis of the field-collected dataset, I concluded that species varied in the environmental predictors that best predicted this variation may be a consequence of varying reproductive strategies between early spring “explosive” breeders versus late prolonged breeders. There was also significant among-location variation in calling activity for four prolonged breeding species, which may be an effect of significant microclimatic variation between locations surveyed. My study suggests that local temperature increases have affected the timing of emergence and the onset of calling activity in some frogs and that microclimatic differences among breeding habitats may be influencing the timing of breeding in some prolonged breeding species. My research aids future conservation and management strategies for North America’s dwindling amphibian populations by quantifying how abiotic factors influence breeding behaviour on both a fine and extended temporal scale as well as by developing and testing standardized methods for long-term species monitoring.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Inline Coherent Imaging

subject:
Cutting
Welding
Manufacturing
Optical Coherence Tomography
Real-Time
Laser
Dynamics
Drilling
Non-Destructive Testing
Closed Loop Control
Optics
Surgery

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-20 15:31:21.708

abstract: In laser materials processing, the direct measurement and characterization of material and process depth is traditionally a diffcult task. This is particularly difficult when such information needs to be obtained in real-time for feedback and dynamic analysis applications. This thesis outlines a novel method and apparatus for real-time depth measurement during laser processes such as welding, drilling, cutting and ablation called inline coherent imaging (ICI). The approach borrows the coherent imaging ideas from the primarily medical field of optical coherence tomography and adapts them to the new application. Without requirements for flawless image quality and limitations on sample exposure the design is free to emphasize speed in acquisition and processing. Furthermore, the imaging optics are specialized for compatibility with off-the-shelf beam delivery systems. Several generations of the imaging technique and relevant design equations are described and shown and realized. Also described is the design and construction of two laser processing stations used for testing ICI in macro- and micro-processing applications. A variety of applications for ICI in the understanding of percussion drilling and welding of metals and other industrial materials are discussed. The imaging technique is further extended to provide manual and fully automatic closed-loop control of drilling and ablation processes in industrial materials. Finally, some important applications of ICI in the processing of bone in both open and closed-loop configurations are demonstrated.

abstract: The thesis is being restricted in order to protect contained intellectual property.

abstract: PhD


title: Laboratory Studies of Biobarrier Technology in Fractured Rock

contributor:
Novakowski, Kent S.
Civil Engineering

subject:
Fractured Rock
Biostimulation
Non-Linear Flow
Contaminant Transport

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-22 11:23:24.065

abstract:
Experiments exploring transport and bio-containment of contaminants in fractured rock were completed using fractured-limestone samples obtained in eastern Ontario, Canada. Three single-fracture samples, a fracture-intersection sample and a fracture-network sample were set into vertical flow systems. Three phases of experiments focused on the transport and hydraulic properties of each sample, the effects of biobarriers on diffusion processes in fracture rock, and methods of improving biobarrier stability and survivability.
Hydraulic apertures were determined from constant-flow measurements and transport properties were interpreted from Lissamine and KBr tracer experiments with velocities of up to 8500 m/d for all five samples. At Re > 16, linear to non-linear transitions were observed in enlarged single fracture A and the fracture intersection samples. Reversible increases in aperture were observed at Reynolds numbers (Re) of 7, 4, and 3 for single fractures A and B, and the fracture-network, respectively. Non-linear effects were not observed in these samples over the range of velocities studied (up to Re = 20). Results from the 1-D analytical transport model overestimated values of matrix porosity, suggesting that diffusion from dead zones and slow-flowing regions are also contributing to observed breakthrough curves.
Methods of improving biobarrier stability in fractured rock were studied in two single-fracture samples and the fracture-network sample by stimulating naturally-occurring groundwater bacteria. Survivability was improved with successive cycles of feeding and starving and stimulating growth at lower temperatures. Modeled values of matrix porosity decreased by up to 50%, indicating that diffusion processes are strongly influenced by biofilm development.
Back diffusion of Lissamine was measured using one single-fracture sample and the fracture-intersection sample. Lissamine was allowed to diffuse into the matrix of each sample and, following a suitable loading period, the back-diffusion of residual Lissamine concentrations were measured from the outflow. This was done in the presence and absence of biofilm, and following the introduction of biofilm onto the fracture surfaces, diffusion was no longer a governing process affecting transport and only advective transport was observed. Experiments were interpreted using a 3-D finite difference model with a three-layer porosity approach, and indicated a decrease in aperture and porosity following biostimulation.

abstract: PhD


title: The Politics of Abortion in Canada After Morgentaler: Women’s Rights as Citizenship Rights

contributor:
Bakan, Abigail
Political Studies

subject: politics; political studies; political science; reproductive rights; abortion; body politics; gender and politics; women and politics; reproduction

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-22 11:41:49.524

abstract:
This dissertation explores the regulation of abortion in Canada following the landmark R v Morgentaler decision (1988), which struck down Canada’s existing abortion law, causing the procedure’s subsequent reclassification as a healthcare issue. The resulting fragility of abortion rights is still evident in the varying provincial regulations governing the nature of access to the procedure. While access has been accepted as the new terrain of abortion rights, research into this area to date has taken a largely national focus, surveying provincial barriers and compiling lists of potential motivations for differences in service. This dissertation builds on this work through the use of specific case studies of provinces representative of a spectrum of access in Canada – New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. Through the use of original interview data, these cases are compared and contrasted on previously enumerated grounds believed to have an influence on the treatment of abortion. By isolating the impact of specific processes responsible for the regulation of abortion, through research into its treatment in politics, law, medicine, and public discourse, this study endeavours to offer a more nuanced explanation for varying levels of provincial access to abortion services. Ultimately it finds that a province’s social climate, characterized by attitudes towards the ongoing rights versus morality debate championed by pro- and anti-choice social movements, has had the greatest impact in shaping public perceptions of the procedure. These attitudes in turn have a profound effect on the nature of provincial access.
Using a citizenship framework grounded in social reproduction, which understands anti-abortion politics as elements of backlash against progressive advances in women’s citizenship, this dissertation argues for the need to understand abortion as a right of women’s citizenship to address the precarious treatment of abortion services. Recognition of women’s unique reproductive abilities through a citizenship paradigm is necessary before women can hope to achieve equality. Only when abortion is entrenched as a right of citizenship and this understanding of the procedure is embedded in social perceptions, can women not only be treated as equal citizens, but also understand themselves to be equal citizens.

abstract: Concerns regarding publication with publicly available copy.

abstract: PhD


title: Cellular Automaton Based Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks

contributor:
Akl, Selim
Salomaa, Kai Jr
Computing

subject:
Wireless sensor network
Cellular automata

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-25 13:37:36.854

abstract: Wireless sensor networks have been used in different applications due to the advancement of sensor technology. These uses also have raised different optimization issues. Most of the algorithms proposed as solutions to the various optimization problems are either centralized or distributed which are not ideal for these real life applications. Very few strictly local algorithms for wireless sensor networks exist in the literature. In this thesis, we consider some of these optimization problems of sensor networks, for example, sleep-wake scheduling, mobile dispersion, mobile object monitoring,  and gathering problems. We also consider the depth adjustment problem of underwater sensor networks.  We design cellular automaton based local algorithms for these problems. The cellular automaton is a bioinspired model used to model different physical systems including wireless sensor networks. One of the main advantages of using cellular automaton based algorithms is that they need very little local information to compute a solution. We perform different simulations and analysis and find that our algorithms are efficient in practice.

abstract: PhD


title: Evolution of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 4 in relation to hypoxia

contributor:
Moyes, Christopher D.
Biology

subject:
Cytochrome c oxidase
COX4-2
Animal physiology
Hypoxia

abstract: Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-25 20:51:59.419

abstract: Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) is complex IV of the electron transport system, and catalyzes the reduction of molecular oxygen to water. It possesses ten nuclear-encoded subunits, the largest of which is COX4. Bayesian analysis suggests the isoform pair for this subunit arose early in vertebrate evolution, and tissue distribution of the COX4 paralogs is similar in mammals and teleosts: COX4-1 is ubiquitously transcribed while COX4-2 is present in large amounts only in brain and respiratory tissue. This subunit is of interest due to its apparent sensitivity to oxygen. During hypoxia, transcription switches from COX4-1 to COX4-2 in some mammalian tissues. However, questions remain about the regulation of this response as well as its pervasiveness across vertebrates. I investigated these uncertainties by measuring the transcriptional response of the COX4 paralogs to hypoxia in a variety of vertebrate models, and assessing the hypoxic induction of putative oxygen-responsive elements (HRE1, HRE2, and ORE) from candidate vertebrate species in a transfection experiment. I also examined the conservation of key elements of the COX4-2 gene and polypeptide in vertebrates. It was found that the hypoxia-responsiveness of COX4-2 may not be vital to the cellular response to hypoxia. COX4-1 transcripts remained in excess during hypoxia in all of the vertebrate models used with the exception of western painted turtle (Chrysemys picta), where COX4-2 transcripts remained in excess during control and hypoxic treatments. Only the HRE2 element from human COX4-2 was activated with hypoxic exposure, yet this along with the other features of the gene and polypeptide were not well conserved across mammals, and nearly absent outside of this lineage. These results provide evidence that COX4-2 may respond to hypoxia in only select few mammalian tissues, or that the function of this gene is not related to the cellular hypoxic response.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Instability of Periodic Orbits of Some  Rhombus and Parallelogram Four Body Problems

contributor:
Offin, Daniel
Mathematics and Statistics

subject: N-Body Problem

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Mathematics & Statistics) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-26 11:30:29.688

abstract:
The rhombus and parallelogram orbits are interesting families of periodic solutions, which come from celestial mechanics and the N-body problem.  Variational methods with finite order symmetry group are used to construct minimizing non-collision periodic orbits.
We study the question of stability or instability of periodic and symmetric periodic solutions of the rhombus and the equal mass parallelogram four body problems.  We first study the stability of periodic solutions for the rhombus four body problem.  An analytical description of the variational principle is used to show that the homographic solutions are the minimizers of the action functional restricted to rhombus loop space [23].   We employ techniques from symplectic geometry and specifically a variant of the Maslov index  for curves of Lagrangian subspaces along the minimizing rhombus orbit to prove the main result, Theorem 4.2.2, which states that the reduced rhombus orbit is hyperbolic in the reduced energy manifold when it is not degenerate.

We second study the stability for symmetric periodic solutions of the equal mass parallelogram four body problem.  The parallelogram family is a family of Z_2× Z_4 symmetric action minimizing solutions, investigated by [7].  In this example, the minimizing solution [7] can be extended to a 4T-periodic solution using symmetries through square and collinear configurations.  The Maslov index of the orbits is used to prove the main result, Theorem 5.3.1, which states that the minimizing equal mass parallelogram solution is unstable when it is non-degenerate.

abstract: To be publish

abstract: PhD


title: Challenging the Civic Nation

contributor:
McGarry, John
Moore, Margaret
Political Studies

subject:
Civic Nationalism
Nationalism
Ideology
Integration
Conceptual Analysis
Theory
Relationalism
Nationalist Conflict
Conflict Regulation
Consociationalism
Immigrant Integration
Policy
France
United States
Northern Ireland
Canada

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-27 11:21:47.013

abstract: This thesis is a critical examination of civic nationalism that focuses on the disconnect between nationalist ideology and the social bases of nationhood, and the implications that this disconnect has for the feasibility of civic nationalism as a policy prescription for issues such as intra-state nationalist conflict and immigrant integration. While problems with the principles of civic nationalist ideology are important, my focus here is the more significant problem that civic nationalism is based on a general theory of nations and nationalism that treats them as solely ideological phenomena. Against this I argue that the term ‘nationalism’ refers to several different phenomena, most importantly a ‘system of culture’ or way of organizing society as described by Ernest Gellner and Benedict Anderson, and that augmenting Gellner and Anderson’s theories with the kind of relational social theory used by authors such as Rogers Brubaker and Charles Tilly provides an alternative explanation that is a better match for the evidence. If this is the case, I contend, then civic nationalism is both a misrepresentation of the history of nations and nationalism and infeasible as a prescription for policy issues such as intra-state nationalist conflict and immigrant integration. These arguments are supported with empirical evidence that is principally drawn from four cases: France, the United States, Northern Ireland, and Canada.

abstract: I am restricting access to my thesis to preserve the opportunity to publish it either as a whole or in parts.

abstract: PhD


title: Imperialisms: A Critique of International Relations and International Political Economy

contributor:
Wood, Phil
Political Studies

subject:
global finance
Imperialism

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-28 16:52:37.364

abstract: Theories of empire and imperialism have a long history in both the International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE) literature. Yet both literatures have significant theoretical and methodological problems. IR scholars assume the American empire has a progressive role in the global system, promoting peace, security and prosperity. They divorce the ideals of America from its history of violence and exploitation. Alternatively, the IPE literature recognizes that capitalism is a driving force behind imperialism, but tends to ignore other determinants of American foreign policy. This dissertation aims to use an interpretation of Karl Marx’s method of historical materialism to reconceptualize imperialism in the 20th and early 21st century. Building upon theories offered in the IPE literature, it argues there are three interrelated types of imperialisms at work: geopolitical, geocapital and capital imperialism. Geopolitical imperialism is when geopolitics is the main determinant behind foreign policy. This process is driven by international security concerns or domestic politics and often has few direct economic motivations. Geocapital imperialism is when the needs of capital accumulation coincide with the policies of the government.  The third type is “capital imperialism.”  This process conditions countries and institutions through transnational corporations and international finance, such as bond markets, the repo markets, currency speculation and investment flows. The recent financialization of the international system has made this process of imperialism a much more rapid and disruptive international process.  This thesis will place an emphasis on relations, context and history in order to provide a thorough understanding of the forces of imperialism with a particular focus on the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

abstract: PhD


title: The Unliganded Glucocorticoid Receptor as a Transcriptional Regulator in Mammary Epithelial Cells

contributor:
Mueller, Christopher
Biochemistry

subject:
Stress
Unliganded
Glucocorticoid Receptor
Breast Cancer

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Biochemistry) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-29 11:18:14.596

abstract:
This work presents the first evidence of a ligand-independent role for the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) as a positive regulator of gene expression in mammary cells. We have demonstrated that unliganded GR interacts directly with the promoter of the tumour suppressor gene BRCA1, and upregulates its expression. The presence of the stress hormone hydrocortisone (HC) abolished this interaction and resulted in repression of BRCA1. Since low levels of BRCA1 have been implicated in the development of sporadic breast cancer, this may represent a novel mechanism through which prolonged stress signaling increases breast cancer risk. We determined that the interaction between unliganded GR and BRCA1 is mediated through the beta subunit of the Ets transcription factor GABP at the RIBS promoter element. GR and GABPβ were shown to interact in both co-immunoprecipitation and mammalian two-hybrid assays, and this interaction involved the N-terminal to central regions of both proteins.
To further characterize the role of unliganded GR in breast cells, we used shRNA to generate mouse mammary cell lines with depleted endogenous GR expression. Loss of GR resulted in an impaired capacity of cells to differentiate into acini, but this effect was rescued by the addition of glucocorticoids, implicating both the liganded and unliganded forms of GR as key regulators of differentiation. We performed expression microarray to identify targets of unliganded GR using the GR-depleted cell lines. This analysis revealed 260 genes negatively regulated and 343 genes positively regulated by unliganded GR. Many of the positively regulated genes were involved in pro-apoptotic networks, and appeared to oppose the activity of liganded GR targets. Validation and further analysis of five candidates of positive regulation by unliganded GR indicated that two of these, Hsd11b1 and Ch25h, were regulated by unliganded GR in a manner similar to Brca1. The Hsd11b1 enzyme regulates intracellular glucocorticoid levels by interconverting cortisol and its inactive metabolite, cortisone. Further investigation of Hsd11b1 expression and regulation indicated that Hsd11b1 activity appears to be unidirectional in breast cells, specifically inactivating cortisol. Overall, this work suggests that gene regulation by unliganded GR represents a mechanism for protecting the breast from tumourigenesis during stress.

abstract: PhD


title: An Investigation into Sustainable Building Evaluation Strategies for use within the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence

contributor:
Vlachopoulos, Nicholas
Hulley, Michael
Environmental Studies

subject:
Green Buildings
Sustainable Buildings
Sustainable Building Rating Systems
Department of National Defense
Canadian Forces

abstract: Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-29 14:21:37.63

abstract: Environmental sustainability in regards to infrastructure and the built environment is a significant consideration for the Department of National Defence (DND).  As the 2nd largest landowner in Canada, the DND is making great efforts to operate in a sustainable manner through the creation and implementation of sustainable building policies.   Meeting the green/sustainable buildings requirements of the recent Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, and the 2006 DND Sustainable Development Strategy to achieve accreditation within generic green building systems, has proven to be extremely challenging given the mandate and the nature of Canadian Forces (CF) operations, both domestically and overseas.  This line of research was conducted in order to identify the unique requirements and the sustainability factors/criteria that are applicable to the CF / DND and to investigate how to best align these requirements within the context of sustainable development strategies. Input data was obtained through an analysis of literature and relevant documents, as well as a series of interviews with individuals at all levels within the Federal Government.  The result of this research undertaking was, in part, the creation of a Sustainable Development for DND based on a thorough, comprehensive and internationally-investigated factor selection process.  These results illustrate the importance for the DND to consider implementing a department-specific sustainable building strategy; one that is more representative of the unique type of infrastructure DND owns and operates.  The results of such an investigation can surely be used to assist with best practices and strategic policies within DND and to potentially influence policies at the Federal level of governance in this regard.  The ultimate goal of this thesis was to establish the policy framework with a view for DND to develop and implement its own unique Sustainability Standard.

abstract: M.E.S.


title: Interactions Study of Self Optimizing Schemes in LTE Femtocell Networks

contributor:
Hassanein, Hossam S.
Taha, Abd-Elhamid M.
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
LTE
Interaction
CAC
Self Organizing Network
Load Balancing
Evaluation
SON
LTE-Advanced
LTE-A
Long Term Evolution
Guideline
Recommendation
Self Optimizing Network
Optimization
Femtocell
Organization
Use Case
Handover
Coordination
Call Admission Control

abstract: Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-05 22:35:27.538

abstract:
One of the enabling technologies for Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployments is the
femtocell technology. By having femtocells deployed indoors and closer to the user,
high data rate services can be provided efficiently. These femtocells are expected
to be depolyed in large numbers which raises many technical challenges including
the handover management. In fact, managing handovers in femtocell environments,
with the conventional manual adjustment techniques, is almost impossible to keep
pace with in such a rapidly growing femtocell environment. Therefore, doing this
automatically by implementing Self Organizing Network (SON) use cases becomes a
necessity rather than an option. However, having multiple SON use cases operating
simultaneously with a shared objective could cause them to interact either negatively
or positively. In both cases, designing a suitable coordination policy is critical in
solving negative conflicts and building upon positive benefits.
In this work, we focus on studying the interactions between three self optimization
use cases aiming at improving the overall handover procedure in LTE femtocell
networks. These self optimization use cases are handover, Call Admission Control
(CAC) and load balancing. We develop a comprehensive, unified LTE compliant
evaluation environment. This environment is extendable to other radio access technologies
including LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), and can also be used to study other SON
use cases. Various recommendations made by main bodies in the area of femtocells
are considered including the Small Cell Forum, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) alliance and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
Additionally, traffic sources are simulated in compliance with these recommendations
and evaluation methodologies. We study the interaction between three representative
handover related self optimization schemes. We start by testing these schemes separately,
in order to make sure that they meet their individual goals, and then their
mutual interactions when operating simultaneously. Based on these experiments, we
recommend several guidelines that can help mobile network operators and researchers
in designing better coordination policies.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Divergent fish mercury trends in two South-Central Ontario lakes and the relationship to changes in atmospheric sulfate deposition

contributor:
Campbell, Linda M.
Cumming, Brian F.
Biology

subject:
Mercury
Paleolimnology
Fish
Length Standardization

abstract: Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-11 15:48:02.718

abstract:
Environmental conditions can lead to mercury accumulations in fish that are highly variability among spatially close lakes in Ontario, Canada.  Mercury methylation caused by sulfate reduction can influence total mercury concentrations in fish (THgfish).  Kahshe and Mountain lakes were chosen to assess temporal trends of THgfish and using paleolimnological tools described the lake environment in terms of total mercury (THgsed), total sulfur (TSsed), chromium-reducible sulfur (CRSsed), and chrysophyte-inferred lake-water pH (CI-pH).
THgfish were standardized by length (LS-THgfish) to identify trends and make comparisons with archived fish from the Royal Ontario Museum.  In Kahshe Lake, LS-THgfish for 30-cm smallmouth bass and 40-cm walleye displayed peak concentrations in the early 1980s (0.74 +/- 0.17 µg/g d.w; n=41 and 1.40 +/- 0.42 µg/g d.w; n=16, respectively) with clear declines starting in 1999 (0.33 µg/g d.w +/- 0.13, n=12).  At Mountain Lake, LS-THgfish in smallmouth bass (0.31 – 0.45 µg/g) and walleye (0.30 – 0.49 µg/g) were low and stable through the period of observation. Peak concentrations at Kahshe Lake were over 300% higher than the 1926 archival sample (0.22 µg/g d.w, 22.1 cm total length), while the 1948 Mountain Lake sample (0.28 µg/g, 24.4 cm total length) is consistent with modern concentrations.
As expected from LS-THgfish , THgsed was higher in Kahshe Lake, although enrichment was seen at both sites. Temporal trends for TSsed and CRSsed diverged with enrichment in Kahshe Lake and depletion in Mountain Lake.  CI-pH showed minimal temporal changes.  Although trends of CRSsed indicate sulfate is processed differently among the lakes, geochronology highlighted a consistent spatio-temporal relationship between THgfish and CRSsed.  This strongly supports a relationship between sulfate reduction rates and Hg methylation, independent of THgsed and pH. Therefore, if THgfish is used as an indicator of aquatic health CRSsed may be a useful tool for rapid assessment.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: An Investigation and Review of Futility Analysis Methods in Phase III Oncology Trials.

contributor:
Meyer, Ralph
Chen, Bingshu
Community Health and Epidemiology

subject:
Oncology
Statistical Methods
Randomized Clinical Trials
Futility Analysis

abstract: Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-12 13:10:15.619

abstract: The general objective of this thesis was to improve understandings of design, conduct and analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The specific objective was to evaluate the methodological and statistical principles associated with conducting analyses of futility, a component of interim analysis, as part of the conduct of RCTs. This objective was addressed by first performing a systematic review, which included a detailed literature search, as well as data from a cohort of previously extracted studies. The systematic review was designed to identify futility analysis principles and methodologies in order to inform the design and conduct of retrospective futility analyses of two completed NCIC CTG trials. The results of these trials have been previously published; one trial met its stated endpoint and the other did not. Neither trial underwent an interim analysis of futility during its conduct. The retrospective futility analyses assessed the accuracy of frequently used methods, by comparing the results of each method to each other and to the original final analysis results. These assessments were performed at selected time points using both aggressive and conservative stopping rules. In order to increase the robustness of the comparisons, bootstrapping methods were applied.  The results of this thesis demonstrate principles associated with the conduct of futility analyses and provide a basis for hypotheses-testing of optimum methodologies and their associated trade-offs.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Age-dependent Effect of Environmental Light on Spectral Sensitivity and Body Colouration of Nile tilapia Oreochromis Niloticus

contributor:
Robertson, Mel
Hawryshyn, Craig
Biology

subject:
Environmental light
Visual sensitivity
Body colouration
Nile tilapia

abstract: Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-03 11:32:59.441

abstract:
Signal reception and production form the basis of animal communication, and are largely constrained by environmental biophysical factors such as environmental light. However, the role of environmental light in producing variation in either signal reception or production has not been fully investigated. Using two distinct environmental light treatments, as well as a third treatment for a sampling of adults, I recorded corneal electroretinograms, lens transmission, and spectral reflectance of the body pattern of juvenile and adult Nile tilapia to chart the effect of environmental light on visual sensitivity and body colouration throughout ontogeny. Environmental light had an age-dependent effect on spectral sensitivity and an age-independent effect on spectral
reflectance. Spectral sensitivity in juveniles reared under a broad-spectrum light treatment and a red-shifted light treatment differed mostly at short wavelengths, where the irradiance of the two environmental light treatments differed the most. In contrast, adults reared under the two environmental light treatments did not differ in spectral sensitivity. Lens transmission did not differ significantly between environmental light treatments, indicating that differences in spectral sensitivity of juveniles originated in the
retina. Both juveniles and adults reared under the two environmental light treatments
differed in spectral reflectance, and adults transferred to the third environmental light
treatment differed in spectral reflectance from their counterparts reared under the two
original treatments. These results demonstrate that environmental light plays a large role in shaping signal reception in juveniles and signal production throughout ontogeny, suggesting that environmental light has the capacity to drive ecological speciation.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Ethics and Love in the Aesthetics of Alice Munro

contributor:
Ware, Tracy
English

subject:
Canadian Literature
Alice Munro
Ethics
Aesthetics

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, English) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-04 20:14:50.513

abstract: Whether classified as realist, modernist, or postmodernist, the fiction of Alice Munro combines a strong mimetic impulse with a  recognition of the limitations of mimesis. This dissertation examines the ethical dimensions of the balance between mimesis and the recognition of its limits. Chapter one provides an overview of Munro scholarship and brings particular attention to the manner in which this balance between mimesis and metafictional self-reflexivity has been analyzed since the earliest days of Munro criticism. Chapter two draws on the Munro scholarship of Naomi Morgenstern, Robert McGill, and Robert Thacker to argue that Munro’s fiction is connected, though not reducible to, her experience of reality. This connection, however imperfect, gives her aesthetics its ethical weight, particularly when the subject of her writing is the human Other. Munro’s combination of a sense of alterity with a powerful feeling of reality reflects a desire to understand and represent the Other without compromising the Other’s radical alterity. The tension that arises from this desire can find a resolution in an aesthetics of love akin to eros as described by Emmanuel Levinas and refigured by Luce Irigaray: a representation, inscribed in each story’s form, of the possibility of a subject-to-subject relationship that preserves difference and ends in mutual fecundation. Chapter three compares the ethical vision in “The Ottawa Valley,” which ends on a moment of continuing, uncompromised alterity, with the feeling of love and catharsis produced in “The Moons of Jupiter.” Chapter four reads “Material” as an oblique gesture at the possibility that literature can open a relationship to the Other that is a kind love. Chapter five examines “Deep-Holes” as an attempt to reconcile the ethical tensions inherent in writing by representing a collaborative mode of meaning-making linked to love and fecundity. This dissertation also, however, follows Derek Attridge and Munro herself in observing some distinction between the self-Other dynamic as a face-to-face relation and this dynamic as a problem of literary representation, even if the two cannot be neatly separated.

abstract: PhD


title: Art and Arctic Sovereignty: A.Y. Jackson, Lawren S. Harris and Canada's Eastern Arctic Patrols

contributor:
Jessup, Lynda
Art History

subject:
Arctic Sovereignty
Canadian Art
A.Y. Jackson
Lawren S. Harris
Eastern Arctic Patrol
Group of Seven
Canadian Arctic Expeditions

abstract: Thesis (Master, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-05 15:24:52.546

abstract: In 1930, A.Y. Jackson and Lawren S. Harris travelled to the Arctic Archipelago as members of Canada’s Eastern Arctic Patrol. The collaborative venture between the Department of the Interior and the noted Group of Seven artists, which followed Jackson’s 1927 voyage aboard the government patrol, was part of a mutual aim to generate popular interest in the Canadian North through art. This thesis examines the underlying political context of both the 1927 and 1930 collaborative efforts. It examines the government patrols in connection with the promotion of Jackson’s and Harris’s Arctic works as part of a larger process of advancing the Arctic as a Canadian possession during a period of increased foreign interest in the region. Drawing on primary source material as well as various print media reports and exhibition reviews, this study provides insight into how the contemporary framing of Jackson’s and Harris’s Arctic sketches and paintings from the government-supported expeditions—the ways in which the works were discussed and understood—contributed not only to the “imagining” of the Arctic as a Canadian possession, but also to the dissemination of Canadian sovereignty efforts in the North.

abstract: M.A.


title: Networked Control Systems with Unbounded Noise under Information Constraints

contributor:
Yüksel, Serdar
Mathematics and Statistics

subject:
stochastic control
quantizers
communication constraints
decentralized control

abstract: Thesis (Master, Mathematics & Statistics) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-06 15:06:37.449

abstract: We investigate the stabilization of unstable multidimensional partially observed single-station, multi-sensor (single-controller) and multi-controller (single-sensor) linear systems controlled over discrete noiseless channels under fixed-rate information constraints. Stability is achieved under communication requirements that are asymptotically tight in the limit of large sampling periods. Through the use of similarity transforms, sampling and random-time drift conditions we obtain a coding and control policy leading to the existence of a unique invariant distribution and finite second moment for the sampled state. We use a vector stabilization scheme in which all modes of the linear system visit a compact set together infinitely often.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Essays on Commitment and Optimal Public Policies

contributor:
Boadway, Robin W.
Majumdar, Sumon
Viero, Marie-Louise
Economics

subject: Commitment Taxation

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-12 14:37:20.574

abstract:
We focus on the design of optimal policies in the event of commitment problems.
In the first essay, we characterize how income should be redistributed within
and across generations. The time-inconsistency problem arises when the government
cannot commit to the future retirees' nonlinear tax schedule. Because retired
individuals have revealed their private information during the active period
of their lives, the government has an incentive to misuse it and to implement
more redistribution than a regular second-best policy would prescribe. We study
the set of equilibria that can be sustained if the government is infinitely lived,
and the households are short-lived.

Second, we derive an optimal linear pension scheme when individuals
need forced savings as a commitment device. We do so with
time-inconsistent preferences, whereby forced savings are the outcome of a paternalistic
social welfare maximization process. We then derive the optimal scheme when individuals
have self-control preferences.In both cases, we study the conflict between the forced-savings
and redistributive roles of public pensions. We show that the non-paternalistic pension
system may exhibit more forced savings and be less redistributive than the paternalistic one.

The third essay analyzes whether centralizing or decentralizing the provision of
public goods may influence the threats of secessions in a federation. We use a simple model
with two regions, in which one of them may decide to secede even if it would be socially
optimal, from the standpoint of the whole federation, to keep it united. Centralization
offers both benefits and costs for individual regions. We show how
centralizing generates a cost to secede if centralizing the provision of public goods requires
an investment in joint institutions that cannot be perfectly recovered if the federation is
dissolved. However, because a centralized provision of public goods does not match local preferences
as well as a decentralized one, it also generates a long-run cost to remain in the federation.

abstract: PhD


title: Distributed Estimation of a class of Nonlinear Systems

contributor:
Guay, Martin
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Nonlinear Filter
Consensus
State Estimation
Distributed Systems

abstract: Thesis (Master, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-12 11:22:49.113

abstract:
This thesis proposes a distributed observer design for a class of nonlinear systems that arise in the application of model reduction techniques. Distributed observer design techniques have been proposed in the literature to address estimation problems over sensor networks. In large complex sensor networks, an efficient technique that minimizes the extent of the required communication is highly desirable. This is especially true when sensors have problems caused by physical limitations that result in incorrect information at the local level affecting the estimation of states globally. To address this problem, scalable algorithms for a suitable distributed observer have been developed. Most algorithms are focussed on large linear dynamical systems and they are not directly generalizable to nonlinear systems. In this thesis, scalable algorithms for distributed observers are proposed for a class of large scale observable nonlinear system.
Distributed systems models multi-agent systems in which each agents attempts to accomplish local tasks. In order to achieve global objectives, there should be agreement regarding some commonly known variables that depend on the state of all agents. These variables are called consensus states. Once identified, such consensus states can be exploited in the development of distributed consensus algorithms. Consensus algorithms are used to develop information exchange protocols between agents such that global objectives are met through local action. In this thesis, a higher order observer is applied in the distributed sensor network system to design a distributed observer for a class nonlinear systems. Fusion of measurement and covariance information is applied to the higher order filter as the first method. The consensus filter is embedded in the local nonlinear observer for fusion of data. The second method is based on the communication of state estimates between neighbouring sensors rather than fusion of data measurement and covariance. The second method is found to reduce disagreement of the states estimation between each sensor. The performance of these new algorithms is demonstrated by simulation, and the second method is effectively applied over the first method.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Mining Unstructured Software Repositories Using IR Models

contributor:
Hassan, Ahmed E.
Blostein, Dorothea
Computing

subject:
Empirical Studies
Mining Software Repositories
Data Mining
Machine Learning
Software Engineering
Information Retrieval

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-12 12:34:59.854

abstract:
Mining Software Repositories, which is the process of analyzing the data related to software development practices, is an emerging field which aims to aid development teams in their day to day tasks. However, data in many software repositories is currently unused because the data is unstructured, and therefore difficult to mine and analyze. Information Retrieval (IR) techniques, which were developed specifically to handle unstructured data, have recently been used by researchers to mine and analyze the unstructured data in software repositories, with some success.
The main contribution of this thesis is the idea that the research and practice of using IR models  to mine unstructured software repositories can be improved by going beyond the current state of affairs. First, we propose new applications of IR models to existing software engineering tasks. Specifically, we present a technique to prioritize test cases based on their IR similarity, giving highest priority to those test cases that are most dissimilar. In another new application of IR models, we empirically recover how developers use their mailing list while developing software.Next, we show how the use of advanced IR techniques can improve results. Using a framework for combining disparate IR models, we find that bug localization performance can be improved by 14–56% on average, compared to the best individual IR model. In addition, by using topic evolution models on the history of source code, we can uncover the evolution of source code concepts with an accuracy of 87–89%.
Finally, we show the risks of current research, which uses IR models as black boxes without fully understanding their assumptions and parameters. We show that data duplication in source code has undesirable effects for IR models, and that by eliminating the duplication, the accuracy of IR models improves. Additionally,  we find that in the bug localization task, an unwise choice of parameter values results in an accuracy of only 1%, where optimal parameters can achieve an accuracy of 55%.
Through empirical case studies on real-world systems, we show that all of our proposed techniques and methodologies significantly improve the state-of-the-art.

abstract: PhD


title: By the Road: Fordism, Automobility, and Landscape Experience in the British Columbia Interior, 1920-1970

contributor:
McKay, Ian G.
History

subject:
Canada
Roads
Automobile
Automobility
Landscape
Modernity
British Columbia
Environment
Public History
Fordism

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-12 23:49:31.501

abstract: This dissertation examines how popular experiences of nature and history in the British Columbia Interior were structured by automobility – the system of objects, spaces, images, and practices that surrounded private automobiles and public roads. The Fordist state poured massive resources into the provincial road network during the period 1920 to 1970, and in the process created new possibilities for leisure and for profit. Motoring was a new, very modern way of experiencing BC, and also an important economic engine. Making the province’s highways and the landscapes that were visible alongside them look appealing to the motoring public became a matter of concern for many different parties. Boosters, businesses, and tourism promoters who stood to benefit from increased automobile travel often cultivated roadside attractions and lobbied the state to do the same. Starting in the early 1940s, the provincial government established numerous parks along the Interior highway network: the two examined here are Manning and Hamber parks. Beginning in the late 1950s it did the same with historical sites: Barkerville, Fort Steele, and several others are examined here. These and other parks and historic sites were established, developed, and managed as roadside amenities, and were used to deliver lessons about nature and history to the motoring public ‘by the road.’ Drawing on a wide range of examples from across the BC Interior, including both successes and failures, this thesis examines how the motoring public’s common landscape experiences were shaped by state-built infrastructure and by various groups’ efforts to manage, manipulate, and modify the landscapes that were visible by the road.

abstract: PhD


title: Detecting Deception in Interrogation Settings

contributor:
Skillicorn, B. David
Computing

subject:
Data Mining
Deception
Text Mining

abstract: Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-17 14:42:19.707

abstract: Bag-of-words deception detection systems outperform humans, but are still not always accurate enough to be useful. In interrogation settings, present models do not take into account potential influence of the words in a question on the words in the answer. According to the theory of verbal mimicry, this ought to exist. We show with our research that it does exist: certain words in a question can "prompt" other words in the answer. However, the effect is receiver-state-dependent. Deceptive and truthful subjects in archival data respond to prompting in different ways. We can improve the accuracy of a bag-of-words deception model by training a machine learning algorithm on both question words and answer words, allowing it to pick up on differences in the relationships between these words. This approach should generalize to other bag-of-words models of psychological states in dialogues.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Nonlinear Internal Waves

contributor:
Pollard, Andrew
Boegman, Leon
Civil Engineering

subject:
Internal surge
Nonhydrostatic
Baroclinic
Internal hydraulic jump
Grid leptic ratio
Long narrow lake
Wedderburn number
Lake number
Simulation
MITgcm

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-14 12:45:21.727

abstract:
The three-dimensional (3D) baroclinic response of Cayuga Lake to surface wind forcing was investigated using the fully nonhydrostatic MITgcm. The model was validated against observed temperature data using a hydrostatic 450 m (horizontal) grid and both qualitative and quantitative methods. The model correctly reproduces the basin-scale dynamics (e.g., seiche with horizontal mode-one period T1 = 80 h) with a basin-wide root-mean-square error of 1.9 C. Nonlinear internal surges were visualized to evolve due to (i) a wind-induced locally downwelled thermocline (wind duration Twind < T1/4), (ii) a basin-scale wind-induced upwelled thermocline (Twind > T1/4), (iii) internal hydraulic jumps (IHJs).
Results from a 113 m grid and field observations were used to characterize the basin-scale internal wave field according to composite Froude number (G2), Wedderburn number (WN), and Lake number (LN). The typical Cayuga Lake response is a surge when ~ 1 < WN (LN) < ~ 2-12 and a surge with emergent nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) when WN or LN < ~ 2, in agreement with published laboratory studies. An observed shock front was simulated to be an IHJ, occurring at mid-basin during strong winds when WN < 0.8. This is the first simulation of a mid-basin seiche-induced IHJ due to super critical conditions (G2 > 1) in a lake. The topographic-induced IHJs were also shown to form when the surges interact with a sill-contraction topographic feature.
Both high-resolution hydrostatic and nonhydrostatic models were used to investigate the evolution, propagation and shoaling of NLIWs at medium lake-scale. A nonhydrostatic 22 m grid with lepticity λ ~ 1 ensures minimal numerical relative to physical dispersion, qualitatively reproducing observed dispersive NLIWs using ~ 2.3E+8 grid cells. Solitary waves evolve with almost unchanged wavelengths upon grid refinement from 40 m (λ ~ 2) to 22 m; suggesting model convergence to the correct solution. Corresponding hydrostatic grids were shown to produce a packet of narrower spurious solitary-like motions with different wavelengths, representing a balance between nonlinear steepening and numerical dispersion. Local gyre-like patterns and secondary transverse NLIW packets were visualized to result from wave-topography interaction, suggesting that NLIW propagation in long narrow lakes, where the bottom topography has irregularities is fundamentally 3D.

abstract: PhD


title: Culture, Community and the Multicultural Individual

contributor:
Kymlicka, Will
Philosophy

subject:
Cultural Rights
Liberal Multiculturalism
Liberalism
Cultural Diversity

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-14 19:00:46.433

abstract: Every theory of liberal multiculturalism is premised on some account of the nature of culture, cultural difference and social reality, or what I call “the conditions of multiculturality”.  In this dissertation, I offer a revised account of the conditions and challenge of multiculturality.  Beginning with the widely accepted idea that individuals depend on both culture and community as social preconditions for choice, freedom and autonomy, and informing this idea with collectivist and individualist lessons from Tyler Burge’s famous externalist thought-experiment, my analysis shows that social contexts are multicultural when they are characterized by a plurality of social communities offering distinct sets of cultural norms, and individuals are multicultural to the extent that they are capable of using cultural norms from various social communities.  The depth, pervasiveness, and complexity of multiculturality raises important normative questions about fair and just terms for protecting and promoting social communities under conditions of internal and external cultural contestation, and these questions are not only restricted to cases involving internal minorities.  As a theory of cultural justice, liberal multiculturalism must respond to the challenge of multiculturality generated by cultural difference per se, but it cannot do so adequately in all cases armed with only the traditional tools of toleration, freedom of association and exit, fundamental rights and freedoms, and internal political autonomy.  My analysis demonstrates that, upon the revised conception of multiculturality, liberal theories of tolerationism, egalitarianism and nationalism leave significant cultural remainders, or unaccounted for cultural interests.  What is needed is a different liberal multiculturalism, which respects the individual’s fundamental rights and freedoms, is committed to the equal and just treatment of individuals, tolerates voluntary cultural groups and practices in the social sphere, recognizes an individual right to culture, and provides some measure of state assistance to individuals seeking to protect and promote their cultural communities in the private sphere.  This is a recipe for liberal cultural justice, and for a defensible liberal multiculturalism without nationalism.

abstract: PhD


title: The Emergence of an Autonomy-Oriented Assessment Culture in Pediatric Residency Education: a Case Study

contributor:
Shulha, Lyn
Education

subject:
Assessment
Postgraduate Medical Education
Residency Education

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-19 21:04:59.344

abstract:
This case study examines the emergence of an autonomy-oriented assessment culture in Pediatric residency education in the School of Medicine at Queen’s University. Through a case study approach this research explores how an assessment system to capture residents’ performance in the clinical environment was initiated, how that process supported a shift in assessment cultural, and how assessment innovation is eclipsing departmental boundaries.
	The case has instrumental value in illuminating how an autonomy-oriented assessment system and culture can be cultivated in residency education. The analytic frame for the case was constructed based on research literature that identified weaknesses in assessment practices in residency education more generally. The approach was theoretical, with the intent to explain how a shift in assessment culture is emerging in Pediatrics. A longitudinal approach was adopted to expose shifts in the culture. The narrative structure distills the journey into a manageable story. Three watershed events that exemplified change were systematically selected from data collected over a three-year period and constitute the findings of this research.
	The central contribution this research makes is that it is possible to shift the culture of assessment within a Pediatric residency program. That shift can be understood to unfold over a prolonged period through a process of mediating both social and regulatory requirements. Beginning to shift the assessment culture in Pediatrics was achieved by: recognizing the need for change in assessment practice, re-conceptualizing and realizing that change, and engaging and empowering the community to support a shift in assessment culture. Strong leadership, widening community engagement and the Rubric Descriptor Bank supported this process.
	Five theoretically informed principles guided the emergence of the autonomy-oriented assessment culture in Pediatrics including: (a) conceptualizing learning as a social, active process: (b) focusing attention on residents’ multidimensional growth; (c) moving away from a high-stakes orientation to assessment based on the false dichotomy between formative and summative assessment and embracing it as a tool for supporting and monitoring growth over time and across contexts; (d) actively supporting residents’ learning strategy and assessment skill development; and (e) fostering a growth orientation to learning, embracing the concept of graduated autonomy.

abstract: PhD


title: Modelling Biophysical Variables and Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Arctic Tundra Landscapes using High Spatial Resolution Remote Sensing Data

contributor:
Treitz, Paul
Geography

subject:
IKONOS
Arctic
Cape Bounty
Boothia
Remote Sensing
Nunavut
Biomass
Tundra Vegetation
Carbon Flux

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-03 22:24:20.157

abstract: Vegetation community patterns and processes are indicators and integrators of climate.  Recently, scientists have shown that climate change is most pronounced in circumpolar regions. Arctic ecosystems have traditionally been sequestering carbon and accumulating large carbon stores. However, given enhanced warming in the Arctic, the potential exists for intensified global climate change if these ecosystems transition from sinks to sources of atmospheric CO2. In the Mid and High Arctic, ecosystems exhibit extreme levels of spatial heterogeneity, particularly at landscape scales. High spatial-resolution (e.g., 4m) remote sensing data capture heterogeneous vegetation patterns of the Arctic landscape and have the potential to model ecosystem biophysical properties and CO2 fluxes.  The following conditions are required to model arctic ecosystem processes: (i) unique spectral signatures that correspond to variations in the landscape pattern; (ii) models that transform remote sensing data into derivative values pertaining to the landscape; and (iii) field measures of the variables to calibrate and validate the models. First, this research creates an ecosystem classification scheme through ordination, clustering, and spectral-separability of ground cover data to generate ecologically meaningful and spectrally distinct image classifications. Classifications had overall accuracies between 69% - 79% and Kappa values of 0.54 - 0.69. Secondly, biophysical variable models of percent vegetation cover, aboveground biomass, and soil moisture are calibrated and validated using a k-fold cross-validation linear bivariate regression methodology. Percent vegetation cover and percent soil moisture produce the strongest and most consistent results (r2 ≥ 0.84 and 0.73) across both study sites.  Finally, in situ CO2 exchange rate data, an NDVI model for each component flux, which explains between 42% and 95% of the variation at each site, is generated. Analysis of coincidence indicates that a single model for each component flux can be applied, independent of site. This research begins to fill a gap in the application of high spatial-resolution remote sensing data for modelling Arctic ecosystem biophysical variables and carbon dioxide exchange, particularly in the Canadian Arctic. The results of this research also indicate high levels of functional convergence in ecosystem-level structure and function within Arctic landscapes.

abstract: PhD


title: Basin-Scale Waves Dynamics and Sediment Resuspension Mechanics in Central Lake Erie

contributor:
Valipour, Reza
Civil Engineering

subject:
Lake Erie
A Three-Dimensional Numerical Model
Bottom Mixed Layer
Basin Scale Waves
Sediment Resuspension
Poincaré Waves

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-19 20:54:15.832

abstract: High-resolution physical and biogeochemical field data in central Lake Erie during the summers of 2008-2009 along with a three-dimensional numerical model were used to investigate the dynamics of basin scale waves and sediment resuspension mechanisms. In Chapter 2, the modal response of the Poincaré waves in the lake is assessed. The vertical mode-one Poincaré wave was found to be mostly dominant during the seasonal stratified period. The horizontal modal structure was also investigated in a sensitivity analysis, using the numerical model forced with real and idealized wind events. In Chapter 3, dynamics of bottom mixed layer (BML), primarily forced in the outer layer by surface seiches and Poincaré waves is studied for two 10-days representative intervals of weak and strong stratification. Shear velocity was calculated by least square fitting the well-known law-of-the-wall equation to observed near-bed velocity in a region of constant shear stress. Height of the BML is computed using water density (from water temperature) and compared with heights of logarithmic layer approximated using the law-of-the-wall equation and its modified form with buoyancy length scale term. Published equations for estimating BML heights are evaluated and modified for the lake. In Chapter 4, we investigate physical processes leading to sediment resuspension in the lake including surface waves (periods of 4-8s), up/downwelling events (periods of 3-4 day), and high frequency internal waves (periods of 5-45min). Temporal changes in near-bottom sediment resuspension are illustrated using changes in acoustic backscatter signals from current profilers and time series of turbidity measurements to identify the mechanism responsible for sediment resuspension. Resuspension is parameterized as a function of the critical velocity ~0.25ms-1 and from surface waves using linear wave theory. Finally, based on the critical velocity and sediment grain size analysis (from in-site field data), critical shear stress and Shields parameter are calculated and compared with previous observations in Lake Erie and in other locations suggesting a modified Shields diagram for silty bed materials.

abstract: PhD


title: The Dynamical Properties of Virgo Cluster Galaxies

subject:
astrophysics
galaxy clusters
virgo cluster
astronomy
galaxies
galaxy dynamics

abstract: Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-22 19:09:06.192

abstract: By virtue of its proximity, the Virgo Cluster is an ideal laboratory for us to test our understanding of the formation of structure in our Universe. In this spirit, we present a dynamical study of 33 gas-poor and 34 gas-rich Virgo galaxies as part of the Spectroscopic and H-band Imaging of Virgo survey.  Our final spectroscopic data set was acquired at the 3.5-m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. Hα rotation curves for the gas-rich galaxies were modelled with a multi-parameter fit function from which various velocity measurements were inferred. Analog values were measured off of the observed rotation curves, but yielded noisier scaling relations, such as the luminosity-velocity relation (also known as the Tully-Fisher relation). Our best i-band Tully-Fisher relation has slope α=-7.2 ± 0.5 and intercept M_i(2.3)=-21.5 ± 1.1 mag, matching similar previous studies. Our study takes advantage of our own, as well as literature, data; we plan to continue expanding our compilation in order to build the largest Tully-Fisher relation for a cluster to date. Following extensive testing of the IDL routine pPXF, extended velocity dispersion profiles were extracted for our gas-poor galaxies. Considering the lack of a common standard for the measurement of a fiducial galaxy velocity dispersion in the literature, we have endeavoured to rectify this situation by determining the radius at which the measured velocity dispersion, coupled with the galaxy luminosity, yields the tightest Faber-Jackson relation. We found that radius to be 1.5 R_e, which exceeds the extent of most dispersion profiles in other works. The slope of our Faber-Jackson relation is α=-4.3 ± 0.2, which closely matches the virial value of 4. This analysis will soon be applied to a study of the Virgo Cluster Fundamental Plane. Rotation correction of our dispersion profiles will also permit the study of galaxies' velocity dispersion profile shapes in an attempt to refine our understanding of the overall manifold of galaxy structural parameters.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Obstructions to Motion Planning by the Continuation Method

subject:
geometric control theory
motion planning
continuation method
path-lifting equations
singular controls
nonlinear control theory

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-18 20:53:43.272

abstract:
The subject of this thesis is the motion planning algorithm known as the continuation method. To solve motion planning problems, the continuation method proceeds by lifting curves in state space to curves in control space; the lifted curves are the solutions of special initial value problems called
path-lifting equations. To validate this procedure, three distinct obstructions
must be overcome. The first obstruction is that the endpoint maps of the control system
under study must be twice continuously differentiable. By extending a result
of A. Margheri, we show that this differentiability property is satisfied by an
inclusive class of time-varying fully nonlinear control systems. The second obstruction is the existence of singular controls, which are simply the singular points of a fixed endpoint map. Rather than attempting to completely characterize such controls, we demonstrate how to isolate control systems for which no controls are singular. To this end, we build on the
work of S. A. Vakhrameev to obtain a necessary and sufficient condition. In particular, this result accommodates time-varying fully nonlinear control
systems. The final obstruction is that the solutions of path-lifting equations may not
exist globally. To study this problem, we work under the standing assumption
that the control system under study is control-affine. By extending a result of Y. Chitour, we show that the question of global existence can be resolved by examining Lie bracket configurations and momentum functions. Finally, we show that if the control system under study is completely
unobstructed with respect to a fixed motion planning problem, then its corresponding endpoint map is a fiber bundle. In this sense, we obtain a necessary condition for unobstructed motion planning by the continuation method.

abstract: The document contains original results which have not been published.  We would like these results to appear in journal articles first, and on QSpace second.

abstract: PhD


title: Developing and Evaluating Computer-Assisted Surgical Techniques for Percutaneous Scaphoid Fixation using Additive Manufacturing Technology

contributor:
Ellis, Randy E.
Mechanical and Materials Engineering

subject:
additive manufacturing
computer assisted surgery

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-19 11:40:46.269

abstract:
This dissertation presents a thesis on the use of additive manufacturing in the development and evaluation of a computer-assisted system for wrist-fracture repair. The work developed tools for performing navigated wrist surgery, developed methods for evaluating surgical performance, and provided novel experience with model-based
surgical evaluation.

Patient-derived bone models, fabricated using additive manufacturing, were proposed as an alternative to cadaver specimens for testing and validating the new surgical system. The accuracy of fabricating these models from computed-tomography imaging was investigated using laser scanning and was found to be reproducible to within half a millimeter.

Three generations of a surgical system for navigated wrist-fracture repair were
developed and evaluated using a wrist model that was produced by additive manufacturing. Compared to cadaver specimens, the model was less expensive and performed equally well under simulated surgical conditions. The model-based evaluation permitted larger study sizes that increased the statistical power of the experimental results.

Criteria for surgical performance included surgical and technical measurement of
screw placement. The navigation system was superior in optimizing screw placement compared to conventional surgical methods. Navigation also reduced the risk of
radiation exposure and clinical complications of wrist-fracture repair.

Surgical tools, including a drill guide and wrist-stabilization device were developed
with the use of additive manufacturing. Prototype devices could be quickly and
economically fabricated for testing under realistic conditions.

A system for performing navigated wrist fracture repair was successfully developed
through the use of additive-manufacturing prototyping and evaluation. Additive manufacturing was integral to the successful evaluation of the system's improvement in performance.

abstract: PhD


title: Understanding Reading Comprehension in English Immersion Students in China

contributor:
Kirby, John R.
Education

subject:
English Immersion Students
Reading Comprehension

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-19 11:58:53.81

abstract:
Compared to research on English as a First Language (EL1) reading comprehension, there is a dearth of studies investigating English as a Second Language (ESL) reading comprehension. This dissertation reports findings from two studies which examined the cognitive processes underlying English reading comprehension in Chinese ESL students. Two-hundred and forty six Grade 8 students in an English immersion program in a junior middle school in China were administered a battery of reading-related and reading comprehension tests. The first study investigated the cognitive predictors of English reading comprehension in these students. It tested whether the Simple View of Reading model (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) applied to Chinese ESL students and whether the effects of breadth and depth of vocabulary contributed to different levels of reading comprehension. The results showed that the Simple View of Reading model did not predict Chinese English-immersion students’ reading comprehension well. Vocabulary as well as inference and strategy added further variance to the general understanding of text. Vocabulary breadth and depth explained unique variance in reading comprehension, with vocabulary breadth contributing more to general understanding of text and vocabulary depth to deep processing of text.
The second study explored characteristics of reading comprehension difficulties among Chinese English-immersion students. Three groups of comprehenders matched on age, nonverbal intelligence, and word reading speed were identified from the 246 Grade 8 Chinese English-immersion students: 33 unexpected poor comprehenders, 28 expected average comprehenders, and 30 unexpected good comprehenders. The three groups differed in vocabulary and higher-level processes. Vocabulary breadth and depth distinguished between the unexpected poor comprehenders and the expected average comprehenders. Inference, strategy, listening comprehension, summary writing, and morphological awareness distinguished between the expected average comprehenders and the unexpected good comprehenders. The findings suggest that vocabulary is the main source of reading comprehension difficulties in these unexpected poor comprehenders. The advantage of the unexpected good comprehenders group was primarily due to discourse comprehension and strategic processes, and is only possible with high language proficiency. Taken together, both vocabulary and higher-level skills are essential to successful reading comprehension in Chinese English-immersion students. The higher-level skills can be used more efficiently to help these students’ reading comprehension when they have acquired adequate vocabulary knowledge.

abstract: PhD


title: An exploratory examination of sociometric status, athlete behaviour, and sport competence in adolescent female volleyball

contributor:
Côté, Jean
Kinesiology and Health Studies

subject:
Sport Psychology
Peers
Observation
Youth Sport

abstract: Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 13:50:52.64

abstract: Smith (2003) suggested in an influential review paper that behavioural observation and sociometry were two potentially useful but under-utilized methods for the study of peers in youth sport.  Despite this call, the methods used to study peers in sport remain largely focused on athletes’ perceptions through questionnaires and interviews (Murphy-Mills, Bruner, Erickson, & Côté, 2011).  Thus, the  purpose of this project was to examine sociometric status, competence, and athlete behaviour in a youth sport context using an observational coding system.  Female volleyball players (N = 28; Mage = 15.94) from three competitive teams completed the sport competence and peer connection inventories (Vierimaa, Erickson, Côté, & Gilbert, 2012), and each team was videotaped during three practices. An observational coding system was developed and used to code athlete behaviours in a continuous, time-based manner and this data was compared across sociometric status groups.  The results reinforce past research that suggests that sport competence is an important factor in gaining peer acceptance among youth (e.g., Weiss & Duncan, 1992). Behavioural profiles were constructed for each sociometric status group, which revealed differences between groups in relation to interactions with peers, coaches, and overall sociability.  Rejected and neglected athletes appeared to be less sociable than average, interacting less with peers and coaches.  Coaches also appeared to spend more time interacting with popular athletes who they viewed as more competent, and less with rejected and neglected athletes who they viewed as less competent.  Thus, sociometry appears to be a useful approach with which to study young athletes’ behaviour in sport.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: The Experiences of Family Members Who Provide Support to Their Relative With Rheumatoid Arthritis

contributor:
Edge, Dana S.
Nursing

subject:
Social Support
Family
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Nursing

abstract: Thesis (Master, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 15:20:50.334

abstract:
Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by slow progression, functional limitations and poor quality of life. As a chronic disabling disease RA influence not only individuals but also their families. The impact of RA on family members includes providing the required care to the ill relative, postponing family plans, or altering family priorities and decisions due to the illness process.
Purpose of the Study: The psychosocial changes that family members experience may possible compromise their health, family function and relationships with each other. The purpose of the current study was to describe the experience of family members who provide social support to their relative with RA. This study was set to explore the forms of support that are needed by family members to provide adequate support to their relative with RA.
Method: The exploratory purpose of the study leads the researcher to conduct a descriptive qualitative study within the naturalistic inquiry. Naturalistic inquiry is consistent with the aims of this study in which the social support needs of family members of individuals with RA were explored and described.
Findings: Five themes emerged from the data analysis, including: 1) effect of the disease; 2) reshaping the relationship; 3) providing support; 4) social support needs; and, 5) finding balance and coping.
Conclusion: The impacts of RA on the lives of family members resulted from the chronicity of RA. Participants in this study described the effects of RA on themselves, the changes in the relationship with their relative with RA and their effort to maintain the relationship by providing support to their relative with RA.  Additionally, they described the social support that they received from family members, friends and healthcare providers. They continuously identified the support they lacked. Nearly all participants were able to achieve balance between providing support and care to their relative with RA and engaging in their own life activities. They also utilized several coping strategies to achieve balance while providing support to their relative, carrying on their duty toward the family, work and their own personal needs.

abstract: MNSc.


title: The Development of CO2-Switchable Technologies For Separation of Organic Compounds

contributor:
Jessop, Philip G.
Chemistry

subject: 0485

subject: 0494

subject: 0490

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 16:26:50.635

abstract:
The increasing environmental impact of society has created the need for the modification of current and the implementation of new industrial processes which are less environmentally harmful. However, these new or modified processes must be less material-, time-, and cost-intensive such that they are more economically beneficial than the processes they are to supplant. The described research was inspired by these two ideas and is comprised of two projects, both focused on the creation of recyclable, CO2-switchable methods of separating organic compounds.
The development and optimization of switchable water, a CO2-switchable ionic strength aqueous solvent is described. The solvent system, an amine/aqueous mixture, had the ability to switch from low to high ionic strength via the application and removal of CO2. This solvent system was able to achieve salting-out of water-miscible organics in comparable amounts to several inorganic salts typically used for salting-out.
The switchable water system was explored for use in several industrial applications. A homogeneous catalysis recycling system was developed for the hydroformylation of styrene. A catalyst was able to be recovered and recycled five times with minimal loss of activity. The use of switchable water to expedite the settling of clay suspensions was also explored. Switchable water, when used as process water did not settle bulk clay solids as quickly as a CO2-only treatment, but did however increase the settling rate of small clay fines resulting in lower turbidities of the supernatant. The solvent could be recovered from settled clay suspensions and recycled up to three times.
Finally, efforts towards the realization of CO2-switchable chiral resolving agents are presented. It is hypothesized that chiral nitrogenous bases could be used as switchable resolving agents by forming diastereomeric salt pairs with racemic alcohols via the application of CO2. After separation of the diastereomers, removal of CO2 would afford the resolved alcohol enantiomers and the chiral base. Efforts towards the synthesis of a library of chiral nitrogenous bases and the screening of their reactivity with CO2-treated alcohols are described. Several bases were generated, but the necessary reactivity between the bases and the racemic alcohols in the presence of CO2 was not observed.

abstract: PhD


title: L'Autre en Soi : l'identité entre deux mondes dans la Trilogie des dragons et le Dragon bleu de Robert Lepage

contributor:
Bénard, Johanne
French

subject:
Plurilinguisme
Le Dragon bleu
La quête identitaire
Langue
Orientalisme
Espace
Trilogy
La Trilogie des dragons
Dragon
L'Autre
Altérité
Soi
Personnage
Identité
Stéréotypes
Clichés
Robert Lepage
Pierre Lamontagne

abstract: Thesis (Master, French) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 17:04:10.317

abstract:
Robert Lepage’s play The Dragons’ Trilogy stretches across space and time, travelling through three generations and three major Canadian cities, each section named for a dragon in the Chinese game Mahjong. The Blue Dragon continues the story of Pierre Lamontagne twenty years later, and in doing so, rounds out and completes the cycle of the three Dragons of The Dragons’ Trilogy. This thesis studies the evolution of Lepage’s treatment of the Other and the Self in The Dragons’ Trilogy and The Blue Dragon. Grouping these two plays together should be a foregone conclusion, because of the titles of each section and the character of Pierre Lamontagne, who appears in both plays, but it has in fact been discussed very little. This thesis thus examines the transformation of characters such as Pierre, who, from one play to the other, and through language and space, find the Other in the Self.
To address this issue, the second chapter explores the question of plurilingualism, in order to show how the plurality of languages in the plays and among the characters promotes the ideal of communication and communion with the Other. In the third chapter, the thesis examines the theatrical space of the two plays; from the closed-off city of Québec during the 1930s in The Green Dragon to Pierre Lamontagne’s intimate and modern loft in The Blue Dragon, the imagined worlds perfectly mirror the interior journeys of the characters. Finally, the last chapter, which studies the characters, focuses on the question of stereotypes, the quests for identity, and the role artistic creation plays within these quests. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates that in The Dragons’ Trilogy and The Blue Dragon, although Otherness may at first appear to be the opposite of Self, it is in fact found within identity.

abstract: M.A.


title: Enhanced Burn Wound Healing Through Controlled and Sustained Delivery of Bioactive Insulin From Alginate Sponge Dressings

contributor:
Neufeld, Ronald J.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Wound Healing
Drug Delivery
Biomaterials
Insulin

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 17:50:47.872

abstract:
Skin is a dynamic and complex organ that relies on the interaction of different cell types,biomacromolecules and signaling molecules. Upon injury, a cascade of events occurs to quickly restore the skin’s integrity. Depending on the size and severity of the wound, a dressing is used
to provide a temporary barrier to protect from dehydration, microorganisms and debris. Current wound dressings however, cannot accelerate wound healing beyond the natural rate, require frequent dressing changes, and cannot be easily removed without triggering additional pain ortissue destruction. Insulin, a peptide used to treat Type 1 diabetes, has been reported to improve
the recovery of severe burn wounds. Yet, no one has successfully demonstrated a convenient and effective insulin delivery vehicle that can be used to accelerate burn wound healing.
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microparticles, were shown to release bioactive insulin for a
period of 25 days, stimulating human keratinocyte migration in vitro. A wound dressing made from poly(ethylene glycol) and alginate was formulated incorporating the insulin-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microparticles. Bioactive insulin release was achieved for nearly 3 weeks, along with favourable water handling and physical properties conducive for wound
healing. Finally, in vivo testing confirmed that a constant dose of insulin from alginate-PEG sponge dressings loaded with 0.125mg, or 0.04mg/cm2 insulin, with dressing changes every 3 days, was sufficient to significantly improve wound healing by 25%, as compared to an alginate-
PEG sponge dressing without insulin. Insulin releasing alginate-PEG sponge dressings are
therefore, an effective method of improving burn wound healing and may serve as a delivery vehicle platform to incorporate other therapeutic molecules in the future.

abstract: PhD